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Sunday Summary: Caught Up

The boy(red shirt in middle) at his school concert Thursday night.

Yes, I did get caught up on all the things. I had all my writing goals for the week met by Wednesday afternoon. My crafting goals by Friday night. And I finished my reading goals Saturday night. And that was even with taking Monday off. It almost seems counter-intuitive. You’d think it would take longer to meet goals when I take a day off. Instead it seems to be the opposite. So, I guess I’ll keep up with that.

We had bunnies in the driveway the other day

Color Code:

Finished/Monthly Goal Met

Progress

Nothing Done

Set Aside

Plotting:

  • Primary: Craving You – Story Toolkit 
    • This Week – Locations, Act 1 Beat Sheet, Act 2 Beat sheet, Act 3 Beat sheet, Act 4 Beat Sheet, Timeline
  • Secondary: Craving You – Outline Act 1 
  • Tertiary: Flames of Knowledge – Outline Acts 3 
  • Stretch: Heart to Heart – Brainstorm

Writing

  • Primary: Flames of Knowledge – Chapter 28 – 12221/~15000 words
    • This Week: Get through Chapter 27 – Through Chapter 27/27
      • “If that’s what you’re thinking,” he said softly, “you’re wrong. This Ames just might not be the right one for you. Nothing says you have to find the right person for you right now.”
        “But, I thought they were. Everything was going well, then…” He let out a strangled sound and pulled at his hair. “I don’t know what happened.”
        “You’ll figure it out,” his father said, wrapping an arm around Connor’s shoulders and pulling him in against his chest. “I’ve got faith in you. I always have.”
  • Side Projects – 3350 words – 4546/3350 words
    • This Week: Riley Fire – 1000 words – 1709/1000 words
  • Jonas & Isaac – 15 pages – 16.67/15 pages
    • This Week: 2.25 pages – 4.83/2.25 pages
  • By the Gun – 6 scenes

Editing

  • Primary: Flames of Renewal – Beta edits(I wasn’t sure if I’d get these back before the end of the month, so I hadn’t initially included it. But I did) 
    • This Week: Compile comments through Chapter 24– Through Chapter 24/24
  • Primary2: Stained Blood – Beta edits
  • Secondary: Short Story Collection
    • Bree & Jenny
    • Goin’ Down
    • Meeting Jonas*
    • Changing History
  • Tertiary: Paint Me a Picture – Transfer to Scrivener
  • Stretch: Law of Choice – send to CP 

Reading:

  • Read: 20 books – 20/20
    • Inkmistress(Audrey Coulthurst) – Started this Sunday night(5/13). Finished it Saturday morning.
    • Shelter By the Sea(Elena Aitken) – Started this Wednesday afternoon. Finished it Saturday afternoon.
    • Exposed(Various) – Started this last Friday afternoon. Finished it this Friday afternoon.
    • Safe From Harm(Kate Serine) – Started this Monday morning. Finished it Monday night.
    • Ever Touched(Erin Zarro) – Started this Tuesday afternoon. Finished it Saturday evening.
    • Let’s Talk about Love(Claire Kann) – Started this Wednesday afternoon. On page 154/277
    • Deep Blue(Kat Martin) – Started this Thursday morning. Finished it Saturday night.
  • Listen: 5 books – 20/5 books
    • Happily Ever Ninja(Penny Reid) – Started this Monday morning. On Chapter 11/26
    • Dating-ish(Penny Reid) – Started this Monday afternoon. Finished it Tuesday afternoon.
    • West Cork: Aftershow(Sam Bungey, Jesse Baker & Jennifer Forde) – Listened to this Tuesday afternoon.
    • The Knocked-Up Plan(Lauren Blakely) – Started this Tuesday afternoon. Finished it Wednesday morning.
    • Stud Finder(Lauren Blakely) – Read this Wednesday morning.
    • When You Dare(Lori Foster) – Started this Wednesday morning. Finished it Thursday afternoon.
    • Trace of Fever(Lori Foster) – Started this Friday morning. On Chapter 17/22.

Social Media

  • Primary: Post 5 regular weekly posts – 20/21
    • This week:
      • Writing Wednesday
      • Fiction Friday
      • Stream of Consciousness Saturday
      • Weekend Writing Warriors
      • Sunday Summary
  • Secondary: Post 31 stories for Story a Day – 26/31
  • Tertiary: Make 3 Patreon posts – 2/3
    • This week: Post: Coming Soon

Crafting

He didn’t want me to knit anymore…or he just thought my yarn would make a nice pillow

  • Knit: Dunfallandy Baby Blanket
    • This Week – Finish Side 3 – 56/56 rows
  • Crochet: Boxy Blanket
    • This week – Get through Row 90 – 87/87 rows

Category:

writing

Tagged with:

Writing Wednesday: Cruising Along

Taking Mondays off from writing seems to be doing the trick for keeping my motivation up. Last week I had all my writing goals done by Thursday afternoon. This week, it’s looking like they may be done sometime today. Yesterday I managed to get through writing, editing, and half of plotting goals. Finished the plotting goals already this morning. I’m a bit behind on the reading goals, so I’ll catch up on those after I get the last of the writing goals done then probably start on next week’s writing goals.

I haven’t moved on to the next goal yet, so we’ll still count Craving You as what I’m working on and share more from one of the pieces I’ve written for Story a Day. This is from the other main character’s, Jeff, POV. Easy math today, 23 sentences for the day.

Someone dropped into the seat across from him, and he jerked his head up. “What are you doing here?” he asked Erik. That should be obvious, though, since he had an apron on over his clothes.
“I was back in the kitchen. Anna mentioned you were out here, looking upset. What’s wrong?”
“Not a thing,” Jeff said.
“Come on, man. I know you better than that. Something’s eating away at you. Why don’t you tell me what it is?”
Because he was part of it. Why couldn’t he see that? “I said I’m fine. I don’t need you of all people to be coming down on me.” He almost expected Erik to make some innuendo-laced joke. He usually did.
Instead the other man’s face paled, and he pushed up from his chair. “Fine,” he said. “I’ll just leave you here to wallow in whatever misery’s coating you. Have fun with it.”
“Shit,” Jeff said when Erik had returned to the kitchen. “What is wrong with me?”

