THE WEEKEND PROGRESS REPORT 2005

[batyler65]

Let's kill him and eat him.

Um... Mac? Perhaps you could... um... not show quite so many teeth when you say that?

:scared:

[maestrowork]

Nothing much to report. Column, final edits on TPB. Nothing on CTN. What can I say? I've been doing taxes -- I'm doing four people's, including mine. Tee hee.

[ChunkyC]

Congrats on the sale, Lisa!

Quick check-in, a tad late:


Wrote column.
Wrote most of a of new scene in FATL. Count now +10K from where it was in the first draft.
Started work on revived collaborative project.

Gotta go.

[batyler65]

RAY & CC:

Well, better late than never guys.

Ray: ZZZZzztt! (Just because you like it so much!) ;)
Get back to work on CTN. Now. Don't give me that look. Do. It.


CC: So, is FATL approaching novel length? From the hit and run report, I'm assuming life is keeping you busy. Hope the collaboration is going well. See ya next week.

Barb

[maestrowork]

I forgot to mention the collaborative project....

hmmm, can you taze me again? That feels good.

[Natalia]

Hiya all!

Still in London and have been writing on the tube and at Trafalgar Square and at little pubs and cafes.... I would say about 5,000 total...

Not bad since I am partying and sightseeing...

Hope everyone has had a fab week!

Cheers

Natalia

[batyler65]

NATALIA

Great! 5k and Partying? You're making me look bad. ;)
(Is it just me, or do the creative juices seem to flow more freely in a different environment?)

Enjoy yourself!
Barb

[batyler65]

Testing... testing... one, two... one, two...

Okie Dokie.

We interrupt your regularly scheduled work day to bring you the weekend progress report.

I don't know about you guys, but this week has felt endless. I'm being productive, just not in ways I anticipated. A couple of weeks ago I decided to challenge myself. (By challenge, I mean torture.) I set out to see if I could send out one sub or one query EVERY weekday. So far, I'm two weeks in and I haven't missed a day. (Now all I have to do is find today's sub ;)). That means that for this week, I get to report sending out two queries and two submissions so far, PLUS I worked on the new novel. :snoopy: The novel is now at 3,937 words (and am hoping to break 7k by the end of the weekend).

In addition, I got an acceptance on a craft idea I sent to FamilyFun Magazine (along with a rejection for a different idea) and I had a couple of ideas for humorous Halloween cards slated for art development. (One step closer to $$). ACK and I have THREE deadlines on April 1st. (Is that somebody's idea of a joke, or what?)

My 12yo has had half days for the past TWO days and he is on SPRING BREAK all next week. Wonder if I should invest in tranquilizer darts? *sigh* Next week will be interesting.

So, how about you? Are you out there slugging it out with those stubborn words? I hope so. Come tell me about it. You know I'll just track you down if you don't. :D

CREATIVITY BOOSTER CHALLENGE:
This challenge is inspired by Natalia's post.
For the rest of the month, take your writing someplace new/different for one day each week. You don't have to travel to exotic locales. If you write in the den, carry a pad to the kitchen. If the weather permits, write outside at the zoo or a park. Stop in that coffee shop you always wanted to try. You'll be surprised at what a change of scenery can do for your muse.

Okay, it's open mic time. Stand up, state your name clearly, and share your report.


Barb

[Kida Adelyne]

Hello. I'm reporting for my mother dearest, as per her request.
She says that her last assignment is due on april 11. She told me she has gotten better at acting sane. (stress on the word acting) She misses you all, and will rejoin you as soon as she can.

Cheers.

(I'm going to report later, I want to see how much more I can get done by the end of the weekend)

[Kida Adelyne]

PS. Does anyone notice how barb never gets a star? I think she really deserves one this week.
:Sun: (from me, for what it's worth)

-Ally

[TashaGoddard]

Well, despite still being ridiculously busy with work and not having the ability to think of anything but cliches - 'at the end of my tether', 'heading for a breakdown', 'the last draw', you know the ones - I did manage to do some writing over the last week.

I have a very nice hard-backed notebook that sits on the shelf of my bed-side table. It has pretty squirls on the cover, on a fairly bright background - so I can always spot it, even when it's buried under a pile of novels and course notes - and it has squared paper (well, actually rectangled), rather lined, which reminds me of my childhood (I lived in Spain for a bit, where exercise books are all squared/rectangled paper, rather than the lines we have here). I have been (most nights - not every one) putting down the book I'm reading about 10 minutes before I feel ready to go to bed and picking up the notebook and writing something. Mostly the 10 minutes seems to turn into half an hour and, if I wasn't still in a need-to-get-up-really-early too-many-deadlines-to-meet mode, that half an hour could quite easily turn into 2 or 3 hours. Some of it's WIP, some of it's ideas for other novels, some of it's just generally whatever I can think of at the time (including a rather weird page inspired by the candles on the mantlepiece in the bedroom), but it's getting words out of my head and onto paper, which feels good. I'm also happy that I'm managing to write on paper, which is not my normal method, as this presents many more opportunities for writing a few hundred words here and there, without having to shell out on a laptop.

In addition to that, the Idol competition has been inspiring me to write even more, for example, extending my lunch hour just a teeny bit, or writing in front of the TV during my few moments set aside for relaxation. I wrote a few little pieces, none of which really felt right for the competition, but some of which will fit in nicely in the WIP. In the end I decided to use an extract from the WIP and have people beta reading it, before I take the plunge and post it.

I am very frustrated that I don't have more time to write at the moment, but I'm happy that I've actually managed to fit in some writing this week. I'm looking to April to be a little bit quieter on the workfront, so am hoping that I'll be able to much more productive in terms of writing.

No idea about word counts - but at a rough guess it's probably somewhere like 3000; and only about a third of those are WIP, but that's OK.

[Fractured_Chaos]

*hugs her 'puter*

It's MINE again! It's MINE again!


There was this really tough period of stress here, guys. And I was unable to even get to my computer due to the fiance being on it all the time, to relieve said stress.

But the good news is, I have the 'puter back, the fiance has a new job, my life has stopped being an episode of Jerry Springer (Macalister will get that one), and someone is interested in Helen's Eyes...but I have to cut out about 800 words.

Guess what I'm going to be doing this weekend?


*Obediantly kneels in front of Barbara*

I'm ready, Mistress. Just don't tazer me too hard? I'm a wimp.

[Kida Adelyne]

Okeeday. Here is my report:

8793 words.

And believe it or not, most of it was acctually story. I completed wrote two whole chapters in my new story. I may be able to get it done by next week.
In this word count there was also a small piece for AW Idol, and an Idea for a childrens book.

Now if only my cello practicing was this productive.


-Ally

[CindyBidar]

I haven't been around much the last few weeks, but I am still out here...just not writing much :Headbang: Hubby flies out on Tuesday for a month of rest and relaxation, though, so I predict you all will be tired of hearing from me within the week.

Good to see that everyone else is being productive. Ally! Almost 9000 words? I can't even dream about writing that much. That's fantastic! I'm more than a little jealous, you know. ;)

[Good Word]

I've got nothing to say except Gaaaaaaaahhh! And BBBBBBLAHAH!

Okay, I feel better now. Time to go write.
Something.

I seem to have a productive week, followed by a less productive week. This past week was the less productive week.

That means next week should be bold and banner.

Barb, please no taser. I'm allergic -- I go into analgalactic shock.

Somebody hold me.

[Birol]

Ah, Good Word, I care.

:Hug2:

[maestrowork]

I was a good boy this week. I finished my column -- on time! I wrote just short of 2000 words on CTN. I'm done with the final edit on TPB -- yes, it's done. Oh yeah, and I got a part... shooting starts the first week of April.

[Birol]

Oh, shoot, I posted something earlier, that means Barb knows I'm about, doesn't it. Okay, a quick report.

Something New is nearly at 18K. Not quite, but very, very close, which means I've written almost 3000 words in it this week, I think.
I've started the detangling process with TBWN. I've listed most (I hope it is all but I'm not certain) of the secondary characters along with which primary character they are most strongly associated with, their role, and a brief background so I can make certain they are introduced properly. I even created a pie chart. Currently, there are 33 secondary characters. :Smack: I know, I know. You don't have to tell me how insane that is.
I've also started to plot the story lines for the main characters in TBWN. I created a pie chart for that, too, to make certain they all have nearly the same number of scenes. What can I say? I'm a geek. But if you hear of someone in Central Illinois running screaming down the streets in the middle of the night, that would be me. :Headbang:
I've also set up some RSS feeds and started looking for different research databases.
And I turned over the newsletter I was doing for free (I belong to the organization) to someone else.
Other than that, I've done nothing. Nada. Zilch. Been quite the slug. It's Spring Break, you know.

[triceretops]

Slowed down to a more normal pace this week on new novel--3 pages a day. The protag has entered, and it's very difficult to make her believable. Non-fic book is officially on hold, with the realization that it might have to end up POD somewhere.

Congrats Maestro on that part! Damn bloody fine.

Tri

[Melina]

Procrastination.

I'm lame...

Melina

[batyler65]

MELINA

ZZZZZzzzztt! Stop procrastinating. Write something. Anything!

Don't quit on us.

Barb

[MacAllister]

Did a bunch more research, am storing it in a live journal, so I can add to it from anywhere...did a new blog entry...rewrote a flash piece as a word choice exercise in the Horror forum...and added about a thousand words to Weird... :)

[batyler65]

Well, despite still being ridiculously busy with work and not having the ability to think of anything but cliches - 'at the end of my tether', 'heading for a breakdown', 'the last draw', you know the ones - I did manage to do some writing over the last week. ...
No idea about word counts - but at a rough guess it's probably somewhere like 3000; and only about a third of those are WIP, but that's OK.

All I can say is EXCELLENT! If this is how you perform when ridiculously busy, I hope you stay this busy. ;)
:Sun::Sun::Sun::Sun::Sun:

Keep writing in that notebook!

Barb

[batyler65]

someone is interested in Helen's Eyes...but I have to cut out about 800 words.

Guess what I'm going to be doing this weekend?


*big hugs*

I am so glad to see you back among us. I'm hoping that next week's report is better.

Okay. NOW, I can taser you. ZZZZZtt!


Next weekend. Progress. I mean it.

Barb

[batyler65]

ALLY
Okeeday. Here is my report:

8793 words.


Woo-hoo! Go, girl! Go, girl! Go! Go! Go!

I am so INCREDIBLY proud of you!

:Sun::Sun::Sun::Sun::Sun::Sun::Sun::Sun::Sun:

[batyler65]

CINDY

just not writing much

Um... Define "much".

I know you are having a rough time, so I'm not gonna taser you this week. I will suggest that you try ten-minute timed writing exercises. If nothing else, it keeps the gears oiled. And don't worry about trying to make it pretty. Just scribble whatever comes to mind.

If you have no heart for mindless writing, try seeing how many story/article ideas you can list in ten minutes. Go from the ridiculous to the realistic. Just write something.

Keep the faith,
Barb

[batyler65]

LISA
I've got nothing to say except Gaaaaaaaahhh! And BBBBBBLAHAH!

Okay, I feel better now. Time to go write.
Something.

I seem to have a productive week, followed by a less productive week. This past week was the less productive week..

ZZZZzztt!

Lisa, Lisa, Lisa.

Yes, some weeks are going to be non-productive. I suspect that you didn't spend a whole week contemplating your navel, though.

My prescription for those off weeks? Nightly journal pages. WRite about your life/day/thoughts/rants for a few minutes before you go to bed each night. Think of it as a total brain purge. Sometimes you just gotta dump.

Hugs,
Barb

[batyler65]

RAY

Yippee!!

Congratulations on the part! And on all the writing work, too.

Extra stars for finishing the edits. I know that was a lot of tough work!


:Sun::Sun::Sun::Sun::Sun::Sun::Sun::Sun::Sun::Sun: :Sun::Sun::Sun::Sun::Sun::Sun::Sun::Sun::Sun::Sun:

[batyler65]

LORI

Whew, just reading your post wore me out. Some spring break, huh?

I hope you continue to get TBWN detangled.

Pie charts? OMG! Pie charts? Girl, things are getting out of control. Focus on the writing, not the illustrations. ;)

:Sun::Sun::Sun::Sun::Sun::Sun:

Peace,
Barb

[batyler65]

TRI

Keep playing around with that unbelievable protag. Do you just not have a handle on her, or is she "out there" in la-la land unbelievable?

if you are just trying to get a handle on her there are several approaches you could take. You can interview her (yes, write the questions then have her answer them). You can try people watching at the local grocery to find character traits that might help flesh her out. Or you can just push her around on the paper for a bit until she demands that you write her differently.

If she's in la-la land, try grounding her in two or three areas that are relatable to readers. Relatable personality traits may endear her enough that readers overlook some of her less believable aspects.

Keep pushing.
Barb
:Sun::Sun::Sun::Sun::Sun:

[batyler65]

MAC

Did a bunch more research, am storing it in a live journal, so I can add to it from anywhere...did a new blog entry...rewrote a flash piece as a word choice exercise in the Horror forum...and added about a thousand words to Weird... :)



Yippee for a productive week!
(I'd still like to see more words in Weird.;))

What's the total word count on that novel getting to be? Are you due for another smiley party?

:Sun::Sun::Sun::Sun:

Barb

[Betty W01]

Mostly spent time running a one-woman book fair at school and trying to get caught up on book reviews. I did an Idol audition (well, I submitted it, but I wrote it a while ago) and wrote a poem for Monday night's class. I went to a writer's conference on Saturday and did a lot of networking and note-taking and started two essays, a poem, and a list of article ideas there. I sent out about a dozen queries, too. And I cleaned in my office some more this week. You can now see half of the top of my desk and part of the floor. A small part. I did get the bathrooms sort of cleaned and a lot of laundry done. Next week should be better, honest... although I have to take my mom to the doctor on Wed. I think I'll take a notebook with me and work on the essays from Saturday while I wait.

Allow me to brag on DH, by the way. He did dishes three days this week on his lunch hour, to help me keep up, despite his own long days (he goes from wrok straight to class and doesn't get home until 10 or so four nights a wk).

Then on Sat. I left for the conference way early in the morning and got back home around 5 pm, dog-tired. I found a vase of carnations (my favorite flower), an album cover from a record we used to listen to when we were dating (he found it when he went to the flea market while I was gone), a bottle of Coca-Cola chilling in the frig, and the makings for dinner - which he then made and served. Then, he watched Raising Helen with me (I loved it, but he hates chick flicks.)

I love that man. And no, he wasn't feeling guilty - rather, several couples we know are getting divorced after many years of marriage, and it's making both of us feel very blessed and in love right now to still be together and closer than ever.

[Fractured_Chaos]

*big hugs*

I am so glad to see you back among us. I'm hoping that next week's report is better.

Okay. NOW, I can taser you. ZZZZZtt!


Next weekend. Progress. I mean it.

Barb

YE-OWCH!


...


Do it again!

[Melina]

Betty-


Wow, your hubby is a sweetie! Congratulations on finding each other and growing together through the years. You both are truly blessed...

Melina

[batyler65]

BETTY

First: Big gold stars for hubby! :Sun::Sun::Sun:

And then another batch for you. That Wonder Woman Avatar doesn't do you justice!

:Sun::Sun::Sun::Sun::Sun::Sun::Sun:

Glad to see you back with us! is that book fair over yet?

Barb

[ChunkyC]

Hi gang!

Ray, big congrats on getting the part! And on finishing the edits! And big kudos to all of you who made progress this week.

As for me -- I'm about 3/4 of the way through FATL, and it is now at 46,500 words. That's about 14,000 or so more than it was at the beginning of this draft. I have added new characters, beefed up some others, some of whom now actually have names, and written half a dozen new scenes. It has gone from 14 to 17 chapters and I think I'm going to be at around 50,000 words by the time this draft is done.

Which means at least one more draft if I want the darn thing to be novel length. Thing is, there is a lot more to work with now, and I'm confident I can get it there, it's just going to take time.

Also -- wrote my column and received nice comments back from a beta reader.

[Cate]

Eek!
Sorry--really hectic weekend!
I was sooo good tho-
-sold 2 pieces
-sent off a reprint to see if I can score a sale
-wrote, researched and sent out 3 sumbissions
-added content to the site I am contributing editor for
-researched markets to query and got a TON
-no word back from the company that owes me $ but tried again
-researched an alternative for the market that hasn't answered my e-mails after they requested a piece on spec. (grr)
-adjusted my bad attitude
And probably more, but I want to get back to work now!
Sorry I was late!

[batyler65]

Charlie

Quote: Barb Keeps Following Me

Methinks you are beginning to understand the whole "Hotel California" reference. bwaaahahahahahaaaa! :wag:

Good work on FATL. I'm sorry that it still needs another draft, but am glad you are feeling so positive about it. Woo-hoo!


:Sun::Sun::Sun:

[batyler65]

CATE
All is forgiven.

WOW! What a great and productive week you had. Even with the little rocky places. 2 sales, 3 new subs, market research...

You done good. :)

:Sun::Sun::Sun:

[katiemac]

All right, I'm the late comer this week.

