Time to buckle down, Horror Hounds

[Liam Jackson]

Okay, folks, I think we can take a valuable lesson from Barb and the Humor Forum. She has a thread entitled "Weekend Progress Report." It's an old thread, and it's old for a reason. It serves a useful purpose and is very popular with the Humor bunch.
The thread serves multiple purposes, including:
*Encouraging people to avoid dread procrastination
*giving and receiving feeback for meeting or failing writing goals
*helps establish realistic goals for writing and submitting, and monitors both
*draws everyone in for a "checK" at the beginning and ending of each weekend for a progress report.
*It's especially good for new writers in need of an occasional push, but many of the older writers participate, too.

Reporting is on the honor system, but once you start, you WILL be asked, dogged, hounded, encouraged, etc. It's all in fun, but the underlying objective is greyhound-bus-over-the-guard-rail serious.

So, if Mac and Spook have no objections, we might want to give it a shot. What's the concensus?

[Trapped in amber]

It sounds like a good idea to me.

(will you have a whip?)

[Fractured_Chaos]

Oh, Lordy! I'm going to regret this, I know I am...but count me in.

Maybe if enough of you hound me and threaten me, I'll be more productive.

[MacAllister]

Allrighty folks--it's Friday. I'm going to borrow a page from Barb--what are your goals? What are you working on? Who is gonna play with us?

I've done about 2K words on the novel-in-progress, this week. Also finished the crits on a novel I was beta-reading for a pal--that took up more time than I thought it would, but I learned a LOT about overall construction, in taking the poor guy's book apart.

My big goal is to start producing more short stuff, and get it into print with respectable rags, before I start shopping the novel around (hopefully late this summer) To that end, I started the Monday Prompt (http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10499) thread. I still haven't actually WRITTEN any stories, to those prompts. Going to try to churn at least one out, this weekend.

Next?

[Liam Jackson]

I cut about 8k from SINS on Wednesday night, deleting a side story that had run amok. Stll have a few loose threads to snip, before I move forward, again. Shooting for a solid 6 hours of BIC over the next three days. We'll see the net result on Monday.

[Trapped in amber]

Okay, goals for next week...

1. 2 hours bic per day
2. Edit four chapters

I'm editing a young adult horror. I really should have finished editing it by now, but I keep finding new things to change in chapters I've only just done. So, I need to go through it, let it rest, then go again. I should know that by now.:rolleyes:

I'm working on an adult horror and a childrens fantasy in my BIC time.

[jdkiggins]

Okay, I'm in.
This week I completed and posted my Idol entry and have 1,100 words written on last week's horror prompt (the story sucks and is going nowhere. LOL)

I also have both my monthly columns finished for next month and wrote another short story.

My goals for next week:

Edit at least 40 more pages of my horror novel and work on a query and synopsis.
Write at least 1,000 words a day on my WIP Unearthed.
Send three stories out to publications.
Finish/rewrite and post last week's horror prompt story.
Write a story for the new horror prompt.

Oh yeah, and finish reading The Bell Jar if we're still going to talk about it. LOL

Anyone have NoDoze? :D

[Fractured_Chaos]

My goals?

2 hours of BIC each day.

1000 words by the end of the week that I can consider acceptable (but not perfect), rather than excrable.

Work on getting that miserable internal edito to shut the hell up, so that I can do a better job of giving myself permission to write badly.

[Fractured_Chaos]

OKay, I was actually "good" over the past few days. I wrote 1200 words, and rewrote another 300. I'm still not real happy with that scene Andrea is introduced in, and it's still not complete, but it looks a tad better than it did...I think.

Anyhow, I posted it here. (http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?p=181986#post181986)

If anyone's interested. I edited the original post.

[MacAllister]

Give me a day or so, Lorrie--I'm buried under other stuff, just now, but I'd love to take a look at it. :)


Meanwhile, ONWARD!!!!!!!!
CHARGGGGGGGGGGEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


GO GET 'EM!!!!!

WRITE NEW STUFF!!!

[Liam Jackson]

Death to the Pig Lords! Oops. Wrong thread.

Sunday night, 10:23 pm and I've made up the 8K I cut Wednesday night, and gained an additional 3K. I'm 1,100 words from my goal for the weekend. Time to cinch up the chin strap and let 'er fly.

*salute!*
Death Before Dishonor!

[Spookster]

Alright, I'm in. I must be nuts. I'm taking three summer courses (starting today) so my goals are gonna be really small.

My goal for this week is to finish one horror prompt. By Friday. That's it. Just the one. If I can accomplish this, I'll be happy.

[Liam Jackson]

Awww nutz! Missed the intended goal by 450 words. Still, I feel pretty good about the work. It only looks like half-crap instead of all crap.

