That's right, my word count goal was totally met last week, and I intend on doing it all over again this week!
Total Words Written: 3,171
Total Hours Spent Writing: 4ish
Total Word Count Overall: 58,333
It's been a long time since I actually posted something positive about my word count. It feels good, not gonna lie. Every time I sat down to write last week, which was three times, I wrote in a frenzy, words just pouring out. I was at an exciting part of the story, the part where swoony times abound, the characters are starting to figure the whole mystery out, and drama unfolds. Dun dun DUN!
Also? I'm almost at 60,000 words! What the whaaaat? When did that happen? This means I'm officially in the home stretch. I'm officially writing the last 1/4th of this novel- providing I stick with my goal of around 80,000 words. I have a sneaky feeling this one might stretch out just a little bit longer than 80k, though. And that's okay. Revising is going to be somewhat of a beast...but I'm actually sort of looking forward to it anyway. Is it weird that I want to reread my own book for pleasure first?? Hmph.
As I mentioned, I'm hoping to keep up the pace this week, maybe push myself a little further, even. We shall see how it goes. I'm on a crapload of medications right now for all my crazy sinus issues and I feel a bit like I have the flu...it's just from all the drugs, though. This happened last time, too. I'm just incredibly achy and tired. But hey, all I have to move are my fingers, so I'm pretty sure I can handle that.
Monday, January 9, 2012
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Three Things Thursday - Why Thursdays Rule
Today’s edition of Three Things Thursday include three
things I love about, well, Thursdays.
3) The food and the wine.
Every week our dinners switch up.
We do go the Chinese or pizza route from time to time, but more often
someone cooks a main dish and everyone else contributes the sides &
desserts. We’ve had everything from
meatloaf and mashed potatoes to baked ziti to taco night to breakfast for dinner. And everything in between. It’s the only night of the week I eat dessert
too, and not gonna lie, sometimes I look forward to that as much as the dinner. And the wine, of course. There’s always lots and lots of wine.
Last fall, my good friend Karyn (also one of my readers,
lucky her, getting read draft after crappy draft of my WIP) and I agreed that
our obsession over The Vampire Diaries needed to be shared more
thoroughly. Hence, “Thursday Girly Night”
was born. At first, it was just the two
of us. We’d grab dinner somewhere, or
order in, then settle in and watch our show, squeeing happily to each other at
each glimpse of a shirtless Salvatore.
I can’t remember the exact order of how the others joined
in, but just a couple months later our friends Debbie (another lucky beta
reader of mine), Patti, Kerri and Gail began sharing in the fun too. Debbie and Patti were already fans of the
show, and at first Kerri and Gail only came to drink wine and hang out, but
they quickly jumped on the bandwagon when they realized the awesomeness of the
show. Which took maybe two or three
episodes.
So now, a full year later, I can’t imagine not getting
together with these girls on Thursday nights.
It’s become such a part of my routine that I wouldn’t know what to do
with myself on Thursdays if we didn’t get together. Seriously.
My 3 favorite things about Thursday nights are:
1) The girls. Those five
girls are a few of my very favorite people in the world. Every week I look forward to seeing them and
hearing about their week, to laughing til my gut hurts and letting off steam
about whatever might be bothering me at that moment. I know they’re there to listen without
judgment. And vice versa, of course. And that, my friends, is probably better than
any therapy I could pay for.
2) The show. I don’t need to go into a long, drawn out
explanation of why we like the show.
Sure, it’s got everything a girl could want: excitement, drama,
adventure, romance…but mostly it’s got THEM:
Seriously, what’s not to love about these nights?? I hope we continue them for as long as we
possibly can. One can never get enough
girl time, hot boys, and food & wine, right?
Happy Thursday, everyone!Tuesday, January 3, 2012
My 2012 Reading/Writing Goals
Happy New Year, kids! I can't believe how fast 2011 came and went...along with my goals for the year. Yikes. So, remember when I thought I'd have my WIP done before the holidays? And how I hoped to get some bites on In My Mind's Eye? Yea, well. Hmph.
But a full, new, bright and shiny year looms ahead! And I'm super excited to embrace it and get moving on my goals. That's right- goals, not resolutions. I guess they're sort of the same thing, but "goals" just sounds more motivating to me. Probably because I don't think I've ever actually kept a resolution. Like, ever.
That being said, I recently entered the Goodreads 2012 Reading Challenge. I made my goal for the year 75 books- that's like a book & a half a week, so it should be no problem for me. Granted, last year I only read about 40, but I have higher expectations for 2012. I also have TON of good books I want to read. Like, a TON. A whole stack of books at home, and well over 200 on my to-read list. So I'm ready!!! BRING IT.
