A weekly update

I’m going to try and do these at least once a week, to keep folks updated and myself on track. Finally, I’m beginning to regain some modicum of control over my time and my stress level, and so I’m finally getting to be creative again. To those of you who have stuck with me through this dry time, thank you. I appreciate your support more than you can know.

Managed my morning pages five days out of seven this week (a week being Sunday to Saturday for me), which is very, very good for me. Getting back into the morning pages habit is something I’ve wanted to do for a while, because my brain just seems to work better once I’ve spent 10 minutes draining the crap out of it. I have a private LJ account for it, and it really helps me to just vent, or babble, or meander for those 10 minutes. I leave music on and just go.

On Sunday, I finished the short story that had been due in September and sent it off to the person I’d promised it to. I think it’s good, although I know it needs work, but it’s done. And on word limit. Which pleases me.

Today, the only thing on my plate, other than trying to not cough up a lung, is Last Rites. I need to finish this book. I need to get it done, and sent off, so I can think about other worlds and other things. I have signed up for NaNo, and I want Rites done before I start that. So that’s the big project for this month.

I’ve downloaded MyWritingNook onto my iTouch, and I’m going to see how it works for writing at work. It looks good, but it’s hard for me to write at work. Then again, if I can get my Christmas project going, that would be a good thing. And it should be good for NaNo. I’ll be bringing my Neo to work for my lunch breaks for NaNo as well. I’ll let folks know what I think of the WritingNook App as I use it.

I’m also using WriteChain to log my wordcounts – it’s a nifty little app and I do like it. I’m a bit obsessive about logging things like that, and I don’t know why. But I like to see it.

I’ve got some blog posts that I want to get up in the next few weeks on writing and my thoughts about some things. One is on being a slow write; another is on my writing process, which is a scary thing (as folks who know me are aware). I am NOT a pantser, in any sort of definition of the word, and I have a process that nets me about 50k in prewriting before I start a first draft of a novel. No, that’s not a typo. So those will be coming out in the next few days.

After Rites, I have my NaNo project, tentatively titled Sleeping Evil, which is a high fantasy/horror spin on the Sleeping Beauty story. It’s evolving into a fascinating world, and very, very different from the Horseman universe. I think it will be fun.

I’m also working on the details of a sekrit Christmas project, which is all I’ll say on that. And I should be working on a pirate story for Spells and Swashbucklers, but I haven’t had any inspirations on that front. We’ll see.

I’ll be doing a blog post on what I’m looking for in terms of stories for the next anthology as well. Don’t forget, the reading period opens November 1!

I think that’s it right now. Time for a cup of tea and then diving into Last Rites. Play nice, folks.

Originally published at The words of Valerie Griswold-Ford. You can comment here or there.

(metrics) A good day on Last Rites

Starting Count: 66279
Ending Count: 69214
Net Gain: +2935

Starting line:
“Because there needs to be,” Teraisa said simply. “Remember, this didn’t start this spring. This is simply the continuation of what happened twenty four years ago. I don’t ask the Spirits why these things happen – that’s not my concern. If you want to know, you ask them. You’ve got a line to them now, if you truly are the StarChild.”

Ending line:
And then, a single bright light flares, a clear note of hope amid the darkness.

Darling:
These are no ordinary figures, though. Magic drips from them in various garish shades, liquid steel and solid blood congealing into pools of fear on the ground that comes into being just to support their dance. These are harsh figures, edged in a dark future, all knives and bitter truths. They swirl around her, poking and slashing, seeking a truth within her, a truth she can’t avoid but doesn’t want to bring to life.

Around her, in the edges of the grey, she hears gunfire and explosions punctuating the musical notes that jangle and grate against one another. The grey becomes smoke, thick and heavy, clinging to a ground dead and covered in icy, dirty frost. Her fingers continue to play, even as her heart sinks in dread. Can this truly be how it ends?

**

Very close to 70k. I’m trying to keep a normal schedule, so I’m shutting down at my normal bedtime and going to take a bath. But I start again tomorrow morning!

Good night, everyone, and dream well!

Originally published at The words of Valerie Griswold-Ford. You can comment here or there.