[MacAllister]

That's still a lot of words, LJ--way to go. :)

ya know, I MISS the old "Death to the Pig Lords" sig. Heh. And I didn't even know the story about the translator's error resulting in the minor Central American insurrection, back then. BWAHHHH!!!!

Okay, you'se buncha wild thangs! I see lots of goals posted--how's it going so far?

Spooky? Did you pick a prompt yet?

Lorrie? How's the two hours a day going?

Trapped? How's the editing and the BIC going? Moving forward?

Joanne? Well...I guess every group needs its own overachiever...What's goin' on this week? Moving forward?

[Trapped in amber]

I am in fact taking a quick break from bic (slaps wrist) but I only have about 15 mins left to do, so I better get on with it. (Breaks don't count as bic time for me, or I'd never get it done).
I have to do some editing later. So, sort of on course so far.

[Fractured_Chaos]

Lorrie? How's the two hours a day going?



I BIC'd about 200 words this morning, got disgusted with it, and deleted it.

I need more coffee.

[MacAllister]

Lorrie--heh, you gotta let that stuff sit a few days, before you start deleting. It might well be better than you realized, at the time.

Sometimes you're on a roll, and the words seem perfect, and they flow easily. Other days, you slug through page after page, even though every single word seems wrong, trite, stupid, etc.

I've noticed a frightening thing: When I read back, a few weeks later, I usually can't tell which kind of day I was having when I wrote the text in question.

[Fractured_Chaos]

Ergh. >.<

I think my biggest problem is, my low-self-confidence side is warring with my "I can do this" side.

I've got everyone here cheering me on, and Sam threatening me with a cat o'nine tails, and I -want- to do this. But then I start looking at what I've written and think I can never be as good as anyone else.

I hate when that happens.

[Liam Jackson]

Lorrie, if it's any consolation, almost every writer goes through this. The feeling is so common, it has a name; The Imposter Syndrome. Relax. This, too, shall pass :)

[Fractured_Chaos]

Lorrie, if it's any consolation, almost every writer goes through this. The feeling is so common, it has a name; The Imposter Syndrome. Relax. This, too, shall pass :)

"Relax", he says.....http://bestsmileys.com/paranoid/4.gif


*deep breath...in through the nose, out through the mouth...put yourself in your "happy place"*

...


Okay, I'm relaxed. http://bestsmileys.com/paranoid/5.gif


...

What?

[jdkiggins]

Joanne? Well...I guess every group needs its own overachiever...What's goin' on this week? Moving forward?
Congrats! to all who have made goals, come close and are still working on them.

SO MUCH FOR the overachiever, LOL and my goals for next (this)week: Friday night when I posted this, I seriously thought I could accomplish most of it and probably would have. That was when I thought the antibiotic the doctor gave my mom would actually knock out what he thought was a slight case of bronchitis. Since then, I've spent much of my time at Mom's, the doctor's office and the ER. She's home and we're working on getting her better (chronic bronchitis and a touch of pneumonia), but I didn't get any of this done. NOT A ONE! All I can say is thank goodness I posted my Idol entry before I posted this list. LOL

Edit at least 40 more pages of my horror novel and work on a query and synopsis. (edits are being done on puter from hard copy edit, so I wasn't by my puter. This baby will have to be put on hold until I can concentrate.)
Write at least 1,000 words a day on my WIP Unearthed.
Send three stories out to publications.
Finish/rewrite and post last week's horror prompt story.
Write a story for the new horror prompt.
Oh yeah, and finish reading The Bell Jar if we're still going to talk about it. LOL

Heck, let's just say I couldn't concentrate on writing at all, so I had 0 words this week since my list post. I'll be "trying" to work on a rewrite of the one horror prompt and try to work on the second prompt this week. We'll see how it goes. :)

[Liam Jackson]

I BIC'd about 200 words this morning, got disgusted with it, and deleted it. I need more coffee.

The highlighted sentence reminded me of an old quote by Oscar Wilde:

"I was working on the proof of one of my poems all the morning, and took out a comma. In the afternoon I put it back again."


Like I said, we ALL have those days. :)

[Fractured_Chaos]

The highlighted sentence reminded me of an old quote by Oscar Wilde:

"I was working on the proof of one of my poems all the morning, and took out a comma. In the afternoon I put it back again."


Like I said, we ALL have those days. :)


Oh, Lordy! I can sooooooooooooooo identify with that. :ROFL:

[Trapped in amber]

JD, I hope your mum's getting better. :Hug2:
Sometimes life goes, 'nope, you're not gonna write now, you're gonna deal with this.' Nothing you can do about that.
Have some cake:Cake: (just ignore the eyes and the screaming:))

[MacAllister]

Holy mackerel! It's already another weekend...I've done very little, I'm afraid. *sigh* Except I did lay a lovely cobblestone-pattern tile floor in my dining room.

