Weekly Writing Check-In: This is the scene that never ends~

Well. You may or may not remember my self-challenge to write 25k in February. I didn't keep track of how much I wrote, but it definitely wasn't 25k. Probably more around 15k. But that's still 15k more than I had before.

Right now I'm in the midst of trying to finish up what is thus far the longest scene in the draft. Stuff just keeps happening, and my brain is starting to get numb trying to keep together  what happens next and who's supposed to say what and drop what hints about future plot crap. Thus I've had to break it up into chunks to write, which means I don't get as much done. Or at least it doesn't feel like it. But eh.

Starting this week, it's back to editing the final draft for CROSS//Rebirth. After I feel I've done a sufficient amount of editing I'll get back to writing on the first draft for CROSS//Revenge. But I won't start editing until I finish this damn scene.

Ever feel like the scene you're writing is just never going to end? (Yeah, I write in order. That's not going to change. Like, ever.)

Friday Flash: "They're Bulgarian".

For this week's installment of Friday Flash, I've got...nothing new! Well, it's probably new to most of you. But if you ever read my Nanowrimo profile, it's not.

Didn't have time to write up anything new this week. Instead I'm offering up the preview text I have on my Nanowrimo 2011 profile for CROSS//Revenge. It's about 2k words, but most of it is dialogue. Only minimally edited thus far, as is probably obvious. (Still Nano-raw, lots of extraneous words and then some, cause LOL WORD COUNT)

Not gonna offer much background, but it features one of the characters I used in the recent blogfest. And some new ones.

Usual warnings for some crude language, sexuality talk, and a couple violent threats. Basically, a normal day in the CROSS// universe.

Heaven’s Garden was one of those places that looks like a tiny café from the outside, but in reality is a gaping maw of seating and lighting inside. Yumiko removed her sunglasses so her eyes could adjust to the natural lighting while avoiding waiters and hostesses, regardless of how cute the latter were. When Maj. Lewis suggested “hamburgers and salad” Yumiko thought she’d be lucky with Sizzler’s, but by the lack of children and anybody wearing less than their semi-formal wear it was…well, it was what she feared the most: a date.

They sat in the middle of the gallery, on opposite sides of the table, and when Maj. Lewis tried to order on her behalf she responded by kicking her foot into the table and spilling his water all over his lap.

“I’ll have the quarter pound with tomatoes and onion only please. Second lunch set.” Yumiko turned on her smile just for the skinny, tanned waitress.

“Nice appetite, Kobayashi! It’s nice to see a woman who actually eats."

My stomach feels like a bottomless pit of you-shut-your-mouth. “Oh, I’m not opposed to feasting when the moment calls for it.” The waitress was the one to inspire her to use a double-entendre. Yumiko wondered if she could get her number.

“My ex-wife – honestly, can’t remember which one – had this thing about eating food that weighed more than her hand. How does that even make sense? It doesn’t. She has a daughter with another man now. That’s gonna end well, eh?”

Yumiko rolled her eyes. All she heard was “my ex-wife blah blah blah”.

After another awkward declaration about ex-wives – “this other one thought it was her job to eat all the sausage in the house” – Maj. Lewis got up to go use the restroom. Yumiko whipped out her cell phone to send a plea to Miranda to come save her from this heterosexual spectacle.

The waitress walked by once more, but before Yumiko could turn on her charm and invite her over to her apartment later for debauchery she realized she was leading two people to the table behind Yumiko. So much for that.

Yumiko didn’t pay attention to what the people were saying until they actually said something.

“I don’t know why you get to choose everywhere we go.”

“Because I can’t trust you to not, you know, blow our cover. Like you’re doing right now. You need to seriously stop speaking in julah before some other Federation people overhear and realize who we are.”

“And what the hell would you propose I speak?”

“I dunno, something from Earth maybe? Oh, hey, here’s an idea! Speak English! Hell speak some Spanish! Do you know some French? You wanna go to Japan so I hope you know some Japanese, why don’t you try it out on me?”

“You’re a dumbass. How’s that for English?”

“Charming.”

