Thursday, October 29, 2009

Pulling Teeth

Writing:
I don't know why, but writing the first chapter is like pulling teeth! I have a bad feeling that the next couple of chapters are going to be the same way. For whatever reason, I keep having good ideas for scenes and moments further along in the book, but not the beginning. For instance, last night, as I was getting ready to climb into bed I had an idea for a scene several chapters later than what I'm writing that I had to go to the lap top and write. Grrrr!!! Why is this? I'm guessing that part of it is the further along the book goes, the more exciting it gets. What does this mean? Well once I've reached "The End" I am going to start pulling more teeth to edit the beginning of the book so that it is also exciting or at least not boring(you do have to build.) Something I wonder about is what I heard, umm read, from another author's blog. That author, I belive it was Rachel Vincent, said how she likes to try to get a chapter out a day and if it takes more than a couple of days to get a chapter out she feels like her pace is off, aka slow, even if it really isn't. So, is that what is up? Because it has taken me several, several days due to my writing time limitations(aka 5 month old baby) to get out a prologue(which I haven't decided to keep or not) and 1/2 to 2/3's of the first chapter.
Maybe it's a combo of those two things. Doesn't matter because I can't fix the latter and I'm more concerned with just getting through this book and the first chapters rather than editing to spice it up.
Riding:
Not a whole stinking lot! It has been raining continously for what seems like forever. In fact, about a week ago, a new record for rainfall in Oct. was set. That was before these past few days of rain, rain, rain. Luckily enough I was able to "work and ride" Rain yesterday afternoon. I put quotations on that because it wasn't much of a work out. Really my husband and I were just trying to get some under saddle photographs and video footage for a potential buyer who lives out of state. Of course, now we have to figure out how to get the video on the computer so we can edit it(I really, really hate the sound of my own voice.)
Anyways, back to writing:
24 minutes, 28 and 2/3's pages, 10014 words

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Rain and Rain Don't x

So it's been raining a ton and that's been holding me up with working with Rain. Combine that with no baby sitter and I've not gotten a whole lot done.

Now on to writing. Well, again, I haven't done a lot of that either :( No baby sitter, fussy baby, nap times when he's with the bs, my m-i-l borrowed the lap top for work, it just hasn't been working out. I did however pop out 6 minutes of plot work before my son woke up from his nap and that got out a quick outline of an idea that was floating around in my head while my lap top was MIA. During the next nap I also put in about 41 minutes of writing to the tune of 616 words. So right now I'm at 9378 words and 26 1/2 pages(MW not publisher's standards). Only about 70000 or so more to go.:)

On a web surfing note: I love to cruise around at other writers' blogs. They give me inspiration to keep writing, answer questions that are lurking in mine and other writers' heads, remind me of things that I should be doing. For instance from the Deadline Dames blog I've gotten the goal of writing a crappy first draft. All I want to do is get the words on paper and not worry about editing right now. To that idea of just getting the words down, I'm adding what I do as I write a story. I have a word document that is my story and then I have a w.d. that is my "research." It includes far more than research though. I have research, outline, character details, edited out scenes that I may want back :) and most importantly the "talking to myself" section. ttm is the most important part because this is where I keep track of my word count(for motivation, etc.) and write down editing ideas that I need to take care of "later." Basically the ttm section is my blog to myself. I highly suggest this if only for keeping track. Heck, maybe y'all all rady do this, but if not, I hope my suggestion helps you out.

Friday, October 23, 2009

Writing and Riding

Riding: I long-lined Rain in the pasture today. This was her first day being ll'd outside of the round pen and... two out of three of my other horses were loose in the field. She did really good those things considered. We did have a couple of "moments" that were a combination of Rain trying to get closer to the other horses and her not wanting to move forward and steer at the same time. With verbal encouragement (growling "get up") she pretty much got over that.

Writing: As of last night, 8276 words and 21 1/4 pages on Microsoft Word. 'Nough said, off to write today.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Thank YOU!

Thank you GOD! (Seriously, I'm a christian) I have had two somewhat rotten nights of sleep due to my baby, I had a pretty rotten work out with the mare I'm training this morning. I will say I definetly prayed to God to help me control my temper(2 bad nights of sleep) while working with Rain. Well, despite her being a turd, I did keep my temper in check. Somewhere in the fog of sleepiness, crankiness and trying desperately not to be out of sorts that it felt like all was going wrong and I was desperately wanting to finish something successfully with out interuption from a fussy baby I had a realization. Yes, I have a goal to finish the first draft by the new year and yes I want to make a career out of writing, and yes the dishes need done, but more importantly, I have a son! He is the most important thing and if I don't finish the book but he is happy then life is still great! Laaaaa, thank you GOD for knocking my ocd mind into order. I will win this battle of frustration at not finishing tasks in one try and not being able to write out book plot ideas as they come to me!

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Hard

Of course a book is hard to write. I know that, other authors(published or not) know that. But what I wonder is how hard is it for other writers? And do they face the same problems I do? I've started 3 different books and haven't finished any. I have finally determined that I am going to focus on one book at a time and finish it. My goal is to finish my YA book by the first of the year. Let me clarify that, by finish, I mean write the first draft. As for the editing and querying, well, I will see how long that will take when I get there. Right now I feel like I'm fighting through this book. I've done an outline but then I change it here and there. I've thought about how I generally want the book but now I've got to get that down. That can be pretty hard when I'm writing during my son's nap time(which was sporatic at best today :(, and in the evening when I'm tired from the day. Yes, I am whining! Ok, now that that's been said, onward to riding.
I rode my gelding today and he did wonderful! I rode Rain, the little mare I'm breaking out, yesterday for the first time in about 10 days. She did really good for me. So good that I even trotted her a little. She is going to be a wonderful little mare and dispite pressure from hubby, I have no regrets for taking my super slow time with her(which isn't always neccessary for her, but it's how I like it.) Ok, that's all for now.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Slacker!

It's been a busy weekend full of great fun. On the downside, no writing done :( However, I have certainly thought about my book! Does that count for anything? I hope so!

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

49 Minutes

Ok, I put in 49 minutes of time on my book. I've got 5764 words and 16 1/3 pages done before my son woke up. That's pretty good, right?
No riding done today though, I didn't have a baby sitter, so that makes 6 days in a row with out working Rain or riding my gelding.
So good on the writing, but not the riding. Let's face it, that's going to become a trend as the weather gets worse as fall keeps on trucking and winter rolls in.

Monday, October 12, 2009

New Beginnings

Ok, so I've started this blog for several reasons(besides expressing my opinion to the world.) It's a way I can participate in other blogs with my comments, plus I can talk about my attempt to write a book, training horses, dealing with the rest of my life(husband, baby, multiple animals).
For starters, the book I'm writing now, I've got a somewhat general, somewhat specific outline and I've written about 4389 words.
I'm training a five year old registered paint mare. She's doing good, but I haven't put a ton of time in her because of weather and a baby.
Should anyone feel the need to share their writing and riding status, feel free!
Also, here's to hoping I actually keep up with this blog!