As far as my writing goals, well, we all know the ultimate goal is to nab an agent and get published. The WIP is starting to come along again- over my holiday break I was able to get down around 3000 words. I'm keeping my weekly word count goal the same as last year- well, the same as it was before I got completely sidetracked by revisions and the holidays- which is 3000. Now that we're entering the long, cold days of winter I should have plenty of time to sit on my ass and write. If I can maintain the 3000 words per week goal, I should have it finished (or at around 80,000 words) by mid-March. That seems pretty doable.
Here's to a new year full of endless possibilities!!
But a full, new, bright and shiny year looms ahead! And I'm super excited to embrace it and get moving on my goals. That's right- goals, not resolutions. I guess they're sort of the same thing, but "goals" just sounds more motivating to me. Probably because I don't think I've ever actually kept a resolution. Like, ever.
That being said, I recently entered the Goodreads 2012 Reading Challenge. I made my goal for the year 75 books- that's like a book & a half a week, so it should be no problem for me. Granted, last year I only read about 40, but I have higher expectations for 2012. I also have TON of good books I want to read. Like, a TON. A whole stack of books at home, and well over 200 on my to-read list. So I'm ready!!! BRING IT.
As far as my writing goals, well, we all know the ultimate goal is to nab an agent and get published. The WIP is starting to come along again- over my holiday break I was able to get down around 3000 words. I'm keeping my weekly word count goal the same as last year- well, the same as it was before I got completely sidetracked by revisions and the holidays- which is 3000. Now that we're entering the long, cold days of winter I should have plenty of time to sit on my ass and write. If I can maintain the 3000 words per week goal, I should have it finished (or at around 80,000 words) by mid-March. That seems pretty doable.
Here's to a new year full of endless possibilities!!
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Three Things Thursday- Holiday Traditions
Yea, yea, I know I didn't post on Monday yet again, but that's because I had no news to report! I swear I'll start writing after this weekend. I will, I WILL. I will have oodles of time next week to delve back into the WIP, and I seriously can't wait! I have all these ideas floating around in my head, and my readers have told me that what I have now has been totally "drawing them in" and they can't wait to read more. Nice lil ego boost, there. And it motivates me to keep going! When, um, I have some time to sit down with my laptop again, anyway.
Well, it's Thursday, so that means it's time for another edition of Three Things Thursday. I thought I would go ahead and discuss my three favorite holiday traditions, some new, some old. I realize last week's post was also holiday-related, but hey, 'tis the season, right?
1) For as long as I can remember, we've been going to my Gramma Marusak's house for Christmas Eve. And I think the tradition of Christmas Eve dinner over there started long before I was even born. It's my absolute favorite dinner of the year- the traditional Slovak/Catholic meatless dinner, consisting of homemade mushroom soup, fresh Lake Erie Perch (and no one, I mean NO ONE makes better perch than my gram), and pierogies. I have taken over making the famous twice-baked mashed potatoes, and I daresay I have perfected them.
2) Back when all the kids were little, and well, my two younger cousins might not remember this as well as my brother and I do, but one of our traditions was "dragging Grampa to the tree to pass out gifts". Every year, Grampa would pretend he'd be too tired to pass out the presents and would make like he was going upstairs to take a nap. Then the four grandkids would then have to make a big production of physically dragging Grampa from the staircase, through the living room, and all the way back to the tree. I'm smiling right now just remembering it. And getting teary. Every year at this time, I miss my grampa so, so much. He died 14 years ago today. I know he's up there watching over us, enjoying seeing how we've all grown up and how we still all get together for these Christmas traditions. He loved this time of year more than anything.
3) Our newest tradition just evolved over the last 5 years or so. Christmas Eve night, after Dan and I open our mountain of presents for each other (every year we say we need to cut back, and every year we still go overboard), we head out to Mentor to hang out with my brother and sister in law. We order Chinese food, drink wine and watch Christmas Vacation. Sometimes my parents and Gramma join us, too. I look forward to that evening the whole year, I think. There's just nothing better than snuggling up with the people you love, laughing and enjoying each other's company.
What are some of your favorite holiday traditions? Mine all seemed to involve Christmas Eve...clearly it's one of my favorite days of the year.
Happy Holidays, everyone! I'll be working furiously on the WIP next week so I might take a lil' hiatus from the blog. But watch for more in 2012!!
