Writing Wednesday: Two More Weeks

We only have 2 more weeks of summer vacation left. I’m, well, not complaining about this(unless you hear me say we still have 2 weeks left). It’s actually a little less than that since they go back on a Tuesday. It hasn’t been a bad summer(we’ve had worse where they seem to fight constantly), but I’m ready to have the house back to myself.

The girl’s 11th birthday was on Friday. My dad came up on Thursday and took us to dinner. They just left to drive to California to visit with my stepmom’s son. They’ll be gone for the boy’s birthday as well(on Labor day) so they celebrated both birthdays that night. We had her birthday party on Sunday. It was a small party. Only my mom, grandma, one sister, niece & nephew, and mother-in-law showed up. My other sister had left Friday with her family to go to Florida, my sister-in-law was taking her son to football camp that day. With the boy’s birthday on labor day, it will probably be just as small. Or we’ll put it off for a week. Really need to make a decision on that soon.

It’s time for WiPPet Wednesday again. This week I’m sharing from By the Gun. The last time I shared from this, Carlos wasn’t sure if he could trust the girl(Catherine) he’d been falling for. This is the first scene from Catherine’s POV in Part 3. I have 19 sentences(8+1+5+2+0+1+8)

He closed his eyes, and Catherine just wanted to reach out to him. But, what good would that do? He’d already made clear his thoughts on where she stood. She wasn’t even sure of where that was right now, though. “I can sniff around some,” she said. “Find out exactly what happened.”
His eyes snapped open again, and he shook his head. “No, do not even consider that. Just stay out of it, Catherine, and stay away from my family’s land. There may not be much left of it, but it’s still ours. I don’t want you here.”
The words felt like a slap to the face. “Fine,” she said. “But I will find those answers, whether you want them or not.”
She strode back to her horse and swung up into the saddle. But, she had to force herself not to look back at Carlos. He obviously didn’t care about her at all anymore. That was just fine, then. She’d just have to stop worrying about him, too.

Oh, how wrong you are, Catherine. 😉

Color Code:

Goal met

Progress

Nothing Yet

Set Aside

Plotting:

• Heart to Heart – Finish story toolkit& outline Act 1,list rest of chapters & scenes
  • This Week: listed out chapters, started adding in scenes
• Neil & Lin(The Rileys #2) – Brainstorm
  • This Week: brainstormed antagonists(I have 3 potential ones, we’ll see which direction the story takes and which ones have the most pull on the story), brainstormed plot, started GMCs
• Wyatt & Kaden(Gilbert, CO # 9) – Brainstorm
  • This Week: brainstormed antagonists(2 of them), brainstormed plot, started GMCs
• GH & SF 3 – Brainstorm
  • This Week: brainstormed Bridgette, brainstormed Desmund
• Build This Love(Kurztown #8) – Brainstorm
  • This Week: brainstormed Dawn, brainstormed antagonist

Writing:

• Nowhere to Run – Get through Chapter 18 – 4/16 scenes
  • This week: 1241 words
• GH & SF 2 – Get through Part 1, Chapter 4 – 6/15 scenes
  • This Week: 996 words
• Craving You – Get through Chapter 5 – 2/13 scenes
  • This Week: 681 words
• By the Gun – Get through Part 3, Chapter 9 – 4/11 scenes
  • This Week: 647 words

Editing:

• Short Story Collection – Flesh Out
  • Goin’ Down
    • This week: 644 words
  • Meeting Jonas
  • Changing History(though I may move this one to another collection)
• Paint Me a Picture – transfer to Scrivener – 2/9 chapter
• Green Hills & Smoky Fields – Initial Read through/Fill in [xx]s
  • This week:
• Stained Blood – Beta Edits
• Flames of Renewal – Proofread
• Law of Choice – CP edits

Side Projects:

• Geoff – Write, edit & post to Patreon
  • This Week: 203 words
• Hawk – 1500 words – 1265/1500 words
  • This Week: 183 words
• Jacob & Matthew – 1500 words – 1068/1500 words
  • This Week: 280 words
• Desmund – 1500 words – 1173/1500 words
  • This Week: 194 words
• Jonas & Isaac – 15 pages – 7.75/15 pages
  • This Week: 2.42 pages

Publishing:

• Flames of Renewal

Reading:

• Read: 13 books – 11/13 books
  • The WAG and the Scoundrel(Debbie McGowan) 
  • Year of the Guilty Soul(A.M. Leibowitz) 
  • Blue Flame(Jill Shalvis) 
  • Cleaning House(Jeanne G’Fellers) 
  • Those Jeffries Boys(Debbie McGowan) 
  • Can’t Stand the Rain(Kait Nolan) 
  • Mastering Her Senses(Laura Kaye)
  • Darkest Night(Megan Erickson) 
  • Gold Dragon(Lindsay Buroker) 
  • Even Odds(Elia Winter) – Started this Saturday evening. Finished it Sunday night.
  • Pretending He’s Mine(Mia Sosa) – Started this Sunday night. Finished it Tuesday night.
• Listen: 5 books – 13/5 books
  • Protecting What’s His(Tessa Bailey) 
  • His Risk to Take(Tessa Bailey) 
  • Officer Off Limits(Tessa Bailey) 
  • Asking for Trouble(Tessa Bailey) 
  • An Unseen Attraction(K.J. Charles) 
  • An Unnatural Vice(K.J. Charles) 
  • An Unsuitable Heir(K.J. Charles) 
  • Risking It All(Tessa Bailey) 
  • Up in Smoke(Tessa Bailey) 
  • Boiling Point(Tessa Bailey) 
  • Raw Redemption(Tessa Bailey) – Started this Saturday morning. Finished it Sunday afternoon.
  • Between then and Now(Zoe York) – Started this Monday morning. Finished it Monday morning.
  • What Once Was Perfect(Zoe York) – Started this Monday afternoon. Finished it Monday night.
  • Where Their Hearts Collide(Zoe York) – Started this Tuesday morning. Finished it Tuesday afternoon.
  • When They Weren’t Looking(Zoe York) – Started this Tuesday afternoon. On Chapter 24/27

Social Media:

• Post 5 Regular Blog Posts – 10/22 posts
  • This Week:
    • Writing Wednesday
    • Fiction Friday
    • Stream of Consciousness Saturday
    • Weekend Writing Warriors
    • Sunday Summary
• Post to Patreon 3 times – 1/3

Sunday Summary: 11 Years

Friday was the girl’s 11th birthday. We’re having her party today. Thursday my dad came up and took us to dinner. He got both the kids big brownies at Pizza Hut. The boy’s birthday isn’t until 9/3, but my dad won’t be here for that, either. We’re having her party today. Ordered an ice cream cake, so that was one less thing I had to worry about last night. I did bake 2 loaves of zucchini bread though.

She opened gifts from us Friday night. I bought wrapping paper when I got the gifts last Sunday but was apparently not paying any attention. Because as I was wrapping them Wednesday night, I realized the paper said “baby” all over it, not “birthday”. Oops.

For now, here’s my progress for the week.

Color Code:

Goal met

Progress

Nothing Yet

Set Aside

Plotting:

• Heart to Heart – Finish story toolkit & outline Act 1
  • This Week: Act 4 beat sheet, timeline
• Neil & Lin(The Rileys #2) – Brainstorm
  • This Week: brainstormed Neil, Lin
• Wyatt & Kaden(Gilbert, CO # 9) – Brainstorm
  • This Week: Brainstormed Wyatt, Kaden
• GH & SF 3 – Brainstorm
  • This Week: Brainstormed Torin, Eamonn
• Build This Love(Kurztown #8) – Brainstorm
  • This Week: Brainstormed Chris, Raegen

Writing:

• Nowhere to Run – Get through Chapter 18 – 3/16 scenes
  • This week: 983 words
• GH & SF 2 – Get through Part 1, Chapter 4 – 5/15 scenes
  • This Week: 3562 words
• Craving You – Get through Chapter 5 – 2/13 scenes
  • This Week: 1695 words
• By the Gun – Get through Part 3, Chapter 9 – 4/11 scenes
  • This Week: 2872 words

Editing:

• Short Story Collection – Flesh Out
  • Goin’ Down
    • This week: 999 new words
  • Meeting Jonas
  • Changing History(though I may move this one to another collection)
• Paint Me a Picture – transfer to Scrivener – 2/9 chapter
• Green Hills & Smoky Fields – Initial Read through/Fill in [xx]s
  • This week: finished filling in details.
• Stained Blood – Beta Edits
• Flames of Renewal – Proofread
• Law of Choice – CP edits

Side Projects:

• Geoff – Write, edit & post to Patreon
  • This Week: 414 words
• Hawk – 1500 words – 1082/1500 words
  • This Week: 582 words
• Jacob & Matthew – 1500 words – 1068/1500 words
  • This Week: 507 words
• Desmund – 1500 words – 979/1500 words
  • This Week: 444 words
• Jonas & Isaac – 15 pages – 7.75/15 pages
  • This Week: 4.63 pages

Publishing:

• Flames of Renewal

Reading:

