ARoWnd Again in 2018

Okay, so it’s not 2018 quite yet. But, less than 24 hours and we’ll be in the new year. And I don’t plan to do a whole lot except try to finish up my December reading, maybe crochet a little. Exciting plans for New Years Eve, right?

So, I worked up my yearly goals this morning, as well as my goals for the first round, January, and this week(which I won’t put on the blog, but they’re basically my month goals pared down). So, why don’t we get started with that so I have something to evaluate at the end of each of these periods.

2018

Plotting:

• Primary: Flames of Knowledge: Outline
• Secondary: Green Hills & Smoky Fields 2: Outline
• Tertiary: James & Tracy’s Story(Gilbert, CO) : Title & Outline
• Stretch: Take Me to Church(Kurztown) & Heart to Heart: Outlines

Drafting:

• Primary: Finish 4 in Progress drafts
  • Green Hills & Smoky Fields
  • Whatever It Takes
  • High on Loving You
  • By the Gun
• Secondary: Draft 5 new novels
  • Flames of Knowledge
  • Green Hills & Smoky Fields2
  • James & Tracy’s Story
  • Take Me to Church(Erik & Jeff’s story)
  • Heart to Heart(stand-alone)
• Tertiary: Side Projects – finish 10 first drafts
• Stretch: Jonas & Isaac – 1st draft

Editing:

• Primary: Stained Blood – Beta edits
• Secondary: Flames of Renewal – CP edits
• Tertiary: Law of Choice – send to CP
• Stretch: Transfer 5 projects from One Note to Scrivener

Publishing:

• Primary: Stained Blood
• Secondary: Flames of Renewal
• Tertiary: Law of Choice
• Stretch: 2 collections of short stories

Reading:

• Primary: Read 250 books
• Secondary: Listen 50 books

Social Media:

• Primary: Just Jot It January
• Secondary: A-Z Challenge
• Tertiary: Story a Day(May & September)
• Stretch: Patreon – 24 posts

Crafting:

• Knit: 6 projects
• Crochet: 6 projects

RoWnd 1

Plotting:

• Primary: Outline Act 4 of Green Hills & Smoky Fields1, Whatever It Takes, & High on Loving You as I get to them
• Secondary: Outline Flames of Knowledge
  
• Tertiary: Outline Green Hills & Smoky Fields2
• Stretch: Outline James & Tracy’s Story

Writing:

• Primary: Green Hills & Smoky Fields1, Whatever It Takes, & High on Loving You – 1st drafts
• Secondary: Side Projects – 15000 words
• Tertiary: Jonas & Isaac – 45 pages
• Stretch: By the Gun – Finish Part 2

Editing:

• Primary: Flames of Renewal – CP edits once I get them back
• Secondary: Stained Blood – Beta edits as they come in
• Tertiary: Transfer Protecting the Heart, Paint Me a Picture, & Shed Some Light to Scrivener
• Stretch: Law of Choice – Send to CP

Reading:

• Primary: Read 60 books
• Secondary: Listen 15 books

Social Media:

• Primary: Just Jot It January
• Secondary: Post 5 regular weekly posts – 55 posts
• Tertiary: Post to Patreon 6 times

Crafting:

• Knit: 2 projects
• Crochet: 2 projects

January

Plotting:

• Primary: Flames of Knowledge – Back Stories
• Secondary: Flames of Knowledge – Plot Summaries
• Tertiary: Flames of Knowledge – Story Toolkit
• Stretch: Flames of Knowledge – Outline: Act 1

Writing:

• Primary: Green Hills & Smoky Fields – 1st draft
• Secondary: Side Projects – 5000 words
• Tertiary: Jonas & Isaac – 15 pages
• Stretch: By the Gun – 2500 words(will work on this when I finish Primary goal)

Editing:

• Primary: Flames of Renewal – CP edits once I get it back
• Secondary: Stained Blood – Beta edits as they come in
• Tertiary: Protecting the Heart – Transfer to Scrivener
• Stretch: Melanie & Garren – revise & post to Patreon

Reading:

