So I found some of my missing pages. Still missing the all crucial initial meeting between my hero and heroine. :( oh well, I can continue from here and hope to find them soon...

I will also be participating in script frenzy... Call me crazy, LOL. Winds of fire needs less back story and more dialogue and an ending. How better to do that than turn it into a script to fix those errors. Major problem is the format. I'm not familiar with the format. Even though I have a base story to work from (at least thats my plan, I may change it, like I did for NaNoWriMO) I still have to learn how to do it right.

Mainly, this will give me the writing time I need and get back into the habit. I had good habits going because of NaNoWriMo, but then we moved and I didn't have internet and got stuck on all my stories for lack of easy research.

With our schedule, sick kids and a 17 month old, easy research is a must! lol

I need to get two stories out for a publisher, though, so I may have to use script frenzy for that. Hmmm, so many choices! Well, off to do my rituals that I had before and write, write, write. :D

Have a great day!

PS for an idea of what script frenzy will be like, read over Novembers blogs, and to follow Script Frenzy, follow me on my other blog.

Today

has been pretty good :) We got our van back!!!! Yeah!!!! It feels so good to be in my own vehicle. Nate got paid a little more and just in time as the van people called and said the alternator was bad too another 200 bucks (inc the belt!) so easy come easy go. ***sigh** at least he got paid so we could get our van back. Sitting enjoying our evening with new friends in San Antonio.

Nate almost done with finals one more week of work and school. Found some seriously obvious mistakes on my rewrite (obvious because they were underlined in RED LOL although to be fair, as I write paranormal and fantasy, lots of words are red) plus others that I had just written too fast on. Hi instead of he for example. About halfway through it on computer yet I know I missed some that I had caught on paper. Oh well, I'm waiting until Nate finished with paper and then I'll correct them all at once.

Catching up on blogs today and guess what? I won an ebook :) Christmas came early for me LOL That makes three free books for me. Thank goodness because thats going to be the bulk of my Christmas and I can't think of a better Christmas unless it was to hear that they sold a thousand of my books!

Isaac has been fussy so not getting a lot of what I want done but I'm still plodding away. Thank you Nanowrimo for helping me develop those skills. I'm sure my word count will be less as I'm packing to move, but at least i will be writing everyday.

I'm cleaning house as I hate moving crap and I love the feeling of freedom its giving me. Just a few odd ball things to take care of and I'll be free :P

Can't wait for the family to visit right after Christmas for the winter break. I'm so excited. I wish they could be here for the book signing. I'm having a hard time imagining them not being there:( I miss them. Oh well, I will hold ones they can attend later.

sunday 2:00, Dec 6, Barnes & Nobles off the 410 next to the Ingram Park mall. Come and have fun! I'll be there till 4ish or until my books sell out :)

Days 29 and 30

Not so many as I wanted As I was sick AGAIN egg burp flu this time which I thought was better last night but wasn't (only for few hours until I tried to eat again), and my husband is going into the weeks of finals and last papers, corrected portfolios, etc. I lost a lot of computer time :( Yeah, poor me LOL. I finished the nanowrimo as a winner the first time out and I'm very proud considering the hellashish month I have had.

I also finished my rewrite few days ago, which started at 15k+ words, I cut first 2 chapters, and still ended with 19k+ words. A very big month for word count for me and I'm quite proud of myself. Drum roll please tatatata........

64009 For The Quest for Riverhand I have a LOT of detail to make up and a few things to research and a few chants to make up (part of what I need research for) but I finished the novel in a month for the rough draft. WOW WOW WOW

Still in shock in case you can't tell!!!


Everyone have a happy week, because I'm not going to let anyone or anything (ie rumors, sickness) spoil my fun LOL

Day 27

I finished my rewrites and have sent them off to my family editing team :) My NanoWrimo got another 3500 words and I managed to do some cleaning on the house. I'm tired and having trouble, and I'm thinking I have a different flu bug. I'm under so much stress that if someone writes on-line that has something I swear it carries the virus right to me. That's all right because my van will be fixed soon and about a big chunk of my daily stress will be taken care of :) I miss my big old conversion van.

