Had several emails from Russ tonight. That was nice. I've written a little over 1000 words, and I'm about to hit a very emotional (I hope) scene.

I had to think a bit about this, though. So I decided to make some muffins from a mix we bought.

Only... I got lazy. I mixed them up. Just add a little milk, grease the muffin cups, and bake. Not so hard, you'd think, right? But I got as far as the mixed... looked at it there in the glass bowl, and thought what the hell. I shoved it in the microwave for five minutes at medium.

It came out perfectly. A nice little cake like thing. I'll make some brown sugar cinnamon frosting next time. It was like a wonderful little coffee cake. I ate half of it. Didn't have to dirty more dishes, start the oven, wait fifteen minutes, etc.

I ate half of it. Now back to work.

And side tracked by some work at the site. But back again...

Almost 1000 words written, which really isn't too bad, considering the number of times I've stopped and done something else. Ah well. We're only now coming closer to my usual writing time. I'll get more done soon. If I can just sit still that long!

I tripped over the dog yesterday and twisted my left leg. It didn't start bothering me until about five minutes ago. Now the knee and ankle feel awful. I guess that's another reason not to get up much after this, right?

Of course, then the dog wanted out, and I had to answer three emails. But still...

(grin)

This is for Ada Nish Pura:

new total 45,343
old total 44,935
new words 408

Better than I've done in any given fifteen minutes for the last week. Good. I can maybe get some work done tonight!

Okay, so maybe 9pm... (grin)

Actually, I'm going to get started here in a couple minutes. I need to find a bandaid for my thumb, though.

Did I mention that I have a blister on my right thumb from hitting the space bar?

After a while, even I start wondering...

Okay, so I was wrong. 7pm was not a good time to start. I barely got a few hundred words written when cats went nuts, phone rang, and by the time I got all that settled, I decided just to make dinner now and be done with it. A shame too -- I had really fallen right into Ada Nish Pura. Surprised me, since that was not the novel I intended to work on.

Dinner is done. I'm going to bring it back here and eat while I do a little web surfing and maybe my journal picture and entry. I suspect that 8pm may turn to 8:30 for the official start, but that's okay. It's not like the time or anything is really important. It's just one of the silly little things I enjoy doing.

I finally went to bed about 10am, woke up around 5pm. And had this 'You've played around enough' feeling -- it's time to do some serious writing. But first I took care of everything around the house and read my emails. I have one web site to do, plus my regular journal website. Both of those will be short.

I've had several days of little more than 1000 words. That's fine -- I don't need more than that most of the time. But I do want to finish up the work on a couple of these novels. Now is the time, when I'm fired up like this, to kick into the work. I rather hope this carries over into the next month. In fact, I'd love to have some real writing days or the next week while Russ is still gone. Make me feel like I've done something rather than sit around and stare at the walls.

And it is the last day of the month. I'd like to do well, just to keep things looking nice for this year. I'm still well within in the one-million goal, though I've fallen back in the world count quite a bit again. I need a couple good days to bring that down as well.

Cats are fed, though I am not yet. Well, that will make a nice break a little later. It's coming up on 7pm, and I think I'll just start my only little marathon from there, and see how I do. I'm only looking for 3-4000 tonight, which really isn't that much. It just feels like it after so many 1000 word days.

Yes, I should be in bed by now. 8:14am. Ack.

But my mind isn't shutting off, even after a nice, long bath. I came back in here to pick up some notes to take to bed with me, and ended up 'checking on things' for about half an hour. Then I thought I might as well post here again. I've been ignorning the temptation to go back into chat. Enough is enough.

Time to sleep, I hope. Or at least get some more notes done.

Well, so far I've not gotten much of anything done today. Just thought I'd mention that. Tried to do cleaning and gave up -- might as well wait until a little later in the week so it looks like I just cleaned before Russ gets back. (grin) I'll take any excuse to be lazy for a few more hours.

To say that things are quiet right now is an understatement. I think I'll just go try to do a bit of writing. And think about feeding the horrid cat gang. They'll be gathering like little sharks soon.

Too tired to think.

Must drag body off to bed for a few hours.

Well, okay. That took care of food for the moment. Now what?

I'm really not usually this bad. I'm just having a little trouble clicking in on anything for the last two or three days. I haven't even done an update to my zoo site yet. Maybe I ought to do that one first. Or write. Or clean. Or go chat.

I could always nap. Or read.

That's the problem. It's not that I don't know what I want to do, it's that there is too much to choose from. Right. So if I take out anything that even remotely looks like work... that still leaves me with all but one thing.

Website stuff for the moment. I need to do some work there. Right.

Russ is somewhere between Chicago and New York about now. He will not be back home until a week from tomorrow.

It's odd, the first day he's gone on these long trips. I have trouble getting my priorities set right away. Should I pull out stuff and clean? Should I sit down and just write straight through on a couple things I need to get done? No, hold it -- it's the weekend, so I can do 'fun stuff' with writing again.

Do I want to try to clean out the library -- which has gotten stacked with boxes and stuff -- and clean out my office as well?

Do I want to finish up Dacey's Dream and get it out of my hands?

How about all of the above?

Nah, once I decide on a writing project, the library stuff will be forgotten. That's the unfortunate truth my life. So we'll see what I end up doing. Right now, I think I'll forage for a little food and check out the cats.

Russ has just gone to bed. He'll be up in a few hours and on his way to Omaha to catch the plane.

Everything looks like we're set here, except that Project Dolphin pulsing isn't working. It's counting, it's just not going through. ARGH.

But, in the scheme of things to go wrong, I think I can live with it.

Russ is doing the last of his packing now. I think we're about set here. It's going to be a long eight days, though. I need a project, and I haven't come up with one yet. I'm sure that won't be a problem once I think about it, though. I have a ton of house things I really should get done. And the inevitable writing stuff, of course...

Crazed day getting Russ ready for his week away. He's off doing clothes right now. We've been to the store. He's done computer work for the chamber and the city. Our house looks like a minature tornado ran through it, there's so much stuff tossed around. Ah well. I'll have a week to clean up, won't I?

