Let it Snow, Let it Snow …

We’re getting our first big snowfall of the year here in Denver. The ground is sparkling white and it’s beautiful.  Little Goose is desperate to get outside in her snow pants and snow boots to make snow angels and a snowman.

I don’t love snow, although I can appreciate the beauty of it much more when I don’t have to go out in it! 🙂 However, I still wish a pleasant, sunny walk to the park was in the plans for today.

So, for those of you who, like me, aren’t yet ready for summer to end … an excerpt from Chapter 19 of Seeds of Discovery!

Nobody said anything as William walked over to Thomas and Quinn and sat down.

“Gorgeous day,” William finally broke the silence. “A little warm, though.”

Quinn heard Thomas’ quiet sigh of relief. “Yes it is.” He answered. “Want to go for a swim?”

“Sure.” William was actually smiling.

“What? In the river?” Quinn was surprised.

“Where else?” Thomas asked.

“Is it … safe?”

“Definitely… it’s wide here, and the current’s not strong at all.”

It was William who caught her concern. “Water’s safe here, Quinn. No pollution in our world. You could drink right out of it. Warmer than Colorado, too.”

Quinn looked down at the brown short-sleeved shirt and woven pants she was wearing. “I don’t have a swimming suit.”

Thomas shrugged, “Wear your clothes. It’s warm enough today, you’ll dry. There’s some extra stuff packed, anyway.”

Quinn still wasn’t sure. “I’ll think about it,” she said.

“Suit yourself.” Thomas stood and pulled off his shirt, then waded into the river. William followed him.

Quinn stayed on the shore and enjoyed the sunshine as the brothers walked out almost to the middle of the river, into water up to their waists. Thomas, always the bolder of the two, was the first to disappear under the surface and bob up a second later, shaking his head and splattering William.

William responded by using his hands to send a huge wave of water rolling toward Thomas, who failed to move to the side quickly enough. Within seconds, it degenerated into a full-blown water fight, both boys laughing and splashing water. Quinn found herself laughing as well.

Daily Writing Progress, Week Five: Tuesday

What? Less than a week between blog posts? Crazy!

I’m worried that our leaf-jumping days might be over. After a beautiful day yesterday — nearly 80 degrees — the forecast calls for up to six inches of snow tonight.  Yesterday, we spent a huge chunk of the day picnicking and playing at the park in the gorgeous weather.  I am so not ready for snow.  If I ever win the lottery (or sell a million books – you’d think the chances of this would be slimmer, but since I don’t play the lottery, they’re slightly higher), I am going to spend an entire month every winter in Australia. Besides the fact that it’s summer there in January, there are some really awesome people in Australia I’d love to see again. 🙂

I finally finished the first draft of Simon’s wedding in Eirentheos. I’m not happy with it yet, but that’s what editing is for.  After two weeks of struggling with the whole thing, I finally figured out where Quinn, Thomas, and William were trying to take me (or get me to take them), and I’m really pleased with the direction of the scene following. 🙂

So….

How many words did I write yesterday? 1,318

Book Two progress so far? 31,318

Onward … this week’s goal is still to reach 40k!

Daily Writing Progress, Week Five: Monday

Sheesh, maybe I should change it to weekly writing progress. 🙂  When the block hits, it hits hard! 🙂 I should at least be blogging, though.

We have been having a great time around here … lots of fun preschool activities, scented pumpkins, real pumpkins, and play-doh! And the leaves have been

falling in earnest.  We live right next to this lovely, tree-covered hill and there are thousands of delightful yellow leaves everywhere. Enough to rake up great, heaping piles, and jump into them, rolling, laughing and screeching.

It has certainly been fun. 🙂  No, that isn’t actually a picture of our hill. I will post one soon, though.

So, I am finally at 30k, two weeks late.  I think I may have finally broken through the issue I was having, so we’ll see where it goes. 🙂  And my goal for the week? Hit 40k!

 

What fun fall things are you doing?  Now that it’s Monday again, what are your goals for the week?  How can we support each other in meeting them?

Daily Writing Progress, Week Four: Monday

Okay, so last week was an utter disaster in terms of word count. 🙂 I don’t know why. Maybe it was stress, probably distraction had something to do with it… and I think a big part of it was “incubation.”  I had all these ideas of where the story was going to go… I’ve had it mapped out for a long time, but they needed time. Time to sit, to “incubate” before they were ready to hatch. At least that’s the story I’m telling myself. 😉

Anyway, I spent the weekend in discussions and outlining sessions with my dear friend, and writing partner, Krysta Hunt, and I’m hoping I’ll be able to get back on track this week.  Any magic sparkling writing dust blowing my way would be much appreciated. I am really going to try for 10k this week.

How was your week last week? Did you meet any goals? Anything exciting happen?

What are your goals for this week? Anyone else need magic dust?

Book Two current word count: 25,979

Total word count from Week Three: 4,146

Daily Writing Progress, Week Three: Tuesday

How many words did I write yesterday? 1,105 Yay! I broke the 1k mark. All of my writing yesterday was done on the first chapter I have so far that’s told in William’s point of view. 🙂 It was a lot of fun to get a glimpse of what’s going on in his head (and what a sweet guy he really can be, btw). I might have gotten more written yesterday, but the inspiration for writing this new scene came during my shower last night, and I deleted the rest of the day’s feeble efforts.

