Sunday Summary: Rainy Update

This week, the temperature was pretty cool, dipping down to chilly most of the days. I don’t really mind that so much. Throw on a sweatshirt and my slippers and all is good(except my hands, but they don’t seem to be happy about much these days). I do prefer the cool over the hot. Though, we still haven’t taken the air conditioners out of the windows and it’s nearly time to start up the pellet stove. It might be a good idea to do that soon. It rained pretty much all day yesterday and is raining again this morning. So not sure when that will happen.

Yesterday, I decided to do something different with the books I still have on my list to read for the month. I’ll read to at least 25%(or calculate 1/4 or so of the pages if it’s a physical book) and unless it’s really dragged me in, I’ll move on to the next book. Once I get through them all, I’ll go back and get to 50% and so on. We’ll see how that goes.

For now, I’ll get right to the update:

Color Code:

Monthly Goal met/finished

Weekly Goal met

Progress made

Nothing done

Plotting:

• Green Hills & Smoky Fields – Story Toolkit, Outline Act 1 in Scrivener – Finished Story Toolkit. 9/9 sections. Have scenes organized into chapters in Scrivener On Target

Drafting:

• Primary: Write 35000 words on main projects – 29016/35000 words Off Target(about 2.5k below target)
  
  • Still Burning – 2403 words
    • His brother took a step toward him, and Austin was running. Then, he was wrapping his arms around the boy. “You had us so scared. Mama is nearly out of her mind. How could you do this to us?”
      “I’m sorry,” Levi sobbed against him. “Danny needed me. Then, we saw everyone coming and tried to go deeper in the woods. But, Danny twisted an ankle.”
  • Whatever It Takes – 2225 words
    • “Stop talking about yourself like that,” Carisa snapped. “I don’t care if that’s what she says. It’s not true.”
      “It is,” Jayla said, her voice soft. “I did do all that before.”
      “You were a kid. You were taken advantage of and used. That isn’t your fault.”
      Jayla felt like she was going to cry. And she hardly ever cried. Especially in front of anyone else. “That doesn’t matter,” she said.
      “Of course it does.”
  • High on Loving You – 3686 words
  • By the Gun – 1640 words
• Secondary: Write 4500 words on side projects – 4703/4500 words On Target
  • Patrick & Sarah – 177 words
  • Tavin & Haiwee – 102 words
  • Roman – 167 words
  • Dougal & Shae – 107 words
  • Jacob & Matthew – 157 words
  • Mike & Fadil – 124 words
  • Hawk – 100 words
  • Sean & Braeden – monthly goal met
  • Melanie & Garren – 96 words
• Stretch: Write 25 pages for Jonas & Isaac project – 26/25 pages. On Target

Editing:

• Primary: Stained Blood – Beta edits as they come in – 2/24 chapters,  got Chapter 4 back, copied notes for 3/3 scenes into Scrivener, edited 3/3 scenes  Target in Sight
  
• Secondary: Flames of Renewal – CP edits once I get them – 0/25 chapters Not even sighted in yet
• Stretch: Love Who You Love – type from Word to Scrivener – 10/11 chapters On Target

Reading:

• Listen: 5 audiobooks – 8/5 Bullseye!
  • Lord of Shadows(Cassandra Clare) – Started this Thursday(10/12) morning. Finished it Monday morning. I have so many feels and nowhere to put them! Gah!
  • Geekerella(Ashley Poston) – Started this Tuesday morning. Finished it Tuesday night. Really, really enjoyed this one.
  • Tower of Dawn(Sarah J Maas) – Started this Wednesday afternoon. On Chapter 13/69.
• Read: 30 books – 20/30 Off Target
  • Ride Hard(Laura Kaye) – Started this Saturday evening. Finished this Monday evening. Really enjoyed it.
  • Echoes at Dawn(Maya Banks) – Started this Monday night. Finished it Thursday evening. Another one I had to really suspend my disbelief for.
  • Spiral(Mila Ferrera) – Started this Thursday night. At 35%
  • Finding Miss McFarland(Vivienne Lorret) – Started this Friday afternoon. At 34%
  • Love in a Snowstorm(Zoe York) – Started this Saturday morning. At 28%
  • The Recruit(Monica McCarty) – Started this Saturday afternoon. On page 125/414

