Writing Wednesday: Camp Time

Camp NaNoWriMo, that is. I started on Sunday, although I only wrote 275 words then. I’m working on Flames of Knowledge for this one. I’m hoping to finish the whole first draft this month, but we’ll see how that goes. Next month, I’ll be doing Story a Day again, as well as trying to draft Green Hills & Smoky Fields 2(I really need to come up with titles for the individual novels in this series), June should be for Nowhere to Run, then July’s camp will be Craving You(the next in my Kurztown series). Of course, I just started plotting that one, but I shouldn’t have any problem having it ready to write by then. Of course, if I find finishing a draft in one month too much, I’ll have to stretch out that schedule. We’ll see.

Kids go back to school today after almost a whole week off. It wasn’t too bad, they mostly do their own thing, so I was still able to get a good bit of work done. I’ve needed the writing after spending Easter at my mom’s. I could get into everything that was said there that got me worked up. I just wished I had an actual backbone and my voice didn’t seize up when I’m upset. But, then everyone probably would have piled on me, because of course no one else’s opinion is ever right, and I just don’t know how things really are. Because my thoughts and feelings are invalid if they don’t match everyone else’s. And at 33, I still haven’t unlearned that it’s just easier to keep my mouth shut apparently.

Anyway, my kids were really cute for Easter. They both picked out their Easter outfits on their own.

And I’ve been able to bury myself in words and throw some of my feelings into the writing. Which is probably why Ames vented about their family to a friendly listening ear(Nolan, who keeps popping up in the stories despite already having his happy ending ;)).

It’s WiPPet Wednesday time again!! I’m cheating a little today, maybe. It’s 4/4, so I’m taking 4 paragraphs from 2 different projects to share. First, we have Jonas & Isaac(Jonas is having a dark moment and just told Isaac he shouldn’t be there):

“Yes, I should.” He slid his fingers through Jonas’ hair. “We said we were going to move forward together. How can we do that if I’m not here with you?”

“I’m just going to drag you into Hell with me.”

The words made him want to cry. He remembered thinking the same thing years ago, only with their positions reversed. He hadn’t realized then how much the words must have cut into Jonas, because now he felt like he was bleeding. But, Jonas had not left his side then, and Isaac wasn’t going to, either.

“Then, we’ll take the devil on together.”

Will Jonas get through this, or at least let Isaac help him?

And now for a snippet of Flames of Knowledge. 4 paragraphs again.

Connor laughed at that. He’d seen the two men interact before, and if he hadn’t known there was no blood between them, he would have assumed they truly were brothers. “Where is the little guy anyway? I figured you’d at least be giving your wife a break today.”
Nolan just laughed. Then, he said, “With all your family here today, did you really think either of us would even get to hold our son?”
Connor let out a huff of breath that could maybe have been called a laugh. He should have figured that. “I guess I should make my rounds before I get accused of being anti-social again.” He was here, wasn’t he? Shouldn’t that count for something?
Nolan clapped him on the shoulder. “I believe your mom and aunts took him down to the house. Shouldn’t be too hard to find him.”

I know exactly how you feel, Connor.

Do you want to see more of Connor(and eventually Ames) or should I go back to Jonas & Isaac?

Color Code:

Finished/Monthly Goal Met

Progress

Nothing Done

Set Aside

Plotting:

• Primary: Nowhere to Run – Outline
  • This week: Through Locations(sheet 20/25) – through romance arc(1/5 sheets), skipped subplot sheet(not sure about subplot yet),
• Secondary: Craving You – Outline
  • This week: brainstorming, GMCs, Erik’s back story – Jeff’s & Jakob’s mind maps
• Tertiary: Flames of Knowledge – Outline Acts 2, 3, & 4
• Stretch: Heart to Heart – Brainstorm

Writing:

• Primary: Flames of Knowledge – 1st draft – 7132/~65000 words
  • This week: Through Chapter 10/40 – drafted 4/10 chapters
• Secondary: Side Projects – 3350 words – 220/3350 words
  • This week:
    • Kayla & Reese: 400 words – 215/400 words
    • Hawk: 400 words – 198/400 words
• Tertiary: Jonas & Isaac – 15 pages – 1.625/15 pages
  • This week: 3.5 pages – 1.625/3.5 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
    • This week: edit last 2 scenes, polish – 3/2 scenes edited(split last scene into 2. This was one I wrote for Story a Day and added it into this draft)
  • Hang On
    • This week: organize scenes, read through
  • Bree & Jenny
• Stretch: Law of Choice – send to CP

Reading:

• Read: 20 books – 2/20
  • Treyjon(Ruby Lionsdrake) – Started this Sunday morning. Finished it Sunday evening.
  • Stowaway(Veronica Scott) – Started this Sunday night. Finished it Monday night.
  • After the Storm(Maya Banks) – Started this Tuesday afternoon. On page 155/392
• Listen: 5 books – 1/5
  • Sweet Talk(Susan Mallery) – Started this Monday morning. Finished it Tuesday afternoon.
  • Shifting Gears(Riley Hart) – Started this Tuesday afternoon. On chapter 14/39

