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Touched - Chapter Nine

  • Aug. 20th, 2009 at 9:23 AM
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Touched
Chapter Nine

             There was nothing she could do about the swimming tonight. She had puppy class in an hour and she still had to set up. Damn. She couldn’t do this. If she messed up everyone’s life was on the line and quite frankly, she didn’t have the slightest clue what she was doing. But she couldn’t bail and she couldn’t find a way out of this. Talk about a pickle of a problem.

 

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Actually remembering to post here!

  • Aug. 4th, 2009 at 6:02 PM
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Actually it's a sort of cross-post from my main blog, but at least I'm remembering to use my lj. xD

I'm finally home again. I feel like I've bee pet sitting for a few weeks straight now - and I pretty much have. It's nice to get the extra money but I can't always manage to get anything done while pet sitting. The cats and dogs kept me on my toes on this last one. The cats took to knocking everything off of perches, from their food dishes (sometimes full of food) to the glass I'd set down on the counter when I went to take one of the dogs out (yeah, yeah... shattered glass... not cool). A few of the dogs I watched were foster dogs... not used to living in a home and very needy. Normally I can write through almost anything a dog does (cats not so much, because well... they can reach anywhere the little buggers), but having a drooling head in my lap kind of diswayed me from pen and paper OR alphasmart. What can I say, it was a losing battle?

However, I'm home now and have started my next rough draft. I plan on starting on the edits of one of the drafts I just finished not too long ago and get that into a decent draft for other eyes to go over. But for now, I'm amusing myself with the new Big Shiny Idea: Touched (working title). Here's a brief excerpt/opening paragraph in all its unedited glory. Which incluedes my [Fill in the Blanks Later] brackets:

( Excerpt under cut... )


Proof, in other words, that I have been writing.

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Forget me not...

  • Jul. 4th, 2009 at 1:11 AM
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I always forget I have an LJ. You'd think I'd at least remember to post the posts from my normal blog, but nope. I'm useless at this. So I guess LJ updates are always going to be sporadic for me.

So far this year (since my last post was the goals for 2009), I've written two rough drafts and revised one. This month is revision month on a few others.

Life itself is going well, but I'm getting close to the cut off time where I need to find a new job because I won't have mine soon. Great. I love where I'm at, but I can't have a work study job forever, especially if I'm done with that college. I hate job shopping.

I also added a website link to my main blog in my profile. I love how it turned out. ^_^

2009 Goals and January Wrap up

  • Feb. 8th, 2009 at 2:03 PM
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Well, this is a little late, but oh well.

Last year, my big goal was to write 400,000 words. I ended up writing 413,781 words – all fiction, and minus December (in which I spent rewriting, but am not counting those words, it’s too troublesome).

 

So what does that leave me for 2009? I decided to look at this year differently, because I don't just want to focus on new words, but also getting some drafts to the next step.

 

So I think, generally my goals for 2009 are:

1. To see at least 2 of my first drafts into a second draft

2. To write at least 2 new first drafts
 

 

So for January my goal was to finish my rewrite of Open Season, and see where that took me. I got pretty close there, I only have 8 scenes left to rework and draft 2 will be done. Overall, I'm not so sure where I stand with this book. I adore OS's characters, but this might end up being a free book I toss up online for anyone to read or completely redrafted into something else. (The latter of which I do have ideas on and know how I'd change it, if I want to put the work in...) We'll see, it gets a break after I finish this anyway.

However, I also started a new work in January... pretty spur of the moment. The idea hit me that evening, I played with it mentally for a few hours trying to convince myself to shove it out of my mind and in the end wrote the first 1000 before I could let it rest and go to sleep. I started with less than 200 words, just a quick jot down of the original idea... but the story hasn't stopped coming since. I'm sitting at 45,000 words in and still going strong. Doing this much writing alongside the rewrite of OS did slow me down quite a bit but the WIP also proved to be one heck of a motivator. I hope to have the WIP, Territory Lines, done by the end of this month or close... cause next month is NaNoEdMo and I'd like to use that to help keep me focused on another edit/rewrite work on another one of my first drafts... I'm thinking my 2007 NaNo Cry Wolf. 