So, last week (Sat-Fri) I think I wrote in about 100 words. If even. They were broken sentences of dialogue that I wrote down before I would forget them. They will become new scenes in the second draft, whenever that road happens along.

Anyway, last week school-wise I had three exams and a paper to write, but that means this week I'm home free! (Literally, it's spring break and I'm typing this from my home computer.) Anyway, it's so nice to be back. This is the same place where I was clocking in 11,000 words a week before I went back to school. So hopefully my muse will hit, and hit hard.

In other writing-related news, I was trying to fall asleep the other night when the final sentence of the novel came to me. I wrote it down on an index card, and there it sits on my bedside table. It's perfect, and I'm pretty excited because I wasn't really sure how this thing was going to end. Now I do, and if I could type that sentence up by Saturday with "The End" shortly attached, I will be a very happy person indeed.

[batyler65]

WHEEEEEEEEEE!

Good to see you Katiemac! Sounds like you are properly motivated, even if you did have to suffer through the pre-spring break trauma to get here.

I've got my fingers crossed that you make it to The End by Saturday!

Barb

[batyler65]

Okay, folks. Friday is almost upon us. Start thinking up your alibis now. ;)

Attention Lurkers! Now's your chance to jump in and become a part of the insanity... er *clears throat* I mean wonderful and supportive (not to mention electrically charged) group of folks here in humor. Yeah, I know it's the humor thread, but you don't have to write humor to play. You must HAVE a sense of humor, a set of goals and a commitment to sharing the good and bad with a bunch of people you've never met. Sound like your kind of fun? Then you're already one of us. You just don't know it yet. Bwaaahahahaaaaaaa!

I'll post the new report tomorrow to get us started.
Come play.

Barb

[batyler65]

GOOD MORNING WEEKENDERS!

Welcome to the last Friday in March. (And Happy Easter a bit early to those of you who celebrate.) It is also nearly the end of the first quarter of 2005. That means it's the perfect time to assess and reassess where you are going this year with your writing. What's working? What isn't? What is driving you bonkers? Take a little time today to look at your goals and readjust them if you need to. What do you want to accomplish between now and June 1st?

My list:
1. Get one of my self-syndication projects ready to send out the door.

2. Finish the first draft of the current novel so my brain (and Bud's) is free to work on the final draft of MONSTER.

3. Sub at least one more "really good" piece to Family Circle".

4. Find a home for my nonfic children's book ms. (Which is completely unlike anything I've ever seen before, so I'm having trouble pinpointing a market.)

5. Continue to keep making 5 sub/queries per week (until I generate more work than I can keep up with. ;)).

*whew* I think I may be overbooking myself.

This week, I've stuck with my goal of mailing out SOMETHING every work day. This week: two queries and three subs hit the mail. I'm also dredging up ideas for next week. But today, well, TODAY is for working on the new book. I'm hoping to churn out a couple of chapters. This one is completely plotted out so once I get the words rolling, I tend to truck right on down the road. Here's hoping I get to call for a 10k party at next report.

So, how about it guys and gals? What's new with you? What are your goals for the next quarter?

C'mon weekenders. Make me proud, the taser is getting way too much use. we're gonna wear it out and I'll have to go back to that scary red whip again.

Happy Writing!
Barb

[Liam Jackson]

I'm back at work on a collaboration....finally. I've also managed to squeeze in about 8k words on that "priest moonlights as Arch Diocese assassin. It's a lousy story, but gawd is that a fun protagonist!

[mommie4a]

Hi Barb and the rest of the weekenders! I'm kind of new but I really enjoy reading your posts here so I thought I'd add one.

This isn't exactly my goal list for the next month or so, but it has to do with that - and it's a question I'm guessing the folks here could help with, I hope!

I'm nearing the end of a year-long freelance commitment. It was 10hours/week for a year. The work is perfect for me - in an area I enjoy, writing I like. I've gotten to workshop with a few other writers in the same project.

The Problem: The contractor wants to extend if for another year but I'm not sure I want to continue. I'd love advice on how to think about this decision.

I'm a fulltime mother of three school aged kids and have about 10-15 hours/week for writing. That project takes up at least 10/week. I'm ITCHING to get into other work. On the other hand, the contacts I'm making and the mentoring I get is fabulous.

Any suggestions for how to figure out where in my priorities this job continuation possibility should go?

Thank you all very much. I know how folks in AW really give consideration to these questions.

Have a good Good Friday and Easter (and a happy Purim!).

[Cate]

How about a comprimise? Would they let you do, say 4 or 5 hours of the work and split it w/ someone else? Then you would have time for your other stuff and still retain some cash flow and contacts . . .
Just a thought . . .

[Cate]

Ringing in early since I have been a Johnnie come lately lately.
What?
Anyway . . .
Deadbeat publication is promising the check goes out to my PO box on Tuesday--I will beleive it when I see it, but at least they answered me . . .
Got an acceptance and did market research.
Worked on a piece that is a large article due April 1.
My writing partner is moving here on May 1 so I have been helping w/ that process too . . . I know it doesn't seem related, but him being here will help generate more articles so . . .
Thats about it.
As for my goals--I just want to increase output. Constantly.
Heh.

[mommie4a]

Hi Cate - thanks for the input. I'm with you on always trying to increase output too.

About the 4-5 hour split thing, that would be nice. I kind of suggested it at the last workshop meeting I had with the writing group involved but if anything, I think the contractor is hoping that we'll all do more than 10 hours. Hmm - just not sure...trying to weigh potential pros and cons. Not easy to do when you're just speculating about the future.

Thanks again!

[MacAllister]

Welcome to WPR, mommie4a! Just ignore all those Hotel California references--that's really just for Frank, anyway.

[mommie4a]

Thanks, Mac (can I abbreviate to Mac? don't want to offend). Who's the guitarist in your profile - looks a bit like Kenny Wayne Shepard before he chopped off his hair. Is it you?

[Fractured_Chaos]

*sigh* I've been trying to cut out about 800 words to Helen's Eyes, and I just can't seem to get it. I think I'm waaaaaay too close to the project, now, and it might be better if I put it away for a week.

I'm going back to "Shadows" for the time being. I have some deliciously creepy ideas to work into it that will beef up the story better.

Geeeeeeeze! Who'da thunk that a short story would give me this much grief?

[batyler65]

Welcome, Jill!

Glad to have you on the progress report.

Sounds like you have a tough decision to make. Personally, I'm in favor of those steady paychecks. Though, from looking at your website, it looks like you have that covered from other areas.

If money is not an issue, then you have to follow your heart. Ask yourself these questions:
Is it rewarding? (More rewarding than those itchy projects?;))
Do you look forward to doing the work?
Does it keep you creatively charged, or is it a source of stress?
Will it lead to something bigger and better if you stick with it?
Would you miss it?

Let us know how it goes.

Luck,
Barb

[Natalia]

Hiya all!

Back on this side of the Pond. Everything in London went great. My conference was awesome and my paper caused quite a debate, which is great.

As far as this past week, I'd say about 7K words :) Yaay!
I am especially happy because I have passed the 30K words mark on my most advance novel MS. It's a big deal for me. Halfway there if I am aiming for 60K words.

My goals:

Start submitting more.
Finish the MS and start querying before the year is over.
Finish my prospectus, defend it successfully and start work on my dissertation.

Woohoo :thankyou:

-Natalia

[mommie4a]

Ask yourself these questions:
Is it rewarding? (More rewarding than those itchy projects?;))
Do you look forward to doing the work?
Does it keep you creatively charged, or is it a source of stress?
Will it lead to something bigger and better if you stick with it?
Would you miss it?

Those are fantastic questions, Barb, and they really focus on what I need to think about re: this decision. Part of me wants to stick with it. I'm covering a nearly billion dollar effort by the Gates Foundation to transform high schools (as implemented in one Ohio public school district). This is the first year of implementation and following beyond the first is vital to seeing real success - or failure.

But the answer gets complicated when I think about my time constraints and where I want to go with other writing dreams. I'm hoping to come up with some kind of a compromise that will let me get everything I want! How devilish is that!? Hope I can do it.

Has anyone come up with good ways to straddle between somewhat conflicting opportunities and still get the best of them?

Thanks again for the advice and the welcome.

[TashaGoddard]

Mostly this week I have been tinkering with my idol audition and finally posted it (#216 on p.9 if anyone's interested). The editing job I'm working on at the moment is really taking its toll - it's much more of a rewriting job than an editing job, really, so it is somewhat stealing all my creative energy. I've scribbled bits and bobs down in the notebooks, but nothing of particular length, quality or use.

My goals? Well, I'm clearly having trouble making the 5000 words a week goal, so I do need to rejig the goals, I think:

1. Try to progress the novel by at least 1 scene a week (preferably a whole chapter).
2. Be at least a third of the way through (c. 30,000 words/10 chapters) by the end of June.
3. Try to plan a whole week off work to devote entirely to writing (and maybe go away somewhere, like a little cottage in Cornwall, to do so).

[Kitahoshi]

My back is cracking and my fingers feel like they're humming. I just joined tonight and already I've cracked down on finishing my Harry Potter Fanfic Poor Little Bug on the Wall (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1310819/1/) at Fanfiction.net. (http://www.fanfiction.net) I posted a chapter last night and I just uploaded a new chapter that according to the automatic word count said 1500. Just incase it's wrong, I know it was three pages in pt.12 font.

I keep wondering if I should just stick to one fanfic at a time to finish and go in a linear, logical order. But I'd hate if I lost an idea for one or the other by not typing it up immediately. And sometimes things just feel like they need to be written right then while it's still burning in your overactive imagination.

This week I successfully posted a journal entry every day on Gaia Online (http://www.gaiaonline.com/journal/index.php). It helps me remember the events on each day and all the little things that I forget like simple pleasures. It really helps when I'm feeling down to look back at an entry that's really happy.

If I'm not kicked off my computer for typing so loudly and erratically while my parents are sleeping down the hall, I hope to type up another chapter for the Harry Potter Fanfic. In my author's page (http://www.fanfiction.net/%7EKitahoshi) I updated it so that my plans are laid out on how I'm going to finish things. I also encouraged reviewers to send me e-mail on what series they think I should write more in. My fanfics are usually on a wide variety of different shows, usually anime and some not.

On Fanfiction.Net, when I write AU (Alternate Universe) fanfics I wonder if maybe I could use those for original fictions since most of it is changed. Ofcourse, the characters are borrowed so I guess not. Still some people could pull it off. One of my favourite stories to read like that was called To Dance Beneath The Diamond Sky (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/636325/1/) and I highly reccommend it to anyone who's interested in reading it. It made me cry when I first read it so I keep it on my Favourite Stories List even though I haven't read it since.

~~Kitahoshi~~

[triceretops]

Whoa! Kit, it looks like you're busier than a mosqueto (sp) in a nudist colony.You must be on energy drinks! Good going.

The novel is five pages a day. Dag nab it, it would probably be more if I'd unsubscrige to the Death and Neverending threads, for cryin' out loud. What a drama, worthy of a short story (horror) with a cast of 11,000, a true Cecile B. Demille epic.

I write five, reread and edit five--five on--five off. So far so good

Tri

[Kitahoshi]

You're doing pretty well yourself, Trice! I haven't even gotten to my own fiction writing yet. I want to finish all my fanfics first.
:Coffee:

[Kida Adelyne]

Hullo.

Ummmm...

I'm Sorry! I barely wrote a thing. :Hail:

See, I was sick on tuesday and wednesday. I was kind of like this-->:faint:<--so I spent both days on the computer. Playing Sims. :poke:

On the bright side, I took some Tylenol(sp?) Cold, Nightime relief. It didn't work on the cold. But it made me even more dopey, so naturly, while I was trying to fall asleep, my muse came back from vacation. Unable to write and not wanting to turn on the lights, I only managed to be able to scrounge a marker, so with no paper, I wrote it on the side of my desk.

My muse hates me.:cry:

So, long story short, I wrote out an idea for a story. After getting to a computer, I elaberated it for a total of 750 words through my journaling-type venture.

And that was my week.


(edit)
I just realised that I didn't reasess my goals. I really should.
In January, I said I wanted to re-do and finish spirit door. In three months. *cringe* Umm. Not hapening. I think I might as well scrap it as somthing I tried when I was a mere child (ok, thee years ago) and not going anywhere. Go on to bigger things. *sob* I really don't want to, but it's not going anywhere. The plot is based on plot holes.

So instead, I will make new goals for spring.
1. I still want to actually submit somthing, no matter how small, before the years end.
2. I want to actually finish, and completely edit Lost Id (what I have been working on) Not just lose interest in it like I do with everything else.
3. Keep with the journaling venture. It's really good for the muse.


(((hugs))) Ally.

[Kitahoshi]

Poor Ally. *hugs her for her sickness then pokes her with a stick*
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/Emotepoke.gif

[maestrowork]

Column and moving along with CTN. I think I may break 30K this week.

[Natalia]

Congrats on being close to 30K maestro :) I just broke that barrier woohoo :snoopy:

[wurdwise]

Ok, Barbara, get the taser, the bullwhip, the shackles and chains, Denise has been absent through sunshine and rain! :gone:

I have missed you guys, been working my tail off on Maddy and hanging out, admittedly, in WritersNet. :Wha: where things seem rather depressing to me these days. So where do I come running when I want cheering up? ;) Or to suck up?:thankyou:

Anyway, just wanted to say hi and that I am coming to the finish line on Maddy. I have set myself a goal of having her polished and ready to send out queries by my 50th birthday in late April.:Cake:

Hope everbody is doing great. I promise not to stay gone so long again.

Denise

[CindyBidar]

I was out for the weekend, so I'm checking in a bit late, but I am checking in. I wrote about 2000 words this week, a most of them in this week's WIP. (I seem to get more done if I can jump around a bit.)

The goal for this week is 1000 words a day. I'll let you know on Friday how that worked out. Have a good week, everyone!

[ritinrider]

whoa, I'm here Barb. No need to send out the search parties.

While on a cleaning spree I came across an article by Lawrence Block titled. "Not writing for my Writing Career", or something to that effect. hmmmm, wander if Barb would buy that? No? I didn't think so, especially when you consider Mr. Block actually made (makes) money from his writing. Maybe not on the Grisham or King scale, but hey a living is a living. Also, when reading the actual article he talks of traveling to recharge his batteries. Awww, you probably have to write and use up some creativeness (and I can't spell either) to need batteries recharged. Oh darn. Ok, I'll just come in here and report, such as it is:

I forget, I either forgot to check in last weekend (I am getting older after all) or I didn't have internet access (it happens sometimes). Don't even remember what I did in the way of writing 2 weeks ago. This past week however, I have flitted like a butterfly, and not nearly as gracefully or pretty.

1. Added about 500 words to E (gotta find my index cards!)
2. Added some more notes to E for things to happen
3. Tried to figure out how to start a column I'm wanting to write ( had about five false starts, nothing I like yet)
4. Worked on 2 article ideas, except I've run into a snag - keep reading the freelance writing thread, think I've found one of my answers. May have to post my question (darn I hate looking stupid, much prefer someone else ask my question).
5. Worked on an entry for Idol, but backed out of submitting it.

Goal for this week, get a couple of queries written and out circulating, find the cards and add to E., try a writing exercise I read about somewhere else on the boards.

I read everyone else's successes, but forgot to note them and of course, now can't remember how good everyone did. Do remember Ally was sick. Sorry to hear that Ally, but how could you even sit at the computer to play Sims? I'm assuming that's where you play? Hope you feel better soon.

Nita

[Birol]

You can stop following me around now, Barb. I'm here for the End of the Quarter Review.

*mutteringGivesomepeopleawhipandatazergrumble*

The Weekly Report:


Finished the final draft of a short story.
Did market research.
Subbed a nonfic article.
Resubbed a fiction piece that was rejected this week. Had it rejected again. Found another market for it but haven't resubbed it yet.
Updated my submission tracker.
Sent out a query.
Had an epiphany on TBWN while continuing to work on detangling it.

First Quarter Report:

At the beginning of the year, over in the Office Party's New Year's Resolution thread, I stated my goals for 2005 were:

Contact five new markets or send out five new queries each week
Write 5K in TBWN each week until it is finished
Write and submit one short story each month
Do something with nonfiction
At the end of the first quarter, I find schoolwork is taking more time than I anticipated and I have not been meeting this goals quite like I hoped. I am revising them accordingly:

I probably have been averaging this if you count contacting new markets, but using new market contacts gives me an out for not sending out queries. I am going to eliminate the contact markets option on this goal because that is something I don't have a problem doing when there is time. Because of school committments, I am downgrading the number of queries to send out, too. I will attempt to send out 2 or 3 new queries each week.
At the beginning of the year, I did not anticipate starting Something New or TBWN becoming as tangled as it is. I have been moving steadily forward with Something New and have started to more accurately map out TBWN. My current goal is to have the plotting of TBWN completed by the end of April and to have the rough draft completed by the end of May.
I have completed three new short stories this quarter, which meets my average of one per month. I just need to do a final polish and send each of them out into the world. I would like to continue writing one short story each month.
Something with nonfiction was a bit too vague and makes it too easy to ignore. I will attempt to complete one nonfiction article or assignment each week.

[katiemac]

I think my muse has committed suicide.

