And I did it! Done! Yay!

What's next?

I have twenty pages left on Dacey's Dream.

Just thought I'd drop by and mention that.

There will be one more quick go over before it's done, but... this is it!

Yesterday I edited 100 pages of Dacey's Dream.

So I'm in a much better mood now. I might actually get it done this month, which would be fun. I will do another reading of it afterwards, but it should be off to the publisher within the next ten days or so.

Vision is coming along just fine as well.

I'm going to be busy for the next few days, though. So off I go, trying to get too much done in too short a time.

8 am. What am I doing here?

I haven't been to bed yet, actually.

I didn't get much writing done. I did have a 'mostly' good time in chat tonight, except for one very rude and rather stupid person who apparently doesn't understand the term 'stop bothering me now.' I could have legitimately banned him from the site, but I like to think that anyone can have a bad day.

He's the first person I have ever kicked out of chat, and the first person I ever even considered banning. I'm rather amazed, in fact, that anyone could push me to that state. We'll see how it goes from here. If he's smart, he'll not keep bothering everyone, since I had two people ask why I haven't banned him already. He's not even a short step from getting kicked off the site. At this point, I'm afraid all he would have to do is lean the wrong way, and someone is going to get tired of it.

Some people just don't work well with others. They can't let a disagreement alone.

Here's something people at Forward Motion should keep in mind. If I say 'Don't bother me with this again' that's a good sign that you've gone way over the line. Don't expect it to go well after that because, after this one, I'm kind of thinking there might not be a reason to give someone a chance to prove their worth the time.

I think I'm going to head off for bed now....

2707 words from 1,000,000

Headache.

I'm not sure which is going to win out, but this is kind of annoying me...

Well, I've been a good person. I worked on Vision all afternoon. I've got virtually everything but putting the beast together done. That's work enough, of course, but it looks good. There are still a couple articles I'm waiting on, but for the most part it's looking good.

And that means... I can go do the dishes, I guess.

(grin)

I have written almost 500 words on one piece already. I should probably do more before another storm rolls in. Looks like we might have some 'weather' tonight again. So far we've really been lucky, and I think I read that almost everything is going to be south of us -- but it is hot, humid and clouding up out there.

Storms are just starting to fire up now, but from what I see they are heading north and west of us tonight. I hope Russ and his friend don't have any trouble driving back from North Dakota tonight. Lots of storms and flooding along the way they'll be driving. They likely won't be back until around midnight.

Time to get to work, I think...

So, here I am back at work again. Things are going all right, as long as you don't count jabbing the dog's ear while trying to trim her an having blood all over. And now she won't let me near her, of course, so I can't even get her cleaned up. Russ is going to be... surprised? Oh, and there is the flood watch that goes with this incredible humid nasty weather. Or that Russ is going to be gone to North Dakota tomorrow with a friend.

I had to do an update to a page that I hadn't worked on in a long time, and the beast wouldn't upload for over an hour. Some days...

On the good side, last night I came up with a plan to expand Doors which I think is going to be called Glory now, after the MC. We'll see. I expect another change soon.

I've done some Vision work this afternoon, as well as writing up a bit on Fire-bellied Toads for my web site update. I'm about to open Dacey's Dream and get another section of it done as well, and I've finished my Interview with Eternal Night and will send it off later today. I still have one other piece to edit for my minimum submissions this month, and we'll have to wait and see what I come up with there. I have a funny new story I finished the other day, but now I want to put in a subplot that might help it out a bit. I think I can get that one done very fast and still bring it in under 3000 words.

Other than that... nothing much going on today. I'm anxious to get back to work! I guess a day away actually did help a bit.

Four and a half hours on that stupid agenda. But it is done, uploaded, and the pdf emailed. The rest of the weekend is now mostly my own again. I would have been done at least an hour earlier if the person who did the agenda had listened when we said not to do them a legal paper length because no one outside her office can print them off.

I do get awfully tired of being ignored, especially when it then takes me an extra hour to reformat everything so that the page breaks between items are right. It is really annoying because I should have thought to check it before I started. I really must stop expecting people to do things right after they've been shown.

Yes, I'm grumbling.

