Winners All Around

Wow! Has it been a busy week! Between launching Roots of Insight, running the scavenger hunt, and beginning the writing of Book Three in earnest, I’ve been busy. Oh yeah … I’ve also started watching a sweet new baby in my 50-hour-a-week day job. (Anyone want to do my laundry? 😉 )

The winner of a $10 Amazon gift card,  a gift pack of e-books by Kristy K. James, and your choice of an e-copy of either Seeds of Discovery or Roots of Insight, as determined by Random.org, is …. Megan from Hardcover Feedback! Thank you so much for participating!

Check this space later this week for another chance to win! 🙂

And now, for another winner … Me?

I’ve said it before, and at this rate, I’ll find the need to say it a million more times. The writing/blogging community is

A-MA-ZING. 

The people I have met, and the stories and articles I’ve read in the last six months since I really started to make a go of this thing absolutely blow me away. The support and the love I’ve felt in this community … I can’t even begin to describe. Those of you who really know me know that a year ago at this time, I was miserable. Writing, and being a part of this community has changed all of that. I am thankful every day.

A week ago, Kristy K. James passed on my first-ever blog award — The Versatile Blogger award. 🙂 And then, in the time it has taken me to get this post up (I’m busy! And for those of you who are dying to know — today I’ll pass 15k words of progress on Book Three, and the one beta reader who’s seen it so far says it’s her favorite yet) …

Anyway… in that lag time, I’ve actually been given this award not one, but two more times. By Lillie McFerrin, (@LillieMcFerrin) and Steven P. Watson (@AshViper), two amazingly talented writers who so very frequently keep me motivated and going over at #wordmongering.

There are some rules I must follow in accepting the Versatile Blogger award, so here goes. 😉

1. Thank the blogger(s) who gave it to you. Kristy, Lillie, and Steven – you guys rock my world every single day.

2. Share 7 random things about yourself. (Do I ever share anything about myself here that’s not random?

• My daughter shares a middle name with my grandmother, who was the person in my family who inspired me to write. Someday, I’d love to share some of her poetry with the world.
• My favorite cereal is Sweetened Wheat-Fulls by Mom’s Naturals (like Mini-Wheats, but without chemicals). They’re so popular in the house that we sometimes go through 3-4 boxes a week.
• If I ever get rich from writing (this used to be my lottery dream, but since I don’t play the lottery and I do write, and getting rich from my writing carries about the same likelihood as winning the lottery — it’s a new dream), I will spend at least a month of every year in Australia, right in the middle of our winter and their summer. An entire month of writing on my laptop, and drinking beers by the barbecue with my dear friends, Kylee and Mellisa, while we listen to our girls chatter to each other in their beautiful different accents. It’s a good dream.
• Even if I never get rich, I’m going to save up enough money to have an Australian summer like that at least once.
• I have a thing about brushing my teeth. If I think about it, I have to do it, or it drives me crazy. In fact … I think I’ll go brush them right now. 🙂
• I cannot handle having long fingernails. Manicures are a waste of time on me (but a gift certificate for a pedicure is a perfect gift for me — my birthday is April 23). I chop off fingernails without mercy, even when I can’t find my nail clipper and have to use the baby one. I’ll even do a hack job with the toenail clipper (I wash it first.)
• I can name all 50 states in alphabetical order, from memory, without singing the song. And lots of other weird things, too.

3. Nominate other bloggers you love for the award and share it with them. (Okay, it’s supposed to be 15, but a lot of the bloggers I love have already passed around this award, and I’m still new at this!) But here are some of my favorites! 🙂

• Julie Jordan Scott at Julie Unplugged 
• Danni  at Epic Robot Danni
• B.A. Matthews at The Writings and Musings of B.A. Matthews
• L.S. Taylor at What I Learned Today 
• Moni-Marie Vincent, founder of #wordmongering.
• Kristen at Better Read than Dead
• Kerry Schafer at  KerrySchafer.com

Thank you so much everyone. Hope it’s a wonderful week for you all. My goal this week is ambitious — I want to break 25k words on Book Three. It’s working title is Sprouts of Decision. 🙂 (All title suggestions welcome at this point!)

It’s November….

Yes, I realize I’m a bit behind the times. Definitely had an off-week (or two!) in terms of posting and writing. Strep has been circulating in our little house, and I’m pretty sure it finally hit me yesterday. With a tired and cranky Little Goose who is already going through this lovely four-year-old phase of arguing and whining about EVERYTHING, I haven’t gotten much accomplished. 🙂

 

So, rather than coming up with some fever-induced topic, I thought I would share one of my favorite “November” books.

In November, by Cynthia Rylant

 

 

I have read this book to my second graders every year for the last several, this year I’m sharing it with my daughter and the preschoolers I teach at home.

This is a beautiful, richly illustrated book about the quiet magic of this time of year. The images Cynthia Rylant creates in the minds of her readers are priceless, and Kastner’s illustrations are perfect.

“In November, the trees are all standing sticks and bones. Without their leaves, how lovely they are, spreading their arms like dancers. They know it is time to be still.” (p. 8)

If you happen to be a teacher, this book is a must for your classroom library (as are most of Rylant’s books). It’s also perfect for sharing with your little ones at bedtime if you’re a parent, and if you’re a writer, you should own it purely to study the craft of Rylant’s descriptions and the soft emotions she evokes with her words.

 

And … for those who are curious. 🙂

Book Two progress so far: 44,143

I very much want to break 50k this week!

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!

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?

Daily Writing Progress, Week Two: Tuesday

How many words did I write yesterday? 1,070  — a little over 1/10 of the way toward my goal of 10,000 words for the week.

Today’s beginning word count: 14,803 – I’m getting close to hitting the mark of having 1/4 as many words done on this second book as Book One has altogether, although I expect Book Two to be longer than Book One, possibly significantly so.

 

For those curious, the part of the draft I’m currently working on has Quinn back in Eirentheos, reuniting with some of my favorite people, notably Linnea, Mia, and the ever-adorable Emma.  There is, of course, a good amount of Thomas (what fun is it without Thomas?), and we’re getting to see some of the great side of William that isn’t always there…. I’m having too much fun.  Gotta get back to it.