Social Media:

• Primary: Post 5 regular weekly posts – 2/21 posts
  • This week:
    • Writing Wednesday
    • Fiction Friday
    • Stream of Consciousness Saturday
    • Weekend Writing Warriors
    • Sunday Summary
• Secondary: A-Z Challenge – 3/26 posts
  • This week:
    • B: John Brockway
    • C: Christopher Takoda
    • D: Donovan Riley
    • E: Eamon Chaney
    • F: Frederick Stulz
    • G: Gio Magaldi
• Tertiary: Patreon – 0/3 posts

Crafting:

• Knit: Dunfallandy Baby Blanket
  • This week: finish side 1 of border – up to row 31/56
• Crochet: Boxy Blanket
  • This week: start blanket – 5 rows

Writing Wednesday: Settling In

The kids have been back in school for just over a week, and I’m settling into a routine. Writing for 3 hours(starting before they wake up), then wash dishes and some sort of exercise(want to start going for walks, but have been busy moving the tree that fell into the yard and husband has cut up to the wood pile in the back yard), then edit for an hour and finish the other chores. Plot for another hour before writing/reading blog posts(today’s is late because I can’t stop wavering over what snippet to post) and other social media stuff then everything else on my list. Not quite ahead yet but staying on track. I probably could be ahead but Roni Loren’s newest, Loving You Easy came out yesterday, and I decided to slip it in and spent from 3-11pm reading it yesterday. It was a wonderful use of my time, though.

Today is Wednesday, though, so it’s time for a WiPPet snippet. I started out the day working on Shed Some Light, but met my goal on that so moved on to Closing Time. So, that’s what I’ll be sharing from that for today. I have 7 paragraphs from the first chapter. I was going to share something later, but decided to start here.

Gio leaned against the table and grinned at his older sister. “Not much longer to go, huh, big sis? You ready to attach your ball and chain to this guy?” He jerked his thumb toward the tall, heavily muscled man sitting beside Caitie. He didn’t think the man had stopped smiling all night.

“Only if I can detach his from the fire truck.”

Mark laughed and leaned over to whisper something in her ear. Gio didn’t hear what it was, but it had her flushing pink. Now, that was new. Usually nothing caused that reaction in her. But, he’d noticed Nolan flinch on the other side of the table at Caitie’s comment. Mark apparently had too since he looked straight at the man. “Heard the Chief cut right through yours. You still on the ‘no extra shifts’ order?”

“Yep,” Nolan said, lifting his second bottle of Rolling Rock to his lips. “He extended it through the end of the month. My own fault,” he muttered. “I went a little overboard.”

The woman beside him, his wife, Maura, squeezed his hand but didn’t say anything. Still he slipped his arm around her shoulders. Gio felt something slide through him at the sight of them. Jealousy? No, that wasn’t right. He wasn’t jealous of Nolan…or Maura. He didn’t want either of them. He wanted…

Gio glanced over his shoulder back at the bar. And the bartender who was leaning against it, his eyes focused on this table. He let out a sigh. Yeah, him. But, he didn’t seem to want him back.

Didn’t that always seem to be the way?

Ah, Gio. Never fret. he might just like you a lot more than you think. Or does he? 😉

As for my progress this week:

• Write 15000 words – 4767 words so far. Behind on this. May not meet it.
  • Shed Some Light – 4437 words -“If you can see past the guilt he’s carrying, why can’t you see past your own?”
  • Closing Time – 330 words -“What do you want?” Cam asked, finally lifting his head. “You have to tell me. I won’t take more than you’re willing to give.”
• Story a Day – write 7 stories – 3/7 stories so far. On track.
  • A Few Rational Words – scene from Carlos’ youngest sister’s POV – haven’t quite got to this point in the story, but I’ll probably rewrite at least part of this for the WiP.
  • Going In – scene from Toby’s POV
  • Past the Guilt – scene of dialogue between Carlos & Roman. And yes, the above snippet did come from this.
• Stained by Ashes – Finish proofreading, get cover, & format – this is taking longer than I thought, but I’m almost halfway through the proofread.
• Toby & Denise – Write Toby’s back story, start Denise’s back story – Making progress on Toby’s back story. it’s going to be another long one, I think. Though I’ve likely gotten through the most interesting parts.
• Side Projects – 2000 words – 863 words, all on Dance with the Devil – “Just relax,” Hawk told me. “No one cares. Particularly right now. Hold on to me a little longer.”
• Read: Writing Active Hooks: Book 1 – get to 65% – up to 43% on this. A little behind but could catch up quick enough.
• Listen: Lord John & The Private Matter(Diana Gabaldon) & Empire of Storms(Sarah J. Maas)* don’t actually have this yet, but it comes out on Tuesday – I finished Lord John & The Private Matter(liked for the most part). I started Empire of Storms yesterday. Not quite 3 hours(out of 25+) into it yet.
• Read: Finish Summer Court(SM Reine), Dirty Deeds(Megan Erickson), Fire Inside(Kristen Ashley), Fall Deep(Zoe York), Always on My Mind(Bella Andre), Hot Property(Carly Phillips), A Geek Girl’s Guide to Murder(Julie Anne Lindsey) – Finished Summer Court(really enjoyed), Dirty Deeds(Loved), then read Loving You Easy(LOVED!!!!!!!! NOT ENOUGH EXCLAMATION POINTS FOR HOW MUCH I LOVED IT). Started Fire Inside this morning but not too far into it yet.

