Mission Accomplished! (Sort of.)

I set myself the same total yearly goal as last year, 500,000 new words.

Last year I made 13.3% of that goal, at 66,636 new words.

I set a second goal for this year, and that was to beat last year. Obviously if I made my yearly goal I would, but if I didn't, I at least wanted to improve/work harder/write more.

As of today, I have at least 67,049 new words under my belt, or 13.41%. So I made at least one of my goals!

Yay to the me!

March Progress Update

So, things got really bad in our neighborhood and basically I got no writing done and had to remove the dog from our home because the neighbors threatened to hurt him.  Yes, that kind of people.

I am trying to move on from it but there has been a flurry of activity involving the mayor and prosecutors and... phew.  So to keep a long story short, March was dismal as far as word count.  I managed somewhere in the area of 6,500 words.

See the slight little dip? =/  The only time I was really able to pinch off some undisturbed time.

I am currently (not counting the April writing I've done, yay April!) 84,882 words behind my goal.  My best point was March 1st (50,310) and my worst point was March 31st (84,882).  This puts me at an additional 303 words/day, every day for the rest of the year.  That translates to 1,672 words/day.  We're still not in the super danger zone, but we're getting closer every missed day.  At least for April 1-2, I've made my goal :P  Let's try and get this puppy back under control.  As of the end of March, I should have completed 123,288 words.

So where did I squeeze in my measly words?

And the 17th is when the worst of it went down, so basically right as I was getting steam under me >.<  I am determined, holed up as I am in this safe house, to get some work done.

If I don't, this is what I can look forward to:

I guess the saying is "Evolve or die", so that's what I'm trying to do.  I feel more used to my surroundings now, and I plan to forge ahead.  Here's to a better April!  (And a safe, happy and healthy dog!)

The 100,000th Miss

So, interestingly enough, looking at my word count goal, on Pi Day (3-14) I was supposed to have already written 20% of my word count goal, or 100,000 words.

Whoopsie, sadly, I got about a third of that.  So, I'm pretty behind as far as the word count goes.  However, we (seem to have) had a break-through with the neighbors - they've at least been quiet today!  And I have taken full advantage of that by writing my little fingers off.  I'm hoping to clock at least 3000 words today.  We have some plans to eat dinner with the beau's parents, and I agreed to help my mom out by taking my bros to school for their band contest (tenor sax and trombone).  They're going to be wearing TUXES!  That makes me laugh and laugh, we're really not a very dressy family ;)  Not to say we don't clean up nice, but I think my bros would agree that we like to kick back and relax an usually high amount.

But -around- all that, I'm getting the writing done ;)  This post is in the interval between two chapters, as I shed that last idea and fully grasp the next one.

I don't know how it is for other authors, but I can say when I have an idea I need to get out, it just runs around and around in my head.  And after I've written it, it goes silent and thankful at being expressed.  And then the next one comes up :)  Since I've been so interrupted recently, ideas have been crowding and crowding.  It's a relief to release some of them :)

If everything manages to go swimmingly today and tomorrow, there's a good chance I could crack the 40k mark.  Here's hoping!

What the Heart Wants

I haven't gotten much writing done this month, and I can sum up in one word why: Neighbors.  We've had such a hassle with them that aside from calling out the police, we've also had an appointment at the prosecutor's office.  Yes.  THAT bad.  They are disrespectful and disruptive.  We are doing our best to take the high ground.  Unfortunately that may lead us directly into the courtroom.  I'd have to say that would sadden me considerably.  It's really only one member of that family that causes 100% of the disruptions.  His wife seems quite charming, and their little girl is friendly and adorable.  I am almost positive that she doesn't know what goes on when she isn't home.  (She works and he stays home on "disability".  It breaks my heart when he goes out to cause disruptions - and even over that, I can hear the little girl wailing from inside the house.)

On a separate note, I had the craziest dream last night.  In it, I had teamed up with the always glorious Jennifer at Bookden in a campaign called "Harvest for Knowledge".  Her website promoted my books (specifically the IH series), with half the profits going to a campaign to bring books to people who might otherwise not have access to them.  The remembering is a little blurry, but basically, they could buy food or textbooks, and by buying them the books it let them buy food (hence harvest + knowledge).  Anyway, we were at 2 million of our 3 million books sold (!!!) and I got a big fat royalty check (even at 50%) and we were able to move away from our horrible neighbors.

So, I've heard dreams reflect your inner thoughts, things you'd like to see done, and I can't think of a single thing in that dream that wouldn't be enjoyable.  Working with Bookden?  Hell yeah!  Bringing food/knowledge to those in need?  YES.  Moving to a better location? :D

Now, how to set about getting this done...

So, How'm I?

Hello there ladies and gents!

I know my posts have been exceedingly erratic and I apologize.  I feel like I have interests just outside of the social media blitz - I never really got into Twitter, am neutral about Facebook, and I generally don't get very personal with my blog.  All of this combines to make me seem reclusive into today's know-what-everyone-else-is-doing-exactly-every-second type of mindset!

I'll keep my news brief, as I usually attempt to do.

1. Much to my chagrin, the hosting site for my beautiful word count meters went down.  This resulted in a sort of cobbled together attempt at permeating the code therein by me, which meant the numbers seemed to update, but the bar and the color did not.  Much to my delight, the site has been restored (much to my relief, I may add!)  This means I WON'T have to go find a new word meter, which I have been dragging my feet on doing.  I should note, I just checked again five seconds ago and saw that the site was back up, after being down for a number of days.  Phew, this update could have gone very differently!

2. I finally pulled my act together and got some good writing done in February... but only for six days.  I know, right?  *facepalm*  In those six days, however, I managed a whopping 14,423 words.  When you take into account one day was only 347 words... the other five then averaged to 2,815~ words a day.

