I Love a Challenge!

While I was at the lake having my lovely vacation my phone had a rare moment of internet connectivity and I checked my email. Hmm, isn't that a strange thing to do. 

Well, I got a message that the lovely Tristi Pinkston was hosting another of Tristi's challenges!

Woohoo!

Well, I was excited see that email. I had signed up for one before, and then completely lost the site, I couldn't remember my goals, and it was just a complete bust!
This time I was determined to accomplish something and use this challenge to really do what I've been telling myself for the last year+ that I can.

So I signed up, bookmarked the page, and have been writing like a crazy girl, checking in and freaking out every time I hit another word count that I never thought I would make it to.

You know, I learned to speak positively to myself a long time ago, but telling myself something and really believing it is different, and a little tricky.
Now I can see it happening, and by golly I am eating that elephant, one bite at a time! Or in this guys case a giant strawberry larger than half your body, either way, it's goin' down baby!

My goals were to write 1,500 words 5 days a week with a total of 7,500 a week. So, far I've kept up or at least managed to catch up for each weeks goals and last week I hit 40,000 words! 

This week I've made it past 50,000!

I'm so excited!!!

I know it's only a first draft but this is my first first draft that's actually getting completed! And I'm freaking excited! I've already got plans for my first round of edits but I'm holding off till my last few chapters are written and I can officially say, "Why yes, of course I've written a book."

The Feeling of Getting it Right

Aaahhh, Joy.

Words come together like a giant puzzle, and when the last piece fits, it's joy. 

One word. Joy. 

Never mind that we'll usually try and see if the puzzle can be improved by adding another piece or two to the final project.

 Sometimes we think another 200 pieces is all it needs and then it will be perfect :)

 but, eventually we scrape off all the excess and see our words for what they are. 

Then a scene becomes happy and complete.

Yup, I get a little giddy at that point. Then I re-read and smile... a lot! 

Only then am I allowed to sweat and worry about whether everyone else will agree, but for the moment... joy!

Going Healthy! Outside-out!

I've been loving writing! I write all day and I walk away saying, 

"Wow! I did something amazing today!" 

However, it only happens a couple times a week. 

See, when I step away from the computer it's usually onto a pair of soggy pants left in my room by my son, and around the corner lies half the contents of my daughters bedroom, and my dinner dishes are mingling in the kitchen, with the forgotten breakfast and lunch leftovers. Oops! 

Anyhow I've been thinking it's time to turn things inside out and make a plan to get it all done! Everyone I know has a plan, my books even need a plan, if I ever intend to get to the end. 

So, why not me.

Then my friend started posting about a Summer Ready Health Challenge. 

Not weight loss, just health. It even had a spiritual component.

 I loved the idea of getting ready for summer inside and out! 

I was totally in! And it started today. 

Whew! It's been a little crazy trying to remember how to be healthy!

On top of the body and spirit portion of the challenge, I've added mind. I've given myself a personal challenge of daily writing to go along with the rest of it!  Not all day daily writing but some, even if it's just a little. I'm so looking forward to the next 8 weeks! I'm planning to come out of this with some new healthy habits for my body and mind!

Really it's not such an inside out approach, but I'm taking what I've already got out there and I'm gonna use it if I have to turn myself inside-out, or right side-in, or "outside-out" as my little guy would say :) 

As a writer, how do you turn yourself inside out?

 You write! You write so many words they are spilling out your fingers, and over the bound edges of your books! Then you gather a few up, and keep writing till they're exactly where they're supposed to be! 

I'm super excited! 

Here's to summer of outside-out books and lives!

Fine I'll Read Another Book

So I love reading. Surprise :) 

My girls read and a couple have even been writing as well. (I so love this! When they read their work my chest puffs up and a batter from the world series couldn't knock the smile off my face.) 

Reading allows me to escape but writing swallows me whole. When I start writing I can't escape my story for days. My characters follow me around and every conversation inspires something. Unfortunately that inspiration can be less than focused and I usually get several new book ideas while listening to peoples own epiphanies, but, what's been strange for me, is when reading becomes work. 

I currently have a stack of books to read. Granted, much smaller than an editors, but way larger than I'm used to piling up and my rainy days are seriously lacking! So I've got to knock some of them out. Not to mention the fifteen million other things on my list such as, taxes, kid pick ups, kid drop offs, taxes (April is coming really fast this year), bills, dinner, lunch, breakfast, clean up from the previous three, etc. And, my kids like to imagine that some day I might stop and play with them! How dare they :) 

I don't know what people are talking about when they say that time flies! OK that's a lie, but how else am I supposed to justify sticking my kid in front of a video game or saying "Mommy will be down in a minute!" When I really mean a few hours, if I can escape the computer by then, and not have some other urgent to-do item come up. 

