I'm Baaaaaaccccckkkk.......

Hi everyone!

Final exams are over, and just about all of my students made it through - at least, the ones who put forth the actual effort. So, barring one staff meeting on Wednesday, I'm free for fiction! Woo hoo!!

So, in the midst of finals madness, a weak spot in my WIP struck me. I really didn't have a good reason for Hayleigh's research assistant, Nasir, to travel with her back to the US. Then I realized that her countdown for success (or failure and death) wouldn't begin until AFTER the artifact was translated. And, since Nasir is also part of the Bani Anubis werejackal clan, he MIGHT have knowledge she would need at a critical juncture. So...now he has a reason for being in Rhode Island.

I'm off to my on-campus office in about half an hour to get some work done. It's so much easier to write away from home - that way, other tasks don't take my attention from the page. Yay!

See you all on Wednesday!

Lara

What Planet Am I On...?

It's been a bit crazy this week. I pulled a couple of muscles on the sides of each legs. You know, the ones that curve from your butt to the top of your legs? Wow, talk about pain!! I walked like someone who was about 120 and lame to boot. Yeah, the dreadmill stuff didn't work so much this week. Today was the first day I was able to walk without too much pain. (And I still don't know how it happened...)

Writing? Planning? With final exams upon us, my students are grabbing all my time. I haven't done a thing. Except one. I did have a new story idea slam into my head. So I wrote that down and put it away in my file.

Exam last two weeks - they start tomorrow - and for my students they end on the 24th. I'm not foreseeing a lot of work accomplished until then.

This week I plan on pushing through the mud and getting through the exams to the freedom of the page!

Baby Steps...

I haven't gotten as much done this week as I wanted to. And I have to confess, I'd have gotten a lot LESS done if I hadn't responded to a blog entry on "high concept."

A couple of very nice people told me they thought I had a good concept, so it kick-started me into where I needed to be.

My other goal, the one involving the dreadmill, isn't going so well. I've only made it on there once.

Feel free to kick me in the butt...I can use all the asskicking I can get. Losing weight is such a hard thing for me.

See everyone on Wednesday!

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...

Slowly Crawling Back from the Abyss...

I've picked up my pencil again, but the writing's not going all that well.

I think I might have a ghost dog. Maybe. I can still hear Jordan's dog tags on occasion, and sometimes I can feel him rub against my writing chair. It would be nice to still have him around in some capacity.

But a bright spot appeared on my horizon yesterday. I discovered a basic, but major, flaw in my main character and I found a way to fix it. So, that mental frequency is coming in clearer. Hopefully that will increase my productivity.

See everyone on Sunday!

Death, Again

It's been a terrible week. I've only done a couple of pages - not even one scene.

I've been taking care of my dog, Jordan, who finally had to be put to sleep yesterday. He was in third stage kidney failure, and the vet only gave him a couple of months at best. And that didn't include the other things that had begun to happen to him.

I had to give him mercy.

It's done a lot to me, though. Maybe by tomorrow I'll feel like writing. Today and yesterday, I just feel blah.

Here's hoping.

Revised Goals and Serial Killers

Reality has finally hit me on the head. And it hurt. I'm not certain when this first round ends (I am sure it will be much too soon for me), but I have to face the fact that I probably won't be able to catch up. Hence, the revised goals.

Okay. Here goes. I'm going to forget about trying to catch up. I'm just going to go on from here, but I'll still stick to my two pages per day.

I'm considering another project, one that might help my productivity in a sideways sort of way. I'll be on spring break next week, so I'm considered converting my dining room into an exercise room for my treadmill, free weights, and yoga stuff. That way, if I don't have my butt in the chair working on my WIP, I will have to be on the treadmill working in another way.

I wonder how much my complete dislike for the treadmill will motivate my writing?

I'm having a lot of fun with my serial killer werewolf. I made some changes today, and I'm really excited to get home to get more on the page.

See you all Sunday for another update!

Where Did the Time Go??

The past few days have just blown by, and I'm ashamed to say that I haven't written anything. I've been swamped with students who are trying to get things done before spring break. Time just got away from me. That, and my math class.

I was supposed to take a math test on Friday. I've been unable to figure out a particular problem, so I didn't take the test. Luckily, it's an independent learning class, so I can take the test anytime I want. As of this posting, I still haven't figured it out, but I think I have a handle on it. I'm taking the test tomorrow afternoon, sometime between 1:00 and 4:00.

