WiP Wednesday: . . . And Cupcakes For All

The Husband has asked politely if I would start today's post with a big fat: GO UTES!! (even if the game isn't until Saturday)
So there you go. Moving on.

I've been in a rut lately. Stuck in the mud. Or quick sand. Or drying concrete or something. I haven't written anything in weeks. Weeks I tell you!

For all these many days I've loitered about the house. Mostly I spent time with the family, which has been really good, and then after they all went to sleep, I read this and that (I probably wouldn't have finished TTW if I was writing), worked on my crits, did laundry, pretended I knew how to cook and just generally putted about.

I have to say holy huge THANKS! to the gang on Rallystorm Throwdown and my Twitter Critter buddies for all the words of encouragement, sympathy, and just because you guys let me whine without making me feel lame! You guys ROCK! You kept me just this side of drowning myself in Jalapeno Kettle Chips--a recent new MUST.

So after all this many days of dinking around, I had to go to live crit group. The last meeting was 6 weeks ago and we've gone through a "management change" so I did have a chance to submit something back then. It was a good meeting and I got some insightful feedback.

On the drive home, as I was jamming to my Fallen CD because I <3 Evanescence and can't listen to it when the kids are in the car. (Phephe calls it my scary songs, yeah, I guess I can see that.) And then IT struck me.

I pondered IT some more overnight. When I woke up still thinking about IT I knew I was on to something. So I dropped a quick note to one of my BFFs with a 1-liner thought on the whole thing and got the most AWESOME positive response from her. She's even going to help me with research and everything!

So YAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYY! Adorable Hello Kitty Cupcakes for ALL!

WiP Wednesday: So Many Stories, So Little Time

First things first: Today is my last FULL work day of the week! Huzzah! Tomorrow is a half day and then we're getting our family pictures done. And Friday I'm off because it's the baby's (E) 1st birthday and we're having a family day. Okay, gloating over my last work day done. Moving on...

I've been trying to focus, I really have. With my current wip I'm just over the halfway point, I think. Right about 36K words and I'm looking at hitting around 70K with it.

Herein lies the problem, and I've mentioned it before: I have writer's ADD. Seriously. As I've said, I've been working diligently on 4LW for several weeks now, thanks to the Writer's Throwdown Challenge and my willing myself to concentrate on just the one project. That's where the problem is.

Working on one project at a time is simply NOT in my nature. I'm through and through a Gemini and because of that, I am a multi-tasker by heart. I can't help it. Where is all this random rambling going, you ask? Well...

I started a new project. Well, not started, exactly, it's been there for a while, sitting around for the last year with just over 5K words in it and I had a thought the other day that didn't fit into 4LW and I wrote it all down and realized yesterday where it goes. So now, again, I have 3 projects running at various stages.

JM: (YA Contemp Fic) Finishing up revisions then will set aside to cure

4LW: (YA Contemp Fic) About 51% complete at 36,103 words

and the new-old one Grace totally a working title and actually doesn't mean anything so don't read anything into it...

Grace: (YA ... something. Not sure yet where this is going.) I have no idea how complete it is, but currently it has 8,366 words

My goal is to finish revisions of JM by the end of the month. I've had some great feedback and am currently working that through the ms. I also am really trying to focus on 4LW. I'd like to have a completed first draft by July, then the real fun starts. (I'm totally an editor at heart.) And Grace, well that will just have to figure out what it wants me to do with it. I have some thoughts, but nothing solid and I hope it doesn't end up back in my unfinished projects folder.

On a different note, we had a family trip to the bookstore last night and one of the books P got actually kinda makes me think of myself. The Very Busy Spider ... Very busy indeed. The other one she picked out was Panda Bear, Panda Bear What Do You See?.

Me? I picked up a couple new books too, you'll have to stay tuned to my Recent Reads to find out what I picked up.

Okay, Happy Busy Wednesday!

WiP Wednesday: Flying with My Muse

Long time no real post. *sighs*

Traveling for work is not nearly as glamorous as it is on TV, although I was upgraded roundtrip on my flights last week. SWEET!!

On my flight out to Jersey this week? It was like a 35,000 feet crash back to reality: Coach. Middle seat. Uh, yeah. I will forever appreciate every single upgrade I ever get from now on. FOREVER. I couldn't even bust out the pen and notebook to write in coach. It was that cramped. I'm only 5'1" tall and my knees were touching the back of the seat in front of me! And then the person reclined her seat! Uh, Hello, nice to meet you.

Okay, enough about that. On to my WiP...

So on the upgraded flights I was able to get quite a bit of writing done. 42 pages in my notebook to be exact. I've been trying to write whenever I get a chance, but being on the road has made it so that when I was home over the weekend, I just wanted to hang out with the family. Reasonable, I think. Gotta be realistic about the priorities. Plus, we didn't have the internet (we just switched providers) and so I already knew I was going to be behind on my forum reading and #RSthrowdown updates, so I figured I'd just wait until I wasn't taking anymore time from the kiddies.

Back to my 42 pages. I haven't typed them in yet, so no idea how many words that may be. And then on the flip side, when I was able to get some catching up done in the hotel yesterday, I edited instead of wrote. My brain was a little fried. A bit like Tuesday after a whole day of training. But I did get something writing-worthwhile out of the training. The last segment of Tuesday's session was all around the 2-minute pitch. Or the elevator speech. So something I can definitely apply to the whole query/pitch etc. thing on the writing side. See, I knew there was a reason I NEEDED to come to this training. *winks*

Okay, for now, that's it. Have a great Wednesday everyone!

