Round 2 Goals

My goals are simple again - even though I'm also doing Camp Nano this month, with a goal of 50,000 words.

Once April is over, I'm going to attempt to keep up my momentum by continuing the 1,667 words per day. That, and continue planning far enough in advance that I'll always have something to write.

It sounds simple, but I have to do everything on my terrabyte drive and take it with me everywhere I go. Scrivener is on that drive, as well as my projects, so I can work anywhere there is a computer. My laptop is on its way out, so I made everything portable to use the computers at work instead.

Hmm. Maybe it doesn't sound so simple after all.

Looking forward to jumping back into ROW80!

Today I'm a Babbling Idiot

Yup. It's true. Babbling. Completely. Know why? It's because I haven't really slept in two days. It's because vampires are real.

I'm sure if you, dear reader, live in the world of acceptable reality, you're probably thinking, "Huh?" Read on, and I will enlighten you.

I may have mentioned in previous posts about my odd upstairs neighbors. They sleep all day, with the blinds tightly closed. They only surface after dark. And, just before dawn, there is always a crashing around upstairs and the sounds of dragging furniture around. Hmm. Coffins?

They tend to do their "living" at night. In fact, Friday night, after spending most of their "day" outside on the porch sharing the dark (very loudly) with friends, they decided to call it a day. At approximately 5:45 a.m. About 15 minutes before my alarm went off. This semester, I teach two math classes on Saturday. Beginning in the early morning. I went out on my patio and I let them know that I really enjoyed their conversation, but it was time for me to get up and go to work now. As an afterthought, I added that I also appreciated the fact that they kept me from having to use my alarm clock that day. It was very thoughtful on their part. Yeah. Right.

Repeat last night.

I love coffee. A lot. I've been mainlining it for the past couple of days. Hence, the babbling today.

Goals:

I'm changing my writing goals because I made a great discovery in Scrivener. Now, I'm sure it's evident to anyone who's even remotely competent in it. But I just figured out how, when in the corkboard view, to add things in between the cards to facilitate plotting. This is making my life SO much easier. Therefore...I'm changing my writing goal to simply finishing a very detailed plotting of "Immortal Blood." Any writing that comes from that will be a bonus.

I also have to add studying for my teaching certification exams. I've got to take three, and I've got to have them done by the end of June. So that's going to take time away from writing. Unfortunately. Teaching math is going to be my ticket out of Florida back to the land of cold and snow. Yeah!

See you all Wednesday!

Lost In the Fog

Morning...at least, I think it's morning. Looking out the window, all I can see is fog. That's okay, thought, because it's matching what's going on in my head. Not a lot, so far.

On the writing front, something great happened yesterday. I came across an old blog post of Gwen's (I think her last name is Hernandez - but I'm not sure) explaining how to create templates in Scrivener. She's the author of "Scrivener for Dummies." I've been wanting to do that, because as I plot out what's happening, I'd like to make sure I have some thorough scene analyses to go along. Hence, the additional templates. All I can say is, Gwen's a goddess. She's gotten me out of a heckuva jam.

My goal for the day is to get all my templates created and start another Scrivener file to make my planning more comprehensive. If I'm really lucky, I'll get some writing done, too.

Other goals:

I've not made it to the grocery store yet today, so I'm on track so far. I'm still looking to spend only on local or USA products.

The plan is to go to the gym later this afternoon. I think there's a class I want to take, but I have to check the schedule to make sure. Luckily, the schedule's online so that will only take a moment.

I've been failing miserably when it comes to taking time for myself. Writing in a personal journal has gone by the wayside. Meditation hasn't happened. I'm more focused on trying to study for my teacher certification so I can work in the K-12 school system, and finding a part-time job because my hours have been cut at work. I'm down to 24 right now. Not good. But the pendulum always swings, and there will be an upside. I know it's coming, and that stops me from fretting too much.

I keep using a mantra from Firefly, originally uttered by Kaylee: "Everything's shiny, not to fret."

So far, it works. Life is good.

An Uneven Week So Far...

I made it to the gym yesterday! I actually took a yoga class! Wow. And guess what I discovered? I'm a heck of a lot more out of shape than I thought. And I hate floor-to-ceiling mirrors. A lot. But that's okay - at least I made it there. And I lasted the entire hour. Woo hoo!

I've already missed the yoga class for today. If I'm lucky I'll get to the gym this evening for some cardio. If not, I'll just have to take a walk around the apartment complex after I make dinner.