But at least the worst is done and I can get back to writing. Last night I pulled out a novel I hadn't worked on since February, and it went pretty well. Finished off a chapter, and ready to move on with it. I have other projects, too, of course. Time, in fact. to get back to work on anything and stop snarling about the agenda.

Tomorrow is our anniversary. We'll head down to Omaha and a wildlife refuge. Russ doesn't like zoos or I'd ask him to go there instead. It would be nice to go through threre once with him.

Ah well. We'll ahve a nice drive and a fun dinner!

There. If You Dream of Forests Green has been edited yet again and is printing for submission to Realms of Fantasy. That's one of the two I need to do this month. I did a lot of editing this time, again, too. Cut about 400 words and tightened up the ending. I think I like it better, now.

I have the cover letter done, and the postcard ready to go with it. All I need is envelopes now. I have them, I just need them addressed and all that. But since this won't go out until tomorrow at the earliest, I'm fine.

What else? I did the county agenda, so it's done. I have all the material for the city agenda -- that's the long one -- and I'll get to it either later tonight or tomorrow.

Russ has gone off to snare us some dinner from the local sandwich shop. Seems like a good spot to take a break to me.

One of the siamese babies came to the window and looked in. That was cute. He's the first to climb up there.

I am waiting for the the rest of the agenda to come in. I would like to get it done nd out of the way, and since I know that the people don't work past five usually, it should be here soon.

I really need to decide what I'm sending out for submission this month. This is getting a bit too late, and I'm just not certain if there is anything I want to send off. I have things... I just have to get my brain focused on them, find a magazine, and go with it.

Huh. I think I just thought of one. Okay. Off to see what I can do with that while I wait for the rest of the agenda to come floating down the line...

Russ has gone down to Omaha to help a friend out. I'm not sure how late he'll be getting back. I'm kind of floating along here trying to get my head locked down to some work, but I seem to have trouble concentrating again tonight. I have been having fun with one of my important research projects, though, and I'm just about done with a set of questions for an Interview from Eternal Night. I think I can at least get intersted in those things.

I started watching the X-Files last night. Really, four a night may be too much, since they are far darker than the Buffy shows.

I did edit some Vision articles today, so that's the good side of things. I have Dacey open, at least. Or I did. Word seems to have disappeared on me again. I have a slight glitch in XP, and we're working on getting it fixed. Otherwise, I really like it so far.

Anyway, off to do some work and pretend to be a real writer sort of person...

Long night. Didn't get as much edited, but I did, finally finish a short story. That's good, right? It was a very short short story for me -- less than 2000 words -- but I feel like I've done nothing but pound on it for a couple months now.

I watched the last three episodes of Buffy Season 4 tonight. That was good! I love being able to do this DVD stuff -- watch them all in a row like that, rather than waiting. I've lost all patience with waiting.

I'm going to go do a little more writing tonight, and then head for bed. I don't know why I've been so tired lately, but tonight is likely the aspirin hitting, too. I think I've lost most of my brain cells again.

But hey, I finished something. Life is good. Mostly.

Hey, I've edited about 30 pages on Dacey today, and I'm very happy. I'll likely make some more inroads before I'm done, but I do have to take a break and write a few new words on other things. I'm glad I went straight to work on it, though, and not messed around like I usually do. The editing went very well, and I'm pleased with the story.

I'm always such a far better person to live with at times like this. But right now... a bit of a break, I think!

I've discovered something intereting in the last two day.

I want to edit Dacey's Dream and not do much else.

This is good. I had put this work off for far too long, partly because I was getting too far ahead of the poor publisher, and realized that I didn't need to race through all eight books. I don't have the copy editor changes on book three yet, but I hope to have this one turned in before then. This is book four. Book five, as I've mentioned before, is going to take more work than just an edit, so I need to get this one out of the way first and go at it without worrying that I'm falling behind.

I've also done some editing for Vision today. That's going very well, too.

New writing might be a bit off today, but I'll get my 1000 done. In the mean time... actually, I think I need to find something to eat. How odd. It's early, but my stomach is grumbling.

I had a rather large web site to update -- one that I hadn't been sent anything for since 2001, so it came as a surprise. It took a few hours to work everything out and get the material formatted in some sort of nice way. Now I'm ready for dinner and then some serious work on writing.

We might have company tonight, but I think he and Russ will mostly just watch shows, and that will allow me some time again.