1500 words this week. I *didn't* finish the WIP like I intended, but I'm so close I can taste it.

I'm distracted from the ending, however. I have all these little urges to go edit some scenes I *know* need to be edited, and write the scenes I know I'm going to be adding. I've got some great ideas for some of those, so I'm feeling a little blocked on the end. It's ridiculous, because I know *exactly* what happens from here on out.

I did an estimated word count, rather than just using Word, and came up with about 65,000. I'll probably hit 70,000 by the end, and all the extra scenes I'm planning should put me over the top of 80,000 like I originally guessed.

[Side note: I hate to rehash the word count, because proper counting comes up so often I'm getting sick of it myself. But Word rounds me off at about 49,000 and like I said I'm getting 65,000 the other way. Is it just me, or does a 16,000 word difference seem unusually large?]

[batyler65]

LIAM

I'm back at work on a collaboration....finally. I've also managed to squeeze in about 8k words on that "priest moonlights as Arch Diocese assassin. It's a lousy story, but gawd is that a fun protagonist!

Good to have you back amongst us on the report! 8k? EXCELLENT! And don't judge the story yet. The fact that it is fun to write about your protag should tell you something. Fun to write usually translates into fun to read. Good luck with both projects!

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/emoticonbanana.gifhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/emoticonbanana.gif

(I'm handing out bananas this week. Blame Bud. I do.)

Barb

[batyler65]

JILL

Keep us posted on your decision. I've done the three kids under 12 thing, it's a hectic life. Hang tough.

Barb

[batyler65]

CATE

I hope that check makes an appearance tomorrow. Sheesh, what a headache.

Yippee! on the acceptance! Those are always nice. Hope you get three more this week. (But you can gather a rejection too, if you have time. We need help in the rejection collection. Serious help. ;))


As for my goals--I just want to increase output. Constantly.

Excellent goal! And one I'm sure you can meet.

Bananas for you. http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/emoticonbanana.gifhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/emoticonbanana.gif

[batyler65]

LORRIE

*sigh* I've been trying to cut out about 800 words to Helen's Eyes, and I just can't seem to get it. I think I'm waaaaaay too close to the project, now, and it might be better if I put it away for a week.

Geeeeeeeze! Who'da thunk that a short story would give me this much grief?

Here's a trick that may help you get those words chopped. Instead of deleting them, cut them out and paste them into an "save for later" file. sometimes just knowing you can retrieve them if needed makes it easier. Promise!

In the meantime, good luck with Shadow. As long as you are writing SOMETHING, it's all good.

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/emoticonbanana.gifhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/emoticonbanana.gif

Barb

[batyler65]

30k PARTY FOR NATALIA!!!

NATALIA
Welcome back!

Glad that everything in London was a smash.

7k this week? Excellent. You have almost passed my entire total for the new novel *sigh*.

30K total is MARVELOUS! Woo-Hoo! Bet it feels great!

http://www.gifs.net/animate/firework75.gif

[batyler65]

TASHA

First: Congrats on your idol audition!

I'm sorry that the editing job is taking its toll. Work like that can really sap your creative energy.

I've scribbled bits and bobs down in the notebooks, but nothing of particular length, quality or use.

Bits and bobs always have their use. If nothing else, they are keeping you in touch with your muse and keeping your writing muscles limber. Hang in there. Those bits and bobs may be worth something one day. ;)

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/emoticonbanana.gif

Barb

[Melina]

*sigh*

I just can't get motivated. I sit here and think of what I should be doing, and I get more and more bummed out. I'm so tired, I hate my job, I'm grouchy, I'm depressed. Actually, I'm getting started on the monthly copywriting assignment today, so maybe that will jump-start my life. I hope so. I feel really unhappy lately.

Melina

[batyler65]

KIT

WELCOME!

Glad to have you here!

When it comes to writing, there is no "stick to one thing" rule. At least, if there is, nobody bothered to tell my muse. There's also no right or wrong approach to getting it done. whatever works for you is the way you should do it. There are tips and tricks and all that stuff, but if you can write multiple stories at the same time, go for it.

Keep us posted on your writings. And once again, welcome to WPR. You're gonna like it here. This is a great group.

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/emoticonbanana.gifhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/emoticonbanana.gif
Barb

[batyler65]

TRI

Any word on that unbelievable character? Is she behaving better this week?

Glad you are still keeping up your five pages. Wanna come write mine? ;)


http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/emoticonbanana.gifhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/emoticonbanana.gif
Barb

[batyler65]

ALLY

Hmm. Too sick to write, but well enough to play sims. Do I look like i'm gonna buy that? I didn't think so.

ZZZZzztt!!

Look at the bright side, maybe the extra electrical current will kill germs.

Keep going with the journaling, Ally. Summer is coming. At least that's what my kids keep telling me.
I'm going to expect great things from you in the coming month, so you better make nice with your muse now. ;)

Keep in touch with your goals. I want to hear that you've mailed something out soon!


Barb

[batyler65]

WHEE, RAY!

Waiting to hear you broke the 30k barrier. are we there yet? are we there yet? are we? Huh? Huh?

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/emoticonbanana.gifhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/emoticonbanana.gif

[batyler65]

DENISE


Glad to see you back!

Why would I torture you? You left us and got down to the biz of writing Maddy. I am so excited for you nearing the finish line!

Promise you will keep us posted? I can't wait to hear that you've got it done!


http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/emoticonbanana.gifhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/emoticonbanana.gifhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/emoticonbanana.gifhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/emoticonbanana.gif

Barb

[batyler65]

CINDY

1k per day is a doable goal. I can't wait to hear how well it has worked for you. 2k for this past week is nothing to sneeze at either. Hope you find a daily routine that works for you. (Hint: getting sucked into the internet for three hours a day is not a viable routine -- or so they tell me. ;))

Bananas for you, too.
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/emoticonbanana.gifhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/emoticonbanana.gifhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/emoticonbanana.gif
Barb

[batyler65]

NITA
You made a little progress, and like a always say, any writing is good writing. Keep going (and FIND those index cards!).

Tell us about the writing exercise. Maybe it is something we can all benefit from. Share?

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/emoticonbanana.gif
Barb

[batyler65]

LORI

Wow. You have your goals well in hand. I like the no-nonsense analysis of what is working and what isn't. Good luck with meeting all of those for the next quarter.

As for your progress. Well, I definitely deem in banana-worthy. Here's hoping the detangling get smoother and that Something New continues to flow.

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/emoticonbanana.gifhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/emoticonbanana.gifhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/emoticonbanana.gifhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/emoticonbanana.gif


Barb

[batyler65]

(((((KATIEMAC)))))

You are almost there! Don't give in to those impulses to edit just yet. They are a delay tactic and not to be tolerated! ;) Make notes if you must, but Finish. The. Book. Don't worry yourself into serious blockage here. Repeat after me: whatever is put on the page can be fixed. Now, go put those words on the page. Get it done. We want to party!
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/emoticonbanana.gifhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/emoticonbanana.gifhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/emoticonbanana.gif

Barb

P.S. I'm no word counting expert, but those numbers do seem to be a bit off. Maybe somebody else in here has an answer?

[batyler65]

DEAR MIAs

You know who you are.

We missed you this week.

We ate that candy you had stashed.

We rifled through your desk.

We chained all your paper clips together.

We replaced your cordless phone handset with a banana.

We signed you up for spam.

We can't wait for next week.

Bwaahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaa!

No-no, really, stay away. We have plans. Big ones. With bells on.

hee-hee.

[MacAllister]

Barb--you're more than welcome to that little pile of abandoned black jelly-beans you found hidden in my top desk drawer. And the nasty purple ones that taste like detergent, too.

Really.

Take them. They're yours.

I made about 1500 words this week on the book, and did more research on the next project. And ripped out the 20-year-old linoleum in my kitchen. And the new carpet should be showing up in a couple of hours.

Sorry I'm late.

:D

[batyler65]

MAC

Ptoooey! Ick! *wiping tongue on shirt* I'm thinking the bunny doesn't like you, Mac.

1,500 words is progress. Just don't lose yourself in the land of research.

Um... Got goals? Hmm?

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/emoticonbanana.gif

Barb

[Fractured_Chaos]

My weekend was actually productive! Thanks to some major help in finding what needs to be cut on Helen's Eyes. I think it's now down to a submittable length. :banana:

[batyler65]

Good for you, Lorrie! Woo-hoo!

Now get it in the mail!

[ritinrider]

Whoo-hoo Barb, and anyone else who might be interested. Just had to share, I now know what my heroine's internal problem is. I keep reading or hearing my mc needs to have an internal problem and she needs to learn something or grow through the book (not in size, silly, emotionally).

There I was innocently changing the sheets on the bed, thinking about my wip (I am supposed to do that, right?) when wham, it hit me. Of course, there's the major problem, running away from her inlaws that's basically the premise of the book. But, her internal problem? Nope, just didn't know what it was, had no idea. Then wham it hit me.

So I just had to share, a few hours later (darn husband, expected me to cook and stuff), but still sharing.

Bye. Gonna write now.

Nita

[Birol]

:TheWave:


Congratulations, Nita! You gotta love those moments of revelation.

[katiemac]

you're more than welcome to that little pile of abandoned black jelly-beans

Why do they even *make* the black ones? Does ANYBODY eat them? What a waste of calories.

[Fractured_Chaos]

Good for you, Lorrie! Woo-hoo!

Now get it in the mail!

Just sent! It's for an e-zine that pays, so they take subs by email.

Wish me luck!


*heehee! I'm all aquiver! My very first submission* :snoopy:







*OMG! My very first submission! :eek: (good thing I sent it off email, before I could get second thoughts)

[ritinrider]

:Clap: Yeah Lorrie, finished and sent it off, way to go. Yeah, those second thought things can be deadly can't they. Good thing you beat it too. :Thumbs: (just had to give you 2 smilies for such a good job.)

Nita

[batyler65]

CHEERS to you both!

Lorrie: Congrats on taking the plunge! What a great way to start the week!

Nita: Go tackle that story. Make it shine. I'm glad you are past that road block!



This calls for more bananas!
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/emoticonbanana.gifhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/emoticonbanana.gifhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/emoticonbanana.gifhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/emoticonbanana.gif

[ChunkyC]

Binbizzy at home. Mrs. Chunky is quitting her job and going to a new one, so there has been lots of husbandly support type stuff to be done.

Binbizzy at work. I want a new job too!

Wrote my column. Am nearly through this draft of FATL, now clocking in at 50,000 words with only the denouement left, an increase of just under 18,000. Once that's done, I think I should put it aside for a bit and go back to Novel#2 and see if I can whip it into final shape and submit that puppy to prospective agents!

[batyler65]

CC (a.k.a. Binbizzy)

I'm glad you are still out there with us. Sounds like you are right, time to set FATL aside and let it simmer. Get Novel #2 out there. Sell it, make a bunch of $$$, then quit the evil day job. Good goals.

Some bananas for you.
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/emoticonbanana.gifhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/emoticonbanana.gifhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/emoticonbanana.gifhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/emoticonbanana.gif

[ChunkyC]

(to the tune of "yes, we have some bananas")
Oh yes, I have some bananas!
I got some bananas from Barb!
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/emoticonbanana.gif
Did you honestly think I was going to stop there?

Come mister tally man and tally me bananas....
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/emoticonbanana.gif
Ba-na na-na na-na na-na
Na-na na-na na-na na-na
BATMAN!
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/emoticonbanana.gif
Okay, that's enough for now. http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/tongue.gif

[batyler65]

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/EmoteROFL.gifhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/EmoteROFL.gifhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/EmoteROFL.gifhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/EmoteROFL.gif

[katiemac]

(to the tune of "yes, we have some bananas")
Oh yes, I have some bananas!
I got some bananas from Barb!
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/emoticonbanana.gif
Did you honestly think I was going to stop there?

Come mister tally man and tally me bananas....
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/emoticonbanana.gif
Ba-na na-na na-na na-na
Na-na na-na na-na na-na
BATMAN!
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/emoticonbanana.gif
Okay, that's enough for now. http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/tongue.gif

Is that the title of that song? I never knew. It never fails to remind me of Beetleguese, though.

[ritinrider]

Wahoo, cheers for Binbizzy (CC), such a supportive husband type fellow, hard working (at least he must appear to be to his boss, he still has a job) making progress on writing AND he sings. Quite a talented fellow he is.


Nita

[batyler65]

AH, Friday! Welcome back, folks.

Sorry I'm running a bit late today. I fell down a deadline hole and just now clawed my way back to the surface. (Multiple deadlines today -- EEK)


GOOD NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I broke the 10k barrier on the new book this week! 10,580 at last count! *pats self on back* Now if my monkey muse would get back to work... I might just get this thing knocked out.

1 query and 4 submissions this week -- keeps me right in there with my goal of 5 per week.

I didn't win the Erma bombeck competition. *sigh* But that's okay. LOTS of other people didn't win, too.
I also got THREE rejections this week. It's been a long week.

That's about it for me. What's new with you folks?

Lay it on me! I can take it.

Barb

[MacAllister]

Mac slinks in to report, hat pulled low, collar turned up.

"Why on earth are you slouching around like that? Your spine is going to grow that way," Barb observes.

"Piffle," Mac says, "I finished growing years ago, and besides, I drink plenty of milk." (Okay, I didn't really say "piffle"--but moving right along)

"And your report? This better be good, after the way you've dodged WPR for the last couple of week." Barb raises one eyebrow and taps her elegantly-clad toe.

"Actually, I just realized last night that I'd written my way into the climax of the book. I expect to wrap up the first draft sometime around the end of this week, if all goes well. It's going to come in at about 60K words. Short, I know--but I'll need at least another 25-30K words just to fill the plot holes I could drive a truck through, right now..."

And with that, Mac pulls her collar even higher, and departs back into the rainy street...

[ChunkyC]

...as I, ChunkyC, aka Binbizzy, slouch into the alley to take my turn with Barb. (I see those minds in the gutter, now get outta there!)

I check to see that nobody followed me, then begin my report. "Barb -- nice toe, by the way -- I have finished the second draft of FATL. It's time to let it take a breather while I go back to Novel #2, heretofore to be known by its working title: HOME."

"And?"

"And what?"

The Toe begins to dance and so do I, backwards out of the alley.

"You know what," Barb says, and then it hits me:

"Congratulations on breaking 10K, Barberino!" I shout, and then she tazers me, probably because I called her Barberino.

I can't wait to see what happens next week, I think to myself (as though I could think to someone else, for criminy sakes), as I retreat to make room for....

[batyler65]

Barb gives Mac a blank look. "Elegantly-clad toe? What, you mean this Sponge Bob Bandaid?"

Mac takes the blank look, draws a pair of horns sticking out of the forehead, adds a squiggly moustache and passes the not-so-blank look back to Barb.

"Hmm..." says Barb, examining Mac's artistry. "Looks like someone I once dated. Wait a minute! I know what you are doing. You are trying to distract me!"

Mac gives Barb a "who me?" look. Barb, overcome by a fit of doodle frenzy, takes the look and gives it bushy eyebrows and a hat, then realizes what she is doing and freezes.

"Stop that!" Barb says. "Stop slinking, get that hat up out of your eyes, and wipe off that milk moustache. You got work to do! Get out there and finish that book. I WILL be watching for your report next week.
Yeeeehaw!

[batyler65]

Barb takes a long look at Charlie and decides to forgive him for calling her Barberino even though the proper feminine form would be Barberin-A.

Charlie gave Barb a frightened look. Barb, still cursed by doodle frenzy, accepted the frightened look, gave it a pair of tall ears and long droopy whiskers.

"Um... Barb," says Charlie. "What exactly does this have to do with my report?"

"Oh, yeah. Right," Barb answers. "Reports, that's what we were doing." She notes that Charlie doesn't have a frightened look anymore. This is good, she thinks.

"Keep working on HOME, then," she says. "FATL deserves a break. As long as you are writing on something, Binbizzy. (Which, by the way, is an excellent name for a bunny.)"

She is about to say something else when her toe, that wild and uncontrollable digit, begins to dance again, dragging her down the alley against her will.

"Heeeeeeeelllllllllllllllpppppp!" she screams.

[Natalia]

Well, let's see...

I wrote about 5k words.
Sent in 21 subs.
I also did a lot of research and found loads of new lit mags (Thanks wurdy-word for the added links xoxox)

I need to focus on finishing some new short stories so I am not submitting the same stuff.
My MS is up to 32K... yaay :hooray:


Cheers all

[Kitahoshi]

Well, I actually recorded the work I did this week in a Word file. Unfortunately I started it on Tuesday so for you all to know, my week technically started on Tuesday.