By now Yumiko was huddled in her seat, her sunglasses flung down her nose and her hair as flat and unremarkable as possible. Were these kids stalking her on her purpose or just on total cosmic accident?

The waitress asked what they wanted; Vikkel ordered for both of them since Krista apparently forgot her English. “You spend so much of your time just fucking around. You gonna do anything or just let those mercenaries run all over the world?”

“How about you stop criticizing me for two seconds, huh? Man, you’re cranky today.”

“Probably because I don’t get any sleep. You kick me every ten minutes.”

“Because you’re still in my bed.”

Yumiko relaxed her shoulders. She was scared of these kids?

“Let’s just get this over with.”

Yumiko heard the two of them get up out of their seats, and then…nothing. Did they go to the bathroom? Maybe they could take care of Maj. Lewis for her.

Suddenly two julah were sitting at the table with her.

“You’re Syrfila Tograten, right? You were kinda hard to find,” Vikkel said in English.

Yumiko held up her hands in front of her face – she could feel the contents of her empty stomach filing through her esophagus. “I…I don’t know anyone by that name! My name is Yumiko!”

“Right. Yumiko Kobayashi. How nice.”

            Yumiko slumped down in her seat and covered her eyes with her hand. “What do you want with me? Leave me alone and I won’t have to bust your faces in here in front of half the wharf.”

            Krista opened her mouth to retort – doubtlessly with a threat – but Vikkel cut her off with a half-smile and further threat. “Don’t worry, we’re not interested in you or your deeds, as swell as they seem to be right here. What rank are you in the nation’s military?”

            Yumiko pressed her teeth together. “I’m a major, thank you.” And I got here all on my own, she added.

            “Noble. Well, like I said, we’re not interested in taking you into the Federation, as much as my mother would love it…”

            “Vikkel.”

            “What?”

            “You’re projecting.”

            He shot his ex-fiancé a glare. “You shouldn’t use our names like that.”

            It was Yumiko’s turn to laugh at their misfortune. “Vikkel, huh? Then you must be Vikkel Amyran. And that would make you, who? Krista Ferran? What’s the ambassador’s daughter doing all the way out here?”

            “How do you know who we are?”

            “Please, your marriage disaster was huge julah news, even Nerilis Dunsman was mumbling about it. Seems that you two have made up, though.”

            “That’s none of your concern,” Vikkel said. “We’re not here to talk about us. We are, however, here to talk about Lord Dunsman.”

            “Lord Dunsman? Jeez, you julah really are in deep with your titles. I don’t think anyone’s called him Lord since before he blew up his first planet.”

            Vikkel sighed and planted his hand against his forehead. “The reason that we’re here speaking with you is not, like I said, to turn you in. We simply want to know what you know about finding Nerilis Dunsman.”

            “Oh, so it’s him you’re after?”

            “In a fashion.”

            “Well good luck with that. I have no idea where he is. He cut me off and ran away, far from this planet I’m presuming. Last I heard or saw of him he knocked me clear off my feet and beat my ass.”

            “Yes, but you may know more than you think.”

            “Oh, is that so?”

            Vikkel lowered his hand while Krista, now wonderfully excluded, picked at a scab on her wrist. “We’re interested in contacting a Mr. Yamamoto in Japan. He was the one who…”

            “…Dunsman bought the androids from, I know. They were a pain in my ass.”

            “Yes. Do you know how to locate him? We only have his last name and, well…”

            “Yeah, good luck with that.”

            “Well?”

            Yumiko glanced around the room – there was still no sign of Maj. Lewis, thank goodness. “Even if I did know his real name and how to get in touch with him, why would I tell you?”

            “Why wouldn’t you? You have nothing to lose.” Vikkel paused. “But you will have something to lose if you don’t tell us what you know.”

            “Is that a threat?”

            “Obviously. We’ll have no qualms alerting the Federation Forces as to your pseudonym here and what you’re making of yourself.”

            “I’d kill you first.”