I better get my @ss offa here and go write a prompt story, or something. I see Blue Texas did one of the prompts--hurray!

And if I may make a gentle suggestion, those of you who don't frequent the SYW forum, a bit of crit work on someone else's story can be a nice way to hone your own story-telling skills....

So check in, ya'll--how's it going? Getting anything done?

[Liam Jackson]

Ever heard the old saying, "Be careful what you ask for because you may just get it."? The more I write, the farther I fall behind. The only thing worse than the "mid-book wall" is hitting it simultaneously in two different projects.

Project #1- 53k of an estimated 100K
Project #2- 47k of an estimated 90K

And both the bastids due at the same time. Mac, you'll probably wear out three of four whips before I get through this mess.

Be careful what you ask for because... ;)

[MacAllister]

LJ--It couldn't happen to a cooler guy than you. :)

[triceretops]

You go Liam, I'm there rootin' for you. I'll pass some cyber energy your way. I'm now 88,000 words after 72 days--goin' flat-out with a sci-fi action adventure. Seven days a week with no letup. Now watch, when I'm under contract I'll fall off my stint like a clumbsy puppy into a river, and start whining like a big baby. Hey, that's the way it's supposed to work, wot?

Everybody else--just Bic and ftk (fingers to keys), and say to that bock, "Bring it on, you lil' bastid!"

Tri

Hiya, Mac, you gorgeous hunkstress...let her rip!

[MacAllister]

Hiya, Mac, you gorgeous hunkstress...let her rip! ..."gorgeous hunkstress"???

Oooh! I LIKE that! <g>

Wow, Tri--you're rockin' and rollin' on your novel...wtg!

I'm planning to reach "the end" of the first draft this week. It ain't gonna be pretty, but it's gonna be done.

Then I can go back and agonize over random passages, a page at a time.

[Liam Jackson]

Damn, Tri! At 82K you must be closing in on the "THE END!" Hang tuff.

And thanks for the good karma and positive energy. Feeling mo' betta' already. :)

[Trapped in amber]

Last week I managed BIC every day, but it kept varying in length.
And I didn't get as much editing done as I'd hoped.
I wrote 5000 words of new stuff.
This week, I'd like to write more than 5000 words. And get more editing done.

(running away before I get whipped)

[Spookster]

Ahh. Look at all you productive peeps. Good for yall!

Mac, I haven't forgotten my promised prompts. Don't think I'll have time for BIC for the next month though.

[Liam Jackson]

Already Thursday and I'm way behind schedule for the week. The only constructive thing I've managed this week is to work the names of my crit group members into the new WIP. Can't wait to see their expressions when the book comes out. :ROFL: I crack me up.

[MacAllister]

5K new words for the week is terrific, Trapped in Amber! Way to go. :)

Spookster--something about being in school, raising kids, having a marriage, and so on, all works together to consume time and energy in huge chunks. What about trying to give yourself just ten or fifteen minutes every day, so you don't get completely out of practice? Do you have a lunch break or something? You could just carry a notebook, or I have a little book of tear-off notecards I use, sometimes; when you get a few minutes, jot a sentence or two...

Hang in there, Spooky!

Liam, you're a wicked, wicked man.

[Liam Jackson]

Liam, you're a wicked, wicked man.

It's a genetic condition. ;)

[Spookster]

Ack! Don't mention genetics. I'm seeing tissue samples in my sleep. (Sure do wish I could remember their names.)

Mac, that's a great idea. I carry an extra notebook with me. I'll try to jot a few sentences down here and there. Um, I've got two papers to write, so I'm not completey losing practice. I had to break the habit of writing complete sentences. Taking notes in class doesn't work well if you're gramatically correct. ;)

[MacAllister]

Spook, everything I know I learned from Barb--it's really HER idea, <g> but I'm a writer, so I felt perfectly justified in appropriating it as my own.

Okey dokey, Kiddiewinkles! It's that time again! Sing out with whatcher doin' this week, where you've been, all your hopes and dreams...

Well...

You know the drill.

[Liam Jackson]

Inch by inch...I've settled into a routine (finally).

Project #1- 58K
Project #2- 55K

Ran into one small problem Friday night. One of the charcters from Project #1
somehow crawled into another folder and killed two characters from Project #2.

On the upside, after the juxta-murders, Project #2 took off again. :)

*salute*

[Trapped in amber]

I managed c5500 words this week. The start of the week went really well, the latter half was obnoxious. I'll try and get over 5500 next week. AND GET SOME EDITING DONE.