Well, back to the Quest for Riverhand and to trying to calm my stomache!

Anyone do the Black Friday shopping idiocy, er, I mean shopping :)

Day 26

I did nearly 1k on the rewrite and then left to go to friends house for Thanksgiving. He (Joe) was gracious enough to let us use his oven as ours doesn't work. I sent an email to the landlords asking them if there was a trick to it a few weeks back and they never replied. Oh well. It turned out well for us. The kids got to play on the game systems because Joe keeps them all upstairs and away from the kitchen/livingroom. Nate lept a bunch after eating, and I got to visit with adults :) It was nice. First time we used a precooked turkey and it went well. Lots less cooking and babysitting time :) My husband prepared the dinner. I hadn't put a lot of thought into Thanksgiving other than where we would cook the turkey and making sure we picked one up.

When we needed to go to store and figure out what we need my mind went blank on food and kept trying to write the last few scenes on my NaNoWriMo book, The Quest for Riverhand. It was rather funny to me. I ended going with him so I could look at the food and decide I wanted it.

I have to deal with SSI today, UGH. They are still showing us living where we havent lived in two months and countint the income from them! It shorted us big time in NOvember, even though the most recent paperwork I got had said they wouldn't. I have to (AGAIN) give them the copy of our lease and hopefully they will fix stuff. Having the money extra in December would be nice.

I'm going to be sure and carry my notebook with me and write my scenes while waiting! I like writing by hand, it's just slower, but who cares about slower when waiting for hours! Hopefully, I will have good numbers for today and tomorrow. Sunday, I will be kicking butt on numbers, which will roll right into Monday:)

Day 25

Was fantastic! I'm at 13,971 for the rewrite and 54,530 for my NaNoWriMo fantasy novel. which is somewhere in the realm of 6000 words.I'm going to finish rewrites today (I think!) and help my husband retype papers that were lost when his jump drive was stolen from the college. I'm not happy with the stolen drive as it had partials of winds of fire and blood traitors. Thankfully they weren't finished. But that's okay, I don't mind helping him retype it so he can put the required portfolio together. I'm a much quicker typer and I'll be able to have my computer back for my stories that much quicker!

don't forget about the book signing on the 6th of December at the Barnes and Nobles near Ingram Park Mall. I will be signing Rebellion on Piza 7 for those who don't remember the title :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

days 23,24,

I didt it! I hit 50k! I'm so excited. I didn't have time to write a full blog, so I did a quick widget that shows me as winner. I have another one to add when I am stuck or need a typing break :) Im at 51168 by Word's word count on the NaNoWriMo project, which I now have a winning title to - It is Quest for Riverhand book 1 of course as its on ongoing adventure full of magic, dragons, and other creatures of lore.

My rewrite is at 10916! I'm very happy at the numbers, but I think I haven't made up enough to cover the large portion that was cut... Plus, I'm thinking of a couple more ideas that may require another full rewrite. We'll see. I'm going to finish this one and pass it on to MIL and hubby to read to make sure there are no glaring mistakes. While they're doing that I'll do my own read through and see how it feels.

I've already found quite a few der mistakes just by retyping passages rather than copying and pasting. Plus, I've found more places to insert bits of dialogue and action.

There was a comment on another blog that I follow. I made a coment and posted that I had 49k. The editor that runs the blog said she was waiting to see if I finished my rough draft in such a way that it was a challenge - a dare if you will - so I'm going to be pushing very hard. I will take the day off tomorrow, only to help my husband edit his portfolio while he edits my works! I'm looking forward to it though because we have discovered he has a nice touch on writing essays. I actually like to read his essays.