Social Media

• Primary: Post Writing Wednesday, Fiction Friday, Stream of Consciousness Saturday, Weekend Writing Warriors, & Sunday Summary each week – 20/20 posts Bullseye!
  • Writing Wednesday – Mid-week update & WiPPet snippet from Jonas & Isaac
  • Fiction Friday – “Wrong Calculations” – a bit with Silas, Jeremiah, & Corrin(from Playing with Fire)
  • Stream of Consciousness Saturday – Which/witch/wich – a little Halloween scene with Jonas & Isaac(& Maddix)
  • Weekend Writing Warriors – Short snippet from Hawk’s story(Riders of Justice series)
• Secondary: Post to Patreon 4x – 1/4 Off Target

Crafting:

• Knit: GENEie Hat – Started this Tuesday(10/3?). 6/6 rounds of ribbing done. 53/53 rounds of cable pattern done. Finished it Thursday(10/26) Bullseye!
  
• Crochet: Dreamy Scarf – I need “Dreamy” yarn for this(I could probably use another kind, but the pattern is based on using this yarn) and I haven’t found it yet. So haven’t started this. It will get moved to November’s goals.

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WeWriWa: “Finishing the Job”

Welcome back to another visit with the Weekend Writing Warriors, the blog hop for anyone who likes to write. I’m still sharing from Hawk’s story. I’m only about halfway through writing this, so as long as I don’t catch up to myself, I’ll probably be sharing from this for a while. This week’s picks up a couple lines down from last week’s. I’ll probably share one more snippet from this scene before moving on to the next.

“Do you really think he knew you were the target?” Devil asked. “Surely he wouldn’t have taken it if-“

“Yes, he would have,” I said before he could finish that thought. “He wanted me dead eight years ago. He thought I was, or close to it, when he dumped me in that ditch. He’ll just think of it as finally finishing the job.”

“I still don’t get why your own father would want you dead,” Devil said. “I mean, I know dads can be assholes, but to actually try to kill you.”

Damon’s own father had blamed him for his brother’s death, so I knew just how much he understood, but this went so much farther than that.

So what is Hawk’s father’s problem(other than being a nasty, hateful man)? Is Hawk going to tell them? What are they going to do next?

Stream of Consciousness Saturday: Which/witch/wich

“Which one is your sister?” Maddix asked from beside Jonas.

Jonas glanced over at him then back out toward the people crowding into the center. There were devils, superheroes, other things he couldn’t even make out. And there were the witches. His lips twitched. “I don’t think she bothered with a costume.”

Maddix narrowed his eyes then elbowed Jonas in the side. He was one of the few who’d never thought he had to treat Jonas carefully because of his leg. And Jonas appreciated that. “That’s not a nice thing to say about your own twin. She seems like a very nice person.”

“Who says witches can’t be nice?” Jonas asked, smiling a little. “It’s not nice to stereotype, Maddix. Don’t you know that?”

“Shut up,” he said, elbowing Jonas again. “You know me better than that.  And you’re the one that said it. Like I said, she seems nice.”

“I’m surprised you think that when she’s barely given you the time of day the last year. No matter how much you try to get her attention.”

Maddix shrugged a shoulder. “Not like she owes me anything. Doesn’t mean I can’t still try.”

“I thought Konner said you were into that Maribel anyway.”

Maddix scoffed. “Right. The boss’s daughter. I see that working out for me.”

Jonas felt Isaac slide up beside him, sandwiching him in. Not something he was going to complain about. “What are you guys talking about?” he asked.

“My love life,” Maddix grumbled. “Or lack of one. And I think that’s enough of that. I’ll see you around.”

Isaac laughed into the side of Jonas’ neck. “One way to get rid of him. I’ve been waiting to get you to myself tonight.”

Jonas knew there was still some time before they’d truly be able to do that. This party still had hours to go. But, he still slipped his hand into Isaac’s and held on to him for the moment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This week’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt was to Start your post with the word “which” and try to fit the word “witch” in somewhere if you can. Bonus points if you use a word that ends in “wich.” As an added rule this week, you will lose all the points you’ve ever earned if you type “which witch is which” anywhere in your post. Have fun! And that last rule made me really want to do just that. But, I resisted. 🙂 Instead you get a little more of Jonas & Isaac(which will come after the end of their story) and some set-up potential for Maddix’s story(if I ever get to it).

Fiction Friday: “Wrong Calculations”

I’ve finished posting Staring at the Sun to Wattpad, and I’m far from ready to start posting Hawk’s story there(it’s only maybe half written, so it will probably be sometime next year). But, I didn’t want to drop my Fiction Friday posts completely. So, I thought I’d write some short stories flash fiction style. I did some browsing on Pinterest and found a bunch of prompts(21 to date, to be exact), some dialogue, some idea-based. I plan to choose one at random each week and base a story on it. These may involve current characters or brand new ones. They should all be under 1000 words, some may come close to that, while others might be more like drabbles. We’ll just have to see how that all works out.

