Goals Summary 2022 – Wk #43
Remember last week, when I said I was feeling good? Prepared? *sobs* Last Week Prep Newsletter Nanowrimo Prep Record Podcast Workout/Read 30 minutes a day How’d I Do? Prep Newsletter Nope. Nanowrimo Prep No. Record Podcast No. Workout/Read 30 minutes a day Nope. Weekly Word Count: 0 If you’re looking at this and thinking, “damn B., what the hell happened?” That’s fair. i’ll tell you what happened… one of the worst migraines I’ve had in a long time. It struck Wednesday night after I got my hair done for the first time in months. I don’t know exactly what caused it, but I’m guessing a perfect storm of triggers: strong scents from the hair salon Long period of time without my glasses while getting hair colored and cut change in barometric pressure as Fall weather looms in the valley probably not enough water that day I hadn’t had a migraine…
Goals Summary 2022 – Wk #42
The weather finally broke! Summer is over and Fall is here with a vengeance. Today’s walk was a bit frigid and windy and the fall colors are everywhere. And, best of all? It RAINED! It’s finally autumn and just in time for Halloween! Hurray! Last Week Finish Ramona Rough Draft Continue Research for Nanowrimo Project Workout/Read 30 minutes a day How’d I Do? Finish Ramona Rough Draft Yep! And then some, actually. The story is complete and off to the anthology for which I wrote it. Continue Research for Nanowrimo Project Yes! I spent another three hours in Portland this weekend at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library. Workout/Read 30 minutes a day Yes! I worked out five days this week and spent a good chunk of time reading on the two days I didn’t workout. I’m feeling very good about this routine I’ve built. Weekly Word Count: 1,686 Sooooo yeah. It was a…
Goals Summary 2022 – Wk #41
This was a busy and very productive week, complete with a trip to Portland to do some research and see some writing friends! Let’s get to talking about it! Last Week Submit Victoria Workout and/or Read 30 minutes a day Decompress from Fiction How’d I Do? Submit Victoria Yes!!!! Yes Yes YES! Workout and/or Read 30 minutes a day Yep! Decompress from Fiction Yes? Maybe… not? Weekly Word Count: 2,517 Let’s get the screaming over with: VICTORIA IS DONE! She is DONE! The novella is revised and submitted and she is DONE! She’s gone, flew the coop and into someone else’s brain! GOODBYE! Okay. Now that’s done, I’ll admit I didn’t feel so giddy about it in the moment. I felt nervous, sending out this little, but ambitious book. It’s strange and complicated and carries a lot of my darkness in it. Actually sending it felt weighty, and I was very somber…
Fall Musings
Is still doesn’t really feel like fall. It’s going to be in the high 80s today. The sky is clear and bright blue, and even the trees seem to be confused, their colors stalled between green and orange and red. I know it’s bad, that the weather shouldn’t be this summerlike in mid-October. This time last year I was on a fall hike with some friends and it was misty, foggy, and FREEZING. I loved every second of it. Yesterday I wore shorts. But the light is different. Thinner somehow. The earth’s rotation has put the sun at a different angle, one that says “Autumn.” The weather, and thus nature, just hasn’t caught up. This time of year is always one of transition. Summers are for revisions remember? Maybe I pump out a short story or two (or four!), but largely I spend the summer months finishing up manuscripts for…
Goals Summary 2022 – Wk #40
Okay. Look. This post is late, and I’m also running late on my final proof for Victoria, so I’m gonna keep this brief. Last Week Victoria Revision #2 Read/workout 30 minutes a day Edit + post podcast Survive Homecoming Week How’d I Do? Victoria Revision #2 Yes! All the substantial edits are done, and now I’m in the proofing process. Wooo! Read/workout 30 minutes a day Yes! It was a very active and busy week, and I definitely burned some serious calories. Edit + post podcast Yep and yep. The new episode is out now! Have you listened in yet? Survive Homecoming Week I’m here, typing, so I guess I survived? I’m still exhausted and vaguely sore (from dancing for 3 hours straight), but it’s over. I made it! Weekly Word Count: 0 Honestly? The week was such a blur, I have basically nothing to say by way of reflection. Last week…