 

Some blue and a good bit of green. Not too bad overall.

 

Writing Wednesday: Rising Heat

The weather was pretty nice over the weekend, other than some rain we got while we were out. This week, it’s been in the high 80s and extremely humid. So, I’ve been turning the A/C units on in the living room & dining room. And mostly hiding out in the house. Supposed to be getting thunderstorms tomorrow. Maybe that will cool things off.

I seem to be falling into a trend of getting distracted on Mondays and starting the week behind. This week, it was because I was looking up a detail for Closing Time I thought I’d mentioned at the end of Burning Bright. Didn’t find it there, so thought maybe it was somewhere in Some Fools Never Learn. Read all the way through that and didn’t find it there, either. and by that time, I’d lost all motivation to even write. I think part of it was that I was still so drained from the overly social weekend. So, I took the rest of the day to just read. I only wrote 1k on Monday, but I wrote over 5k on Tuesday. I decided to write an hour on each of my projects instead of working through one until I reach the weekly goal. this way if I am having trouble with one, I can move on to something else after a certain amount of time. And I can usually get between 500-1000(or a little more) written in that time.

Today is Wednesday, so that means, before I lay out all my RoW80 progress, it’s time for WiPPet Wednesday! Woohoo! And today, I have more from In the Moonlight for you. Last time, Yasmin was flirting with Nola and leaving her a bit flustered. Today, I have 20 sentences(7+13) of the next chapter, which is from Nola’s POV. Also, Teagen is Nola’s older sister. Bailey is the groundkeeper for the house Yasmin’s aunt owned(and passed down to her now) and where Nola’s mom worked(and Nola and her siblings grew up).

I shouldn’t let Yasmin get to me so much. I’d imagined the way she’d been looking at me as she’d swum on her back. It didn’t have anything to do with me.

And the offer she made…I shook my head hard at myself. So, she wanted to teach me to swim. It didn’t mean anything. She just thought it would be a good skill to have. Because she was so good at it.

But, she hadn’t had Teagen throw her into the pool when she was six and didn’t have a clue how to swim. If Bailey hadn’t been walking by the door that led out into the yard from the pool room, I probably would have drowned. And Teagen just laughed when he’d pulled me out.

I shuddered just remembering about it. She hadn’t even been punished for that. She’d claimed she was trying to teach me to swim and wouldn’t have let me drown. Mom believed her even though I never did. She probably wouldn’t have let me drown, but it had nothing to do with teaching me a skill. She was always doing things like that to scare me.

I didn’t think that would be Yasmin’s way to teach me how to swim. But, after that one time, I’d never been able to bring myself to get in the water again. There was no way I was going to tell Yasmin that, though, and let her know just how much of a coward I was.

Would Yasmin really think that?(She has her own beef with Teagen, so not likely). Will Nola stop talking herself out of admitting the truth(for a little while yet, yeah, probably). 😀

• Write 14500 words between 5 projects – 9977/14500 words so far. Still on track to meet my goal despite the slow start on Monday.
  • Protecting the Heart – 724 words
  • Closing Time – 2487 words
  • Shed Some Light – 2113 words
  • Break on Me – 1952 words
  • In the Moonlight – 1893 words
• Stained by Ashes – compile beta notes for chapters 9 &10(more if I get them back during the week) – I got both of these done.
• Dance with the Devil – write 935 words – 494 words so far this week.
• Snow White Twist – write 995 words – 314 words so far this week
• Come Back Down – continue read through(currently through ch 6) nothing more yet this week.
• RoW80 Sponsor Post – Submit – this is done
• Read: Romancing the Beat – get to 55% – I’m at 42% right now
• Listen: Fool for Love(Marie Force) – finished this yesterday. I liked it better than the first book(which I felt the hero was *too* perfect), so going to give book 3 a chance. Listening to The End of Feeling(Cindy C Bennett) now. Got it mostly because it was on sale & narrated by a couple of my favorite narrators.
• Read: Finish Cress, The Girl From Everywhere(Heidi Heilig), Hearts of Evil(Lauralynn Elliot), Inked(Eric Smith), Love Tussles and Takedowns(Violet Duke), His Trouble in Tallulah(Cathryn Fox), Taking Chances(S.J. Maylee), & Tough Love(Lori Foster) – I finished Cress(really loved this one), The Girl From Everywhere(loved this one, too). Finished Hearts of Evil last night(liked this) and started Inked. I’m about 21% through it and enjoying it so far.