After that, I can concentrate on writing until after spring break. That will be refreshing.

I think I can take some time during the break and learn to organize things better.

Anyone have any ideas? I'm open to any and all suggestions at this point.

Oh, and somehow I need to fit some exercise time in. I just saw myself for the first time on Skype. Let's just say that on a sliding scale from unhappy to horrified, I'm sliding quickly toward horrified.

See you Wednesday!

New Scenes

I had a really good day today at work. The moments between students (and there weren't many) I came up with a couple of new scenes that take place right before the climax.

In the first one, the heroine sits down and makes out her will - letting everyone know the legacies she wants to leave them. She has no hope left; she expects to die that evening. She knows there is no way to go up against an immortal who possesses the protection of a god and still survive.

In the next scene, she shakes everyone off and prepares herself before the ritual. It's only then that she actually faces her inner self and sees herself clearly for the first time. She's not happy with the revelations, but she does recognize the good things about herself as well.

Now, what can I do with THAT??

See you Sunday!

(P.S.) I'm still not caught up, but I'm still trying!

Free Therapy

Y'know, writing is therapy you don't have to pay for. And, if you spill your guts, it may even pay you.

Sounds like a good deal, right? (No pun intended.)

All we have to do is bleed copiously for the amusement of the reading public. That takes bravery, honesty, and luck. But not the kind of luck you think.

We're really lucky to be living in the midst of all these crises going on right now. Readers want to get involved with characters they can identify with, and who they can see fighting against tough odds. And winning. That helps them feel like winners, too.

Ultimately, we're charged with a sacred trust - tell a good story that people can believe in. It's awe-inspiring and exciting, all at the same time.

On a personal note, I've been going through a lot of crap lately. And I can't resent it. I can only be thankful because it provides such rich fodder for fiction. That's a true gift.

I spent several hours with a writing friend of mine yesterday, and I was able to make my pages from Wednesday to today. Whew! I'm still working on the catch-up, though.

I slipped into editor mode and cut some things that I didn't feel comfortable with. I thought some scenes/chapters slowed things down. I prefer to jump into the middle of things, so that's what I went back to doing. I feel better about the pacing, but it's gonna take a helluva rethink for some other pieces.

So, back to the salt mines!

See everyone on Wednesday...

A Quick Note

It's been a productive few days - but not for writing.

It turns out Todd and I can stay, but my other roommate has to move out. He's leaving Friday. Unfortunately. He's one of the few people I know with whom I can have a lively debate. I'm going to miss that. And his extraordinarily dry British sense of humor.

If any of you out there have seen Jeremy Clarkson on the BBC's "Top Gear" you have an idea what my roommate is like.

I'm going to have to find another way to get my sarcasm fix.

On the upside, I'm back at my keyboard and my fingers have begun to fly.

Happy writing, everyone, and I'll see you all on Sunday!

Lara

Personal Implosions

Yup, my life has just blown up. And it wasn't even my fault. But my core has been rocked to such an extent that for most of the week, I haven't been able to write.

Let me sketch out the scenario for everyone.

My roommate Andy is completely disabled - a virus attacked his heart. Now it only functions around 25%. He takes lots of meds, and he sleeps a lot. Understandable, right?

Well, last Monday, there was a notification from our apartment's management company saying they were going to do apartment inspections on Tuesday. Okay, fine. They usually do that twice a year to make sure that fire alarms work and fire extinguishers are all good. However, they didn't come on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, while I was at work, and my roommate was fast asleep, they came in. He woke up to hear banging in the kitchen (I still don't know what THAT was about). He thought we had been victims of a home invasion, so he got his gun and chased them out. Only as they were running were they yelling "Maintenance." They also weren't management people he recognized.

So, the upshot of the matter is that even though the cops said they would have done the same thing and they left without doing anything to Andy, we got an eviction notice on Friday afternoon. We've got a week to get out.

As of yet, I have no destination.

Life has gotten very interesting, in a Chinese sort of way. Crap.

From Werewolves to Aliens...