So off I go and it will probably be Saturday before I can blog again as tomorrow is Thanksgiving and Friday I'll be sitting my arse down at SSI to fix the glaring mistakes they made. It will probably take me 4+ hours...

so, with no more ado, Happy Thanksgiving!

day 21 and 22

Went well. I didn't quite break 50k last night like I was aiming too, but it was time to spend a happy hour or two with my family. I'm at the slowest part of the book as I lay the trail leading to the climax and I'm trying not to skim through as is my want and be more detail oriented. This is not a short story, LOL As of this post I have 48099 by Microsoft Word's count. Sooooo close.

On the rewrite, I think I'm still at just under 7k as all my writing on that one was done by hand and hasn't been translated to the computer yet. I'm still in the new scene that isn't new. I'd started putting this scene in before but it was lost in the nether regions and I'm not sure how. I hadn't finished the scene before so I'm flying by the seat of my pants, you might say.

All in all it's been a good writing week despite the flu demons visiting us. I'm looking to make this one a good one as well. Maybe I can drop the kids off somewhere and write until they make it home LOL. Seriously, they have a WHOLE WEEK OFF for Thanksgiving and I'm thinking I might need to do a write in all by myself tomorrow. thinking I may have to go to Barnes and Nobles so I can see the sign that says book signing. You know, the one with my name on it so I can keep the motivation alive, :)

May the Force be with us on our endeavors today...

Day 20

was very good day. :)I posted after 1100 words on nanowrimo project and 4300 on rewrite! That doesn't count the stuff written by hand. that will go on today's count though. I had a real doozy of a scene to add to the rewrite. I really like what it adds to the story.

Last night I had an emotional catalyst and will have more over the next few months I'm sure. I'm tired of being blamed for things I didn't do, judged (above and beyond the others) for the things I did do, and being made to feel like I can't talk about them. I'm also tired of all the lies and behind the scene bullshit. the only good thing I can say is that with each out pouring that I have, my writing gets better and the creativity is released. I have over 20 years of build up with my adoptive and birth family to work through as I've decided I'm not hiding anymore. I'll probably write 10 books in the coming months! LOL

I'm waiting for an IRS check to fix my van. I'll feel much better when I have my van back and will start cleaning house then. I have a lot to do before the end of the year, including write! I'll be glad to not be in such dire straits when we get it. We won't have any savings left after taking care of our vehicle situation and other bills (remind me to read the small print when your bank says you can 'use' three hundred dollars! We are five hundred in the hole now UGH)but at least these things will be taken care of!

Cross fingers and toes, so far today no one is sick. Maybe Texas is losing sight of us? All in all, I look forward to getting a lot of writing done, whether on computer or on paper, hasta.

Day 19

Day 19 went well! I wrote 2k more on my nanowrimo project and 2k on my rewrites. that's four thousand words for the day. As long as I can keep doing the 2k+ for the nanowrimo, I will get my rough, rough draft finished. For me that's the first big step. I love to edit (sounds terrible, but I just realized it myself) and polishing my stories has become an endeavor of love and peace for me. It's an accomplishment. I finished something and I'm proud of it whether anyone besides my family ever sees it. The problem happens when I get too stuck on self editing that I don't continue the story and lose momentum.

Having this rewrite pop up yesterday was actually fortuitous. How? you might ask when I'm in the middle of a race with the train wreck called NaNoWriMo? Well, if you remember, I tend to do better with two stories at once anyway. Plus, I get to edit the rewrite which satisfies my editing need and keeps me away from the temptation of going back through the myriad comments I've posted and fixing them NOW NOW NOW. LOL

So here's to Day 20 which has gotten off to a good start.

Live Long and Prosper...

Days 17 and 18

Dear blog followers,

I got very sick the night before last and still feel achey. I did the dreaded thing. I blithely said to my husband, "I'm fighting this off better than the rest of you." And yep, you guessed it, I was slammed hard.Not sure how spending 18 hours getting thrown up on made me believe I wouldn't have it, but, I really didn't think I was gonna get it. Some of the side effects are too personal even for me to talk about (and I get pretty personal here) but one thing I will say. I actually threw up. A rare occurrence for me unless I've had food poisoning or I am pregnant.

Usually it translates elsewhere. I actually threw my hip into crazy spasms while making excorcist scenes look tame. Not sure if it was out, but it wasn't until I laid on my side with the baby draped across me that it quit feeling like something scraped everytime I walked.

I'm still feeling weak and a bit queasy but I felt up to writing. I did 400 words yesterday. (I know, I'm a sucker, but the days prior had been low word count and I wanted to catch up) Today, I have done 7600 so far! Helps that my husband went to work on time, that's for sure. It throws my whole day off when he doesn't!

I think today is my red letter day for the month. So slap a big red A on my day and I'm going to keep on writing. The story is going very well at this point and I don't want to lose momentum.

day 14,15,16

Not much to say but OUCH! We got slammed with the flu here. the baby was up all night Saturday and he's too young to come close to understanding what's wrong. My 16 yr old woke up at 530 with hives all over his body. Gave him benadryl and sent him to the shower while we looked up area hospitals in case the benadryl didn't work. While printing directions/map to hospital, not only does the printer start having fits, but the internet quits working! About 8 or so, maybe 9, my eight year old gets up and throws up. Repeatedly. Right about 11, the 5 yr old gets in on the action. We had our closing show at 2, which patrick was in, until he threw up all over the stage, poor guy. Yesterday spend an hour talking to a bunch of idiots in billing until they finally let me talk to tech support. The first one was rude enough I reported her, which I usually don't do.

Finally, about 4 yesterday, I have internet and it's time to get the oldest. I had both younger boys home from school, one coughing to beat the band and the other keeping tune with his throw up. I'm sorry if you're at the gross factor at this point. If you are don't continue reading this post.

I'm next. I haven't felt well last couple days and we had the coup de grace last night with hangovers this morning. I'm so NOT feeling well. But hopefully, the worst is over and I can get back to writing!

I wrote about 1500 words (I think, through all of this, most of it Saturday morning. Course, I didn't check my previous word count. We can start again. As of now, I have 32,207. Still ahead of the game for Nanowrimo so hang on to your hats, while I try to remember where I'm at, where I was going, and how I need to get there... And no, I don't need any suggestions from the peanut gallery!

Repeat after me...

Never give up
Never give up
Never give up

day 13

was a typical friday the 13th Is there such thing? My son woke up with his tooth bothering him bad. Can't seem to find help UGH. We're discussing options, including tying string to car and taking off with it. Baby antsy and needy and husband having more school work:( that's okay though, at least he's in school.

I'm not feeling so hot and spending way too much time in bathroom to accomplish much. I'm right around 1400 words for yesterday (finished up this morning) and I'm not finished with scene so may be able to crank out words despite having everybody and their brother here.

I'm lagging. **TIME FOR CAFFEINE** I didn't get my quota yesterday, tried to dring water since not feeling well. I gave in and drank some last night though LOL>

Back to the writing board...

Day 12

So day twelve did not go so well. I'm at 30123, and I haven't finished transcribing my chicken scratch to computer yet. Wrote some on paper while husband had the computer locked down. The rest will go on todays numbers. Nearly 1500 words, but I'm glad I got that far!! My husband has big paper due in today and my computer time was slow, slow, slow :( I printed out my story and did a sort of edit and wrote on the pages and added things. I was stuck on moving forward and couldn't have the computer anyway.

Usually, for NaNoWriMO, you don't stop to edit, but that's for people who have umpteen computers, wireless internet, and no sick kids or housework to take care of. At least I'm working on my writing when not on the computer. That's how I have to look at it. I'm just happy I passed the 30k mark as I knew that in itself was a huge marker. I only have twenty thousand words to go and if I do over a thousand on bad days, I'll make the 50k and then some. If I have days like day 11 where I do 4k, then I'm going to blow the 50 and make my 75k goal. yeah me. LOL

I wish I could count all the blogging and twitter stuff, I would have passed the 50 k mark last week!!

Okay, off to another day of sick kids, housework, and appointments. And somewhere, I will find the time to write. (I think TX hates us. :( Someone is sick almost everyday. Maybe we will finally get to put a stop to it after this last bout of flu runs its course!)

11th day

What started out as a dismal day of words, turned into a dazzling scene that, when edited, will be great :) I posted my words at 830 pm and they show up for day 12 :( That's okay though, because it will show up today's count with it and it'll look like I wammied today LOL Yesterday's totals came in at slightly over 4k woot woot!

Baby's still fussy, hopefully he'll feel better soon. Josh came home sick from school yesterday. He was so sick, the teacher had the nurse come to him! I haven't seen him that pale since his bad asthma attacks when he ended up in hospital 8 years ago. thankfully, he's easy to take care of. Hardest part is geting him to take medication.

Wish me luck on today's word count. Schedule is not looking so hot. I will endeavor to pass 30k today though :) Word count for yesterday's end is 28660. yippy for a day that had less than a thousand around 2? I think it was. Today, I have to get my people to the main city. I'm tired of bad things happening to them on the trail. :) The bad guys aren't having any problems. They're just waiting for the mage to get rid of the berserker LOL

For all you new writers, the best thing I can tell you is to never give up. If you believe in your writing then keep writing and searching until you find someone who believes in it as much as you do. In this business persistence (continuously writing, learning, networking, etc) wins out in the end.

tenth day

Well, 2k seems to be my lucky word count. I'm starting a trend and I don't like it. It's as if my brain says "Oh, you have 2500 words? You have enough for contest so get up and do something." Ugh. I wish I could keep writing. Today, I will move to paper if that happens. Actual word count for day 10 is just under 2400. I'm still way above the daily goal I needed to be on pace. I'm at 24565 words out of the 50k. I've finished only one third of time and I'm almost through one half of words.

However, I wanted a minimum of 75K so I'm barely on target for that goal. Must work faster. I thought about cutting my blogs down, but they seem to be helping in two ways. One, I'm holding myself accountable. And two, they've become part of a morning ritual that wakes my brain up. So, for now, I will keep updating my blog during Nanowrimo.

*yawn** time to wake up. Has anyone seen the caffeine. I know it's around here somewhere. *signs off muttering*

ninth day

Okay, ninth day is over, whew! Managed 3k words despite everything. My husband's schedule is different this week than it has been and it's throwing me off. Plus I lost a whole scen yesterday becasue the kids wouldn't quit fighting/yelling/rough housing. I finally told them to go play dominos and sent my oldest to referee. There was instant fighting because 8 yr old insisted 16 yr old had to play with them. It would have been nice. It took me half an hour to settle them down and I had lost the scene. Can we say livid? I explained to all of them if it happens again there will be dire consequences. tonight is supposed to be game night, and I'm tempted to cancel it because of last night's debacle.

I also threatened my eldest son and husband with all they hold dear that if that happens again, they will not see the light of day. LOL seriously, though, I said if I can't write because they won't play with the kids or take care of the issues, I'm not getting off the computer until I've met my PERSONAL goals, not the itty bitty one set by nanowrimo,but MY goal. My goal for nanowrimo is 3k but my personal goal has always been 5k and I've succeded when life hasn't interfered. Now, I'm pushing back on life and using nanowrimo to help set my habits back up. I've written as much as 8k a day. I'm a fast typist and I have a quick mind (when its working).

No more Mr. Nice Guy .... Stay tuned for our next episode of Life in the Bushman Hilton

ninth day

Finally pulled myself up by the bootstraps and got more than 100 words done in less than an hour blah!! LOL I almost had 1k before taking hubby. I was talking to him and realized the problem. I'm only working on one story. You may laugh, but I've gotten 3k on bad day and 8k on good when writing more than one story at once.

When I get stuck on one (character's aren't behaving or plot point not going where it's supposed to) I move to the other one while the first problem perculates in the back of my mind. I talked to Morgan Anderson (friend on facebook from school) and had said maybe I should do more than one, but I didn't. Try to write the 50k plus whatever I wrote on second story? I'm craazy but not that crazy. Or so I thought. I'm going to be reworking another story while doing nanowrimo. Let's see if it helps the numbers go up.

Onward and upward :)

eighth day

Only did the minimum to stay on pace, about 1600+ words. ugh I thought it would be easier with Nate and Josh home to help. Noooo just more people wanting time on the computer LOL I will have to choose other days for my big wammo on word counts to make sure the fantasy gets finished. A fantasy book is approximately twice as long as the nanowrimo requirements. I want the rough draft finished by the end of the month. GRRR.

We had afternoon show yesterday. Cut my writing day in half. :( yeah yeah bitch bitch. Okay, today is a new day. I want to get 3500 plus done today. Wish me luck. and hope I don't have to pick my son up again. He's still having a little tightness if he gets too worked up.

May the force be with us....

seventh day

Well seventh day was short by 3000+words for my personal goal. I was four words short of 2k :( I had an epiphany about how to handle the about face I took in the book (yeah, the military jargon of the state is rubbing off).

I was a the store after dropping my kid off at Saturday school (honest he has school on sat). I was walking down the aisles looking for the lunchmeat when bam... Irealized that since I was writing in omnisicient POV I really should let the reader know a bit more about what's going on behind enemy lines. I even had an idea about how I wanted the two scenes go. do you think I had a pen? NOPE and the handheld taperecorder I bought for just such an occassion? In WA somewhere. At least I hope it is. Groan.

By the time I got home I remembered a few key points but forgot the flow/order. All I could write was Kyle and Lord McCallum talk about this or that. Or Bad happened she not killed LOL

I write out of sequence all the time. I usually write like I'm doing for NaNoWriMo, if I make myself, that is. I wrote Rebellion on Piza 7 in a month although it took about three months of editing to polish it up. I took out one plot line and inserted another. and added information where I had skipped over it.

I have a real bad habit of doing that. What does that mean for my story? It means I have to go back and write scenes I skimmed or skipped because my mind was on a different one. For instance, in Blood Traitors, sequel to Piza 7, I have the main characters looking at a body that has been murdered and the face disfigured by a futuristic weapon using lasers and stones (as in gems :P).

I originally said something like. He saw she was dead and was upset. I took one whole paragraph to say it. I think there were two sentences. My husband, the erstwhile editor, was like. "A dead body is interesting you don't describe it." or something. He said more but that's what it boiled down to.

If you read my inscription to Rebellion on Piza 7 then you know, he's the one who said MORE. He's right. So what happens in the current story? I forget to put the plot points along the way, think about them later, then write the scenes. I do not write by an outline. I have characters in my head and their story floating about, and if they live past the two hour idea thing my brain has going on, then they will harass me until their story is written.
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Victoria and Erica (Winds of Fire, Winds of Ice) just chimed in to say, yeah, where's the rest of their story. I point at the folder with the pages printed out and say, see they are waiting for the man who says "more" to edit. That quiets them down for the moment. I've barely thought out Winds of Ice, but Winds of Fire only needs 15-25k words to be finished. Depends on how much my More editor finds to nail me on....

I made up a couple of chants last night during show. They need so much work. But you have to have chants/spells when writing about magic. Now the question is do I learn to speak Gaelic, so I know if the words actually rhyme, or do I make up my own language? I've started both to see how it feels in the story... Anybody speak Gealic?