Liquid Story Binder XE

After seeing the posts on CompuServe about Scrivener, I was insanely jealous.  *Almost* enough to switch to a Mac.  (Something DH and I have discussed, but we both have laptops and a joint desktop so we don't need another computer right now and it's low on the list of priorities.  We'll get one at some point.  As my Mac-user brother says, we should raise Little Boy "bilingual", hehe.)

Anyway, I've been googling around looking for a Windows equivalent.  And I think I've found something pretty close in this program:

Liquid Story Binder XE

Like Scrivener, you can organize multiple files and associations, have pictures and notes available with texts, work with individual chapters and have the program combine them into a master document for you...there are a lot of options.  Timelines, outlines, dossiers, storyboards...it even tracks project goals and opens where you left off.  At the very least this would replace my spreadsheet.  There's a full-screen editor and I like that it has the tools I need - text formatting (italics, bold, etc.)

I'm futzing around with it right now and so far I like what I see (except the default white-on-black text display which took a bit of jiggling to change).  But I'm way behind on my WIP progress, and the clock is ticking.  I absolutely *must* be done writing by Monday night.  And I'm getting ready to do some (okay, quite a lot) more "hacky, slashy, poky-poky" as I move into Act IV.

One nifty thing - you can load it on a memory card or USB data stick and take not only your files but the software with you and use it on whatever computer you're on.

Also like Scrivener, you get a free 30-day trial and then the cost is reasonable, about $45.

I have a feeling I'll be plunking that down in 30 days...

A fun find

While double-checking the definitions of some dialect I used in a snip in Alec's POV (because it's jarring some people and I need to decide if I used it wrong, or if they're just not used to those words) I came across a great resource:

 

Webster's Scottish-English dictionary

It's got both Gaelic and Scots stuff in there, and so far I've been able to find everything I used.  I have a Gaelic-English dictionary, but it's rather abridged and doesn't have the Scots.  And I trust Webster's.  So this is gey useful.  *w*

The Writing Diet

Well, it hasn't worked for me (I tend to munch while BIC) but MAN!  What if?

 

Writing to Lose Weight

 

We'd all be supermodels...

Marathon, day...whatever

I'm behind.  (What else is new?)

Sunday night I didn't finish chapter 22.  Monday I didn't either.  I didn't get any words on Monday at all.  But!  I was up quite late hashing some things out with DH and I discovered 2 things: A) I actually have a lot of underlying reasons/motivations for stuff that happens in the book, even if I didn't plan it that way.  So, yay!  And 2) I figured out kinda how I wanted the blank stuff in 22 to go, which was a big breakthrough 'cause I'd been massively writer's blocked on it but I couldn't really move forward without it.

Yesterday I did get 22 finished.  And I spent quite a bit of time organizing the remaining Act III chapters and I think that's pretty much set now (still have to finalize the chapters themselves, though).  I'd been moving scenes around trying to find the best division of wordcount and "cliffhangers"/breaking points.  Should this scene go at the end of 24, or the beginning of 25?  That kind of stuff.  But I think I've got that worked out now.  Only thing is, that opened up about another 1K to write for 23 - which is leading up to the "big night" - and left about 2K in the newly created chapter 27 to be filled in.  24, 25, and 26 are pretty much there, just need to be smoothed in.

I have to decide how much revision I'm going to do on the old chunks.  Some are slated for massive rewrites but I've known that for a long time.  Maybe I should do that as I go along, but it would eat up major time.  Part of me says just do what's necessary to tie it in to the overall current storyline, insert it, and move forward with the stuff I need to do to have a complete MS.  The rewrites can be done during - gasp! - rewrites.  *g*

So today I hope to finish 23 and smooth as much as I can from the remaining Act III chapters.  If I can work on 27 too, that would be great, but I don't know how that will go.

I've decided "endcapping" (getting up a little early, and staying up a little late to work in two sessions) doesn't work as well as well for me as one big session.  So depending on how much I get done during the day today, I might go to bed after Little Boy goes down and get up right at 5 am tomorrow to get a solid freshly-awake 2 hours in before work.  We'll see.  I've been skimping on sleep lately so I'm due for a catch-up night anyway.

Oh, FYI: I have closed entries for the guess-the-wordcount contest!  I want to keep updating and that would give late entries unfair advantage.  (I suppose if you had a guess and have been meaning to enter I'll give you one last chance.  E-mail me here and let me know before 5 pm EST today.)  Those of you who've entered, don't despair yet if you see me overshoot your guess.  There is stuff to be cut as well as written.  Nothing's final until it's, well...final.  *g*

Review: The Spymaster's Lady

One of my sitemeter hits was someone searching for Spymaster's Lady reviews, so I guess I'd better go ahead and get my formal review up.

 

'Cause, um, yeah...this is one of the BEST books I've read in a long time.

 

Even knowing some of the big reveals ahead of time (having seen Jo's synopsis when she was trying to decide on a title) I was swept up in the story from page one.  I thought I'd just skim the first few pages, maybe the first chapter, and save the rest for when I finished my own WIP.  Nothing doing.  I had to sit up until after midnight reading the night I got it, and I finished it the next day.

 

When I finally surfaced, it was as if I'd been suddenly deprived of sensory input.  The story world was so lush, so rich with detail, that I was completely immersed in the world.  Even some of the best Regencys I've read (Balogh, Quinn, Kleypas, Beverly, I'm leaving someone(s) out...) while most excellent books, haven't taken me so completely into that world.

 

Annique (fka Anneka) Villiers is exactly the right combination of kick-ass and believeable heroine.  She takes care of herself, even in the face of disability, she's able to extract herself from sticky situations, she's not afraid to do what she needs to, use who she needs to, or hurt who she needs to.  She's one of the best at the Game, and at only 18-20 years old.  But!  She's not infallible.  She can be captured, she can be hurt.  And she's so completely, authentically French.  I really felt like I was in her head.

 

Grey (aka Robert Greyson something Fordham) is the kind of romance hero I like to see: intelligent, deadly, honorable.  And kudos to Jo (ah, I mean, Ms. Bourne) for stating openly he's "not handsome" - who says every romance character, male or female, has to be the most stunning example of their sex?  Yet Annique is attracted to him.  To me, that makes it a "romance" novel and not just a "physical lust" novel.

 

Speaking of romance...shoo!  A big indicator for me on how into a romance novel I am is if I start skimming the sex scenes.  No skimming here!  I was reading every hot, hot word.  Intimate, smoking, and completely lacking in "purple" prose.  Bourne finds a way to say everything without resorting to jarring euphemisms.  And did I mention it was hot?

 

The language...oh, the language!  The character's voices are so unique, the differences between French and English so easily discerned - and accurate -  but beyond that just the richness of the prose and the wonderful turns-of-phrase and fresh metaphors make this a joy to read.

 

Oh, and the history.  This is one meticulously researched, spot-on accurate book.  Hence my total immersion.  And I would sing its praises for that alone.  As I've said before, I'm sick of non-historical "historicals".  Just putting the characters in gowns (or kilts, as the case may be) and having them be "Lady This" and "Sir That" does not a historical make.  And even someone who doesn't read historicals would get into this book, because of the action, suspense, and - of course - romance!

 

RUN, do not walk, to the nearest bookstore to pick up a copy (or two - this is "gift book" good) of The Spymaster's Lady.  And put My Lord and Spymaster on preorder, while you're at it!

 

P.S.  And for anyone who has tracked down a copy of Her Ladyship's Companion, pay attention to who answers the door at Number 7 Meeks!  I got a little chuckle out of that.

Time to take the plunge

One of the things I've been putting off until I finish the book is actually joining RWA.  Some would consider that a backwards arrangement, but I'm getting all the help I need writing the thing from the good folks at CompuServe.  Revising, publishing, marketing, etc. are more what I feel an RWA membership would help me with.  And if I never finished it - just in case - I didn't want to have spent the membership fee for nothing.  As I'm now within a week of that goal, it's become a moot point.

 

In addition to national, I plan to join at least my local (state) chapter.  I've actually already been to a meeting, but membership is dependent on national RWA membership so I've been putting that off, too.

 

Well, the next meeting is January 19th - after my projected finish date - and the subject is

 

"A Walk Through History"
Featuring a Q&A with history experts, examples of historical clothing, and a discussion of historical resources for writers.

 

A sign?

 

Anyway, I'd like to be a member in good standing by then so I can really get to know them and fully take advantage of the meeting.  Looks like it's time to take the plunge.

This is what I get for procrastination

As some of you are aware, I hope to publish under a pen name.  After discarding several options (mainly names that already had significant Google presence for other things) I settled on Rebecca Gabriel.  Those are family names, it's not too far back in the alphabet, and I dunno...it just sounds like a "romance author" kind of name.  I've gotten kind of attached to it.

