Monday, November 28, 2011

little by little

I don't have too much to say today about my writing.  I'm starting, slowly but surely, to get back on track wordcount-wise, but starting to admit to myself that the possibility of finishing this book by Christmas just isn't going to happen.  I know the revisions helped the story and were absolutely necessary, but they completely wrecked my timeline.  Which, in the long run, is really okay.  I'm doing this for myself, after all.  Because this is MY dream.  And if it takes a little longer to get there, well, it'll be worth it no matter what.  I just know with the holidays coming up my schedule is about to go batshit crazy, and I'll be lucky to squeeze in one day a week to write.  It's a terrible excuse, but it is what it is.  And I hate that saying, too.

I spent a couple hours on Black Friday not shopping, but writing.  I don't have an actual wordcount total for the week, but I'm assuming it was around 1500 words.  When I last left off to start revisions, I was just over 48,000 total words.  Now I'm over 51,000 after all the new stuff I added.  Next week I'll have a real total...time to start holding myself accountable again!  I still hope to get to around 3000 words per week, but again if I'm thinking of completing the entire book by Christmas...I'd have to write close to 7500 words per week.  Um.  Yea.  Probably not happening.

In other news, please send some happy thoughts for my kitty today.  I'm taking him to the vet this afternoon because he's not eating very well and this morning was hiding under the bed, which is always where he goes when he's feeling sick.  I'm sure it has to do with his IBD, but it doesn't make me feel any better to know this.  So far there hasn't been a real "cure" for it, and even though he's been on a steroid for months now he hasn't gained any weight.  I'd like to see him make it to ten years old next summer...sigh.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Three Things Thursday- Thanksgiving Edition

Today is a day not only to stuff ourselves silly and enjoy time spent with family (and probably a glass of wine or two, just sayin'), but also to sit back and reflect on all the reasons we have to be thankful for what life has given us. So for my second edition of Three Things Thursday, here are three things I'm thankful for.  Or, Three Things I'm Thankful for on Thanksgiving (say that three times, fast):

1) I'm thankful for the love that surrounds me everyday, from my amazing friends, my adorable husband, and all of my fantastic family.  You all make me who I am and I would be nothing and nowhere without you. 

2) I'm thankful for the ability to read and write, and for all the incredible books out there that continue to inspire me and open my mind to new possibilities.  (you all know I'm a nerd, right?)

3) I'm thankful for the realization I had a couple years ago of a dream; a dream that may someday be achievable, and for the ideas that fill my mind and spill out onto paper.  I'm hopeful that in the not-too-distant future, perhaps my own words and stories will inspire others the way I've been so inspired by them.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Monday, November 21, 2011

Finally!

Despite a pretty massive hangover yesterday from a super fun night out Saturday, I actually managed to finish my revisions!  I know, hallefreakinglujah, right??  Now I can finally move on with the story!!  I actually did just that yesterday, too, although I only wrote about 500 words or so.  But I'm over 50K words now!  Progress is good, yes indeed.

I'm thinking when the book is done it's going to be a bit longer than 80k...and I'm saying that because I feel like there's still a lot more I need to get into.  I feel like I've only scratched the surface of the story so far, but who knows.  Maybe the second half will wrap itself up a bit quicker than I think it will.  I know the direction I'm going in in general, but to be honest, I'm never quite sure what's going to happen when I sit down to write.  I guess I'd rather have "too many" words than not enough, although cutting stuff out is going to be difficult!  But I think I can already sense some of the stuff that will have to go...eh, we'll see.

Happy Monday!  It's a short week, HOORAY!

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Three Things Thursday

Welcome to a new weekly (hopefully) segment on my blog aptly called Three Things Thursday, in which I will discuss three random things at, um, random.  I was originally going to do a post on Friday called Five Things Friday, but I was afraid five things might be hard to come up with every week.  Sometimes my creative juices just aren't a-flowin', especially on a Friday morning after a Thursday night with all the girls. Plus, doesn't Three Things Thursday have a nicer ring to it?

Without further ado:

1. I get goose bumps when I sneeze.  Does this happen to anyone else?  Because every sneeze, every time, I bust out in those little bumps all over.  They go away quickly, but weird, right??  I wonder if that's something I could google to see if there's a physiological explanation for it...

2. Many people know this, but I have the weirdest allergies.  My throat gets super itchy when I eat certain nuts (peanuts & cashews are ok, thank god) and fruits- apples make my lips puffy and itchy, pineapple makes the palms of my hands itch.  I know nut allergies aren't uncommon, but the fact that it's seemingly random nuts (heh) that do it for me make it odd.  Doesn't it?  Also, I have a hard time peeling potatoes.  For some reason when I do this, I either get all wheezy and have a hard time breathing or I sneeze uncontrollably for about an hour after finishing.  Since I'm always in charge of mashed potatoes for family dinners, this causes a bit of an issue.  And I LOVE mashed potatoes, but rarely make them just for myself and Dan for this reason.  Also, I tend to break out in hives for absolutely no reason at all- at least no reason I've been able to pinpoint for sure.

3. In two weeks, I am getting bangs cut for the first time in 4 years.  Like real, honest-to-god thick bangs.  I may regret this, but I am posting it here so that I cannot wuss out.  I mean, it's only hair, right?  It grows back.  And that's why God invented bobby pins and hair clips, right? 

There ya have it!  Tune in next week when I discuss three more completely random things you probably don't give a hoot about anyway.  ;o)

Monday, November 14, 2011

So close, but yet...

Wow.  Where did last week go?  I suppose I can blame it on the time of year...the holidays are coming and schedules just start to get busier and busier until you no longer know up from down and right from left.  So, part of that is true.  I did a lot of random running around last week, went to the gym, hosted the girls for our weekly Thursday TVD night, etc.  What I'm trying to say is I ended up being a bit of a slacker revision-wise last week. 

But I really am SO CLOSE to being done!!  I think I have 2 full chapters left, along with a little bit of the last one I started.  I really am excited to move on with it, too, now that I have where it's going framed out a bit more.  This week should be a little less hectic, so I should finish those last two chapters no problem.  And the one I'm on now is one of my favorites that I've written so far, so I'm sure I'll get through it nice and quick.

In non-writing news, last night- on a school night, no less- Debbie and I made the trek down to Columbus to see The Airborne Toxic Event.  What an amazing show, you guys.  That whole band is so ridiculously full of talent and they would've totally knocked my socks off had I been wearing socks.  All I know is they made the long drive and lack of sleep totally worth it!  I'm so glad we decided last minute to go, and I hope they come back around soon.

So on that note, here's the video of one of my favorite songs off their new album.  It's called "All I Ever Wanted" and is ah-may-zing.  Violin!  Stand up bass!  And not to mention some of the most beautiful lyrics I've ever heard:

"I could tell you that you're all I've ever wanted dear
Through the din of your breathing while you're sleeping here
You wake and you ask me if I'm gonna be here forever
    Forever
         Forever
Your face all twisted and your eyes alight
I wanna tell you I can change it when you cry at night
But I'd be lying...
Love is defying"

I wanna be able to write like that.  For reals.

Monday, November 7, 2011

Ready to move on...well, almost

In writing news, thanks to a day off and a pretty low key weekend, I was able to get a bunch of revisions done over the past few days.  It's funny how I'll hit a chapter and be like, oh this one will be easy, there's not much to change here...and then I inevitably realize there are a LOT of things to change.  And at this point I'm not even going through and really cleaning up paragraphs and tightening things up, I'm just making the necessary changes to keep the story moving in the new direction.  But regardless, I am hoping to have all those nasty changes made by this coming weekend. I think I only have about 12k more words til I'm where I left off.  And then, my friends, I will be putting myself back on my weekly word count goal of 3000 words per week.

In life news, I just got back from the hospital where I had a CT scan done on my face.  Ok, well, my nasal cavities, if you want to get specific- it's just easier to say my face.  This past year I've been stricken with at least 3 sinus infections, maybe 4, and for someone who up until 3 years ago NEVER had a sinus infection in her whole life, this is pretty odd.  So my ENT doctor ordered the CT scan to see what else might be going on, besides the fact that I have a slightly crooked right nasal passage.  Now we just wait for the results.  And I hope they find something, cuz I seriously cannot keep going on antibiotics every couple months!  It would just be nice to, you know, breathe normally.

In other writing news, November is actually National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo for short. Basically the idea is to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days.  If I wasn't already over halfway into my WIP, I totally would've joined this.  But since the WIP is already over 48,000 words, I think I would've been cheating a little bit.  Haha.  And I definitely couldn't handle starting a new project while trying to continue working on this one...and this one is too important to stop working on right now.  Definitely something to think about though for next year...I do enjoy a good challenge!