On Tuesday: chapter 29 on Poor Little Bug on the Wall written
Rather short journal entry on Gaia

Wednesday: Long journal entry
Drew picture for an Elf Quest RP

Thursday: Long journal entry
Chapter 30 of Poor Little Bug on the Wall
Finsished Elf Quest Pic on computer

Friday: Long journal entry
Wrote a poem titled “Next time” in homeroom
Typed up pre-written chapter of Gundam Wing: Next Generation, but couldn't post it because Fanfiction.net is down


Total words written this week: 2 187 (all counted from Poor Little Bug on the Wall)

Total word count on Poor Little Bug on the Wall: 26 950 = 30 chapters

My goals: Write at least one new chapter for a fanfic each week. Maybe a little small, but school is... getting in the way. As well my friends seem to be clinging to me a lot and saying that I'm a hermit and need to get out more. Also my friend number seems to be growing exponentially lately. In other words, suddenly ever five seconds walking through school hallways is: "Hi!" or waving or smiling. Not sure if this is normal. But it sure makes me feel loved. :heart: Here's the Elf Quest pic here, edited on the computer to have shadows and Background :


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v650/Kitahoshi_Hazel/Elf%20Quest%20RP/Kitaaswolfrider.jpg

[Melina]

She is about to say something else when her toe, that wild and uncontrollable digit, begins to dance again, dragging her down the alley against her will.

"Heeeeeeeelllllllllllllllpppppp!" she screams as she crashes into Melina.

"Jeez, Barb, I realize I've been slacking for the last couple of weeks, but you don't have to get violent!" Melina cries, picking herself up from the pavement and brushing herself off, "Uh, Barb--why on earth is your toe wearing a cocktail dress and diamond earrings?"

"Never mind that. What have you got for me this week? It'd better not be 'Waaaah, I'm so tired' or 'Waaaah, I'm unmotivated', either."

"As a matter of fact, I've written a bunch this week. I wrote 2 articles for the monthly newsletter gig, designed and wrote copy for a campaign flyer, and submitted a short piece to a contest! All in all, I wrote about 2,000 words!"

"That's more like it. Well, I'd love to stay and chat, but this toe's got disco fever and boogie is the only cure! Ciao, baby!"

[Kida Adelyne]

Ally stared at Barb's cocktail-dress clad toe dancing disco.

"I didn't know people danced disco in cocktail dresses." She said, stepping out of the way before Barb could crash into her. "Or toes for that matter. In fact, I didn't know that toes could dance independantly of thier owners or that it was possible for them to wear diamond earings."

"Quit rambling and report."

"Oh, right. Well, I didn't do much writing on any stories. But, as I was preparing to sit down and write more on my story, I opened my notebook with all the background info I had for spirit door. And there on the page was the reason why spirit door didn't want to be written. I was writing about the wrong character. So now I have an Idea to write a trilogy. Strange how these things work. So I wrote up a quick plot for each, and In math the next day I wrote the start of the first story longhand. About 1500 words in total."

"That's it?" Barb asked, reaching inside her coat for what was undoubtably her tazer.

"I also offered to read a manuscript for a fellow AW patron, and she in turn will review my new story."

"Well I suppose I could let you off." Barb said, removing her hand from her coat.

(please? *innocent smile*)

-Ally

ps. What happened to smily parties for those who reached 10k? Isn't it tradition anymore?

:partyguy:Barb:partyguy:
:Trophy::Trophy::Trophy:

[MacAllister]

http://pages.prodigy.net/rogerlori1/emoticons/REDDANCE.JPGYayyy, BARB!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 10K party!!!:PartySmil :TheWave: :TheWave:

Thanks, Ally! I knew we were forgetting something....:)

[Melina]

Yahoo, Barb!

:partyguy: :snoopy: :Clap: :TheWave: :Cheer:

10 k! Yippee!

[triceretops]

10 K, that's the girl! That's showin' us how it's done.

Tri

[Fractured_Chaos]

I reformtted my hard drive again >.<;;

I'm really starting to develop a love-hate relationship with my computer.

[maestrowork]

http://pages.prodigy.net/rogerlori1/emoticons/REDDANCE.JPGYayyy, BARB!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 10K party!!!:PartySmil :TheWave: :TheWave:

And Congrats, Mac for closing in on your first DRAFT!!!! Can't wait to read it.



Shhhh! I'm trying to distract Barberina...

The truth is I wasn't as productive on CTN as I'd wanted this week. I'd expected to break 30K this week but it ended up just about 1000 words short. I did write 800 words so it's not a complete waste of time. I'm sure I'll break 30K this coming week! Yeah, let's hope.

I did get the column out, though late. It's been a binbizzy week for me though. I've been preparing for this film -- rehearsals since Weds and shooting began this weekend. I'd wanted to write on the set between takes but it was not easy, with all the people running around. I just can't write when I'm distracted like that.

TPB is now in production. I have to write the acknowledgement page... hmmm, now who should I thank... ;)

[TashaGoddard]

10,000K! Woo! Yay! and many other excited noises. Well done Barb!

I managed one scene on my WIP this week, which is a fulfilment of my new goals. Unfortunately, that particular scene is teeny (about 150 words). Fortunately, for me, I have maybe 30 of such teeny scenes to go in this book, so when I'm not feeling too inspired I can just write one of them and leave the 1000+ scenes to another day!

Despite not making the AWI finals (no great surprise considering the competition), I have decided to play along with the weekly writing challenges. It's a good impetus to make sure I keep writing, regardless of whether it's on the WIP. So, I just wrote about 1500 words. If felt good. Hubby's on my computer at the moment, so I can't do the work I need to do quite yet. I think I may have a stab at some more WIP while I'm feeling inspired.

ETA: Add 639 words on for WIP (or another scene). Currently just under 6000 - probably somewhere near a 10th of the way through. Feeling good. But now I have to do some work - those bills don't pay themselves.

[ChunkyC]

A http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/EmoteHug2.gif to Tasha for not making the AWI finals.

Ray -- congrats on TPB going to production, you must be thrilled! I can't wait to get my copy.

I've taken a couple of days off from writing new stuff, other than my column. Just filed it.

Keep moving forward, everyone!

[katiemac]

500 words on the WIP, plus another 3500 on two papers I turned in this week. But once again, those just don't count! Dang.

HAPPY 10K, BARB! :Cake:

...Hm, think next time we get can that in $$?

[ritinrider]

http://pages.prodigy.net/rogerlori1/emoticons/REDDANCE.JPGYayyy, BARB!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 10K party!!!:PartySmil :TheWave: :TheWave:

thanks Maestro for doing all that work for me - I love the copy/paste feature.

Let's see who else am I supposed to congratulate? Oh yeah, Mac, Melina, Ally, Natalia, CC, Kitahoshi, congratulations one and all on your successes. Hope I didn't miss anybody cause everybody deserves congratulations on their progress.

what did I do this week you ask? Hmmm, worked on junk room #1, can actually see the floor in there And move around, some. Finished taxes, no won't be working overtime in October this year. Of course I haven't mailed them yet, but I still have time. Have quilt top that needs to be finished by the first of May so I can have it quilted almost 1/4 finished. Thankfully she went with the logcabin and not the pineapple quilt. That took some fancy talking. Bought groceries, we were out,out,out. Began, again, my walking program.

Oh, writing-wise what did I do? Hmmm, *twists hands together* well, uh, I found my index cards and I wrote almost 1,000 words, most of them on my wip. Oh yeah, I contacted a pub for their guidelines and editorial calendar. Wrote the query, it's being read by a friend for suggestions on improvement now, and began research for the article.

Nita

[Birol]

WAY TO GO, BARB!!!!!!!!




:PartySmil :PartySmil :PartySmil

[batyler65]

Thanks for the congrats everyone!

NATALIA: You go girl! 21 subs! Plus at 32k you are only 8k away from a 40K party. (What can I say, we like to party.) :) Keep it up!

KIT:
Wow! busy, busy. You are making some of the old timers here look bad. ;) Excellent work! Nice picture. Thanks for sharing that! I drew some of my characters last week in an effort to bring them to life. I got a kick out of seeing that somebody else did that, too.

MELINA:
Glad to see you up and semi-conscious.;) 2k? Woo-hoo! I'm glad to see that you are finding the time to write. Hang in there. *crosses fingers that Melina has more to report next week*

ALLY: 1500 words written, plus you got unstuck? Yes, I think I can let you off this week. It sounds like progress to me. Are you still journaling? Keep with that.

LORRIE: UGH!!! Reformatted? AGAIN? *hands Lorrie a notepad and pen* Maybe you should try the old fashioned route? I hope you had backups. Condolences :(

RAY: 30k yet? huh? huh? huh? (no pressure, you understand) CONGRATS on TPB! I can hardly wait! I know you are incredibly busy at the moment, but try and make ten minutes a day. Just ten. Even if it means all that gets written is one sentence. Write it. ;)

TASHA: You are more than halfway to your own 10k party! Keep pushing forward. My condolences on AW Idol. (psst! Don't forget to post in the Rejection Collection we're still trying to make 1,500 this year. We need HELP.)

KATIEMAC: 500 words is still forward motion. And I know you have a lot on your plate right now. Guess what? Yep. I'm going to ask you to make a deal with yourself. Write 100 words each day (weekends, too). Trust me, 100 words is easy. Think how little time that will take. And at the end of the week, you'll have 700 words to report. (Plus, as an added bonus, your muse may zip in and dump 1,000 more words on your WIP.) :) Give it a shot. What have you got to lose?
(btw: yes, I wish the 10k was $$$)

NITA: Floor? You have floor? *muttermutterinsanelyjealousmuttermutter*
Glad to hear those taxes are done! Woo-hoo! Which reminds me, I need to mail my taxes. ugh. CONGRATS on finding the index cards! Now I expect to hear all kinds of progress from you. 1k written this week? Good for you! And a QUERY! YAY! Let us know how it does, okay? Keep up the good work.

I have to say it again, this is SUCH a great group. Keep writing, folks. I've got shelf space reserved for your works. ;)

Until next week,
Barb

[triceretops]

Whoops, I'm slippin' in here under the wire. Still have a few subs out on the non-fic title, not too hopeful there. But the novel is progressing about 3-4 pages per day. It's now at 84 pages or roughly 24,000 words. I'm having to go back and correct a lot of politics and technical stuff. The plot comes to me an inch at a time--there is no outline here, only the love of the story, so it's a bit slower.

Triceratops

[Fractured_Chaos]

LORRIE: UGH!!! Reformatted? AGAIN? *hands Lorrie a notepad and pen* Maybe you should try the old fashioned route? I hope you had backups. Condolences :(



*sigh* At least I didn't lose 6000 MP3s this time. It was only 800 or so that gave their lives. And...um...yeah...I had back-up. Of a sort. :o

*Hides behind Mac*

[ritinrider]

Barb, no reason to be jealous or mutter under your breath. The only reason I can see the floor in junk room #1 is because I moved 80% of the stuff to junk room #2. Now, I have a path to my cutting table, that room won't hold much more. My husband says I just move junk from one area to another. There's a process going on, he just doesn't see it.

Nita

[batyler65]

TRI:
Glad to hear that the new novel is proceeding so well. 3-4 pages a day is a nice pace. :)

Sorry the nonfic isn't going as well. I've still got my fingers crossed for you.

Barb

[batyler65]

NITA

Ah, the old shuffle the junk from one place to the next. I'm using that method, too! Unfortunately, hubby wants to move this year, so I'm going to have to unclutter things enough for us to actually show the house to potential buyers.

What does a floor actually look like? Might be helpful to know, so I stop once I get there.

Barb

[batyler65]

Lorrie,
Hiding behind Mac will not save you. LOL.

And you've got to stop reformatting the hard drive just to avoid the taser. Not a good option. Not at all.

Glad you didn't lose as many files this time... And glad you had SOME SORT of backup.

Here's a tip, folks: Create a Yahoo mail account if you don't have one already. Email yourself a copy of your WIP every time you fiddle with it. Yahoo offers quite a bit of storage and if your computer crashes, your WIP is still safe. It's free. It's easy. It won't get scratched, lost, melted, insert your favorite disaster here. And it's better than trying to recreate your masterpiece from scratch.


Barb

[ritinrider]

Barb, what happens if your yahoo email account goes missing? Mine did a couple of months ago, still don't know what happened to it, but I can't access it. No problem accesses my other yahoo email though, go figure.

Oh, about the shuffle and floor thing. Yeah, we're thinking of moving, if we ever start looking for a house. In the meantime I've started moving the stuff around, trashing some of it even. Most of what I moved and kept was empty boxes I might need as I sort through things or to pack up some stuff for our eventual move.

The floor, well the all look a little different. Mine, in the junk room #1, is hard covered with old,old,old linolem (can't spell) and a layer, or two, of dust and dirt. Think of the area you walk on in your living or dinning area (whatever room you try to keep semi-clean for the odd guest). It'll look something like that only dirty, after all you haven't been able to get to it to sweep or vacuum.

Nita

[batyler65]

You LOST a yahoo account? Whoa. Now i'm frightened. Just how deep is that pile, Nita? ;)

Good to point out though. Backup copies are a must. Make them. Keep them. In my case, I figure the odds of losing my yahoo account are less than the odds of me losing a data cd. (quit snickering Lori, I CAN hear you.)

Barb

[Birol]

I have two data CD's, thank you very much. One in the office and one in the safety deposit box. ;)

[batyler65]

Friday, April 8, 2005


Welcome Wingnuts and Other Assorted Hardware,

I'm gonna keep this short (like my attention span this week) because I have loads of work to do today. So far this week:

sent out 4 subs
sent out 1 query
cut/edited/redirected the latest book project so that it is back on track
pounded my head over markets for another book
mailed out contracts
e-mailed an accepted piece
pounded my head some more on general principle
covered the outside of my humor journal with sticky notes filled with topic ideas.
captured my brain and stowed it back in the jar where it belongs. (It has become quite the escape artist.)
I'm spending my weekend cranking on the latest novel. My hiatus from the steady paying contract is almost over and I'm not anywhere near done with this book.

I have to go out today and try to find the place where my son is supposed to go for a birthday party tomorrow (not to mention find that elusive b-day gift for a child I have never even met). And somebody, please tell me why parents who can't give directions host parties in places that sane people have never heard of? (okay, so sane people have probably heard of this place, but... BUT the CLUBHOUSE at a place called Country Club Estates? Is that a bit pretentious or is it just me? Oh, and to make things more interesting... let "the clubhouse" be in another city and do not, under any circumstances put a STREET ADDRESS on the invitation. My daughter and I spent an hour Wednesday (and a lot of gas) looking for this place based on instructions from the party giver. After I came home and called a real estate agent in the area, I finally learned that not only were my directions for the WRONG road, I wasn't even headed in the RIGHT direction. Remind me to ask my son if this girl really wants him at her party, will ya?

Okay, finished ranting now.

Look into my eyes.... You are getting sleepy... sleepy... You are completely relaxed. On the count of three, you will post your progress. Ready? 1... 2... 3...


Don't you like my version of short? :)

[triceretops]

I'm full of No Doz and coffee and I can't fall asleep! I'm full of a lot of other stuff too, but we won't get into that.

Now I'm panicked, but enlightened. I haven't, I repeat haven't saved 102 pages of the new WIP, but I'm going to do that right now! Y'all are scaring the caffine outta' me.

Milestone: The new novel has just passed up the old non-fiction book, Valley of the Mastodons, by two pages. Even though the old book is on the back-burner (lump in throat whenever I see dinos on Discovery) I had to prove to myself that I wouldn't let it shut my writing career down, no matter how much it hurt. I know how a PA author feels now, I lost a book, probably for good, and six months of writing and research on a project that was doomed to failure from the start. Lesson learned: the book was written in the WRONG style and I'm not a paleontologist--how dare I, but that is the truth of the matter. Don't know your non-fiction subject, live it, and be prepared to show credentials. And I don't care if you're writing a cook book, I would damn well write the thing in NARRAVTIVE somehow, someway. It's not just "give me the facts, mamn" anymore, kids. "It's give me a character and a story to follow" too.

The new one is called Word Wars, and it sits at 102 pages this morning. I've unsubcribed to the Neverending PA thread so I could actually get some work done. I've blown off a lot of other forums too, because I've spent too much time catching waves with all the other AW members. Now, I must write at least two or three pages before I allow myself 20 minutes of "playtime" in AW.
I'm averaging four to seven pages a day, and hope that the count picks up as the story intensifies.

I'm headed for Unc Jim and the sci-fi forum, for that's where I belong now--with the real wierdos, Ha!

Triceratops

[Melina]

Tri--

Don't give up on the dinosaur book! You can make it work. I've read enough of your posts to know that you are an extremely talented writer, and I'm confident (even if you're not) that you can revise it, tweak it, find a suitable market for it, or whatever you have to do to get it sold! Maybe you just need to let it rest for a while and keep going on the fiction piece. Don't give up! There's a place for it, it may just take a while to find!

Keep your chin up, Chris-- we're still rooting for you!

Melina

[triceretops]

Thanks, Melina. Braveheart ain't got nothing on you! It's back-burner, there is the slightest possibility that it can be re-worked, so I haven't thrown it to the wind.

Tri

[Cate]

I am early so I am not late! Heh.

Ok.
Deadbeat publication still hasn't gotten check to me. Getting mad now.
Publication that I sent piece to in December told me that it "needs work" and they will send me notes "in a couple of weeks when things slow down." Are you kidding?! Do I beleive them?
Got a regular gig w/ a small online publication who is terrific, responds immediately, posts my stuff the same day AND mails checks on time. Not a lot of money--but not a lot of hassle--which at this point is a big huge plus!
Article accepted by the publication that I sent it into on-spec--she loved it. We like her.
Submitted 3 other things and did some other housecleaning--have been a little MIA as my writing partner was in-town. He is moving here (hooray!) next month!! Hopefully that will really increase output!
Hope everyone had a good week!