• Read: 13 books – 9/13 books
  • The WAG and the Scoundrel(Debbie McGowan) 
  • Year of the Guilty Soul(A.M. Leibowitz) 
  • Blue Flame(Jill Shalvis) 
  • Cleaning House(Jeanne G’Fellers) 
  • Those Jeffries Boys(Debbie McGowan) – Started this Saturday night. Finished it Tuesday night.
  • Can’t Stand the Rain(Kait Nolan) – Started this Wednesday morning. Finished it Wednesday evening.
  • Mastering Her Senses(Laura Kaye) – Started this Wednesday evening. Finished it Thursday night.
  • Darkest Night(Megan Erickson) – Started this Thursday night. Finished it Friday night.
  • Gold Dragon(Lindsay Buroker) – Started this Saturday morning. Finished it Saturday evening.
  • Even Odds(Elia Winter) – Started this Saturday evening. At 11%
• Listen: 5 books – 10/5 books
  • Protecting What’s His(Tessa Bailey) 
  • His Risk to Take(Tessa Bailey) 
  • Officer Off Limits(Tessa Bailey) 
  • Asking for Trouble(Tessa Bailey) 
  • An Unseen Attraction(K.J. Charles) – Started this Saturday morning. Finished it Monday morning.
  • An Unnatural Vice(K.J. Charles) – Started this Monday morning. Finished it Monday night.
  • An Unsuitable Heir(K.J. Charles) – Started this Monday night. Finished it Tuesday afternoon.
  • Risking It All(Tessa Bailey) – Started this Wednesday morning. Finished it Wednesday night.
  • Up in Smoke(Tessa Bailey) – Started this Wednesday night. Finished it Thursday afternoon.
  • Boiling Point(Tessa Bailey) – Started this Friday morning. Finished it Saturday morning.
  • Raw Redemption(Tessa Bailey) – Started this Saturday morning. On Chapter 10/20.

Social Media:

• Post 5 Regular Blog Posts – 9/22 posts
  • This Week:
    • Writing Wednesday
    • Fiction Friday
    • Stream of Consciousness Saturday
    • Weekend Writing Warriors
    • Sunday Summary
• Post to Patreon 3 times – 1/3

Sunday Summary: Busy Weekend

It’s been a busy weekend, and it’s only half over. Yesterday morning, my mother-in-law picked the girl up to take her shopping for her birthday(which is this coming Friday. *gulp*) They were gone all morning and most of the afternoon, and my husband picked her up on his way home from work. The only snag: she bought 3 books from the series she told my mom she wanted. And that’s the only thing she told my mom she wanted, so she bought her the whole set. We’ve had this discussion before about not buying stuff you’ve told someone you wanted right before birthdays/Christmas.

After that we headed up to the Lake Erie Speedway, where his company was having their company “picnic”. It was inside a set of VIP suites next to the racetrack. And had a buffet dinner. So a really nice picnic, I guess. In air conditioning. There were *a lot* of people there. He told me a bunch of their names, but I probably wouldn’t be able to tell you who was who again. I left my kindle in the truck and figured I’d be good and maybe actually, you know, talk to people. Ha. Ha. I lasted less than half an hour before I was downloading the book I’d been reading onto my phone. And then after I finished that one, I downloaded another. Oops.

The kids had fun watching the demolition derby, bus racing, and Megasaurus. I stayed inside. It was easier to handle when most of the people went out to watch.

Today we’re planning to take the kids either to the beach or to Waldameer(an amusement and water park, though we usually just go right to the water park). If we go to the beach, I can at least get some reading done.

Color Code:

Goal met

Progress

Nothing Yet

Set Aside

Plotting:

• Heart to Heart – Finish story toolkit & outline Act 1
  • This week: Finished Act 3 Beat Sheet
• Neil & Lin(The Rileys #2) – Brainstorm
  • This week: brainstormed general characters
• Wyatt & Kaden(Gilbert, CO # 9) – Brainstorm
  • This week: Brainstormed general characters, started brainstorming Wyatt
• GH & SF 3 – Brainstorm
  • This week: Brainstormed general characters
• Build This Love(Kurztown #8) – Brainstorm
  • This week: brainstormed general characters

Writing:

• Nowhere to Run – Get through Chapter 18 – 2/16 scenes
  • This week: 1496 words
• GH & SF 2 – Get through Part 1, Chapter 4 – 0/15 scenes
  • This week: 729 words(from two Stream of Consciousness Saturday posts I wrote in February then the start of Chapter 1)
• Craving You – Get through Chapter 5 – 0/13 scenes
  • This Week: 7231 words(from Story a Day pieces, some of those go beyond Chapter 5, and the first scene)
• By the Gun – Get through Part 3, Chapter 9 – 0/11 scenes
  • This Week: 259 words