            “Ha!” Krista finally chimed in. “As fucking if! Do you know who we are, sweetie? We’re fuckin’ julah.” She tossed her head back and crossed her legs, Vikkel’s eyes transfixed on her movements as Yumiko silently noted. “Before you’d ever have the chance to break our necks, blast our asses, or blow up my…” Krista glared at Vikkel, “…apartment, I would curse your ass so hard that you’d wake up with every STD in the Federation sprouting from your hips and crawling up into your navel. Ever heard of Vallerkay Spore Worms? I’ll give you a crop of them.”

            “Ew.” Yumiko once knew somebody with Spore Worms. No one had looked lovelier than she did with that nice green hue of molding and rotting flesh. “How attractive.”

            “Uh, yeah. You should see the pretty pink vagina I gave the male mercenary.”

            “She’s really proud of that.”

            “I figured you would do some…a vagina?” Yumiko imagined Devon in her mind, a scrawny, no-one-care waste of a male (but weren’t they all?) who was so far up his own ass over the female mercenary that playing with him was only amusing for about five minutes. The thought of giving that asshole a vagina was something even Yumiko could get behind. She couldn’t wait to tell Miranda later.

            “Kobayashi!” Shit, he’s back. “I didn’t know you had some new friends!”

            The three of them looked up to see Maj. Lewis, returned from his pleasant sojourn to the bathroom, He pulled out his abandoned chair and sat with a fwump that made Krista cock one dark eyebrow.

            “They’re not my friends,” Yumiko informed him. “They were just leaving.”

            “You a soldier, boy?” Maj. Lewis flung his hand out and squeezed one of Vikkel’s biceps. “You’re kind of a scrawny boy but you’ve got some nice Marine muscles!”

            Vikkel shrugged him off with chagrin. “I…I used to be a soldier…”

            “Feh! Once a soldier, always a soldier in your heart! Your parents must be proud.”

            Krista snickered.

            “Oh yes, they’re quite proud.” Yumiko remembered hearing from Dunsman all about the plight of Lady Aryman and her disappointment of a lifetime son. From what Yumiko understood of julah culture, academia equaled prestige and love whereas boot stomping equaled disdain and disownment. This kept getting better and better.

            “Who are these charming children?”

            “We’re, erm…”

            “I’m not a chi…”

            “They’re my niece and nephew.”

            They all gaped at Yumiko – well, it wasn’t completely far-fetched. Everyone had dark hair, and although neither Vikkel nor Krista looked huling in the face…

            “Really? I didn’t know you had any brothers or sisters…hey, aren’t you Japanese?” Maj. Lewis turned to Vikkel. “And what accent is that, boy? Eastern European?”

            “Yup. They’re Bulgarian.”

            More gaping.

            “My family is fucked.”

            “We’re, uh…we’re going to go,” Vikkel announced while standing. His full height made Maj. Lewis crane his head back and stare with a “do you play basketball?” face.

Krista stood up as well and said to Yumiko, “You’d better think about what we said. We’ll be in contact with you again later.”

Once they were gone – and they were gone gone, based on the confused look on the waitress’s face when she searched for them later – Yumiko relaxed her shoulders and shot a breath out of her mouth. The only thing worse than dealing with two adolescent julah was…

“Interesting family you have, Kobayashi, although a bit strange…”

…Maj. Lewis.

“What can I say, we keep shit interesting in my family,” Yumiko mumbled. The waitress returned with their orders. Yumiko stared at her knee-length skirt and thought about the only thing that could make her paranoia subside at that moment. She pulled out her cell phone and searched for Miranda’s email address while settling her stomach’s appetite.

For some odd reason, Miranda did not return Yumiko’s text request for sex that night. Instead Yumiko was forced to suffer through a full lunch hour of Maj. Lewis’s bullshit small talk while stuffing her face and wishing she were dead. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to just turn herself in to the Federation and have her execution over and done with. It would be especially worth it if it were broadcasted throughout the galaxy and Maj. Lewis managed to see his would-be girlfriend shot by firing squad while giving the camera the biggest finger he had ever seen.

Weekly Writing Check-In: In the midst of it all, résumés!

My brain.

What a busy week for writing!  I wrote a new blog post every day while also juggling my 25k February challenge and working on some hubs. In the process my personal blog didn't get updated, but eh. Only so many hours in a day.