[Natalia]

Hiya all :)

I wrote about 6K
My novel is up to 34.5K
I started 1 new short story
I started 1 new article
I sent out 7 new sumissions
I sent 1 query to a magazine. Query was followed by sending them the article, which then got accepted for publication :snoopy: woohoo

Need to REALLY work on finishing some of the halfway done shorts :)

xoxoxo

[aka eraser]

Thought I'd pop in and put to rest those salacious rumours of Susan Sarandon kidnapping me for use as her Love Slave. Not, (alas) true. I don't know how these things get started. People shouldn't listen to me.

MY RL has kept me hopping lately but I think I see the lights of that oncoming train early next month. Til then most projects except the column are on hold.

Glad to see Barb has lots of willing recruits to cajole, encourage and taser though. :)

[TashaGoddard]

Um. 3500 words, which I then cut down to 2,300ish (which do you count?) - that wasn't on WIP, though, it was a play-along for the AWI challenge of the week. I'm planning to have a go at the challenge it week, to keep me churning out words.

WIP - only about 500 words, maybe 1/2 a scene. So not really much closer to a 10K party. *sob* Must do better next week.

[Kitahoshi]

One of the things that annoy me most is when I have to type something twice because the internet isn't merciful enough to remember what I typed when it so randomly erases something with the slight nudge of a button. :Headbang: :Hammer:

Now as for my progress, if you 'll remember I said my goal was a minimal of one 1000 word chapter on my fanfics per week. Now this week I did write the chapter however I spent the week saying I'll write another one because it was only 750 words and it ended up that I didn't. ... Please don't hurt me! :Hail:

As for ideas, I have a couple but they're not done assembling themselves yet in my head. I have been reading Interview with the vampire by Ann Rice, and it makes me appreciate the dark senses of writing. I might consider using darker writing in the vampirical sense in the future after I've finished all my fanfics.

[maestrowork]

Ask me again next week. I'm too busy at the hot tub party...

[ChunkyC]

Not much writing this week, sorry, though I will be doing my weekly column tomorrow morning.

I took a few days off after finishing the draft of FATL, then began to caress the prologue of HOME. I removed a couple of hangnails from it, and a wart or two. I think it feels better for the attention. Next up is Chapter One. I am still awaiting input from one very valued beta-reader (you know who you are, wink wink) so I don't want to delve too deeply until I have their feedback in hand (or inbox, as it were).

I have also been compiling a list of goals for when I attend WesterCon 58 in July, and methods of achieving them. I need to write and practice a thirty second 'elevator' pitch, and a fifteen minute 'meeting' type pitch. I have mocked up some layouts for a business card and bookmark. Bookmark, you say? Hey, I might see a few tomes laying around that could use a nice new bookmark, no? I still haven't decided if bringing bookmarks is all that necessary, but I might do it anyway just in case a situation crops up where handing one out would not be untoward. Luck favours those who come prepared.

I am going to concentrate on getting HOME as polished as possible by the time I attend the conference so that it is ready to submit should someone I meet there ask for it. To that end, I plan on having a printed submission package with me, as well as a business card sized CD-R burned with the submission documents in Word and RFT formats. You never know. Naturally, I will not foist either of these on anyone unless they specifically ask for it. You know, like being in the next washroom stall or something obvious like that. http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

Keep on churning out the words, everyone!

[Good Word]

I started reworking my WIP, changing the POV. What a pain in the keister!
But, I think, necessary.

[Liam Jackson]

Writing like a maniac, but all the stories are running together. I've got a hunting camp cook serving quiche lorraine to the bunkhouse gang, a cop walking through locked doors, Santerians sticking pins in voodoo dolls....

I think it's time to circle the wagons and regroup...but I forgot where I left the wagons.

[Melina]

Okay-

I wrote about 1600 words for the Idol theme of the week, but I'm not posting it because it sucks. I will, however keep doing the weekly theme, because the more I practice, the better I'll get--right? I might even grow the cojones to post one here and there, who knows? I wrote another couple of articles for the monthly newsletter gig--gotta submit them all by the 15th. I guess that makes about 3000 words. Wow! How do she do it? I'm still zombiefied, and my brain is mush, but the newsletter articles are actually pretty good.

Congrats to all you guys, and thanks for being here-- you've helped me more than you know...

Melina

[Kida Adelyne]

Hullo People. :hi:

This week I re-wrote part one of Lost ID, based on the comments I got back from my new writing buddy. Not only am I much more satisfied with it, but I almost doubled it's length. :snoopy:
I also spent most of last night hitting my head against the wall:Headbang:, trying to make my muse co-operate and let me write the next chapter of Lost ID. I didn't end up writing it but I figured out how things were going to work, and why they work, and did the outlines of the next (and last:D) two parts. (1000 words of journal total on that)
Depending on how industrious I am this week, I may actually finish it. If not, I would really like to finish it the week after. Then I can work on Spirit Door!:hooray:

-Ally

[MacAllister]

Have done just about 2500 words this week--hoping to get 3-5 more by the end of the weekend...slugging away, now. :)

[katiemac]

Attempted the 100-word a day plan, but it didn't quite work out as planned last week. Very minimal writing happened, but there were words. And a little more planning. Plugging away at it again. Took a break to type up this message, then I'm going back to writing.

I'm actually outside right now, it's a beautiful day and I'm sitting in the grass with some friends. The plan was to do school work, but when that fell apart, I turned to writing. I think it will work out. Let you know next week.

Unfortunately, I've come up with yet another new idea, which is driving me nuts because I really want to finish this current thing. Oh, the joys of having something fresh and new. It destroys you, really.

[Fractured_Chaos]

Did a complete rework of an opening scene for my WIP = 599 words.

Did alot of "fixing" of the next part of said WIP = 1,000 words.

Does that count?

[batyler65]

Look at us go!






LORRIE:

Yes! Almost 1600 words? Of course it counts! Good for you. Did you make a backup? Hmm? :) :) :)





KATIEMAC:

Keep trying the 100 words per day plan. Yes, I know new ideas can be deadly. Something that helped me was creating a separate notebook for new ideas. Sometimes just allowing yourself to jot some notes about the new idea is enough to make it quiet until you finish what you are working on. :)



MAC:

Glad to see that you are still slugging along! I'm looking forward to hearing that Weird is finished. The cyber-champagne is chilling. Keep us posted. :) :) :)







ALLY:

Good for you! You are really cranking along. As for beating your head on the wall, don't. There is such a thing as trying to hard and it sounds to me like you are there. Take a deep breath, tell yourself it's okay to write garbage, then scribble words until the flow comes back. You'll get there. :) :) :)




MELINA:

You are welcome! Sounds like the monthly gig is a great motivator! 3k! Take a nap. You've earned it!

:) :) :)



LIAM:

Um… Er… (Has anybody seen Liam's meds?) Hey, guy! Great to see you back amongst us. I'm sending a search party out for those wagons right now. (Look for a big bottle filled with little pills.) I hope this means you will soon be a regular among us again. What can I nag you about? Hmm??




LISA:

Ugh. I can just imagine. But you are working on it, right? Steadily, right? Just don't let the change in POV be an excuse to give up. Keep going! :)




CC:

Editing counts! It's all part of the glorious job of writing. Keep the faith and keep polishing. Just no spit-shine, okay? It makes the pages wrinkle and the ink run. :)



RAY:

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzz ztttttt!!

That's all I'm saying.



KIT:

Yeah, I can SO relate. I just finished up most of this post, hit the wrong button and watched it vanish. Had to do it all over again. UGH! 750 words is still writing. It's okay if you don't make your goal every week, as long as you TRY to make your goal every week. And keep reading, too. It keeps the well full. :)






TASHA:

I'll count the 3500. You wrote them all, right? ;) And then another 500 words? Excellent. So, 10k party NEXT weekend? :) :) :)





FRANK:

Rats. And here I was hoping you'd bring Susan by to meet us all. Keep us posted on your goals. (And that train… wonder if Liam's wagons are out there, too?) I'm looking forward to having you back with us on a regular basis.



NATALIA:

WHOA NELLIE! You are the achievement winner of the week. Fame! Fortune! Glory! Er… Well, we DO have this nice trophy for you.:Trophy: Congrats on your acceptance, too! What do you do for an encore?



CATE:

Fantastic! Congrats on the new gig and the acceptance. Sounds like you had a good week. Glad to hear your partner is moving there soon. Good for you! :) :) :)




TRI:

4 to 7 pages is great! And it's always a good idea to set goals and limits. It's way too easy to stay online all the time and never write a thing. 102 pages? Whee! Keep going! (And don't forget your backups.) :) :) :)

[maestrowork]

How come I got the taser and Frank and Liam got nothing... No fair, no fair.

I did write the column (700 words)!!!!

;)

[ritinrider]

I'm here, sort of. Storm knocked us offline last night, this morning computer won't work, eek. Tech guy gave me some ideas, if they don't work I'll bring it in to him to see if he can fix it. This computer is the pits, doesn't want to space, I risk run on words if not sentences. Anyway, I wrote last week, too scared ofBarb and tazer nottoo. Can't giveexact amountsnotesareathome. seewhatImeanaboutrunonwords?

[triceretops]

Ritinider--are you certain it's not a dirty contact on your spacebar? Try switching keyboards?

Tri

[batyler65]

Nita:

Sorry about the computer woes. ifyourwordsallcomeoutinonestring
I could see how that would mess up your word counting abilities. Keep writing. Do it the old fashioned way if you must, but keep writing.

B

[batyler65]

Ray:
your report said you were playing in the hot tub. Frank's and Liam's reports did not.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzTTTttttttttt!

Quit whining. Go write something.

[Fractured_Chaos]

Ray:
your report said you were playing in the hot tub. Frank's and Liam's reports did not.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzTTTttttttttt!

Quit whining. Go write something.

:eek: I hope Ray wasn't IN the hot tub when you zapped him!


And yes...THIS time, I have a back-up. :o

Due to circumstances, my connection might be gone in a month, or so (advance warning here). And not sure when I'll get it back. So if I suddenly disappear, you'll know why.

[katiemac]

I hope Ray wasn't IN the hot tub when you zapped him!


Eh, don't worry about him. His brain is already pretty much fried; it couldn't do much more damage.

[ritinrider]

Ritinider--are you certain it's not a dirty contact on your spacebar? Try switching keyboards?

Tri


Actually, yeah, I'm pretty sure it was a dirty contact on the spacebar, I was using the 7th - 8th grade computer yesterday. Today, I'm using the secretary's computer, it works much better except for the interuptions. Why do people think just because I'm sitting at the sec.'s desk I know what's going on? Or people call, expecting the phone to be answered, what's up with that? My, computer however is on the fritz, which is why I'm using the computers at school while I'm here pretending to work.

Barb, yes, I'm writing the old-fashioned way at the moment. So far I've written everyday this week (yes, I know it's only Tues., but hey it's a start).

Nita

[batyler65]

Good for you, Nita. Keep writing. :) :) :)

[Betty W01]

Barb, here I am. Did y'all miss me? I have been one sick puppy - a three wk long (so far) ordeal with a cough and fever and a sinus infection that has taken two different drugs to overcome (and I still feel like someone scraped me off the bottom of their shoe...)

I did get my column for Teacher-Librarian and Midwest Book Review submitted on time, due only to the fact that I started working on both of them way before they were due, so could finish them in time to send, despite being sick. I also got my poetry entries done and in on time for the workshop journal. Yeah, I think procrastination is dead. YAY!!

I also got a few dribs and drabs of misc. stuff written, worked


ooops, gotta go!!

[batyler65]

Of course we missed you, Betty dearest!

I'm sorry you've been ailing. Ray will probably want to whip up some soup for you. (You know how he gets.)

You're still the overachiever I've come to know and love. :) Working while sick and still meeting the deadlines. Go girl!

Now get some rest and feel better.

((((((((Betty))))))))

[maestrowork]

Did anyone say soup? Betty, I promise it will be good and you will be up and running. The best incritterdients I will use.

[ChunkyC]

Ray collecting incritterdients for Betty's soup....

http://pages.prodigy.net/indianahawkeye/newpage10/2.gif

[MacAllister]

Allrighty, kiddies...it's FRIDAY!!! That can only mean one thing!

Par-TAY, Par-TAY...







oops....sorry...wrong thread. :o

Well, campers--Barb is on a brief hiatus, *jello-wrestling with her muse*. She's asked me to step in for the weekend report *cuz she's just enough smarter than I am that she figured I'd go for it, before I thought about it too much* I told her I'd be happy to do it.

I've cranked out around 4K words this week, striding towards "The End"--which I'm hoping to reach by this time NEXT week! *I hadda finish the thing out of self defense, it's approaching record for the most years ever spent writing the same crummy book ...*
I've also learned more about installing new bathtubs than any woman should ever have to know! *And really, more than anyone but a contractor would care about*

Sound off, gang! Let's make Barb proud. Or jealous. Or Impressed. Or a complex mixture of all of the above...

And at least one of us has to volunteer to stand quietly and take the tazer, cuz she loves it so! *And damn SKIPPY it aint gonna be me...*


But that aint gonna be me.

[Fractured_Chaos]

I shall sacrifice myself to all my dearly beloved bretheren.


Zap away, Mac.


*closes eyes to keep from seeing her impending doom*

[Yeshanu]

... at least on this thread. I'll be back on the boards full time on Tuesday or so, and my first goal will be to get my post count up to a respectable number... um, I mean, it will be to actually finish my novel... Yeah, that's it!

Anyhow, this past week I have been neck-deep (and sometimes deeper) in final papers, and my word count total from last Wednesday to Friday was...





Wait for it!





Fifteen thousand, five hundred and ninety-four words (thats 15,594 for those who are more numerate than literate, but words are definitely more impressive than numbers in this case), which, with white space and title pages and such like, came to about seventy pages.

One more twenty page monster to go by Monday morning, and then I'll actually be free to write what I want. If I can keep up the pace (do I hear derisive laughter in the background?) I'll have ATTS finished by the end of May. (Yes, that's definitely derisive laughter, and it sounds like Ally, but then she knows that I started that novel soon after she was born. Does almost seventeen years beat your record, Mac?)

Anyhow, I'm real glad to be back.

[Kida Adelyne]

*continues said laughter* Does this mean I get to poke you? You signed in blood! You can't back away! *still laughing*

Ok. My report.

This week I wrote:

-First part of next chapter of Lost ID. 2 pages.
-I got stuck so I went on and typed two pages of last chapter.
-I finished a short story of my own free will! Yah! (it's acctually one I started in october. :o)
-I finished a (3 page) short story at the will of my english teacher. After raving for about a week on how the text book was acctually telling us to come up with the theme first. Of coarse, seeing the stories they put in our text books, they have no Idea that writing has become a part of entertainment. All those stories have morals. Not that that's a bad thing, but it's the only thing they have.
:Soapbox:

Ok. That's all.

-Ally

[maestrowork]

Ruth, welcome back! We missed you. Ally has been running amuck without you... (only, just kidding)


As for me (looking behind his back for Barb's taser...) I finished my column, on-time, at about 600 words. I started on my (hopefully) last TPB "sweep-over" before it goes to the printer (Gasp! No matter how many times you look at the thing, you can still find nasty little niggles. How could I have missed all those buggers?) I wrote more than 1000 words on CTN, pushing it over 30K. But I'm not sure if I would keep all the words... but I will worry about that during rewrite. For now, I am pushing forward. I've finished filmming (and I saw some of the "dailies" and they looked great). A short story idea has been brewing in my head for the past few days...

[Liam Jackson]

I had been struggling with a scene for most of the evening and finally said to hell with it and went to sleep.

Around 3 a.m., I woke up. I sat up in bed with tiny bits of "dream residue" clinging to my brain. Shadowy fragments of the actual dream, but with enough substance I was sure I had just experienced a magnificient epiphany.

I reach for the pen and notebook on the beside table, knocked over the lamp, which fell on the dog, who howled like a exorcised Assyrian demon, woke up my wife who asked me non-too politely, "What the hell is GOING ON IN HERE!?"

Embarrased but still excited, I started to explain...then I realized...the damn dream was gone. Like, now ya' see me, now ya dont! Ta-Daaaa! *poof*

I said, "Must have been a mouse." I rolled over and went back to sleep.

[ChunkyC]

giggle @ Liam....

Gonna write the column tomorrow. 500 words, as always I'll be somewhere between 495 and 500. Seriously, I don't know how it works out like that week after week ... okay, I'm lying. I keep fiddling with it until I get it there.

I'm working on my pitches for the conference in July. I have them in reasonable shape, at least good enough to start reading them into a tape recorder, then playing them back as if I'm the editor I have just cornered in an elevator.

Asimov help me, I sound like a helium-inhaling lunatic ... oops, had the silly thing on the wrong speed.... http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif

[Natalia]

Hiya gang... good to see some had productive weeks...