Editing:

• Short Story Collection – Flesh Out
  • Goin’ Down
    • This Week: 699 words
  • Meeting Jonas
  • Changing History(though I may move this one to another collection)
• Paint Me a Picture – transfer to Scrivener
  • This Week: typed up Chapter 3
• Green Hills & Smoky Fields – Initial Read through/Fill in [xx]s
• Stained Blood – Beta Edits
• Flames of Renewal – Proofread
• Law of Choice – CP edits

Side Projects:

• Geoff – Write, edit & post to Patreon
  • This Week: 540 words
• Hawk – 1500 words – 500/1500 words
  • This Week: 500 words
• Jacob & Matthew – 1500 words – 561/1500 words
  • This Week: 561 words
• Desmund – 1500 words – 535/1500 words
  • This Week: 535 words
• Jonas & Isaac – 15 pages – 3.08/15 pages
  • This Week: 3.08 pages

Publishing:

• Flames of Renewal

Reading:

• Read: 13 books – 4/13 books
  • The WAG and the Scoundrel(Debbie McGowan) – Started this Tuesday afternoon. Finished it Wednesday night.
  • Year of the Guilty Soul(A.M. Leibowitz) – Started this Thursday morning. Finished it Thursday afternoon.
  • Blue Flame(Jill Shalvis) – Started this Thursday afternoon. Finished it Friday night.
  • Cleaning House(Jeanne G’Fellers) Started this Saturday morning. Finished this Saturday evening
  • Those Jeffries Boys(Debbie McGowan) – Started this Saturday night. At 25%
• Listen: 5 books – 4/5 books
  • Protecting What’s His(Tessa Bailey) – Started this Wednesday morning. Finished it Wednesday afternoon.
  • His Risk to Take(Tessa Bailey) – Started this Wednesday afternoon. Finished it Thursday morning.
  • Officer Off Limits(Tessa Bailey) – Started this Thursday morning. Finished it Thursday night.
  • Asking for Trouble(Tessa Bailey) – Listened to this Friday morning.
  • An Unseen Attraction(K.J. Charles) – Started this Saturday morning. On Chapter 5/12

Social Media:

• Post 5 Regular Blog Posts – 5/22 posts
  • This Week:
    • Writing Wednesday
    • Fiction Friday
    • Stream of Consciousness Saturday
    • Weekend Writing Warriors
    • Sunday Summary
• Post to Patreon 3 times – 0/3

Weekend Writing Warriors: “From a Distance”

Welcome back to another visit with the Weekend Writing Warriors, the blog hop for anyone who likes to write, where we share 8-10 sentences from a project and sometimes get creative with punctuation. 😉 I’m sharing from the next chapter of Hawk’s story.

Barbie was stepping out of the elevator as I pulled Noah with me into the lobby of the office building. “Gavin, I was…Who’s this? What’s going on?”

I glanced over my shoulder, but there was no one there; Dad wasn’t going to risk coming in here. If he couldn’t take a shot from a distance, he wasn’t going to do it. “We need to go out the back,” I told her. “There is another exit, right?”

“Yes,” she said, “it’s back this way. Can you tell me anything?”

Is he going to tell her what’s going on.? Are they going to get out of there? What’s going to happen next?

Stream of Consciousness Saturday: “Call”

“It’s your call to make,” Tereza said. “Not anyone else’s. if you like him, that should be what matters.”

Wyatt shook his head. “‘Should be’s don’t rule this world. Otherwise the man I loved for nearly a decade would still be alive, and this wouldn’t be an issue. If he’d still been alive, I wouldn’t have ever even been drawn to a former criminal. Trust me, I’ve heard plenty of that ‘shouldn’t be’ from my father.”

“Well, like I said, Wyatt, it’s your call to make. Not your father’s or anyone else’s. As for the former criminal part, I’m married to one of them as well. And he’s one of the best men I know. Kaden was born into a hard life, and no one took the effort to show him the way out for a long time. He helped put a worse man behind bars and served his own time. And now he’s trying to live a better life. That’s not nothing, Wyatt, even if it wasn’t for him also saving my sister-in-law’s life.” She took a deep breath and smiled again. “But, it’s not my call to make for you, either.”

Wyatt rubbed his fingers over his eyes. He’d never been as black and white in his thinking as his father. And yet he’d let his opinion on this steer him. He opened his eyes and saw Kaden standing in the doorway to the kitchen, watching him back. His call. It was one he just might have to make.