Liam, your characters scare me. They're not going to sneak onto my computer and start killing my characters, are they?:scared:

[Liam Jackson]

TiA, I have no idea what happened, unless it was an act of sibling rivalry taken too far. Project #1 characters are just so damned needy. I promise to keep them in check. (well, sorta, kinda....maybe. :) )

And congrats on the 5500!

[jdkiggins]

Congrats! to all for all the great writing. I'm still working on the "rash" prompt. As soon as I type it into the puter, it'll be posted in horror. I'll let you know.

Great work everyone!

[MacAllister]

You people just plain ROCK!!! All of ya! <g> (you can leave the checks in the mailbox)

Liam and Joanne, you're both an inspiration.

Liam, I fully expect to drop your name at cocktail parties, as a "I knew him when..." But you have to stay crackin' along, so everone knows who the heck I'm talking about.

Joanne, I can't even tell you how much fun I have reading both the horror prompts and the Idol stories you manage to turn out every week. :)

TrappedInAmber--what exactly are you working on? Have you already told us, and in the early onset of dementia, I lost track? 5K words a week is damn good, if you have any kind of life at all, outside writing! At least that's MY excuse...

Now where the hell did Spooky and Lorrie go? Lorrie hasn't checked in since the first week--but she has PLENTY of time to engage in TIO slugfests; and the last time I saw Spooky, she was running with scissors, laughing maniacally, and shouting something about thoracic vertabrae...

I heard from the WPR mothership thread over in the Humor room that Tri is cruising along, writing just under 10K words this week, making me look like a total poser-wimp...

Blue Texas managed to get her Idol Entry up...and promises to blog more. What else is goin' on, Kira?

That reminds me, everyone, DON'T FORGET TO VOTE!!!!

Rhush? Whatcha doin'? Get that synopsis out to the agent? Working on anything new?

Heh--I don't really much care if ya'll signed up for this thread or not, actually--I know who you are....I see you in the other threads...it's not a very big room, there are only so many corners to hide out in...

[triceretops]

Naw, Mac, you ain't no wimp. Y.o.u.'r.e m.y. i.n.s.p.i.r.a.t.i.o.n.... Actually, right now I feel like a wimp for not rebreaking a record 16,000. Whata fluke. I wonder if I've got the resolution blues sydrome, or I've afraid to leave my story because the end is near. But I'm also afraid that my payoff is going to sizzle instead of bang. I have a muse demon sitting on my shoulder trying to block the crap out of me. It took me 10,000 words just to prepare for this all-out monstrous war in the future--96,000 words have led up to it and I'm afraid to fire the first shot. Now what they hey is that?! I don't know whether to report from several conflict locations and show total citywide devastation or just run my two main characters on their own missions, or even if I should give the enemy cops their POV of the fight. Jesus on a wagon wheel, maybe I better read War and Peace just to see how the technique is done (for large scale type conflicts).

I think I'm going to start a WIP ***** thread, where you can pour your guts out and bang ideas around. Hey, wait, maybe that's what this place is for?
I'm not a horror writer, but I wouldn't mind cruising over here to report, even though I love Barb's humor thread.

I think I'm going to view this war, which might last 20,000, as a stand-alone shorty story, and repel any other negative emotions that try to tie it into the whole book. Yeppers, that's the ticket! Gak...I'm talking to myself again.

Off to fire the first shot..

Tri

[MacAllister]

Go get 'em, Tri! Just write the living #$$#@%^!! out of it--it can all be fixed on rewrite. Write it brave.

It's easier to go back and tone it down, that it is to go back and make it more true.

[Fractured_Chaos]

Now where the hell did Spooky and Lorrie go? Lorrie hasn't checked in since the first week--but she has PLENTY of time to engage in TIO slugfests; and the last time I saw Spooky, she was running with scissors, laughing maniacally, and shouting something about thoracic vertabrae...




Okay, I'll admit, I've blown off the week. I took a TIO slugfest break in between organization projects. We've almost got this place to where humans can move easily through it without risk of injury.

I'll be good and get back to work, now. :gone:

[MacAllister]

ohhh Cathi....are you TRYING to burn down the boards????!!!!



Heheheh--if ever someone belonged here with the Horribles, it's gotta be YOU, bay-bee!!!!!!!