Warm day, too. Almost 90f. We're supposed to get storm tonight. I better be prepared. (grin)

Are we going to turn up at the top of the list again? I'll believe it when I see it...

I am starting to feel things begin to rebuild and fire up inside me again. I want to work on the edit of Doors, and I want to get Dacey's Dream done, and finish off those short stories. This is a good sign, or at least it would be if I actually felt like I could get to any of this sort of stuff.

I am, really, having a bit of fun with the writing. DD is going better than I could have hoped, and the one silly short story I keep writing a bit on is going to end at probably less than 2000 words. That would be fine. I like the idea of having a story finished again.

My two research pieces aren't doing badly, either. One of them is teaching me far more about animals than I have ever known before. Just fascinating stuff, and I'm into the parrot section right now. Eventually I'll make it all the way to mammals, which ought to be really odd.

I have my second set of Interview questions from a site. It's kind of interesting to look them over and try to decide what I want to answer (there are many choices in this case) and how best not to look like a dork. I've been sorting through the questions for a couple days now, and I have to admit that it's a bit daunting. They are not terribly difficult questions, but it's hard to decide what I can answer in ways that might be interesting enough to read.

Maybe I ought to just go back to writing the stories for a little while, right?

So, where do you think this post is going to end up? I'm betting NOT at the top of the page...

Anyway, I'm just sort of passing through as I try to figure out why yesterday's regular journal didn't upload at all, and why these are uploading out of order. Who knows. It's kind of funny, actually.

What else is going on? I have one important email to send off, and then I'm back to work on silly stuff. Well, not all silly -- but I'm still not pushing myself on the work. 1000 words a day, sometimes 2000... It seems to be going well. I'm getting the editing on Dacey's Dream done, which is quite a relief. I'm back off medication again, which is good and bad... I hope my body gets used to it soon and nothing comes back. (Kind of a useless wish, since some of the trouble has already started sprining up again anyway.)

Ah, but the weather here is really lovely. We've had days in the 80's, cloudy and breezy. We're supposed to have rain tonight, but I have seen no sign of anything yet. It's early. A nice thunderstorm (but not like the other day!) would be welcome.

Okay, off to do some work...

Ah, back to work. I've been doing some good stuff today, but not getting a lot of work done. But for some reason, I feel like typing. I don't care what on, just type and type and write some more... (grin)

I've not been well today, but maybe the medications have finally sort of kicked in. And the fact that Dacey's Dream is going well has improved my state of mind as well. I would like to get another good bit of it done on it, too. But first... more words!

I just thought I'd check in for a moment. And you know... type something.

I've done a goo stretch of editing on Dacey's Dream tonight. And I still even like the story. Always a good sign when you still have 350 more pages to go! The prose seems a little better than usual, at least in a draft that I'm still editing. Maybe I'm fooling myself, but at least I'm not freezing on it.

I haven't done any new writing yet for tonight -- no, that's not true. I did some handwritten notes. I'm going to do some short story work in a couple minutes and at least get my 1000 words in before I go back to Dacey's Dream. It's good that the editing is going well, of course, but I do need to get some other things done.

Other than that... got new Office Pro XP to play with, and I'm having fun. I have a warped sense of fun, of course, but trying out changes to programs always appeals to me, especially when some of the changes actually seem to help me work. (grin)

Off to work... at least for a while!

(Posting out of order again... this is odd. I'll have to find out what's wrong here. For the moment, it's a game to see if you can find the real post... grin)

Well, while I didn't get a lot of material done, I did finish the bio for Eternal Night and sent it off, and I also sent a request for a review for The Good People of Coralville. Tomorrow I'll work more on the fiction part of the list.

Wrote over 2000 words, so over all it's not been bad at all. I think I'll go sleep now, though.

Seem to be doing a lot of that lately...

hmmm.... the new day's post is below the other day... Need to check some settings, I think...

Is it tomorrow yet?

Actually, I got a little bit of work done tonight after all. The questions for the interview and a bit of the intro finally came together tonight. I'm pleased. So that's project 1 done for the day, and it's over 500 words of material so far. Tomorrow I'll look at more bio info for the person, and rework the questions so that they make a little more sense.

This is a real relief. I couldn't get anything done on it, and it was driving me nuts.