So, now for this week’s:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Come on, when have my calculations ever been wrong?”

“Well…” Corrin said, a grin spreading across her face.

“Shut up,” Silas said, grinning around the wooden spoon he’d just lifted to his mouth, “that was one time.”

“Well, you’re the one who asked,” she retorted, hitting a few more keys on her computer then exiting out of whatever she was writing. Must be steamy if she wouldn’t even let him read it.

“This isn’t even the same thing. I didn’t take human behavior into that calculation. This is just about which spices I need to make the sauce just right.” He pursed his lips. “Nope, not quite.”

She laughed and pushed up from the chair. It was a good sound to hear, especially after the shadows he’d seen flit through her eyes when he mentioned that other occurrence. They didn’t talk about it, not even vaguely. Even if it would maybe be better if they did.

But, instead of pushing, Silas reached out and pulled her into him. She didn’t even pretend to resist. He settled his mouth on hers, and she opened instantly, her tongue running along his lip.

When she pulled back, her eyes were sparkling up at him. “I think you got the calculations just right.”

The door opened before he could respond, but he didn’t look away from Corrin. “Well, this is a surprise,” Jeremiah said as he came into the kitchen. “Usually I come home to the two of you arguing.”

He brushed his lips over Corrin’s mouth then leaned in to kiss Silas, just a little harder. “Mmm. Dinner’s going to be good tonight.”

I know I’ve shared some of Silas, Jeremiah, and Corrin on the blog before. But, if you didn’t know, these three are the main characters in Playing with Fire(which I drafted earlier this year). And yes, all three of them are together in a committed relationship. And this is a bit of their “After Happy Ever After”.

Writing Wednesday: Pulling Ahead

This has been a pretty good week for me. At this point, all I have left on the week’s to-do list, writing-wise, are my main projects(that may change if I get Stained blood chapters back from beta or Flames of Renewal from CP). Plotting, editing, side projects, even Jonas & Isaac writing goals have been met. And that was even with only doing some plotting on Monday and working on 2 side projects. I seem to not know the concept of taking a day off. Ha! As a friend on Twitter said, my mellow days are similar to her most productive. 🙂

Sunday we went to my mother-in-law’s and carved pumpkins. I used a stencil for the first time on them(and it looked awfully close to how I described Jared’s tattoo in Healing the Heart).

Then, we went to Erie and the girl and I took a trip to the Books a Million(I love their bargain shelves. God a hardback for cheaper than a paperback) in the mall while the boy and my husband did their own shopping. When they came to get us, we stopped at the jewelry store. And I got my ring back.

My hand doesn’t feel naked anymore.

And now it’s time for WiPPet Wednesday again. This is a blog hop, hosting by the wonderful Emily Wrayburn, where we share a snippet of a current work in progress that somehow pertains to the date. I’ve been sharing from my Jonas & Isaac story, which I’m currently writing in a notebook(I shouldn’t even be to this story in the series yet, but these characters just won’t leave me alone). Today I have 8 paragraphs(1+0+2+5) from shortly after last week’s.

Isaac set a hand on Jonas’ knee before he’d thought better of it. And he was sure a bolt of lightning had struck him. He could barely breathe as he stared at Jonas. He seemed to be having the same issue. His chest stuttering on a breath. When he breathed out again, Isaac snatched his hand away.

“Sorry,” he muttered.

Jonas didn’t say anything, and before Isaac could get up, Konner had come in and was sliding between them on the bench. Derek stared at them for a moment then turned away. But, not before Isaac saw their cheeks turn pink.

“What are you two beautiful men doing?” Konner asked. “I just couldn’t stay away from the pretty any longer.” He carded his fingers through Isaac’s hair, flashing him a grin.

Jonas let out a huff and pushed himself up from the bench, getting onto his crutches. It was almost a smooth move. He’d obviously had a lot of practice.

“I should get going,” he said, his voice coming out a little gruff. Strained, even. “Mom’ll be expecting my call.”

Isaac watched him swing his way through the door, chewing on his bottom lip. Was Jonas mad? About the way Konner had been flirting? No, that didn’t make any sense. He was probably just tired, if he’d come here right after his PT session and stayed so late.

“Don’t worry. He’ll be back,” Konner said. “I think he’s finding his place here.”