What is wrong? Will Jeff keep lashing out? Or will he eventually let Erik in?(If he doesn’t, it wouldn’t be Romance, so I think we know the answer there).

Color Code:

Finished/Monthly Goal Met

Progress

Nothing Done

Set Aside

Plotting:

  • Primary: Craving You – Story Toolkit 
    • This Week – Locations, Act 1 Beat Sheet, Act 2 Beat sheet, Act 3 Beat sheet, Act 4 Beat Sheet, Timeline
  • Secondary: Craving You – Outline Act 1 
  • Tertiary: Flames of Knowledge – Outline Acts 3 
  • Stretch: Heart to Heart – Brainstorm

Writing

  • Primary: Flames of Knowledge – Chapter 28 – 12221/~15000 words
    • This Week: Get through Chapter 27 – Through Chapter 27/27
  • Side Projects – 3350 words – 2837/3350 words
    • This Week: Riley Fire – 1000 words – 0/1000 words
  • Jonas & Isaac – 15 pages – 11.5/15 pages
    • This Week: 2.25 pages – 0/2.25 pages
  • By the Gun – 6 scenes

Editing

  • Primary: Flames of Renewal – Beta edits(I wasn’t sure if I’d get these back before the end of the month, so I hadn’t initially included it. But I did) 
    • This Week: Compile comments through Chapter 24– Through Chapter 24/24
  • Primary2: Stained Blood – Beta edits
  • Secondary: Short Story Collection
    • Bree & Jenny
    • Goin’ Down
    • Meeting Jonas*
    • Changing History
  • Tertiary: Paint Me a Picture – Transfer to Scrivener
  • Stretch: Law of Choice – send to CP 

Reading:

  • Read: 20 books – 14/20
    • Inkmistress(Audrey Coulthurst) – Started this Sunday night. On page 201/387
    • Shelter By the Sea(Elena Aitken) – Started this Wednesday afternoon. At 38%
    • Exposed(Various) – Started this Friday afternoon. At 63%
    • Safe From Harm(Kate Serine) – Started this Monday morning. Finished it Monday night.
    • Ever Touched(Erin Zarro) – Started this Tuesday afternoon. At 37%
  • Listen: 5 books – 17/5 books
    • Happily Ever Ninja(Penny Reid) – Started this Monday morning. On Chapter 11/26
    • Dating-ish(Penny Reid) – Started this Monday afternoon. Finished it Tuesday afternoon.
    • West Cork: Aftershow(Sam Bungey, Jesse Baker & Jennifer Forde) – Listened to this Tuesday afternoon.
    • The Knocked-Up Plan(Lauren Blakely) – Started this Tuesday afternoon. On Chapter 31/43

Social Media

  • Primary: Post 5 regular weekly posts – 16/21
    • This week:
      • Writing Wednesday
      • Fiction Friday
      • Stream of Consciousness Saturday
      • Weekend Writing Warriors
      • Sunday Summary
  • Secondary: Post 31 stories for Story a Day – 22/31
  • Tertiary: Make 3 Patreon posts – 2/3
    • This week: Post: Coming Soon

Crafting

  • Knit: Dunfallandy Baby Blanket
    • This Week – Finish Side 3 – 40/56 rows
  • Crochet: Boxy Blanket
    • This week – Get through Row 90 – 84/90 rows

Category:

writing

Tagged with:

Sunday Summary: Back on Track

So, I took Monday off from writing(well, basically. I did finish off the chapter I’d been working on and I wrote a Story a Day piece). Tuesday I wrote over 3k on Flames of Knowledge. Then, I was able to get through the rest of my goals by the end of Thursday(actually I think it was by early afternoon). Which meant I was able to take Friday off as well. So, I think I will continue to do this.

She deigned to lay on my lap

Color Code:

Finished/Monthly Goal Met

Progress

Nothing Done

Set Aside

Plotting:

  • Primary: Craving You – Story Toolkit 
    • This Week – Character Arc 2, Romance Arc, Subplot, Event Brainstorm 1, Event Brainstorm 2
  • Secondary: Craving You – Outline Act 1 
  • Tertiary: Flames of Knowledge – Outline Acts 3 
  • Stretch: Heart to Heart – Brainstorm

Writing

  • Primary: Flames of Knowledge – Chapter 28 – 10525/~15000 words
    • This Week: Get through Chapter 26 – Through Chapter 26/26
      • Connor’s face flushed an even brighter red, which Ames hadn’t even thought possible, but nodded. What was so complicated? Either he liked them or not. Either he accepted them, and until today they’d thought he had, or he didn’t. It seemed pretty simple to Ames.
        Apparently not to Connor.
  • Side Projects – 3350 words – 2837/3350 words
    • This Week: Riley Fire – 1000 words – 1017/1000 words
  • Jonas & Isaac – 15 pages – 10.46/15 pages
    • This Week: 3.25 pages – 3.375/3.25 pages
  • By the Gun – 6 scenes

Editing

  • Primary: Flames of Renewal – Beta edits(I wasn’t sure if I’d get these back before the end of the month, so I hadn’t initially included it. But I did) 
    • This Week: Compile comments through Chapter 15 – Finished through Chapter 15/15
  • Primary2: Stained Blood – Beta edits
  • Secondary: Short Story Collection
    • Bree & Jenny
    • Goin’ Down
    • Meeting Jonas*
    • Changing History
  • Tertiary: Paint Me a Picture – Transfer to Scrivener
  • Stretch: Law of Choice – send to CP 

Reading:

  • Read: 20 books – 13/20
    • Yours for Christmas(Susan Mallery) – Started this Sunday afternoon.
    • Inkmistress(Audrey Coulthurst) – Started this Sunday night. On page 150/387
    • Oaths(Lindsay Buroker) – Started this Tuesday afternoon. Finished it Thursday afternoon.
    • Shelter By the Sea(Elena Aitken) – Started this Wednesday afternoon. At 19%
    • Origins(Lindsay Buroker) – Started this Thursday afternoon. Finished it Friday afternoon.
    • Exposed(Various) – Started this Friday afternoon. At 53%
  • Listen: 5 books – 14/5 books
    • Joy Ride(Lauren Blakely) – Started this Saturday morning. Finished it Sunday afternoon
    • Neanderthal Marries Human(Penny Reid) – Started this Monday morning. Finished it Tuesday afternoon.
    • Friends Without Benefits(Penny Reid) – Started this Tuesday afternoon. Finished it Wednesday evening.
    • Love Hacked(Penny Reid) – Started this Wednesday evening. Finished it Friday morning.
    • Beauty and the Mustache(Penny Reid) – Started this Friday morning. Finished it Saturday morning.
    • Ninja at First Sight(Penny Reid) – Started this Saturday morning. Finished it Saturday afternoon.

Social Media

  • Primary: Post 5 regular weekly posts – 15/21
    • This week:
      • Writing Wednesday
      • Fiction Friday
      • Stream of Consciousness Saturday
      • Weekend Writing Warriors
      • Sunday Summary
  • Secondary: Post 31 stories for Story a Day – 19/31
  • Tertiary: Make 3 Patreon posts – 1/3

Crafting

  • Knit: Dunfallandy Baby Blanket
    • This Week – Finish Side 3 – 28/56 rows
  • Crochet: Boxy Blanket
    • This week – Get through Row 80 – 80/80 rows

Sometimes he loses motivation halfway off the couch

Category:

writing

Tagged with:

Sunday Summary: Scaling Back

Not officially changing my goals on here. But I am planning to scale back a bit. I was doing some figuring and between all my series, I have 32 stories that either need to be edited or to be sent to my critique partner. That’s…a lot. And I do have a lot more ideas that I want to get written. I’ve also been feeling a little, I don’t know, self-pressured, I guess, to get it all done. So, I’m backing things off a bit.

Single flower growing

I’d gone from trying to finish a draft in one month, to two months. And now I’m going to scale back even further. Three months to finish a draft. That still seems pretty reasonable for me. And it will give me more time to work on everything else, too. If I finish early, that’s all the better.

Bunnies I saw on a walk

I’m planning to get through each weekly goal before I move on to the next. So, I’ll finish Flames of Knowledge for the week, then start on my editing goal and so on. I’m hoping this will work out for me.

Color Code:

Finished/Monthly Goal Met

Progress

Nothing Done

Set Aside

Plotting:

  • Primary: Craving You – Story Toolkit 
    • This Week – Supporting Characters, Character Arc 1, Character Arc 2, Romance Arc, Subplot
  • Secondary: Craving You – Outline Act 1 
  • Tertiary: Flames of Knowledge – Outline Acts 3 & 4
  • Stretch: Heart to Heart – Brainstorm

Writing

  • Primary: Flames of Knowledge – 1st draft – 6763/~35000 words
    • This Week: Get through Chapter 28 – On Chapter 25/28
  • Side Projects – 3350 words – 1820/3350 words
    • This Week: Riley Fire – 1000 words – 1007/1000 words
  • Jonas & Isaac – 15 pages – 7.08/15 pages
    • This Week: 3.5 pages – 3.92/3.5 pages
  • By the Gun – 6 scenes

Editing

  • Primary: Flames of Renewal – Beta edits(I wasn’t sure if I’d get these back before the end of the month, so I hadn’t initially included it. But I did) – started compiling comments into Scrivener. Through 6/25 chapters
  • Primary2: Stained Blood – Beta edits
  • Secondary: Short Story Collection
    • Bree & Jenny
      • This Week: 5 scenes – 0/5 scenes finished
    • Goin’ Down
    • Meeting Jonas*
    • Changing History
  • Tertiary: Paint Me a Picture – Transfer to Scrivener
  • Stretch: Law of Choice – send to CP – Sent it her way Wednesday.

Reading:

  • Read: 20 books – 10/20
    • Love and Murder(Kassandra Lamb) – Started this Saturday night. Finished it Friday night.
    • Hold Me Down Hard(Cathryn Fox) – Read this Monday afternoon.
    • Danger in the Stars(Veronica Scott) – Started this Tuesday afternoon. Finished it Tuesday evening.
    • In the Stars Part II(Debbie McGowan) – Started this Wednesday morning. At 62%
    • Sagitta(Ruby Lionsdrake) – Started this Thursday morning. Finished it Thursday night
    • Style(Chelsea M Cameron) – Started this Friday morning. Finished it Friday night.
    • Sweet Destiny(Penny Watson) – Read this Saturday night.
  • Listen: 5 books – 8/5 books
    • The Darkest Corner(Liliana Hart) – Started this Friday morning. Finished it Monday afternoon.
    • Full Package(Lauren Blakely) – Started this Monday afternoon. Finished it Tuesday morning.
    • Big Rock(Lauren Blakely) – Started this Tuesday afternoon. Finished it Wednesday morning.
    • Mister O(Lauren Blakely) – Started this Wednesday morning. Finished it Thursday morning.
    • Well Hung(Lauren Blakely) – Started this Thursday morning. Finished it Friday morning.
    • Joy Ride(Lauren Blakely) – Started this Saturday morning. On Chapter 28/56

Social Media

  • Primary: Post 5 regular weekly posts – 10/21
    • This week:
      • Writing Wednesday
      • Fiction Friday
      • Stream of Consciousness Saturday
      • Weekend Writing Warriors
      • Sunday Summary
  • Secondary: Post 31 stories for Story a Day – 12/31
  • Tertiary: Make 3 Patreon posts – 1/3

Crafting

  • Knit: Dunfallandy Baby Blanket
    • This Week – Finish Side 2 – 56/56 rows
  • Crochet: Boxy Blanket
    • This week – Get through Row 70 – 70/70 rows

Category:

writing

Tagged with:

Writing Wednesday: Slow Week

This week started out slow. Monday I woke late, and didn’t have time to get any of my ‘first thing in the morning’ writing done. Which always tends to throw me off. I did manage a little writing later in the morning, but my usual focus just wasn’t there. I did keep on track with Story a Day and I was able to do some plotting and work on Jonas & Isaac’s story in the notebook. But my other goals didn’t really happen.