My WIP is up to just a little over 35K... I can see the 40K mark but it looks far :(
I did a lot of writing on my shorts... but not as much as usual. 3K total maybe.
I got a second acceptance; this time it was an article to a UK Mag :) yaay.

I MUST finish one of the shorts soon to have another thing to submit.
However, I also have a 12-page paper due in the next few weeks and 60 essays to grade...we shall see..

Here is wishing everyone a wonderfully productive week xoxox

[triceretops]

Like Natalia, I just arrived over the 36,000 word mark, and I'm steadily plodding away--some days are two pages, others are seven or nine, so it's averaging out to be five. 15 years ago it was not unusual for me to hit 18-24 pages a day, nonstop, seven days a week. I don't know how I ever accomplished that rate and kept it up for three years straight. Perhaps I was dumb and uninhibited--I long for those days past. However, I can only believe now that I'm more selective and precise in what I'm writing, so there's the tradeoff.

I have one complete partial out there to a fairly new and young agent, Christine Nelson. This time I sent chapter 3, which has a lot more narrative story in it. I'm curious to see what the reaction is to this segment of the non-fic book. She only wanted one chap, so I let my best chap fly this time.

Tri

[Cate]

Weird week.
Got absolutely no writing done.
Got 3 checks. :)
Got a chance to do a band review at a pretty cool place--pretty cool band too. Guest passes and photo badges and all!(Am excited and nervous too!)
Have 2 interviews lined up and another band to interview soon too! Interesting developments . . .
I have a ton of queries out but my e-mail was completely silent all week long. Very strange. Sent myself an e-mail to see if it was working.
It was.
Lots done for the week, but little actual writing.
Thats that.
Good enuf Mac?:flag:

[ritinrider]

... at least on this thread. I'll be back on the boards full time on Tuesday or so, and my first goal will be to get my post count up to a respectable number... um, I mean, it will be to actually finish my novel... Yeah, that's it!


Yay, Ruth is back! And she won't get zapped her first day back either, yah again. Hey Ruth, you do know there's a thread just for adding to your post count don't you? Check it out, you'll have your posts up there in no time.

Nita

[Birol]

Got 3 checks. :)


I hope one of these checks was the one you've been waiting on for so long.

[maestrowork]

Hey, Cate, good going.

Me? I wrote 3 checks...

(2 of them to the IRS)

;)

[Good Word]

I wrote about 1300 new words for my limping WIP. I think my total is somewhere around 13,000 now.

My muse has been on sabbatical. Left me on my own, that ungrateful chocolate-eating, butt-scratching wretch.

Edited to add: Just checked--my WIP is at 14,000.

[Liam Jackson]

I'm still tripping out over the lost epiphany, but managed to hit the 25K mark on my WIP, tonight. To think, a 12 dollar lamp from Walmart stood (fell) between me and a Locus award! Oh, well...easy come, easy (Hu)go.

I'm happy that so many had success cranking out the words this past week. This may be the most productive bunch I've seen in my two years of hanging around AW. Congrats to all!

Special thanks to Barb and Mac for cracking the whip and firing the taser. Much love to you both. (Damn, did that sound like a major case of masochism, or what!?)

[Natalia]

Cate- I'd be happy with three checks and the review... woohoo :hooray:

Ray- I just got a huge refun but also a letter from the IRS that I owe them $900 from a mistake last year... what the.....? :box: And they had already added the fine on top of it...

And... I got a speeding ticket on my way to Miami :Headbang: ... but on the other hand... I went to a Greenday concert.... guess one thing cancels the other out...:flag:

[Cate]

Lori!
You are right--one of the checks IS from that publication that hasn't paid me!! I totally forgot to share that with you guys!

Ray-
The only IRS contact I have had is to file an extension.
Heh. Why not put it off a little longer--its painful!

[Kitahoshi]

Yeah... hi everyone.. Well this week was horrible. Horrible like more than ever so before. I only finished two long web journal entries and thought at one point about re-reading and writing up on an original fiction story of mine called Alice. The problem was that at the time I had to do homework.

I finished rerading Interview with the vampire, and I no longer pity Louis. I don't like him anymore. I feel sorry for Armand though, and I hear he was cut out of the movie. I am now reading the second book in the Ann Rice Vampire Trilogy: The Vampire Lestat. For some reason I'm beginning to like Lestat, which is odd. I'm somewhat disappointed with the movie they made from Queen of the Damned and Lestat's hair was black instead of the lush blonde they describe in the books.

Coincedentally I was given Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austin tonight. So I suppose I spent this week "filling the well". :flag:

So until next week, I am running with the elves! ... and Armand too. Poor little vampire. *has Armand's mouth held shut by ridiculous mask contraption for safety purposes* .... What? You don't think Armand looks okay with the Arabian scarf theme? *Armand is dressed like Jeannie from I dream of Jeannie* :banana:

[MacAllister]

Lorrie! Get ON it, woman! Barb's gonna come back and blame me for you slacking!
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzz0Kkkkkkkkkk!!!!!! (I hooked Barb's tazer to my jeep battery for a little extra juice.

Wow! Look at her twitch! Jeez...

Lorrie...Lorrie, speak to me...)

Okay--so how's the situation looking? Sorry to hear last weeks bad news. :(
Hang in there. Write whatever you can manage. Get cracking on that new story. And I DID see you've got a chunk of the WIP up in SYW...

So all is not lost.

You might wanna just pat out that little smoldering place, there....

[MacAllister]

Ruth!!!Welcome home! Glad to hear you're capable of that kind of output! Now we know when to zap you for slackin' on the WIP!

So where are you AT on the novel, Ruth? *tap, tap*

Seriously, hugs, and welcome back!

[MacAllister]

You signed in blood! You can't back away! Kida--we ALL signed in blood when we joined WPR...but *shhhhhhhhhh*

We just don't usually TELL all the lurkers, right out, like that!

Okay--
:Sun:

little gold star for you this week! Way to go on the story! Gonna polish it up and send it out?

[MacAllister]

Ray--you're filming, you wrote your column, you managed to go forward with CTN...okay

No zapping for you. :)

Gold-star boy. :Sun: Now just work to make next week even better!

[MacAllister]

Liam--I started to explain...then I realized...the damn dream was gone. ARRRGGgggggggggghhhh!!!!!

Now WE'LL never know, either...

It probably woulda been the first genre book to go straight to the American Book Awards.

The biggest thing since Star Wars.

Damn it.

Now you'll just have to do it the hard way.

But if it's any consolation, I once had one of those middle of the night epiphanies, which I DID manage to write down. The next morning, the written record of the wisdom of my dreams said: "butterflies are out of the breadbox, battling battering blustering."

That was years ago. I'm STILL trying to recapture what it meant. *sigh* So I feel for ya.

[MacAllister]

Charlie...you always invoke Asimov as a benevolent deity, like that? <g> Just try not to scare the nice editors!

So are you writing anything new? *charging taser*

[MacAllister]

Natalia--:Trophy:

wow...definitely a gold star week for you! Way to go! Let us know when you hit 50K, we're due a big ol' smiley party...

[MacAllister]

Cate--
...Lots done for the week, but little actual writing.

Oh, Cate...

*shakes head sadly*

WRITE SOMETHING!!!!!!!!!

Okay. Silent email happens. At least you got a ton of queries out! Good on ya. :)

itty-bitty-little star for you, this week... *

[MacAllister]

Tri--
I'm steadily plodding away--some days are two pages, others are seven or nine, so it's averaging out to be five This is nothing to be sneezed at.

You're getting words on paper. That kind of work ethic is solid gold. Good for you, and keep going!

:Sun:

[MacAllister]

Nita--

errrr.....was that supposed to pass for a report? Cuz I don't think Barb is going to buy it...

[MacAllister]

see above.

Ooooh! I hear the high-pitched whine telling me the taser is almost ready to go again!

[MacAllister]

Lisa!

You ROCK! That's good progress. :) You've had a tough time getting into the groove, so that's pretty solid forward motion.

Way to go, and a gold star for you! :Sun:

[MacAllister]

Okay...homework is important too, so I won't taze you...

But aim for better next week, eh? <g>

[MacAllister]

Allrighty, then! Everyone AWOL--you might STILL have a chance to sneak in your report before Barb comes home!

Lurkers, feel free to jump right in! No time like the present...

Now I must go and see what that hot, electrical smell is. Hate for the taser to burn the house down...

[ritinrider]

Mac, no that wasn't supposed to pass for a report. I didn't figure you'd go for that, much less Barb. Put that darn tazer down, I wrote this week. About 600 words on four different article ideas, now to polish them and do something with them. Also got my query back from person who generously offered to help, (thanks Birol), need to rework it and get it out. And my computer is back up and running with a new battery backup surge protector. Hopefully, it will keep the lightening away from my toy.

Nita

[Fractured_Chaos]

http://users.pandora.be/eforum/emoticons4u/crazy/146.gif

Whoah! What just hit me?

...

Oh, wait, the memories are starting to come back.




http://members.cox.net/dementedcompanion/Error__You_Have_Been_Smote.gif

:Jaw: Mac! You did it! I didn't think you would!

[TashaGoddard]

I'm late. I was hoping to fit in something to shout and jump about over the weekend, but I failed.

This week, then, a grand total of 0000 words. (No that's not a typo.)

Zap away. I have no excuses. I have been thinking about writing (thinking about something for the AW Just for Fun thread; overthinking the WIP; thinking and researching a non-fiction book) but I haven't actually done any writing. At all. Not even 10 minutes a day. Really don't know why.

[WordSoup]

TAZZER ME! ('COS CAFFEINE AIN'T WORKIN')

Worked the Day Job 10 days straight.
Last 7-day paycheck had 53 hours on it! (rewarded myself with 2 new steno pads!)
Teenager crisis that has lasted for more than a month. (but she started to write poetry with the neighbor girl, so that's pretty cool)
Journaled in my car while on break.
Wrote greeting card ideas at 5:30am - lost 'em under bills on the kitchen counter by Noon. Didn't remember my own name by 8:00pm
Researched several "stay-at-home-and-make-money" ideas that didn't pan out. (Yup, I'm getting desparate now)
Came down with - and got over a nasty infection.

Good Grief, whaddatrainwreck...

- Jen - just plain pooped :faint:

[Birol]

see above.

Ooooh! I hear the high-pitched whine telling me the taser is almost ready to go again!


What?!?! Wait, that wasn't meant to be.... Macallister! Wait, I said wait.

Okay, I don't think I've really reported in for about three weeks. In those three weeks, I've written one short story and started on the rough draft of another, done some market research, identifiying markets for some of the short stories in my folder, and stared at TBWN some. We'll call it working on it.

Mac... Don't... Barb!!!!

[Kida Adelyne]

Kida--we ALL signed in blood when we joined WPR...but *shhhhhhhhhh*

We just don't usually TELL all the lurkers, right out, like that!

I didn't say that. I said that my mother has signed in virtual blood to have the novel done, and I get to poke her merciessly now that she's got all her assignment's done. (starting tomorow, she needs a bit of a break :P )

[katiemac]

I have no idea what's going on. I'm currently drugged up like no other on allergy medication, so that's really messing up my brain. I wonder what would happen if we combined this with the tazer? I don't even wanna know...

About 200 words, maybe a little more, on the WIP. In two weekends, my friends and I are taking a break from school and driving up to someone's beach house for the weekend. Hell if I leave the laptop behind. April 30th is my new deadline. That is when I will be finished with this thing, or so be it. I just don't have the energy to have it continue to tag along in my mind all the time.

Did more paper writing, of course, speeches, essays, and interview writeups. So those would have clocked in somewhere between one and two thousand each.

I want to write now... I should actually be writing a speech. But I think this medication is going to put me to sleep any minute so all attempts will be lost. And it's even non-drowsy. *zzzzzzzzz*

[batyler65]

Good morning, weekenders!

The coffeemaker is gurgling in the background and I'm not quite awake yet. But, be that as it may... it is time for
*drumroll*

ONCE UPON A WEEKEND

For those of you who haven't played before, here's how it works. I'll start the story (cleverly working in my progress report for the week) leaving it open at the end for the next person. The next person adds to the story (cleverly weaving in his or her own progress report) and leaves the ending open for the next person. The goal here? Have fun & be goofy. Feel free to use me as a character in your own tales (but you can't kill me off. I'll just come back from the grave and man, will I be ticked;)). Oh... and one more thing. Be creative! (And if you really must refuse to play, I still expect a full report. Mac has made modifications to the taser and it is practically humming with power!)

Now, let's see. Where to begin? Ah, yes, at the beginning...

Gray light filtered through the blinds as Barb stared at the computer screen. Yes, she thought. A good time for Once Upon a Weekend. They'll never expect that. Now, all I have to do is figure out how to tell everyone that the new novel is at 23.5k, that my Family Circle piece crashed and burned with the editor in chief, my ongoing contract starts next week and I've taken on a major writing gig that has the potential to net me big cash. (Ooh, and remember to thank Mac for helping out last week, although there is still a weird electrical smell in here.)

As she stared at the computer screen wondering how to cleverly work all of that information in without making it look like an info dump, the lights flickered.
They flickered again. Barb ignored the fluctuating power and continued to type. (Mental note: Ask Mac what she did to the wiring while I was gone.)

Suddenly, sparks flew from the computer screen. Barb's hands tingled where they touched the keyboard. The room began to whirl. No. Barb began to whirl. An eddy in time and space formed sucking Barb in. When it ended, she found herself standing in a strange blank world. She turned to look around.
Magically, text blazed into being in the blankness in front of her.

>look
>You are standing in a study. There is a taser and a car payment booklet here. Exits are east, north, and southwest.

Barb could see nothing but the words hanging in the air. Hmmm, she thought. I wonder. "Get taser." she said aloud.

>Taser taken.

"Get car payment booklet."

>You must have a checkbook before you can pay the car payment.

"Get checkbook."

>There is no checkbook here.

"Find checkbook."

> I do not know the command "find checkbook".

"This is just like being inside one of those old text-only computer games," Barb mused. "Or like trying to make my car payment in the real world." Barb knew there was only one way out: to collect the progress reports of all the weekenders and win the game. Stepping forward boldly, she said:

"Southwest!"

>The Room of Ponderous Proportions
>You have reached a room of Ponderous Proportions. You may exit to the northeast. This room is filled with...

[Birol]

Lori was busily avoiding the stack of research texts in the basket at the stop of the stairs by studiously reading AW Idol entries when her keyboard began to spark.

"Ow. What the…" The middle of her laptop's LCD screen began to whirl. Thinking something was wrong with the screen, Lori stared at it, a feeling of despair overcoming her. "No, please, don't…" But before she could finish the sentence, a vortex reached out from the screen and pulled her out of her chair.

For an instant, she was floating in space, only aware of the feeling of nothingness and the fact that it felt like her stomach had dropped to her knees, then she was deposited in a heap in the middle of a blank room. She forced herself upright and looked around.

Where the heck am I?

Text suddenly blazed to life in front of her, lighting the space.

>You are in a hallway. Exits are to the north, west, and south. A flashlight and ink pen are on the table in front of you.

Hmm… This looks like one of those old computer text games we used to play in on the old Apple's in Stillwell's computer class back when learning computers meant learning Basic. But what am I doing in one? I didn't think they still existed? Might as well play it out and see what happens.

"Get pen"

>Pen taken.

"Get flashlight"

>Flashlight taken.

"Look."

>You are in the entry. Exits are to the north, west, and south.

"Look west."

> To the west is the study. Barb stands there holding a taser. A car payment book is in the room.

Lori swallowed hard. Barb. In the study. I know what this is now. It's WPR. We must all have been sucked into this and that means… Lori turned pale.

As Lori watched, Barb exited to the southwest, away from where she stood. Frantically, Lori decided to try to find a way out.

"Look north."

> To the north is the door leading outside the game.

"North."

> The door is locked.

"Unlock door."

>You need a key. The door is locked.

"Kick door in."

> I do not understand that command. You are standing in the entry. Exits are to the north, south, and west.

Lori sighed in frustration. Yep. Definitely one of those old computer text games. Okay, the only thing to do is play it out. And try to avoid Barb. And Liam. I have to avoid Liam, too, because if I'm in here, so is everyone else.

"West."

> You leave the entry and enter the Room of Ponderous Proportions. There is an exit to the East. The room is filled with...

[ChunkyC]

ChunkyC watched the letters D-E-L-L on his laptop shift until they spelled out ATARI.

"Atari? From Dell?" he said, flummoxed. "What kind of idiotic nonsense is this ... oh, of course, it must be WPR."

He typed *get me out of here* and his suddenly 12" amber-on-black screen responded with:

*define here?*

...as Jeff Bridges in a day-glo jumpsuit rode by on a rudimentarily rendered motorcycle.

"Oh, great," Chunky muttered at the top of his lungs, "Tron referents."

Lemme see now, he thought, also at the top of his lungs. The acoustics were rather strange in here ... wherever here was. Perhaps if I admit to not having written much more than my column and a couple of hundred words of character outline for FATL's third draft, it might let me....

Sure enough, a map materialized and hung in space less than an inch from Chunky's nose. Considering that the map was nine feet on a side, it was somewhat difficult to gain much perspective. Thankfully, someone began to ooze toes first from the northeast wall....