I started a short story project for the year as well, so I should go add that to my goals. But I'll leave the explanation for that to another post.

  • Mood: content

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WriYe Goal Finished!

  • Nov. 30th, 2008 at 9:15 PM
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First off, I’ve officially finished my Writing Goal for the year 2008. I wanted to write 400,000 new words this year. At the moment, with NaNoWriMo done for me - I’m sitting at a total of 413,781 words for the year and feeling darn proud of myself. I’ve had my good months and my bad ones, but this year was the first time that I tried to write something every month. After last year’s NaNo was such a success I was determined to keep writing and see if I couldn’t make it a habit for myself. I think I succeeded fairly well.

My year thus far looks like this:

January: 65810
February: 62,568
March: 51,006
April: 1,600
May: 14,918
June: 74,937
July: 7,859
August: 24,165
September: No recorded count. I was working on outlines/research again.
October: 26,243
November: 84,675

(I don’t have a count from 2007 to compare, but I know last year in Jan I wrote around 30k, then fell out until about the last 2 weeks of July where I wrote around 75k, then in November I wrote 100,036, and December where I wrote 59,246. My writing this year was much more consistent, though I still had my ups and downs).

I’m not sure how much more that number will climb in December as my goal for the next month will be to look over a book I wrote in December 07/Jan-Feb 08, Open Season. I’ve already started the first read-through of it - not making any notes, just letting myself enjoy the story and getting a feel for how things built. After I finish that I’ll be going through a second time, marking everything that I feel needs changing/rearranging and so on. From there I’ll be tackling the rewrite - cutting scenes that don’t need in there, rewriting the rough patches, and adding scenes that are necessary to the book. I’m hoping to get a choppy second draft of OS done by the end of the month, but it’ll depend on how things go. But I have part of my winter break in December, so I can get quite a bit of work done. -crosses fingers-

I’m also looking on towards the next year already. I don’t think I’ll be setting a word count goal for the year, or at least not a large one (I do want to complete a rough draft or two, so I might set a goal for that), because I’ll be doing a lot of rewrites/edits rather than new first drafts. I can’t wait to see how my writing continues to improve… when I look back at NaNo 06 and compare… just wow. How much will I improve in another year? Two? I can’t wait to see!

(Edit: Wrong November stats, fixed now.)

NaNoWriMo Progress - 41,841 words

  • Nov. 8th, 2008 at 11:20 PM
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I feel that I'm behind on my progress up dates for NaNo. The month is going very well and I'm enjoying the story so much that I find myself writing and writing and writing. I'm not saying it was the easiest to slip into, but now that the momentum is going, it's a blast.

I'm writing Lost and Found for this NaNo, here's the little blurb I did up for it:

Lost and Found

Josie Hart always knew that being a border collie shape-shifter had it’s advantages. So when her boss’s boyfriend turns what should have been a casual breakup into a case of domestic violence and steals her cat, its Josie to the rescue. Determined to smuggle back the missing feline she takes to the streets as a dog. Against dog-nappers and the local animal control Josie is risking her tail for a rather ungrateful feline, especially when she finds herself on a several night stay at the local Humane Society, again.

Now, thanks to her not-so wonderful track record at the HS, she’s catching the eye of Connor Reid, the super-cute employee responsible for her doggie jail time. Even worse, she’s falling nose over paws for the man; at least that’s when he’s not recommending flea products and house visits to her roommate. The last thing she needs is noble minded man out to save a dog that doesn’t need it.

Then the ex-boyfriend in question starts suspecting that Josie’s been in his house and when he notices the stolen cat gone and a view of Josie running down the street cat in hand, things get a little messy… She’s not safe as a human or dog, and the man she’s starting to fall in love with, doesn’t realize she’s also the most recent doggy drop off. So when Connor ends up as her dog-self’s caretaker for a few days Josie’s plans get even more muddled along with her heart.