Picked up stuff for salads, bunch of tv dinners, all that kind of junk for me next week. I don't see any reason to cook for just me and the cats. At best, I'll make some egg sandwiches. The guys don't mind. They like having tv dinner trays after I'm done.
Overall, though, we're doing pretty well. He has an interview to do at about ten tonight for an article he's writing, so he'll be back home by then. Right now he's off washing clothes.

I didn't do nearly enough writing yesterday. I am going to have plenty of time to make that up, though.

Okay, back to work...

Back from the zoo!

Had a great time.

Tons of pictures to look at.

No time to talk. (grin)

It's 12 hours later almost exactly. I'm up. I'm dressed. I'm ready for the zoo.

Russ had to go take care of a couple bills, but he should be back any moment now. I hate waiting, so here I am.

Did I mention that we're actually going to Omaha because Russ is meeting with someone about a part time training job? They were really anxious to meet with him, so that's good.

The cats know that I'm leaving. They're gathered around with their sad little furry faces, doing the 'We'll starve if you're gone, zette' look. Pitiful little things...

Ah, weather in Omaha is perfect I think. 60's and rain. That's just what I wanted. It will keep most people away from the zoo, won't be so hot I fall over dead again, and since almost everything is inside buildings, the rain won't matter. The really good thing is the big cats are generally more lively in the cooler weather. With luck, the tigers will be outside. Well, luck if it isn't raining too hard, anyway. Can't take the camera out in that kind of weather.

LOL. Russ just called to see if I could copy and download his resume to my Visor so I can beam it to him. It took longer to tell me where to find it than it did to do the work. But he's in the car on the way home, so I'm out of here and off to see the animals...

And the cats glare at me as I pack the last of my things up...

Russ came home at a little before 8PM and we ran out for a bit of food. Now I'm stuffed and the idea of working is really rather... far away right now.

But I've done less than 500 words on the new story, and I think I can get it done tonight, if I give it a real try.

It's called The Children of Gold, and really there's not much to it at all. Just a set up about two children raised in the same place, but under completely different rules, and the later bond they form. I can do this, right?

I'm so stuffed, I feel like one of the teddy bears.... And with just about the same amount of brain cells left, too.

Ack. Short story attack.

Let's hope this one actually somehow stays short. That would be a nice change...

I've got about 100 words on it. So far, that's my only writing for today. One of my kitties was a bit ill, but he's looking better again. Might see if Russ can get him in for his kitty asthma shot before he leaves for Long Island. I think this windy weather has been hard on all of us -- so much junk in the air!

Need to get all my writing done tonight -- not fall behind again. And maybe a bit over, if I can. Tomorrow is zoo day!

Oh, must charge up camera batteries, too!

I don't know what time Russ will be home today, but at least I got some housework done. Not a lot, but I feel a little better about it.

The cats are being remarkably good about the fact that I made myself food, but haven't fed them. I'll have to take care of that soon, too.

It looks as though 20 pages a day is the number for the edits of Dacey, at least for the moment. I hope that once I get farther into it, and let myself flow with the story, it will go better.

So... off to work. The cat sharks have started to gather after all. Well, I'm going to write for a few mintues and then worry about feeding them. After all, I'm too stuffed now to get up and get them food. (Like that attitude is going to pull any weight around here...)

There. Writing done, more or less. I am taking my note cards to bed to do a bit more, and I'll type them in tomorrow, but count them for today. It will take time away from tomorrow's writing, but I have a rule that says if I don't go to sleep, it's still the same day. Well, as long as it doesn't really go for two days or something. I have done that, but I work the writing out on those.

Tonight was a long, drawn out night for writing. It came in spurts, and then I had to work up the notes again, rearrange things, come at stuff from a slightly different angle than I thought I would before it would take off again. But it's going all right. I'll get there.

I've noticed that as it nears dawn, I start getting oddly frantic. I bounce around Forward Motion, I scan weblogs a few times, even though I've just been there... I'm not sure why. I think part of it is an odd feeling of time running out. It's not that I don't like to sleep, mind you. I do, and I happen to do it very well lately. But I still get that 'little girl' feeling of I don't want to go to bed and you can't make me!

Which is kind of funny, because it's now true. No one can make me go to bed.

I think I need some sleep. (grin)

3am and I really haven't gotten anywhere. I did post a chapter for critique on the new Novel Exchange Board, just to see if we can get things kicked off. It's the opening chapter to Muse.

And now back to work on the Freedom and Fame, which is at least close to 1000 words.

It's one of those days where I really didn't want to work. I knew it when I say down, but I'm a determined little person. I have the story here in my head, but I'm just lazy tonight. I don't want to work. I'm going to end up with my visor in bed, I think. I've spent a little too much time sitting here at the computer these days. A few hours away, even still working, will be helpful.

Page 19 and the end of the chapter! Of course I've cut about 100 words, which I really didn't want to do... but still, it's much better for it.

I'm going to stop there for a while and do some actual writing, I think. Or rather, some Freedom and Fame note taking that will lead to writing.

Ooops... forgot to publish this... Been sitting here for about an hour. I have not gotten anything else done, though, in that time...

Well, I'm at the bottom of page 12...




Nice card, though...

Russ just called. He's made it to his hotel in Mason City.

I am still on page 12.

You know, I don't think this is quite going the way I planned.

I did, however, design a lovely new business card....

Russ just called to get some info off a web site. I read it off to him and then emailed it to his palm. If there is wireless service were he's going (and there's no telling, out in Iowa...) then he'll be able to pick it up there as well.

We live in a wonderous age. We really do.

Now, if I could just write tonight, I'd be much happier...

Ten pages, and lost 34 words. Believe me, considering the amount of cutting and rewriting I'm doing, I was surprised to find I hadn't lost far more.

I think the first chapters are finally coming together, though. The intro seems fine, the first chapter still giving me some fits. But I'm getting there. As soon as I get the 30 pages edited, I'll move off to something else for a little while. I might go back to it later, but I discovered something about the way I edit in the last couple books -- If I try to push straight through on something, I'm more likely to rush it, to overlook things, and to get pieces wrong. Editing 30 pages at a shot isn't so much that I feel the need to get it done too quickly.

I think this will work...

Russ is off to a teaching/speaking deal. He drives up tonight, does the work tomorrow, and drives back home. He'll make a good amount of money for this little one day work, too, which his nice. He's really good at this sort of thing.