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

More Wyatt and Kaden for you for this Stream of Consciousness Saturday, which had the prompt of “call”, either the word itself or a word that contains those letters in that order. Some context to this: Wyatt and his longtime boyfriend were both soldiers, his boyfriend was killed about two years before this, and this is the first time he’s really been attracted to someone else. His father is a cop, as is Wyatt at the moment. And yes, Kaden has committed crimes in the past(and not just petty ones). Carlos own the restaurant and often gives those with that kind of troubled past a second chance(like he was given at one time).

Sunday Summary: Slower Weekend

This is the one weekend we don’t have much going on until after Labor Day, I think. Next weekend, we have husband’s company picnic Saturday, the weekend after that, he’s going on an ATV poker run Saturday and we’re having the girl’s birthday party on Sunday. I’m not sure about after that, but I’m sure there’s something. And Labor Day weekend is the boy’s birthday.

Yesterday we went to a local parade, it’s mostly just the local fire companies that come out(it’s part of the town’s Fireman’s festival). Then, we got dinner and groceries. Today we just have church then home again.

This week was a pretty good one. I got words in, and even finished a couple goals. I think I’m going to keep working in 10 minute bursts. I also may go back to working on all the projects. My characters do so hate waiting on me, and there are so many of them in my head.

Color Code:

Goal Met

Progress Made

Set Aside

Not Done

Plotting: 

• Primary: Heart to Heart – finish Story Toolkit
  • This Week: Locations, beat sheet 1
• Secondary: Heart to Heart – Outline Act 1, List rest of scenes
• Tertiary: Nowhere to Run – Outline Act 2
• Stretch: Neil & Lin(Rileys #2) – Brainstorm

Writing:

• Primary: Nowhere to Run – Draft through Chapter 14/~25000 words – 22360/25000 words
  • This Week: 6 scenes – Finished 6/6 scenes
• Secondary: Side Projects – 5000 words – 5175/5000 words
  • This Week:
    • Arresting Callum – Read through, edit, & proofread
    • Hawk – 225 words – 564/225 words
    • Jacob & Matthew – 225 words – 390/225 words
    • Geoff(this will be next month’s Patreon story) – 100 words – 263/100 words
• Tertiary: Jonas & Isaac – 15 pages – 15.17/15 pages
  • This Week: 3.5 pages – 4.25/3.5 pages
• Stretch: By the Gun – 4 Chapters – 4/4 chapters
  • This Week: Chapter 4 – Finished 4/3 scenes

Editing:

• Primary: Short Story Collection
  • This Week: Goin’ Down – rewrite final scene(which will no longer be the final scene in the story).
• Secondary: Stained Blood – Beta Edits(as I get chapters back)
• Tertiary: Flames of Renewal – Proofread(once I get it back from proofreader)
• Stretch: Law of Choice – CP edits(if I get it back this month)

Publish:

• Flames of Renewal

Reading:

• Read: 20 books – 30/20 books
  • Playing with Fire(Avery Cockburn) – Started this Saturday afternoon. Finished it Monday afternoon.
  • All for You(Laura Florand) – Started this Monday night. Finished it Wednesday afternoon.
  • Under the Lights(Tia Louise) – Started this Wednesday afternoon. Finished it Thursday morning.
  • Five Dates(Amy Jo Cousins) – Read this Thursday afternoon.
  • Winning Back His Wife(Gwen Hayes & Zoe York) – Started this Thursday afternoon. Finished it Thursday evening.
  • Relentless(Elizabeth Dyer) – Started this Thursday night. Finished it Friday night.
  • The Troublemaker Next Door(Marie Harte) – Started this Saturday morning. Finished it Saturday night
• Listen: 5 books – 15/5
  • Still the One(Jill Shalvis) – Started this Friday morning. Finished it Monday evening.
  • All I Want(Jill Shalvis) – Started this Monday evening. Finished it Tuesday evening.
  • The Hate U Give(Angie Thomas) – Started this Wednesday morning. Finished it Friday morning.
  • Nights with Him(Lauren Blakely) – Started this Saturday morning. On Chapter 17/39

Social Media:

• Post 5 Regular Blog Posts – 19/21 posts
  • This Week:
    • Writing Wednesday
    • Fiction Friday
    • Stream of Consciousness Saturday
    • Weekend Writing Warriors
    • Sunday Summary
• Post to Patreon 3 times – 2/3

Writing Wednesday: Wet Times

Rain, rain, rain. It’s been doing that the last several days. Supposed to for the rest of the week, too. Better than the heat, I suppose. I’ve been bouncing between projects this week. Sometimes I just can’t settle on one thing. During those times, it works better for me to just work on one thing for a short time(10 minutes usually) then switch to something else. That works better for me than trying to force my way through something when my brain just isn’t working the way I want it to. And yesterday, I got through most of my goals. I just have Nowhere to Run, Jonas & Isaac, and By the Gun to finish with.