I haven't done any grocery shopping since my last post, so that goal is unchanged.

And now, for the writing portion of our evening...

I've done some plotting, but for "Blood, Breath and Fire", not "Immortal Blood." I'm thinking about taking a side trip back to Rassa for a little while. I woke up this morning discovering a couple of other things about the history of that world, so I think I need to  hang there for a bit.

My cooking is going well, sort of. I did buy Boar's Head beef hot dogs for dinner last night, but I have managed to stay away from Publix's Fried Chicken and Papa John's pizza. It's a process. I'm going to try to get more recipes from a blog called "Poor Girl Eats Well". There's some great stuff there. Right now I'm eager to try a quinoa recipe that has butternut squash, dried cranberries, kale, apple, and a couple of other things in it. Sounds like it might be a good thing to take for lunch tomorrow. I'm working all day this semester on Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays, so lunch planning is something of a priority.

See you all on Sunday!

First Round of 2013

Welcome to Round 1! I'm so excited to be back. I'm at work, so I have to get my goals out really fast and get back to what I should be doing. Here we go...

Writing

• Continue planning and organizing "Immortal Blood" in Scrivener.
• Plot out scenes in detail, including transitions and/or final sentences.
• Finish 80 pages of new material.

Community/Economic

• Buy American, if at all possible. Congress doesn't seem to be able to get our country back to work, so I will do my best to help.
• Buy from local farmers, as much as I can, to keep the money in our local community.

Exercise

• I will go to the gym on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Sundays, because those are the days I have off, and so I'll have no excuse not to go.

Personal

• I will try to take some alone time for myself, to recharge my batteries.
• I'll try to write in my journal as a method of private meditation.
• Continue to eat healthier, as much from scratch as possible.

See you next time!

Gearing Up For 2013

Today's my birthday, and my roommates have given me the best gift possible - they're leaving me alone! I get to spend the entire day (except for the trip to the gym) planning for Round 1 of 2013!!

I haven't got a goal plan yet, but I know it's going to include some exercise, and trying to live in awareness of what I'm doing and what's going on. There are certain things I do on autopilot - like eat while I'm doing other things - so I often eat more than I want to or need to. Time to change that!

I hope everyone's had a wonderful, happy and safe holiday season.

See you soon!

Why Negative Coffee Times Negative Coffee Equals Positive Evil

The end of the semester is winding down here at the college. I didn't have a lot of students Monday, and when afternoon rolled around, I was fading fast. I'd only slept a few hours on Sunday night, and not well. My  coffee addiction tried to send me to the coffee stand downstairs, but my logical mind prevailed, reminding me that if I had coffee in the middle of the afternoon, I'd face another sleepless night. Oh, bother.

So, Kris, who was in the lab with me and studying for a Calculus final, began sketching my babbling on the board, in the form of a graph with a cracked coffee mug. The mug was slowly dripping coffee into the negative quadrant of the graph (any value here will be negative). We all know that, in algebra, a negative multiplied with another negative will give you a positive; in physics, we'd need to determine how fast we'd have to drink the coffee. (A linear function -- f(x) = x -- was drawn through the graph, bisecting the coffee mug and giving us an arbitrary line from which to determine how much coffee we had available to drink. Once it dripped below the line, we'd be * outta luck.)

So, by extrapolation, here are the parameters of the graph:

coffee = good
-coffee = bad
(-coffee)(-coffee) = +evil.

Makes sense, right? (Yes, and I agree, we should have had more work to do that afternoon!)

Goals? Oh, right, let's talk about that.

Pages: Met, thanks to Nano.

Exercise: Nope. I've been tutoring or dealing with pre-Christmas stuff whenever I've not been working.

Planning: Yes. So much so that around 4:30 this morning I woke up, realizing that I needed to find out the age of the "death" of Akhenaten so I could reasonably determine whether he had grey hair or not. Nothing like obsessing, right?

Food: Managed to stay away from the fried chicken still. Pizza, though, I ordered some because the guys asked me to. And since there was a new pizza on the menu, I tried it. I didn't like it. Yay! I did order a vegetarian pizza with light cheese, just so I could feel a bit better about my bad behavior.

How's everyone else doing?

My Head is Spinning!

Hi everyone!