On Thursday he's got an appointment in Omaha at noon... so I get to go to the zoo! There's a chance it may be raining, which would be perfect -- hardly any people around, and all the places I want to see are indoors anyway, which is why this zoo is open all year. There's nothing quite like walking from the snow into the Lied Jungle. This will be the first winter for the Desert Dome, too.

But today was kind of frantic. We got the car in to be repaired, but it took them longer than anticipated, so Russ barely had time to rush to the bank afterwards, load up the car, and run for it. It's a 200 mile drive to Mason City, and he hopes to get plenty of rest tonight. An early start would have been nice... but a working car (power steering was going out big time), is rather more important.

So, I havn't started writing yet. I've done a couple little lines on Dacey, but not enough to really count. Probably negative numbers, in fact.

I'll have to set up a number of 'must edit' pages on Dacey for each day. Otherwise I'm apt to put it aside for something needing less brain power. I need to get it done. So... If I wanted to get it done by the end of this month, how many pages would have I have to edit per day?

Hmmm... a lot. 55-60 pages a day, which is not an impossible number, of course, but it does look high right now when I can't seem to get moving on anything. Okay, let's add an etra week to that, cutting the number of pages to do per day in half. I can do 30 a day, probably. A lot of it will depend on how much more additional material goes in. But you know... it looks like a plan. Two weeks to having Dacey's Dream done. I can live with that.

I guess I better get to work on it, huh?

10403 and done.

3582 for the day.

I'd say my little plan of just waiting until the story caught worked.

And now I'm down to only three unfinished pieces for this year. They're all novels, though. Still, Dacey is almost there, and while Eliora will take a bit more work than I thought it would, I am finally getting the feel for what I want from it. Freedom and Fame is still in the outline by notecard stage, with barely a few paragraphs added in here and there as I work along.

I feel better now. I think I'll go look at the other stories and see what else I can do tonight. Or maybe I'll go take a nice, relaxing bath.

At any rate, I'm done with that story -- at least until some later date when I look at a rewrite.

10178

Working on the last lines now. And well over what I need for the day.

9473

Almost...

Ah, there. Cereal helped, I think. Now... finish story? We'll see.

Yes, I am being silly tonight with all these entries. I'm not up to chatting, unfortuantely, but talking to myself seems to help just now. A little less stressful and distracting.

9248 -- 2427 since I started. And only 499 words left to go for the day. So far, so good. I'm not even falling over dead at the keyboard yet.

9134
Taking a short break for some cereal. My head hurts. I need something sugary to keep me going.

Only need a bit over 600 words to finish out my total for the night. Then every 100 words over that takes a word off the total I need for the next 99 days. I don't know if I'll actually get enough over to count for anything, but we'll see.

It's looking good so far, though. I knew if I just played around with stories and let my brain work out the pieces, one of the four would take off again. I hope to have this done tonight.

8784. My people just did something a bit odd, but I think it works with the story. Good.

I also now have less than 1000 words to do to make my minimum number for tonight. And that's good, too.

I'm almost done here. I suspect it will come in under 10,000... but I'm not really sure.

Off I go...

8327 so far. 1506 words on it tonight.

Getting close to the end. Sorry it went from short story to novelette, but oh well. I'll be happy just to get to 'The End' on this one. Good ideas in there, a lot of work on the rewrite. I need a stronger set up for the secondary characters, too.

Well, off we go to see how much more I can get done.

Had to take a break. Russ went to bed, I needed to pick up a few things... but I'll be back to this in a couple minutes.

About 15 minutes later... 7570

Not the fastest I've ever written, but considering how I feel... not bad. Also heading into the final steps of the story. Good. I want this one done and out of the way. I would also like to have a good writing day.

Okay, Aria Wakes... Starting count today was 6821

Current Count is 7042

We'll see how far I get before I fall over dead again...

I didn't nap. I slept. For hours. Allergies are playing up right now -- dry end of summer, lots of wind today, and it just became too much trouble to sit up, breathe, and think all at the same time. Never mind writing.

This, of course, has put me way behind on writing. But I'm about to go attack Aria Wakes and see if I can't get it tot he end of the story.

And my regular journal doesn't want to upload, of course. What would the night be like if things just uploaded without any trouble.

On the other hand, the new server for Forward Motion is already kicking in for some of us. I'm pleased that I'm able to get there so quickly.

Time to get some real work done, too. Not much farther to go on this story, and then it will be back to Dacey's Dream. I'm just in the mood to finish something right now, and Aria Wakes is the only thing within reach.

There are now 100 days left in the year. My daily writing count is now sitting at 2926. For some reason I just can't drop below that 2900 mark. It's very odd. I do normally get a few 4-5000 word days here and there, but I haven't lately, and I think I know why. I'm doing 2-3000 every day, so it's steady work, and no sudden surges after a 500-1000 word day. I am also working on some pretty steady stories, so there aren't likely to be any real leaps there, at least until I get down toward the end.

Today I'm back to the regular work. The fun little weekend project might get a paragraph here and there during the week, but only if I get all the other stuff done. I'm hoping to write the ending to Aria Wakes either today or tomorrow, too. And I'm am finally starting to get a feel for a very interesting subthread for Eliora's World. I must finish the last touches to Dacey's Dream first though, and that will likely be done not long after Aria Wakes.

Hmmm... I seem to be in a 'sleeping mode' theme here...

No wonder I take so many naps lately.

I liked that line so much that I've made a graphic of it for the top of my Lazette.net page.


This would have worked better with my previous design, so I'll probably move it somewhere else, but it's still kind of neat.

I'm making dinner, and thinking about writing. Not working very hard at either one, to be honest... but I'll get there.

Building new universes, one paragraph at a time...

Russ had to use my computer to help a friend with a resume. I thought I would go stark raving mad for a while there, and he wasn't even on for that long. But I started pacing, then I found cookies, then I went to work on my file cabinets... it was very odd. I try not to be obsessive all the time, you know... but it does happen.

But here I am, back again, and ready to go to work on my little IWCS Files book once more. No, ready to once more go to work on my little IWCS Files book. Yes, that's better. I'm not getting very far (still in the 'c' stories at the moment), but I'm having fun.

And hours later we're back. I've been feeling up and down all day... think I might have the edge of the flu, though not enough to be seriously ill. I do want to just go crawl away and sleep, though.