Thus, I will break this check-in up into some sections!

Blog: Been a while since I wrote a post every day! And not just fluff posts either, but ACTUAL posts! I had too much fun doing the blog fest. So much, in fact, that I am looking for others like it. Anyone got any leads? I will probably do a promotional flash fiction piece every Friday from now on, so do look forward to that! (Anybody got any good prompt sources? Character-related ones are apparently my favorite.)

CROSS//Revenge 25k February: I'm not keeping track of exactly how much I am writing thus far, but I've done a pretty good job of sticking to 1k a day. I'm determined to get back to editing come this March. But we'll cross that bridge when I get there. Right now is a pretty pivotal plot scene so it's going well.

Résumé: Oh have mercy. Since I'm nearing the end of my contract here in Japan, I'm starting to look for jobs back in the states. This includes updating my résumé, good lord. I hate résumé updating with a fiery passion, especially when my old one was tailored to my current position - nope, can't just add my current job to it, have to go in and totally gut the whole thing. Cut out everything from high school and most of my college crap, add a separate skills section, completely get rid of "objectives" because I'm sending this first one as a "blanket" résumé for no position in particular at a certain company. And of course being the time it is, there's no one online to look it over for me. And my mother's not online to see if she can think of any skills/abilities I'm forgetting. And I want to send this thing tomorrow at the very latest. Sigh. It's only my future, you know. (Because as much as I wish I could work full time, I do need a paying job, let alone one I actually enjoy!)

Bah, enough about that. Tell me, how was your writing this week? Or if you're not a writer/didn't write, how's the reading going? Gaming? Tell me anything going in your life that is NOT day-job related, haha.

EDIT: Help a girl out? Take a look at this blog entry and help me come up with some character names! I posted it back in October but still need some help, darnit.

"I'm Hearing Voices" Blogfest Day 3: Emotion Flash Fiction

It's day three of the Blogfest hosted over at Live to Write...Edit When Necessary and Reading, Writing, and Lovin' It! Today's challenge is:

Emotion Flash Fiction: Emotion is the engine of a story. Pick an emotion and in a flash fiction piece of 250 words MAKE us feel it! We want to connect with your character. This will be a challenge in 250 words.

  Had to think good and hard about what to write for this one. Eventually I got an idea from a comment Emily R. King left me in Wednesday's entry and decided to bring both Day 1 and 2 together in a preview snippet from the current WIP, CROSS//Revenge, which is book 2 in the CROSS// Pentalogy. (Book one is finished and sitting before I attempt final revisions again. I'm currently writing the rough draft of book two.) While this scenario will occur, I'm not quite that far yet so I'm not sure if it's going to happen as I've written below. But oh well!

...no screenshots for you today!

               While her charge continued to sleep in affliction behind her, Miranda maintained her vigil just yards away, her body poised for meditation.

               She opened her eyes, her head pointed low. Just over her shoulder she could see Danielle laid on the floor, hands clasped and face twitching in the throes of her nightmares.

               “What are you dreaming about?” Miranda wondered. She pulled out a cigarette from her back pocket and lit it with alacrity. “Are you dreaming about me?”

               Smoke wafted through the air as Danielle muttered an incoherent reply in her sleep. Miranda frowned. She stuck the cigarette back in her mouth and stood in silence.

               Her mind exploded.

               Fuck you, Danielle. Miranda exhaled. After everything I’ve done. After all the sacrifices. After all the blood? Another draft. The things I’ve done. The contacts I’ve made. The people I’ve fucked, all for you. Smoke. The deals I’ve made. Her cell phone rang with Yumiko’s tune. The horrors I’ve endured.

               Miranda counted each breath Danielle took.

               And you don’t even care to remember me.

               The tune died down as Yumiko gave up contact somewhere on the other side of the world. Miranda dropped the finished cigarette and smashed it with her boot, the ashes smoldering on the stone next to Danielle’s cheek.

               Miranda turned. She faced the circle of men and women donned in their black hoods and chanting their prayers. She pulled out her pistol and leveled it at the nearest julah, a woman.

               “Well,” Miranda said, “I’m ready.”