I've just made a little printable table on Word that lists all those things and lays it out for every day of the week. I'm making five copies -- more than enough to get through to the end of the month, and keep my eyes focused on a few things. It will be nice to see some of them come off the list as I work, too.

Will I stick with it?

Maybe not. I'm having problems that makes sitting and working for long stretches harder. But eventually (like before December 31st), I will have it all done.

Off to do the work now, though, before I fall even farther behind!

Well, never mind. Maybe tomorrow....

The pain has come back in my hip. I spent a good amount of time in bed since the last post, and I'm hoping that it will clear up by tomorrow. Back to heating pads (too hot in this weather!) and pain pills, and little notebooks that I can write in, or the Visor.

But I have a list of projects to think about, at least.

Ack.

For some reason, it looks as though the 11th published below the 10th... so look down there if you're really that interested in my boring life. (grin)



I must be desperate to start pulling out the haiku.

Really, I just seemt o be having trouble settling down to any particular work. I have three non-fiction projects I'm working on, and notes to a couple different novels that I need to just sit down and get back to work on. Editing on Dacey's Dream is going well, but slow. I just need focus. Really.

And I think the only way I'm going to get it is to do something that helps me along every now and then. I list out everything I'm writing on, divide the number of projects into 1000 (base minimum word count for the day) and then write that much on each project. Eventually, one of the projects takes over my brain and I run with it. But in the mean time, it helps me stay in contact with the other pieces.

Okay then, what are the projects?

Nonfiction:

Interview for Vision
Writing Book
Animal Info Book
Bio and other info for Eternal Night
Requests for book reviews

Fiction:

Novel -- Emergent
Novel -- Hope in Hell
Short Story -- Up to Our Asses in Alligators
Short Story -- Chance Meeting
Short Story -- Epitaph in Falling Stars

Other things that must be done:

Editing for Vision
Editing Dacey


This is a lot more unfinished work than I like to have sitting around, and it shows just how out of it I've been for the last month and some days. That's ten items to work on, though some of the nonfiction and other things are not really required for a writing day -- I just need to get to them. But if I open up every one of these and write just 100 words on each... well, I won't get very far on any of the projects, but I'll have 1000 words in no time at all. So how about 200 words on each, which is at least a couple paragraphs. That sounds better...

But right now if I don't feed the hungry hordes of cats, I won't be allowed ot get anything done!

Well, don't worry... I'll get past this black and white photography obessession soon enough.

We had extraordinary storms tonight... exciting enough that they actually tired me out. That seems odd, but really running from one end of the house to the other, checking the on-line sites for weather reports (because we no longer have cable, and the local stations are less interested in Nebraska than Iowa), and heading out into the yard to watch clouds... it was busy. And exciting. I have some really gorgeous cloud shots.

I've been writing on a few little things, editing Dacey's Dream -- that's going well. But mostly relaxing a bit.

Unless there is a storm...

Original:



New Version:




I've been playing with some aspects of Coral Photo-Paint 9 that I hadn't really played with before. I knew they existed, but until yesterday, I really hadn't worked with them very much.

I loved doing black and white print photography back in the dark ages when I had my darkroom. This, while it lacks the fun of working with different papers and chemicals, is still fun.

Writing has been mostly non-fiction and notes for the last few days. Today I'm going to get back to work on other things, though. I had a nice break, and I got to play with pictures. I still wrote over 8,000 words on one day, and thousand yesterday. I've been checking out some marketing ideas, and running thoughts past others. But in the end, I still have to write things. (grin)

So off I go...

There, finally... the PDF version is going out, the rest of it is uploaded. I have to go rest for a bit, though. Wish everything would clear up... but if it won't, I hope I can sleep through some of it.

Really tried again...

Well, it would be too easy if it worked the first time...

I've had a couple nice comments on the short story class. Good! Nice to know people noticed it. I've heard less on the Sampler, but those comments have been good, too.

Today, alas, is City Agenda Day. I should have done it yesterday, but I just couldn't get myself torn away from the Short Story project. I would still like to do the PDF version of that one... but I MUST do the city work first. So, off I go. It really doesn't look like too much today.

Which probably means it will give me hissy fits for hours.

Oh yes. 8,421 words on how to write a short story. LOL.