 

Now there's a question of if I'll be able to use it.  I just stumbled across an author that writes - guess what? - Scottish historicals.  Her name?  Sarah Gabriel.  And her newest release's heroine's name?  Elspeth, of all things.

 

*headdesk*

 

(To be fair, she writes straight historicals that are medieval-set, and other than the name Elspeth her book has nothing in common with mine beyond Scotland.  And she's got degrees in medieval history, so I might give her books a try on that factor alone.  I've gotten rather sick of non-historical historicals...)

Best laid plans...

Okay.

So last weekend I thought I could finish this book.  10K in two days was a stretch, but if I holed up in my writing space and didn't come up for air, possibly doable.

Ummm...no.

So I went at it hammer and tongs all week.  "I'm so close.  Any day now."

Thursday and most of Friday were a bust, though, 'cause I was reading Spymaster's Lady.  Can you blame me?  *w*  (And most of early Thursday was eaten up by that other book I was supposed to review, which was a monumental waste of time.  I would have stopped after the first chapter if I hadn't had to discuss it.  Which, of course, got postponed a week.)

Then it was "If I don't do anything else this weekend, maybe I can finish by Sunday night."  I've gotten up early, gone to bed late, skipped church and any other activities, and barely saw my husband and son.

Well, you see where that's gotten me.

So I've come to the conclusion - as others *did* warn me - that you've always got more to do than you think you do when you get close to the end.

Where do I stand right now?

Well, you'll notice I have broken 100K.  Which pretty much everyone expected.  *g*

Up through Chapter 21 - that's Glencoe - is complete.  I have the remainder of Act III sorted into chapters, which are chapters 22-26.  Chapter 22 is barely half written, and 23 has big gaps.  24-26 are mostly complete, but I flip-flop on how I want the division of scenes to go, so I need to finalize that and fill in a few gaps.

Act IV is mostly written, but I need to divide it up into chapters, cut a few things, add a few scenes of moderate length (1K or less), and finish a couple scenes.  Oh, and write the end of the ending.  *g*

To that end (ha),  I've got a new (hopefully realistic) end date: the 15th.  That's the end of Sven Round 2, the goal of which is to have a completed MS.  (Also only 2 days before my braces go on and I get distracted by other things.) 

I'll be joining Deniz in her 8-day marathon.  Here's my plan:

Tonight: finish writing chapter 22 if it kills me
Tomorrow-Tuesday: finish chapter 23, and finalize 24-26
Wednesday: sort Act IV into chapters, as much as possible (27-32?)
Thursday: write new scenes for Act IV
Friday: finalize 27-28
Saturday: finalize 28-30
Sunday: finalize 31-32

The latter half of the week depends on how it all sorts out, of course.  I'll leave Monday and Tuesday (13th-14th) as overflow just in case.

Hi-ho, hi-ho...

To beat a dead dog...

This has nothing to do with the two (yes, 2 - guess I'm really in for it now) dogs that are killed in my book, actually.

But I was checking my sitemeter referrals, and one of my previous Mary Sue posts came up, and when I checked the search string to see what other stuff people were sorting through and encountered my blog I found this:

Accused of Mary Sue

And one of the things that was said in the comments really struck home:

"It does not simply mean a protagonist who has some things in common with the author, or who has adventures the author enjoys living through."

So there.

'Cause I mean, really...if a protagonist couldn't share some things with the author or have adventures the author enjoyed, why the h3ll is the author writing that story?

Anyway, I'll let the sleeping dog, er...dead, I mean...when did Schrodinger get here with a box?...Whatever, I'll give the subject a rest.  *g*

Weekend marathon, take 2

Almost 12 hours since I got up this morning, and I'm over 2K to the good and completely done up through chapter 20.

Current wordcount: 99,659.  258 pages of contiguous MS.

The holes in chapters 18, 19, and 20 have been filled.  I'm breaking now to go see my husband and son, do some shopping, have dinner, and put the son to bed.  Then, back to it.

I'd like to finish chapter 21, which is Glencoe itself and now mostly written, tonight.  Chapter 22 as well, if I can swing it.  But that's a tall order.  I have quite a bit of new stuff to be written for that chapter.

From there, it's (optimistically) downhill.  More knitting together and smoothing.  I'll likely be a heathen again tomorrow and skip church.  Hopefully the last time I'll need to.

Snip!

Oh, all right, you talked me into it...  *w*

 

From One Highland Night

(c) Jennifer R. Clark

 

One of the soldiers shoved him, staggering, into a snowbank.  The frigid mound could not chill him further than he was already.   Greedily, he swallowed what he could, for they had given him no water and his throat burned from exertion and the cold.  His lower lip was split, and the right side of his face was crusted with blood from a gash in his scalp, made by a Campbell musket.   He could feel it tightening the skin when he winced.  Which was often.

 

Wrists still bound, now rubbed raw and shaking, he struggled to pull his plaid around himself once more.  The action aggravated his ribs; if they were not broken, they were at least bruised.   All of this he noted with some detachment.  His concern was focused elsewhere, miles behind him in the valley of Glen Coe.

 

Elspeth.

Uptick

See, that's how I work.  I complain (in my last post) about my limits and then I go and break them.

 

Today has been a good day.  I sat down this morning and pounded a chapter's worth of words out of the scene I'd been avoiding - Glencoe.  There's still work to be done; the chunk itself looks a bit like swiss cheese, as do most of my "in process" bits.  Large solid pieces with holes scattered throughout (where I left off to hop down - or up - and work on whatever popped into my head at that point).  So those will need to be filled in, but the majority of it is there.  Pretty good stuff, if I do say so myself.  *g,w* 

 

When I'd exhausted my creativity stores for the morning, I switched gears (and hemispheres) into "organize" mode, and guess what?  Those miles of blank pages I was fretting about yesterday were mostly full after all.  I've rearranged chunks into chapters and I now have up through chapter Twenty-Two in place!  (The aforementioned Glencoe chunk became chapter 21.)  259 MS pages.  By wordcount that's more than 2/3 of the story in a contiguous piece. 

 

Mind, all the newly-inaugurated "chapters" (18-22) still have varying amounts of writing left to be done within them, to fill gaps/smooth transitions, but no more than about 2-3 pages each.  I'll be working on that tonight. 

 

The exception is Chapter 22, newly named but incomplete. It begins with Alec bound and dragged through the snow from Glencoe back to Kilchurn.  I have a planned bit where Elspeth takes the news of his capture back to Glenstrae and recieves a cold welcome (it is somewhat her fault) and from there departs for Kilchurn to rescue him, by whatever means necessary.

 

That, I really think, is the last "big" chunk I need to write that isn't at least in process.  The rest will be sorting into chapters and filling gaps, as I have been.  Still time-consuming, but there's definitely been a HUGE uptick in my momentum.  Woohoo!

 

Now it's time to do the job I get paid for, hehe, and then maybe take a little nap in my office to refresh before I set-to again.  DH is being very understanding and agreed to let me stay late to write.  I'll work here until dinnertime, then go home to eat and put Little Boy down.  Then, more writing!  I've become a machine.  Not sure how long I'll hold out tonight, since I'm running on about 5 hours sleep and have been hitting it pretty hard already.  I may turn in "early" so I'll be fresh in the morning.  Now that I have an alarm clock that actually wakes me up, it's my most productive time.

 

Non-related: tomorrow is my impressions and x-rays appointment, and two weeks after that (gulp!) I get my braces.  Guess I'll take the book I'm supposed to review/chat about tomorrow night - but still haven't read - to the appointment, and skim it in the waiting room.  *w*

The Slog

I got 8 hours of sleep for the first time in over two weeks last night.  The fact that those hours were 3 am to 11 am is irrelevant.  *g*  But starting so late means I haven't had a lot of chair time today.  I'll work hard for the next few hours and get up early tomorrow as per my new habit, but I'm starting to feel again like I'm treading water.

I am both excited for and (somewhat) disheartened by my friends who have kicked up their outputs lately.  Seems no matter what I do, even if it's getting up way early and planning to spend the entire day writing, I can't manage more than 2-3K a day.

Of course, having a toddler in the house is a distraction whether or not I hole myself up in the spare bedroom with my laptop.  A big part of my "lost" time has gone to him, which I don't really consider a loss.  (Today it was lunch and putting him down for his nap, then when he woke up he seriously spazzed out because I wasn't around, so I had to go calm him down and play with him a bit before he'd let me back upstairs.  Then it was dinner, bath, and bedtime.  But I'm a mom before I'm a writer, that t-shirt I like notwithstanding.)

And I'll admit, as the scheduled date for my braces appointment nears, some of my attention has been drawn back to preparing for that.

But the main thing for me has been the organization.  I've written 95K to date, primarily in chunks.  Going through the story and knitting everything together is eating up loads of time.  I might spend over an hour on 200-300 words that round out a chapter, or tie up a loose end, or smooth the transition from one event to another.  When I'm free-reining it on random chunks, my pace is usually twice that, at least.