• Primary: Read 20 books
• Secondary: Listen 5 books

Social Media:

• Primary: Just Jot It January
• Secondary: Post 5 regular weekly posts
• Tertiary: Post to Patreon 2x

Crafting:

• Knit: Honeycomb Dishcloth
• Crochet: Lap Blanket

WeWriWa: “Sucked Less”

Welcome back to another visit with the Weekend Writing Warriors, the blog hop for anyone who likes to write. I hope everyone who celeprates had a wonderful Christmas. Just north of us got over 5 feet of snow earlier this week, but that band managed to miss where we live. My husband plows up there, though, so some of our Christmas plans changed. It all worked out, though(except we still have presents for nieces and nephew we haven’t been able to see yet). But, for now, I have a little more with Devil and Hawk. This picks up right after last week’s.

His face colored, but he stepped closer to me, his mouth meeting mine. I slid my hands up into his dark hair, pulling him even closer before nipping at his lip.

He groaned and pressed in closer to me. I wasn’t going to complain about that. I wished we could get even closer than this. Not yet, though, I wanted to check up on Mr. Bentley again. I wouldn’t put it past my father to go after him just to hurt me, but Icarus didn’t want us riding out on our own for the time being. Not even Devil and me together. It sucked needing a babysitter again after all this time. But, it sucked less than being dead would.

Hope everyone has a happy(and safe) New Year. We’ll probably be sticking around the house if at all possible.

Stream of Consciousness Saturday: “Resolution”

“I’m sure we can come to a favorable resolution to this for both of us,” Connor said.

Ames couldn’t help but laugh.”I thought you came from a family of cops. And here you sound more like a lawyer.”

“We’re not all cops. Just Grandpa, Dad, and Adrian. And Aunt Shae, Uncle Brannon and Uncle Devlin.”

“And all your numerous cousins.”

“Not all of them,” Connor argued. “Gio runs the pub. Corrin’s a writer. Arlene’s in college. Danny and Eamon are still in school.”

“So only the other two dozen cousins are cops,” Ames said, nudging him with their elbow.

Connor laughed. “I don’t have two dozen cousins.” He seemed to think about it. “Close, but not quite that many.”

Ames laughed. They used to say they ha d a large family because of all of Mom’s cousins. Until Ames met the Rileys and all their numerous branches. Now, that was a big family.

And Connor had managed to get them so far off course, Ames didn’t even remember what had brought on this discussion.

They sighed. It probably hadn’t been that important then. If so, one of them would bring it up again.

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

This week’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt was to use “resolution” any way you’d like. And Connor and Ames decided to pop into my head for a little conversation again. I actually have a family tree made up for this series, because all the connections can get a little confusing, even to me. I actually have ones made up for each of my series. I may also like to make family trees. 😉

Writing Wednesday: Merry After Christmas

I hope everyone who celebrates had a wonderful Christmas. We weren’t quite sure we were going to make it down to my mom’s on Monday. It wasn’t too bad when we left the house. Our road hadn’t been plowed yet, so that was a little interesting. But, the main road into town wasn’t bad. Until we got past town, and you could barely see more than a car length in front of us. It usually takes about half an hour to drive to my mom’s. Monday it took us just about an hour. But, we made it there, the kids got lots of gifts(I got 3 J.D. Robb books, $60 in Amazon gift cards, a bottle of strawberry wine, slippers, and a t-shirt). We still haven’t had our third Christmas yet(we did Christmas eve with my mother-in-law). We were supposed to go to step mother-in-law’s yesterday, but my husband was up in Erie all day plowing. So, we didn’t make it. We’re going to try to see her and at least my sister-in-law sometime this week(brother-in-law lives in Ohio, and we’re not sure how long he’s here for before he has to go home).

my budding scientist.

their “new” lego table

My gifts from the kids. Have I mentioned I’m not a jewelry person? But I did wear them all of Christmas day.

box set of one of the Warriors series of books.

I’m having a low-key week. I thought I’d get some writing done. I did almost 500 words yesterday morning, and that was it. Today I didn’t get up until after 6. I did finish a first draft last week, and I just feel…blah, I guess. I may take this week to finish up some reading and have the writing take a back seat. Actually make myself take a break.