Is Konner right? And just what is he up to? s Jonas mad, or something else? I’ll have more next week. 🙂

Color Code:

Monthly Goal met/finished

Weekly Goal met

Progress made

Nothing done

Plotting:

• Green Hills & Smoky Fields – Story Toolkit, Outline Act 1 in Scrivener – Finished Story Toolkit. 9/9 sections. Have scenes organized into chapters in Scrivener On Target

Drafting:

• Primary: Write 35000 words on main projects – 22579/35000 words Off Target(about 6k below target)
  
  • Still Burning – 2403 words
    • His brother took a step toward him, and Austin was running. Then, he was wrapping his arms around the boy. “You had us so scared. Mama is nearly out of her mind. How could you do this to us?”
      “I’m sorry,” Levi sobbed against him. “Danny needed me. Then, we saw everyone coming and tried to go deeper in the woods. But, Danny twisted an ankle.”
  • Whatever It Takes – 1114 words
  • High on Loving You –
  • By the Gun –
• Secondary: Write 4500 words on side projects – 4703/4500 words On Target
  • Patrick & Sarah – 177 words
  • Tavin & Haiwee – 102 words
  • Roman – 167 words
  • Dougal & Shae – 107 words
  • Jacob & Matthew – 157 words
  • Mike & Fadil – 124 words
  • Hawk – 100 words
  • Sean & Braeden – monthly goal met
  • Melanie & Garren – 96 words
• Stretch: Write 25 pages for Jonas & Isaac project – 26/25 pages. On Target

Editing:

• Primary: Stained Blood – Beta edits as they come in – 2/24 chapters,  got Chapter 4 back, copied notes for 3/3 scenes into Scrivener, edited 3/3 scenes  Target in Sight
  
• Secondary: Flames of Renewal – CP edits once I get them – 0/25 chapters Not even sighted in yet
• Stretch: Love Who You Love – type from Word to Scrivener – 10/11 chapters On Target

Reading:

• Listen: 5 audiobooks – 8/5 Bullseye!
  • Lord of Shadows(Cassandra Clare) – Started this Thursday(10/12) morning. Finished it Monday morning. I have so many feels and nowhere to put them! Gah!
  • Geekerella(Ashley Poston) – Started this Tuesday morning. Finished it Tuesday night. Really, really enjoyed this one.
• Read: 30 books – 19/30 Off Target
  • Ride Hard(Laura Kaye) – Started this Saturday evening. Finished this Monday evening. Really enjoyed it.
  • Echoes at Dawn(Maya Banks) – Started this Monday night. On page 135/307

Social Media

• Primary: Post Writing Wednesday, Fiction Friday, Stream of Consciousness Saturday, Weekend Writing Warriors, & Sunday Summary each week – 16/20 posts On Target
• Secondary: Post to Patreon 4x – 1/4 Off Target

Crafting:

• Knit: GENEie Hat – Started this Tuesday. 6/6 rounds of ribbing done. 41/53 rounds of cable pattern done Target in sight
• Crochet: Dreamy Scarf –

Sunday Summary: Better Week

This was overall a better week. No unexpected interruptions to my routine. Kids were at school all day, every day. I took my Mellow Monday, just typing up notes for a chapter I got back from beta reader and writing a bit on Jonas & Isaac in the afternoon. Otherwise I got laundry/chores done and read. The rest of the week went pretty well after that. And I met most of my writing goals(fell short on High on Loving You and By the Gun, but otherwise good).

Reading Yertle the Turtle to me.

Yesterday for some reason, my computer kept freezing up. No clue why, but I couldn’t do anything until I’d shut it off and turned it back on. One time it did it before I’d even opened anything back up again. So, I may be spending this Mellow Monday compiling all my scrivener projects and uploading them to dropbox. Just in case this computer does decide to die on me. It’s lasted more than twice as long as the last netbook I had(which managed 18 months, 6 of those me babying it to keep it going).

Not sure how they all fit in the chair.