The part of the book I'm in now, late Act II moving into Act III, is the part with the biggest gaps.  And they're the detail-filled gaps, the stuff that a) I've been avoiding and 2) takes more time to visualize, because it incorporates all that has come before and sets up for the climax and end of the book.  Oh, and it's the really historical bits.  This is the run up to Glencoe, and I'm constantly fact/date checking.  [Brackets] won't help me here, because I can't visualize the scene without knowing exactly what's going on in the bigger picture.

So even though I had put up to chapter 17 in order over the weekend, it took until today to really complete parts of 15 and 17 and get halfway into 18.  Now I'm staring probably two chapters' worth of blank pages in the face, and though most of Acts III and IV (with Glencoe itself the notable exception) are already down, there will still be extra writing for that.  Finish on Sunday - or today for that matter - what was I thinking?

Nevertheless, I've revised my goal to the end of this week, and I'm going to keep slogging at it until I finish or collapse from exhaustion.

Oidhche Challainn

Well, it looks like the writing I did this morning is all I'll get done today.  Not only have I been fairly busy at work (I've got to stop counting on "slow" days!) but mentally I'm dead in the water.

 

I guess I can only function on 4 hours sleep for three nights in a row before crashing.  Today was the fourth. 

 

I'm not actually awake right now; I'm caffeinated.  There's a difference.  *g*

 

I do have tomorrow off, and I do plan to sleep in, then spend the rest of the day writing.  But the joy of it all is that for the first time in years we've got something going on for New Year's...and it's at our house.  We're hosting about 12 people and we told them they could stay all night if they wanted (though I imagine most will leave around 1-2 am).  People will start showing up around 6 pm.  There's housework yet to be done, and I most desperately need a nap if I'm going to be at all social and awake for another 8 hours.  Oh, and I'm still at work; not sure when I'll get to leave.

 

But it will all turn out in the end.  If nothing else I'll make the excuse that LB insists I lie down with him for a while when he goes to sleep.  Which he has done the past few nights.  Maybe I can sneak a little nap in that way.  As long as DH doesn't leave me up there all night!

 

At any rate, everyone enjoy themselves (and I hope our friends on the other side of the Date Line did too!), be safe, and

 

Bliadhna Mhath Ur!!!

What a way to start off the morning...

So this morning I finished a scene I'd been avoiding, in which A&E find a mother and child who die/have died (respectively) of measles.  I knew the impact I wanted to make, and the points I needed to get across with this scene, but as a mother of a young son it was hard.  Even though it was fictional and not based on any personal experience, finishing the scene choked me up a little.

Not exactly beginning the day on a high note.  But Robert Frost said "No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader," so hopefully that means I've written something with emotional impact.

On a lighter note, see the post below for a contest!  I'm off to get ready for work.

CONTEST!!!

I just had a brilliant thought: a contest to add (even more) excitement to the upcoming completion of my book!

There will even be a real prize.  Possibly monetary/bookish in nature.  I'm leaning towards a $25 Borders gift card.

The rules are simple: post a comment with your guess as to the final word count of my MS when I finish it this week.  Whoever guesses closest, wins!

Some info to help you out: right now I'm at 93,163 words.  (Ignore the wordmeter, I need to fix/fiddle with it.)

Feel free to ask me other questions in the comments.  I may or may not answer them.  *g*

So let's hear it.  How long-winded do you guys think I am?

A valiant effort

...but one doomed to fail.  It just takes too much out of me to write for more than a couple hours straight, so I had to take multiple breaks that slowed me down.  And in the end I gave in to the siren call - more like the incessant wail "mmmooooommmmmmmmmmmmYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" - of Little Boy, and then we all went grocery shopping for our New Year's Eve (Hogmanay? *g*) party and had dinner and I gave LB a bath and put him down, but he insisted I lie down by his crib and I didn't get away until much later than I intended to get started again.

Bleh.

Even so I took my little yellow pill (that's caffeine, for any new readers - nothing illicit *g*) and had a cup of instant cappuccino and settled in for a long winter's write. 

Not to be.  I can tell I'm brain drained, so I'm packing it in in favor of a few (likely 4) hours sleep to start fresh before I have to go to work.  Should be a slow day there, and I'll spend it writing if I can.  After lunch, though, I'll have to switch gears and start getting ready for the party.

I'm off on New Year's Day, which I'd planned to spend sleeping in and cleaning house, putting away Christmas decorations, etc. but now I suppose I'll spend it like I did today.  I'll still consider it making my goal if I finish by the end of that day.

Though word count *is* a measure of progress, I've switched over to completed chapters as my benchmark.  The 100K goal was just an estimate, and I'll be adding and cutting stuff as I move through to the end.  Whether it ends up at 98K or 108K is impossible to know at this point.

All in all, I did manage over 2K new words today, and 5 more chapters under my belt.  Not too shabby.

No matter what, I'll be done by the end of this week.  It's a staggering thought!

Sunday morning

I've been up since 5 am.  Progress is slower than anticipated, but my momentum is building.  And my internet keeps crapping out on me; I think it's the writing gods' way of keeping me on task.  *w*

DH and Little Boy are at church.  LB didn't even know I was here (I'm usually gone to work by the time he wakes up, so nothing really out of the ordinary except it's the weekend).  The plan is to stay holed up in my office (the spare bedroom) all day...and into the night if necessary.  I'm keeping myself caffeinated, with the reasoning "I can sleep when I'm done."

As of right now, I'm at 92.5K (no wordmeter update - Zokutou hasn't been working lately *sigh*).  At 500 words/hour, that's about 15 more hours to 100K, or 2-3 am.  Assuming I maintain pace and don't go over.  We'll see.

I'm up through chapter 17 and 202 pages of contiguous MS!

Saturday morning

Well, some progress at least.

Yesterday morning I finished Chapter 12, the trip to Glasgow.  At work I realized chapter 13 was already written, it was just in a big chunk I had to re-paste into chapter format.  I've been working on 14 this morning.  Finished a major scene.  Tonight will be another marathon session, during which I'll hopefully finish the other major scene in that chapter and move on.  Chapters 15 and 16 are already largely written, just need to be formatted and smoothed over.  I'm thinking about abandoning my family tomorrow and spending the entire day holed up with my computer.

I have finally really seen the light at the end of the tunnel.  The gaps are closing fast, and it turns out I don't have so much left to write after all.  The major thing slowing me down is that everything left to write is the slow stuff, stuff I haven't been able to "see" well, and transitions, etc.

But Little Boy just realized I am, in fact, home (does that make me a bad mom?) and I've got to be somewhere this afternoon, so I have to leave poor Elspeth kidnapped by Campbells and on her way back to Kilchurn to face Ormelie.  It's a decent stopping point.

Fight scenes are hard for me to write.  I want to make them accurate, and true-to-life.  Elspeth can kick some ass, but she's also a woman, in skirts, surrounded by armed men with rather different attitudes about gender equality and fair play.  I generally have to do them bit-by-bit, trying to imagine realistic actions to whatever move just occurred.

Today I knew one of the kidnapping party was going to try to abuse her, but I couldn't let that happen.  I knew she fought him off but I couldn't "see" the action in one continuous play.  So I'd write a paragraph or two, then have to think about something else and after a bit I'd realize what the most logical next move would be.  And now it's done, her virtue intact, but not her sense of self-control...

Fun t-shirts

A real update coming soon, once I have something worthwhile to update.  Hopefully in a few hours.

I'm up early to compensate for passing out on the couch last night and not only not writing, but missing a planned chat I had been looking forward to.  Sorry, girls!

Anyway, I stumbled across this and thought some of you would appreciate them:

Fun author t-shirts on CafePress

I particularly like

Of Course There's a Writing Formula:
beginning + middle + end = story

(Oh, if it were only that easy.  Especially for those of us who write in chunks!)

and

All the cool kids are writing.

Hehe.  Also, the sadly accurate

A writer is a person for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people. 
-Thomas Mann

My personal favorite:

Careful, or you'll end up in my novel.

the search for which (with my Christmas money) led to the finding of the page.

Not tonight, dear...

After 2 cups of Diet Pepsi *and* a caffeine pill, I'm still sitting here useless and blank.  So I'm going to pack it in for the night and set my alarm extra early.

Though it occurs to me: even if - by some miracle - I hit the 100K mark by New Years, I don't know if I'll actually finish the book.  With only 10K left to go, that's 4 (relatively short) chapters, and I think there's more story than that to tell.  Glencoe itself will be at least a chapter or two. 

I'm writing heavy, and a lot of stuff is going to be cut on rewrites, methinks.

Boxing Day

For me, the day after Christmas means the return to normal, which in this case was a 12-hour day at work.  Bleh.