---

Didn't get a chance to edit as much as I like since I think I'm coming down with a cold just in time for the weekend here, so I'm posting it "as is". Oh well. Enjoy! This blog fest was a lot of fun. Looking forward to more great ones in the future.Thanks to everyone who's stopped by to read my humble stuff this week! You have no idea how much pride and enthusiasm all of your comments have given me!

EDIT: Oh ahahaha I must really be sick indeed now. I totally forgot to say something that I had intended all day.

I'm not sure what "emotion" to classify this. It's like a cross (lol get it) between "resolution", "frustration", and "determination". Any word to sum that all up? Haha. Let me know what emotion this evokes for you!

The 25k February Gameplan, 2012

I can't believe I posted this.

A couple days ago I proclaimed that I was going to write another 25k in February, in a desperate attempt to get this draft I'm working on mostly written so I can get back to concentrating on editing.

I still intend to do that.

I just don't think I'm going to get as far in the story as I originally hoped.

You see, yesterday I had an epiphany. And not just any old plot epiphany, I now know what the climax and finale of this novel is going to be.

I tend to wing these things. Sometimes I know what I'm leading up to in a draft, sometimes I don't. In this case I had no idea. I didn't know in the previous novel either. (I do know, however, what the main climaxes in books 3 and 5 are going to be. Woohoo?) Usually my best bet is to just start writing and eventually I figure that stuff out. This time I was taking a bit longer than usual, and was starting to get a little worried that Ye Olde Muse had taken an extended vacation when I reached the point in my handwritten outline where I didn't...know where the plot was going to go from there.

Than BAM! It hit me like a sack of potatoes twirled around by a...I dunno, something that twirls around really fast? Regardless, I had so many ~brilliant~ ideas at once that I almost had a freakin' brain hemorrhage and had to race to write everything down before I forgot it all overnight. I'm in love with this ending now, it includes pitting two characters together that rarely get any "screentime" together and a league of cloaked sorcerers doing some dirty mind tricks...literally. Pretty much the shit I love the most. AND I FINALLY HAVE A USE FOR ALL THESE SIDE CHARACTERS! I'm the most excited about that. This novel pretty much sees every damn side character in the series pop up in one form or another and I was getting worried that it was getting too confusing and they weren't doing enough. Well now they all get to be in the ending. Hooray!

And everything ties back into the theme/title of the novel (Revenge). And sets the characters up perfectly for what happens in the next novel after this one. It's these moments that make being a writer so damn thrilling.

So, yes. This February my goal is to write at least 25k more of this draft. I really should be editing. But I have to write this. I'm sure most of you know how it goes.

NaNoWriMo 2011, Day 30: The End..cept not really.

It's officially December 1st here on my side of the Pacific, which means another Nanowrimo has come and gone. I'm quite proud of what has gone on this year in terms of my writing. Not only did I get to meet some great people sharing this common venture, but I blasted my old personal record. See my super hot stats below!

Total Words Written: 67,339
Average Per Day: 2,244
Pages: 125 (single spaced, 12pt TNR)

Absolutely nothing shabby about that - another chunk has been cut into CROSS//Revenge and I couldn't be happier. Well, I could be happier. I didn't get to write ANY naughty scenes within the entirety off November. Heck, two of the main characters never even interacted this year! (Although they will meet up again quite soon.) Actually, funny story - I've been ranting about no naughty scenes all month, and then the moment midnight hits two of my characters about to get it on. You will be all relieved to know that, yes, I just kept writing until I finished the scene. I earned it, damnit!

This draft is far from over. As a combination with last year's Nano, I have well over 120,000 words, and I feel like the first half of the novel is just now coming to a close. It's right on track to matching CROSS//Rebirth in length, which is surprising me since less actually happens in this story, heh. There are SO many secondary characters that I'm worried readers are going to get confused. Most of them pop up throughout the course of the book over and over, but you know, less is more~

I'm giving myself the rest of the week to keep writing. Don't know about next week yet since it's my business trip and writing is easier than editing during that. But I do need to get back to editing Rebirth if I want to stay on schedule for 2013 release.

Whew. This was the easiest Nano for me yet. It's amazing how much I can get done when I don't have homework!