And since it’s Wednesday, it’s time for another WiPPet snippet!! Still sharing from Jonas & Isaac’s story. I’ve switched into Jonas’ POV, and he’s still trying to comfort Isaac. I have 12 paragraphs for today(1+2+2+7).

“I’m sorry,” Jonas said. “That he still thinks he has to torment you. I wish I could go after him and–”

“No,” Isaac said sharply, sniffing a little still. “I don’t want him to hurt you, either.”

Jonas bristled at that. He wanted to say he could take care of him. Except he couldn’t. Not anymore. He’d only been able to get Isaac to the couch because the other man had been on his weak side and supported him as well. “What can I do then?”

“Nothing,” Isaac said. “Nothing will stop him.”

“Then why’s you even come here? If I’m so fucking useless, why’d you even come here?”

Isaac jerked back and stared at him with wide eyes, shimmering with tears. “I didn’t say that,” he said, his voice thick. “And I came because…I don’t even know. Maybe because I could use a friend. Not someone to fix this. No one can fix it. Even years in prison didn’t change him. Nothing will. He’ll just keep coming after me until he does actually kill me.”

“No!” Jonas shouted, fear gripping him. “That’s not going to happen. I swear, Isaac. I won’t let him.”

“How are you going to stop him? You can’t be with me twenty-four, seven. And even if you could…”

He didn’t have to finish that. Of course Jonas couldn’t do anything. He could still barely walk on his own. What was he thinking that Isaac might actually need him?

Jonas looked away from Isaac, trying to get control of his racing thoughts. But, they only seemed to accelerate. Isaac said his name softly, and Jonas looked over at him. He couldn’t seem to stop himself. “I didn’t mean it like that,” Isaac said. “Even if you weren’t hurt, I wouldn’t want you near him. I don’t want him to hurt you.”

His voice broke on the last words and the emotion dragged out words Jonas hadn’t planned to say. “I’d lay my life down for you. Still. No matter what’s happened between us. I would die before letting the same happen to you.”

Isaac stared at him with wide eyes. The tears shimmering there turned his eyes a brilliant gold. “And you don’t think that would kill me? The last five years, I’ve been so scared Tereza would tell me you were dead. How much worse do you think I’d feel if it was because of me?”

I don’t think of them expected the conversation to take this one. Or the one that happens next. 😉

Color Code:

Monthly Goal Met/Finished

Weekly Goal Met

Progress Made

Nothing Done

Set Aside

Plotting:

• Primary: Still Burning – Outline Act 4 – Outlined 12/12 scenes
• Secondary: Outline Act 4 for Green Hills & Smoky Fields 1, Whatever It Takes, & High on Loving You –
• Stretch: Flames of Knowledge – Brainstorm –General character mind map done. Also Connor’s and Camella’s. Thursday I did Emmett’s(antagonist) and half the plotting mind map. Finish the plot map Friday and wrote up the characters’ GMCs.

Writing:

• Primary: Write 42500 words on main projects – 29167/42500
  • Still Burning(Mainest main project) – 18287/25000, 7629 this week And I typed ‘The End’. *dances*
    • She nodded and stepped into him again. “Could you just remind me of that every day? In case I forget.”
      He pressed a quick kiss to her lips. “Of course. I’d be glad to.”
  • Green Hills & Smoky Fields – 3525/5000, 492 this week
  • Whatever It Takes – 2862/5000,
  • High on Loving You – 3009/5000,
  • By the Gun – 1484/2500,
• Secondary: Write 7250 words on side projects – 6426/7250
  • Patrick & Sarah – 95/750
  • Tavin & Haiwee – 487/750
  • Roman – 0/750
  • Dougal & Shae – 680/750
  • Jacob & Matthew – 496/750
  • Mike & Fadil – 580/750
  • Hawk – 453/750
  • Sean & Braeden – 538/750
  • Melanie & Garren – 642/750
  • Desmund – 323/500
  • Christmas Short – 2136 words – this is a little something with Jeremiah, Corrin, & Silas that I hope to have up on my Patreon for Christmas.
• Stretch: Write 35 pages on Jonas & Isaac – 19/35