This morning I worked on those first two. Today I’m sharing from Nowhere to Run again for WiPPet Wednesday. This happens a couple weeks after what I shared last week.

James just glanced over his shoulder then went back to handcuffing the man’s hands.” Glad to see you could make it to the party, partner.”
Tracy relaxed as she realized he didn’t mean James harm. “You know me. I can always do with an exciting party. What do we have here?”
“This man,” James said, acid dripping from his voice with that word, “was attempting to assault Ms. Blackstone. She defended herself with her keys. I’m taking him in.”
The other officer’s gaze flicked to her keys, still sticking out between her fingers, then back up to her. He gave her a nod. “Good job. Ms. Blackstone, was it?”
She nodded. “Tracy. I work in the bar. I closed up and was just heading…home.”
James jerked his head toward her. “Alone?”
“Yes, I tend to go home alone.”
“I meant closing up,” he growled. “Why would Trish have you close up all on your own.”
“I guess because she trusts me.”
“You know that isn’t what I mean. It could be dangerous. Obviously.”
James’ partner hissed out a breath. “Damn, Rudler. I’m not even attracted to women, and I know better than to say something like that.”
Tracy glanced up at him and caught his wink before he moved over and took the cuffed man from James. “I’ll take him to the waiting carriage while you remove that foot from your mouth.”
“You’re weird, Hellerman,” James said.

So, will James pull his foot out of his mouth? Wyatt just kind of popped up in this story. I don’t think he plans to go away any time soon. He has got a scene that was lagging moving again. And what nearly happened before this is a very hot button issue for James.

Color Code:

Goal Met

Progress Made

Set Aside

Not Done

Plotting: 

• Primary: Heart to Heart – finish Story Toolkit
  • This Week: Locations
• Secondary: Heart to Heart – Outline Act 1, List rest of scenes
• Tertiary: Nowhere to Run – Outline Act 2
• Stretch: Neil & Lin(Rileys #2) – Brainstorm

Writing:

• Primary: Nowhere to Run – Draft through Chapter 14/~25000 words – 18696/25000 words
  • This Week: 6 scenes – Started 3/6 scenes
• Secondary: Side Projects – 5000 words – 4569/5000 words
  • This Week:
    • Arresting Callum – Read through, edit, & proofread
    • Hawk – 225 words – 372/225 words
    • Jacob & Matthew – 225 words – 240/225 words
• Tertiary: Jonas & Isaac – 15 pages – 13.25/15 pages
  • This Week: 3.5 pages – 2.42/3.5 pages
• Stretch: By the Gun – 4 Chapters – 3/4 chapters
  • This Week: Chapter 4 – Started 1/3 scenes

Editing:

• Primary: Short Story Collection
  • This Week: Goin’ Down – rewrite final scene(which will no longer be the final scene in the story).
• Secondary: Stained Blood – Beta Edits(as I get chapters back)
• Tertiary: Flames of Renewal – Proofread(once I get it back from proofreader)
• Stretch: Law of Choice – CP edits(if I get it back this month)

Publish:

• Flames of Renewal

Reading:

• Read: 20 books – 26/20 books
  • Playing with Fire(Avery Cockburn) – Started this Saturday afternoon. Finished it Monday afternoon.
  • All for You(Laura Florand) – Started this Monday night. At 63%
• Listen: 5 books – 14/5
  • Still the One(Jill Shalvis) – Started this Friday morning. Finished it Monday evening.
  • All I Want(Jill Shalvis) – Started this Monday evening. Finished it Tuesday evening.
  • The Hate U Give(Angie Thomas) – Started this Wednesday morning. On Chapter 5/26

Social Media:

• Post 5 Regular Blog Posts – 15/21 posts
  • This Week:
    • Writing Wednesday
    • Fiction Friday
    • Stream of Consciousness Saturday
    • Weekend Writing Warriors
    • Sunday Summary
• Post to Patreon 3 times – 2/3

Writing Wednesday: A Little Slower

I’m not quite as far ahead this week as I was last week. But, I’m still making progress. We had a busy weekend, and the kids have had vacation bible school this week. Mother in law picks them up and takes them in, husband brings them home. Which gives me a few hours in the evening of having the house all to myself.