Still working on my great 'plan' which has been fun.

I hate it when it looks as though people suddenly have a life. Everyone. My email has been virtually empty all weekend. It's very... unsettling.

But Russ is taking me to go get something to eat. So life isn't all bad.

I just got the last of the agenda done. Yes, this late... but I did have long breaks in there. In fact, I almost forgot to do the last part of the web work, but it's done now and I don't have to think about it again for a bit.

But I've come up with a new way to waste time, and I'm having great fun at it. I'm doing a set of 'Encyclopedia' books for my stories. The two main universes, one other that only has a few short stories in it so far, and a miscellaneous one as well. I've just started the SF one, and I'm having lots of fun... except for the slight problem of not remembering some of the short stories. No matter. I'm getting there. I'm doing short descriptions of each story and jotting down some keywords, as well as a time/place note, for each of the

It was a good thing to work on today, because I had the agenda and had problems with it. But all seems to be well now.

This is going to be my weekend (mostly) project. My version of taking a day off.

I'll probably not get much farther tonight, but I'm enjoying the fun of pulling these all together and seeing how they interrelate. And seeing things like I've written nine Devlin novels. Might be time for a tenth, if I can get some other things finished. (Which I won't have done any time soon if I keep messing around with stuff like this...)

Oh yes... there is a problem. I don't know what the hell they did to this one document, but it will not copy over for me at all. Not locked... I checked that. Ah... just finally got it to work, and without printing and scanning the pages in, too, which his good. This was the last step before making the PDF, so you can see that it's going pretty well. I hope that it goes together without a problem, and then uploads nicely as well. You never know.

But it does mean that it's coming up on 9pm and I may get to write soon.

I've some odd thoughts about writing tonight, and something I might even try to implement for the rest of the year... A sort of 'weekend's doing odd writing for fun' stuff.

Oh argh. It looks like the pdf maker just froze up in the middle of the work. I swear this is going to drive me nuts today...

Slow start today for various reasons. Russ made cookies and I ate too many... Then I went in to take a bath and do notes on Freedom and Fame -- and promptly fell asleep, right until the dog started barking. Now I realize I have the agenda to get done, so I better get the pdf file done on it. I don't think it's going to be a rough one (probably jinxed myself, of course), so that shouldn't take more than a couple hours.

I did rewrite the opening to For the Honor of the Hunt this afternoon. Opening two paragraphs, and several smaller cuts/inserts through page three. Russ even feels it finally works. I will be printing it off and get it in the mail early next week.

Can you tell that I am not leaping at the chance to do the agenda? What a surprise, huh? Should have done it last night... I sould never leave that work sitting because it doesn't get any better as the weekend goes on. Snarl. Growl.

Dougie Maclean, Perthshire Amber. That should help me work. (Music for those poor people out there who have no clue what I'm talking about.)

Agenda time!

Oh yes, I've done it. Last year's total was 701,782 words. Right now I'm at 701,845 with a bit more to do tonight which should put it at about 702,000.

And I got a couple very nice scenes -- one really unexpected in Ada Nish Pura that will just emphasize what happens next. I have a short story inching up to 6000 words that I think will be done tomorrow or the next day... not much left there, and if I leapt at it, I could probably have it done tonight. But I want to think the last bits out just a little more.

Dacey has moved from 'add in pieces' to final draft phase. I will not get as many new words on it now, and in fact may lose a few on some days, but it's coming closer to finally being out of my hands. I'm only a few pages into it now, but I like the feel so far.

And with all of that, it's time to get back to work and get done for the night. I'd like to be in bed before dawn... though it doesn't seem likely right now.

Only about 500 words to go before I top last year's totals. Damn. I'm surprised -- I really didn't think it would go this well this year.

Of course, it helps that I have a large book contract and a lot of work to do on those books. Right now I'm working on the last additions to book 4. It will have another rewrite, but that should mostly be cleanup and description. I thought I would have it done before now... but still, I'm glad to see it this close.

Back to work. I might actually get to bed by 5am if I keep this up.

I did all right with writing last night, mostly by cutting about half of one older story and reworking it. It came in much better the second time. That helped, I think.

And I am now about 1000 words from topping my total word count for last year. I should be able to make that tonight, if I can just write. It's not coming easily this tiem, of course. I hope that I get there soon, though. I would like to feel like I've accomplished something in the last couple days.

And today has not been a stellar day. I came within the last cut for the Low Port Anthology, but didn't make it. I would have liked to have gotten into that one for reasons that are not at all logical. Ah well. This is part of writing, I know... but right now I'm not entirely sure what the up side of writing is, as far as publishing is concerned.

I am starting to think it's time for a real job. Odd thought, but there it is. I haven't sold anything since last March, though part of that is because I've put so much of my time into the eight books. I have faith that I could still be making a few e-sales here and there if I put my mind to it, and I love both e-publishing and all the people it puts me in contact with -- but I am, alas, at the 'need funds' stage of life as well.

I have absolutely no urge to write tonight. I'll go for my bottom line 500 words and see if anything kicks in.

And that's it. Got my work done, and now I can sleep.

Muse did well, in the end.

I dragged Muse, kicking and screaming, out of hiding tonight. I'm still working on getting the last 200 or so words done, but I've made it this close, which looked impossible somewhere around midnight.

Really, I have a trick for nights like this, and I should have kicked it in far earlier, rather than staring bleakly at some poor story, and trying to figure out how to get 3000 words out of it.

I pull out all of my unfinished pieces. In this case, that's one short story and three novels. Then I see how much work I need to do. Normally, that would only be 1000 words, but since I'm doing the 'one million word madness,' I had to do 750 words on each one. You know, 750 words does not look nearly as daunting as 3000.

I do this for a couple days, and at some point one of those stories will really come alive for me again, and I'll run with it. It may even turn out that most of the material I write at this time gets cut, though I don't think it will in this case. I got two very crucial scenes moving by not putting so much worry into it, and added some really nice little touches here and there in Dacey's Dream. Only one more full chapter left to add into that book before the final draft, and that chapter is a short one.

So, 200 more words, and then I'm going to bed. Part of my problem is a recurring medical problem that is really wearing me down right now, but I hope to get past that soon. That will help as well.

