Long Time

Fortunately my writing is happening more often than my blogging! I have finally, sort of finished the first draft of my 2nd book. As in, I made it to the end but it was really The End even for a first draft. My goal in my second draft, besides of course making it better is to get a The End that actually ties up the book. It's harder than the first book I wrote because the first book I wrote was still open ended up enough to have a sequel. This book can have sequel, but it will be from a different characters perspective. So I have to wrap up the main characters personal conflict but not neccessarily the outside conflict. A little harder than I thought it would be. Needless to say I haven't made it very far in D2 because my hubby's been out of town a lot and has had the computer. Hopefully this week I'll get it back. Especially because I had a story line epiphany! This whole past week without the computer, I've been contimplating the story. I knew there was something that wasn't right with it. Namely, I wasn't sure I liked my main character anymore. Sad, huh? The problem was with part of the story, not my character. The storyline was making her appear selfish and silly rather than a teenager struggling with being a teenager. I did brain storm up a solution which will stop me from going further than the chapters I've already revised because I need to add some more details to them that will set up my solution :) Gosh, that might make more sense if you knew what the story actually was. But you don't, and being an write, I'm a little secretive ;) Keep on writing, you know I am even if I"m not blogging!

Electricity

At my house, most everything runs off electric, including our water because we have a well. There were some bad storms last night, not that I knew until a few hours after they started. Even then, I only found out because my hubby's phone rang at 430 a.m.(work). At that point I realized we had no electricity. When I crawled out of bed a little before 7, there still wasn't any electricity. Needless to say, we've been at my in-laws all day :) I don't mind.
Writing is going good and I've got a good idea of what's going to happen for the rest of this chapter. Something BIG for sure, but I have to coordinate one little detail...how it's going to happen. I know what and I know how to get there, but that exact moment is going to unfold as I type it. And I"m ok with that. Mostly because I know how everything else is going to happen...sort of :) I hope all is going well with you!

Long Time

I hate that I don't get to blog like I used to. :( One day, we'll get internet again and I'll be better, I promise! Ok, so here's an outline of what you'll be updated on: 1. Writing 2. Querying 3. Family 4. Animals
1. Why yes, I am still writing my second book, even if I'm not blogging about it. I'm a little over 44,000 words on my first draft. It took me a year to complete 4 drafts of my first book compared to 6 + months to have not even finished my first draft of this book. I admit, it has to do with the fact that I only write about 30 minutes each day on my lunch break at work. I also admit that I don't devote as much "daydreaming" time to this book. Quite simply, I am working full time and being a mom and being a wife and taking care of my animals and writing a book. Yes, I could eek out more time to devote to my book, but something else will suffer. Nothing truly important, just my downtime from 830 to 9 pm when baby is hopefully asleep already or my sleep time will be less. I'm not read to make that sacrifice.
2. Don't worry, I've also slacked off in other areas. I haven't queried out my first book in at least 2 months. Now granted I don't have internet at home, but I haven't been taking weekly advantage of my in-laws internet either. Again, that would mean sacrificing something. Either family time or coming over on a week night. Ugggg, this post is kind of making my self esteem go down hill!
3. Family time! Baby is now officially 2 years old! Too bad the terrible two's started when he was 18 months old! Really though, he is happy, healthy, and working on making his needs absolutely clear to me. I"m at least smart enough to know that doesn't mean him talking clearly will be a blessing. If he's anything like me, it will be more like a curse!
4. Animals, animals, animals....Well, I know I've mentioned before, but it's still weighing on me. I had to put my Foster Boss down this spring. And a few weeks ago, I finally sold Rain. I didn't reach my goal with her, which was to more than double her purchase price by having her absolutely broke, but I did make more money on her than what I bought her for. It's a little strange to be back down to my original herd of two. Like, when it comes to figuring out how much hay I need, not only am I back down to 2 horses, I have to take in to consideration what the land can do for them too. Which isn't much where I live at! The cats are fat and happy, and Jackie has been recently shaved due to massive shedding. As for the dog, I love her today but hated her yesterday. I put Chloe out to run off some energy only to find that she didn't do much running as compared to the amount of chewing! Toddler's pool and several poopy diapers(which get thrown away in a trash can that stays in the garage) were destroyed. She's lucky she's alive today after I had to clean up her mess!
Summary: Life is good but I'm slacking on the sacrifices department in regards to my writing. I hope you're doing better than me and keep on writing!

