Confession

I have a confession to make. The reason I'm working so hard on Driving Into Forever is so I can avoid having to finish Lost and Found. And the reason I started Lost and Found for the NaNoWriMo is to avoid finishing Driving Into Forever.

It's a viscious cycle, isn't it?

The only problem is the speed with which I'm progressing. At this rate it's not going to take me long to *gulp* finish the first draft of DIF and then I'll have to get going on L&F.

Meanwhile, I've come up with two other novel length ideas in the series.

At long last I seem to have found my writing groove.

Guests

We had unexpected guests for dinner last night. They showed up just before dinner, but because this hadn't been planned all we had to offer them was stale bread. They finished the evening by having a dip in our pond. It was our annual guests, Daphne and Donald, a pair of mallard ducks. My kitty minions were plastered to the windows going "Here ducky, ducky, ducky . . ."

Had a nice long talk with my Crazy Writing Buddy, which is something we need to do on a regular basis for brainstorming/inspirational reasons.

Didn't get a lot of actual writing done yesterday, but I've made up for it tonight. It wasn't as much as I was hoping for, but still, 3,000 words is nothing to sneer at.

I'm still foraging ahead, trying not to go back and make changes until the first draft is finished. I've got a note book for notes specific to Driving Into Forever. Last week I decided the espionage story line needed to be worked out; this week I've realized the villain needs to be more obvious. There's always something!

Getting It Done

I'm slowing down. This time it took me from last weekend until now to get my 3500 words done.

But progress is progress. I'm doing this Nano style - keep plodding forward and don't look back. I'm only going back to add something in if it's an entire scene. No editing until it's done. If I'm not sure of what's going on in a scene, I skip it and go on to the next one.

I'm also getting into the writing habit (knock wood). I've been writing a least a little bit every day (or night). Starting Lost and Found, which is actually the sequel to Driving Into Forever, has actually helped me solve a lot of the problems I was having with my plot line.

The name of the game is getting it done. Full steam ahead!

Missed Opportunities

As I fall asleep at night, to relax I start going over scenes from whatever I've been writing. Last night I started working out a particularly sticky scene in Lost and Found - where my main characters go from sleeping together to having sex. It's a crucial transition and it's been giving me no end of trouble.

Last night as I was falling asleep I started thinking about that scene and the words started to come. Did I get up and write them down somewhere? No, I did not. I figured, like oh so many fools before me, that I would remember it in the morning. The words were that perfect.

I believe I mentioned once before that I have a mind like a steel sieve.

I hereby vow to keep a notebook and book lite and pen on my nightstand. I might even leave pens and notebooks scattered throughout the house so I don't have to go looking for them and get distracted, hence forgetting what I was doing.

I'm so disgusted with myself!

It's Progress

You know, the more I get done on Driving Into Forever, the more I see needs to be done. But I really want to get the whole thing finished before I go back and start making changes. There's a thin storyline of mystery/espionage that needs to be included and I'm sort of working it out as I go along.

Maybe I should be writing some of it down instead of working it out in my head. I have a mind like a steel sieve.

I've discovered another great thing about lap tops. You can use them during thunder storms. I don't have to have anything plugged in, so no risk of frying anything.

Although I'd like to know why the cable is working for my internet but not the television. Don't they know tonight is the series finale of Gilmore Girls???

Challenge

Okay. As stated previously this was supposed to be my writing blitz weekend.

Well, first I slept in really late on Saturday morning. I puttered around in my office, wrote a long e-mail to my sister, and generally futzed around waiting for inspiration to slap me in the head.

Then there was a knock at my door. Inspiration came knocking? Not quite. It was my writing buddy CrazyNance and her CrazySpouse. We had tea and cookies and a nice visit, and then I challenged her to see who could write the most words by the end of the weekend.

I started out by picking up around the house. Then, in the early evening, I finally buckled down and started writing like a crazy woman until bedtime.

This morning I was up at a decent hour, but my house really needed cleaning. I was having a friend for coffee and then we were going out, and she hadn't seen my office yet so I also needed to get the bookcases organized and get rid of boxes of books from the book sale and then we were going to the in-laws for supper.

In other words. I didn't get much writing done today. But check the Zokutou bar. I still managed a total of 3,091 words for the weekend. Beat that, CrazyNance!

Resting

So, as you can see I've been resting on my laurels this week. Okay, not resting, exactly, more like napping. I've been really tired this week. I think lack of sleep may have something to do with it.

You'd think that after buying all those books at the book sale I wouldn't have been too interested in shopping in Hamilton. Well, you'd have been wrong. They have a DISNEY STORE in Lime Ridge Mall, and a store called Green Earth that has an incredible selection of NEAT THINGS. I spent the grocery money on 3 figurines from the Dream Fairy series. If I'd had more money, I'd have bought more.

I'm really looking forward to the weekend (not just because it's the weekend and I get to sleep in). Saturday I'm going on a writing blitz. I need to make up for the time I lost being so lazy this week.

Furthermore, I'm not signing up for overtime next week. There's a holiday in the next pay run and the money will more than make up for the lack of overtime hours. I went home early from work today and napped for 3 1/2 hours.

Part of that may be the fact that billing is so boring I've started crocheting a blanket at work. It's going to be my billing blanket. And they lied, we're stuck in billing for a whole month. Sigh.

Updates

So, apparently the reason we were all thrown to the billing wolves at work was to get the service levels up. And boy did we. Service levels are at an all new high, 286% Which means, my friends, that the billing blitz will only last for another week before we can move back to Order Fulfillment.

There is one event I look forward to every year. The Saint Peter's Book Sale. We're talking a two-day book sale here people! This year I think I outdid myself. A box of Time-Life reference books, old books, not so old books, paper backs, hard backs, I got them all. Three boxes, $52 and damaged wrist (from hefting those boxes). Oh, and did I mention that at work this week I went onto the Chapters/Indigo site and started making out a "to buy" list of books. Found several new authors . . .

And my final update: look to the right. Specifically the bar under Driving Into Forever. Almost 4,000 words this week.

The bad news is, I have to go to a bowling tournament in Hamilton this weekend. I'll be taking my lap top with me, but will I get time to write? Who knows . . .

May 1st

Happy happy first of May, outdoor screwing starts today.

Believe it or not I got that phrase from my older sister. My wallflower older sister. I just about fell off my computer chair when she sent me that.

It's the first of May, the full moon is tomorrow night and, if you been paying attention to the Zokutou bars, the writing has been going good.

Which is a good thing 'cause right now the job is not going so good. They've closed the Order Fulfillment chat, supposedly only for the month of May. We got the news that we'd be doing billing chats for the month right before we left work yesterday.

What makes us suspicious is that we've heard their promises before. Every campaign we've ever been on that was in danger of being closed we were told, right up until the second they closed them, that there was no way it was closing.

So why the short notice? Something like this had to be planned in advance. Our schedules were all changed before we even knew what was going on. I guess we'll just have to see what the end of May brings.