Okay, post this, do the last 200 words, and get some sleep...

Here, muse, muse muse. Here... I have some some nice fresh unwritten pages for you. Come on out and play...

That's it for the day. I got all the writing done that I need to get done, and my head is threatening to fall off, so it's time to go get some sleep.

Actually, I did well. I got the pda version of Vision done and up. I finished editing and packaged the story to go out. I had an actual inspiration on a short story, and while Dacey is not going well again, I have faith that once the overlay of the story I edited gets out of my head, I'll be able to work on it again. Probably tomorrow.

Overall, a good day. Tiring. Time for some sleep, I think.

There. It is printed. It's in the envelope, all the extra things are done for it, and it will go out in the morning.

I am celebrating with left over food from my favorite Mexican restaurant.

I don't often have the kinds of problems I had with For the Honor of the Hunt. It's a good, strong story. I can't say that I got it right, but it is set to go. I can only hope that it lived up to my vision of the story in the end.

And now... write some other things.

And here I am, working away. Tightening For the Honor of the Hunt one last time, and then it gets printed and off it goes in tomorrow's mail. It's going very well, I think. I'm glad I went ahead with one more check on it today, even though this is slow work. Ah, but writing should be slow, at least in this phase.

Then it will be back to Dacey's Dream. I think it's going very well, too.

Russ is at a meeting tonight where he's giving a speech. I'm not certain if he's going to bring home dinner tonight or we'll just scavenge around here. I'm not really hungry at the moment, but I'm starting to think about it. And I have no idea how long it will take Russ to get finished.

But... well, I'm working. Can't get much better then that!

And there. Well over what I need, even with a few breaks. I'm going to find something to eat, and then come back to the final edits on For the Honor of the Hunt, I think.

I also need to work up some posts for Forward Motion now that I have the Vision board. I hadn't thought it would come through quite this quickly, and I have to get some things there! Ack!

Long couple of days, with a lot more going on than I like sometimes, but at least my brain seems to have been engaged today. I like when that happens. I hope that it can stay in there at least through the rest of Dacey's Dream. I'm up to 72,000 words. Anywhere between 75-80,000 will be enough -- and I think that will come through the final edits. Though I've made some changes that are going to mean some drastic changes in the original material before the subplot got put in -- but that happens. And it's for the better.

Just means more work. Not bad, though. Once I get the last section of subplot written -- probably tomorrow -- I can begin the final run on the story. And then off it will go.

Of course, that means I'll be up to Eliora's World, and I don't quite have a grasp of what to do with that one yet. I have the main plot, but... it needs more, and it needs depth...

Okay, don't worry about that before I get number 4 done, right? Maybe I shouldn't tax my poor brain on yet more plot problems before I have this one worked out.

Midnight, and I have less than 1000 words to write to make my goal. Very nice.

I don't know what kicked in today, but it did. And I'm even working on Dacey's Dream. It's finally over 71,000. I found the conflict for the sub plot, and it works very well. I'm not sure why I had so much trouble finding it until now.

That conflict has just come to a head, and it's interesting to watch it play out with all the people finally taking sides. The King is going to find out that a title really doesn't mean a hell of a lot when people find out what you paid for it.

A crazed day, reall. Just an odd, crazed day.

With something that I found a bit funny and heartening. Sheila mentions an article in her blog that she found at Writer's Resources web site. It turns out to be an article we first ran in Vision. Makes me think that we're really doing something right after all.

http://www.sscdc.net/hlvision/issue5/synopsis.htm

Other than that... well, just odd. I'm going to get some writing done now, though. Time to get the brain kicked back over to work related stuff.

Well no, not exactly my most industrious day so far, but it's been nice in some ways. Calmer, in some ways, frustrating in others. Cooler, that's for sure. I keep getting the feeling I ought to be looking for my sweaters because the temps have really changed in the last couple days.

And I really appreciate it, too. I get the feeling I might get brain back soon, if I can just sort of concentrate on one thing for more than a couple minutes at a time. Writing would be nice, of course. I would like to get some work done yet tonight.

Instead, I keep doing odd things. Not a surprise, is it?

Writing is going well enough so far, but I don't expect that to last. Actually, I think it may be time to just go feed the little rug rat cats, in fact, and take a slight break. I've only gotten a couple hundred words done, but they were at a point where I was somewhat stuck, so that's always good.

What else? I'm still on my Celtic music kick. I've listened to everything but my last ten cds. That's 92 of them down. It's been rather enjoyable, actually. Well, duh... I usually don't go on with stuff if I don't enjoy it. That's one of my rules of life -- don't do anything that isn't required if you don't enjoy it. I don't like doing dishes, but I do them if I have to. But listening to music I don't likeis not required.

Hmmm... which reminds me. I did put some dishes in the sink. I think I'll go get them done, feed the cats, and then be clear to write without much interruption for the rest of the night. Russ is off to do a little job later tonight, and we won't eat until he gets home about ten, so I don't even have to think about that. Well, except for a little snack maybe...

So, do dishes, feed cats, find snack...

Sounds like a plan to me!

Not my best writing night, but not bad. Most of the way through a very short new story. Some work on Freedom and Fame. But mostly my head is just not into the work. Mostly my head is not in much of anything, in fact. I've been working away on the stuff, but really... I think it's about time for bed.

I got work done last night, and I edited an entire long short story, that I think wen't pretty well. I want to get it out. Today, in general though, is just kind of a sucky day. So much so that I'm afraid to touch anything right now. I might end up doing a short story for the day and keeping my hands away from the novels. We'll see.

It's one of those days where I think staying in bed wouldn't have been such a bad idea, either. But here I am, and I can hardly avoid work, can I? I must write something.

Or maybe I should just go look at possible dinner food.

Not a good sign when I start looking for anything other than writing.

The change in POV worked very well, actually. The material is moving slowly, but I know now that I am on the right track. This change and some serious character weeding will help. It's time to get the notecards out and start writing out the scenes down and start working out what I really expect out of this particular book. I was doing it off the cuff, and that's not working as well as it could. I've gotten a lot of writing done -- over 2400 words, but it was put in a piece, take it out, change the play of events, rewrite something I took out... not exactly the best way to do this work.