[Birol]

Potentially useless map.

[batyler65]

LOL@Lori's Map

[maestrowork]

Just as Ray was reading Barb's garbled email, he found himself trapped in a vortex of twirling acronyms...

> T C P T B N

What the.... it's not TCPIP... it's not BYOB.... it's not TCBY....

Then he heard a ring

> ding dong, ding dong

OK, it was more like a door bell. So he did a Jackie Chan back flip ("see, it's possible") and ran across the room, still trapped in a vortex of letters.

"I need to get out of here," he thought. Just as he was running toward a rabbit hole, he realized something.

I get it now. It's TPB and CTN all mangled together in a double helix. What a bozo. I've been working on both for weeks now. I'm almost done with the production proof. Worked out some of the kinks of a proposed cover, while moving forward with CTN. I sort of have an epiphany today, while sipping a mocha frap and eating a bagel.

> EAST

What now? He was never good at these text or adventure games. He would rather play a game of Pacman. He ran toward a light, almost blinded himself when he heard a voice booming in his ears.

> EAST

East what?

> ISLAND

Island? Am I suppose to go to an island? But this is like the Architect room in Matrix, with a double helix twirling above me. I don't get it.

> LONG

Like this is getting ridiculous... oh, wait! Wait, I get it. The column. I did it. I wrote it. Published. It was on Amityville Horror -- Long Island. Of course. How could I have forgotten.

> BING

He finds himself staring....

[Kitahoshi]

Kit sits at her computer half awake, yawning once everyt ten minutes. Staying up until three in the morning had not been a good idea. But all the same with her parents out of the house for the weekend she had enough time to continue Alice with two new chapters. She was about to add the word count together of the two chapters when she couldn't find a calculator of any sort around. So as she frantically, she searched her house in her night gown and house coat she did not notice her brand new black computer sparking and the lights flickering. She at last sat back at the computer, annoyed with her inability to find the calculator. Just as she was considering doing it by hand, her screen suddenly sucked her into a black vortex on screen.

Glancing around, she found complete darkness.

> The Room of Ponderous Proportions
>You have reached a room of Ponderous Proportions. You may exit to the northeast.

Kit fell back, surprised.

>There is an acoustic guitar and calculator in the room.

"Sweet!" Kit remarks.

>I do not understand that command.

Kit suddenly realizes that she has fallen into a very old RPG game, one with which she has only played once before getting completely fed up with the whole thing shortly afterwards.

"Take Acoustic guitar" she grumbled.

>Acoustic guitar taken.

"Take calculator"

>Calculator taken.

Kit then punched in the word count, wishing she could get out of the rotten place.

>You have written a total of 5 246 words this week.
>You have written two chapters on Alice.
>You have written one chapter on Poor Little Bug on the Wall.

Kit was very proud of her great improvement since last week, and happy that she restarted Alice. With her guitar on her back, she wondered which direction she ought to be going that was the way out. She really hated these games.

>There is an exit to the East.

"West". Kit questioned what the point of roaming was.

>West.
>There is a gothic cathedral guarded by stone Gargoyles.

Kit sighed and shook her head.

"Enter gothic cathedral"

> Gothic Catheral. There is a golden monkey statue on a table in the nave. Exits are East and North...

[Kida Adelyne]

Ally sat at her computer. The fearful moment had come, she had to report. She booted up the computer. Suddenly, a blinding light filled the room.

>you are standing in a room. There is a copy of "David Copperfield" and a pen on the table. Exits are north, south, and west.

Oh great, she thought. Just what I need. To get sucked into a RPG game.

"Exit"

>Command not known

Yup, definatly an RPG game. She never could figure out how to exit them.

"Quit"

>Command not known

"Your a stupid duck"

>Command not known

She thought for a moment. Maybe this is where I have to report. Put it up to Barb to place us in a RPG.

"Take David Copperfield"

>David Copperfield Taken

"Take pen"

>Pen cannot be taken

"Why"

>Command not known

Why is there a coppy of David Copperfield anyway. She thought. Then it hit her, if this was like real life, then she had to read the book before she was allowed to do anything, even write.Stupid independant study essay.

"Read David Copperfield"

>David Copperfield Read

If only it was this easy in real life. She had been labouring to read it in the last moments before the notes were due on monday, and had only gotten half of it read.

"Take pen"

>Pen taken

The pen reminded her she hadn't writen anything this week.

"Write"

>500 words written

"What you stupid thing! That's not enough to stop barb from tazering me!"

>Command not known.

Well, I guess I just have to take it. She thought.

"Go North"

>You are in a room. There is...

[Kida Adelyne]

I can't see lori's map :cry:

[Yeshanu]

Ally,

It's because your computer doesn't have MS Word. I've printed it off for you.

Luv, Mom.

Um, yeah. My report.

> Monday morning, 6 a.m.

> Stats: Strength, 10; Intelligence, 10; Wisdom, 10; Constitution, 10; Hunger, O.

Sleep.

> Monday morning, 6:30 a.m. You have a 20 to 30 page essay due by 4:30 p.m. today. You have written 00 pages.

Wake up.

> You are now awake. There is a computer in the room.

Turn on computer.

> The computer is on.

Write essay.

> It is 7:30 a.m. There are three cats in the room. They are making too much noise for you to write.

Feed Cats.

> The cats are no longer meowing.

Write essay.

> It is 8:30 a.m. Hunger = 7

Eat.

> Hunger = 0

Write essay.

> It is 10:30 a.m. Bladder = 10

Go wee wee.

> Huh?

Go pee.

> Bladder = 0

Write essay.

> It is 1:45 p.m. Essay is done.

Word count.

> 9,084 words. 25 pages.

Print essay.

> Essay printed.

Exits?

> There are doors in the southwest, southeast, and north.

Southwest.

> You have reached the office of Emmanuel College. There is a door in the northeast.

Hand in essay.

> Essay handed in. Congratulations! You have reached the requirements to attain the coveted "Masters" level! After a suitable period, you will be able to add the initials "M.Div." after your name.

Cool! Does it get me a pay raise?

> Negative, but nice try!

Northeast.

> As you return the way you came, a brain-sucking cold leech falls down from the lintel and replaces your brain with cotton wool. Your stats are now: Strength, 3; Intelligence, -1; Wisdom, 0; Constitution, -5.

Get healing pills.

> Healing pills restore you. Strength, 5; Intelligence, 3; Wisdom, 4; Constitution, 0.

Sleep.

> It is Thursday morning.

Huh? Where'd Wednesday go?

> Command unknown.

Wake up.

> You are in a room filled with paper and books to a depth of one foot.

Put papers in box.

> You have uncovered 6 overdue library books, a notebook, and a pen.

Renew library books.

> Library books renewed. You owe $7.50.

Oh, poop!

> Bladder = 0

I didn't mean... Oh, well. Put away books.

> Books shelved. Congratulations! Your office is clean.

Get pen.

> You have a pen. It says "Zion United Church" on the side.

Cool! A holy pen of +1 writing! Get notebook.

> You have a leather-bound notebook. The pages are all blank.

Uh, uh... Write.

> Your intelligence is still not high enough to write.

Um... Barb's gonna tazer me! Think up something fast, Ruth! But then, if I could think, I'd write...

Turn on computer.

> Computer on.

Absolute Write Water Cooler.

> You are now logged on to the Water Cooler.

Writing Exercises, Prompts and Games I have got to come up with a cool acronym for that -- like WEPG or something...

> You are logged into the Writing Exercises, Prompts and Games forum. There is an idea here for a non-fiction book.

Get idea.

> You have an idea. Thanks to your recent promotion, your contacts, and your experience, you are well qualified to research and write this idea.

Research idea...

(And that, dear friends, is as far as this report goes. I'd also like to say that the 24,000 + words I've written in the past 2 1/2 weeks aren't just for show -- two of them are outlines for books which I fully intend to write, and one of those outlines has also given rise to an idea I'm going to test out for a third book.

Anyhow, in closing...)

Southeast

> You enter the room of Ponderous Proportions where you meet up with...

[Birol]

... where you meet up with Lori, who jumps onto a pile of whatever fills the room.

"Oh, hi, Ruth, you scared me."

"What are you doing here," Ruth asked. "Have you seen, Barb?"

Lori nodded. "Yeah. When I first arrived. I went the other way, but since I've been in here..." Lori nodded to the western end of the Room of Ponderous Proportions. "I heard someone calling for Bud from that way, I was thinking about..."

"Thinking about what?"

But Lori was staring to her left.

"Take checkbook," she suddenly said.

> Checkbook taken.

"Why are you taking that checkbook? Whose is it?"

"Barb's. I hope. She was looking for one earlier. I might be able to use it to bargain with her when she learns I've only done outlining for one character in TBWN and kinda sorta started a new short story this week."

"Oh." Ruth looked thoughtful then pointed to the western end of the room. "Just in case, you want to head this way?"

"East," the two said in unison.

The game moved them and they found themselves facing....

[batyler65]

"Barb!" Lori said in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"I don't know," Barb replied, eyeing Lori's hand. "Is that a checkbook?"

But before Lori could answer, a burst of green flashed in the darkness. An electrical crackling sounded throughout the room of ponderous proportions. When it ended, a voice said: "Drat! How the heck was that wire hooked up, anyway?"

"Did that sound like Mac?" Barb asked.

"I think so," said Ruth.

"Oh, no," Lori said. "Mac spent last weekend playing with electricity to modify the taser."

"You don't think Mac is the reason we're in here, do you?" Barb asked.

The crackling sound grew louder. "That's more like it!" said the disembodied voice of Mac. "Er. Wonder if it's supposed to smoke like that?"

"I'd say that's a yes," Ruth answered.

"We have to find a way to get her attention," Barb said. "Otherwise, we'll never get out of here!"

Barb and Ruth looked at Lori. "What are you looking at me for?" Lori wanted to know.

"It seemed like the thing to do," the two answered.

"I think we should find the others," Lori said. "They're bound to be in here somewhere."

>Look

>you are in the room of ponderous proportions. Barb, Lori, and Ruth are here. There is a trapdoor here.

"Aha!" said Barb. "There's always a hidden exit."

>Open trapdoor.
>opened.
>down.
>You have entered a dark space.
>Make light.
>Joking is not appropriate at this time.

"Stop! Wait! Hang on!" Lori said. "I have a flashlight!"

"And you wonder why we look at you," said Ruth, rolling her eyes.

>Turn on flashlight.

The light came on. "I'm going down," Barb said. "You two stay up here and see if you can find anyone else."

"Okay," Lori and Ruth agreed.

As soon as Barb disappeared from sight, Ruth looked at Lori. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Yep," Lori said, "let's get out of here before Barb remembers she didn't ask us what we wrote."
.
"I'm with you," Ruth said. "which way should we go?"

SOUTH! Lori shouted.

[katiemac]

The game moved them and they found themselves facing Katie, who, unfamiliar with computer text games, was currently trapped in the Oregon Trail.

"Thank goodness you two are here," she said. "My wagon axel broke, my oxen drowned in the river, and I haven't eaten in three days."

"What's that?" Lori asked, pointing to a white blob in the distance.

Katie squinted. "A squirrel or buffalo, it's hard to say from here." She raised her gun and hit the spacebar three times.

Ruth inspected the kill. "Squirrel. But there's another one, over there, to the west."

Ten bullets later, a buffalo finally went down.

"Excellent," Katie said. "Are you guys hungry?"

"Bad luck," Lori said. "Even though you killed 400 pounds of buffalo, you're only strong enough to carry back two."

"Damn," Katie muttered. "I always hated this game. Can we please find a way out of here? I've had a stressful week as it is. I had an exam, I presented a speech -- and finals are in three weeks!"

"Looks like there might be a way out by that swamp," Ruth said. "But we might want to roll our pants up."

"No way," Katie said. "I just used all my laundry money. If we go swamp diving, I won't be able to clean these jeans for a month!" She glanced down at Lori's hand, where she saw something she liked very much. "Is that a checkbook?"

"Barb's," Lori replied. "I'm hoping to bait her with it later."

Katie's eyes lit up. "I could really use a trip to the Gap."

"Did you write anything this week?" Ruth asked.

"What are you guys, my parents? Actually, you're sounding like Barb."

"Well?" Lori said.

"Fine. I wrote two words. But two very excellent words which I think you'll both enjoy."

"What might those be?" Ruth asked.

Katie beamed. "The End."

"The end?"

"The end! Twelve hundred words plus "The End!" It's over, it's really over!"

"Don't get too excited. Don't forget about editing," Ruth warned. "You still have a lot to do."

Katie sighed. "Fine, fine. Can we please just get off this trail? I think maybe if we go north we can get ourselves out of this mess."

They trudged along for a few miles.

"Katie, I don't think this is north," Lori said. "Your compass must be broken..."

[MacAllister]

Meanwhile, a weary Mac drove home from the airport, dropped her luggage just inside the door, and went straight to her computer to see what fun things she'd missed while doing a week's worth of things that will forever stay in Vegas...

Arcing, spitting, blue lightning danced out of the keyboard, as soon as she pushed the power button.

"What the..." Mac pinched the bridge of her nose between thumb and forefinger, "Oh heck, this has to be a direct result of that little rewiring thing I did to run Barb's taser directly off of the combined current of all the pc's logged into WPR. I'll just pop the top on a beer, and take a quick looksee..."

Mac pulled the cluster of wires from behing the CPU, "Now what did I do with..." she muttered, as she sorted through the multicolored wiring spaghetti, "Oh god...the cat's been playing back here! I SWEAR I left all these clearly labelled."

Mac watched her screen with rapt attention as she touched the exposed ends of three of the as-yet-unidentified wires, and a swirling, sucking vortex appeared in the center on the monitor. "Cool! Hey! I think I hear voices in there, too! Is that BARB?!" Mac yanked the wires apart, quickly, "Aw crap! I was supposed to be at 'the end' by today...but I hardly wrote ANYTHING while I was gone...who knew I'd be having that much fun?" she looked at the wires held apart in her hands, "But I can't just...just...LEAVE them in there...wherever THERE is..."

Mac carefully reconnected the wires again, and watched as the vortex re-formed to reveal....

[batyler65]

"Barb!" Mac exclaimed. "Where did you come from?"

"That vortex thingy, I think," Barb said.

"Um... er... yeah, about that," Mac began.

Barb waved away her excuses. "There's no time! We must rescue the others before... before... Darn! They aren't in any danger, so the dramatic tension is really lagging here. Do you think we can zap some monsters into the game to kind of perk things up?"

Mac got a strange gleam in her eyes. "If I cross these wires maybe... Here, hand me that taser."

With a few deft movements of her fingers, Mac twisted the wires together and attatched them to the taser. Blue smoke drifted up from the connection. The taser hummed with power.

"Now what?" Barb asked.

"I dunno," Mac said. "This is your story, remember? I'm just handling the special effects."

"Oh. Right."

Barb grasped the taser and pointed it at Mac's computer.

ZZZZzzzTTTT-crackle-zap!! Kap-OW!

Light flared. Smoke curled. Charlie appeared.

"What the--" he began. "Oh. Barb. Good to see you."

"Charlie! Do you have a report for me?"

"Um... not a good one," Charlie looked ashamed.

"That's excellent!" Barb said.

"Excellent? Um..." Charlie looked confused. "Oh. Good. Well, I'll just be go--"

"That means I get to use this new improved taser again!" With a mad gleam in her eye, Barb pointed the taser at Charlie.

ZZZZzzzTTTT-crackle-zap!! Kap-OW!

"YEOWCH!"
"Uh-oh," Mac said. "I think I've created a monster."

Light flared. Smoke Curled. Ally and Kit appeared.

Wild laughter cackled through the room.

"What was that?" asked Barb.

"Um...I believe that was you," Mac observed.

"No matter!" Barb said. "Ally, Kit, what did you write this week?"

Kit yawned then proudly announced her accomplishements.

"Darn," Barb said. "grumblegrumblenotaserforyougrumblegrumble"

Ally looked uncomfortable. "Um. I wrote 500 words."

Barb's eyes lit up. She aimed the taser at Ally. "Bwaaahahaaahahaaaa!"

"Yes," said Mac, shaking her head sadly. "definitely created a monster."

ZZZZzzzTTTT-crackle-zap!! Kap-OW!

YEOWCH!

Light flared, smoke curled... yeah, you get the picture, do I have to spell it out for you?

Ray stood before Barb, looking perplexed.
"What is the Matrix?" he mumbled. "Follow the white rabbit." Then he seemed to notice where he was, and that Barb was holding a glowing taser.

In the background, Mac fiddled with the wiring. "Maybe if I can disconnect--" ZAP! "No. Maybe not."

"Um, Barb. I was productive this week! Honest! I wrote things. I had epiphanies!"

Barb studied Ray, an evil grin on her face. "But you had to do the backflip, didn't you? You just HAD to do the backflip."

Mac looked up from the wiring. "Um, Ray? You might wanna--"

ZZZZzzzTTTT-crackle-zap!! Kap-OW!

YEOWCH!

"--run," Mac finished lamely.

Light. Smoke. yadda-yadda.