I am going to go post it in sets on Forward Motion as an on-line class, but I'm also thinking of making it into a single PDF file.

Maybe I'm just fascinated by PDF stuff right now.

I need to get to bed soon!

I'm now working on another project... and still not the one I started a couple days ago. I'm 33 pages into this one, though, and I'm quite happy.

I feel a bit rough today, but the work has helped. I've written about six thousand words, and I'm amazed, since it is non-ficiton, at how well it's going. I think, obviously, I needed a little break from fiction... though I'm really anxious to get back to it now. (grin)

Oh, I need to take a break here and go do my journal web site before midnight. I was way behind last night, but mostly because I was working on another project -- the sampler I mentioned above.

I'll be back when I'm done with the current little work!

Okay, here we go...

Go to my main website and try downloading the Sampler. It is PDF or zipped PDF (your choice).

Please let me know what you think!

Oh, I spent a long, long day working on a new project that was not at all related to the new project I was working on yesterday. However, it is something I had been considering for a long time, and finally thought I might as well put the work into it.

I'm not quite ready to announce to the world, though. I'm trying to get some comments before then. And maybe some sleep. (grin)

Yeah... sleep sounds like a really good idea right now. And a nice pill so my hip stops aching...

But at least I got something done!

They shouldn't do stuff like this to me. Blogger looks different! And I had to remember how to get into it! Ack!

I'm sure I'll get used to it, but the change took me by surprise, and being somewhat in a less than good mood, surprise was not a good plan today. (grin)

I wrote a little over 1000 words on my new project last night. And it looks good, though this is a LOT of work. I'm looking forward to unveiling it about the end of this month, if I can keep up with the work. If not... well, it's a good distraction right now.

Okay, back to work....

First, thank you to Sheila for mentioning one of my ebooks in her blog today. Notice anywhere is always helpful. I fear that I'm just not very good at the marketing side of all this, and that's one of the most important parts of being an epublished writer -- you have to get out there with your work and push it.

Today I am working on a massive non-fiction project, and rather enjoying the change of pace. I should be working on Vision, but I fear that my head isn't quite out of the drugged fuzzies yet, and I don't dare mess with stuff from other people.

I don't know how far I'll get on my 'secret' project, but it's something that I have wanted to do for a long time, and combines both writing and photography. I'll work a few days on it, and see how it looks. If it's not going together the way I hoped, I'll likely set it aside and just devote time to it now and then.

But for today, it's a nice break.

I'm really glad to have Ruins finished. (grin)

Leg is still giving me trouble, though. Another good thing about having to do research... and having the books with which to do it.

YES!

I have finished Ruins.

84,543 words, about 5,000 and some of them today. Yes, my hip still hurts, but after a while a person can't stand to stare at the ceiling any more.

It's done! It will still take a clean up run over the next few days, but the story itself worked out all the way to the end.

I'm going to go rest in a tub of water and ease the hip a bit now. I probably shouldn't have stayed here this long, but I kept getting closer and closer... and at least I have something to celebrate now!

That's from a pediment on a local building that is likely going to be torn down soon. I hate to see old history disappear like that, but it happens a lot around here.

Better day since I got to the doctor, but still kind of rough, obviously. Trying to get a little work done, and that's going all right. I really hope to just go lie down somewhere and read for a while.

I would like to have Ruins finished, of course, but then I've been saying that for days now. It's getting close. Just between pain and drugs to combat the pain, I can't seem to concentrate on the 'what next' stuff, even with it outlined. I'm inching my way through it, and I'll get there. Less stress is the plan. June is going to be my 'less stress' month.

It's not started out real well, but I have faith it will get better.

The doctor's visit was extremely helpful. Torn muscle, and it shouldn't be too long until it's better. Excellent pain pills, which is why I"m sitting here right now working on this and Ruins. Except I think I'll take a little bit of rest in bed for a few minutes right now, and come back later...

In a few hours I'll be going to the doctor to see if we can do anything about this hip problem. I don't know what the problem is, and I just hope that something will clear it up before I go nuts. I can't sit for long, but at least I have my Visor for in bed. I just can't get comfortable there, and I'm hoping for some kind of pain killer that doesn't put me to sleep.

But I'm off right now. Going back to bed.