I did get BIC tonight but not until after 10 pm.  Only managed a paltry 300 words.  However, a large part of my time was consumed by research.  I'm in Chapter 12, which is the trip to Glasgow.  Now that I have the background, hopefully things will pick up tomorrow and roll smoothly through the next few events, most of which are already roughed out.

I did find a neat website:
FirstFoot's Scottish Vernacular Dictionary

And the Wikipedia article on (modern) Glaswegian dialect defined the expression "pure dead brilliant" as "rather good".  Someone's got a sense of humor.  *g*

Belated update (and Bourbon Ball recipe!)

So Thursday I practically pulled an all-nighter.  Unfortunately I didn't get much wordage.  I did, however, get a chance to reconnect and chat real-time with some friends (thanks, girls!) which bolstered my confidence and was in general fun.  *g*

Friday I planned to write at work, but the cappuccino machine at the coffee kiosk was broken and, lacking caffeine, I wasn't very productive on two hours sleep.  Then my boss told me I could leave early (holiday weekend) so I did.  Had a pleasant evening with DH and LB, at the mall of all places.  Passed out cold on the couch as soon as LB was down.

Yesterday (Saturday) I got up early to write, but unfortunately LB woke up early too so no progress.  Then FIL, BIL, and GIL (girlfriend-in-law, hehe) came over after the family Christmas get-together and stayed the night.  We opened presents - bless his heart, FIL has given me a cross necklace almost every single year since I met DH, despite the fact that I wear one of them every single day and have the rest stashed in the back of my jewelry box - GIL and I made more bourbon balls, the guys watched a movie, and we all collapsed around midnight.

Oh, and my purse came in at last.  No worries!  100% authentic, and gorgeous to boot.  *g*  So that's one less distraction from now on...

It's now Sunday afternoon and LB is down for his nap; DH has gone out to buy games for his new Xbox 360.  I'm hoping to make some headway while LB sleeps, and then have my regular writing session tonight as well.

And in case anyone's interested, here's the family recipe for bourbon balls, as handed down by my great-grandmother:

Gramammy's Bourbon Balls

2 pounds 10x confectioner's (powdered) sugar
1 stick melted butter
1 cup finely chopped pecans
1/2 cup bourbon
(optional: 1 cup shredded coconut)
Dipping chocolate

Combine powdered sugar, butter, nuts, (coconut), and bourbon in large mixing bowl.  Should be proper consistency to form balls, not too dry or too "gloppy".  (Add bourbon or powdered sugar as needed to correct, but the listed proportions should work.)

Roll into ~1" balls and place on waxed paper or aluminum foil on cookie sheet, chill.

When balls are firm and set, melt dipping chocolate and dip each ball, replacing on cookie sheet and chilling to set chocolate.

Should make 10-12 dozen.

In the Presence of Greatness, part 2 (and Wednesday update)

Jo's got another fricktastically AWESOME review over at Dear Author right now.  Shame I missed the giveaway, because I can't *wait* to read the book, but my pre-ordered copy will be here in just under two weeks so I guess I'l deal.  *w*

 

It's so very exciting to know such a great writer and all-around good person and see her rocket to (I'm sure) instant bestseller status.  Jo Beverly, Mary Balogh, Lisa Kleypas...Joanna Bourne.  Go Jo!

 

As for me, I got 700 words at work yesterday and given that plus my state of absolute exhaustion at the dinner table, I went to bed right after Little Boy went down and woke up fully-rested for the first time in a while.  Novel feeling.  I'm hoping to make up some more wordage this afternoon, and put in a good BIC session tonight.  I'm within 10K of my target, though I think there will be a few more old scenes cut as I move forward through the story which will lower the wordcount somewhat.

Tuesday's update

Yeah, no writing progress still.  DH and I were up waaaay too late last night (3 am! Even when I'm writing I'm usually in bed by 2...) trying to get Christmas presents wrapped - what had been planned for Monday before I fell ill.  I'm running - if you can call it that - on about 4 hours sleep today.

 

It's been 3 days of no writing and that's the threshold to really cut myself off from doing anything until I make more headway.

 

But!  I'm jazzed up on caffeine and have a pretty open schedule at work, so I hope to make up some writing today, at least 1K.  If I do enough, I might just get to bed early tonight so I'll be fresh for the rest of the week's push.  I can only miss so much sleep before my production slumps, and I actually get more accomplished by taking a night to sleep and then hitting it full steam the next day.

 

And I got my gratis copy of Kinley MacGregor's (can't fault her last name! *w*) book The Warrior in the mail yesterday.  Carol's got it too, so that should make for some interesting discussion once we're both done.  And on the Avon Books Reading Group (from whence came the free book) on Facebook, too.

 

Oh, and I spent my Christmas bonus on a new purse.  I'd been wanting a Coach bag for a while, and found a new one for a good price on eBay (yes, I did my research and checked out the seller first - I'm confident this was a good buy and authentic).  I do believe this will be the first designer item I have ever owned.  At the very least, it's the first I've ever bought myself.  But I needed a good purse.

Some Good News

DH and I were just discussing our desire for this the other day.  Woohoo!

 

Peter Jackson to produce The Hobbit

 

Though, as DH said, if this is going to be two movies, LOTR should have been at least six...

Belated Monday update

I didn't update last night because I was too sick to get on the computer.  Whatever it was gave me a pounding headache and severe nausea (no, I'm not pregnant) for most of the evening.  It was all I could do to get Little Boy in bed (with DH's help) and then I had to lie down on the couch to keep from throwing up.  I ended up falling asleep, and DH woke me up at 11 pm, whereupon I had a very late dinner and went to bed.

 

Feeling much better this morning, though.

As promised

Daily check-in for Sunday...doesn't look like I'll get to any writing tonight.  I had intended to, but my playgroup is collecting donations for Christmas care packages for the women and kids at the domestic violence shelter we took the Project Night Night packages to last month, and I just realized all the stuff was due tomorrow.  So I've been getting all that together and now it's going on 11 pm.  I consider this not a wasted evening, since it's for the greater good.  *g*

Accountability

It's almost 5 am and storming outside.  I can hear the wind lashing the rain (yes, rain!  where's the frigging snow? oh...up north) against the windows.  I like the sound of rain, so I'm enjoying it.  I'm also the only creature up, and the whole house is quiet except for the sound of my animated train ornament on the tree in the next room.  (I'm back downstairs temporarily.  Dunno if I'll move back up to the guest room or stay down here for a while.)  Ah, the dishwasher just kicked on.  Now I know I'm up too late.

Despite the lateness of the hour, I'm positively wired.  Remind me not to take two caffeine pills within 2 hours of each other, especially not starting at 9 pm.  But I needed to write.  I need to write.  I've been putting it off for one thing or another for the past 3 months.

Over the summer I did 20K in a month.  I've done 6K total in the past three, or one tenth of my potential productivity.

I've cut back on my blogs and blogging and internet presence, as noted.  But just like skipping the writer's forum was depriving me of support and inspiration, not blogging is depriving me of accountability.

I think by telling myself I'm just keeping my head down and not posting to save time for writing, I'm also allowing myself to go days without doing anything and not having to answer for it.  No one knows if I spent 3 hours one night researching how to spot a fake Coach handbag on eBay *cough* and not a minute writing.

So I'm instituting a new policy.  From now until the end of the year at least, I will post at least once a day.  It may only be a line or two, but it will summarize what I accomplished (or didn't).  Hopefully this will keep me on the straight and narrow, and force me to work so I can report good stuff.  I think 2 or 3 days of owning up to wasting time would be an effective deterrent.  Hopefully it won't come to that.

Today, I did spend some time looking at Coach bags on eBay (my planned Christmas bonus gift to myself).  I also played my rounds in the Scrabulous games I've got going.  But I've been working too.  Even though I said it was done, I reworked and added a bit to the end of Chapter 10.  That's the ceilidh in Glenstrae where Alec is all but formally betrothed to Janet Cameron (in the works for years) and Elspeth comes to the bitter realization that she's fallen for him.

Now I'm in Chapter 11.  (Hehe, my finances are fine, thank you.)  Elspeth learns Griogal Cridhe from Catriona *nods to Cathy* and Alec asks her about returning because he can't be her protector once he's married.  This chapter will close out Act I.  Next up, Glasgow for the winter's mart, and the kidnapping.

Total daily wordage: not sure, because I forgot to check my starting point.  I'll keep track from now on.

Gah, I've got to be up for church in about 4 hours (at the latest!).  To bed with me.

Yeah, yeah, I know...

REAL writing-related blog post coming soon.  I know, promises, promises...

 

It's kind of the thing where I've got so much to blog, I put it off "until I have time" - and most of you are already laughing now.  So yeah, that's why I haven't blogged.  (Or responded to some of your e-mails...sorry!)