However, having gotten that much on Freedom and Fame, I'm going to turn my attention back to Dacey's Dream for a little while. That one is a little more difficult, of course. It's in that little 'mid-way' edit/rewrite where little things are changing, and I have to tune everything to fit better. I hope to add 500-1000 words a day to the material as well, for just a few more days. I still have two big scenes to write that will add quite a bit to the novel, but I'm working my way up through what I have already, so that I can fall into the material with a little better feel for the growing rebellion between princes and the king. I like what I've gotten so far in that respect. I hope I can continue to hold that feel.

Time to go back to work...

Well, so far the day has not been particularly good for writing. Or for getting much else done, though I did sweep up my office. That should count for something, I guess.

I hit a section of the new book that just did not work. I'm going to rip out a few hundred words and leap in from a different POV. That might work better. Yes, I think I like that better already.

See, that isn't so bad.

(I can tell it's just going to continue to be one of those days...)

Today was a quiet day here. Calm. The guy next door came and mowed our lawn. Russ and I had dinner at home.

Last year we were at a restaurant talking with the governor's pilot. He was stuck in town, having flown the governor up to examine the damage done a couple weeks before to a small town nearby. The governor hitched a ride back to Lincoln, but the pilot had to sit it out until people were allowed to fly again.

Isn't it odd, the things you remember?

But I wish this calm and peace everywhere. A year of it would be nice.

And now we are truly in the next morning. It cannot have been a full year, can it? I fear there will never be a sense of closure -- that this day, as a feeling, will never end. I dread seeing every emailed alert from CNN. I don't expect a new attack today... I expect one every day.

I'm going to sleep for a few hours and pretend that the world is still the same.

Not surprisingly, this has not been a great time for writing. Emotions run a little too high, and perhaps a bit too bitter, to do anything really constructive. I've decided, after a couple hours playing with Dacey, to let it sit for a day or two. Instead, I've pulled out the original version of book 6 -- Freedom and Fame -- and I'm going to begin the work of transcribing and rewriting the story. That's easy, compared to any of the other bits. The story is there. I need only translate from very old story to new. In some ways, it's much easier to throw my full attention into it. Less initial brain use, I guess.

And I am looking desperately for a distraction right now, and will be for the next couple days. This, I guess, is it.

Expect, at best, disjointed posts for the next 24 hours.

I finished the first draft of Muse last night. 65,434 words, as I recall. I also have a bunch of notes still, and a list of sort of 'walk on' characters to explore and expand. It shoudl easily be 80-90,000 by the end.

We are celebrating with pizza tonight. Celebrating both the completion of the first draft, and also that we got a small check in the mail -- enough to cover the car insurance, restock the cat food (a high priority in this house), and buy a pizza. What more can a person ask for?

Muse will take backstage now for a little while as I finish up Dacey's Dream. I will still be doing notes because I don't want to lose any little flashes of inspiration that come to me, but the book itself will (I think) go on hold for a couple weeks, at least.

Dacey is next on the list for my attention. I have notes for it, too, and I'm coming close to finishing it off. I'll get this draft done, let it sit for a couple days, and do a final reading before it goes off. Then Eliora's World moves up into the expand and edit phase, and I'll work on writing out the first draft of the sixth book. I may move Muse into line before Eliora -- it's hard to say. I haven't got the final edits back on book three or four, so I'm still well ahead of the game there.

Or is that books two and three? Yeah. Dacey is four. Good. I can count.

Pizza should be here at any moment....

And there is still, floating around out there, Ada Nish Pura to finish up before the end of the year.

Odd, though... I suddenly have the urge to write short stories...

Finding myself somewhat stuck again on Muse, I checked out the link on Sheila's Blog to Paula Guran's little article on horror. I don't write horror, and I don't read it, but I found it interesting to see her pull up the same tired little lines about epublishing that people used when pulp paperbacks first hit the stands. It's the ruin of the genre, and the end of literature as we know it. Exaggeration there, of course -- but her tone suggests it.

It's easy to blame epublishing (as she does, in large part) for the woes of the horror-writing world. It's always easy to blame the new innovations. And I won't deny that there are a lot of poorly written ebooks out there.

But there are some damn poorly written print novels as well, and in all genres.

Epublishing is going to go through all the changes that pulp did -- from wild, wide-open frontiers where everyone tries their hand, and quite a few fail, to an accepted way of publishing. Some, who would never have found a market in the current print publishing world, will draw audiences because they've found something that those people want to read. Others will learn that the readers are far more discerning than they might think, and find that writing in either medium -- print or epublishing -- is hard work. The readers will be the final judges of whether a book makes it, no matter how it is published.

New e-publishers are not springing up as fast as they had in the first few years. Many are dying out and closing shop. I hope that many of the better publishers will survive, though even in the print medium that isn't what always happens. While POD publishers like Xlibris make it possible for 'anyone to be a writer,' actual epublishing houses do have submission standards -- some better than others, of course, but the day of 'we'll take anything' died about a week into the process.

And there's another point. PG, like so many others from their lofty perches on top of print books, makes no distinction between good and bad publishers. For that matter, she doesn't make any distinctions between the differences in taste, either, or why the print publishing world has gone the way it has -- too King's padded Carrie, which is very popular, for instance. There seems to be some odd undertone in her piece that publishing is the end of the line, and that there are no readers -- and if they are out there, they just don't know any better than to read crap and like it. And it has to be all crap if she doesn't approve of that type of material, right?

It's all fine and great to say that the genre has fallen, that the writers are no longer of the caliber that they once were, etc. I can't judge that part at all, since I don't even read Stephen King. However, every time there is a shift in what is popular, someone will cry out how the good, old genre has died and there's nothing but crap out there now. To them, it's true.

But genres change. Sometimes they just cycle around through a set of usual tropes, but now and then they just outright shift, and the old fashioned views get lost in the new overlay. It's not always for the better. To be honest, I miss the old-fashioned Mary Stewart adventures and the gothic 'Woman running away from castle' books that were popular in the 70's and early 80's in what was then called romance. I've found very little in modern romance books that appeal to me.

Hey, who knows? Maybe I'll write some myself, and see if I can't start a resurgence of that type of material in epublishing. You see, that's where epublishing has it's greatest power -- the ability to publish material that would be too marginal for print because of the great cost of print publications.

