Wednesday Updates

I’ve really wanted to practice sewing some more lately. I haven’t used my sewing machine in a while, and I’m beginning to miss it. Unfortunately this month I’m unusually busy, so my free time has been limited. Maybe after Thanksgiving has come and gone I’ll find some more time to piece together the apron I’ve been working on.

Got quite a bit more in today on my secret side project, and I *think* it is about finished. I’ll have to look over it one last time of course, but overall I’m pretty pleased! And although I haven’t officially hit my NaNo word requirements the last few days, I am having to be much more cautious with my wording. It’s not quite the same as the word spewing I’m doing in my NaNo novel right now, hehe.

Words: 1,521
Total Words for 2011: 120,178

Yay – NaNo word count widgets are up too! *Happy dance* Keeping track of one less group of numbers always makes me happy.

Tracking NaNo Writing Goals

I feel like I’m doing something dirty here – including word counts from a secret side project on my NaNo wrod count, but folks I’ve talked to assure me that it makes sense. It is writing that I’m doing during NaNo, even if it isn’t involving my main storyline. *Sigh*

Even though I do rebel against the traditional NaNo rules, even I like to try to play more in the lines than this. But no big deal, I’ll just secretly try to get enough words into my Secrets of Leekston novel to make up for it. At least… that’s the plan at this point.

Words: 1,207
Total Words for 2011: 118,657
(While I was at it I went ahead and added the rest of my writing project to my annual writing track. That’s not part of NaNo at least, right? 😀 )

Writing makes up for miserable Monday syndrome

As far as Mondays go, this was certainly not my favorite. It started out alright, but about mid-way through the day things just started to go downhill. One job turned difficult, then another, and another. By the end of the day I just wanted to go home, but of course I had to stay late due to a special problem person. *sigh* And to top it off, a three-car accident on an exit near my house left me in traffic for extra time. By the time I got home it was dark, and I was left wondering where my day had gone.

Atlanta TrafficBut thank goodness my sis revived me with mushroom spaghetti and a Star Trek episode. Then I got to sit down and give my opposing werewolves some back-story. Mm I do enjoy creating personalities for my characters, and Brakkis is turning into one Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He’s poetic philosopher one minute, and raging beast the next. As a true crazy werewolf leader ought to be, right? 😉

Trying to bump my word count ahead a bit in preparation for this Saturday. It’s the LAN party and I plan to do little to no writing that day.

Project: The Secrets of Leekston (Working)
Deadline: End of 2011 (Preferably much sooner)
New words written: 1,829
Present total word count: 37,682
Total Word Count for 2011: 113,612

Weekend Crafty Fun & Writing Woes

This was a rather interesting weekend, though quite fun. Saturday I ended up spending most of the day with my sister shopping and taking care of chores. Afterwards we had movie night with friends, so to be honest I didn’t get to a computer until around 1 AM Sunday morning. And I had intended to sign up for Six Sentence Sunday as well, so before I tucked in for the night, I whipped out my laptop and started searching for pieces to post.

First Scrivener wouldn’t work for me, so I had to upgrade, then reboot. Alright, that was done. So I went ahead and posted it up on both my WordPress and LJ sites. This was around 1:50-something in the morning, and I was just so happy that I was going to get it up on time. Then I made my way over to the site to list my post for the weekly Six Sentence Sunday listing, and frowned. The post was still titled “Sign up here!” but apparently the list closes late Saturday night. *sigh* To make my brain hurt even more, I looked at the clock on my computer to see it was a little after 1:00 AM again.

No, I didn’t dream it, that was simply when DST kicked in. *facepalm* So grumbling in frustration, I finally went to bed.

Sunday was spent doing some much-needed cleaning around the house and catching up on my two-day word count requirement. I hadn’t touched my work at all on Saturday, so Sunday was a two-in-one job. I was literally writing right up until I had to get ready to see my folks for the evening. Where does all that extra time go on the weekends anyway?

But I did get some time to have some crafty fun! We picked up some supplies at Michaels to create a centerpiece for our dining room table. We really didn’t have anything to use for November that was pretty and harvest-themed: oranges, reds, yellows – that sort of thing. So we tracked down a few pieces, and here are the results. What do you guys think? Of course my mom says we could design and sell them for money, but I don’t know. It’s more of a hobby to me than a money-making business. *shrug*

And I’m back on track with word metrics!

Terry gets a new perspective on his fellow escapees – on that certainly doesn’t sit well with him. A little mob fervor and a vicious, charismatic leader makes for some interesting scenes here. It’s interesting because Brakkis truly is a likeable guy, and you can totally understand why he’s being so cruel and has absolutely no patience for anyone with weak dispositions. I have to admit that parts of this scene were inspired by watching Red State on Netflix on Halloween. There’s that same level of ridiculous fervor and outrageous reactions – but since this group is still getting used to its members, its understandable that there are a few dissenters that it’s trying to weed out.

Project: The Secrets of Leekston (Working)
Deadline: End of 2011 (Preferably much sooner)
New words written: 3,386
Present total word count: 35,853
Total Word Count for 2011: 111,783

New Cover Art & Daily NaNo Count

*Wiping writer-driven sweat from my brow*

Well, I made up for my laziness yesterday that’s for sure! Got in the ~800 words I needed yesterday and got in my requirement for today as well. Not too bad if I do say so myself! Got some emails sent off for my side-project, though I still have some writing that demands attention on that as well. I haven’t really considered any of that as part of my main writing endeavors cause I’m working on my novel for NaNo, not doing other writing work. 😉 Though I have a few ideas in mind for what I want to do next with things, so after I get my NaNo work in tomorrow I’ll probably head over and get some writing in on that. (Don’t we always make the most ambitious plans over the weekend? I hope this actually comes to fruition!)

In other awesome news, I got my free cover back from Fena Lee. I have to admit that I was blown over by the piece she did for me. The color is perfect, the landscape. Even the font is made simple with a touch of sophistication as well. Perfect for how I want my short stories & books to be. So if you haven’t checked out her fabulous book covers already, get your butt over there and check them out! I’m pretty sure you’ll be as awestruck as I was. =)

Anyway, on to word metrics! *trumpet sounds*

Suzie and Fred meet the head officials for EPR and then promptly are told that they’ll need to pack a bag and get ready to head out. Their home is no longer safe and on top of that, the two siblings have no idea when they might be back again. Meanwhile Terry is learning more about his newly discovered brethren, albeit memory problems still being a major issue. Oh and I thought about a cool idea for the title of my first book – Suzie’s Nightmare. I’m still not sure if I like that enough, and when the officials were referring to the “incident” from the last book, the new name came to me. What about The Kayak Hills Incident? Which do you guys thinks sounds better? Here, I’ll list them side-by-side:
– Suzie’s Nightmare
– The Kayak Hills Incident

Tough call, isn’t it?

Project: The Secrets of Leekston (Working)
Deadline: End of 2011 (Preferably much sooner)
New words written: 2,399
Present total word count: 32,467
Total Word Count for 2011: 108,397

Still no NaNo Word count gadgets. Anybody else miffed about this like I am? *sigh*