Tuesday I woke up with my alarm and to an email from my beta reader for Flames of Renewal. So, a much better start to the day. 🙂 I did get more written though not nearly as much as I wanted to. It doesn’t seem to matter how much I tell my brain it’s time to work this week, it goes “but wouldn’t just reading be more fun.” Well, sure, but that doesn’t mean I can just forget about everything else. Stupid brain.

We’ll see if I can do better today. Though it’s been another slow start. Hopefully it’ll pick up.

Now, it’s time for another WiPPetWednesday! Today I only have one snippet for you. Still working on Jonas & Isaac and things are getting pretty intense there. But, for now, I’m just going to share from Flames of Knowledge. Today I have 9 paragraphs where Silas shows up at Connor’s apartment(I was actually struggling until Silas showed up. He’s such a scene stealer).

 “Did you just want to touch all my things, or is there a valid reason you’re here?” He didn’t mean to sound impatient, but he really wanted to get back to his canvas, now that he had a vision clear in his head.
Silas turned toward him and winked. “I wouldn’t mind touching your things, Connor, but I can only handle one Riley at a time. And Corrin’s taking up that spot.”
Connor’s face suddenly felt on fire. He hadn’t even realized there would be an innuendo for Silas to pick up. Of course, sometimes he thought the other man plucked them right out of the air. “That’s not what I meant.”
Silas snickered. “I know, but you made it too easy. What have you been up to? I imagine it isn’t letting anyone else touch your things. Lin said you haven’t been by the group lately.”
Connor could feel his face flushing hot again. “The beginning of the semester has been chaotic.”
“Lin’s just been worried. Are you sure everything’s okay?”
“Yeah, of course. Why wouldn’t it be?”
“Because you’re acting weird.” He grinned. “Weirder than usual, I mean.”
“Haha, very funny,” Connor commented. “And I’m not acting weird.”

Color Code:

Finished/Monthly Goal Met

Progress

Nothing Done

Set Aside

Plotting:

  • Primary: Craving You – Story Toolkit 
    • This Week – Supporting Characters, Character Arc 1, Character Arc 2, Romance Arc, Subplot
  • Secondary: Craving You – Outline Act 1 
  • Tertiary: Flames of Knowledge – Outline Acts 3 & 4
  • Stretch: Heart to Heart – Brainstorm

Writing

  • Primary: Flames of Knowledge – 1st draft – 6346/~35000 words
    • This Week: Get through Chapter 28 – On Chapter 25/28
  • Side Projects – 3350 words – 1258/3350 words
    • This Week: Riley Fire – 1000 words – 443/1000 words
  • Jonas & Isaac – 15 pages – 5.17/15 pages
    • This Week: 3.5 pages – 2/3.5 pages
  • By the Gun – 6 scenes

Editing

  • Primary: Flames of Renewal – Beta edits(I wasn’t sure if I’d get these back before the end of the month, so I hadn’t initially included it. But I did) – started compiling comments into Scrivener
  • Primary2: Stained Blood – Beta edits
  • Secondary: Short Story Collection
    • Bree & Jenny
      • This Week: 5 scenes – 0/5 scenes finished
    • Goin’ Down
    • Meeting Jonas*
    • Changing History
  • Tertiary: Paint Me a Picture – Transfer to Scrivener
  • Stretch: Law of Choice – send to CP – sent another message to CP to see if she’s ready for it yet.

Reading:

  • Read: 20 books – 5/20
    • Love and Murder(Kassandra Lamb) – Started this Saturday night. At 87%
    • Hold Me Down Hard(Cathryn Fox) – Read this Monday afternoon.
    • Danger in the Stars(Veronica Scott) – Started this Tuesday afternoon. Finished it Tuesday evening.
    • In the Stars Part II(Debbie McGowan) – Started this Wednesday morning. At 3%
  • Listen: 5 books – 5/5 books
    • The Darkest Corner(Liliana Hart) – Started this Friday morning. Finished it Monday afternoon.
    • Full Package(Lauren Blakely) – Started this Monday afternoon. Finished it Tuesday morning.
    • Big Rock(Lauren Blakely) – Started this Tuesday afternoon. On Chapter 26/33

Social Media

  • Primary: Post 5 regular weekly posts – 6/21
    • This week:
      • Writing Wednesday
      • Fiction Friday
      • Stream of Consciousness Saturday
      • Weekend Writing Warriors
      • Sunday Summary
  • Secondary: Post 31 stories for Story a Day – 8/31
  • Tertiary: Make 3 Patreon posts – 0/3

Crafting

  • Knit: Dunfallandy Baby Blanket
    • This Week – Finish Side 2 – 56/56 rows
  • Crochet: Boxy Blanket
    • This week – Get through Row 70 – 60/70 rows

Category:

writing

Tagged with:

Sunday Summary: Stuck Behind

I fell behind on my writing goals early in the week. And I never quite caught up. I did manage to finish some of the weekly goals, but not on my main project or editing. That happens sometimes, so I’m trying not to beat myself up about it too much. I did still get a good bit of writing done for the week,(3k+ days on Thursday & Friday).

In some good news, my husband went for a job interview Monday, was offered the job Tuesday, accepted it Wednesday, and signed the paperwork on Friday. This week will be his last at his old job and he’ll be starting the new one the following Monday. It will be less money per hour, but he’ll actually be getting hours. He’s basically guaranteed to work at least 55 hours a week(this may actually seem like a break when he was sometimes working over 70 during peak road construction season).