There stood Ruth. And Lori. And Katie. And about four hundred pounds of dead buffalo. Complete with gravy.

"Now Barb," Ruth said, "You should see all I accomplished this week."

"Me too, me too," said Katie. "I reached THE END!"

Barb turned a bloodshot eye on the pair. "You were BOTH pro-duc-tive?"

"YES!" they shouted in unison.

"GrumbleGRUMBLEnotaserforyougrumbleGRUMBLE. Whatistheworldcomingto?" muttered Barb. Then she turned to Lori, the gleam returning to her eye. "You are being awfully quiet, missy."

"Um... you have me confused with someone else," Lori said. "My name is not Missy."

Barb waved her hand in impatience. "Confess. You need tasered. You NEED it. Your life isn't complete without it!"

Lori looked to the others for help. She found none.
"Um... I have a checkbook?" she tried.

"Where?!?" Barb lowered the taser.

"Right... here... somewhere..." Lori patted her various pockets. "Uh-oh," she said, "It must have gotten lost when you zapped us out of the game."

"A likely story," Barb said. "I'll bet you used it for a trip to The Gap!"

"I swear!" Lori said, "It was RIGHT here, rea--"

ZZZZzzzTTTT-crackle-zap!! Kap-OW! Zzt-fizzle-fwoop.

"There," Mac said, deftly untangling the wires before Barb could get around to zapping her. "That should take care of things."

Barb's whole body shook. Her hair stood on end. When it was over she looked around, dazed.

"what is everybody doing here?" she asked.

"Um... We came to thank you for WPR this week," said Katie. "That's it. Right guys?"

There were groans of agreement.

"Oh. Great! You're welcome!" Barb said to the rapidly retreating figures.
She looked down. In one hand, she held the taser. In the other, a car payment booklet. "Darn," she said. "I meant to ask if anyone had seen my checkbook."


>quit

>Do you wish to end the game y/n?

>Y

>game ended.

[batyler65]

To those of you who refused to be sucked down the rabbit hole this week...

We know who you are. We know where you post. There is NO escape.

Come tell us the news.
Liam?

Cate?

Nita?

Tassha?

Melina?

Natalia?

Jen?

Frank?

Tri?

Betty?

Lisa?

Lorrie?

Anybody?

Oh, and has anybody seen my checkbook?

[Natalia]

Hiya all!

Sorry I am late... it's the end of the semester at uni and it's crunch time.

I am happy to report that I am past the 37K mark on my MS.
I finally figured out where two of my short stories are going.
Severed is almost finished and I hope to have it ready to submit within a week.
I sent out another 5 subs.
I posted part of a short story for feedback and did a lot of editing.
Total words for the week, about 4K tops

Whew... :)

[batyler65]

Woo-hoo, Natalia! Big progress! Glad that Severed is almost ready for submission. Keep it up!

Barb

[Good Word]

Unlike the previous one, this was a slow week for me. Time for another crunch.

Lisa

[katiemac]

Sorry about the checkbook, Barb. But I think the buffalo ate it. :Huh:

[batyler65]

Lisa, dear Lisa.

GET YOUR BUTT IN THAT CHAIR AND WRITE SOMETHING!!

Sheesh.

[batyler65]

LOL@Katie

Dang buffaloes.

[TashaGoddard]

To those of you who refused to be sucked down the rabbit hole this week...

We know who you are. We know where you post. There is NO escape.

I did actually lie awake one night trying to think up an interesting way to report that I had written nothing. But perhaps whatever was stopping me from WIP writing, also stopped me from posting here. I have no excuses. Apart from the fact that I am currently proofreading three different books, and squeezing in some electronic dev. work as well. There's the multiple deadlines all at once issue, but there's also the issue of my brain spending all day fixing other people's writing and wanting to get away from that at the end of the day. However, I think the main problem (well, who knows, really, but...) is that I was reading outside the genre of my WIP, so my head was in a totally different space. I've now returned for the moment to books in the genre. I feel more inspired now and hopefully by next weekend will actually have something to report. I may also have a bit more time available by the weekend. We'll see.

Sorry for not playing. Feel free to dole out triple taser blasts.

[triceretops]

Tasha is not alone. I hit a 150-page brick wall on my novel three days ago and haven't done a thing. I did however contribute four days out of the week. It stands at 44,000 words, and that's about 40 days work. I've got to keep up the tension; it's now a chase scene that goes cross-continent and I'm having mucho problems on how to use transitions to speed it up, but still make it thrilling. It's midnight right now, and the coffee maker is spitting, so here goes...

Triceratops

[Liam Jackson]

Just passed the 40K mark on the latest WIP (Sins of the Fathers). I'm guessing the novel should come in around 95-98K. It took a while for me to develop confidence in the story. Now, I'm committed and the writing comes easier. Still hit an occasional dead spot, but they don't last nearly as long as before.

We're also working on the final revisions to Offspring. The next time you see that title, it should be on a galley and ready for reviews.

[Natalia]

:banana: :banana: :banana: WAY TO GO LIAM!!!!


40K is fantabulous!!!!!!

:hooray: :hooray: :hooray:

[maestrowork]

Liam, when is the projected release date for Offsprings? (Final revision already? Galley? Boy, you guys move fast!)

[batyler65]

TASHA: The taser appears to be busted at the moment. Not quite sure what happened to it, so I'm just going to point my finger at you and make ZZZzzztt! noises. Kinda makes me feel like I have super powers. :) From the looks of your post, you have been plenty busy, and I can certainly understand not being able to keep your head in your own story. Still... ten minutes a day isn't much to ask. Even if you just write 100 words of description that you might use later. It helps keep your head IN the story and hels you to touch base with the voice of that story.

Here's hoping you have a better week.

Barb

[batyler65]

Tri:
44k is nothing to frown about. Get HAPPY! Yeah, sometimes we all hit that wall. for me, it usually means pushing the characters around on paper until they get tired and start moving on their own. It's hard, and it's frustrating, but it passes. Keep the faith.

Barb

[batyler65]

LIAM: WOOHOO! you are drawing near the halfway point and it sounds like you are feeling confident! Excellent!

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/Emotesnoopy.gifhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/Emotesnoopy.gifhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/Emotesnoopy.gifhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/Emotesnoopy.gifhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/Emotesnoopy.gifhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/Emotesnoopy.gifhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/Emotesnoopy.gifhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/Emotesnoopy.gifhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/Emotesnoopy.gif

Like many of us here, I am SOOO ready to hear that release date for Offspring. Keep us posted.

Barb

[ChunkyC]

Speaking of books coming out soon, when should we get Book TV (http://www.booktelevision.com/tns/home.cfm) to call you guys for an interview, Liam & Ray?

[maestrowork]

CC, TPB should be out in August or September. I'm hoping it will come out before Offsprings -- once that is out... it's that little indie movie trying to beat out Star Wars to the theater....

[Liam Jackson]

Thanks, Natalie!

Ray, Barb- I had the benefit of working with a SMP editor before ever signing the contract. So, the draft they purchased was 98% polished. That really helped speed things along. (I also had benefit of the best damned crit group in the known universe. You know who you are, so take bow)

CC, We're still cussing and discussing release dates, but it looks like a Halloween release. http://www.click-smilies.de/sammlung0304/spezial/Sarge/Dracula_anim.gif

[maestrowork]

Oooh, Halloween!

I guess CC will have at least two books for his Christmas basket... ;)

[batyler65]

Hey folks,
Apologies in advance for the short post. I had some oral surgery this week and am still living in the fringes between painkillers.

I will leave it up to you good folks to drop in and tell us how it is going this week. Everybody meet their goals? hmm? Hopefully by Monday I'll be back to normal and ready to wield that taser again.

So, how goes it?

Barb

[maestrowork]

Finally, Barb knows pain.

(Ray, rubbing his hinie for that undeserved zzzzpppt!)

((((((((BARB))))))))

[Liam Jackson]

Barb, I hope you're feeling better. I'd rather be hit in the head by a sack full hammers than suffer through another root canal.
Happy gas be damned! Bring on the hard stuff!

(Ray, she's really gonna get you, now)

[chelle21]

Dear Fellow Writers:

I'm new to the writing business in I was wondering what advice, does anybody has for a new comer just started out into the field? I have a few articles behind me but not enough to put into my byline. I’ve been into the field almost three months now in its getting harder every day just trying to put my feet into the door, since this is a writer forum I was hoping that I can find out different things and advice from other writers like me.



Chelle21:TheWave:

[maestrowork]

I think with Barb moaning and disoriented with pain killers, everyone is slacking off....


Counting my column this week, I've written over 7000 words. I'm very pleased.

[Natalia]

Whoa, Ray! :partyguy:

My ms is over 38K now... creeping to the 40K mark but have also been editing it.
I put other stuff out to be critiqued.
Severed is in its final editing stages.
I started two new short stories and wrote one new poem.
I am also halfway through the paper I need to turn in today.

Overall, about 5K :)

[MacAllister]

I've done zilch for writing. But I've done a LOT of editing, this week.

[Kitahoshi]

Mwah. 900 words on Alice, only making half a chapter as those are usually up to 2 000 words each. So I only went under my words goal by 100 words this week. Plus many strange things have happened this week: I was singing infront of my entire school and I have become a vegetarian. :flag:

[Birol]

... in order to plead for mercy.

Technically, next week is finals week at school, but as a grad student in the English Department, all but one and a half of my projects were due this week.

So far this week, I have done zilch for my writing projects because I have had to:

Rewrite a 15-page paper
Write a different 15-page paper
Complete a presentation
Complete several projects for my creative writing class
By Noon Tomorrow I must also

Finish critiques for my creative writing class
Turn in a a journal analysis for aforementioned creative writing class
By the end of the day tomorrow (okay it was supposed to be done Saturday), I must

Complete a 10-page paper
And by 6PM on Tuesday, I must

Have a 20-minute presentation ready to go

Beginning Wednesday, Barb, I will indulge all of your whims related to my writing goals, but please, this week, have mercy. I implore you.

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

[batyler65]

WHERE IN THE SAM HILL IS EVERYONE????

For everyone who showed up this week:

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/EmoteSun.gifhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/EmoteSun.gifhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/EmoteSun.gifhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/EmoteSun.gifhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/EmoteSun.gifhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/EmoteSun.gifhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/EmoteSun.gifhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/EmoteSun.gifhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/EmoteSun.gifhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/EmoteSun.gif

For those of you who didn't (including me):
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/Emotewhip.gifhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/Emotewhip.gifhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/Emotewhip.gifhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/Emotewhip.gifhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/Emotewhip.gifhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/Emotewhip.gifhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/Emotewhip.gifhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/Emotewhip.gifhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/Emotewhip.gif


Sorry I didn't have much to report. Last Tuesday, I had both lower wisdom teeth cut out. I have just now stopped looking like Marlon Brando and have decided that food might one day be appealing again. As a result, I think I managed to write two incoherent paragraphs all week.

My steady gig has resumed along with the new writing gig, so this week I must be more productive than last. I am 2/3 through BETWEEN and hope to squeeze in enough time to finish by the end of the month (my original deadline).


WELCOME CHELLE21!!
Sounds like a litte encouragement is in order.
The advice? Set goals: but make them reasonable. Be persistent: Competition in the writing world is fierce. Three months and you already have a few articles published? That's terrific! It means you are doing something right. Keep your chin up. It all takes time.

WAY TO GO, RAY!!! You should be pleased with yourself. 7k is excellent progress. (No zaps for you.)

Natalia: Ooh, you were so productive again. 40k this week for sure!

Kit: Singing? Vegetarianism? Okay, if it works for you, it works for me. And don't be so hard on yourself. 900 words is respectable.

Mac, Mac, Mac. EDITING? What happened to getting to THE END? Hmm? *disappointed sigh*. I'm expecting better next week.

Lori: Okay. End of year reprieve. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. But next weekend you had better make it worth my while.


Okay, folks. There are an awful lot of MIA's this week and this makes two weeks running.

Is it time for WPR to go away or is this just spring fever dipping into our numbers? Chime in and let me know your thoughts.

Barb

[Fractured_Chaos]

Sorry, Barb. The reason I haven't reported in recently is because right now, all Hell's breaking loose around here, and I haven't done squat (except for about 500 words I threw up in SYW). It's gotten so all I'm doing is whining, right now, because I have nothing else to say. >.<

And frankly, if I'm getting sick of hearing myself whine, I -know- everyone else has to be.

I'm also sick of my excuses, but they're unavoidable issues. So it's just better to just shut up for now.

I promise to report whenever I actually do something, though. I try to get something written in spits and spurts, though. And the "Jerry Springer" chapter looks to be settling down, so I should get more done.


If it's any consolation, I have Sam cracking the whip at me.

[ChunkyC]

I'm sure it's an abberation, Barb. You know how much we all love getting tazered, whipped, and otherwise encouraged by you.

Personally, over the last week and weekend, I was embroiled in administrative duties here, plus month end and fiscal year end at the day job, with the official handover from previous owners to new owners thrown in for good measure.

So all I wrote this week was my column.

Do your worst, Barb. I can take it.

[triceretops]

Wait a minute, Barb is a long-legged, lanky redhead? Besides all the other stuff? Ohhh, chase me around the block, woman! I'll let you catch me, then you can beat all you want.

Seriously, now, this damn thread DOES put my BIC and FTK on my WIP! Out of all the threads at AW, this one scares me, or motivates me (can't tell which yet) more than all the others combined. I get a panic attack on mondays.

Broke down the 150 page barrier two nights ago and brought it to 175, and my tool function is saying I hit the 50,000 word mark. Doing a 2,000 mile chase scene with vehicles and technology that is 100 years in the future. Just finding it hard to cross country with snappy or believeable TRANSISTIONS, trying to get some steady cadence out of this mess. Every time I seem to get stuck, I go read some Stephen King and say, "You filthy bastid, I can write like that too." Never read King before--hated him for his popularity--probably jealous too. Started the extended version of the Stand. I couldn't have been more wrong about this guy. I know, I know, where you been Chris? Under a rock!

My confessional: I'm at the screen for 12 hours a day, and I can't keep my eyes out of the PA and Shemp boards. Maybe four hours on BIC, FTK. Not fair to WIP. WTF is that!?

See y'all.

Triceratops

[TashaGoddard]

It's still the weekend over here (Bank Holiday weekend for May Day); I am completely oblivious to the fact that it is Monday, not Sunday. Well, obviously not completely oblivious, but bank holidays confuse the heck out of me. As always, I have been leaving it to the last minute in the hope that I would have something positive to report. And yet again, I don't. The day job (or should I call it the day-evening-weekend-and-bank-holiday-job?) is eating me alive at the moment. I did manage to cook a proper meal yesterday, which is somewhat miraculous (and made me feel very happy and proud and healthy and... stuff like that). I even washed up all the dishes (well, I put most of them in the dishwasher and handwashed a few, but loading and unloading the dishwasher is *hard*!).

I made a fairly lame offer to write some books to a colleague who has recently been promoted to commissioning editor (she took over my job after I left five years ago). It was lame because there is pretty much no hope of it going anywhere, because I'm not a teacher (educational publishing is almost exclusively the province of teachers over here; probably similar elsewhere, too). And that's it. No words as such.

I am considering trying to sort out my scheduling/organisational skills. I do sometimes have to work ridiculous hours to keep on top of all the work, but I know that even then there has got to be some room for writing. At the moment, I seem to go through phases and I'm in a not writing a single creative word phase. I really need to develop a BIC habit. I have some ideas on how to do this, but I'm not going to jump the gun and say 'I will be doing X, Y and Z, which will mean I will have something to report next weekend.' ... ... ... just in case.

So, I think the tazer is in order - or is it still broken?

Oh and please don't get rid of the thread. I need the pressure to get going again. Guilt is always a useful motivator.

[Kida Adelyne]

Is it time for WPR to go away or is this just spring fever dipping into our numbers? Chime in and let me know your thoughts.

No!!!!!!! I promise I'll report on thursday next week, just don't take it away!!!!!!!!

Okie, now I will report.

I was having a difficult time doing anything this week. Monday's are always gone on me, so I couldn't write. I had to make an audition CD on wendnesday, so I was practicing for that on tuesday. Thursday I had practice for they youth service at my church, friday I was dead, sunday I had the youth service, and two orchestra practices. So that left saturday. 0.o
I only managed to rewrite my short story, and I'm still really happy about it. I need to change a few more things, then get my mum or dad to check grammer and stuff like that. Then I may send it out *crosses fingers*

And... that's it. Please don't tazer me. It's make-the-musician-run-in-circles time of year, as well as make-the-student-run-in-circles time of year. And unfortunatly the circles are going in opposite directions. *sigh*

I promise I'll be more productive this week. Also, my mother is going to show up sometime. She said she will be wearing pillow armour. :)


-Ally

[Cate]

Barb! No no no!!! Don't take it away--I'll be good, I promise!!! My writing partner has finally moved here and we have been soooo busy I litererally just spaced it!

See:
2 acceptances
1 rejection
20 or so quote requests out
7 queries
2 submissions
Lots of research

Um and a little beer in there too.
Heh.
I'll be on board as usual--just had a kink in the work schedule . . .
I can whip myself if you like--?
Heh.
:idea: