Four Chapters in Two Days? What? What?

Well, I didn't hit that third chapter today, but I still feel very good with the progress I made.  I didn't only break 25k... I smashed it in the face with a big, meaty fist.

The New Year is coming, and I want to publish by February.  That being said, sometime after tomorrow, I will have to think about ordering cover art.  I have someone in mind, and I know about how much it will cost, but scraping together that number of dollar bills is going to be a pain in my... wallet.

The puppy seems to be doing okay.  He slept a lot today.  I don't blame him.  We took him off his Kibble and he got a lot of water, Pedialite, and chicken broth.  I gave him a little bit of Kibble late in the night, feeling guilty about the liquid diet, but he needed his little puppy tummy to reset.  Looks like we're not out of the park yet - but he has a vet visit coming up soon, and he's not unhealthy in any other way.  He's sleeping just fine in his new crate, and from what I've read, it shouldn't be a problem unless it lasts more than a couple more days.  He actually walked in and out of his crate on his own today: a very good sign!

I have a horrible shift again tomorrow: 11am - 8pm, though I will probably end up there until after 9 again.  Why does everyone want pizza on New Year's? :P  I am just unbelievably grateful that I don't have to close and can spend some time with my fiance, ringing in the New Year.

They say you spend the rest of the year doing whatever you're doing at the start of the New Year.  I hope to be devoting time to the ones I care about, and maybe sneaking some writing in ;)  My family is German, so I am especially looking forward to my pork and sauerkraut (a horrible invention if there ever was one) on Saturday.  Thankfully, my mom puts a measure of brown sugar in our sauerkraut, making it actually somewhat edible (at least enough for the bite for good luck).  Yay :)

Wordcount:
26,540/50,000;  53.08%!!!

Two Posts in Two Days? A Christmas Miracle.

I worked today, from 11am until about 7.30pm.  It was a long shift.  I drove over 100 miles.  I came home to my adorable puppy having had diarrhea all over his crate... after we just gave him a bath for peeing in his crate yesterday >.<  He was doing so well!  The new (big boy!) crate seems to really be stressing him out though.  He didn't have any accidents last night, I guess it was just too much yesterday, with both of us at work and he couldn't go out.

I kept him up with me (out of his crate) while I wrote today.  He did pretty well sleeping under my chair.  He has diarrhea, but he's so energetic all the time!  We played fetch for a combined 45 minutes easy today.  He usually only lasts about 10.  I don't know what's up with him.  I took him on a couple of trips outside while I wrote today.  I want to prevent an accident for tonight!  I also put his old bed from his old crate in with him.  We had to take it out because he chewed the hell out of it and stuffing got everywhere.  Maybe something familiar will help calm him down.  (also easier to clean than removing the crate bottom)  He seems to be laying on it fine.

I did fantastically today, got 2 chapters, over 2k words in :)  I'm less than 700 words from 25k!!! That's my 50% mark and I'm absolutely excited about it.  Also, I got an extra dot on my Kindle today.  Dot of achievement yay :D

I mentioned I was so excited about the dot, but left out part of precisely why.  I have A Christmas Carol on my Kindle at the moment.  I think it's a great story.  Lots of people know it, it's been redone in a hundred ways, and the original story itself is pretty amazing.  When I got my extra dot, I was officially longer than that story.  For some reason that was a landmark in my head.  Still is...  I'm longer than it!

I'll be heading to bed soon.  I'm putting a few of my other favorite books on my Kindle right now, so I can compare our lengths :3  Hmm... that sounds a little dirty...

I Have Made Some Progress!

So the story I'm currently involved in, broke 22k today.

I am incredibly, wait let me emphasize INCREDIBLY excited about this number.  Actually, I was excited yesterday when I broke 20k and I'll tell you why :)

I send my story to my Kindle so I can read through it, and see how it formats to the screen.  It's really nice for me, because LCD screens are nice and wonderful, but after writing (and staring at them for hours at a time), my eyes just plain hurt.  I love my Kindle because it's no more strenuous than reading a printed book.  I think E-ink is absolutely amazing technology.  Plus, with my Kindle I can make the words bigger as I get tired, or even have the text-to-speech read to me, though sometimes it's quite hilarious.

Also, I feel undeniably proud of figuring out some of the Kindle formatting on my lonesome.  The day I put in a table of contents that actually linked the chapters of my book by clicking on them... pure gold.

Okay, but now that I've shared my Kindlelove (as I hear all Kindle owners do sooner or later) I'll get back to why I'm so proud of my 20k hit.

I feel a little bit like I can measure my progress by the tiny little dots on my Kindle screen.  When you have a manuscript of some kind, it gets a standard number of dots.  As you read the books, the dots darken, and you can see roughly where you are in the book from the home page.  Yesterday, my dots got a little longer... that is to say, my story is long enough to be longer than the standard (nine or so) dots Kindle gives any piece of work set to it.  While I only gained about one dot, I pranced about the house and forced my fiance to look at it.

It was a moment of glory.

Because I'm a Lazy Jerk...

... I don't finish things before I start another.  My "Project 1, to 90k" tapered off after my editors fell off the face of the universe.  I'm pretty sure I heard the popping noise as air rushed to fill the voids they created.  I don't think what I wrote was bad, I had good feedback.  Just people have schedules, and those schedules don't include detailed editing.

Anyway, I'm working on a new project that broke 5k today.  My goal for this one is 50k plus until the story is finished.  So basically, I want at least 50k, and then it will go over depending where I am in the narrative.  I'm also going to try and create some buzz with this one.  Once I get near the end, I'll get a cover together and post the first couple of chapters for free.  Maybe I can get people hooked in the story.  Hopefully :)

I'll catch you one day, J. A. Konrath!  (Let's see if that ever comes back to haunt me!)

It's Good to Have Editors

I received back from 2 of 4 people who read the first bit. Took a few thoughts into consideration. Thinking over my own story also, I added a few bits, so here is the new total!

5,854/90,000: 6.5% (+1.54%)

Sleep, She is Far

I just finished a marathon session at my story. At over 1,600 words for today (around 4 pages because of dialogue) I feel a little drained and ridiculously excited. I think I'm becoming caught up in my own story. I wonder a little about the whole process of writing. I almost feel like I'm writing because I want to know what will happen, what the characters will say, the situations they will find themselves facing. The scene that played out today was dull at first, and I didn't enjoy writing it so much (aka, it will need editing). But when I got to the meat of my scene, the part I wanted to write, the words flew from my fingers to the file. It's those dull connector parts that worry me. I have to make them as enjoyable as the rest, and not just give them away to being "dull connector parts". I feel unbelievably excited right now, because I feel I ended a little slowly today, but I have a good, memorable scene added to the story. A good day :)

Project 1:
4.463/90,000: 4.96% (+1.84%)

Picking Up the Pieces

It's been a wild ride since I moved back from Japan. In all that time, I didn't push myself to write anything. This is incredibly unfortunate, and I do feel a sense of shame at this. However, that time is gone and it can't be regained. My goal was to publish by my birthday (September 5th). This has not happened! It's sobering. If you don't write, you don't finish, go figure.

Now, I begin anew and make fresh progress and finish a project. I am setting a new goal for myself. I want to write everyday, be it 200 words or 1,000. I want to recruit and retain honest editors to push me on my journey.

Finally, I want to publish.

So, setting an arbitrary goal of 90,000 words (based on the fact that I found that is approximately the length of a novel, on the internets), here is my current progress on my new work.

Project 1:
2,807/90,000 ; 3.12%

Here's Me Scuffing the Dirt Sheepishly

Well, here we are January 11th, the last day of vacation. Tomorrow I go back to the grind, which means my free time is going to be a lot more limited. Unfortunately, as anticipated, but wishfully argued against, I didn't really put in a lot of writing time during this break. Mostly, I was just lazy, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. But, just a little tiny bit, I was spending quality time with a quality person, and didn't want to say, "Hey, I really have to write for the next two hours so... you know, don't talk to me or anything."

I think I'm one of those people that, if I were a full-time, stay-at-home author, I'd never write anything else. I definitely procrastinate when I have the appearance of a lot of time, whereas if I'm working full-time, I have to schedule my writing time into my life. I'm a little disappointed in myself for it, mostly because it was a lack of willpower, and I think that means I can't just stay at home for my writing. Or, if I do, I'd have to schedule it as a working time during my day.

Anyway, here's the pathetic amount of writing I've done since my last post, and even then I have some major revisions I'm planning (so major I have to go back and change it before I can even move on). One thing I did do, was make character cards because the number of characters is increasing, and I want to keep track of them. I also have a character placement chart in the works, so I can keep track of where they are. It sounds strange written down, but it makes sense to me.

So, anyway...
Previous:
3Tera: 17,847, Goal: 90,000. Progress: 19.8%

Current:
3Tera: 19,042, Goal: 90,000. Progress: 21.1%'

Wow. I am so disappointed in myself. I want to work extra hard the rest of this month to get a move on!!!