Not much else going on this week. Though it seems we might finally be lice free. Can I do a happy dance now? Cautiously optimistic right now, since yesterday is the first day I found none when combing through the girl’s hair. For about a week before that, I’d been finding about 2 each day. They just didn’t seem to want to give it up. But, hopefully now they’re gone.

I’m still working on Nowhere to Run this week, so you actually get something from that this week for WiPPet Wednesday. This is just after James and Tracy meet for the first time. James’ brother, and a couple others are taking him out for his 21st birthday. They’ve just ordered him his first drinks. I have 9 paragraphs(1+8 for the day)

James stared at the waitress who had just turned and gone back to the bar with the orders. He wasn’t even sure what the guys had ordered him to drink. He didn’t really care, either. He thought he might already be intoxicated.
What had just happened there?
His brother laughing drew him out of his thoughts. “What’s so funny?” he asked.
“You,” Todd said, still chuckling. “You look like you’ve been pole-axed.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Todd put his arm aver James’ shoulders. “Don’t worry. It’s natural. I’m pretty sure I felt the same when I first saw Jade. My god, was she lovely? And so often spitting fire at me.”
“She still seems to do that,” James said, shrugging his brother’s arm away as he saw Tracy heading back their way with a tray of drinks. “Stop being an idiot. This is nothing like that.”
Todd snorted, but James ignored him, keeping his gaze on the waitress. “Yeah, no,” Todd said. “Not a thing like that. Not at all.”
Even James could hear the sarcasm in his voice.

Already in denial, James? How long are you going to be able to keep that up? 😉

Color Code:

Goal Met

Progress Made

Set Aside

Not Done

Plotting: 

• Primary: Heart to Heart – finish Story Toolkit
  • This Week: Event Brainstorm 1 & 2
• Secondary: Heart to Heart – Outline Act 1, List rest of scenes
• Tertiary: Nowhere to Run – Outline Act 2
  • This Week: Outline – 20/20 scenes outlined
• Stretch: Neil & Lin(Rileys #2) – Brainstorm

Writing:

• Primary: Nowhere to Run – Draft through Chapter 14/~25000 words – 15054/25000 words
  • This Week: Write 6 scenes – Finished scene 4/6
• Secondary: Side Projects – 5000 words – 3329/5000 words
  • This Week:
    • Arresting Callum – 275 words – 0/275 words
    • Hawk – 250 words – 0/250 words
    • Jacob & Matthew – 250 words – 0/250 words
• Tertiary: Jonas & Isaac – 15 pages – 7.25/15 pages
  • This Week: 3.5 pages – 0/3.5 pages
• Stretch: By the Gun – 4 Chapters – 2/4 chapters
  • This Week: Chapter 3– 0/3 scenes

Editing:

• Primary: Short Story Collection
  • This Week: Bree & Jenny – 1 scene –
• Secondary: Stained Blood – Beta Edits(as I get chapters back)
• Tertiary: Flames of Renewal – Proofread(once I get it back from proofreader)
• Stretch: Law of Choice – CP edits(if I get it back this month)

Publish:

• Flames of Renewal

Reading:

• Read: 20 books – 19/20 books
  • Country Heaven(Ava Miles) – Started this Sunday morning. Finished it Sunday evening.
  • Two by Two(Debbie McGowan) – Started this Sunday evening. At 79%
• Listen: 5 books – 10/5
  • Rescue My Heart(Jill Shalvis) – Started this Monday morning. Finished it Monday night.
  • Rumor Has It(Jill Shalvis) – Started this Tuesday morning. On Chapter 26/28

Social Media:

• Post 5 Regular Blog Posts – 11/21 posts
  • This Week:
    • Writing Wednesday
    • Fiction Friday
    • Stream of Consciousness Saturday
    • Weekend Writing Warriors
    • Sunday Summary
• Post to Patreon 3 times – 1/3
  • This Week: Coming Soon

Sunday Summary: A Good Week

I had all my initial goals for the week done by Wednesday morning. Then, I got through a round of bonus goals + 1(I did yet another scene for Nowhere to Run). And that was with taking Monday off from writing.

Saturday we had a family reunion in Ohio(just over the border at Pymatuning, so not a really far trip. Last year’s was in Altoona, still in the same state, but a longer drive). On the way there, we stopped at the spillway, part of the Pymatuning Reservoir, so the kids could see the ducks walking on the fish. 

