Tag Archives: inspiration

Anthology Deadline

Posted on by

Greetings! Thanks for all the encouragement to keep the blog going! I’m settling in with the job now. At first I was pretty much coming home and conking out. The girls would come by throughout the afternoon and remind me of things like music lessons and Kung Fu. I’d get a chocolate fix and then start the driving. Now I don’t nap every day.

I’ve been getting some writing done. About 10k words since I last posted. Most of it has happened recently. Last year I volunteered to be in an anthology. Everyone has to contribute an original erotic paranormal romance story at least 15k words long. The project has changed leaders several times, and I thought it was dead. But someone ressurected it and set deadlines. I have 8000 words done and it’s due Friday. Yikes!!!

Unfortunately, out of those 8000 words, there’s still not a sex scene. The story is riddled with raunchy language but no one has gotten it on yet. Part of the problem is the story was originally envisioned to be written under my real name. In fact, I submitted short stories of it to several places. But the main character is a satyr, which obviously lends himself to my pen name much more than my real name. But the world building gets me every time. And now that it’s going to be longer, the other two characters are demanding more time on the stage…you know how characters can be.

So I’ll be coming by this week to let you know my progress towards the looming deadline. I’d love to hear how your projects are going too!

For inspiration, here’s a picture of my favorite satyr drawn by Kevin Yancey:

silas3

 

ARENA by Holly Jennings

Posted on by

The lack of word count over the weekend is brought to you by Holly Jennings. Oh, and I went to a Ren Fair.

But Arena is great! It’s been a long time since I’ve sat down and really enjoyed a book. I had several tasks to do like packing and cleaning the house that tried to keep me away from the story once I’d started, but I bought the audio book too so I could keep enjoying the story.

It’s a sci-fi book where virtual gamers are the sports stars of the world. Kali is the first female captain to take a team to the finals. Kali’s voice is refreshing and keeps the narration fast paced. I love that she’s strong, independent and knows how to get the job done. In fact she’s so strong I would’ve liked to see her struggle a little bit more. The “sponsors” loomed large as the evil entity, but despite Kali throwing wrenches into their system repeatedly, they never came after Kali directly. Perhaps in the sequel? It’s something I’d love to see. That and more face to face interaction between the teams. This book was all about getting Kali’s team to work together despite drug problems, game addiction and the sponsors, which was cool, but we needed more smack talk between the teams :)

Holly is the master of action scenes. Wow. I wish I could write like that. My absolutely favorite part was the final battle. But I’m not going to go into that because I want you to go out, buy Arena and enjoy the awesomeness for yourselves! You will be very happy you did.

IMG_3078That’s an updated picture of Holly’s book from when I went to Barnes and Noble a few weeks ago. I hope to see it on the Best Selling Science Fiction shelf next!

A good book like Arena is always inspiring. I’m home from the weekend getaway and ready to write tons of words this week. I’m going to try for 5000 a day. I doubt I will make it today, because I’m starting now at 10 pm. I will resist the coffee. I hope you join me as I post my progress this week.

Ready. Get set. Go!

 

2000 Words a Day…Go!

Posted on by

I got some writing done last week! It wasn’t 2000 words a day, but it was about 5500 for the short week. I worked on two different stories, which also made me feel good. I’m going to keep my goal down at 2000 words a day for this week. We have a lot going on, and I’m trying to get a balance of realism and optimism going.

I’ll check in each day this week to post what I managed and maybe a picture or two. Please join me! If you’re feeling rusty, maybe 500 words a day is good. Or if you have a looming deadline maybe 5000 words a day is good. Do what you think will work for you, but write every day!

Good Luck!

coffeepartners

May the coffee be with you :)

 

Word Count Marathon Day 2

Posted on by

Maybe I should be calling this the chapter marathon instead. I got a mock up of the first section of my nail art book done and it looks horrible! Plus, it’s a huge file and it’s only one section.

The text I wrote for it was minimal, maybe 300 words, but it’s definitely a good exercise. I’m trying to give the manicurist a definitive voice. I don’t know if I’m succeeding, but I think I get closer every time I change a sentence to something different.

I’m learning a ton about photo editing as I mentioned in an earlier post. I have a class tomorrow. What I really need to know is what colors work best for different projects and what colors work well together.