Writing Wednesday: Through the Break

RoW80 is on break this week, but true to form, I’m still working. I just don’t like taking breaks. Not very long ones anyway. I can handle a day. Maybe even a weekend. But, more than that, and I get cranky from not writing. So, trust me, it’s better for everyone if I keep going.

I’m still trying to work out the best way to juggle everything I want to get done. The last two days I’ve found my motivation severely lacking, okay, pretty much disappearing, after lunch time. so, ‘ve decided to focus my morning time on writing. I’ll still try to get a few other things done while both kids are at school, but I want most of that time to go to writing. Then, I’ll focus the hour before lunch on editing. I’m starting that today, so we’ll see how it goes. And, yes, I’m writing this while  should be writing my other stuff. I’m bouncing between the two.

I mentioned last week(Sunday’s post), that I was going to start a slightly different routine. Starting with the WiP that was closest to being done, I was going to write through until I stalled out on words then move to the next. Well, the one closest to being done is Love Who You Love(at over 90% to my goal). And the words just keep flowing on it. Needless to say, it’s the only one I’ve worked on so far this week. I may even finish it before the month is over. We’ll see how that goes.

Now, it’s time for another WiPPet snippet!! Since, as  said, all I’ve been working on is Love Who You Love, you get more from that. Today, I have 6 paragraphs(3+3+0). Rumors are spreading about Susan and Kendall(and Chris).

Kendall looked back toward the counter. “Rea, can you watch the front for me for a little bit?”

She caught he sympathy in the other woman’s eyes a moment before she nodded. “Not a problem, Ken. Garage is quiet now, and [xx] can handle it.”

“Thanks.” She took Susan’s arm and led her back toward Doren’s office. “Come on. We can talk in here.”

“I really don’t think making out in my brother’s office is going to help any of this.”

Kendall glanced up at Susan’s face, saw a smile ghosting around her lips, even though her eyes were still shadowed. “That wasn’t my plan, but if you want…”

Susan laughed and rested her forehead against Kendall’s. “I don’t know what to do.”

This is the start of what leads to them fighting and not speaking for a few days(which for them, is a long time). But, I’ve already got that worked out and mostly smoothed over again. I’m think I’ll have this finished before next Wednesday, so you’ll probably get more from Paint Me a Picture then.

Now for how I’ve done so far this week:

• Work 20 hours on writing projects – 7.5/20. I’m actually thinking of lowering this to 15 hours for writing. 4 hours a day seems to be pushing it a lot of the time.
• Edit 5 hours – haven’t worked on this at all yet this week. Hoping to today, though.
• Come Back Down – work 1 hour
• Row80 Sponsor Post – Brainstorm & draft – Brainstormed & outlined. Still need to draft it.
• Read: Description & Setting = practically finished with this. At 95%
• Read: The Vixen and the Vet(Katy Regnery), Frisco’s Kid(Suzanne Brockman), Once Upon a Setup(Kait Nolan), My Last(Melanie Shawn), Protect and Serve(various), Lies We Live(Brenda St John Brown), Nowhere But Here(Katie McGarry), Scandalous(R.G. Alexander), Legal Heat(Sarah Castille), Love on the Ledge(Zoraida Cordova), & Kiss Kill Vanish(Jessica Martinez): Had some issues with The Vixen and the Vet, but otherwise enjoyed the story. Frisco’s Kid was okay. Enjoyed Once Upon a Setup, My Last was okay, though it felt really repetitive and just…off. I skimmed through some of it. I did add the next book in the series to my wish list, but I probably won’t get it unless it drops to $.99 or free. I only read one of the stories(Shots Fired) in Protect and Serve, but I enjoyed it. Now, I have to read the other novellas from that series to catch up to where that one was. Really enjoyed Lies We Live, though it had a bit of a cliffhanger ending. Still, I really want to read the next book. I’m 29% through Nowhere But Here and really enjoying it. Though I’ve been yelling at one of the characters a bit.
• Crochet: Half and Half Slouch Hat – I finished this. And I started a new project on my knitting loom.
• A-Z Challenge – Draft & Revise posts as I have time – I have through (H) and part of (I) drafted. And through (B) revised and scheduled. I’m hoping to get through N drafted this week, then I’ll start revising (C) through (H). I’m hoping to stay at least a few posts ahead.

Writing Wednesday: Late Today

I’m running late today. I could make excuses, but basically: I meant to edit 1 chapter of Stained Snow, but then ended up reading through the rest of it and got caught up in it. Oops? So, I fell behind on the rest of my stuff, too. Typing this up while I get dinner ready.

First, it’s WiPPeT Wednesday again. Today I have 16 sentences(1-20+2+0+1-6) from Chapter 17.