3. I am currently 48,490 words behind my goal.  My best point was February 1st (26,377) and my worst point was February 28th (48,940).  At this point, I have to write an additional 155 words/day, every day, for the rest of the year to make my goal.  That means I need to write 1,530 words/day.  Still doable!

4. Sales are currently non-existent.

Now here are some fun graphs for you to see, which I look at everyday.

The graph showing how much different than the "base" number of words I have to write everyday, to meet my goal:

The graph showing which days/how much I wrote, with a miniature of the graph above, and a line indicating average words a day and how they've changed:

The "3-month" graph, showing how my writing in the current month affects my total, and what the nightmare would be if I took the next two months off.

I actually have a fourth graph, showing the entire year.  It changes when I write, with a terrifyingly steep curve the further I go without writing.  I'm not going to post it, because I am not joking when I tell you - to view it with any meaning, it is literally over 2000 excel cells tall.

All my writing in February went towards a new book that I am on fire with.

In other news, I am both excited and chagrined about the new Simcity release.  Excited, because hey, SIM FREAKIN' CITY, amirite?  Chagrined because of the move towards always-online DRM, no single player, cloud-based saves ONLY and the lowest-version pricetag a hefty 60 bucks.  I know "60 bucks" is pretty normal... there's a reason why my game collection is limited, or why I picked up amazingly fun games like Towns for only 10 bucks haha.

And my last piece of other news, my mom paid for/invited me to her Thai Chi class.  Our instructor modified it with weights and (did I just fly here because) boy my arms are tired.  It was a nice low impact hour, but it felt good to stretch and do some reps, and the soothing music... altogether a nice experience.  Oh, and it means I get to do something with my mom, and it was free for me ;)  I'm not sure how many weeks the class runs, but I admit I am looking forward to Class #2.  I'm using it as a springboard to try and improve my health.  My weight has gotten scary and I need to get control of it again.

So I hope you all are writing more steadily than I, and here's to kicking March's ass.  Cheers!

Dead (From the Bronchial Tubes, Up)

So some of you might have noticed that my word count hasn't budged in a few days.  I came down with some horrible, ucky chest and sinus mess that floored me pretty hard.  My temp was up in the 101 range and I was in and out of nightmares for at least one day.  Looking at my writing chart, I see I haven't written in six days, including today and honestly, I didn't even know six days had gone by.

But I'm recovering now, down mostly to an intermittent cough that catches me by surprise every time, and thick, gross-looking phlegm that decides to exit my sinuses in batches.

As for myself, I'm just glad that the "I'm drinking broken glass every time I swallow" feeling has receded 95% to just a mildly irritated throat.  It literally made me cry, it hurt so bad.  (I have really big tonsils that go crazy when I get sick.)

But I have plans to get back on that writing wagon, and I'm only about 12k words behind my goal!  No sweat!

20 to the 13

Or I suppose I could have titled this post "New Year, Old Place" as we have returned home.

We made the move back successfully, millions and millions of thanks go to the SO's parents who not only paid for the truck, but helped load it and drove it back for us.

Very much thanks to the kind people who stopped by here and picked up a copy of "Youth".  Four copies total sold, and a smattering of "other" work, enough that with the meager sales I had previously, I'll be getting a deposit for 15 dollars in two months!  Every little bit really helps!

And also thank you to the few generous souls who reached out to help in other ways.  I am confident that with careful (precisely careful) money management, we can meet all our bill obligations for almost a full month.  I received a little bit of Christmas money from extended family, and it's all funneling toward bills.  It's a good thing I'm a good cook, because I am going to stretch those dollars until they weep.

The job search has been paying off in the form of interviews for the SO, today's the first day this year he wasn't on a phone interview or out the door in his only suit and tie (funeral wear!) to try and impress someone.  So far every company has been moving him onto the next and the next interview.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed!  My own luck on that front has been desolate.  While going to Japan was great for me as a person and a human being, it really torpedoed my "career".  I worked for two years in fast food when I returned home, and then have been off the last four months, so despite the BBA, I guess I'm not a great candidate.  (Other's results may vary!  Don't let my results keep you from seeing the world!!)

But I'm keeping my head in the air!  I am steadily moving us into a livable position, unpacking boxes like we mean to stay (and we do!).  Neither of us are smokers, but the apartment we were in was surrounded on all sides by them.  Moving back into our house, you can really smell the smoke on everything, so laundry is keeping me pretty busy!

A long while back we bought a bunch of Totino's pizzas as a sort of emergency-quick food, but we picked them specifically because on the inside were free Netflix rentals.  Since I got the living room unpacked and cleaned out of detritus (empty boxes, full boxes, etc) we've been using those free rentals to keep ourselves entertained at night!  Just a side note - Total Recall (2012) was GREAT (better than the original IMHO)!  The Watch was incredibly subpar.  Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Slayer was one of the best movies I've seen in a long time and The Woman in Black was severely underrated (it was awesome and I gasped at least thrice!)

For my writing, last year I made a meager 13.3% of my writing goal (66,636 words).  The goal was half a million (500,000) new words written for the year.  Despite my failure to meet that goal, I am setting the same goal this year.  I let myself get overwhelmed and lazy last year.  This year, while waiting for new jobs to post, I could be spending at least some of that time writing.  If you recall, 500k in a year is less than 1,400 words/day.  Even if I tossed in a few 2k days, I would be able to manage the goal AND take a writing vacation.  I'm already a little behind (whoops) but I intend to get back on that tonight.  The SO is going to his parent's to watch the play-off games and I have begged off.  It will leave me with about 8 hours to type my little heart out!

So that's pretty much our news.  I feel like 2013 is going to be a great year, even if I have to punch it in the face until it agrees.  Who's with me!?! :D