Color Code:

Finished/Monthly Goal Met

Progress

Nothing Done

Set Aside

Plotting:

  • Primary: Craving You – Story Toolkit 
    • This Week: Major Plot Points, Protagonist 1, Protagonist 2, & Antagonist sheets
  • Secondary: Craving You – Outline Act 1 
  • Tertiary: Flames of Knowledge – Outline Acts 3 & 4
    • This Week: Outline Act 3
  • Stretch: Heart to Heart – Brainstorm

Writing

  • Primary: Flames of Knowledge – 1st draft – 4940/~35000 words
    • This Week: Get through Chapter 25 – On Chapter 24/25
      • He started to shake his head, and Ames smacked the flat of their hand down on top of the sketchbook. “Stop that. Why do you keep insisting that what you do has no worth? That’s a bunch of bullshit, and you have to know it. Are you fishing for compliments? If so, you need to stop letting them get off the damn hook.”
  • Side Projects – 3350 words – 815/3350 words
    • This Week: Riley Fire – 800 words – 815/800 words
  • Jonas & Isaac – 15 pages – 3.125/15 pages
    • This Week: 3 pages – 3.125/3
  • By the Gun – 6 scenes

Editing

  • Primary: Stained Blood – Beta edits
  • Secondary: Short Story Collection
    • Bree & Jenny
      • This Week: Write 4 scenes – 2/4
    • Goin’ Down
    • Meeting Jonas*
    • Changing History
  • Tertiary: Paint Me a Picture – Transfer to Scrivener
  • Stretch: Law of Choice – send to CP

Reading:

  • Read: 20 books – 3/20
    • The Queen of Dauphine Street(Thea De Salle) – Started this Tuesday afternoon. Finished it Saturday evening.
    • Learning Curves(Cathryn Fox) – Started this Wednesday afternoon. Finished it Wednesday evening.
    • Dark of Night(Suzanne Brockmann) – Started this Thursday morning. On page 174/485
    • Love and Murder(Kassandra Lamb) – Started this Saturday night. At 10%
  • Listen: 5 books – 3/5 books
    • Rules for a Proper Governess(Jennifer Ashley) – Started this Monday afternoon. Finished it Wednesday morning.
    • A Mackenzie Clan Gathering(Jennifer Ashley) – Started this Wednesday afternoon. Finished it Wednesday evening
    • The Stolen Mackenzie Bride(Jennifer Ashley) – Started this Thursday morning. Finished it Friday morning.
    • The Darkest Corner(Liliana Hart) – Started this Friday morning. On Chapter 6/25

Social Media

  • Primary: Post 5 regular weekly posts – 5/21
    • This week:
      • Writing Wednesday
      • Fiction Friday
      • Stream of Consciousness Saturday
      • Weekend Writing Warriors
      • Sunday Summary
  • Secondary: Post 31 stories for Story a Day – 5/31
  • Tertiary: Make 3 Patreon posts – 0/3

Crafting

  • Knit: Dunfallandy Baby Blanket
    • This Week – Finish Side 2 – 54/56 rows
  • Crochet: Boxy Blanket
    • This week – Get through Row 50 – 45/50 rows

Category:

writing

Tagged with:

Writing Wednesday: Starting Behind

I seem to be falling behind on goals at the beginning of this month. I really don’t like that feeling, even though I have time to catch up. I’ve been having trouble waking up with my alarm the last couple days, leaving me not much time to write before the kids wake up. And that tends to be my best writing time. I did manage to finish Camp NaNo on time, but only because I cut my initial goal in half. I’m still working on Monday’s chapter today(finished it between writing that and posting). But, I’m hoping to start getting caught up.

Checking things out the open window

Some of the stress that may have been eating away at my focus the last few months may ease up soon. Husband was offered a new job. We’ve really been struggling this winter. He didn’t make as much money last year, so we weren’t as far ahead when he got laid off in November. And when our mortgage is almost as much as one unemployment payment(which we get every 2 weeks), we’ve fallen behind. Tax refund helped, but not quite enough. This new job is actually less $ an hour than he’s making now, but it’s guaranteed hours(between 55-60 every week). Right now, he’s not even getting 40 hours a week, and may not until June, if then. And it’s year round, so we won’t have to deal with unemployment every winter. He hasn’t officially accepted, but when we talked about it yesterday, neither of us saw a reason to turn it down.

Enough of all that. It’s time for WiPPet Wednesday again!! Thanks to the inimitable Emily Wrayburn for hosting this each week! I’m doubling up again this week. Since it’s 5/2, I once again have 5 paragraphs from each of my 2 projects. As usual, first up is Jonas & Isaac. And they aren’t exactly following Arcelia’s order to not do anything she wouldn’t from last week:

“Isn’t this a part of your body?” Isaac asked, kissing under his chin. “And here.” The corner of his jaw. “Or here.” Just under his ear.

“Is,” Jonas hissed as Isaac sucked on that patch of skin. “Please. Down further.”

Isaac’s lips brushed the front of his shoulder. “This far enough?”

“No, damn it,” Jonas growled.

Isaac laughed then his hands moved up under Jonas’ shirt, his fingers just tickling under the other man’s ribs. He could feel his body taut under him, one part straining more than the rest. He knew that was the part Jonas really wanted touched, but this game of teasing was too much fun.

Mean, mean Isaac. Not that Jonas is complaining too much. 😉

And for Flames of Knowledge. Connor’s older brother has come by and is trying to talk him into joining a family thing. He was a bit hesitant as their family gatherings tend to be large and he’s unsettled around a lot of people, even family(Yes, I’ve thrown personal experience into aspects of this character).

Connor wasn’t sure about the glint in Adrian’s eyes. But, he’d been in as soon as he mentioned the firefighters. Ames wasn’t one, but they worked with them. So, maybe they’d be there as well.
“Yeah, I’ll come,” he said, hoping he didn’t sound too eager about it.
“You might want to wash up first,” Adrian said with a smirk. “You’ve got paint in your hair.”
“How?” Connor said, exasperated. “I didn’t even actually paint today.”
Adrian roared with laughter as Connor headed into the bathroom. At least someone got a kick out of this. No wonder Ames didn’t want anything to do with him. He was an utter mess.