 

Short version: I'm back on a linear kick and chapter 9 is done, chapter 10 is done, and once I finish chapter 11 I'll have the first act complete.  (Some restructuring needed in there, so I think there might end up 12 chapters in Act I.)

 

Still not as productive as I'd like to be, but at least I'm B.I.C. every night.  End-of-year goal date stands.

 

This post is mainly me absurdly excited to be getting a free copy of Kinley Macgregor's new book The Warrior courtesy of the Avon Books Reading group on Facebook and wanting to share my good news.  *g*

 

Christmas cards will be going out today and tomorrow (finally!) so if you haven't gotten me your address and want one, drop me a line.  If you have gotten me your address, watch your mail.  International delivery may take a bit, though, so consider them "New Year" cards too.  *w*

In the presence of greatness...

Our very own Jo, master of the Writing Exercises and all-around most excellent teacher/mentor/writer/person, has gotten some great press lately!

Read this review on SBTB.  She also garnered 4 1/2 stars from Romantic Times.

All together now:  SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now, go pre-order the book.  (Click on the cover image to the left there to go straight to the Amazon listing.)  *g*

How Jenny Got Her Groove Back

She surfaces!  I've been meaning to post for over a week, really I have.

Last week was productive, if minimally so.  A scene that started out fresh and free-flowing got slower and more tedious toward the end, but I really wanted to finish it.  Add a boar hunt to the list of times we get Alec almost killed.  *w*  Finally finished that out at 2100 words, which for 5 days of writing averaged a little over 400 words/day.  Not great, but better than nothing.

Sunday night I could have strangled myself.  Little Boy was in bed - and quiet! - just after 8 pm, and I was on my computer by 8:30.  It's been a looong time since that happened.  But did I get any writing accomplished?  No.  The siren song of the internet was too strong.  To be fair, I was finishing up some Christmas shopping, with which I am pretty much done.  (Now, just to wrap the stuff...)  But still.  I've complained that my lack of productivity was due in part to late starting times, but when I get an early one what do I do?  *headdesk*

However, I made myself write at work on Monday (things have finally slowed down a bit, though I doubt it will last).  And tonight I got B-i-C by 8:30 again, caffeinated and ready to work.  Also determined to make up for the sins of Saturday.

So here I sit, actually feeling inspired for a change, making progress and dead-set on finishing this SFD by the end of the year.  Want to know the real secret of my regained vision?  The answer may surprise you.

Like several others, I tried to cut myself off from my usual internet haunts in an effort to boost productivity.  This included the CompuServe forum.  To a degree, the relief of expectations to post and be social on these sites (as well as the endless time-suck of my blog feeds) did free up some time.  But did it boost productivity?  No.

I guess I am a weak, weak woman.  But there are many times during the day (especially at work) where I don't have the time to get into a scene but I need a mental break from what I'm doing.  Enter the internet.  (Heh.)  I stuck to my resolution to avoid my usual sites but the problem was...I found others.  Non-writing-related ones.  So I was still spending time online, but doing stuff that kept my mind off my story and writing.  And that, I think, was a big obstacle to me gaining any kind of momentum.

So tonight, in my pre-writing-time allowed internet foray, I'd already hit all my other usual haunts.  The CompuServe button in my browser bar tempted me.  Time-suck! I fretted.  I'm so behind there, I'm always afraid to try to wade back in.  Mainly because it takes a long time to get caught up.  But I needed to do something while I finished my soda before I put in my whitening trays (long story, see my braces blog in a few days) so I popped on over.

Only spent 5 minutes there, and made one post, skimmed 2-3 threads.  But you know something?  Just being back in the (virtual) company of other writers did something for my productivity that almost 3 months of R&R could not do.

So I'll be lurking over there more often instead of vegging on the braces board or ICHC.   (Though I'll probably still limit my posting until I get done with the MS.) 

I'm newly inspired.  I'm gonna finish this thing.  I can feel it.

Meh.

This week, it is not going as planned.  I had starry-eyed visions of 2K nights, leading up to me finished (or nearly so) with the SFD this weekend.

Despite staying up till 1-2 am every night so far, juiced up on soda and caffeine pills, my wordcounts have been half to as little as a tenth of my projected targets.

But!  I am at least getting wordage.  Consistent wordage, writing-every-night wordage.  This is something I haven't managed to accomplish in over two months, so I consider it progress.

So I won't be done in November, but next week the majority of my other irons will be removed from the fire: Heroes and DwTS have run this-season's course, so no more TV nights breaking up my momentum.  And my external projects are mostly completed.  Now there's just the little matter of Christmas...

Big Vocabulary = Free Rice for the Hungry

This website is for real:

 

FreeRice.com

 

Take a vocab quiz and for every correct answer, rice will be donated to the hungry.

 

According to Snopes the cost of the rice is paid for by the advertising.

 

With the kind of vocabulary rampant in our writers' circles, we could feed a small country at least!

 

(Warning: major time suck!  But you learn some cool words!)

Christmas Cards

I'd love to send out Christmas cards to everyone!  If you want to make my Christmas list, send me an e-mail with your mailing address.  International requests welcome!  *w,g*

Media Blackout

Despite the fact that I'm about to make several posts, I'll be on a complete media blackout this entire week, in an attempt to get my butt  in gear and make more significant headway than I have been.  Yes, it's time for one of Jenny's masochistic manic marathons.

 

So if I don't respond to e-mails/messages, that's why.

 

The word counter is still not correct.

The Future

The Future:

It is Now

Tagged

Carol tagged me for this, and I finally surfaced to see it.  *g*  So here goes...

 

Four Things You May or May Not Know About Me

A) Four jobs I have had in my lifetime:
1. Hallmark Cards merchandiser
2. Color Guard assistant coach

3. Humane Society adoption counselor

4. Medical Physicist

B) Four movies I would watch over & over:
1. any Star Wars

2. ditto Star Trek
3. and LOTR
4. Hmmm...Indiana Jones?  Now, if you'd asked me about books...

C) 4 places I have lived:
1. Louisville, KY

2. Brandenburg, KY
3. Irvington, KY
4. Lexington, KY (see a pattern here?)

D) Four TV Shows that I watch:
1. Heroes

2. Journeyman
3. Dancing With the Stars
4. NCIS/The Unit (they're kind of a single entity for me) 

E) Four places I have been:
1. Israel
2. Tampico/C.D. Madero, Mexico

3. Seattle, WA
4. Washington, D.C.

F) Four people who e-mail me (regularly):
1. Shaylin

2. Deniz
3. Carol

4. Claire

G) Four of my favorite foods:
1. sushi (did I ever think I'd say that?)
2. homemade Crispix mix
3. anything from Red Lobster (Cheddar Bay biscuits!)

4. warm cornbread muffins with real butter

H) Four places I would rather be right now:
1. Gatlinburg
2. Scotland
3. Florida
4. The Bahamas

I) Things I am looking forward to this and next year:
1. Finishing OHN

2. Getting an agent (I hope!)

3. Hiring another physicist at work
4. Paying off a few of our big loans

 

Well, heck...is everyone tagged already?  I'll safely say Shaylin and Jon and Brooke (if you're still out there), and anyone who hasn't been tagged yet in case I'm missing someone.

 

Side note: generally, when Jenny isn't blogging Jenny isn't writing, but I have been.  Sorta.  Anyway, updates coming soon and the word counter is not accurate.  Progress at last!

And we're up!

Or I am, at least.  My pitch is the very first one on today's list of critiques over at BookEnds:

 

Pitch Critiques Round 5

 

As I told Carol, I guess I should have sent her the one I sent EE, and sent him that one!  All the detail was based on comments from EE's blog, after my nice, tight paragraph "left too many unanswered questions, i.e. how exactly did she end up in the past?"

 

Not really negative from her, though.  I could wish she'd said if the concept or the rest of the hook worked for her, besides the fact that - as a "synopsis" rather than pitch - it was too long.  Guess I should take heart from the fact that she didn't say "BORING!" like she has for a few others.

 

And it really was nice of her and generous to offer the critiques in the first place.  I really appreciate her doing it.

 

Still at the drawing board...

Group Novel and other distractions

Well, I've had some minor setbacks since regaining my momentum somewhat over last weekend.  Nothing insurmountable, just my progress hasn't been what I'd hoped.

 

I tend to focus on one major "project" at a time.  For most of the last 18 months, that project has been the book.  Others have intruded from time to time and slowed me down.  This week, the group novel and the Project Night Night event I've been planning are vying for my attention.  But the PNN thing is this evening, so that will be one thing down.  The group novel will be the other.

 

I didn't read the previous chapters of the GN until my turn, so I could take them all in at once and try to come up with a coherent continuation.  I read it over Monday night, but needed to let it simmer before I knew what to write.