Journaling

While I haven't been blogging with my current WIP like I was with my first(due to the fact I have no internet at home), I have been journaling. If nothing else, each time after I finish writing I write down my new word count. Depending on how many minutes I have left until my lunch is officially over, I may also type out a few notes. What I say just depends on how easy or hard the words are coming. And, like I said, sometimes I only put down my newest word count.
Journaling, even if it isn't public humiliation, aka a blog, is still helpful to me. Often times people just aren't that interested in hearing my repeat my frustrations or excitement. I can't blame them, sometimes I get tired of saying the same thing over and over again too. At least on the computer no one else has to listen to me :) Some day when I have excess time I'd like to compare my current journal to the one I wrote during my first book. It would be interesting to see if there are any similarities. Of course, seeing as how I never have an abundance of extra time, it's not all that likely to happen, but still.
Any who, I don't remember if I ever mentioned the new member of my family. She came along before I lost Foster Boss, so she's not a replacement at all. Her name is Chloe and she is an adorable almost 2 y/o chocolate lab. Ironically enough, her birthday is 2 days before my boy's. And no, I didn't know that when I got her. She is absolutely lovely. She puts up with anything toddler does to her and she's not dumb as a box of rocks. She ain't perfect, but she's not the worst 2 y/o lab I've ever met.
And now, to end this blog; I watched Water for Elephants yesterday and fell in love. With both Robert Pattinson(again) and the story(for the first time.) I fully intend on getting the book and reading the story. It's not an option to do otherwise. Also, I will be purchasing the DVD as soon as it comes out. I'm not going into details, I"m still in the savoring stage, but trust me, you need to watch this movie.
Okay, over, out, and keep on keeping on!

--------

Sigh, there is so much going on I can't think. Let's suffice it to say I'm still working on my 2nd WIP but it's going slow(sometimes because of life, sometimes because of laziness).
I had to put down my gelding Foster Boss this week. He was old and skinny and going down hill. Literally he was walking in circles and couldn't walk in a straight line. Funny how it's easier when you know it's coming, but it still hurts. It's all about life, death and the - inbetween. Right now I'm struggling with the - but life has it's ups and downs, plateaus are boring. Ok, back to my Saturday night visiting with the fam :)

Sunday

Family, beautiful weather, a mud puddle...What more could one ask for? This has been a lovely day to begin healing a stressful past two weeks. I'm still working on my book, slowly but surely. I"m at a point now where I'm worried I won't make an acceptable word count by the end of the first draft. I'm shooting for at least 60,000 + words, but right now at about 9 chapters I've only got 29,000 words and about 7 more chapters planned. I started taking a look at my current outline so far but haven't found anywhere to add in a few more chapters aka words. I'm going to take a hard look at the outline of what I"ve got so far and what I've got to go and see what I think. At this point, I"m thinking it's going to be a shoot for the moon and reach the stars. I figure(a word which I can never pronounce correctly) that by the end, I will have a first draft of my second book which is quite an accomplishment in and of itself. Then I will do just like I did with my first book's second draft and that's a major overhaul. Of course with my first book, I reached about 70,000 words by the end of the first draft. Oh well, I know from the great advice of the Dames over at Deadline Dames and several other of the authors I stalk "cough, cough* follow that every book is different. Possibly not hitting 60,000 at the end of this book will just have to be one of those differences. Can you tell I'm trying to keep positive? Is it working? Do you have to ask? Well, lets just say that for someone who is a bit high strung, it's working as well as can be expected. Anywho, I am off to covort about on the internet. Have a good one and keep writing!

Why Hello March!

I know, it's been a while. It's hard to keep up blogging when I don't have internet at home. I miss it, especially how it keeps me publicly humiliated into consistent writing. Let's talk about that for a moment. I'm at a point in my book where I'm feeling really bogged down. In other words, the middle! I'm feeling pretty good about the end I have set up and I already have lots of ideas of what needs fixed in the first half, but the middle is killing me. I can't remember if it was the same for my first book that wrote or not. For now I plan to keep trudging forward until I come up with a better idea. Ok, on to books. I just finished the third book in The Mortal Instruments series. All three were great books, but for me there were parts that were hard to get through. Not in a bad way what so ever. It's just I'm at a point right now where I want "easy" reads. There can be conflict and turmoil and world building and all that good stuff,but maybe what I mean is I'm looking for shorter books. Lol, I don't know. I also just finished the 2nd book in the Fairiewalker series, Shadowspell, and I CAN NOT wait for the third to come out in July. What's next on my tbr list? Captitvate by Carrie Jones, which is the second book to Need. After that? I need to finish the Iron Witch. Then....I don't know? Actually, I'd like to read Paranormalacy, but I haven't yet purchased it :) Also, I currently work with a group of ladies who like to read what I do, so I have several "library" type options too. Actually that reminds me, I need :) to borrow the book after Hush Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick and another sequel that I know a coworker has :) Oh yes, the list goes on. As for real life? Well, it's good too :) And now off to read some of my favorite blogs that have too much "stuff" for my phone to load. Have a great...well I'll see you eventually ;)