Holly generously asked if she could donate the gift card back so we could giveaway another prize this week. What I decided to do was split it into three gift cards of $5. So Holly won a $5 gift card to Starbucks. Yay! I’ll pick a winner this week from all the names of people who post. Everyday you post in the comments section, you get another paper in the drawing. Invite your friends in your crit groups. I’d love to see more people here!

photo(9)

Flash back to a sandwich I made a few years ago. I should make that this week!

Winner!

Posted on by

I spent the day making a cover, and I’m super proud of it. Today I learned how to make a flaming letter on GIMP:

B

 

I’m so excited! And I’ve learned how to rotate text and create bigger letters than the rest and how to merge two images together. The new cover for the serial is Awesome. At least I think so. I’m hoping it attracts new customers.

But you guys probably want to know the winner. It’s Holly! Holly please LMK if you want the gift card to Barnes and Noble or Starbucks. Yay!

Thanks to everyone who participated! I’m doing a word count marathon again this week, but without the giveaway. Please come by!

Spark Tally Saturday!

Posted on by

canstockphoto15470809

My total for the week is 12500. More importantly I got Episdoe 9 finished. Instead of starting the next book, I spent the little amount of time I had, reading it and sending it to Julie.

I’ll be posting my word count daily again next week. Summer is chugging my way which means three kids in the house all day. And I’m still trying to get something published once a month, even throughout the summer. I hope you join me for another marathon!

I’ll draw a name out of a hat for a $15 gift card from the names of everyone who joined me this week. I won’t announce the winner until tomorrow night, so you still have time to post your word count for the week here and get in on the fun!

Word Count Marathon

Posted on by

Only 1500 for me today. I got episode 9 done and called it good for the day. Of course there’s still editing on it to be done, but I felt happy I got the hard part completed. Tomorrow I have limited time, but I want to try to start the second book I had hoped to do this week also. I guess I was just slow because I was definitely putting the time in. I’m tired like I wrote a lot more words.

How did you guys do?

D3

Word Count Marathon Day 4!

Posted on by

4000 words for me today and I can’t believe this episode isn’t done. I refuse to break it into two again. This has to be the last one. I need to rewrite one section and then add the last segment for the happily ever after. It’s going to come in at 16,000 words making it the longest episode yet.

Sigh.

I just hope it’s good. I know it’s better than what I wrote the first time through; I just don’t know if it’s the awesome ending needed to bring the story home. When it’s done, it looks like the whole serial will be about 120,000 words, making it the longest story I’ve written.

How did you guys do today? I hope it was a good one!

canstockphoto13892136

Catching up and Word Count Marathon!

Posted on by

Hey Guys!

I’ve been away too long. What are you up to? What’s going on?

A bit of sadness entered my life a couple of weeks ago. A lovely friend of mine past away unexpectedly. I met Ellen Howard 17 years ago at a games night right before my son was born. At the next games night, she had a baby quilt for him. A quilt! Quilts take so much time and imagination that I couldn’t believe she was giving him one.

Over the years, we were lucky enough to receive more handmade gifts from her–each of the kids got a quilt, we got wall hangings and coasters. I wanted to post some of them here because I always found her work inspiring:

IMG_2896[1] IMG_2897[1] IMG_2898[1]

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ellen will definitely be missed.

In writing news, I’ve been working hard. I wrote the last episode of my serial and decided when it reached 20,000 words that it was actually two more episodes. Thank goodness the first half was exactly what I wanted for episode 8. The second half must be completely rewritten.

So this week I’m going to do a Word Count Marathon! Not only do I need to finish the final episode, but I have two other stories I need to make headway on. Well, one of them isn’t a story. It’s a non-fiction book, but it still needs to get done! My goal is 10K words a day. I know. Ha ha. I haven’t been able to do that yet. I know tonight I won’t be writing 10k, but maybe tomorrow.

Starting today and until Saturday, post your writing goals, or how many words you’ve achieved so far. Or both! On Saturday, I will put all the names of people who have participated in a hat and draw a winner. If you’ve commented on multiple days, I will put your name in all the times you’ve commented. The winner will receive a $15 gift card to either Amazon or Starbucks…winner chooses.

Join me in my fun. Let’s get some writing done!