Work in Progress Wednesday: What Happened?!?

New words (since last update post): 0
Chapters edited (since last update post): 1

The other day I said I needed to change my #RSthrowdown goals for the week. Well, I wasn't kidding. Since then, I've written virtually no new words on my WiP and have been diligently editing away on the completed ms: JM. In fact, I've been so diligently revising/editing said completed ms that it appears I may have another couple rounds of editing to do once I really tell myself that I can't ADD anymore. Not one more sentence. Or line. Or word. When I thought JM was complete, it came in just barely over 89K words. And now? In the midst of revisions/editing round 3? Last night I was barely able to shave it down to a good even 90K. What?! How did this happen? I keep asking myself the same the question.

I think the new stuff is good. Better than what was (or clearly was not) there before. I thought I was getting close to being done. Ha! Yeah. Maybe next week.

Also, I only got the 1 chapter edited last night because I wanted to spend some time with the fam because I'll be traveling with work for the next couple of weeks and so fam time will be limited to the weekends I'm home. But I wanted to share a great moment with our 3-yo (P) @ the grocery store:

P: Can we get popsicles?
Me: If you want. But we're going to the bookstore. [said popsicles would melt with the 75 degree weather we've been have in SLC]
P: But we don't have popsicles at home.
Me: You can pick. Do you want to get popsicles and go straight home or do you want to go to the bookstore?
P: *finger pressed to lips* Hmmm. I want to go to the bookstore. We can just get popsicles next time.
Me: You are so my kid.

I did pick up a couple books at the bookstore (P wanted the uber-expensive version of The Hungry Caterpillar and nothing else, so she had to settle for a promise of taking her to get her her very own library card.).

I've heard some great things about - both YA fantasy. I'm primarily read YA contemporary fiction, but lately I've really been trying to stay openminded about the "other worlds" that are other genres. We'll see how it goes and I'll definitely give my thoughts on here. Stay tuned!

So while I'm on the road, blog posts will probably be even more sporadic than they already are - though I have been trying to be consistent a couple days a week. I'm trying to get things together so I can just get some posts scheduled, but not sure if I'll have enough time. I'll be back in the swing of things mid-May. With all the flights, maybe I'll get some good writing done.

Okay all, have a great Wednesday!

Change of Plans

New words (since last update post): 0
Chapters edited (since last update post): 11

I'm falling a bit behind on the blog. Must come from having spent this past weekend stretched a bit too thin!

Friday night worked with HsJ Entertainment to put on a charity even too benefit the Lupus Foundation. Thanks to everyone who came out to support and make the event a success!

Saturday we had a family wedding. Traditional Laotion weddings begin early in the morning with the ceremony at the bride's home. In the evening there is a reception that runs until super late. So 2 nights in a row of not getting home until 2 AM. Seriously, I'm too old for this.

Sunday was a catch up day. On sleep mostly. I did get in a good chunk of editing and also got some reading in too. Keep an eye out for some new Recent Reads posts!

This made me think about my priorities a bit more and at least for the week, I revamped my #RSthrowdown goal. I am focusing on the editing side of things for JM. I've received a lot of good input from critiques and as it typically is, when you're the writer, you get so close with your projects, you can't really see what needs to be fixed. Luckily, I've had a few people who've given me the proverbial slap on the back of the head and brought me to my senses. So I'm hoping as I work through this round of revisions, JM will get the love it needs and end up in a better place. Hopefully by next week things will have calmed down enough and my brain will be back to fully functional and I can make up for lost time on the writing side. I feel like I'm neglecting 4LW.

Well, have a great day, all. See you on the next page.

WiP Wednesday

Okay, I’m changing up Wednesdays.

From Wonderings to WIP. Why, you ask? Well, firstly, because I can ;-) and secondly, because I wonder all the time. Forcing myself to keep them to Wednesdays only is working to my detriment, so I will be jumping on the WIP bandwagon. I’ll admit it.

As I did with Twilight and Harry Potter, I’m not above jumping on the bandwagon when I see fit.

So, WIP. . . well, for starters, here’s my current #RSthrowdown update:

New words: 685 (before I fell asleep with my laptop on my lap.)
Chapters edited: 1 ½

As I’ve said before, I guess I don’t write like a lot of others out there. I’ve tried to go chronologically, but it turns out it looks more like a very rough “strawman” outline. So now, I just write what comes to me and then I plug it in where it looks like it should go. (Cut & Paste is totally my friend here.)

Clearly, I have a long ways to go on the editing side, but sometimes things come to me later in the game. Rarely do I start projects with what Chapter 1 ends up being. In fact, in my last 3 projects, I believe Chapter 1 was one of the last, if not the actual last chapter I wrote.

So as I’ve been editing the later chapters in JM and writing new stuff for 4LW I’ve found myself thinking a lot about the first chapters of each. JM’s first chapter has recently undergone major revisions and it was the actual last thing I wrote for that project. I’m still getting some great feedback on it.

With 4LW it’s been a little more difficult, as the structure and style it is written in is very different from what I’ve done in the past. So we’ll see what becomes of this.

Well, happy day to everyone (especially those in rainy/snowy Utah dealing with the insane weather).