Hope all of us are recovered from Overeating Thursday and Black Friday. Here's my goal rundown:

80 Pages for this Quarter: Completed, but mostly due to Nano.

Planning: Still going. I've gotten over 60,000 words for Nano right now, so I think I'm going to use my Scrivener software and do some major rearranging of scenes and things. I think I may need to make better sense of it all before I continue any more planning of big things.

Fried Chicken: I haven't had any in the past week.

Pizza: I've managed to stay away from that, too.

Exercise: There's one that I'm failing miserably on. I have to find a way to organize my life better. It will come in time.

I hope everyone else is doing well. It's going to be short and sweet today, as I'm getting the flu that's been slamming my roommates to the ground. So, it's off to the kitchen to make a big batch of homemade soup to get me through this crap.

See you Wednesday!

Too Much Caffeine Equals Stomachache

Owww. You can tell Nano's here. Between the caffeine and leftover Halloween candy, I feel like crap. I've had three cups of coffee already this morning, and I've written almost 3,000 words. The manic hamster in my head is working well; but I can't say the same for the rest of my (in)sane self.

Goals? That's been a bit of a hit or miss. Let's take a look.

Planning is going well. And since we entered the madness of Nano four days ago, I've written 39 pages. Since I only planned on 80 pages this round, I'm feeling pretty good about that. So I'm on track for a win in that category.

Giving up pizza and fried chicken? I haven't had any pizza. I can't say the same about fried chicken, but I can say that I've cut down. In fact, there's still chicken in the fridge. And if my roommate doesn't eat it by dinner, it's going in the garbage. (Oops...hang on a moment. I've got to take out hamburger to make chili with tonight. Brb.) Okay, I'm back.

Exercise? We don't even want to discuss that. But I have plans to get there as soon as my coffee stomachache goes away. Since I've written over 2,000 words today so far, I figure I can allow myself that break.

Prepared food? I've gotten LOTS better with that. I'm still resisting going into certain aisles in the grocery store, even though Near East has some outstanding grain mixes. One of these days I'll get around to figuring them out so I can do them at home.

On a different front, last Saturday my roommate took his blood pressure at our local grocery store. It was 238/137. To say that's not good is an extreme understatement. Immediately the Mountain Dew was gone, and he cut back on cigarettes from 20 per day to 8 per day. He's steadily decreasing until he's quitting. I got the idea from how George Carlin finally quit cocaine. He just weaned himself off it gradually. I figured that would work for cigarettes too. The good news is that he's sleeping better and his constant headache is gone. Yeah, I cut out the salt for the most part, too.

We'll see how that one goes.

Have a great day everyone!

Doing It Uncaffeinated...!

Morning, all. It is morning, right? I'm not sure - it's still kinda dark outside here.

Yes, you read the name right. I haven't had coffee. Or Mountain Dew. Or tea. Or even dark chocolate. My eyes are still blurry. I apologize in advance if this comes out like stream-of-conscious drivel. That's how my brain's working (or not) this morning. Or I could just be gearing up for Nano.

Speaking of Nano...if anyone's doing it and they want to friend me, I'm over there as laramcgill.

Goals, you ask? Well...

1. Planning is going well. I dreamed I was part of a police team of some sort (in Wales, no less!) and got shot in the back. It grazed my lung, and I found out very quickly what it was like to bleed and try to breathe at the same time. Interesting from an academic standpoint. Not so good from a personal one.

2. Exercise. Not so good. I had plans to drag my roommate swimming yesterday, but that didn't happen because of other things that turned up unexpectedly. We'll see about today. Taking it one day at a time.

3. I haven't had any pizza or fried chicken since I last checked in. No, wait. There was a piece of leftover cold fried chicken in the fridge that I scarfed one morning for breakfast before work. In retrospect, that might have been the best thing I could have done - I didn't like it. And now I'm much more likely to pass it by in the grocery store. (I did yesterday - I wasn't even attracted by the usually-irresistible scent!)

4. Processed food. Doing great on that - things like boxed rice mixes and Hamburger Helper and soups and stuff just don't make it into my cart. I'm still buying things like stock though. I use too much of it to be able to make it on my own and still have enough. Not to mention that my freezer isn't big enough!

Have a great, productive day everyone! Now I just have to find a way to wake up so I can get crackin' too!

I've Made a Decision

Greetings, everyone. Here's a rundown on how I've been getting on...

1. Exercise. Not the best. I've just done some gentle walking because of my back. It's been feeling much better over the past couple of days, though, so I reactivated my gym membership yesterday and I'm hoping to go back and start swimming in the next couple of days.