Well, it's Thursday, so that means it's time for another edition of Three Things Thursday. I thought I would go ahead and discuss my three favorite holiday traditions, some new, some old. I realize last week's post was also holiday-related, but hey, 'tis the season, right?
1) For as long as I can remember, we've been going to my Gramma Marusak's house for Christmas Eve. And I think the tradition of Christmas Eve dinner over there started long before I was even born. It's my absolute favorite dinner of the year- the traditional Slovak/Catholic meatless dinner, consisting of homemade mushroom soup, fresh Lake Erie Perch (and no one, I mean NO ONE makes better perch than my gram), and pierogies. I have taken over making the famous twice-baked mashed potatoes, and I daresay I have perfected them.
2) Back when all the kids were little, and well, my two younger cousins might not remember this as well as my brother and I do, but one of our traditions was "dragging Grampa to the tree to pass out gifts". Every year, Grampa would pretend he'd be too tired to pass out the presents and would make like he was going upstairs to take a nap. Then the four grandkids would then have to make a big production of physically dragging Grampa from the staircase, through the living room, and all the way back to the tree. I'm smiling right now just remembering it. And getting teary. Every year at this time, I miss my grampa so, so much. He died 14 years ago today. I know he's up there watching over us, enjoying seeing how we've all grown up and how we still all get together for these Christmas traditions. He loved this time of year more than anything.
3) Our newest tradition just evolved over the last 5 years or so. Christmas Eve night, after Dan and I open our mountain of presents for each other (every year we say we need to cut back, and every year we still go overboard), we head out to Mentor to hang out with my brother and sister in law. We order Chinese food, drink wine and watch Christmas Vacation. Sometimes my parents and Gramma join us, too. I look forward to that evening the whole year, I think. There's just nothing better than snuggling up with the people you love, laughing and enjoying each other's company.
What are some of your favorite holiday traditions? Mine all seemed to involve Christmas Eve...clearly it's one of my favorite days of the year.
Happy Holidays, everyone! I'll be working furiously on the WIP next week so I might take a lil' hiatus from the blog. But watch for more in 2012!!
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Three Things Thursday
This week has been a complete blur, you guys. I just realized I never even did my usual Monday post! Whoopsie. Of course, there’s really not much to report on the word count front, anyway. I think I wrote maaaaaybe 1,000 words last week. And this week hasn’t been any better. In fact, it's been far, far worse (word count so far is one big goose egg!). We’re smack dab in the middle of the holiday season, kids, and that means all I’ve been doing is running around, shopping, baking, decorating, wrapping presents, and collapsing in a heap by the end of the day.
That said, today’s Three Things Thursday is devoted to the holiday season. Here are three things I love about the holidays, in no particular order:
1) Finding (and giving) the perfect gift. There’s no better feeling that picking up something you just know the receiver of said perfect gift will totally love. Especially if it’s a surprise gift-something they didn’t even know they wanted or needed. Or something they mentioned once, a long time ago, that I somehow tucked away in my brain and remembered it at Christmastime.
2) Wrapping presents. I am such a huge dork about wrapping presents. I love shiny, pretty paper and big sparkly bows. I’m not even sure when this happened; I used to be the kind of person who was content to throw everything in gift bags or wrap with whatever paper was closest to my reach. At some point I became obsessed with that wire-edged ribbon and it was all downhill from there. Even though it takes me waaaaay longer than it should to wrap presents, I still enjoy every minute of it, aching back and all.
3) Time off work. I know, this isn’t really a "warm-n-fuzzy" type of holiday thing, but still. I generally save up vacation days to ensure I’ll have the last week of the year off no matter what. This year we got lucky and our office is closed the whole week. I’ll be off from December 23rd all the way through January 2nd. That’s 10 (count ‘em!) glorious days for me to not worry about deadlines and rates and ad copy…ahhhh. And of course I plan on moving the WIP along as much as I possibly can during that timeframe!
‘Tis the season!
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Three Things Thursday
For this week’s edition of Three Things Thursday, I thought I would discuss what my top three favorite books of the past year were. It was no easy to task to narrow this list down to just three, because I’ve read some seriously good books this year! And my to-read list is longer than ever, so next year this list might have to get bumped up to five…
Anywho, without further ado, my favorite books of 2011:
I wasn’t sure I was going to like this book when I first started it; it was a little slow-moving, but the story picked up mid-way through and I was hooked. It was no Hunger Games, but it was still beautifully written and I was completely sucked in. I’m very excited for the second book in the trilogy to be released in 2012! Also? This book won Book of the Year on Goodreads! So yea...I'm not alone in my enjoyment of this one.