[jdkiggins]

My prior list: :ROFL: :roll:
Edit at least 40 more pages of my horror novel and work on a query and synopsis. (edits are being done on puter from hard copy edit, so I wasn't by my puter. This baby will have to be put on hold until I can concentrate.) I did copy it to a scan disk over the weekend and brought it to my mom's house. We'll see if I get anything accomplished on it. :)
Write at least 1,000 words a day on my WIP Unearthed. Uh huh, yeah right!
Send three stories out to publications. ROFL
Finish/rewrite and post last week's horror prompt story. (Well, it's not last week's horror prompt, but I did finish one and post it. Would appreciate brutal crits! LOL Only 4 or 5 prompts to go.)
Write a story for the new horror prompt. (Working on the cemetery prompt now.)
Oh yeah, and finish reading The Bell Jar if we're still going to talk about it. LOL (Ended up taking this back to the library OVERDUE ROFL)
I'm still kicking though! LOL

[Trapped in amber]

TrappedInAmber--what exactly are you working on? Have you already told us, and in the early onset of dementia, I lost track? 5K words a week is damn good, if you have any kind of life at all, outside writing! At least that's MY excuse...



I can't remember. I could go back and look, but I'll just mention it here anyway 'cause I'm being lazy.

I have two WIPs which make up my bic.

1. Started as a children's/YA horror short story, and turned into (I think) a children's fantasy. I'm really not sure what happened there, but have decided not to ask too many questions. Almost all of the bic time I've reported so far has been on this, which I've decided is because it's actually displacement activity for...

2. Adult horror. I think. That's what it's meant to be. But it keeps drawing in lots of other elements from alien genres and I'm coming to the terrible realisation that the reason it's been so hard to write is because it may be two novels. And I don't mean one book and a sequel, I mean two entirely separate novels. If this is the case, I'm so deep into denial I won't admit it for some time to come.

I'm working on (this means filling notebooks with 'bits' which will one day coalesce into the main thrust of a story, in theory) two other YA horror, and a children's historical/(possibly) fantasy novel which has taken me a long time to research, and will take me a long time still.
And I'm editing two YA horror. I need to sort out a bic type method for editing, or I'll end up with a pile of faintly odorous first drafts and nothing submittable.

That was way more information than you needed to know, but at least I have a clearer idea of the muddle now:D.

[BlueTexas]

Blue Texas managed to get her Idol Entry up...and promises to blog more. What else is goin' on, Kira?

That reminds me, everyone, DON'T FORGET TO VOTE!!!!

Heh--I don't really much care if ya'll signed up for this thread or not, actually--I know who you are....I see you in the other threads...it's not a very big room, there are only so many corners to hide out in...

I've been lost in the land of non-fiction. I'm trying to crack eyecare trade journals, and am warming up with those content sites that pay $30 or so a piece. But I've gotten 6 articles written this week, several queries sent, three acceptances (non-fic/ narrative non-fic) and yet ANOTHER fiction rejection. I'm working on selling reprints of ghost articles and praying for the day that the ONE glossy ghost mag starts paying writers... Did I mention I've yet to publish fiction? Argh. But I'm trying, and I have the idol entries I can polish up.

I had to rip out carpet and put down one of those pergo floors this week--it was a cat pee emergency, and so took precedence over everything else.

I'm editing my mother's how-to reiki book.

I got elected to be the treasurer for a non-profit this week too.

I came up with submission tracking forms so I can keep up with myself.

Oh, and did I mention I quit my job last week and got a new one this week that starts tomorrow? Interviews, resumes, drug tests, blah blah blah...the job I took is only four days a week, which will force me to make money writing, and allow me the time to do it (say a prayer for me!)

So, my goals for this weekend are....

Another big chunk on the lights in the sky prompt story (2000w minimum)...that's one's twitching in my head, and just gets louder every time I type the word glasses or lenses or phoropter...

A 2000w article I've actually been assigned to write on glasses and the elderly.

Get half the reiki thing edited without exploding into a babbling grammar blob--not my strong suit anyway.

Apply the suggestions in my last fiction rejection, find a new market, and send it out again.

[Liam Jackson]

I fell off the pace this week, but some of you hard chargers really carried the BIC banner forward. *salute*

I also broke my own cardinal rule of not editing until THE END. Seems one of my characters held back on me earlier in the story. Now I find out she's a sabertoothed snallygaster in disguise, (don't you hate when that happens) and I have to go back and fill in some serious blanks. On top of that, my protag launched into a three-day drunk in chapter fourteen. He didn't bother telling me at the beginning of the story that he's a recovering alcoholic. From this point on, I think I'm going to require full disclosure from all characters before I let them out of the attic.

[triceretops]

I had to figure out how a huge city population (unarmed) was goint to protest and burn the city up without being killed off by semi-armed terminator type cops. So I had the rebels devise gel balls filled with fast-acting influenza, which when thrown, burst upon the big Slugs infecting them. The Slugs thought it was just some form of harrassment and disrepect until they all started started yaking, crapping and sneezing whereupon they stumbled back to headquarters and infected the remaining shifts. So I've reduced my cop force by 70% to even the odds a little. Now the National guard is coming in to use deadly force so I'm going to have to resolve this and avoid a total wipeout of the citizens. Only 6,000 words this week which is a low for me, but it has to do with internal agencies and politics and I hate politics!