Book Two progress so far: 22,918

Book Two is now officially more than 1/3 as long as Book One. 🙂

How was your writing/work/goal day yesterday?

Daily Writing Progress, Week Three: Monday

Well, last week was definitely more productive than the week before. Perhaps if I can continue the trend, I’ll get somewhere. 🙂

Grand total words for week two: 8,100

Week one was 6,341. So, definite improvement, but still not to my 10k goal. Still going to stick to that 10k goal and see where I can get with that, but I will be pretty happy if I can at least break 30k words this week.

The story is progressing nicely; some fun things have started happening. In the scenes I’ve been working on for the last couple of days, Quinn has been showing a side of her personality that I haven’t seen much of before. Thomas is … Thomas. He doesn’t know how to even pretend to be anybody else, and I love him for that. I can’t wait to see what happens this week.

Book Two progress so far: 21,883 words. Onward!

Since today marks the beginning of a new week, work-wise, anyway, what are YOUR goals this week? Writing, personal, or anything else counts!

Book Release Party

Today was the “official” Book Release Party for Seeds of Discovery: Dusk Gate Chronicles Book One, and I have to say, I have the best family, friends, and readers in the world, and I feel truly blessed.  Thank you so, so much to the wonderful people who came to celebrate with me over the book (and my housewarming and Little Goose’s (excessively belated) Fourth Birthday). Words cannot express how much I love and appreciate you.

So, it’s 9:43 P.M., and needless to say, I haven’t gotten any writing done today. I do hope to snag a few more words between now and when Little Goose either gets tired of playing with her new fairy costume, puzzle, and Color Wonder Markers, or when she starts throwing up from the 1,000 grams of sugar she ingested today.

Writing Progress – Week Two: Saturday

How many words did I write yesterday? 576 – Yeah, so a little distracted with party preparations, and then we spent the evening building a Playmobil school with my sweet nephew, Monty, and my dad, who makes an awesome “Papa.”

How many words have I written this week? 5,617 – Eh. 😉

Book Two progress so far: 19,350 – Yup, still have not hit the 20k mark.

How are you doing with your goals this week?

Mean

So last night, as Little Goose and I were going to bed, she asked me, “Mom, how does everyone in the whole town know the word mean?”

A little startled by how profound she seems sometimes, and looking for clarity, I asked, “What do you mean, sweetheart?”

“I mean, how does everyone in the whole universe know what mean is?”

These are the questions that, as a parent, leave me gasping for breath. I don’t know the answer to that question. It’s one of the fundamental questions of being human, and what it means to make choices about what we do, and how we do it, and how we treat people.  Of course, she’s four. She wasn’t looking for an existential discussion. (I dunno, maybe she was. She is my kid.) She may have just been stalling bedtime.

It is a big question, though. I know it’s one she’s been learning about, as she learns to deal with other kids and other people. She’s struggled with doing mean things herself lately, so I can see where the topic might have been on her mind. It was certainly a question I couldn’t just give her an answer to, not even one of the long-winded ones she sets herself up for sometimes. It’s a question/theme I could take an entire series of books to explore (and certainly one that just may make it into my current project).

Anyway, these are the thoughts on my mind this beautiful fall, Friday morning.

How many words did I write yesterday? 1,031 – Not as much as I would have liked, but at least I did break the thousand mark! 🙂

How many words have I written this week? 5,041 Halfway to my goal, anyway. Too bad the week is nearly over. 🙂

Book Two currently sits at 18,774 words. Today’s goal is to at least break 20k!

Daily Writing Progress, Week Two: Thursday

Is it Thursday already? This week has gone by so quickly. Two more days until a fun party where I get to celebrate my book release with family and friends. No, I’m not ready for the party, house or preparations-wise. But those who truly love and support me know that kind of thing about me, and that is going to have to be enough. 🙂  If any of you have some fun party ideas or recipe ideas that I can manage in the next two days, though, send them my way.

How many words did I write yesterday? Thanks to the encouragement and advice of an awesome friend, fellow writer, and beta reader, Kristy K. James (really, she is incredible, click on her name to see her blog!), I am going to count the scene I wrote yesterday. Probably not all of it will really make it into the book (though, yes, Kristy, I will make a special edition, just for you – at least a Kindle one), but that’s okay. That is what rough drafts are for. So… yesterday’s word count? 2,313! Definitely better than a sharp stick in the eye. 😉

Today’s beginning word count: 17,743 – The 20k mark is beginning to appear on the horizon…

How many words have I written this week? 4,010 – Still a long way to go to hit my 10k goal, though, and it’s already Thursday. Onward!

Daily Writing Progress, Week Two: Wednesday

How many words did I write yesterday? 627  It turns out that the evening session is a very important one, because last night I was busy taking care of two very sweet little girls for a friend of mine, and didn’t get any night writing done.

How many words have I written this week? 1,697 Better than last week at this point.

I have written 1,016 words today on a scene that will quite likely never make it into the book, but it was in my head.  I haven’t decided whether I can count those words or not.  If it helps with my flow, I’ll count them. 😉

Today’s beginning word count: 15,430 – Past the 15k mark! That’s something, right?