I. Love. John. Green. I read all his books last year with the exception of An Abundance of Katherines (which I own but have been waiting to read), and it was really, really hard for me to decide which one of his was my favorite. But Paper Towns was the first book of his I read, so it holds a bit of a special place in my heart. Will Grayson, Will Grayson was fantastic too, though, and Looking for Alaska made me both laugh and cry over and over…if you haven’t read any John Green, please check him out. His newest book, The Fault in our Stars, comes out in January, and yours truly preordered a signed copy! I can’t wait to get that!
3) The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson – The description from Goodreads: The day Louisiana teenager Rory Deveaux arrives in London marks a memorable occasion. For Rory, it's the start of a new life at a London boarding school. But for many, this will be remembered as the day a series of brutal murders broke out across the city, gruesome crimes mimicking the horrific Jack the Ripper events of more than a century ago. Soon "Rippermania" takes hold of modern-day London, and the police are left with few leads and no witnesses. Except one. Rory spotted the man police believe to be the prime suspect. But she is the only one who saw him. Even her roommate, who was walking with her at the time, didn't notice the mysterious man. So why can only Rory see him? And more urgently, why has Rory become his next target? In this edge-of-your-seat thriller, full of suspense, humor, and romance, Rory will learn the truth about the secret ghost police of London and discover her own shocking abilities.
Ok, so I follow Maureen Johnson on Twitter, and she is HI-larious. She co-wrote a book with John Green and Lauren Myracle called Let it Snow- a collection of holiday stories by each author, and so right away I knew if she was friends with John Green I would probably adore her. I was right. The Name of the Star was a good mix of humor and suspense and spookiness and I devoured it in like three days. You should read it too.
Hmm, maybe next week I’ll write about what books I’m most excited to read in 2012. God, I’m a nerd. It’s all good. I have come to embrace my dorkiness. Because you know what? All these amazing books out there inspire me to become a better writer.
Monday, December 5, 2011
It's official. I suck.
Yep. Wordcount total this week: 0
That's a big, fat goose egg, y'all. I wish I had some sort of excuse other than I just wasn't feeling it last week but...I just wasn't feeling it last week. But it was a CRAZY week, too. I guess that's an excuse. Monday I dealt with a sick kitty at the vet for hours, Tuesday had a going-away dinner for a friend, Wednesday got my hair did, Thursday was the normal Thursday with the girls, Friday took my cousin to dinner, Saturday was at the wineries on the east side all day...by the time Sunday rolled around all I wanted to do was stare blankly at the TV. And I didn't even get to do that for more than a couple hours. I was too busy cleaning poo off every surface in the house (see: sick kitty above), doing roughly a hundred loads of laundry (due to sick kitty), ironing 57 pairs of pants that had been sitting in a wrinkled pile for over a month, making dinner, and finally, organizing my Christmas list by person and store, and then purchasing a few things online as well. I swear I didn't stop and relax from the entire week until 8 pm last night.
I keep reading these blogs and articles that are all about "making time for your writing every single day". In a perfect world, I would, in fact, write every single day. I wish to god I could write every single day. But it's not a perfect world, and, well, I also enjoy sleeping. Which I did not do very much of last week, again due to sick kitty and other random crap on my mind.
Here's to hoping that things calm down and I finally make some progress this week!!!
That's a big, fat goose egg, y'all. I wish I had some sort of excuse other than I just wasn't feeling it last week but...I just wasn't feeling it last week. But it was a CRAZY week, too. I guess that's an excuse. Monday I dealt with a sick kitty at the vet for hours, Tuesday had a going-away dinner for a friend, Wednesday got my hair did, Thursday was the normal Thursday with the girls, Friday took my cousin to dinner, Saturday was at the wineries on the east side all day...by the time Sunday rolled around all I wanted to do was stare blankly at the TV. And I didn't even get to do that for more than a couple hours. I was too busy cleaning poo off every surface in the house (see: sick kitty above), doing roughly a hundred loads of laundry (due to sick kitty), ironing 57 pairs of pants that had been sitting in a wrinkled pile for over a month, making dinner, and finally, organizing my Christmas list by person and store, and then purchasing a few things online as well. I swear I didn't stop and relax from the entire week until 8 pm last night.
I keep reading these blogs and articles that are all about "making time for your writing every single day". In a perfect world, I would, in fact, write every single day. I wish to god I could write every single day. But it's not a perfect world, and, well, I also enjoy sleeping. Which I did not do very much of last week, again due to sick kitty and other random crap on my mind.
Here's to hoping that things calm down and I finally make some progress this week!!!
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