Adrian pulled up in front of Caitie’s apartment. “You sure you don’t want me to drop you at Mark’s?”
She shook her head. “Doesn’t make sense for him to bring me back here every morning so I can change. I’m going to pack a few things up and drive my car over.”
He stared at her. “You ready to move in with him already?”
“I’m not moving in. Just leaving a few things there.”
His lips quirked up. “That’s the first step, you know. More and more stuff will get left there, until you live there more than you do here.”
“Fine with me. He can get used to me that way.”
Adrian laughed. “Caitie, none of us can get used to you.”

Gotta love family. Especially when you work with them. 😉

Now, on to my RoW80 update:

• Love Who You Love – get to 28000 words – sitting at 26096 right now. Staying on track.
• Flames of Retribution – Polish – working on the last 1/3 of the list of words. On ‘was’ right now, which always takes forever.
• Stained Snow – continue to edit chapters as I get them back. – I have 9/11 chapters edited
• Come Back Down – get to 16000 words – 14123/16000 words
• Read: Writing Vivid Settings – 80% – 67%
• Read: Between Everything and Us(Rebecca Paula), The Siren(Tiffany Reisz), Only His(Susan Mallery), The Year We Fell Down(Sarina Bowen), Star Cruise: Marooned(Veronica Scott), Not in the Script(Amy Finnegan), & A Home By the Sea (Christina Skye) – Finished Between Everything and Us on Monday and really enjoyed it, even if I was crying through part of the end. Started The Siren yesterday and got about half of it. Nothing wrong with it, but it’s just not the book for me. So, I’m going to be moving on to Only His later today.
• Loom: Zig Zag Hat – have made a little progress on this.

A lot of green so far this week. Hoping to turn some of that to blue by this weekend.

Writing Wednesday: Ahead of Schedule

It’s already been a pretty good week. I’d planned to revise 4 chapters of Chasing the Ghost a day to finish it by the end of this week. I got 10 revised on Monday. So, I ended up getting through the last 10 yesterday. And started my ‘search & destroy’ round. I’ve already cut 500 words.

For WiPPeT Wednesday, I have another 13 paragraphs(12+9-2-0-1-5) from Chasing the Ghost. This is later the same day of last week’s snippet. This is the first time Garren(Connie’s brother) has met Jason since he started working at their family’s ranch. And let’s just say, he’s a bit protective of his little sister.

Garren’s wife leaned around him. “That’s not what he’s worried about. Jason, right?” At his nod, she smiled then continued. “Garren likes to imagine he’s supercop and can stop anything bad from happening.”
“Lisa.” Her name came out as a groan, but she only smiled.
“It’s true, and you know it.” She kissed his cheek before looking back at Jason. “He’s only worried about if his parents or sister will get hurt by letting you in. I’m sure that won’t happen though.”
“No,” he said, looking away from her sharp eyes. “I’m not here to hurt anyone.”
He took another drink but set the glass down when he saw Connie walking through the room. Just behind her walked another man, who he was sure was staring him down. She said something and laughed over her shoulder. He could feel his fingers curling into his palm already. He took a deep breath and let it out, but he could still feel Lisa’s eyes on him.
The man’s hand came to Connie’s shoulder, and he started to step toward them, but Leo grabbed his arm. “Let her come to you, Jason.”
He glanced over at Leo, confused by his words. There was a twinkle in his eye. “What are you talking about? I thought she was with you.”
Leo laughed at that, and Jason even heard Lisa giggle beside him. “Jason, I’ve known Connie since she was ten years old, and my father came to work on the ranch. I’d see her as my sister even if that wasn’t my partner walking in with her. I’m very committed to him, so you don’t have to worry about me standing in your way. Plus, my interests don’t run that way at all.”
Jason felt his face heat a little. “I saw the two of you together earlier today. You looked awfully…affectionate.”
He heard a booming laugh and turned to see the other man standing right in front of them. “Affectionate’s a good term for Leo,” he said to Jason. “He just likes to touch.”
Leo got up from the stool and brushed his lips over the man’s cheek. “That I do.” Then, he looked back at Jason. “Like I said, Connie’s more like a sister to me than anything. The path’s clear for you.”
“No, it isn’t,” Garren growled from beside him.
Jason heard Lisa murmur his name, but he didn’t take his eyes from Connie, so he didn’t know if it calmed the other man or not. “I don’t need a path,” he said, raising his glass again. “I’m not here for a woman.” Yet, he still couldn’t take his eyes from her.

Garren’s worries about Jason will get worse before they get better. And Connie will chew him out once or twice for being too protective of her.

 

• Love Who You Love – finish backstories. Start Outlining. – finished back stories. Wrote plot summary and outlines for each main character, then merged those into one. Just need to put it into scrivener and do chapter/scene summaries. 2367 words of plotting words written this week.
• Chasing the Ghost – finish 2nd round revisions. Start Polishing round. Like I said, finished 2nd round yesterday. Added 131 words before starting polishing round.
• Come Back Down – get to 6000 words – weekend project
• Read: Word-loss Diet – 45% – just over 35%
• Read: Finish Dirty Thoughts, Dash of Peril(Lori Foster), Fix You(Mari Carr), A Harry Situation(Kristy K James), & The Iron Daughter(Julie Kagawa) – finished Dirty Thoughts(loved) and Dash of Peril(another good one). Started Fix You this morning. Already 25% through it, so it’s going to be a quick read.
• Crochet: Brimmed Hat – I’ve almost finished this. Just have to finish the brim and finish it up.