NaNoWriMo 2011, Day 3: Type-blocked

Day #: 3

Words Written Today: 1982
Total Words Written: 9017
Amount to 50k Goal: 40,983
Total # of Pages: Two lines onto 18.
Total # of Gratuitous Sex Scenes: 1
Drive: Frustrated

Today's Hilarious Forum Topic: Funny Things Which Happened To You During Sex (NSFW OBVIOUSLY and no I didn't add my own even though I have a pretty spectacular one. With my luck somebody I know is lurking there and my handle is my name trolololol.)


As you can see I did not meet my 10k goal for the third.  (I barely made 9k! Seriously I hit it ten minutes before midnight). This is because I had to go to bed early last night for an ~early~ staff meeting today, and then afterwards I took a nap until it was time to go to work. Then I didn't get back until 9:40 pm and had to cook dinner...well, you see~


Not too worried though. I'm at a pretty interesting part so I should be able to bam out another 1k tonight without much problem (and hopefully more). Right now everyone's having a reunion with their ex-girlfriend (yes, singular) which is always Super Happy Funtimes.


I am getting a bit strained with my soundtrack music thus far this year. Been listening to a lot of Akina Nakamori and while she's absolutely amazing, I made the mistake of listening to her latin-pop album first today and almost couldn't concentrate over all the erratic (and horrible) beats. Oh dear.

NaNoWriMo 2011, Day 1: 1667 Words Go By Quickly

Wow, that's a lot of numbers in that title.

Here, have some more!

Day #: 1

Words Written Today: 3552
Total Words Written: 3552
Amount to 50k Goal: 46,448
Total # of Pages: 6.5
Total # of Gratuitous Sex Scenes: 1 (kinda)
Drive: Stable

Today's Hilarious Forum Topic: ?! Acceptable in some cases? (or, "This is really serious, you guys. Time to rage quit reading and give arbitrary reasons I've over thought.")*

So far so good for Nano. I always start off pretty strong though, but I've got a LOT  of downtime this week so I hope to keep it up for at least the first week here. The reason why I didn't do so well last year when I was unemployed is because...well, it was a rough time in my head.  And every other time I've done this before was during college. So I have some hope for being really productive this year!

Thus far I've finished one scene (that started with a lesbian sex dream and ended with frantic phone calls in a public restroom and am almost done with a second. I hope to finish both the current scene I'm on and reach 5k by the time I go to bed tonight. I've been cosmically blessed with some really solid ideas of where to finally take this particular book and I'm stoked to just keep writing. However, this is my first time ever fighting the "inner editor". Probably because I've been so deep in editing these past few months. I keep looking at some things I write and think "ew. I'm gonna hate myself later when I'm editing this hot mess." But I remind myself that it's the first absolute draft and thus it will massively suck. Yay!

How y'all doin?

*You all can take "?!" from my cold dead hands. Also I can't take the interrobang seriously even if I do usually root for the underdog.

Weekly Writing Check-In: Preparing for the Inevitable

lol spoilers tbh.

Hey guys, it's October.

October is a great month for three super solid reasons.

1) My birthday is in October. Actually this should be all you need to know about October to know that it's fabulous.

2) It's full-on fall now. Hot weather is LOL BAI and blessed coolness all day comes and makes life freakin' bearable outside again.

3) NaNoWriMo season is officially here.

GUESS WHAT. I'm going to do what I've done for every nanowrimo I've ever been in since I started in 2007 (except for last year technically) and work on a WIP. Another 50k here we come.

So this is what I've been doing this week~~

CROSS//Rebirth

Finished editing chapter 2 and almost done with chapter 3. Hoping to have it completed tonight so I can start fresh on chapter 4 during my business trip. The first five chapters are the first hump to get through as they're the first set of chapters I wrote en mass, so they always require the most changes and the most analyzing on my part to make sure they match up with the rest of the novel. Thus far I'm averaging about a chop of 1k words per chapter - most of it is fluff, redundancy, etc, all that good (or not so good) stuff. Editing while on my trip should be...interesting, granted that I will be moving everything to my traveling EEE PC. Not the greatest computer to do any doc work of any kind on. At least I THINK it has Word 2007 (what I use on my main laptop here) on it so my flow should only be disrupted by a super tiny keyboard and it crashing every five minutes from memory loss.

