How Are We Doing?

For several weeks now, I've been back working on All That's Holy. I started one night, and it was like a string of dominoes someone tipped. I'm through the first 10 chapters of Act 1 and now working on Act II. 

The graph below I created to show my writing progress since January. My goal for the first complete write through is May 1. I don't honestly think I can get through 95,000 words in three months, but hey, I'm up for the challenge. I think. Yeah, I am. Pretty sure.

 Originally, I scheduled it for February but I had so much going on and then I was sick. So that didn't work. Some days I forced myself to write, but I've found if I alternate between writing and some other project, my brain recovers from the writing overload. 

In fact, I started this post on Feb. 14 but as usual, something happened and I had to move along. I've done a bit of crochet, rearranged my desk/computer setup for better access to some things. I've done a bit of sewing, and I've taken some walks at the lake in the cemetery. I've cleaned house, done laundry, dishes, and vacuumed floors. Oh, and the toilets, I did the toilets. And tub. Yeah. 

Writing it down makes me realize I've done more than I thought. And looking at that chart, while it isn't as much as I wanted to do, it is a lot of writing. Remember, I'm doing a rewrite that includes a lot of editing. You wouldn't believe how many words I've taken out and how much stupid text I've had to rewrite. A few times, I had a negative word count. In fact, on one day I had a -3. In January, I wrote 3233 words but ended the month with a net of only 649. Meaning I subtracted over 2000 words. Ugh. 

I don't have a word count goal so the subtraction is meaningless at this point. I don't really check it a lot, although Scrivener had a target tracker you can leave up. Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't. The record keeping is nice, but outside NaNoWriMo I simply don't track daily counts much. It is fun to see the totals sometimes and they're available if I want them. And sometimes, it is fun to set a goal of so many words and see if you can reach it. The tracker makes that easy.

One thing I realized this week is I've reached the point in this story where there are huge gaping holes. There is also a skewed timeline. I've written this story from the point of view  of three characters and that makes the timeline crucial. They all come together at a certain point and I have to work in alternate POVs to string this thing together. It's hard. I've never done a story like that and juggling one timeline is hard enough. However, I think I can do it. 

I'm going to do it. I said, I'm going to do it. 

I am. 

Really. 

Busy Week of Progress - More to Do

It has been a very busy week. I was not feeling well on Sunday, extremely fatigued, and lay around in the recliner all day. On Monday, I was still tired; however, I sat down as a computer and worked on one book. By the end of the day, I was astounded to realize that I'd been there for almost 3 hours. However, the first seven chapters are lined out to my satisfaction.

On Tuesday, I was back at it for part of the day. I did not get as much done, however; I started on a couple more chapters, adding things, taking things out, and correcting errors. There remains a lot of the old text, some of it going back to when I wrote the story for Nano. For those sections, I have to rewrite or delete things.

The same day, I also worked on one the cat scratching post that I've been dealing with for a while but still have about half of it left to wrap with rope. I was exhausted and had to stop. Wednesday, I paid for it in spades. I sat on the floor to work on this thing and my back was sore from stretching. My legs, knees, and hips took a beating, too. I alternated between stretching one leg out and bending the other and sitting Indiana fashion. I enjoy sitting this way on the floor but forgot my old bones do not. 

I haven't decided if this was cheaper than buying a new one, but I don't think so can the long run. The rope was a 40 foot roll for $3.50. I have used three roles as so far. I have one rolled left but I think you will need two roles. So, it cost of roughly $17.50 of rope. I had to buy a glue gun because someone "borrowed" my good one and never returned it. And I needed glue sticks to glue on the rope. If I had it to do again, I'd probably go with an application glue but it would be so messy and since it is winter, I have no circulation to do that in the house safely. You can see I still have to finish it, but I'm pleased with the results. I learned a lot doing this and will be better at it if I do it again. 

They covered this post in a "fabric" for the cats to scratch. I have another one I bought when I got my cats. This belonged to Chaz and lasted about 5 years, but he eventually shredded the fabric at the top. I thought about buying another, but they're nearly $70 each now. Each of the two I bought cost about $50. I suspect when the second one becomes worn out, I'll be covering it too. 