 

Writing Wednesday: New Month, New Focus

It’s a new month, and with it, I’m switching from drafting to a focus on revising. Still planning on writing(or for right now, plotting) first thing in the morning. I’m setting aside about an hour in the morning for this. Right now I’m plotting the next book in my Kurztown series. And Reading through Chasing the Ghost, book 4 in my Gilbert, CO series.

For WiPPet Wednesday, I’m sharing a snippet from Chasing the Ghost. 20 paragraphs(12+2+1+5) of mostly dialogue. If you read last week’s snippet, you may recognize one of the characters here. If you’ve read Duty to Protect, you’ll know what happened to Connie two years ago. If not, some context: she has some scars as well as headaches and memory issues.

She noticed his gaze shift to the side before he refocused on her. And a grin crossed his face. “It seems the new stable boy has his eye on you.”
“What?” she asked, glancing over his shoulder.
“Connie, you know better than to actually look. Make him think you’re not interested.”
But, she’d caught a glimpse of who Leo was talking about. “The guy Dad just hired? Jensen?” That was his name, right?
“Jason,” he corrected softly. “So, you’ve already met him.”
“Kind of. He helped me up to the house yesterday when I got hit with a headache. And he came out to the barn while I was there. We talked for a few minutes. He seems nice.”
A smile played around his lips, and her own lips turned down into a frown. “It’s not like that, Leo. He wouldn’t be interested in me, anyway.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Look at him.”
“Oh, I have,” he said, that smile still floating on his face. “Do you think Bryan will be jealous?”
Connie laughed and slapped at his arm. “You’re bad, Leo.”
“And you’re a beautiful woman, Con. You know, if I went for that thing.”
She laughed again but didn’t slap him this time. “But, he’s normal. I’m sure he could find a woman who could actually remember his name. You know, someone who isn’t a freak.”
The smile fell away from his face at that. “I really wish you’d stop talking about my best friend like that. He’d be lucky to get with you. And considering he keeps glaring over here at us, I’m pretty sure he thinks so too.”
“You got to be joking. He isn’t-”
“No, don’t look, or he’ll know we’re talking about him. Come on, Con, you know more about flirting than that.”
She snorted. “I don’t want to flirt with him, Leo. I don’t flirt with the hands.”
“You used to flirt with me.”
She laughed again. “That’s when we were twelve, and I didn’t know you were gay. Plus, your father was the one working here then, not you.”
“All true,” he said with a grin. Then, he sobered again. “I know the last couple years have been rough, but Geoff’s gone, Connie, and you aren’t. There’s no reason not to move on. You deserve it. Even if it’s just to have some fun with a good looking cowboy.”

It’s been a pretty good week over here.

• My Way to You: finish 1st draft – finished this on Monday. Ended up with a little over 36000 words.
• Love Who You Love(Kurztown #3): brainstorm – finished this today. I’ll start back stories tomorrow.
• Chasing the Ghost: Read through – halfway through this.
• Come Back Down: add 1000 words – weekend project
• Read: Word-Loss Diet – 20% – about 14% through this
• Read: Love, Diamonds, and Spades(Violet Duke), Meet Me When the Sun Goes Down(Lisa Olsen), Almost Perfect(Susan Mallery), Concealed in Death(J.D. Robb), & Beautiful Little Fool(K.K. Hendin) – Finished Love, Diamonds, and Spades on Sunday then read Night Reigns(Dianne Duval) – which was one of my Unlimited books – on Monday. Finished Meet Me When the Sun Goes Down last night. Will be starting Almost Perfect once I finish everything else today.
• Knit: Cuddly Chevron Blanket – finish – made some progress on this on Monday. Didn’t get to it yesterday though.

Writing Wednesday: Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is tomorrow here in the US, so today is the last (half) day is school for the kids. Which actually means the boy will be gone about an hour longer. He’s usually home around 10:45 or so,  but on early dismissal days,  they don’t get out until 11:15.

We got our “new” refrigerator hooked up yesterday, only to find something had chewed the water line right at the bottom. Husband cut that off and was able to get it to work,  but the water line under the sink is leaking, so he still needs to fix that. So we can’t use the ice/water from there right now.

I got almost all the Christmas shopping done on Monday from my computer. Two(out of 4) of the orders have shipped and should be here Tuesday. I’ll start wrapping stuff up as it comes in. And I think this is the first year we haven’t been scrounging for money to buy Christmas presents. My husband got a short of promotion/new position at work and with it, he gets a monthly vehicle payment and a fuel card. That had saved us a good bit of money. He’ll still be laid off for the winter, but hopefully we won’t fall behind like we usually do.