CROSS//Revenge

Like I said above, Nano season is here, which means my preparations are in full swing. Luckily, that's not very much! I'm more or less ready for nano to come now. I've known what the following couple of chapters were going to be since the end of last nano. And I already outlined pretty much the entire next section that I may or may not get through this year. So all that really leaves me with is finalizing where things are going so I can just jump in and write write write without too much blockage. I think I mentioned last week that I fubbed on a plot point but that's since been sorted out (as you may see in the pic I've posted). Oh, about the pic. I needed to take a pic of something. But, you know, spoilers~ So check out at your own risk or just admire my super badass orange pencil I got yesterday. (Seriously? Japan is the best place to buy cheap and amazing office supplies. It's an addiction, really.)

That's all for this week. Proper Nano flail post to come if I ever find time this week~

Weekly Writing Check-In: "Hey, got some hair here. Look familiar?"

This only makes sense to one other person.

Dang, is it already that time of the week again? Actually, last week didn't go by that fast, but somehow I'm still surprised it's Sunday night again.

I actually got some stuff done again this week! On enough projects that it's time to organize them under their own BOLDED headers! Oh my!

CROSS//Rebirth

Went back and FINALLY, finally added the extra information about Miss Shows Up During the Climax. I'll fill out some more details here and there when I do the next thorough edit starting this week, but the pieces have been placed to work on. Yay! This next week I will do a ~butterfly count~ and open up a new Word file to keep track of which chapters still need primary symbolism so I can add them in the next edit. Speaking of which, the next edit starts this week. Now that I''ve done most of the plot doctoring for now I'm going to focus on characterization (some characters act...not quite how I want them to act in the beginning chapters because I ended up changing them later on) and making everything more succinct. I plan on cutting out a lot of words in this edit. Even more parenthetical phrases are gonna get cut and shit that just doesn't need to be there. My goal is to work on at least one scene a day, as opposed to one chapter because I'm going to be analyzing the actual writing like an utter boss.

CROSS//Revenge

 Started outlining the next part of the novel today, putting down exactly what I want to do next (I still don't know how it's going to end, so yeah) and what's going on in each character's timeline. I definitely have enough if not more to get through this year's Nano which is all I care about at the moment. I'm hoping that I'll have some great breakthrough for how I want it to end and lead into the third book, but right now I ain't gonna worry about it, nope nope nope.

So I've got quite the week ahead of me in terms of writing work, but it's "work" I look forward to doing because I actually enjoy the editing process - it feels damn good to cut out stuff that you know doesn't need to be there, or to fix an issue. Actually, what feels awesome is that you were able to find it all on your own without somebody telling you that you suck! Yeah!

Weekly Writing Check In - Just when you get ahead...

Even though I really need to finish up my camp manuscript by this time tomorrow (because I have a business trip the last two days) I have to stop 1k short of today's goal because I'm just too dang tired. Writing whilst tired only works if they're sexy scenes, after all. And this is not a sexy scene. More like a bloody scene. *sigh*

Camp Nanowrimo/CROSS//Process

My goal for today was 37k, but I'm stopping at just a little of 36k. I had a six-day work week this past week, which wasn't bad before I got internet back on Thursday...heh, guess what I spent all Thursday night doing? ;D 4k left doesn't sound too bad when it just turned the 29th here, but like I mentioned above I have a business trip on the 30th and 31st and have to take my crappy little laptop with me that will shit itself at the thought of opening Word, let alone verifying a huge 50k document. So I hope to have it finished by the time I leave! It'll happen, I'll just have to sit down tomorrow and pound out that 4k in little 1k increments. I still wrote 12k this past week and that's nothing to sneeze at.