Then, we went on to the campground where the reunion was being held. We ate lots of food, got a picture of everyone, then went swimming. Of course, once the girl gets in the water, it doesn’t matter how long she’s in there, we have to negotiate to get her back out eventually. Hit the playground for a little bit, then went over to one of the cabins the family rented. They did a game for the kids of searching for coins in sawdust. We finally left, stopped at Burger King for dinner, then got groceries and finally came home. In the midst of all that, I finished reading another book for the week. 🙂

This has been a busy month, so far. I’m ready for it to settle down, but next month won’t be much better. Which reminds me, I really need to send out the invite for the girl’s 11th birthday party, since there’s less than a month until that. Gah! How did that happen?

Color Code:

Goal Met

Progress Made

Set Aside

Not Done

Plotting: 

• Primary: Heart to Heart – finish Story Toolkit
  • This Week: Romance Arc, Subplot
• Secondary: Heart to Heart – Outline Act 1, List rest of scenes
• Tertiary: Nowhere to Run – Outline Act 2
• Stretch: Neil & Lin(Rileys #2) – Brainstorm

Writing:

• Primary: Nowhere to Run – Draft through Chapter 14/~25000 words – 11063/25000 words
  • This Week: Write 4 scenes – Finished 5/4 scenes
• Secondary: Side Projects – 5000 words – 3329/5000 words
  • This Week:
    • Arresting Callum – 250 words – 555/250 words
    • Hawk – 250 words – 473/250 words
    • Jacob & Matthew – 250 words – 550/250 words
• Tertiary: Jonas & Isaac – 15 pages – 7.25/15 pages
  • This Week: 3 pages – 4.25/3 pages
• Stretch: By the Gun – 4 Chapters – 2/4 chapters
  • This Week: Chapter 2– Finished 2/2 scenes, Started Chapter 3: finished scene 1/4

Editing:

• Primary: Short Story Collection
  • This Week: Bree & Jenny – 1 scene – 2 scenes
• Secondary: Stained Blood – Beta Edits(as I get chapters back)
• Tertiary: Flames of Renewal – Proofread(once I get it back from proofreader)
• Stretch: Law of Choice – CP edits(if I get it back this month)

Publish:

• Flames of Renewal

Reading:

• Read: 20 books – 18/20 books
  • Heart Seeker(Juliana Haygert) – Started this Sunday morning. Finished it Sunday evening.
  • Winter’s Heat(Cristin Harber) – Started this Sunday evening. Finished it Sunday night.
  • Unraveled(Lindsay Buroker) – Started this Monday morning. Finished it Thursday afternoon.
  • Red Hot Christmas(Debbie McGowan) – Started this Tuesday morning. Finished it Tuesday evening.
  • The Soldier’s Scoundrel(Cat Sebastian) – Started this Wednesday morning. Finished it Wednesday night.
  • One Wild Finn(R.G. Alexander) – Started this Thursday morning. Finished it Thursday afternoon.
  • Star Survivor(Veronica Scott) – Started this Thursday afternoon. Finished it Friday afternoon.
  • Can’t Take My Eyes Off You(Kait Nolan) – Started this Friday afternoon. Finished it Saturday evening.
• Listen: 5 books – 9/5
  • Yours Forever(Farrah Rochon) – Started this Monday morning. Finished it Monday afternoon.
  • Animal Magnetism(Jill Shalvis) – Started this Tuesday morning. Finished it Wednesday morning.
  • Animal Attraction(Jill Shalvis) – Started this Wednesday afternoon. Finished it Friday afternoon

Social Media:

• Post 5 Regular Blog Posts – 10/21 posts
  • This Week:
    • Writing Wednesday
    • Fiction Friday
    • Stream of Consciousness Saturday
    • Weekend Writing Warriors
    • Sunday Summary
• Post to Patreon 3 times – 1/3
  • This Week: What I’m Working On

Weekend Writing Warriors: “Slightly Off”

Welcome back to another visit with the Weekend Writing Warriors, the blog hop for anyone who likes to write, where we share 8-10 sentences from a project and sometimes get creative with punctuation. 😉 I’m actually getting this up Friday, because we have an all day family reunion a state away(it’s only about an hour drive, but still in another state) on Saturday. I’ve skipped ahead just a little bit. Hawk and Noah are still talking.

“He wanted me to help take you out. He still thinks my aim was just slightly off last week.”

It all came crashing down on me now. “That was you? You shot me with a fucking pellet gun?”

Noah grinned at me again. “It was slightly higher caliber than that,” he said, “but basically, yes. It knocked you out of the way of his much higher caliber bullet. Your helmet wouldn’t have even stopped it.”

“You could have killed me,” I said, a bit incredulous with how cavalier he seemed to be by this.

Noah just turned 18 and may not always make the best decisions. He definitely didn’t have a good role model in his father. But, was his heart in the right place? I’ll have more next weekend.