2. Writing. To my disgust, it also hasn't been that great. That's because I had to make a choice to take on a couple of private tutoring assignments that turned into more than just a few hours of work. It was lucrative (over $300) but took a lot of time that I would otherwise spend on writing. That finished yesterday, so I'm back on track. I think.

3. Planning. My planning is coming along slightly, but just in my head. I decided that my heroine has to die at the climax of my book. She has to be the one to take the ultimate risk, and in order to be successful, she has to die. The plot won't be satisfied otherwise. That was a really hard decision to make, but I feel better about the direction of the story, so I guess it's worth it.

4. I've made a decision about NaNo. I find I work better if I can flip between two projects, so I'm going to be working on a contemporary suspense (nope, no paranormal elements here!) called "Broken." I'm having a great time with it so far. Lots of death, pain, and viciousness - but none undeserved. Except that foisted onto the victims. It's okay, I promise. They'll get their revenge. Le Comte du Monte Cristo would be proud.

How's everyone else doing?

Sharpening My Pencils...

Actually, I don't have to sharpen my pencils, because I use mechanical ones. And a lot of lead. But that's because I use a fine point and I break it a lot.

Goals...I've done some thinking about that over the past week. They're still a bit basic. And there's not many of them.

1.  Write at least 80 pages this round. That equates to one page per day (obviously) but I want to make sure I build in some fluff time. Today I know I'm going to be going over the one page, because my protagonist is about to get into an argument. More on that down the road.

2. Continue using Story Engineering for my planning. I'll work on that every day.

3.  I have it in my Outlook schedule to walk for 30 minutes every day. Problem with that - I have lots of allergies, live in Florida, and ragweed will be the death of me. My treadmill is looking good. I plan to achieve this goal by walking only during the commercials if I'm watching TV. If I'm not, then I'll use the treadmill as something to unstick writer's block. If I haven't finished my page for the day, I have to remain on the treadmill until my fingers want to type. (That should work, either way!)

4. Here's a weird one. I'm giving up fried chicken for the duration of this challenge. Anyone who lives in Florida probably is familiar with the supermarket chain Publix - and their outstanding fried chicken - chicken they so-lovingly cook for your and have ready whenever you need a quick meal because you've worked late. It's better than the Colonel's, and much cheaper. Still bad for you, though.

5. I'm not sure about this one - I don't know if it's viable. I'd like to kick the processed food habit, but I don't know if I can put it as an actual goal, only because I'm not sure if it's realistically achievable, especially during the holiday season.

Anyway, there's my plan. I'm crossing my fingers and picking up my pencil. See everyone on Wednesday!

It's Late and I've Got the Blahs

Let me clarify the heading: It's late for posting, but it's morning. Monday morning. I'm about 24 hours behind where I should be. It's my own fault - I took a day yesterday to mentally drift. Sort of like a jellyfish.

But I don't have much to report, unfortunately. Not much writing's been done.

Our new semester started, and I've got 8 classes - more than I've ever had, and I'm still settling into my rhythm. Hopefully, I'll make it up this week.

My plans are to really get into some in-depth characterization using Story Engineering as my guide still. I also have a plan for a specific scene that I might actually have a chance to write this afternoon. I'm going to give it a shot. I'll have the opportunity, because I don't have to actually teach today; I'm watching over a lab of students who are independent learners.

I've got the opportunity for fingers on the keyboard practically all day! Go me!

See everyone Wednesday, when I'll try to be on time with some good news for progress.

Post 4th Check-In

Hi, everyone. Did you have a good holiday? I had company, so blogging and posting wasn't something I was able to do yesterday.

I'm all geared up and ready to go on some scenes I blogged about Tuesday (see below). My page count is low, but I've been getting planning accomplished.

Today is going to be about production, production, production. I'll let you know on Sunday how much I was able to achieve.

Does anyone want to race - see how many pages we can write by Sunday? Sort of like a mini-challenge?

Let me know.

Lara

Goals This Round

Hi everyone! Back, refreshed, and ready to rock?

Me too. And I'm going to take the challenge to be an action verb. That's a great idea - not only for production, but to form and ingrain a new habit. And let's face it, if we want to be professionals, the first and foremost thing we have to do is...WRITE!