Editing:

• Primary: Stained Blood – beta edits – 0/21 chapters
• Secondary: Flames of Renewal – CP edits – 0/25 Chapters
• Stretch: Protecting the Heart – transfer from One Note to Scrivener – 15/24 Chapters

Reading:

• Primary: Read 30 books – 23/30
  • When We Met(Susan Mallery) – Finished this Monday night. Liked it.
  • Drawing Dead(S.M. Reine) – Finished this Tuesday afternoon
  • Sweet Sinful Nights(Lauren Blakely) – Finished this Tuesday afternoon.
  • Getting Out of Hand(Erin Nicholas) – Finished this Tuesday evening.
  • They Both Die at the End(Adam Silvera) – On page 140/368
  • Fatal Consequences(Marie Force) – Finished this Monday afternoon. Really enjoyed it.
  • In the Stars Part 1(Debbie McGowan) – At 14%
  • Ashes and Alms(A.M. Leibowitz) – On page 16/81(according to Overdrive)
• Secondary: Listen to 5 audio books – 4/5
  • Strange the Dreamer(Laini Taylor) – On Chapter 28/68
  • The Becoming of Noah Shaw(Michelle Hodkin) – On Chapter 15/48

Social Media:

• Primary: Post Writing Wednesday, Fiction Friday, Stream of Consciousness Saturday, Weekend Writing Warriors, & Sunday Summary each week – 19/23
• Secondary: Post to Patreon 2x – 2/2
  • Christmas in Triplicate – Christmas story with Jeremiah, Silas, & Corrin. It’s available to read, whether you’re a patron or not. A little Christmas gift for everyone.

Crafting:

• Knit: Split Crescents Knit Dishcloth – Knit 62/66 rows – ran out of one of the colors, so ordered more. It won’t be here until next month sometime, though.
• Crochet: Blended Granny Lapghan – I was struggling with this pattern so I ripped out the stitches and started a different blanket pattern.
• Crochet: Lap Blanket – Finished Set-Up row. 6.5/40 inches crocheted

Sunday Summary: Christmas Eve

So, it’s Christmas Eve. It’s really early Christmas Eve in fact. My holiday spirit still seems to be missing. It doesn’t seem to like to show up until it’s necessary. I don’t hate the holidays, really. I just feel…disconnected, I guess. I don’t know.

My little boys

Anyway! Good news. I did finish the first draft of Still Burning yesterday!! Woohoo! Yay! And all that! I’m planning to take tomorrow off and be a bit more laid back about the next week. I’m going to leave my alarm off, but if I wake up, I’ll get up to write. I’ll probably do more reading than writing for the rest of the month, though.

Speaking of books…I’ve gotten 2 more in the last week. So, that makes 5! I have another that won’t be here until after the new year, and I still have $18 on my gift card. I’ll be seeing if I get more gift cards over the next few days, and I can add to that.

Color Code:

Monthly Goal Met/Finished

Weekly Goal Met

Progress Made

Nothing Done

Set Aside

Plotting:

• Primary: Still Burning – Outline Act 4 – Outlined 12/12 scenes
• Secondary: Outline Act 4 for Green Hills & Smoky Fields 1, Whatever It Takes, & High on Loving You –
• Stretch: Flames of Knowledge – Brainstorm –General character mind map done. Also Connor’s and Camella’s. Thursday I did Emmett’s(antagonist) and half the plotting mind map. Finish the plot map Friday and wrote up the characters’ GMCs.