Goals Summary 2022 – Wk #39
Look, I’m keeping this brief because I’m sleepy and stressed about the week ahead, for reasons that will become all too clear as you read on. Enjoy my impending nervous breakdown! Last Week Victoria Revision #2 Read 20 minutes a day Write 1500 words Record podcast How’d I Do? Victoria Revision #2 I made good progress, but did not finish it. There’s still a bit of work to do. Read 20 minutes a day Yep! You can read about how the Trevor Project reading challenge went in my September Recap. Write 1500 words Nope. Record podcast Yes! It will be out on schedule, this Friday! You can catch up on the most recent episode here. Weekly Word Count: 381 Hey man, it ain’t zero, which is about all I care about when it comes to word count right now. When it comes to revision, word count just isn’t a good metric by…
The Recap – September 2022
I gotta say, the view from my desk does NOT look like October. Like, at all. It’s blue skies, a lovely 74 degrees, and the trees are still entirely too green. It feels like the end of summer, not the first, fledgling days of Fall. But how things look and feel ultimately have little impact here. Time trudges on, and the goals go with. So let’s get to the good stuff! September Goals Write Victoria Query Package Rough Draft Read 20 minutes/day Finish Victoria Revision #2 How’d I Do? Write Victoria Query Package Rough Draft Yep! I actually got this to a point where I think it’s closer to a final draft. I’m comfortable sending it out to an editor in the shape its in. Read 20 minutes/day Yes! More on that in a bit. Finish Victoria Revision #2 Close! I am very very close to getting this revision done (3/5 goals completed!). Total Word Count: 3,997 September…
Goals Summary 2022 – Wk #38
Someone needs to get ahold of whoever is in charge of time and tell them to take a chill pill. I cannot keep up with this calendar, folks. It’s going TOO FAST! Is Ricky Bobby at the helm of this year or what? Last Week Victoria Revision Pass Write 1500 words Read 20 minutes a day Prep Newsletter How’d I Do? Victoria Revision Pass Hahahahaha *sobs* No. Write 1500 words Nope. Read 20 minutes a day Yep! I’m still working my way through The Story of the Hundred Promises, but the Ghost Files series premier came out on Friday and then Trev and I spent Saturday playing silly video games together and split a pizza. I have no regrets. Prep Newsletter Yes! The newsletter is written and scheduled and will be out before this post is published! Weekly Word Count: 870 Look. This isn’t the greatest word count ever. But it…
Goals Summary 2022 – Wk #37
It’s Monday, y’all. You know the drill. Last Week Victoria Query package Rough Draft Read 20 minutes a day Write 1,500 words Writing Admin How’d I Do? Victoria Query package Rough Draft Yes! This was one of those things that you dread and put of because you think it’s difficult, and then you sit down to do it and it’s cake. Read 20 minutes a day Yep! I’m making slow and steady progress on The Story of the Hundred Promises, and I also read a graphic novel, The Crossroads at Midnight. Write 1,500 words Not quite. Writing Admin Yep! There was a bit of time spent last week on short story submissions, revisions, and querying. I’d fallen behind on a lot of it because school started and I’ve just been so wiped when I get home. But I’m all caught up now! Weekly Word Count: 1,216 Honorable Mentions There were a handful…
It’s Saturday.
Which, historically, means very little for the blog. I don’t write any special posts or even tend to spend much time on the site. Saturdays are personal days. I don’t write, I might read, but mostly I play video games and lounge around with the spousal unit. Especially since the pandemic. Today though, is a very different kind of Saturday. There’s the usual Saturday Morning “Coffee at Your Table” through Willamette Writers, where a bunch of writer types hang out on Zoom and shoot the shit. I’m helping run those meetings these days, and I couldn’t be happier about it. They are one of my favorite traditions to come from the COVID era. But after that I need to return some pants to Goodwill, buy dog food, and then there’s the Willamette Writers Salem Chapter meeting in a nearby park. It’s the first in-person meeting for my chapter since March…