As for only being a writer if another writer tells you that you are... I had to laugh at that one. Writers write. There are no other qualification for that title. Published authors are another matter, of course, and other writers have nothing to say over that, either. In fact, there are so many of them belittling the others in their fields that you'd probably come out about even for any writer on the 'Paula Guran are you a writer' test.

You know, it's a shame Emily Dickinson (among several others who were published posthumously) was never a writer during her own lifetime... Makes you kind of wonder what exactly she was when she penned those wonderful poems.

Today I put the last of the PDF version of Vision together. That took hours, of course. And I seem to have come to pretty much a 'hit the wall' stop on the novel, though maybe I'm just starting to see a few cracks along the edges now. I'm over 60,000 words which was all I wanted for this first draft, and I still have two big scenes left to do. It may edge up close to 70,000 before I'm done.

It's odd how different books work. Most often I get this close to the end and it just runs away. That's not working with this one. Right now a lot of outside stress has slowed me down, but once I fall into the work, I usually do all right. I had hoped to finish the book tonight... and who knows? I might make it yet.

Muse is an interesting book to work on. Different genre for me, different types of characters -- for the most part. I've enjoyed the work, and I'm looking forward to the rewrite. Maybe too much so. Maybe I should turn my little mind back to writing the ending and then let it run wild with the ideas for the rewrites.

Like I have that kind of control. (grin)

Ah yes. There. Better writing day so far than I've had lately. Within a couple hundred of my goal already, and it's just a bit after one in the morning.

I'm a much better person to live with when stories are going well. Sad, but true. I feel sorry for Russ on those days when I'm in a really foul 'I can't write it right' mood. He puts up with it, though. And who knows... it may yet pay off. Muse is going well. Muse might even have real selling potential, though I'm too close to it to be certain. Still, good to feel that way while I'm writing it, because it helps to make sure I keep the joy of what I'm writing in the work. And this one has just been fun, even if I did lose a bit of that fill toward the start of second half. It's back now.

I think the agenda cursed me. I woke up very ill and spent most of the day in bed again. I have an on-going ear problem, and it's gone to the dizzy stuff again, though it seems to be clearing a bit tonight. Good.

And, surprisingly, I managed about 500 words already. There are other things I need to do as well, but right now I'm just going to let my brain run through to the end of the novel, and let it go for a little while.

Ah. Just had dinner and talked out some more of the story with Russ. I think I have it. Including some of the humor back that I'd lost for a while. Dinner helped clear up a bit of the dizzyness as well. Time to work...

I have been working on the Agenda since 3pm. It's now 10. I'm not really done, but it turns out there is nothing more I can do for the moment because the damned site has locked up on me, and needs a few hours to clear.

Pounding head on desk now. I hate the feeling that I've wasted an entire day. I haven't, really. I got most of the work done, and the stupid thing froze up at the next-to-the-last part. Everything should be there on line, it's just not listed properly yet. And I sent the pdf version off, so that's good.

Now I'm going to write. I don't really feel much like writing, but I'm going to give it a try anyway.

It is days like these that can really drive a person mad, though.

I might as well just be pounding my head on the keyboard for as well as this is going. Yes... one of those nights again. There's something about this section that is just dragging me down, and I'm not certain why. I hate when a novel that was going so well suddenly bogs down for no good reason. I think it's more me than it, but that still doesn't help.

I could set it aside, of course... but that's no answer either. I'm over 50,000 words into it. I just need to get my sense of feel for this one back.

Argh.

Okay, granted, I've written over 2000 words so far today. But they aren't good words.

Am I through complaining now? Hmmmm... Less than a thousand more words and I'll be fine for the day. Just get the silly things done, Zette. Then get some sleep...

I ended up with over 3000 words last night. That really helped. I hope to do a good amount today, but the cold has kicked in pretty badly, and I'm in a less than thrilled mood over it. And I need to come up with a scene that makes it apparent who the real target was in the previous incident. Under the circumstances, I'm not really certain how to do it. That's a bit annoying.

It's one of the reasons I stopped writing last night. I'm up to one cute scene, but then I'll be into this unknown territory for a few thousand words, and I would really like to have something worked out. Something unique would be good, of course...

It's hot here today. I am so grateful the AC is working in my office. But suddenly... I think I need to rest a bit. With my notepaper. And half a brain working on the story.

So, we were watching an episode of Robin of Sherwood... just a nice little break. But Russ got a call, and he's been on the phone for over half an hour now. Sigh. It's understandable, but I would like to get back to the show. I've done a little writing after I realized that the phone call would take far more time than I wanted to sit and wait.

I could watch the rest of the show by myself, of course, but what fun is that?

In the mean time, I'm having trouble uploading something really simple and that's annoying me, too. It's not going to be done before it's time to upload my journal, so that's going to be late.

Just one of those nights where things are not quite going right. And now I want to come up with a reason why two of my characters should accompany another one... ah. I have it. Never mind.

Going to go back out and see if there's any hope of Russ getting off the phone soon...

Russ has read through all of Muse and liked it so far. I had feared I'd lost some of the feel for the last couple chapters, but he's says it's fine. Rough in spots, but not bad at all for a first draft. With that in mind, I wrote about 1700 words so far tonight, and I've made it through one serious part of the novel. I'm going to the end of this chapter, at least, and maybe farther.

But it's short. What a shock, right? Everything I write is short these days. Unless, of course, I intend to write a short story, and then it turns into a novella.

I'm going to have to sit down with the book and work out where I can add some scenes. I know I had some stuff in mind when I first considered this book, and I've left it off to concentrate on one aspect of the mystery. I think it's time to go back and try to add that material back in.

Well, not quite yet, actually. Right now I'm going to just work my way through to the end of the book.

But you know... it's one of the better pieces I've ever written. And fun.

I have a cold. That appears to be the payment for having stepped outside my little office for a few hours. Sigh. But I still had a great time, and I'm posting pictures even as I type. With that done, I'm going to go on to look at some other pictures off of one of the disks... and then I'll think about writing. (grin) Like I'm going to put it off for much longer!

I am back from the zoo.

That was a long, fun day! I have lots of pictures to go through, and then I'll get just a little writing done for the night -- maybe as little as 500 words -- I bet you people didn't think I could write that little, did you? Ha! I'll show you!