Anyways, it’s Wednesday so that means is Wippet time!!! Something different from me this week. You may remember (though probably not) back at the end of August/beginning of September, I posted a couple snippets from a plotting exercise I did(Part 1 & Part 2). These characters showed up in Chasing the Ghost and suddenly wanted their own story. I plotted it out and started writing it last month then set it aside while I finished Guarding the Heart & Some Fools Never Learn. Well, I finished Some Fools on Friday, so Monday I picked back up with My Way to You. I’ve already added over 12,000 words to it this week and am hoping to get to more later today. I may finish the first draft this week. Or at least be really close.

For today, I have 7 paragraphs(2+5=7). Bryan and Leo have gone to dinner and they are back at Bryan’s apartment. He has apparently said the wrong thing…again.

Leo’s face heated. “No, I don’t,” he said when they made it to the first landing then turned to go up the second half of the steps to the second floor. “Brendan gave me a full-time job on the ranch when I turned eighteen. I’d been doing chores after school, on weekends, and during the summer up until then. I didn’t go to college.”
“I didn’t mean anything…I just thought…” He sighed and ran a hand over his face. “Can, we start over? Hey, I’m Bryan Coleman. I know numbers and can double or triple your investment fund in no time. But, I’m more than likely to put my foot in my mouth when I talk to you.”
Leo laughed and leaned into him. “Leo Rusak. I don’t know much more than horses and cattle, but I could probably help you extract that foot.”
Bryan chuckled as he slipped the key into the lock at his door. “I’m not kidding. Almost everything out of my mouth is the wrong thing. I can never find the right words. It’s why I work with numbers instead.”
“Well, let’s start with this,” Leo said and pulled Bryan toward the couch. “You have one couch.” They sat down on it. “We have two mouths.” Leo pressed his to Bryan’s.
“What’s three?” Bryan asked, the sound vibrating against Leo’s lips.
“I don’t have a clue. You’re the number genius.”

I’ll be back to revising Chasing the Ghost next month, which takes place about 10 years after this snippet. But, you may see more of these 2(or at least Leo) in that.

Been a pretty good week, goals-wise for me.

• My Way to You – write 25000 words(will get me close to the end if not all the way there) – 12379/25000. I don’t know if I’ll be able to get all my words in tomorrow, but if not, I’ll try to catch up on them Friday.
• Come Back Down – write 1000 words – weekend project
• Read: Gotta Read It – finish – finish this morning. Going to apply this to next back cover summary I write
• Read: Instant Temptation(Jill Shalvis) & Living Victim(Stacy Green) – finished both of these. Really enjoyed them. I also read Gone Too Far(Suzanne Brockman) but felt kind of meh about it. It jumped back and forth between timelines and several characters. Then, there were letters that didn’t seem to have a point to the actual story. Overall I enjoyed it, but… I just started Betting on You(Jessie Evans). This is the oldest free book I have on my kindle. Yeah, it’s been there a while.
• Knit: Cuddly Chevron Blanket – Strip 22 – Worked on this a little Monday but not at all yesterday.
• Loom: Hat – made some progress on Sunday after my blog post. Hopefully more this weekend.

Lots of green & even a little blue. Always nice to see.

Writing Wednesday: New Routine

Getting to this a little earlier this week. Since I decided to set further revisions on Chasing the Ghost aside until next month, I have more time to focus on new writing. So, I raised my daily goal from 3k to 5k. And that I split in half, so I write the first 2500 first thing. Then, I’ll get chores and blog reading/writing, email, goodreads, pinterest stuff done. Then, I’ll write the other half of my words before I worry about fixing dinner/crafting(which I’ve gotten none done yet this week). This seems to be working well for me so far this week. Of course, we’re only 2.5 days into the new routine.

It also helps that I was awake at 3 this morning(ok, 2:30, but I didn’t get out of bed until 3). So, I had an extra hour+ to get some words done. I made my first goal before 7:30. It’s a little more than an hour later and I have almost all chores done(waiting for laundry to be done in washer to throw it in dryer then fold it). So, here I am working on my blog post.

It’s Wednesday, so time for another snippet from Some Fools Never Learn. I’m a little more than halfway through this. So, still hoping I’ll be able to finish the first draft next week. For today, I have 11 paragraphs+a bonus sentence at the beginning. For context: They’re at Nolan’s(1 of Tate’s younger brothers) wedding. Jess(Tate’s sister) is talking to Emilia. She’s the second youngest, and about 15 years younger than Tate.