 ( Excerpt... )

 

Normally I try and get a blurb that’s more self-explanitory up, but this story was tough to find one. It took my awhile to get into my main character, she’s much more animated than I am. This has been up for awhile, but I figured it was time to blog it so I can upload my second one soon.

 
  • Mood: happy

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So close!

  • Oct. 26th, 2008 at 11:55 PM
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I keep looking at the calendar and recounting the days… We’re so close to NaNo that I feel like I could fly. With the right wind of course. I’ve spent the last three days checking the NaNo store over and over again, waiting for them to restock my size in the NaNo shirts so I can order one. It’s such a bummer to know that I’m probably not going to get one in the first week of November, because even though they said they were restocking Friday, they haven’t updated the site to say why there aren’t any… What a bummer.

I was looking forward to wearing the new shirt to my first write-in ever. I suppose I’ll wear the old one. But yes! I’ll be going to a kick off party about a half hour away from where I live on November 1st. I’m so excited! I’ve never been to a write in before, but this one sounds like we’ll have quite a few people all writing and chatting for several hours. Wee! This makes it even better that NaNo is on a Saturday.

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NaNo Planning

  • Oct. 8th, 2008 at 11:05 PM
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My writing for this month is under way, but while I'm working on my GothNo I'm also trying to get some last minute planning done for NaNoWriMo.

I have a mock cover made for inspiration, which was actually much harder to do than it looks... considering the dog in the picture is composed of three different dogs. -sighs- So much for me doing a simple image... But I had a vision to stick too. LOL Though all pictures used were either from my own stock or from sxc.hu. It was a nice fun experiment.
 
Hopefully this all fits under the cut...
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Sep. 24th, 2008

  • 11:09 PM
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Well this past Sunday was the annual GRRR picnic (Golden Retriever Rescue Resource), it's the rescue I help out with. I work with the Vice President as she's a past neighbor of mine, and help out with the foster dogs we have up here, but this last Sunday I got invited to go to the picnic with Rachel (the VP). It was an awesome experience. It's always nice knowing that the dogs you helped actually got homes, but even better to be able to meet them again and see just how much happier they are in their new homes. I went mainly to help hold dogs so that Rach and her roommate could show off their adopties and enjoy the picnic, but meeting the familiar furry faces of so many success stories was a bit eyewatering.

It's not often that I get to see the dogs I've helped rescue again so this was nice. Some pictures:

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Still Alive - Planning for the next stories

  • Sep. 11th, 2008 at 12:26 AM
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I'm so slow with updates. Life is back on track for the most part. My dog is walking, although with a limp, he seems to be making a darn good recovery. Writing wise… I just finished Nocturnal about a week ago and was content to see the story get put in the temp drawer for awhile so I can take a break from it.

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  • Mood: cheerful

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A Rough Time

  • Aug. 3rd, 2008 at 11:45 PM
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It's been awhile since my last post... My posting always slows when I haven't been writing, but overall life's just been rough going as well. HEART SONG flopped with some major problems after SoCNoC ended and I stopped for breathing room. I'd seen it coming as I was writing but didn't have the heart to stop and admit it. When I finally did I was 67k words into the story and severely boxed in with things I didn't want in the story anyway. So I've shelved it for a little while...

Partially because I've been doing so much writing this year and not enough relaxing/refilling my muse... and partially because life got too much. I always get 'off' around the time I need to start figuring out my classes/what I'm going to do for the next several months. Especially now that I have a basic associates (general studies kind of thing) and needed to figure out where to go from there. Then last week Sunday my dog stepped wrong off our mini-deck (only 6inch drop) and we thought he sprained a muscle. He walked fine but had an occasional limp. Toby tends to do stuff like that he's a weird boy. But Monday it didn't get any better... instead by the time I got home at 5 it was worse. By late that night he could barely move without screaming. So the moment the vet opened on Tuesday we were there... after a painful exam, so even more painful x-rays and a lot of heartache we found out that he'd collapsed two discs in his back. And that there was probably some neurological damage done (his body wasn't reacting normally, probably from pressure on the spine) and that there was a strong chance that he might not walk again.