CROSS//Revenge

Reread the first 100 pages that I've written so far to refresh myself on where i'm at so I can get to work on drafting a bit of an outline for the remainder. I'm still not quite sure where in the story I'm at, or what kind of climax I want it to have a the end. I'm not worried though - this is how CROSS//Rebirth started in the writing process, and I ended up writing a climatic conclusion that I'm very happy with in terms of events and characterization. Sad lack of gratuitous porn, however. How am I supposed to be amused by the such easter eggs I leave myself when there aren't any?! Sigh, on my ~to do~ list for nano this year, obviously.

---

I'd much prefer to have a more chipper entry for this week, but you see, it was a six day work week and I spent my Sunday shopping and walking around in the city aaaand ;D It's bed time! I have a date with the City Hall tomorrow...and then my vacuum cleaner afterwards. Oh, and a manuscript apparently...sigh.

Weekly Writing Check In - Because I need more shit to do.

Yes, I've decided to start making ~weekly writing check ins~, to update the world on the current progress of my projects. If nothing else, it forces me to post every week even if I can't think of any other appropriate topic to discuss.

*ahem* That said, it's actually been a pretty productive month! Let's see, thus far I have to report:

Camp Nanowrimo

It's the end of day 21 here, and CROSS//Process just broke 34k. Not too shabby, I'm right on target. Once I hit 35k things to tend to be all downhill as the end is in plain sight - this time will probably be none too different. However, although I have a basic outline I am working with, I'm still very much pantsing most of the scenes. Example, I am currently in the middle of a scene I know exactly what I want to do with, but after that it's back to pantsing and literally making things up as I go along. It doesn't do well for me in the plot department, but it DOES help me in characterization and that's what I love most...so...that said, goal now is to keep chugging through 'til the 31st and go from there!

CROSS//Rebirth First Round Edit

...is finished! Hooray! I was able to just slash through the last few chapters at the speed I wanted. This first round of editing was focused on recognizing my plot holes and what I need to fix for the Second Round - while also being Adverb Slayer and the righter of all seeable bad grammar. I've made a list in a separate file detailing what I need to fix - first and foremost, I need to add more butterfly symbolism. I only started doing it in the second half of the novel and now want to go back to make sure there's at least one offhand mention of a butterfly SOMEWHERE in every chapter (since my chapters are on average 10k, this is doable.) I also need to introduce the character that appears in the climax in conversations, files, etc so I'm not breaking a huge nasty rule. I was going to do it in this edit but I could not find an appropriate scene to do it in offhand...gotta fix that. Also, other small plot tidbits that I'm sure readers would go "wtf but..." at. If I can see them now, I might as well fix them before somebody else does!

Gonna let the manuscript sit and rest now, though. Not gonna look at it again until September so I can focus on finishing up Camp and glancing through...

CROSS//Revenge First Draft Progress

...nothing to note on this, just announcing to myself that as of this week it's back to the forefront of mind, since it is what I will be working on in November. Gonna give what I have so far a read through to get my brain caught up on what I've done. After Camp I'm going to try drawing up a proper outline for the rest of the novel...gonna be hard, since most of the plot is still fuzzy in my head as to what I want to have happen in this installation.

---

That's it for this week. I've actually accomplished quite a bit, eh? As soon as Camp is over I'll be back in my normal game. But damn it's amazing how much you get done when you're not on a million business trips in one month, lol.

NaNoWriMo Season is Afoot.

Feel the writin' burn.

Well, it's time.

National Novel Writing Month 2010 season is here!

Just to get things out of the way, if you would like to add me as a writing buddy, here is my profile!

This year is a bit different for me. Not only do I plan on working on a "new" novel this year, but I am also acting as Municipal Liaison of my home region, Oregon South Coast. It's gonna be a  busy couple of months, but you know, I'm unemployed and have the time to do it. 

Now here's the REAL announcement from my writing front.  I am too close to finishing the manuscript for CROSS//Rebirth for me to want to work on it this November. So my goal is to write 1700 words a day until I finish the first draft. And then for Nano? The next installment for the series, CROSS//Revenge is up. I already have most of what I needed outlined for it, so the real challenge is finishing up the first manuscript!

I have no idea how many pages are left, but I'm nearing the final confrontation and it should only be a few more chapters. Ugh, how good will that feel, anyway?

So is anybody else excited for nano this year?!