Tri

[MacAllister]

errr...I rewired the kitchen...

I've written practically NOTHING though.

*sigh*

But I'm awfully proud of ya'll! Where the heck is everyone else? Report in, you awol Horror Hazards!

(Ask Lorrie what happens to awol members--I track down your livejournals and comment-stalk you until you show up and sound off...)

[Trapped in amber]

I've done lots of editing, 8 chapters. But no writing. I'm having real problems combining the two. When I'm editing I get totally absorbed and find it very hard to write and vice versa. Does anyone else have this problem?
Well, enough whining, next week I'm determined to do both and get the hang of it, writing and editing on the same day.

[Fractured_Chaos]

(Ask Lorrie what happens to awol members--I track down your livejournals and comment-stalk you until you show up and sound off...)

I'm here! I'm here! O.o

Actually, between the screaming of the steam cleaner and vacuum (to which the cats think they've been traumatized), the massive moving crap around, and trying to get organized, PLUS both of us looking for new jobs...I did manage about 500 words this week. I'll toss it up on SYW when I get the scene finished, or at least more written.


Mac...were you a Jewish, or Cathoic mother* in a former life? You have such a way with the guilt! :ROFL:












*Disclaimer: This is in no way an attempt at bashing. It takes great skill and perserverence to be able to lay a really, really good guilt trip. It's an art-form that is dying...but looks like it'll be resurrected and thrive if Mac has her way!


*RUNS*

[MacAllister]

Lorrie--you never write...you never call....what am I supposed to think?

[Fractured_Chaos]

Lorrie--you never write...you never call....what am I supposed to think?

GAH! O.o


*Dies from an overdose of "guilt hormones"* X.x

[arrowqueen]

I have that lovely warm glow that comes from bumping off a character by dropping a gargoyle on his head.

[Fractured_Chaos]

I have that lovely warm glow that comes from bumping off a character by dropping a gargoyle on his head.

*sprays coffee all over her monitor*

Clean-up on desk 5! :ROFL:

[Trapped in amber]

I have that lovely warm glow that comes from bumping off a character by dropping a gargoyle on his head.


:Hail::Hail::Hail::Hail:

I love that image.

[Liam Jackson]

AQ, are we related?

[arrowqueen]

Considering you're a fellow-Celt, I am probably your long-lost cousin.

[jdkiggins]

Goals this week:

Finally got all my needed files down here so I can work in some organized fashion.

1. Write at least 2000 words on "Unearthed."
2. Edit at least 10 pages of my horror book.
3. Write at least 2 horror prompt stories. (I need to catch up.)
4. Do market searches for all my articles and stories.
5. Finish reading a book I have to review.

We'll see how much I get done this week. :)

[Fractured_Chaos]

I got squat done.

Job hunting.

Nuff said.

[triceretops]

Well, got 4,000 done which brought me to 107,000. Damn near painted my protag into a tight corner from which there was little escape or resolution. Had to make it very logical and plausible so it tied in--(Just knocked out another 2,000). Okay, picking up speed again. Oh where is the end to this?

Triceratops

[BlueTexas]

Well, as far as my goals for last week, I got halfway there. I finished editing the Reiki book, and got my article written. I didn't work on the "lights in the sky" story or polish up another piece of short fiction. I did a horried job at BIC last week. I think I was too worried about my aching feet and my husband's good fortune.

I did get two short stories written in the past two days, though, so there's something.

[Liam Jackson]

Hola, fellow hellhounds! No progress to report, Macster. Wrote myself into a corner earlier in the week, and haven't sorted out the mess, yet. Ugly mess. Just downright ugly.

Edited: Tri, I posted before reading your last entry. Must be something in the water with all this corner-painting. :)

[MacAllister]

Hola! Ya'll rock. :D

Joanne, them's some serious goals--you GO!

Chris and Liam--Corners are MADE to be busted out of--just recently busted out of one of my own. I now have no idea what's going to happen in my own novel. It's interesting, though.

Blue, keep going! Lorrie--just ten minutes a day, longhand if you have to. Just keep writing.

Spook? Ohhhhhhh, SPOOky...Where ARE you???