So, that's going to be my goal and my daily mantra. I'm putting it up as my screensaver. I've set up Penzu Post to send me reminder emails just in case I haven't put anything down that day. I'm setting it up in my Outlook as a repeating appointment - just me and my computer. What a cozy relationship we'll develop!

Now, if I can just keep the werewolves from gnawing on the chair legs when they're bored, it'll be a great challenge!

Lara

Masochistic Tendencies...

Is anyone out there crazy enough to get sucked in to the June clambake that is Camp NanoWrimo?

One of my "friends" pointed it out to me the other day. Now, she knows that I have enormous difficulty turning down anything that has to do with writing. It doesn't matter that I'm involved with our 80 days event. Nope. Not a bit. She's luring me into the woods with the promise of more words. I can feel her emanating her peculiar brand of treacherous glee from here.

But is it really treacherous? Is it a quicksand-ridden meadow that hides the death of plot, or something that will help me achieve my final goal - a published novel? There's only one way to find out. Be as brave as Sam Gamgee and put one foot out there, beyond anything I've ever attemped before.

So, sure, what the heck...I'll give it a shot. Two challenges at once. More words, more craziness; not a problem. I think.

The only thing I can be sure of at this point is that I'm most definitely insane. And I don't think there's anyone here who would disagree with me.

But, just in case you want to hang out in a cabin in the woods with me for the month of June, look me up. I promise - we'll have fun. And I promise - no mosquitos..

(Now if I could only make sure to get my Calculus done...)

Lara

A Whirlwind of Craziness...

Ok, here's the update on my chaotic world:

1. Got the car. It's great. I haven't been able to name it, though. I kept Serenity. She deserved more than an ignominious end in some junk yard. She's become a long-term fixer-upper project.

2. Calculus is kicking my butt. I've already had one quiz. I have another on Monday, and a major test on Wednesday. Sigh. This is NOT fun.

3. The only bright spot is my writing. I've about gotten to the point where everything needs to be printed, organized in its final form, and a first draft finished. Woo hoo! That's really the point I was aiming for, because once I know where I'm going, I can whip things out in no time. I usually see it like a movie that's scrolling about a foot in front of my face. Makes it much easier for me.

How are you all doing?

See you Wednesday!

Lara

Epiphany!

Hi everyone,

It's been something of a slow writing week. My attention has been focused on my car. Instead of doing a second transmission rebuild (along with several other things that need to be fixed) I somehow ended up seriously looking at a new Subaru Outback. Huh. Who woulda thunk it?

I made up for it today, though. While I was waiting for a student, I had a whole cascade of information that took care of my problems with the protagonist. In the beginning, she's shown as weak, but after she gets back home she automatically becomes stronger. It didn't ring true, and THAT was what was leading to my problems with my middle.

So, she's going to be strong from the beginning, and resist, resist, resist going back home until someone's life is at stake.

Even though my next calculus class starts tomorrow, my fingers really want to dance on the keyboard.

See you on Wednesday!

(And this time I'll try to make it!!)

Lara

Goal Revision Already!

As it stands, I have a middle that's as confused as a huge bowlful of pasta. I can't begin to write scenes until I see even a somewhat clear direction in which to go.

So...

This is going to be a planning period for me for the next little while. I'll still be using Story Engineering and The Writer's Journey to find my way. I'll do my reporting on what I've been able to figure out and where I am in the process. When (or if) I can start writing scenes during Round 2, I'll revise my goals again to add it.

I'm adding a health goal too. Everyone feel free to nag me about them - I need it! Here it is:

In deference to Johnny Depp's new role as the wonderfully gothic Barnabas Collins in "Dark Shadows," I've decided to stay on the dreadmill (yes, you read that right) for the length of two episodes of the original series per day. Netflix has four seasons on their live streaming section.

And now, I'm off to teach math. Have a wonderful, productive day everyone!

Goals and Gibberish!

Welcome back for Round 2, everyone!

My goals are going to be substantially different this time. Here goes:

One scene per reporting period (or at least 2 scenes per week).
Pre-plotting 4 scenes per week, not necessarily in story order.

And now, the gibberish portion of our morning. I've come to realize I'm more of a plotter than a pantser - by a whole lot! There are two books that I've come across - Story Engineering and The Writer's Journey. I'm going to be using these brilliant guys to keep my story straight, because as of right now, I think I've blossomed into 3 stories in one novel. Not good. And all of them can be made into a stand-alone. Really not good.

So, I'm into major planning mode.

See everyone the day after tomorrow!

And they're off...