Color Code:

Monthly Goal met/finished

Weekly Goal met

Progress made

Nothing done

Plotting:

• Green Hills & Smoky Fields – Story Toolkit – Finished Act 1 beat sheet. 6/9 sections On Target

Drafting:

• Primary: Write 35000 words on main projects – 19062/35000 words Off Target(about 4k below target)
  
  • Still Burning – 2408 words
    • “He doesn’t need to worry about me,” she said, turning away from Nolan as he closed the door and made his way through her living room.
      “Well, of course he doesn’t,” Nolan said. “No one has to worry about anyone else. But, when we care about someone, we tend to do just that.”
  • Whatever It Takes – 2516 words
    • Jared shook his head. “No, that you can’t. But, you’re right, talking to Jayla might do some good. Gail’s a prideful woman. But if enough people tell her something, she just might start to listen.”
  • High on Loving You – 1580 words
  • By the Gun – 632 words
• Secondary: Write 4500 words on side projects – 3774/4500 words On Target
  • Patrick & Sarah – 175 words
  • Tavin & Haiwee – 158 words
  • Roman – 171 words
  • Dougal & Shae – 106 words
  • Jacob & Matthew – 259 words
  • Mike & Fadil – 245 words
  • Hawk – 92 words
  • Sean & Braeden – monthly goal met
  • Melanie & Garren – 117 words
• Stretch: Write 25 pages for Jonas & Isaac project – 21/25 pages. On Target

Editing:

• Primary: Stained Blood – Beta edits as they come in – 2/24 chapters,  got Chapter 4 back, copied notes for 3/3 scenes into Scrivener, edited 3/3 scenes  Target in Sight
  
• Secondary: Flames of Renewal – CP edits once I get them – 0/25 chapters Not even sighted in yet
• Stretch: Love Who You Love – type from Word to Scrivener – 8/11 chapters On Target

Reading:

• Listen: 5 audiobooks – 6/5 Bullseye!
  • Lord of Shadows(Cassandra Clare) – Started this Thursday morning. On Chapter 26/30
• Read: 30 books – 18/30 Off Target
  • Fear No Evil(Allison Brennan) – Started this Thursday night. Finished this Sunday night. The length it took me to read doesn’t really reflect my enjoyment(because I did like it) but more that other stuff kept coming up. Stupid other stuff. 😉
  • Midnight Sun(Kat Martin) – Started this Monday morning. Finished it Tuesday evening. Enjoyed it, though there was one part(inheriting memories from like her great-great(?) grandmother) that was a bit more than I can suspend my disbelief.
  • Revenants(Christina Olson) – Started this Tuesday night. Finished it Wednesday evening. Enjoyed it.
  • Christmas on 4th Street(Susan Mallery) – Started this Wednesday evening. Finished it Friday afternoon. Enjoyed it.
  • Summer Nights(Various) – Read this Friday evening. Well, I skimmed most of them. It’s a collection of flash fiction stories. Most just didn’t grab me.
  • A Risk Worth Taking(Victoria James) – Started this Friday evening. Finished it Friday night. This was a shorter one, and I did some skimming because it just wasn’t pulling me in that much.
  • If I Was Your Girl(Meredith Russo) – Started this Saturday morning. Finished it Saturday evening. Loved this one.
  • Ride Hard(Laura Kaye) – Started this Saturday evening. On page 70/357

Social Media

• Primary: Post Writing Wednesday, Fiction Friday, Stream of Consciousness Saturday, Weekend Writing Warriors, & Sunday Summary each week – 15/20 posts On Target
• Secondary: Post to Patreon 4x – 1/4 Off Target

Crafting:

• Knit: GENEie Hat – Started this Tuesday. 6/6 rounds of ribbing done. 31/53 rounds of cable pattern done Target in sight
• Crochet: Dreamy Scarf –

WeWriWa: “Leaves One Option”

Welcome back to another visit with the Weekend Writing Warriors, the blog hop for anyone who likes to write. I’m sharing more from Hawk’s story. They’re still trying to figure out who sent the sniper after Hawk, if he really was the target.

“And you’re sure he meant one of us?”

Wraith just raised that eyebrow again. Right, we were the only ones around here known for our vigilante work, and the ones the Crows seemed to hate the most. “But, we have a truce with them.”

“And if we can’t prove they hired the sniper, we can’t claim they broke it either.”

“Fuckers,” I cursed and heard an echo of that from Damon, still standing at my side. “Did he say which one of us? Was it really me he targeted, or was I just the easiest one to lure into a trap?”

“He claimed they were going to get rid of someone who should have been dead months ago. You and Devil were the ones they planned to kill back then, and if he hadn’t been with you, he wouldn’t have been in that area, so that only leaves one option to my mind.”

Are they right? Was Hawk the sniper’s target? And was it the Crows who hired him? I may have more answers for you at some point.

And I’ve posted the final chapter of Staring at the Sun, so you can check that out if you’d like. It’s going to be a while before I have Hawk ready to start putting up there.