Really, this is one of my 'vacation' days. I generally take them only for long trips, but since we aren't going anywhere this year, I'll settle for five hundred word day and relax with my pictures. I've been looking at a few of them while I do this, and so far they're nice!

Only a bit over 1000 words tonight. I'm heading to bed early on the off chance that things work out tomorrow and I do get to the zoo. Don't want to be stumbling around there, mostly dead asleep. So, off for a bath, then to sleep.

I spent most of the day in bed. I worked out some plot problems, but basically did very little else. I've been working on things now and waiting for Russ to get back from a meeting. He's bringing crackers so I can have some soup. Otherwise, the day has been pretty much like my other days. Write, mess around, nap, write...

Just a quick note to say no zoo today after all. I was vry ill late last night, woke up feeling not much better, and decided to put it off for a day or two.

And now I'm crawling back into bed again. I hope by tomorrow all this will be cleared up. If not, there's always Thursday.

(Whimper. Thunk.)

Well there, that's better. Not that I have had all that much to say today, mind you. I've been doing little things, and a little writing, and a few other little things... and preparing myself for the idea of going to the zoo tomorrow. I wish Russ liked zoos so we could go together, but he really doesn't. That's all right -- I understand about really not liking to go somewhere. It just sounds like fun to me, to show him all the neat stuff I love there.

I've started getting my camera batteries all fired up. Sometimes I forget to do that and I'm trying to charge them off the car battery on the way down. Ah, one is done now -- time to slip in the next one!

And I took a nice, calm bath and got the next scene in Muse to unfold, which is great. It's sort of a real change of pace suddenly, and I was having trouble making the transition.

There. Battery # 2 in to charge. Two more after that. I want to buy a couple more new ones, though. I bought one a few weeks ago and realize now that all of the others are getting older and not holding the charge as well. Russ suggested we replace them all (eventually) and leave these batteries with the FD91. Sounds like a good plan. The FD91 doesn't take as much power as the CD1000, and if a batter dies in the middle of it, at the worst you're only going to mess up a single floppy disk.

But... time to go write!

Let's see if we get a post this time... (grin)

There. Not bad. Got mostly through this scene. Got all the words I wanted for the day, and it's not even quite dawn yet. And it wasn't quite as bad a night as Holly had -- no pulling teeth. Just way too hard to get going at first.

And I fear tomorrow won't be much better.

But Tuesday... I might get to go to the zoo, so I'll be in a better mood. (grin)

Time to post this and go get some sleep.

Well, that's better. 1153 just for Muse so far. The scene clicked with an amusing little bit that might not stay, but at least got me going again. I'm well over half way through my goal for the day now, and I still have some more to write, so I might not fall behind after all. This is good. I always feel better when I write. Said that before, haven't I?

Muse is a lot of fun, though. I'm glad I went ahead and started work on it again. I was going to set it aside and make myself work on Dacey, since that book is contracted. But I don't need to rush through Dacey, and I don't want to lose the feel for Muse... so I'll work on them both for a while.

I have the feeling it wasn't Dacey's Dream that was so difficult after all. I'm having the same trouble with Muse. Barely 500 words now, and just a little over 1000 for the day so far. I really do need to get my brain kicked into gear, but I suspect it's not going to happen tonight.

I never like nights like this. I have the story. I have a funny scene coming up. I just can't... get there. I can get a half dozen words at a time, and then it's like I have to stop and think the entire process out again. Far better on the days when it flows, of course... but you can't have that every day. And if you wait for them, well they're harder to pull up.

I'm going for a few hundred more words. If the writing part of my brain has not kicked by then, I'll call it a night.

Gack. That was a really difficult 31 pages, and in the end I only gained about 500 words. I had only meant to do 25 pages, but as often happens, that put me in the midst of a scene that absolutely required continuity. The choice was to stop there, go back a few pages and start over tomorrow on the same scene, or work through to the end of the chapter. #2 seemed the far wiser choice to me.

However, that does take me through about 10% of the story -- at least as much of it as I have now. And it also means that I can work on Muse again. (grin) Although... you know, I'm tempted to do 500 words on Ada first. I've had the papers sitting here for days, with little notes scribbled on them, and it might not hurt to do a couple pages there.

Ah, but first I have to go hunt up a picture and do my journal entry for the day.

I can find more reasons not to work on something some days...

And now we're on to another month. I've opened up Dacey's Dream for the penultimate edit. I still have a little material to add in, but I should have it done no later than mid-month. We're sitting at 64,707 and I hope, with the final parts of the new subplot written, that it will be close to 80,000.

I have copied my work files from the Dare folder to the Current Work folder. There are, I think, four novels there to work on in various stages -- Dacey's Dream, Eliora's World, Ada Nish Pura, and Muse. Eliora will sit now until I have the final pieces of Dacey done, and then that books gets to fall into the final rewrite section. Muse is moving only very well, and it stays in the 'new material' slot until I get the first draft done -- probably another 30-40,000 words. Ada is the odd story out, and I suspect the one I'm going to working on at 11:30PM on December 31st, determined to get it done before midnight. (Yes, that has happened before.)

It's very odd to find myself working on so many novels at once. Usually it's a novel or two and a couple short stories. But in this case, Dacey and Eliora are part of the same set, and there is a small part of Eliora that I needed to forshadow in Dacey, so I went ahead and wrote the first draft of the main story line for it. It came in a little over 40,000 words and allows me to set up material in Dacey for it without guessing how I will want it to play out in the next book.

Sometime this month I will likely get back the final edits on two or three novels, and that's going to slow me up again. So I'm going to try and push now while I have the time.

September is a month without a Dare and a month without an issue of Vision due out... hmmm.... In fact, I can't think of much of anything that is going to need my attention.

So, time to write. Dacey's Dream, starting count 64,707. I'm only going to do a few hundred words on this one today, and then go back to Muse.

117,695 for the month. I fell a little behind the last three days, doing Vision, but that's still not too bad. And if I'd had a little more time tonight, I might have even made 120,000... but I really won't complain.

I will, however, go get some sleep now. Long day. Vision is up, I rewrote and emailed a short story to Alternate Realities, and I wrote quite a bit. My brain is fried, and my eyes won't focus. Time to get some sleep.