The oddest thing happened to me yesterday. I saw my first alien. And I don't mean someone with questionable immigrant status. And I don't mean to be derogatory - just describing what I saw. I was walking into Publix to do my usual Saturday morning shopping, and this very odd woman walked by me on the sidewalk. At least, I'm pretty sure the individual was female.

She(?) was very short, shorter than your average human. That's even taking into consideration her slightly hunched posture. She looked at me and smiled, but it wasn't like any human smile I'd ever seen before. It was more of a grimace than anything. And every single one of her teeth were pointed. Yup. Sharp. Hair? Didn't see any, but she had a bandana on her head. It wasn't smooth, though.

Now, I know what you're thinking...maybe she had curlers under there, like our grandmothers used to. The shapes weren't predictable or symmetrical, or anything recognizable. It was just...weird. And bumpy.

I guess this is why people-watching is good. You never know what you'll see. And maybe it will be something that can be used later. (And I have to wonder - if she was an alien, what would she be getting at the grocery store? She didn't have anything in her hands. Maybe because nothing there satisfied her requirements? Hmm...taking a detour into Storyland again...)

I haven't caught up yet, but I'm still working on it. I have a plan for a quicker catch-up. I won't jinx it by talking about it, but I'll let you know next time if it works.

Happy and productive writing, everyone!

Losing Werewolf Bits

I'm continuing to get better. So much so that I'm feeling guilty about not hitting the gym quite yet. My day will come.

Something really crappy happened on Wednesday (which is probably why I forgot my semi-weekly post!). I wrote a relatively long bit of material on werewolf genetics. I went through about 5 or 6 pages, deciding recessives, dominants, reproductive cycles, hormones, pheremones - the whole thing. I loved it. Then I lost it.

I checked my computer. I checked my house. I even checked with my writer friend Olivia, because we'd gotten together earlier in the week. Nothing. It vanished. Poof. Into thin air. I came to the painful but necessary decision to rewrite it. And, boy, am I glad I did!

In the process of pulling it all back together, I discovered an incongruity. If werewolves and shifters reproductive systems only kick into gear when they meet their perfect genetic match, they would only reproduce with other weres or shifters. Anything else would be less than ideal, and would not be in keeping with species survival. So...it turns out there's a combination of genes that need to be inherited for the shifting or the were ability to be actually expressed. And that's better, because...

Our twin werewolves each "recognize" a person who is not a shifter, or not pack. However, both of these mundanes are of Italian descent. It turns out they each carry a few genes from that original Etruscan werewolf pack. Potential problem solved. Whew!

Now, how to solve the problem of writing what appears right now to be pure dreck...? Today it all seems like it's blowing chunks. I mean, do my readers really need to know what Dawar's compound looks like? I'm bored writing it, so I can only imagine people would be bored reading it.

But, I will take La Nora's advice. In a nutshell, it's this, paraphrased: vomit it out and get it on paper. You can always fix it later. But you can't edit a blank page. I'm going to try and make that my mantra. And, while I'm sitting here in the bookstore waiting for one of my students, I'm going to yank out a blank page and keep going.

(No, I'm still not caught up....)

I Can See Daylight!

It's been established that I'm not dying. Yet. Yay, me!

I had a major breakthrough yesterday - in fact, more than one. I was able to tighten up the plot of my WIP called "Primal Hungers," the second book in my Witches and Weres series. That probably contributed to my other breakthrough - the physical one. I'm really feeling much better.

If any of you out there are foodie's, I urge you to go to YouTube and search for something called "The Big Waste." It was a Food Network special on food waste in the United States. It was really eye-opening, and it gave me bits to write about. Life is good.

I didn't catch up on my pages yet, but I'm working on it. According to my posted goals, I should have 44 pages by the end of the day today. I'm not close to that, but I'm not ready to revamp my goals just yet.

I'm just gonna keep on plugging...

Scrabbling Up From the Abyss...

I'm pretty sure I won this latest argument with Death. I'm breathing a little bit better, and I'm not using quite as much Kleenex. Actually, it's Puff Plus with Lotion and Vicks. A product sent down from the gods, for sure. All in all, things could be on the upswing.