[jdkiggins]

Goals this week: Set on 6/13/05

Finally got all my needed files down here so I can work in some organized fashion.
--------------------------------------------As of 6/15 7:00pm
1. Write at least 2000 words on "Unearthed." (Woo Hoo!!! Wrote 1500 so far.)
2. Edit at least 10 pages of my horror book. (Edited 4 pages.)
3. Write at least 2 horror prompt stories. (I need to catch up.)(Starting one now.)
4. Do market searches for all my articles and stories. (not yet!)
5. Finish reading a book I have to review. (3/4 finished.)

We'll see how much I get done this week. :)

Pays not to be online as much. :D

[Fractured_Chaos]

I'm plodding along. A little here, a little there. I managed about 800 words this week. And I just plain cut the one scene that wasn't going anywhere. It wasn't so great, and the parts of the scene I might want to use later are not going to be that hard to dredge up. After all, it was completely unremarkable. Nothing worth salvaging.

I -think- I have the POV and the conflict in the 800 words I have. So it's something. Better than the other scene, but I'm not excited by it at the moment. I'll look at it again in a day or two, and see how I feel, then.

[triceretops]

Just finished the novel Word Wars. 117,500 words, 392 pages (which seems wrong cause my MS Word counter is fritzed or lieing to me). Using the old page count method, I make it out to be more like 95 grand. Elapsed time--just over four months. Thank the Maker!

Tri

[BlueTexas]

Congrats, Triceretops! Four months seems like a short time to get all that done...you must have been writing your tail off!

[MacAllister]

Way to GO, TRI!!!! w00t!!!!!!!!

It sounds like everyone has been writing, except maybe Liam--who was suspiciously quiet this weekend, so far.

I've tentatively finished my first draft--but it's very, very rough. There are plot wholes I could pilot a battleship through, and I'm no sailor.

I have an enormous subplot that must now be written and inserted into those holes, before it's REALLY finished.

[triceretops]

Not to worry Mac. Sometimes sub-plot chunks have to be spackled into the framework--I know that I've had to do that. At least you have the monster in toto. That's a big relief. I must go in and seriously characterize, so I'm now reading King's The Stand.

Thanks, Blue. Heck, girl, you is a good writer.

Tri

[Liam Jackson]

Way to Tri! I've been pulling for ya! I've got great hopes for your story. Let us know how the sub process goes.
LJ

[Fractured_Chaos]

WooHoo! Go Tri!!!! :Cheer:

[MacAllister]

What happened to TrappedinAmber this week? Trapped and held hostage by the internal editor?

Trapped--I can't edit and write on the same thing, either. I gotta just bull through the first draft, and then edit it after it's all down. I CAN work on different pieces, though. Maybe a change of approach?

Joanne, those are some monster goals. :) My hat's off to you!

Lorrie, how goes the job search? Getting any brainstorming done, at least? Nagging, niggling guilt about neglecting your WIP isn't going to help keep the lights on, woman--so I won't give you a hard time.

Kira--where the HELL is the rest of the lights in the sky story? Ya left us hanging, here...:D

Chris--you finished! Too cool! Now what's the plan?

Liam, how's that corner? Getting cozy in there?

Did I miss anyone? I'm about to tackle the monster subplot that has to happen before the book makes any narrative sense...

[triceretops]

Thanks guys, much appreciated. It's boards like this that push my envelope, seriously. You go Liam--I'm watching and I know you're going to make a big hit.

Mac--I think I'm going to let it cool for a few days, cause I have more than an itchy trigger finger to go back in there and fool. I want to start another one right away. Maybe a squeamish vampire who has a succubus girlfriend. When he decides to finally put the bite on somebody, rather than steel blood as a paramedic, his bite is found to cure AIDS, so the government goes after him for good reasons, instead of wanting to drive the proverbial stake through his heart. Only the vampire doesn't know they're after him for good purposes, so it ends up a cross-country chase. I'd totally humor this one out.

Or...Some physics students design a powerful electromagnetic container grid with the hopes of trapping a human soul (eckto) upon the death of a relative. Once the soul is contained it get's all pissed off because it can't escape. The students retire wondering what they're going to do with this little lavender ball of light. Then a thunderstorm. Students return and find grid has shorted out, so they think the soul has finally made the trip. But..the soul has actually reentered the dead body and reanimated it to seek vengence on each and every student who had a hand in the experiment. The soul finds the students one by one (different locations) and kicks out the their original soul to take over the host body. Thus that (seemingly harmless) student stalks down one student, and another exchange is made, and that one goes hunting for another, until finally the remaining students catch on to what's happening and split for all parts of the country. It's kind of a Flat Liners crossed with The Thing.
I don't know which one I like better...

Tri

[jdkiggins]

drgnlvr-- Congrats! on the 800 words.

Tri--Woo Hoo! You're finished. Congratulations!