That’s not it at all, Connor. And Ames will want something to do with you. Just give them a chance. 😉

Color Code:

Finished/Monthly Goal Met

Progress

Nothing Done

Set Aside

Plotting:

  • Primary: Nowhere to Run – Outline
  • Secondary: Craving You – Outline
    • This week: Story Toolkit(sheet 3) –
  • Tertiary: Flames of Knowledge – Outline Acts 2, 3, & 4
  • Stretch: Heart to Heart – Brainstorm

Writing:

  • Primary: Flames of Knowledge – Chapter 21/42 – 35035/~35000 words
    • This Week: Chapter 21
  • Secondary: Side Projects – 3350 words – 3673/3350 words
    • This week: Hawk – 200 words – 229/200 words
  • Tertiary: Jonas & Isaac – 15 pages – 15.63/15 pages
  • By the Gun – 2000 words

Editing:

  • Primary: Stained Blood – Beta edits
  • Secondary: Flames of Renewal – Send to Betas(if anyone’s interested in giving feedback, let me know. You can find a summary here)
  • Tertiary: Short Story Collection
    • Mistaken Meeting
    • Hang On 
    • Bree & Jenny
      • This Week – Plot rest of story
  • Stretch: Law of Choice – send to CP

Reading:

  • Read: 20 books – 25/20
    • Some Like It Charming(Megan Bryce) – Started this Saturday night. Finished it Sunday afternoon.
    • Playing to Win(Avery Cockburn) – Started this Sunday afternoon. Finished it Monday night.
  • Listen: 5 books – 18/5
    • Scandal and the Duchess(Jennifer Ashley) – Started this Monday morning. Finished it Monday morning(just before noon).
    • Rules for a Proper Governess(Jennifer Ashley) – Started this Monday afternoon. On Chapter 5/29

Social Media:

  • Primary: Post 5 regular weekly posts – 21/21 posts
  • Secondary: A-Z Challenge – 26/26 posts
  • Tertiary: Patreon – 3/3 posts

Crafting:

  • Knit: Dunfallandy Baby Blanket
    • This week: Finish border, side 2 – 28/56 rows done
  • Crochet: Boxy Blanket
    • This week: get through row 50 – 42/50 rows

Since it’s the end of the month, I’ll evaluate how the round is going so far:

Plotting:

  • Primary: Nowhere to Run(Gilbert #8 – James & Tracy) – Finish outline
  • Secondary: Craving You(Kurztown #7 – Erik & Jeff) – Outline – Started on Story Toolkit
  • Tertiary: Heart to Heart(Standalone) – Outline
  • Stretch: Rileys #2(Arlene, Christopher, & John Neil & Lin) – Outline

Writing:

  • Primary: Flames of Knowledge – 1st draft – about halfway through
  • Secondary: Green Hills & Smoky Fields2 – 1st draft
  • Tertiary: Nowhere to Run – 1st draft
  • Stretch1: Side projects – add 10000 words – 3673/10000 words
  • Stretch2: Jonas & Isaac – 45 pages – 15.63/45 pages
  • Stretch3: By the Gun – Finish part 2

Editing:

  • Primary: Stained Blood – Beta Edits
  • Secondary: Flames of Renewal – Send to betas, beta edits, polish
  • Tertiary: Short Story collection – edit Contemporary stories – 2/5 edited
  • Stretch: Law of Choice – send to CP, CP edits

Publishing:

  • Flames of Renewal – publish

Reading:

  • Read: 60 books – 25/60
  • Listen: 15 books – 18/5

Social Media:

  • Primary: A-Z Challenge – 26/26
  • Secondary: Story a Day
  • Tertiary: Patreon – 9 posts – 3/9

Crafting:

  • Knit – 3 projects – 0/3 – still working on Dunfallandy Baby Blanket
  • Crochet – 2 projects – 0/2 – still working on Boxy Blanket

And now goals for May:

Plotting:

  • Primary: Craving You – Story Toolkit 
    • This Week: Major Plot Points, Protagonist 1, Protagonist 2, & Antagonist sheets
  • Secondary: Craving You – Outline Act 1 
  • Tertiary: Flames of Knowledge – Outline Acts 3 & 4
    • This Week: Outline Act 3
  • Stretch: Heart to Heart – Brainstorm

Writing

  • Primary: Flames of Knowledge – 1st draft – 1753/~35000 words
    • This Week: Get through Chapter 25 – On Chapter 22/25
  • Side Projects – 3350 words – 0/3350 words
  • Jonas & Isaac – 15 pages – 0/15 pages
  • By the Gun – 6 scenes

Editing

  • Primary: Stained Blood – Beta edits
  • Secondary: Short Story Collection
    • Bree & Jenny
      • This Week: Write 4 scenes
    • Goin’ Down
    • Meeting Jonas*
    • Changing History
  • Tertiary: Paint Me a Picture – Transfer to Scrivener
  • Stretch: Law of Choice – send to CP

Reading:

  • Read: 20 books – 0/20
    • The Queen of Dauphine Street(Thea De Salle) – Started this Tuesday afternoon. At 23%
  • Listen: 5 books – 1/5 books
    • Rules for a Proper Governess(Jennifer Ashley) – Started this Monday afternoon. Finished it Wednesday morning.

Social Media

  • Primary: Post 5 regular weekly posts – 1/21
    • This week:
      • Writing Wednesday
      • Fiction Friday
      • Stream of Consciousness Saturday
      • Weekend Writing Warriors
      • Sunday Summary
  • Secondary: Post 31 stories for Story a Day – 1/31
    • This Week:
  • Tertiary: Make 3 Patreon posts – 0/3

Crafting

  • Knit: Dunfallandy Baby Blanket
    • This Week – Finish Side 2 – 34/56 rows
  • Crochet: Boxy Blanket
    • This week – Get through Row 50 – 45/50 rows

Category:

writing

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Sunday Summary: Steady Week

It was a pretty steady weak for me. I made progress and ended up being able to cross just about everything off my list for the week. Friday I had a sudden burst of words, so that was certainly good.

There’s not much more to say about the week, so I’ll get right into my progress.