Pages, you ask? Well, I'm making a start. I should have written six pages since my last check-in. I've managed three. It's an improvement, and right now, I'll take anything I can get. I have written other pages, but they have to do with background of the werewolf clans and things relating to them. For instance, I discovered the burning of the Alexandrian Library was  deliberate act intended to destroy proof of the werewolves existence. The Egyptian clan was going to "come out," trusting to the protection of Anubis. The Etruscan/Roman clan wanted their secrets kept, even at the cost of important knowledge that would be lost forever. The Romans, as usual, won.

I figure that if I count background pages, it will be like vomiting exposition for the sake of page count. Cheating doesn't help, and besides, it's not cool. I just have to push on. Catching up is still my goal, so I'm still going to try to go above and beyond. My all-time best effort so far has given me 17 pages in three hours. However, that was typing, and a LOT of that was dialogue. I don't think that's standard production for me.

Maybe by the time this challenge is over, I'll have a better idea what my standard production is.

In the meantime, here's to killing, maiming, seduction, vengeance, twisted love, and inopportune furriness.

Have fun till Sunday, everyone!

Let's Try This Again, Shall We?

Just when I thought I was beginning to get better - SLAM - here comes the second round of the bionic crud my body seems to be having a masochistic affair with. Figuring I could Google something about it, I did just that. Now, the CDC, in its infinite wisdom, publishes weekly numbers on disease outbreaks in the United States. According to a local news article, Central Florida is in the throes of a major flu outbreak. Yay. Lucky us. According to a local doctor, before this started, his walk-in care center saw about 20 flu patients per week. Now it's up to about 340. Helluva jump, that.

The upside to my own personal misery is that my brain's been running like a hamster on steroids and speed. Heck, my hamster can probably power an entire mid-sized city. Like Orlando.

And that's a good thing, because story stuff is what he's been chasing. Surprisingly, he's hunted down some interesting stuff. Like how the burning of the Alexandrian Library was collateral damage in a fight between werewolf clans. Of course, if I try to write it down, or pound it out on my keyboard, it comes out like a stream-of-consciousness fever dream.

So, I've contented myself with snippets of notes on different scenes. Hopefully, once I become coherent (even this blog entry sounds a bit ramblish - yeah, I know it's not a word, but I like it so I'm not going to edit it out) I'll be able to catch up on my pages.

On the downside, my computer's been doing a very odd heat thing. So I think I'm going to refine my goal. Currently, it stands at two pages per day. Now I'm going to specify that they are handwritten pages. I don't want to overtax my laptop.

Right now my hand doesn't seem to want to put down my pencil. (Yes, I write with pencil, mechanical, 0.5 lead, and all in caps. That's how I distinguish writing pages from other pages. Besides, I can write like the wind that way.) I'm going to take advantage of my inner hamster and see if I can produce anything.

I've got no new pages this time around. I've been so out of it, I even forgot to report on the 11th! Hopefully, everything will change today.

See you for the next round!

(By the way, what do you do with a gay, diva-ish werewolf from a different story who insists he's part of this one, too? Simon sure as heck seems to get around....)

I'll surface on Wednesday the 18th, I promise!

UPDATE: I've got my two pages done for today, and I show no sign of slacking. Yippee!!!

Early, Early, Early Sunday Morning...

It's right around midnight as the dog and I sit here channel surfing. Trying to breathe is taking up a lot of my energy. I haven't been able to do any writing the past few days. This cold's about wiped me out. I'm on my fourth box of Kleenex since Wednesday. Blech. I had no idea the human body could snuffle in so many different ways. I feel like a Heffalump.

On the upside, I've been able to make a few notes for a couple of different scenes. I should be able to work on them in a day or so. Apparently werewolves are horrified by dogs being kept as pets. Especially when they've been neutered. We'll see what they do about it.

Off to find more Kleenex. (sneeze)

Check-In January 4th

I'm sick. I had a Starbuck's meeting with a friend who also writes. I'm supposed to be there in seven minutes. Guess what's not happening. I'm going back to bed with some hot tea and my laptop. Yeah, I know they don't sound like a good mix, but I've got a lovely insulated steel Starbuck's mug. It keeps things hot if you want and cold if you want - and doesn't spill. Mandatory for me in situations like this.

Ok, here goes. Got my page count on opening day. Yesterday? Bubkis. Today, I'm hoping to make it up.

On the bright side, because I'm feeling so crappy, I can probably write that scene where my werewolf is going through a good deal of angst before she becomes a serial killer.

See? There's a bright spot to everything.