Writing:

• Primary: Write 42500 words on main projects – 28675/42500
  • Still Burning(Mainest main project) – 18287/25000, 7629 this week And I typed ‘The End’. *dances*
    • She nodded and stepped into him again. “Could you just remind me of that every day? In case I forget.”
      He pressed a quick kiss to her lips. “Of course. I’d be glad to.”
  • Green Hills & Smoky Fields – 3033/5000, 701 this week
  • Whatever It Takes – 2862/5000, 640 this week
  • High on Loving You – 3009/5000, 700 this week
  • By the Gun – 1484/2500, 468 this week
• Secondary: Write 7250 words on side projects – 6426/7250
  • Patrick & Sarah – 95/750
  • Tavin & Haiwee – 487/750
  • Roman – 0/750
  • Dougal & Shae – 680/750
  • Jacob & Matthew – 496/750
  • Mike & Fadil – 580/750
  • Hawk – 453/750
  • Sean & Braeden – 538/750
  • Melanie & Garren – 642/750
  • Desmund – 323/500
  • Christmas Short – 2136 words – this is a little something with Jeremiah, Corrin, & Silas that I hope to have up on my Patreon for Christmas.
• Stretch: Write 35 pages on Jonas & Isaac – 19/35

Editing:

• Primary: Stained Blood – beta edits – 0/21 chapters
• Secondary: Flames of Renewal – CP edits – 0/25 Chapters
• Stretch: Protecting the Heart – transfer from One Note to Scrivener – 15/24 Chapters

Reading:

• Primary: Read 30 books – 18/30
  • Flashpoint(Suzanne Brockmann) – Finished this Sunday evening. Really enjoyed it, even if it did take me a while to finish.
  • A Step Too Far(Krista Walsh) – Read this one Sunday. It was short, but I enjoyed the look at what happened between a couple books in the series.
  • The Christmas Fountain(Kait Nolan) – Read this Sunday night. It was a quick read and very sweet, and I loved it.
  • When We Met(Susan Mallery) – On page 150/344
  • Drawing Dead(S.M. Reine) – At 74%
  • Ravenous(R.G. Alexander) – Read this Wednesday. Enjoyed it.
  • Sweet Sinful Nights(Lauren Blakely) – At 41%
  • Getting Out of Hand(Erin Nicholas) – At 42%
  • They Both Die at the End(Adam Silvera) – On page 140/368
• Secondary: Listen to 5 audio books – 4/5
  • Strange the Dreamer(Laini Taylor) – On Chapter 28/68
  • Sweet Persuasion(Maya Banks) – Finished this Thursday morning. Liked it.

Social Media:

• Primary: Post Writing Wednesday, Fiction Friday, Stream of Consciousness Saturday, Weekend Writing Warriors, & Sunday Summary each week – 18/23
• Secondary: Post to Patreon 2x – 2/2
  • Christmas in Triplicate – Christmas story with Jeremiah, Silas, & Corrin

Crafting:

• Knit: Split Crescents Knit Dishcloth – Knit 62/66 rows – ran out of one of the colors, so ordered more. It won’t be here until next month sometime, though.
• Crochet: Blended Granny Lapghan – I was struggling with this pattern so I ripped out the stitches and started a different blanket pattern.
• Crochet: Lap Blanket – Finished Set-Up row. 5/40 inches crocheted

WeWriWa: “My Devil”

Welcome back to another visit with the Weekend Writing Warriors, a blog hop for anyone who likes to write. I’m on to the last scene I currently have written for Hawk’s story. I guess I’d better get to writing more of this before I do catch up to myself.

Damon stepped up beside me, his hand slipping under my vest, warm through my shirt. “It’s going to be okay,” he said. “We’ll figure something out.”

I turned toward him. “Who are you and what have you done to my Devil?”

That had one side of Devil’s mouth tipping up. “Guess you’ve been rubbing off on me.”

My own lips curled up at that. “I’d certainly like to do that.”

These two. :-]

I hope everyone who celebrates has a wonderful Christmas. We’ll be busy Sunday-Tuesday, then things should calm down for the rest of the week.

Stream of Consciousness Saturday – “Yule/you’ll/Yul”

“You’ll see. It’s going to be just fine.”

But, Ames did not look quite as sure as Connor felt. He turned to them in the middle of the sidewalk up to his grandparents’ house. He tugged on the knit cap they wore. “What are you so nervous about? You met most of them at the party for Nolan and Maura’s baby at the end of the summer. They liked you then. Why not now?”

