Quick update

by with No Comment Meg & MattProgressStories

Not much new to report here, but I thought I’d give you a quick update on my progress.

I wrote 401 words on Meg & Matt’s story today, bringing my total since I started tracking on Jan. 17 to 19,855. That’s nearly 20K — one-fifth of my 100K-word goal.

Still mulling a title for Meg & Matt. “Beauty and the Ballplayer” seems to be the clear favorite amongst those of you who’ve weighed in.

I’m working this weekend, and want to get in at least one decent workout for the week. But I’ll be trying to sneak in some writing, too. It shouldn’t be all that hard. I’m kind of on a roll — I know exactly where things have to go. It’s just a matter of getting down the words to get them there.

Slowly but surely

by with No Comment Meg & MattProgressStories

It’s been a slow couple of days on the writing front. I managed to squeeze out about 200 words Monday and 400 Tuesday.

Today would have been better, had I not spent most of the day in my La-Z-Boy with a migraine-like headache. My head hurt so badly that I couldn’t even eat the lunch I made. I took a few bites and decided I hurt too much to eat.

I hurt too much to even move. I sat in the chair, half dozing and half listening to “The Doctors” and then “Oprah” while I wished I had the energy to get up and grab some Tylenol … or even reach for the bottle of water I had beside the chair … or grab a blanket off the couch to help me stop shivering.

I must have slept, because the next thing I remember, I was awake — and hungry. Unfortunately, I still didn’t feel quite well enough to do more than waste time farting around online. (I find it the best way to procrastinate. Don’t we all?)

Luckily, I buckled down at around 10:30 and cranked out a page and a half or so on Meg and Matt’s story.

General consensus so far is everyone likes “Beauty and the Ballplayer” better than “The Baby and the Ballplayer.” I think I’ve finally found my title. Woo-hoo! That’s cause for celebration. 😀

On procrastination: What’s your favorite way to avoid writing?

I’d have to say mine is either playing Bejeweled or checking out my favorite blogs. Writing blog posts is another way I procrastinate. I have three … four if you count the one over at SparkPeople. This one, of course, is my writing blog, but I have two weight-loss blogs plus SparkPeople.

Making progress

by with 2 Comments Meg & MattProgressStories

Even though I had to work at the “day job” (which is really an afternoon/evening job),  this has been a productive weekend.

Today, I wrote more than 2,000 words on Meg and Matt’s story. Yesterday, I went to plot group and had fun chatting about Meg, Matt, Brad, Erin, and Kari and Damien. There were only two of us there, so we covered a lot of ground.

With Pat’s help, I even came up with a tentative title for Meg and Matt. I’m leaning toward either “Beauty and the Ballplayer” or “The Baby and the Ballplayer.”

Either one might work. Matt, of course, is the ballplayer. That’d make Meg the beauty, though she hardly considers herself one. He does, though, so that counts for something. “The Baby and the Ballplayer” lays out both characters’ initial secrets, though. (She doesn’t know he’s an athlete and he doesn’t know she’s pregnant.)

When not writing, I’ve been playing with the “chart wizard” in Excel, which has led me to some startling realizations.

  • Since I started charting words written on Jan. 17, I’ve put out 18,451 of them. That’s 35 days (I think), giving me an average of about 527 words a day. Not prolific, by any means, but it’s a start.
  • My highest-output days are about 2,000 words. Some days it’s all I can do to squeeze out 200.
  • My goal of 100K words by the end of November is about 18 1/2 percent complete. I can do it!
  • Meg & Matt’s story is now up to 29,819 words. If I’m shooting to make it a category romance, which I think I am, that means I’m a wee bit past the halfway point. That’s exciting.

I take that back about 527 words a day not being prolific. I just did the math. If I averaged 500 words a day, that’d be 182,500 in a year. That’s approximately TWO single-title books or THREE category romances of 60K apiece. Wow!

Of course, I know I can’t keep writing at that pace. There’ll be more slow days … days when I do more editing than writing … days when I end up not writing anything at all. (I can already count 13 since I started keeping track.)

Even if I end up averaging just 200 a day, that’s 73K in a year. And considering I’m going to do the NaNo again, I’ll get 50K just in November (I hope. I plan to actually finish NaNo this year!)

I’m really not much of a statistics junkie … but cool charts could just help change my mind. 😉

Better than I thought

by with 2 Comments Blind Date BrideProgressStories

I was all set to complain about how doing rewrites is much slower work — until I realized I wrote 900+ words today.

That’s right. All I had to do was launch into a new sex scene — one of those “more almost-sex, less food” scenes Kelly suggested — and bingo! Those 900 words practically wrote themselves.

I do, however, find myself wondering why I seem to do my best sex-scene writing in the Barnes & Noble cafe. You wouldn’t think the crowds and noise would be conducive, but I have no trouble shutting everything out so my characters can get busy.

Today’s racy scene, the first time Kari and Damien finally get to finish what they’d started, even Meg & Matt’s first big moment were written at the cafe.

I’m not sure what, if anything, that says about me. Perhaps I’m an exhibitionist at heart? 😉

Anyway, my second draft of “Blind Date Bride” is coming along quite nicely. As I’ve added things and taken others away, it has grown to nearly 95,000 words and 354 typed, double-spaced pages.

Just think: A few short months ago, I was struggling to hit 90K. I’m glad those days are behind me — at least for this manuscript.

Another productive week

by with One Comment Meg & MattProgressStories

Since I launched “Operation Treat Writing Like a Day Job,” I’ve been productive … very productive … more productive than I was most of last year.

I wrote a couple thousand words on Meg & Matt’s story and sent out three more query letters.

There’s room for improvement, of course. I only logged a word count on four of the last seven days.

I’ll try to improve on that number this week. I also have some prep to do for our NARWA board meeting this Thursday.

I also need to start getting ready for my talk on dialogue at our next regular meeting. I’m a little worried about that — I know what good dialogue sounds like, but I’m not quite sure how to go about explaining it to other people.

I sense some research coming on! 😀

More queries? Check!

by with No Comment Blind Date BrideProgressStoriesSynopses

My task for “Operation Treat Writing Like a Day Job” today? Query letters.

I sent out 3 more e-queries this morning. Unlike last week, no responses awaited me at the end of the day. But that’s OK. I didn’t expect them to.

Not sure what’s on the list for Saturday. Perhaps some writing on Meg & Matt. Then again, maybe not. I may have more pressing matters to attend to.

Once I got to the office this afternoon, it hit me: I’m going to need a synopsis and query letter for “Blind Date Bride.”

However, since I just finished the first draft, I’m wondering if I should wait. I’ve read it through a couple of times and still like it just the way it is … perhaps it’s time to wait for some outside feedback.

Queries and synopses are not my favorite things to write. Anyone out there really like doing them?

Started & finished

by with No Comment Blind Date BrideStories

I started my new scene in “Blind Date Bride” last night after work and finished it this morning, as soon as I woke up. I didn’t even get out of bed — just hauled the laptop into bed with me and started banging away on the keys.

As Hannibal said in “The A-Team,” I love it when a plan comes together!

Now, it’s time for some printing and then passing my beloved first-born single-title novel off to one of my NARWA sisters …

These are both scary and exciting times, my friends.

Busy few days

by with No Comment Meg & MattProgressStories

Unfortunately, all my time hasn’t been spent making writing my day job.

I have, however, managed to get a few things done.

  • On Sunday, I wrote another 1,000+ words on Meg and Matt’s story, bringing my total since Jan. 17 to 7,389.
  • Monday, I spent rereading/editing “Blind Date Bride.” After getting through the whole thing, it’s now ready for me to print out a few of the pages again — the ones with a ton of changes — and pass it on to one of my NARWA sisters who offered to read it.

Well, I guess that’s it. Tuesday, I worked and ran errands all day, so nothing got done. And today I’ve been doing the same thing. Ugh.

Not as impressive as it sounded in my mind. Oh well. At least I’ve accomplished something.

A successful writing week

by with 2 Comments Blind Date BrideMeg & MattOSNBProgressStories

Last Saturday, we had our NARWA meeting and I was inspired to launch “Operation Treat Writing Like a Day Job.”

Today I capped off my operation, which admittedly isn’t as amusing as “Operation Snag Mike Brad,” with another good day. I wrote 1,421 words on Meg & Matt’s story (still untitled) in two writing sessions — one at Starbucks and one at the house.

That brings the week’s total word count to 6,209. I’m 6 percent finished with NARWA’s 100K word count challenge. Can I get a woo-hoo?

I’d have stayed at Starbucks longer, but I was falling asleep in my chair. I left because I kept thinking about how embarrassed I’d be to wake up drooling. Well, that and the fact that I couldn’t stay awake long enough to concentrate … I really like my writing time at the Bucks, and I don’t want to do anything to embarrass myself so I can’t show my face there again.

Once I got home — and helped shovel off our deck (again!) — I was awake enough to start writing again. Now, about 400 words later, I’m ready to nod off again.

So even though it’s very early for me (only 10 p.m.), I think I’m heading off to bed.  The operation continues tomorrow with the start of Week 2 … perhaps it’s time to do a little more editing on “Blind Date Bride.” And Monday, I’ll ship off a couple more query letters.

Internet outage

by with No Comment Meg & MattProgressStories

I couldn’t check in last night because the Internet stopped working. Unlike “the dog ate my homework,” this is no excuse. I was happily blogging away and couldn’t publish my post. Sometime between the time I started writing it and finished it to hit “publish,” I lost the Internet connection.

That said, I did get some writing done last night — a little more than 600 words on Meg & Matt’s story, which still needs a title.

I’ve come to the conclusion that I should do what I did during NaNo: Not waste time looking back at what I’d written before. If I let myself, I can spend a lot of time rereading and then not write anything new.