Color Code:

Finished/Monthly Goal Met

Progress

Nothing Done

Set Aside

Plotting:

  • Primary: Nowhere to Run – Outline
    • This week: List all scenes in Scrivener, Outline Act 1
  • Secondary: Craving You – Outline
    • This week: Erik’s back story, Jeff’s back story
  • Tertiary: Flames of Knowledge – Outline Acts 2, 3, & 4
    • This week: Outline Act 2 – 20/20 scenes outlined
  • Stretch: Heart to Heart – Brainstorm

Writing:

  • Primary: Flames of Knowledge – Chapter 21/42 – 26142/~35000 words
    • This week: Through Chapter 15/21 – Through Chapter 15/15
      • “I can’t see you doing that. When have you ever screwed anything up? That’s me, remember?”
        “Except you have two kids and a woman who is so ready to walk down the aisle and marry you. You’re not a screw up, Callum.”
        “Not anymore. That doesn’t change the things I’ve done before. You’re going to be fine, Connor. Trust me, this family won’t let you be anything else.”
  • Secondary: Side Projects – 3350 words – 2893/3350 words
    • This week:
      • Kayla & Reese: 1000 words – 1019/1000
  • Tertiary: Jonas & Isaac – 15 pages – 12.67/15 pages
    • This week: 3.25 pages – 3.67/3.25 pages
  • By the Gun – 2000 words

Editing:

  • Primary: Stained Blood – Beta edits
  • Secondary: Flames of Renewal – Send to Betas(if anyone’s interested in giving feedback, let me know. You can find a summary here)
  • Tertiary: Short Story Collection
    • Mistaken Meeting
    • Hang On
      • This week: edit 5 scenes – 6/5, 2451 words
    • Bree & Jenny
  • Stretch: Law of Choice – send to CP

Reading:

  • Read: 20 books – 16/20
    • Melting Into You(Tracey Alvarez) – Started this Sunday morning. Finished it Sunday evening.
    • Echoes in Death(J.D. Robb) – Started this Sunday night. Finished it Friday night.
    • Love on the Tracks(Tamsen Parker) – Started this Monday night. At 11%
    • Into the Fire(Suzanne Brockmann) – Started this on Wednesday morning. On page 190/578
  • Listen: 5 books – 12/5
    • The Bridegroom Wore Plaid(Grace Burrows) – Started this Saturday morning. Finished it Monday afternoon.
    • Her Every Wish(Courtney Milan) – Started this Monday afternoon. Finished it Monday evening.
    • The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie(Jennifer Ashley) – Started this Tuesday morning. Finished it Tuesday evening.
    • Lady Isabella’s Scandalous Marriage(Jennifer Ashley) – Started this Wednesday morning. On Chapter 21/23
    • The Many Sins of Lord Cameron(Jennifer Ashley) – Started this Thursday morning. Finished it Friday afternoon.
    • The Duke’s Perfect Wife(Jennifer Ashley) – Started this Friday afternoon. On Chapter 7/24

Social Media:

Crafting:

  • Knit: Dunfallandy Baby Blanket
    • This week: get more yarn, finish side 1 of border, picked up stitches for side 2 & knit 2 rows
  • Crochet: Boxy Blanket
    • This week: get to 40 rows – On row 40/40

Category:

writing

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Writing Wednesday: Staying on Track

I’m not quite sure how to categorize this week. I’ve been making some progress. Nothing too exciting. But, I’m staying fairly well on track with my goals.

Monday my husband had a job interview. They still haven’t started back at his current job. Usually they’re back to work by early in April. They’re thinking it will be May before they start back now, and as of right now, they don’t have many jobs lined up. So, he’s looking for something that will be year round. Dealing with unemployment for at least four months out of the year is getting stressful. He’s got an application in at another place, too, so hopefully he’ll hear something from one of them.

The kids brought home report cards Friday. Other than an 89 in math, the girl had nearly perfect grades(99% in writing, 100 in reading/vocab, science/social studies, & word study). The boy had grades all in the “advanced” range(93-100%) in math, reading, and word study. And proficient through his writing rubric. So, they’re both doing good.

I’m doing a double shot for WiPPet Wednesday again. Today is 4/18, so I took 4+18=22. So, I’ll take one 2 from the 22 for each project. First, we have more from Jonas & Isaac. Isaac is on his way to Jonas’ now. And thinks he sees someone following him.

“Letting your fear get to you again,” he murmured. He needed to stop that. His father was not following him through the city. He’d only wanted to frighten Isaac the other day.

And it had worked. He couldn’t let it anymore.

Is Isaac right? Or does he have reason to worry?

And for Flames of Knowledge. This is from the next scene from what I shared from last week, in Ames’ POV now.

They doubted Connor ever would, especially with the family he came from. So, there was no point going there. No matter how cute he looked with those glasses on, and was that paint in his hair?
Ames nearly laughed at the sight but turned away instead. Better that way. No need to get their hopes up only to have them dashed as so many people had before. Sometimes living on their own was just the easier way to go, even if Ames wouldn’t mind the closeness they’d seen between couples. Maybe it just wasn’t meant for them.

Connor had a very similar thought in the scene before. And they may both just be a little bit wrong. 🙂

Now, for my progress:

Color Code:

Finished/Monthly Goal Met

Progress

Nothing Done

Set Aside

Plotting:

  • Primary: Nowhere to Run – Outline
    • This week: List all scenes in Scrivener, Outline Act 1
  • Secondary: Craving You – Outline
    • This week: Erik’s back story, Jeff’s back story
  • Tertiary: Flames of Knowledge – Outline Acts 2, 3, & 4
    • This week: Outline Act 2
  • Stretch: Heart to Heart – Brainstorm

Writing:

  • Primary: Flames of Knowledge – Chapter 21/42 – 19836/~35000 words
    • This week: Through Chapter 15/21 – Through Chapter 12/15, started Chapter 13
  • Secondary: Side Projects – 3350 words – 2283/3350 words
    • This week:
      • Kayla & Reese: 1000 words – 409/1000
  • Tertiary: Jonas & Isaac – 15 pages – 10.37/15 pages
    • This week: 3.25 pages – 2.33/3.25 pages
  • By the Gun – 2000 words