So what to do because the weather has taken a turn for the worse and I'm looking at some rainy days, and frankly I'd like to put the to-do list away, shove the stack of books behind the piano, and just write. 

The picture has no real tie to my post :) I just happen to love old bookstores, old bikes, the architecture. 

Well it looks kinda rainy, so there, I tied it in!

Ode to the Pen

I've been struggling with a laptop that doesn't want to cooperate with my on the move style of writing.

• I want to write everywhere. It prefers being plugged into the wall.
• I want to access my work in a more easily view-able format. It doesn't like to save in dropbox. (Or maybe it just refuses to update what it does save. I can't decide)
• I move from one thought to the next very quickly. It thinks I need time. Probably to contemplate the nature of every possible story line before continuing on with the plot. (Jerk. I guess it doesn't trust me.)

Oh well, in any case I was inspired by a post at  QueryTracker Blog by Jane Lebak She wrote about writing in notebooks and after reading it I stared at my stack of neglected notebooks and was kinda surprised at how similar my feelings are about writing in them. 

I still need the computer, obviously, but I really believe I write better when it's come from my brain, to the paper. Like somehow my heart is attached to those tools and when I insert a keyboard between my fingers and the story, I lose feeling. Maybe I think about things to much, or not enough, but in any case I'm pulling out the notebooks and pens and going to work... again :) 

Go check out her post and her friends posts as well if we want to be all unbiased and junk, and get inspired!

If you really want that ode...
Oh the glory of this thine ink!
Why must the words thou holds be hid from me?
Spill them, spill them forth that I might joy in their wonder!
Share thy secrets with us all.
The glory that thou holds.

Hehe, Share an ode with me! I'm totally not being serious in writing that. Honestly...
 I don't even know what an ode really is! So don't think just write and share your ode to writing!

Current WIP - Today I'm hoping to find out some dynamics in the conflict between Chloe and her father. 

Remembering why I love to write

I had a great day Saturday! I attended a writers workshop in NW Arkansas! Just a one day thing but it was just what I needed!

I'm remembering how much I love to write! It brings me joy to sit down and let a story spill out onto paper! 

 Marilyn Collins gave a fantastic talk on getting the most you can from a writers conference. She had great advice on networking with editors & agents. Because of her the next thing on my list to do is to practice a 25 word pitch. Haha! I've known for awhile that I should do this, at the last writers conference I went to I remember wracking my brain for a description of what the heck I'm writing. It either came out incredibly vague or I'd watch a glazed expression that I couldn't seem to fix as I went chapter by chapter through my whole book.  It was sad. So, I've decided the 25 word pitch is for me, and for everyone!
This will not happen to me again :)

 The sisterhood of the traveling pen was a fun portion as well. They did  dramatized version of the pros and cons of large and small press publication. Can't say I completely agreed with all of it but it was lots of fun and makes you think about what you really want to do with your book.

Before the conference was over I was digging out my laptop feeling inspired all over again!  After my last conference well I'm feeling like this is a huge improvement! What's crazy is I know this has nothing to do with the actual conference but entirely to do with me and where I'm at. Last time I was overwhelmed with the information, and the knowledge that when I got home I was expected to write a book! Me?! The only time I'd ever said that before was while hiding in the closet with my laptop, trying to escape the 5 whining little people outside the door. This time the classes were excellent and I value the information I received, but this time I was ready to be inspired!

So thank you to the North West Arkansas Writers Group I loved it!

I had a lovely day Doug Kelley gave an excellent talk on research, and I just love listening to Velda Brotherton speak. Her knowledge astounds me and I'm grateful she is so willing to share! Dusty Richards did writing 101 and we all know how important the basics are. Learning them helps make the real writing so much less scary!

Over all, I had a fantastic inspiring time at a conference I will definitely be returning to!

Keep movin along :)

So I started this in March, and I have continued to write, slowly.

Flash forward!

6 mo later.

Hmm... sorry, but I'm not finished yet. Oops!

Hehe :)

However, I am further along than the first chapter.

The overflowing amount of advice that is available to anyone wanting to write. Boggles my mind and leaves me in awe of the many talented published and unpublished authors out there striving to tell their story!

Today, I'm feeling the need to just keep going.

The desire to tell my story is overwhelming, but, this first time through the first draft is kinda killing me :) I'm trying to figure out the details of things that I vaguely know and put into words the feelings that express themselves so freely in my minds eye. I think this is why not everyone can be a writer! I just have to make sure I get through it!

Goals for today (or this month) -

Find the time and push through the hard parts so that your story can be told. I'll figure out the fine tuning later but right now it just needs to be told!

The second draft is easier right?