 

At long last my ideas for the group novel started to "come to a boil" yesterday and this morning, and I was able to get about a page of notes and a page of narrative down today at work.  Not sure how many pages I'm supposed to write overall, I think maybe 3-4 (single spaced)?  So I should be able to finish that up tonight or tomorrow at the absolute latest.

 

Confession time: I've not been nearly as strict with myself on internet usage as I planned to be.  It is a little better, but I've still frittered away plenty of potential writing minutes on the web.  I blame the "Superheroes" app on Facebook *sheepish grin* and another "project" that is sapping a lot of my resources: braces.

 

Yep, I'll be getting braces first of next year and I've been doing a lot of research on them of late because of the insurance paperwork I have to get set up ahead of time.  I even started a blog to chronicle my progress, since you guys and my friends and family will get sick of hearing about it on my regular blogs otherwise.  I needed an outlet - catharsis, you know.  *g*

 

Anyway, back to it since I need to leave work early today.  People coming to my house tonight.

Illuminating Article

And interesting article about "communication overload" and how interruptions and multitasking can make it harder to be productive at work:

 

Office ADD

 

I think it can be applied to my tendencies during writing time, too.

Rough start

Adjusted plan: goal is 1500 words nightly, but I absolutely cannot leave the computer until I have at least 500 words down.

As I posted, I did okay the first day.  But last night I didn't manage any words at all.  It wasn't for trying: I sat at the computer for two hours at least.  And I wasn't fooling around online, either.  I was messing with my iTunes a bit, mainly to listen to some of my bagpipe music and get "in the zone" but for the most part I was just trying to focus and get back into writing mode.  At midnight I gave it up for a lost cause.

Had a productive day today: cleaned up the kitchen, cleaned and did a partial water change on my aquarium, washed several loads of laundry, and cleaned out/reorganized the garage.  (We can actually park a vehicle in there now, which will be handy when it starts freezing in earnest.)  Then we went to a bonfire with our Sunday school group.  Couldn't have asked for better weather - not too cold but with the Fall crispness in the air, still enough daylight to cook by, and not so dry anymore that having a large fire was risky.

Tonight I started slow.  Found some new Alec-y pics of Martin Henderson that got me closer to the character again.  Spent some time looking for an Elspeth, but it's hard to find pics of, say, 20-something actresses with brown hair and eyes online - unless I am the only one not aware of where to look.

Opened three or so scenes and skimmed them, trying to find a place to pick up.  Finally settled on the kidnapping scene, one of the ones I left in the middle and haven't been sure how to finish.

Tonight I squeaked by with my 500 words, and it's pretty late.  At least I get an "extra" hour of sleep in the morning.  (Though I'm not thrilled at the prospect of darkness so early in the evening from now on.)  But!  I have regained a tiny bit of momentum, and the scene is taking shape, so I should get out of the gate quicker next time.

Tomorrow I've got church, some book shopping for the Project Night Night drive, my FIL is coming up to visit, I need to write, and oh - did I mention I probably have to go into work for 3-4 hours (unpaid) to catch up on all the stuff that hit the fan Friday afternoon?  *sigh*

NaNoWriMo, after a fashion

Happy November!  It's National Novel Writing Month, and writers everywhere are geared up to crank out almost 1700 words a day in order to have written a new 50K book by thirty days from now.

Since I've decided to feed off all the energy in the air, and since I'm way behind in the wordcounts and needed a good kick in the @$$, I thought "What the heck? I'll do NaNoWriMo too."

Strictly speaking, I'm not - my words will be the completion of a mostly-written book instead of a new one (mainly, see below) - and I didn't sign up through the official website.

But I have set myself a new goal (remember when I said I wasn't going to set specific goals anymore?) to try to keep pace with the NaNoWriMo folks and average 1500-1700 words a day.  That should pretty much guarantee completion by the end of the month, even if I have to top 120K and then whittle down before everything's said and done.  It's a crazy, frenetic pace, but I have seen that when I'm really focused I can accomplish it.  I just need to stay focused.  See previous post about the internet.  *g*

So I sat down tonight prepared to flex my writing muscle and power forward through OHN.  There was just one minor problem...

Despite my best intentions to not do this until Elspeth and Alec's story was done, I took a page out of some friends' books (if you'll pardon the expression, hehe) and - since I was stuck on Book One - worked on Book Two.

Book Two is tentatively titled One Highland Wife, and will be the story of Nathaniel (Elspeth's brother) and Mairi (Alec's sister).  All the new scenes popping up in my head were between those two, so I went with it.  I also did some more brainstorming, as all I have right now are a few loosely-connected plot points, and wrote a very preliminary "hook":

Nathaniel Martin is happy to accept his sister's offer of a free vacation with her in Scotland, even if it means babysitting his young nephew while she and her husband celebrate their anniversary.  But a family outing to a ruined castle goes completely awry when Nate gets sucked through a time portal and into the late seventeenth century.

The stone that opened the portal is taken from him, and the only way to retrieve it is to buy it back, at an exorbitant price.  It takes everything he has and knows—and then some—to raise the funds.  Meanwhile, [antagonist/conflict here].

On his way to make the trade, he is moved to spend the entire amount to purchase a beautiful young widow named Mairi at auction, to save her from a life of servitude to the brutal man who sought to buy her.  Now he must seek another way to reclaim the stone and find a way back to his own time, as well as overcome [antagonist/conflict from above].  But the hardest thing will be deciding what do about the auburn-haired lass who has taken his name…and his heart.

The major scene I worked on - and cranked almost 900 words out of - will be from a chapter late in the book, entitled "Revelations of the Bedchamber".  Here's a snip:

"You know," Nate said, reclining against the headboard with Mairi snuggled contentedly against his shoulder, "we've been married [X] months, and I don't think you've told me anything about your brother."

"Andrew?" she asked.  "But I've spoken of him often enough.  There isna much to say now, as he's been deid these three years past.  Left a young wife and son, but the bairn was too wee to become chief, so the line passed to my uncle's branch."

"I remember you talking about Andrew.  I meant your other brother.  The one you don't speak of.  I don't think you've even told me his name."

Mairi hugged her arms about herself and sat up, away from him.  Her eyes became distant and she fixated on a point in the opposite corner of the room.

"Alasdair.  But most called him Alec."

And a bit later, after some explanations...

"Hold on.  I thought you said your maiden name was MacAlpin?"

She sighed.  "Aye, and so I did.  MacAlpin is the name my family took when it became illegal to claim 'MacGregor' in public, and to do so was cause for persecution…or execution."

He put up a hand, as much an attempt to bat away the thoughts that were buzzing and swarming about his head as to stall her speech.

"Wait.  You're telling me that you were—are—a MacGregor, and that your brother, Alec, married a woman named Elspeth and then disappeared under mysterious circumstances, never to be heard from again?"

"Aye."  Her eyebrows knit together, and a look of consternation and old pain crossed her delicate features.  It made him want to hold her close and sooth away the hurt, but just now he needed to come to grips with this new information.

MacGregor.  Alec MacGregor, and his wife, Elspeth.  Son of a—

All told, my nightly wordcount was up around 1400.  Not too shabby.

Costume

As promised.

 

Just the right blend of bad Halloween pun and science-nerdiness for my taste.

 

The wig is my special accomplishment.  The costume shop didn't have what I needed, so I bought a granny wig with a bun, lopped the bun off and frizzed up the rest.  It turned out pretty much how I pictured it.

 

The makeup is what I get for buying the cheap stuff.  It's coming off as soon as I get home.

 

I wish I'd had the chance to make myself an E=mc² t-shirt to wear under the lab coat, though.

 

I would have made the fact that I'm FrankEinstein a little more transparent.  *g*

Withdrawal

Much discussion is going around about withdrawing from the internet for the sake of writing focus.  I probably need to do the same, to a greater extent than I have the past two months. 

 

Sure, my blogging presence has been scanty, and I've only popped into the Forum occasionally, but my activity on Facebook is regular, and I have a "loop" of websites I'll check in all free moments (ranging from local news to LOLcats) that distract my focus and take time that, technically, I could use to write.

 

The most productive I have ever been at work was the month or so they told us our internet usage was being monitored, and we could be fired for too much.  At the time I left my Gmail open all the time, and frequently popped on to other sites to look something up whenever the mood struck.  But I was running scared, so I checked my e-mail only in the morning, at lunch, and while I was pumping (Little Boy was still nursing then).  Then I.T. told us it wasn't real, and we who are salaried wouldn't be as much under focus as long as we were keeping our workload up.  It's been over a year and I've gradually slipped back to my old ways.  But no longer.

 

Game plan: severely restrict my internet time and the sites I'm allowed to visit.  I will remove Google Reader from my Google homepage (I have over 50 subscriptions now) - after all, the posts will still be there for me to read when I'm done - and allow myself on CompuServe, Facebook, BabyCenter, etc. only once a week (Claire's idea).  I will turn off the WiFi on my laptop (Jen's idea)...at least until I hit my daily word goal.

 

I will continue to check in with the 70 Days of Sweat challenge, to keep me moving forward.  And I do have my Group Novel chapter and the November X on CompuServe, but once those are done I'll be pretty scarce.

 

One thing I can't abandon is e-mail.  Call it addiction if you want, but it's also my primary form of communication - with DH while I'm at work, with my brother in Germany, with my family hours away, with you my friends scattered all over the globe.  I will continue to check that daily, though I will attempt to limit the number of times I log in.  If you need to get ahold of me, e-mail.  If you don't have my e-mail, leave a blog comment (those get e-mailed to me).

 

Speaking of the blog, I can post from my e-mail.  That's what I'm doing now.  An active blog usually indicates progress for me, since I will post updates and small snips.  So I'll keep doing that, but try to keep the posts short.

 

Look for pics of my Halloween costume later today, and then we enter the blackout.  I think a lot of us are taking NaNoWriMo seriously; if not the 50K goal at least the spirit of writing intensely.  See you on the other side.  *g*

Confession

I have only written 2K in 2 months.  And that all in one day, a couple weeks ago.  Other than that one day, progress has been nonexistent.

This LOLcat sums it up:

I guess I'm not one of those people who is energized as they near the end; I'm paralyzed.  Most of the remaining scenes are the ones I've been skirting, dodging around for the past year or so, and don't know how to go about writing.  On top of that, I am thoroughly into the "this book sucks" phase, which I had hoped to avoid until rewrites, and the sheer weight of how much emotion and complexity and continuity I am trying to include and likely not succeeding with is bearing down on me and crushing the air out of my figurative writing lungs.

Okay, I guess I don't think the book sucks.  I know in my heart of hearts this is a good idea, a good story.  I still get excited thinking about plot details.  What I think sucks is...me.  My writing.

This goes beyond the doldrums.  I'm not just waiting for a breeze; I need someone to bring me a new sail, because mine is gone and even if the wind were to pick up, I don't know how I'd catch it.

All the momentum I built over the summer is gone.  A lot of it was stolen by the rest of my life, which came crashing down in September after I'd put it off for months to concentrate on the book.  Then I was just burnt out and fatigued and couldn't drag myself to the computer in favor of sleep.  It doesn't help that Little Boy is near impossible to put to bed anymore, and even when he finally gets quiet, it's much harder to start writing at 10 pm after a long day than it was at 8 pm or even 9.

Over these two months other short-term projects have intruded, and I told myself I'd take a few weeks off the book, then a month, then a few more weeks, and now it's become two months and the end of October - a point at which I'd hoped to be done and into rewrites preparatory to entering a few major contests - is looming tomorrow with me no farther along.

Tonight I was finally reasonably well-rested, caught up enough in life to devote an evening to writing, Little Boy went down at the early hour of 9:30, and my frustration at the delay in finishing the MS was great enough to get me Butt In Chair.

Only, once I actually connected my data stick and prepared to write (after dealing with the minor emergency of some corrupted files - hooray for backups), I froze. 

All the places I could have picked up and worked felt dead to me, the scenes wooden or lacking, to the point where I couldn't even bear to open the files and read what tripe I had written there.  I faced the ultimate fear of writers: I couldn't hear or see my characters.  It's not a disconnect from them, specifically, because I can hear them for the House Party scenes.  It's that I can't see what they want to do - what I need to write - for the MS.

...There's this thing I do, a state I get myself into.  I call it "variable overload".  My nature is to hold in my head all the aspects of a situation, spread out mentally so I can analyze, utilize, compartmentalize, optimize.  It makes me a good problem solver.  I use it for anything from finding the way to pack the most objects into a space (such as organizing closets or loading kilns) to finding the most efficient order/route to run errands.  The problem arises when there are too many variables.  My brain goes into this endless loop of "but what about this? and this? and this?" and I end up having a mini-meltdown, stressed out and unable to choose any path.  Usually at that point DH has to step in and make the decision for me, and even though I want to protest ("but have you considered...?!") I go meekly along for the sake of doing something, anything.

Right now I'm in variable overload with the book.  My brain is a jumble of story arcs, relationship progression, character motivation, settings, dialect, historical details, style and craft...all screaming for my attention, pressing me to work them seamlessly into each scene.

Objectively, I know they don't all have to be in place in the SFD.  It's called that for a reason, after all, and that inherent ability to analyze will help me in rewrites once I can see the Big Picture.  But I can't get to the Big Picture because I'm frozen, uncertain, stressed out by my inadequacies and the sheer enormity of what it takes to write an outstanding book.

And DH can't make these decisions for me.

Now is the time when perfectionism is a curse.

But I'll work through it, and blogging this is the first step.  This is not a plea for pats on the back, hand-holding, and "there-there"s.  I just felt I needed to come clean about the fact that, for all that I've been maintaining a facade of progress and enthusiasm, I really haven't done much of anything.  And to tell the truth, I do feel better and more motivated for getting it out in the open.

*deep breath*

Tomorrow is a new day, and the day after that is a new month.  NaNoWriMo, in fact, and though I'm not taking that particular challenge hopefully there will be a charge in the air - the collective subconscious of so many writers in the country who are energized and focused.   I think I can tap into that, and overcome this last and greatest hurdle.  By the time a new year rolls around, I'll be where I want to be.

Rough Cut Covers

A very nice lady I met through my BabyCenter.com "birth club" (March 2006 Babies) who happens to be a dab hand with PhotoShop made these cover designs for me.  They're not what a publisher would put out, by any means (though I've seen worse on some e-pubbed books) but I think they have a good feel for what I'm going for in a cover.  I.e. no shirtless kilted man, no bodice-ripping, no pictures of people who look nothing like my characters.  And they are WAY better than I could ever come up with.  Mad props to her for doing them.

If I ever self-pub (if I ever get this darned thing finished, more on that in a later post) I might use one of these or something very like it.

What do you guys think?

Just in time for Hallowe'en

And marginally related to my own book, a fun and interesting article from Slate on

 

Ghosting Scotland

 

Even if you don't believe - I like the author's self-description of "charitably dubious" -  there's some fascinating history and descriptions of several castles.

Monday

I'll be at one of our satellite facilities all day Monday, so likely no internet presence for me (even with a roaring house party going) until tomorrow afternoon/evening.  And tomorrow's TV night.  I'll see what I can do.

At least I know I'll have my evenings free from baseball, as the Sox completed their sweep of the World Series tonight.  DH is very excited.  *g*

My Church

From MSN.com's front page (!) this morning:

This article

That's my church.

Google Meme!

Deniz didn't really tag me for this, but I thought it would be fun anyway.  *g*

 

Five Google searches that return my blog as the first hit:

 

1. lonsdaleite wormhole

2. elspeth time travel

3. jenny elspeth alec (is that cheating?)

4. sailor's blessing doldrums (I get a lot of traffic from searches like this, for some reason.  Nina posted the blessing in the comments.)

5. scottish time-travel romance kilchurn

 

Close, but no cigar:

kilchurn breadalbane - I'm the second hit, right after a Clan Campbell society!

medical physicist romance novelist - also the second hit, right below Deborah Hale (see below)

alec glencoe massacre - again, second...after EE's discussion of my query!

 

I'm finding a pattern...a lot of the hits I'm getting are to one specific post - this one.  I guess it has all the really unique combinations.  It's loooong, too.  *g*

 

Interestingly enough, searching for "Alec and Elspeth" pulls up hits to another book, Remembering Laughter by Wallace Stegner, several posts to this blog, and quite a few of my CompuServe posts.  (I have been formerly immune to the CompuServe-Google link as I don't post under my full name and even that is so commonplace that I am buried in the pile.)

 

The MCs' names plus a story location (i.e. "alec elspeth glenstrae" or " alec elspeth glencoe") will almost always get me as first hit.

 

Kind of funny: there is an Elspeth Martin who did math and physics at Glasgow University in the early 90's *cue Twilight Zone music*

 

And apparently there is an author of Historical Romance named Deborah Hale who is married to a medical physicist.  (I've requested her most recent book through PaperBack Swap...she writes Regency, my other preferred subgenre.)

 

The search "compuserve forumites" did not pull my blog up on the first page, much less the first hit.  That honor belongs to Claire, hehe.

 

Another string that I got first hit on, but not to the blog, was "kilchurn glenstrae glencoe", which linked to the House Party "I" hosted on behalf of Alec and Elspeth over the summer.

 

Quite a few of the strings I tried pulled up my CompuServe posts.  But then, if you're doing these searches, you likely know me anyway, because they are pretty random combinations.

 

Okay, now that's my Friday-afternoon-blow-off and I have to get back to work if I'm going to see my husband and son tonight.

 

P.S.  Close game last night, but the Sox prevailed.  I may actually get to write tonight and then the Series resumes in Denver tomorrow and Sunday...

Pitch Critiques

Jessica over at the BookEnds Agency blog is offering "Perfecting Your Pitch" critiques.  Just leave your one-sentence or one-paragraph pitch in the comments, and she'll choose as many as she can to critique on the blog.

 

Because I can't help myself, and figuring out this whole query thing is a long-running obsession with me, I spent all my writing time this morning working up a new version and posting it.

 

It may look like 3 paragraphs, but if you count closely you'll note it's only 5 sentences long.  *g*  So we'll see if it gets picked and what she has to say.

 

...

 

Personal status update: Sven is angry with me, but I married into Red Sox Nation and watching the first game of the World Series with DH last night pre-empted any writing I would have gotten done, just like the ALCS pre-empted it last week.  I hope the Sox take this thing in 4, because I don't think I'll be very productive at home until it's over, and work is too busy right now to sneak in much writing time here.

Taking the Plunge

I succumbed to peer pressure *g* and entered the brand-spanking-new version (as in, it came to me last night in bed as I was drifting to sleep) of my opening to Nathan Bransford's LIFPC.

 

Precie entered, I know.  And I saw Jen's openings up there, too as I skimmed through the numerous entries .  So good luck to all!

 

And don't forget to give me costume ideas in the post below...

I need ideas.

Halloween falls on a weekday again this year, and we are allowed - practically encouraged - to dress up at work.  Fun times.

I need ideas of cool/creative costumes I could put together with minimal effort/expense.  Last year I went as Puss in Boots and had a pretty good time of it.  All I had to buy was the mask and cape.

I wanted to do a seventeenth-century getup this year, but finding or making the skirts and shift and bodice was just too difficult and time-consuming, even if I cheated and used department-store plaid flannel for the arisaid.

So...suggestions?

Project Night Night

Sweating with Sven is off to a slow start.  Guess I'm taking some of my "free" days of the challenge right out of the gate.  *sheepish grin*

Besides work kicking me in the @$$ like never before (and I thought it was bad enough previously!) I've been hard at work on a very worthy cause: I'm organizing a donation drive within my local playgroup - we're fairly large, almost 90 families - for Project Night Night.

PNN is a national program based in California that collects stuffed animals, books, and blankets and bundles them into tote bags to be donated to homeless shelters and given to kids that come through there.  They end up with warmth and comfort (in the form of blankies and lovies) and a book that encourages reading.

I'm very excited because lots of people in our group have "extra" stuffed animals and books, and more are pitching in to buy the blankies.  I think we'll have enough to split between the Salvation Army shelter for women and families and the Bluegrass Domestic Violence Program shelter.  Then PNN will step in and continue to send them packages to meet their further needs, though we are welcome to continue to contribute.

But yeah, between that, work, and an indefinable exhaustion and general funk this week, it's been hard going.  Things are looking up, though.

Be the Hammer

I almost missed it, but check out Alec - I mean, Martin (looking an awful lot like Alec) in the new Cadillac commercial.

Thanks to DH for pointing that out to me the other night.

...Of course, it has to be Martin.  Alec can't drive.  He's somewhat afraid of (call it "morbidly fascinated with") automobiles.  *g,w*

Sweating with Sven...Again

Seventy Days of Sweat, Round 2

 

Today is the kickoff and I'm back to story wordage, even though I'm not done with my bios and timelines.  I'll keep working on those on the side.  I need between 750-1000 words a day to stay on top.  Since tonight is TV night with DH, I planned to get those words at work.

 

Ha.  After a three-day weekend?  No dice.  Too much to catch up on, AND Little Boy gets his flu shot this afternoon, AND one of the Four Mewses has an appointment for yearly vaccinations and we're taking one of the dogs along for his cortisone shot.  Many needle sticks in store today.  And THEN I need to get the grass seed down on all the huge dead patches of our yard before the scarce and blessed rain tomorrow. 

 

Total words managed this morning: about 170.  Hey, at least it's something.

 

Kicking off with a deficit is a less-than-auspicious beginning, but I'm confident I can make it up.

 

Watch for a challenge wordcounter, so I can see how many new words I write even as I begin to cut and revise.

 

A shout out to my fellow Forumites and Sweat participants, Precie and Deniz (you did sign up for round 2, right?), and then it's back into the fray for me.

 

Oh, and a friend from my BabyCenter birthclub has worked up some awesome cover drafts for me, to use in case I do enter the Amazon contest.  I'll try to get those up soon.

Status update

I took the day off work today, paying myself back for working 12 hours - unpaid - on Saturday and until midnight Wednesday night.  We painted the spare bedroom a really nice denim blue during Little Boy's nap (he slept long, thankfully).  That room is going to be his "big boy" room when he moves out of his crib, and we're keeping the tiny nursery as, well, a nursery for when the next one comes along.  (At this point, we're not planning on starting that process until next year sometime.)

I'm back to my nightly B-I-C routine, warming up for the next round of Sven starting Monday.  I'm almost done with Alec's bio.  I've enjoyed doing it, and it prompted a few realizations about his motivation at a several key points that will help me with some of the remaining scenes.  Elspeth's up next, then my historical timeline, and hopefully by Monday I'll be back to story wordage and steaming on for the end.

Oh, and a published author in my subgenre has offered to read my MS when I'm done with it.  Woohoo!

What I've been up to

Still not a huge blogging presence from me, but work continues behind the scenes...

 

Right now I'm in a researching/planning phase before I hit the last major unwritten scenes (Glencoe, Elspeth's kidnapping, etc.).  I'm currently in the middle of a character bio for Alec, getting all my thoughts and decisions on him - family background, beliefs and tastes, what he thinks of Elspeth, and his reaction to present day when he gets here - down.  Then I'll do one for Elspeth.  I've done these for other minor characters, but let the MCs grow as I went.  Now I want to get it all down so that in rewrites I can smooth it over and make sure the characters are consistent and grow throughout the story.

 

I'm also going to hit the books hard for more historical detail as I come into the really historical scenes, namely Glencoe.  I have a "character/story events" timeline but I'm going to write out a historical events timeline for the 9 months Elspeth spends in 1691-92 so I can get the correct political nuances in and make references to the right characters and happenings.

 

Then it's back to the nitty-gritty and finishing up the SFD.  The static word counter over there is starting to bug me.  *g*

 

I've signed up for the "Seventy Days of Sweat: Round 2" to begin a week from today and run through January (allowing down time for the holidays) and my stated goal is to be done with the first draft and into rewrites by the end of the challenge.

Review: A Highlander for Christmas

A Highlander for Christmas
by Sandy Blair

Sandy Blair is the author of the "___ in a Kilt" ( Man in a Kilt, Rogue in a Kilt, Thief in a Kilt) Scottish time-travel/historical romance novels.  This is her newest.  It's a bit of a departure in that her first book (Man) was a STT back to medieval times.  The other two (Rogue, Thief) were set in the same medieval time period with some overlapping characters and some paranormal elements but no time-travel.  This new book is another time-travel and a standalone, and has the male MC (Sir Cameron MacLeod) as an eighteenth-century Jacobite ensorcelled into a puzzle box by his mother near Christmas of 1745 - to protect him from the coming battle - and released into the 21-st century when an antiques dealer opens it.

I was in B&N with a $25 gift card from my brother (thanks Jon!) - a belated birthday present.  I saw this and since I had found her previous books decent and because it had the guy coming forward (wanted to get her take on it) and because the female MC's name was Claire MacGregor (heh) I picked it up.

My verdict: eh.  Like her other books, tolerable, but not outstanding.  She's no Diana.  To be fair, I've read much worse in the STTR niche (Janet Chapman's books come to mind) but I've also read better.  And though I know the proof will be in the pudding, it also made me think "If this can get published, mine sure as heck ought to be!"  I wasn't keen on the way she wrote his dialect, I wasn't very emotionally involved with the characters (a sure sign is when I start skimming the sex scenes) and I thought Cam's reactions and analogies to things in the modern world weren't true to the culture of his time and felt forced for laughs or nervous tension.  I just kept thinking to myself that Alec would go about things a little more intelligently.

So sure, pick it up and read it if you're looking for a decent STTR to hold you over until Book 7 (and OHN, of course! *g*).  But if it tells you anything, as soon as I finished it I listed it on my PaperBackSwap.com account.

*snort*

Y'all, seriously, I checked my "sitemeter" stats and someone actually found this blog by Googling "what do medical physicists do?"

 

Ahahaha.

 

I'm assuming it hit on my then-most-recent post, which was all the (bad) physics jokes.

 

Boy, did they not get exactly the info they were looking for.

 

Though they might have gotten a little unwanted insight into the mind of one particularly cheesy medical-physicist-cum-aspiring-romance-novelist...

 

Oh, and an actual writing update: 1700 words today and going strong, baby!  I am out of the rut!