“I wasn’t dating their precious boy then.”

“That should give them more reason to love you.” Like I do. It was way too early to say that. He was sure of it. So, he kept the words to himself. “And I think you give a lot more credit for how high of an esteem they hold me in.”

“I don’t think you give it enough credit,” they said. “It wouldn’t be the first time a family has turned on me once they realize I’m not the girl they thought their son was bringing home.”

He let his thumb graze their cheek. “My family won’t do that.”

“Really? Because I was there when they were searching for your cousin when they ran away because their own father wouldn’t accept them.”

Connor closed his eyes and rested his forehead against theirs. “And Uncle Deaclan won’t be here. Aunt Maureen left him after all that, and he’s not welcome here unless he agrees to be civil. He hasn’t done so yet.”

“And he’s your only intolerant relative? You can’t make me believe that in a family this size, there aren’t more of them.”

He winced because it was true. Corrin’s father still wasn’t happy about her relationship with Silas and Jeremiah, even though it was obvious to almost everyone else how much the three of them loved each other. But, the majority of his family was accepting. “I can’t say no one will say anything to you,” he admitted. “But, most will be fine. We’ll just stick around those ones.”

Ames relaxed slightly at that, but Connor felt them stiffen again when the two of them stepped inside. There were a lot of people here. He was used to it. But someone from a family not as large as theirs, and not so eager to include even those not related into the family group, it could be a bit of a shock.

“Come on,” he said. “My brothers and sister and their families should be here somewhere. We’ll fine them.”

But, it was his cousin, Corrin, who they ran into first. “I’m so glad you made it,” she said, throwing her arms around him. “Adrian wasn’t sure if you would.”

“My brother worries too much.”

“He’s a new daddy. It’s a given.” She grinned past him at Ames. “I’m glad you could make it, too. Jeremiah said you were coming.”

“Thanks for inviting me,” they said. “Your family didn’t have to let me come.”

Corrin looked confused. “Why wouldn’t we? You’re with this fool. And we still let him show up.”