And now it is 2:30 a.m. on Thursday. Yep. I went to bed about 6:30 p.m. and read for a till about 7 p.m.but I was in so much pain I could hardly move. I've had 5.5 hrs sleep and woke at midnight. Ugh. Not quite enough sleep, but I'm not sleepy now and rather than rolling around in the bed, I got up. I've done some updates on the computer and finished writing this post I started yesterday. 

Yesterday I looked in the backyard and thought my pond was drying up and was concerned about the fish dying. Just kidding. We've had so much rain it looks like a pond out there. Then heavy wet snow showed up and further exacerbated the problem. Last night it rained again. 

And that's the week to date. Hope you're all having a good one. I'm going to be working on the book again. I'd love to get this one completed in the next month and have someone read over it! We'll see how it goes. I've been here before.

 So much to do and so little time. 

Catching Up with Myself

 Life is seldom as we plan it. I set a couple of goals and fell short. The anthology was a lot of work, but I'm done with the draft. So, that is a good thing.

I set a goal for The End of Winter for the first write through to be finished by January 30th. That will not happen unless I can really get moving. I've had a lot of trouble with sleepiness and I can't pinpoint the cause. Also, I took on an additional writing assignment that has priority. Has to be finished this week. It will be, but it's a time crunch. 

I finished the handbag I was working, and I'm pleased with it. Although, I should have finished sooner. I still have a few bugs I need to work out. However, it looks nice and I'm ready to start a new one that I can sell. I hope. 

Getting Back to Work

 I spent the evening working on the Journeys Anthology and a poem that will be in it. I was so pleased with it after I finished it but I had to record it so I could hear it. 

Just reading poetry isn't enough for me. I have to hear it. Usually, I read favored poems aloud. I don't read novels or other written material that way. No, I don't know why. After hearing it, I fell in love with it. I think, although I'm sure it isn't perfect, it is some of the best writing I've done. 

Or maybe it just reflects my life so well I can relate to it. ㄟ( ▔, ▔ )ㄏ

I've pulled items for as far back as the 70s for this thing. So embarrassing. I was only 15, but I really thought my writing was pretty good. Well, it probably was for a 15-year-old. 

It's been interesting to see my development over the years. I knew it was a thing but have never observed it this close.  Now I have to do a final compilation before figuring out how to get it up on Amazon. 

I'll keep you posted. 

A Little BIrd Told Me

I shared this episode on Facebook first simply because it was there. However, I like to keep track of the drama here. So, here ya go. If you've already read this, you can move along to something really interesting. 

Got sidetracked by drama.  

A tiny bird got into the house. I tripped and fell over the recliner when it flew by. Jet and Kiki went on the defensive. It landed on the desk and Jet was on it in a second. He got it in his mouth. 

I yelled. "NO!"

Mike yelled from the garage, "What's going on!?" 

I yelled, "A bird got in the house! Jet's got it!"

"What?" he yelled back. (He's lost his hearing aid.)

I got up, Jet took off, followed closely by Kiki, followed by me, followed by Mike.

I yelled, "JET STOP!"

He stopped in the hallway with Kiki, but when he saw me he tried to run. I grabbed his tail. Yes, I know. Not cool. But he had this tiny bird in his mouth!

He dropped it. 

I reached down and picked it up. It was so tiny it fit in my hand. It fluttered and flew back into the living room. Jet went after it. 

He caught it again. I made him put it down. I reached down and the stupid bird flew under the bookcase. We couldn't find him.

Mike got down and looked under it with his light. I looked behind. I even took a stick and swept around. Finally, it flew out and into the kitchen. 

Jet took after it. It landed on a water bottle on the counter beneath the paper towels.

Jet was standing on his hind legs, watching.

I grabbed a dishtowel and caught him. 

Mike opened the back door, yelling at the cats to get back. I took the bird out and shook it off the towel. The little thing was so small!

It landed on the patio. We closed the door.

After things settled down, Mike checked the patio. The bird was gone. 

Whew. 

All I can say is, My Life. Eat your heart out.