SoCNoC - 50k Done!

  • Jun. 22nd, 2008 at 12:33 AM
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I wanted to post this last night, but I was exhausted by the time I went to bed... Not to mention on the verge of my hands falling off. Yesterday was one of my insane writer days... the days when I have more competitive nature than common sense. As a spur of the moment thing I decided to see just how many words I could get done for the day, and after some nice urging from a friend, I managed to pull off 10k before collapsing sometime in the middle of the night and dragging myself off to bed. I always end up pulling one long day for NaNo (at least...) but it's not something I do regularly.

I'm not done for the month by any means... but I hope that now that I've managed my monthly goal for HS, I can work a little bit more on Nocturnal alongside it. I'm right in the middle of a big fight in that one, with everything falling apart, and the shit is hitting the fan... and I need to put time into that book while it's still fresh. So yes, I think I'll work Noct tomorrow before doing any work on HS.

Well... this was a short one, but my wrists are already feeling a little tender so I'll break already. If there's one thing I've learned about pulling the longer days is that it's even more vital to let myself rest afterwards. And to really, really pay attention to when my body says 'break time'. So off I go.
  • Mood: pleased

The "I Can't" aspect of writing.

  • Jun. 10th, 2008 at 1:53 PM
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We've been discussing this a lot in the Creative Writing class I'm in right now, and it's always a reoccurring theme when chatting with writing friends. You know what I'm talking about. I can't write short stories. I can't finish anything (anymore). I can't write without my muse. I can't write when anyone's home. I can't write with a certain song. I can't… I can't… I can't. It's amazing how long our list of "I can't write because…" can actually be.

 

  • Mood: peaceful

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SoCNoC Days 1&2

  • Jun. 3rd, 2008 at 12:29 PM
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Wow. Either competition motivates me extremely well or I needed a second story to boost back up my inspiration? Two guesses as to which it is… It's the third day of June and I've already written a little over 10,000 words. Most of it written while I'm trying to hold my muse in check and take breaks. Heart Song started off with a bang Saturday night… I stayed up until midnight so I could get that first start on the book. I don't always do it on these competitions but I really like it when I can. I tend to be able to get a few hundred words out just so the next day feels like I've got a head start. Heart Song went so well I was packing up sometime around 1:30-2:00am with 1,700 words down… I was thrilled. I woke up the next morning and did at least that before taking a break and later that evening settled back to work on Nocturnal. I promised I wasn't putting Noct away for another month, but that I didn't want to push myself on it. No need to push apparently… I hand wrote a few pages, typed them up and by the time the muse let me up for air I had 800 words on Nocturnal done.

SoCNoC and June's Projects

  • May. 31st, 2008 at 11:24 PM
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I'm still here. I'm still writing. My updates are slow because I have enough going on as of late that I've forgotten to blog about it. Or keep up with anyone else's blogs which makes me feel even worse sometimes. However…

  • Mood: excited

Refinding Order

  • May. 7th, 2008 at 6:30 PM
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I'm alive. Exhausted, both mentally and physically, but I am still here. I feel really bad for randomly disappearing for a month without any warning... but I suppose that means I really needed the month off. I didn't realize it until recently, but last month is nothing more than one big blur. Stress tends to do that to me and it takes quite a bit of it - all piled right on top - before I freeze frame and my brain officially dies. April was one of those moments.