Connor laughed then squeezed her tight. “Thanks,” he whispered. Then, he took Ames’ hand and led them farther into the house. It was going to be fine. This was all going to be just fine.

~~~~~~~~~

This week’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt was to use Yule/you’ll/Yul to start the post. I’m just started to plot out Ames and Connor’s story, and this will probably come somewhere in there.

Fiction Friday: Christmas in Triplicate

I wrote up this story over the last week, using a prompt from one of the patreon pages I subscribe to. There were three words to use somehow in the story. Jeremiah, Silas, and Corrin seemed to think it fit them perfectly, so I started writing them. Three words, three characters, and three scenes. I put it up on my Patreon page yesterday. I’m going to share the beginning of it here, but you can read the rest if you subscribe for as little as $1 a month.

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

Jeremiah ran a finger over the round ‘E’ key and glanced back over his shoulder. The shopkeeper had barely taken his eyes off him since he’d stepped in here. He brushed off whatever the man’s opinion of him might be and turned back to the item in front of him.

This was not something Corrin put on her list to him and Silas. No, that consisted of mostly books. Notebooks, too. She wasn’t even the reason he’d stopped in her. He’d seen an antique model fire truck in the shop window he was sure his grandfather would like. This vintage typewriter had caught his attention when he stepped inside.

Corrin was the only one he still had to buy for. His grandfather never expected anything, but Jeremiah still tried to pick something up for him if it caught his eye. It had been Corrin who had been nearly impossible to buy for this year. Even harder than his niece, and she couldn’t even tell him what she wanted yet.

He smiled as he thought of little Doreen, just over a year old and already giving his sister and brother-in-law a run for their money.

It was great.

He slid his finger over to the ‘R’ key and down to the ‘F’ but resisted the urge to press down on any of them; he didn’t need to get an even dirtier look from the shopkeeper. Yes, she would like this. It wasn’t their first Christmas together—last year they’d all agreed to get stuff they needed for the new house—but he wanted to make it the best one. For both of the people he loved.

With a sigh, he headed up to the counter. His steps felt heavy. He should have gone home and gotten some sleep, but he was nearly out of time. He figured he’d stop in on his way there. The exhaustion weighed down on him now.

“What can I help you with, young man?” The shopkeeper’s voice sounded tight and a bit disdainful. Jeremiah wondered if it would change the old man’s opinion of him to know he’d just come off a twenty-four hour shift at the fire station.

It didn’t matter. Jeremiah forced some cheerfulness into his voice. “I wondered about the old typewriter over there. How much do you want for it?”

The man made a sound almost like he had a hairball caught in his throat. His sister had given them a kitten over the summer—a stray she’d taken in had kittens and her husband insisted they couldn’t keep all of them—and it made that same noise.

 

RoWnd 4 Wrap-Up

Color Code:

Monthly Goal Met/Finished

Weekly Goal Met

Progress Made

Nothing Done

Set Aside

Plotting:

• Primary: Green Hills & Smoky Fields – Story Toolkit
• Secondary: Flames of Knowledge – Outline(if I finish drafting Still Burning)
• Stretch: James’ Story – Brainstorm(if I finish drafting Whatever It Takes)

Drafting:

• Primary: Write 165000 words on main projects – 125868/165000
  • Still Burning – finish 1st draft(or add at least 30000 words) – 30229/30000 I should have the first draft finished before the end of the month
  • Whatever It Takes – 30000 words – 17999/30000
  • High on Loving You – 30000 words – 18402/30000
  • Green Hills & Smoky Fields – 60000 words(NaNo project) – 53037/60000
  • By the Gun – 15000 words – 7191/15000
• Secondary: Add 15000 words to side projects – 11822/15000
• Stretch: Write 75 pages on Jonas & Isaac project – 51/75

Editing:

• Primary: Stained Blood – Beta edits as they come in – I’ve got through Chapter 5 done.
• Secondary: Flames of Renewal – CP edits once I get them(around SB chapters) – still nothing
• Stretch: Type up One Note projects into Scrivener(when I don’t have other editing to do) – Typed up 2 from Word(Love Who You Love & Ready When You Are) & almost half of one from One Note(Protecting the Heart).

Reading:

• Listen: 15 books – 20/15
• Read: 90 books – 57/90

Crafting:

• Knit: 3 projects – 2/3 finished
• Crochet: 3 projects – 2/3 finished

Not a whole lot of blue, but there is a lot of green, and only a little red. So, not too bad. Next round, I’m going to be concentrating more on one main project, so we’ll see if that makes a difference. And if I can actually stick with that for a whole round.

Writing Wednesday: White Christmas?

I was pretty sure we were going to have a white Christmas this year. The other week, we got dumped on. Over the last couple days, though, it’s warmed up again. Almost all the snow we had has melted. It is supposed to get colder over the weekend and might snow on Monday, so we may still wake up to that white stuff Christmas morning. We’ll see.