Editing:

  • Primary: Stained Blood – Beta edits
  • Secondary: Flames of Renewal – Send to Betas(if anyone’s interested in giving feedback, let me know. You can find a summary here)
  • Tertiary: Short Story Collection
    • Mistaken Meeting
    • Hang On
      • This week: edit 5 scenes – 2/5
    • Bree & Jenny
  • Stretch: Law of Choice – send to CP

Reading:

  • Read: 20 books – 14/20
    • Melting Into You(Tracey Alvarez) – Started this Sunday morning. Finished it Sunday evening.
    • Echoes in Death(J.D. Robb) – Started this Sunday night. On page 139/387
    • Love on the Tracks(Tamsen Parker) – Started this Monday night. At 11%
  • Listen: 5 books – 10/5
    • The Bridegroom Wore Plaid(Grace Burrows) – Started this Saturday morning. Finished it Monday afternoon.
    • Her Every Wish(Courtney Milan) – Started this Monday afternoon. Finished it Monday evening.
    • The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie(Jennifer Ashley) – Started this Tuesday morning. Finished it Tuesday evening.
    • Lady Isabella’s Scandalous Marriage(Jennifer Ashley) – Started this Wednesday morning. On Chapter 1/23

Social Media:

  • Primary: Post 5 regular weekly posts – 12/21 posts
    • This week:
      • Writing Wednesday
      • Fiction Friday
      • Stream of Consciousness Saturday
      • Weekend Writing Warriors
      • Sunday Summary
  • Secondary: A-Z Challenge – 15/26 posts
  • Tertiary: Patreon – 1/3 posts

Crafting:

  • Knit: Dunfallandy Baby Blanket
    • This week: get more yarn, finish side 1 of border
  • Crochet: Boxy Blanket
    • This week: get to 40 rows – On row 29/40

Category:

writing

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Sunday Summary: Catching Up

I fell a bit behind on my main writing goal this week. I’d been working on a chapter a day. Then, I ended up adding a few extra scenes to one of those chapters and that ended up putting me behind. But, this weekend, the kids spent the weekend at my mom and stepdad’s.

We were supposed to go to a party with the motorcycle club we’re a part of this weekend. But, since we weren’t able to get the dogs into the kennel, and money’s been tight, so we hadn’t booked a hotel room yet anyway, we decided not to go. But, we’d lined up my mom to watch the kids back around Thanksgiving, so we still sent them. And my husband went on an ATV poker run. Which left me home all by my lonesome(this is my perfect state of being actually). 😉 So, I used that time to catch up on both my writing and reading. And it was a successful venture(more on that below)!

Last Thursday, hubby ripped up a section of the kitchen floor, right between the kitchen and entry way because it was getting awfully soft. Then, he put new flooring down. It looks a lot nicer now.

Old Floor

New floor

That’s pretty much the most exciting thing that’s happened this week. 🙂

Color Code:

Finished/Monthly Goal Met

Progress

Nothing Done

Set Aside

Plotting:

  • Primary: Nowhere to Run – Outline
    • This week: Beat sheets Act 1, 2, 3, & 4, & Timeline
  • Secondary: Craving You – Outline
  • Tertiary: Flames of Knowledge – Outline Acts 2, 3, & 4
  • Stretch: Heart to Heart – Brainstorm

Writing:

  • Primary: Flames of Knowledge – Chapter 21/42 – 17804/~35000 words
    • This week: Through Chapter 10/21 – Finished Chapter 10/10
      • Ames spun around but their shoulders slumped when they saw Connor coming toward them. There was a kid behind him, but he ducked into the room Kelan had been in. Ames stepped toward Connor and when his arm went around them, that feeling of wrongness left from the call with their sister just dissipated.
  • Secondary: Side Projects – 3350 words – 1874/3350 words
    • This week:
      • Kayla & Reese: 1000 words – 1030/1000
  • Tertiary: Jonas & Isaac – 15 pages – 8.04/15 pages
    • This week: 3.5 pages – 4.42/3.5 pages
  • By the Gun – 2000 words

Editing:

  • Primary: Stained Blood – Beta edits
  • Secondary: Flames of Renewal – Send to Betas(if anyone’s interested in giving feedback, let me know. You can find a summary here)
  • Tertiary: Short Story Collection
    • Mistaken Meeting
    • Hang On
      • This week: read through, edit – I got through the first few scenes and added in 1 new one. Added 1196 words
    • Bree & Jenny
  • Stretch: Law of Choice – send to CP

Reading:

  • Read: 20 books – 13/20
    • Singe(Aly Martinez) – Started this Saturday night. Finished it Sunday afternoon.
    • Fatal Flaw(Marie Force) – Started this Sunday afternoon. Finished it Thursday night.
    • Fortitude Smashed(Taylor Brooke) – Started this Monday night. Finished it Saturday night.
    • Revelations(Lindsay Buroker) – Started this Tuesday morning. Finished it Tuesday night.
    • Don’t Walk Away(Vivian Arend & Elle Kennedy) – Started this Wednesday morning. Finished it Wednesday night.
    • Mask of Shadows(Linsey Miller) – Started this Friday morning. Finished it Saturday afternoon. LOVED IT!!! But, I have to wait until August for book 2 😦
  • Listen: 5 books – 7/5
    • Angels’ Blood(Nalini Singh) – Started this Monday morning. Finished it Monday evening.
    • Traitor to the Throne(Alwyn Hamilton) – Started this Tuesday morning. Finished it Wednesday afternoon.
    • An Unnatural Vice(K.J. Charles) – Started this Thursday morning. Finished it Friday afternoon.
    • The Bridegroom Wore Plaid(Grace Burrows) – Started this Saturday morning. On Chapter 7/17

Social Media:

Crafting:

  • Knit: Dunfallandy Baby Blanket
    • This week: finish side 1 of border – up to row 48/56 – ran out of yarn
  • Crochet: Boxy Blanket
    • This week: get to 20 rows – 27 rows

Category:

writing

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