Let's start with the beginning shall we? The end of March and my car died. To top it off, no one could figure out what was wrong with it. (We did get it fixed, I still don't know what was wrong with it... I left that up to dad because I was overwhelmed). But I went the first week in April without a car, and trying to find ways to work and school was a nightmare. I was overtaxed and set the writing aside, because to top it off, it was also nearing the end of the semester and all the teachers had plenty of time to make up for. Ugh. I also took on a few extra dog-sitting jobs to help get money to fix whatever was going to be wrong with my car. Which only adds to my stress, because of course everyone wants thier old dogs to be watched while they go on vacation. Why is it that I always get the dogs I have to worry about them croaking while their owners are gone? Add that to the storm phobic one that I had to tranquilize. Which gave me a heart attack when the dog was so out of it she could barely keep her head up and I swore I overdosed. (She was fine... four o'clock in the morning nightmares are NOT helpful when they're about the dog who I had to drug to keep from eating the person's house... and no matter how many times I reviewed the directions my unease didn't go away until the next morning and the dog proved to be just fine as promised).

Then in the second week of April while dog sitting, the stress in my neighborhood hit an all time high - the dog I'd been nervous about and was therefore driving my dog elsewhere to walk, finally did get loose. And sadly, it proved that I had a reason to be so leery.

Grown Tired?

  • Mar. 10th, 2008 at 5:11 PM
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For the past few weeks I've been wondering if I'd been getting tired. For the first month of the year I kicked out over 60k, the same for December of 07 and I did 100k for NaNo. By the time I crossed into 100k for 2008 (middle of Feb?) I was beginning to wonder if I was getting close to burning out. When I 'got back on the horse' for NaNo 07 the story I chose just flew onto the pages to the point that I'd finished my 50k easily and it never occured to me to stop. The story carried me well into December and even in it's roughest patches, once I got started each day the words just came. After finishing my NaNo story I started the next one,Open Season and it went rather easily. The beginning was really rough as it took some getting used to the new characters and overall, the plot was messy. It wasn't until the end of the book that I finally figured it out. However, overall, the book just flew onto the pages.  For both books my muse was with me the majority of the time. 

A Walk in the Park

  • Mar. 4th, 2008 at 3:57 PM
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I've been so tired lately and I haven't been able to figure out why. My schedule feels a bit harder this semester but it shouldn't have been making that big of a difference. Today I finally figured out why. After the last big cold we had here, my dog's feet just couldn't handle the snow and ice that well, so we stopped taking our daily walks. And now that it's somewhat decent out there I've been avoiding them because our new neighbors have a dog they can't (or rather don't bother to) keep pinned up and so far the dog's went after two people. I'm not about to risk my baby with another dog. Even if the dog never got within range, Toby has enough on-leash aggression issues due to past close-calls that I'm not even willing to risk what emotional and mental stability I've helped him rebuild after the last one. So we haven't been out on a walk since probably mid January. Sure, I've been trying to get him out back to play, but it's not the same thing. He might run around to burn his energy but I'm not getting the same exercise.

Open Season is now done!

  • Feb. 28th, 2008 at 10:51 PM
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Last weekend I finally typed the End on book 1 of the Werewolf Files, OPEN SEASON. I still have a lot of scenes to add in due to the massive plot change the book under went half way through... but for now I'm on a break from it. I'll do the new scenes when the inspiration hits and just insert them in as I go. And since it'll be quite some time before I can get back to the series I wrote the first part of Werewolf Dreams (book 2!), that way I can step in later in the middle of the flow and not have to struggle to figure out where I was going with the scene. Hopefully it'll make the sequel easy to start working on when the time comes.

Getting started...

  • Feb. 19th, 2008 at 9:14 PM
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Sometimes sitting down to write is the hardest thing. Everything looks more interesting. I know it's bad when I start considering counting out dog kibble or repainting my room just so I don't have to write. Or I start considering taking the 10 pounds of frozen meat out of the freezer and getting it cut up so the dog can eat for another month, even when I don't have to do it for at least another 2 weeks. One thing I've discovered about myself as a writer is that each night is a challenge to sit down and just get started. I dread it, I hate it. I sit there twiddling my thumbs and surfing various websites just so I don't have to start. I know, I know. The only way to get the work done is to start. But for me, that's the hardest part and everything under the sun looks better than opening that Word document and typing my first word. Poop scoop duty begins to sound like heaven to my ears.

  • Mood: calm

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