Last weekend, we had my niece’s birthday party and Christmas with my dad. I got a gift card for Amazon and have already spent about 2/3 of it. I got the first 3/5 books in the mail yesterday. Another should be coming today. The last was a pre-order and won’t be here until at least January 2. I may wait and see if I get more gift cards before I order more books. We’ll see. 😀

Sunday we made Christmas cookies. They’re almost gone. I knew we should have waited until this weekend.

Nothing else going on this week except the girl’s Christmas concert at school tomorrow night. Then, we’re having Christmas with mother-in-law Sunday, our Christmas then down to my mom’s Monday, and with step mother-in-law and husband’s siblings Tuesday.

But, right now it’s time for WiPPet Wednesday. Last week, we left Isaac thinking his dad wouldn’t care if he died. This week, I’ve got 6 paragraphs(12÷6), nearly just after last week’s(I skipped 2 paragraphs of just how awful Isaac’s father is).

He was trembling so hard that he barely made the turn into the Pederas’ driveway. Why had he come here? Why hadn’t he gone straight home? He could tell Roman what had happened. He’d know what to do. If that actually counted as his dad breaking the conditions or not.

But, instead he was here. If Toby was visiting his mom, he could ask him. Toby would know, too. He was the reason Isaac was safe now, but he knew that wasn’t why he’d come here. He stepped out of the car, barely managing to shove his keys in his pocket. He stumbled up the sidewalk to the porch, banging his hand on the front door.

His chest was heaving as if he’d run all the way here from the college, but even as the door started swinging open, his heart rate and breathing started to settle. As if his body knew exactly who was opening the door.

Jonas’ face brightened when he saw Isaac. “I didn’t think I’d see you already. How’d your last final go? Notice something different?”

Isaac barely took in the fact Jonas was standing on two legs. He was leaning hard against the door frame but he must have just gotten the prosthetic. But, he couldn’t think about that. And Jonas’ smile fled as if he realized something was wrong. “What happened?”

Isaac stepped into him, and Jonas’ arms came instantly around him. “I saw him,” Isaac gasped out. “He was there. He’s not going to leave me alone.”

And now for my final RoW80 update for this round. I’ll probably do a final one at the end of the month, with how the month, round, and year have gone according to my plan(or more likely completely off it).

Color Code:

Monthly Goal Met/Finished

Weekly Goal Met

Progress Made

Nothing Done

Set Aside

Plotting:

• Primary: Still Burning – Outline Act 4 – Outlined 12/12 scenes
• Secondary: Outline Act 4 for Green Hills & Smoky Fields 1, Whatever It Takes, & High on Loving You –
• Stretch: Flames of Knowledge – Brainstorm –General character mind map done. Also Connor’s and Camella’s.

Writing:

• Primary: Write 42500 words on main projects – 23729/42500
  • Still Burning(Mainest main project) – 14094/25000, 3436 this week
  • Green Hills & Smoky Fields – 2832/5000, 500 this week
  • Whatever It Takes – 2649/5000, 427 this week
  • High on Loving You – 2792/5000, 483 this week
  • By the Gun – 1362/2500, 346 this week
• Secondary: Write 7250 words on side projects – 4455/7250
  • Patrick & Sarah – 95/750
  • Tavin & Haiwee – 200/750
  • Roman – 0/750
  • Dougal & Shae – 404/750
  • Jacob & Matthew – 213/750
  • Mike & Fadil – 326/750
  • Hawk – 344/750
  • Sean & Braeden – 307/750
  • Melanie & Garren – 428/750
  • Desmund – 0/500
  • Christmas Short – 2136 words – this is a little something with Jeremiah, Corrin, & Silas that I hope to have up on my Patreon for Christmas.
• Stretch: Write 35 pages on Jonas & Isaac – 10/35

Editing:

• Primary: Stained Blood – beta edits – 0/21 chapters
• Secondary: Flames of Renewal – CP edits – 0/25 Chapters
• Stretch: Protecting the Heart – transfer from One Note to Scrivener – 9/24 Chapters

Reading:

• Primary: Read 30 books – 17/30
  • Flashpoint(Suzanne Brockmann) – Finished this Sunday evening. Really enjoyed it, even if it did take me a while to finish.
  • A Step Too Far(Krista Walsh) – Read this one Sunday. It was short, but I enjoyed the look at what happened between a couple books in the series.
  • The Christmas Fountain(Kait Nolan) – Read this Sunday night. It was a quick read and very sweet, and I loved it.
  • When We Met(Susan Mallery) – On page 150/344
  • Drawing Dead(S.M. Reine) – At 74%
  • Ravenous(R.G. Alexander) – At 6%
• Secondary: Listen to 5 audio books – 3/5
  • Strange the Dreamer(Laini Taylor) – On Chapter 22/68
  • Sweet Persuasion(Maya Banks) – On Chapter 13/35

Social Media:

• Primary: Post Writing Wednesday, Fiction Friday, Stream of Consciousness Saturday, Weekend Writing Warriors, & Sunday Summary each week – 13/23
• Secondary: Post to Patreon 2x – 1/2

Crafting:

• Knit: Split Crescents Knit Dishcloth – Knit 42/65 rows
• Crochet: Blended Granny Lapghan – 0/9 blocks, have first block started