“I came to talk to you, though.”
“About what?” The tone in her voice put Emilia’s nerves on edge. She didn’t understand it, she’d never done anything to the other woman. So, why did it feel like Jess was poised to attack.
“My brother.”
“You may want to be more specific. Or do I get to choose between them?”
She’d meant it as a joke, but since Jess’s face pulled tighter into a scowl, it obviously hadn’t gone over well.”
“You know perfectly well just which one I meant. And you’d better not be trying to go after any of the others, either. Nolan and Jace are taken. And Kelan’s dealing with his own shit. You need to-”
Emilia held out her hands. “I was joking, Jess. I’m not like that. I don’t know what gave you the idea I might be.”
“She was. Still is, the cold manipulative bitch.”
Emilia narrowed her eyes then it came to her. “You’re talking about his ex-wife.”
“So, he has told you about her.”
“Some,” she admitted. “He told me she cheated. And I know she dug her claws deep into her. If you think I’m like that-”
“I don’t know, do I? All I know is he’s getting awfully wrapped up in you. Rebekah is the only one who’s ever done that to him before. And I don’t want to see him get jerked around again. I want to like you, because it’s obvious he does. But, I’m not a little kid this time. I don’t have to just stand around when I see someone hurting him.”

Also, yesterday this happened:

This is the fastest I’ve ever finished NaNo. 17 days, with only 12 of those actual writing days. Last year it took me 19 days, with 15 writing days. I’m still going, of course. And can’t officially “win” until Friday. But, still exciting.

• Some Fools Never Learn – add 25000 words(this will get me close to 60k) – 12832/25000. Making good progress
• Come Back Down – add 1000 words – weekend project. Also, got good news about Into the Sun, which this is the sequel to.
• Read: Gotta Read It – get to 75% – through 65%
• Read: Prodigy, Crown of Midnight(Sarah J Maas), Lover Eternal(J.R. Ward), & The Emerald Isle Trilogy(Renee Vincent) – finished Prodigy Sunday night. Really enjoyed it, though the beginning felt a little slow. But, the ending…gah. can’t wait until I can pick up the last book(yes, I know it’s out. No, I don’t want to pay $9.99 for the kindle version, no matter how much I want to read it). I’m about 75% through Crown of Midnight and can’t wait to finish the rest of my stuff so I can get back to it.
• Knit: Cuddly Chevron Blanket – Strip 22 – Haven’t worked on this at all this week.
• Loom: Hat – Weekend project

More red than I’d like there, but hopefully by Sunday it will be mostly blue.

Writing Wednesday: A Little Behind

I’m getting to this a little late today. I was reorganizing my writing scheduled…again. Yeah, yeah, I know. I’m going to be spending 6 months(March, April, June, July, October, & November) focused on writing new words. Was just going to do the WriMo months(April, June, July, & November), but decided to split my time evenly between the two stages. When I’m editing, I’ll still be writing some new words. I just can’t seem to function well when I don’t get those words out first thing in the morning. So, I’ll plan on writing 1000 words then switch over to revisions during those months. I’ve got that all figured out now, though.

Today I have 22 sentences from Some Fools Never Learn. Some context: Kaemon is a distant cousin of Emilia’s, also his little sister is engaged to Tate’s youngest brother. He just found out Tate is interested in Emilia and decided to act like a big brother and made assumptions about why at 40 Tate isn’t married with kids(basically that he’s not a “kid person”).

“I did,” he said, his voice strained. “Married my high school sweetheart. She got pregnant a couple years into our marriage. Lost the baby.” He stared at the wall beyond Kaemon’s head as he told him this. “Then, she started cheating on me. We divorced about six years after our wedding. Almost to the day.” It had been almost a perfect mirror image. “It’s been about fifteen years.” And she still had a stranglehold on him. He needed to loosen it and finally get free.
“Sorry to hear that. You ever think of starting with someone else? Or do you still love her?”
Still love Rebekah? He didn’t think even he was stupid enough for that. “No, I don’t still love her. But,” he added, remembering Nolan’s words again, “she’s like a drug I can’t seem to get out of my system.”
“You may want to detox before you get involved with Emilia. She’s one to take relationships seriously.”
“So do I.”

So, words are going well this week. I’ve been getting all my writing & revising done before moving on to other things on the list for the day. Which is why this is so late today. Also why there haven’t really been any extra blog posts this month. That will probably continue.

• Some Fools Never Learn – add 15000 words – 9454/15000
• Chasing the Ghost – finish 1st revisions – through Chapter 23/27
• Come Back Down(Into the Sun sequel) – add 1000 words – weekend project
• Read: Gotta Read It – 50% – 35% so far
• Read: Soul Enslaved (Keri Lake), Luck on the Line(Zoraida Cordova), Whatever Life Throws at You(Julie Cross), Captive Films episodes 1-3(Jillian Dodd), and Getting Rowdy (Lori Foster) – Really enjoyed Soul Enslaved & Luck on the Line. Halfway through Whatever Life Throws at You. Also finished listening to In Ride Trouble(Julie Ann Walker) and am a few hours into Alone(Kendra Elliot). Really like both of these series.
• Knit: Cuddly Chevron Blanket -halfway through strip 21 – I’m almost finished with strip 19. It’s the last thing on each day’s list, so it’s one of the first that gets pushed aside.
• Loom: Hat – got this started Sunday night. Haven’t made much progress yet, though.