Kira--REPEAT MAC'S WORDS "where the HELL is the rest of the lights in the sky story? Ya left us hanging, here..." :ROFL:

Liam-- Did you get out of that corner yet?

Mac-- Congrats! on finishing the first draft. Good luck with the subplots.
Hope I didn't forget anyone.


Goals this week: Set on 6/13/05

Finally got all my needed files down here so I can work in some organized fashion.
--------------------------------------------As of 6/15 7:00pm --------------As of 6/22 12:23 am Fell apart on #'s 1,2 and 4. No time. Mom was wanting my undivided attention this week.
1. Write at least 2000 words on "Unearthed." (Woo Hoo!!! Wrote 1500 so far.) ---Nothing this week.
2. Edit at least 10 pages of my horror book. (Edited 4 pages.) ----------------Nope
3. Write at least 2 horror prompt stories. (I need to catch up.)(Starting one now.) ---still working on the same one. :)
4. Do market searches for all my articles and stories. (not yet!) ---------------(Nope, not this week. :()
5. Finish reading a book I have to review. (3/4 finished.)-----------------read a few more chapters. :)

We'll see how much I get done this week. :)

[BlueTexas]

Kira--REPEAT MAC'S WORDS "where the HELL is the rest of the lights in the sky story? Ya left us hanging, here..." :ROFL:



It's fermenting in my brain. I need to come up with an ending before I write any more on it, or it will meander aimlessly like so many of my previous stories. Coming soon, though...and I think it's going to be long.

[jdkiggins]

Kira,

I'm looking forward to more, but I do understand your wanting to get an ending in mind before adding to it.

I'm still working on my recluse piece and other prompts. None of what I've written are actually horror, so I'm trying to add that little nerve twitch to get them in line for a horrific read. LOL

Good luck. Let us know when you've added to your story.

[Trapped in amber]

(slaps wrist)
Sorry, I forgot to report in!
I have been editing/rewriting. Trying to write and edit really wasn't working, and I need to get this manuscript solid if I'm going to submit it sometime this year. So it's my priority right now.
I'm working through adding foreshadowing at the moment, taking out or tying up loose ends e.t.c.
And trying to make the scary bits as scary as possible:idea::scared:
Tri, well done!:hooray:

[jdkiggins]

Take that list I typed above and burn it. LOL

I've finished reading a book for review.
Working on the review.
Trying to edit my horror novel. (Actually succeeded in editing 30 pages in the past 2 1/2 weeks. This is going to be a very S L O W process.) :(

[MacAllister]

Joanne, I sympathize :) I'm in the middle of a monster rewrite on my book, too--I'm starting to think the changes outweigh the original.

*sigh*

[triceretops]

Well, don't feel alone you two. I'm getting so fed up with this rewrite stuff--I'm on my third revision (half-way through), and I can't keep my hands out of it, changing this, changing that. Why didn't I remember there was so much work involved?

Tri

[jdkiggins]

Dang, my time to work is getting shorter each day. Not getting much done at all. By the time I get an edit complete, I may have to rewrite this as a futuristic novel. ROFL

[jdkiggins]

Last night I took some time to work on the cemetary prompt. It's going slow. So is the editing of my horror book. :)

Where do the days go? It's August already! I think I missed a few months somewhere along the line.

[sthrnwriter]

I guess I have a few goals worth listing here. I have two contest entries that I'm working on both of them horror related. One is a short story and the other is an article. They're my first attempts at the horror genre. I'm almost finished with the short story so I'll be posting in the "Share Your Work" forum soon. Hopefully it's not as bad as I think it is. :Shrug:

[triceretops]

I'm 18,000 into a new sci-fi adventure--tons of tech space travel. Having fun with this one with interglactic trash collectors who get in over their heads in an alien race war.

Tri

[williemeikle]

what are your goals? What are you working on?


I want to write a lot of books, entertain people, and make a lot of money. Simple huh? :)

Most of what I write is horror, but I've just finished a first draft of a YA Fantasy novel

Also, 25K in on a sequel to my novel "The Book of the Dark", but I need a kick on that one as the first book won't even be out till next summer and I'm putting it off all the time

Also 20 pages in on a screenplay of my first novel, "Island Life"

Willie
http://www.willie.meikle.btinternet.co.uk (http://www.willie.meikle.btinternet.co.uk/)

[BlueTexas]

Wow, am I a slacker for not checking in here more often.

I finished a chapter today on a NF book that probably really belongs here. It's a record fo rme--a chapter in four days!

What's everyody else doing?

Joanne, how's NANO going?

[williemeikle]

Just finished a 10 page treatment for a horror screenplay that a production company asked me for.... keep things crossed for me folks

Willie
http://www.willie.meikle.btinternet.co.uk