A Light Through the Darkness

And the horse you rode in on. You won’t stop me from writing!

More words on the summary. The widow has been informed of the murder. Much shock and tears.

Starting Count: 1741
Ending Count: 2189
Net Gain: + 448

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

Well, new writing schedule. I am remembering I am a night owl.

I am also remembering that I write to my own schedule, and not anyone else’s.

Starting Count: 3517
Ending Count: 3775
Net Gain: + 258
Current Word MTD count: 2493

Starting line:
Luke mumbled something that Drew couldn’t understand, and turned back to his own computer before the tech could ask. Drew could imagine, though. Probably the same thought running through his own head.

Ending line:
Drew shook his head. “Dunno.” Then he cocked his head as the first sounds of the newcomer reached his ears. “But this might get interesting.”

Darling:
All it took was one locus point to be off by a few degrees for a Road to vanish. Or deposit a traveler thousands of miles from their preferred destination. If they made it at all.

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

Starting Count: 295
Ending Count: 728
Net Gain: + 433
Current Word MTD count: 433

Starting line:
When the CrossCat had first decided to come live with her, Molly had been slightly worried about what kind of foods she’d end up preparing. After all, she hadn’t quite seen him eating kibble, no matter how much like a housecat he sometimes appeared. To her relief, CrossCats seemed very much like humans: Schrodinger was perfectly willing to eat almost anything she put in front of him, including eggs, peanut butter sandwiches and cupcakes. And he had developed a taste for iced Earl Grey tea that worried her on occasion. In fact, he preferred it to water. The vet said it wouldn’t hurt him, as far as she could tell.

Ending line:
Someone was building a snowman, apparently; considering there weren’t any children currently living in the building, Molly wondered who it was.

Darling:
The coffeemaker in the kitchen was burbling when she walked in, brewing the hot tea that she’d set up the night before. Coffee was, in Molly’s opinion, a substance best used only in cooking to bring out chocolate flavors. It was not a substance fit to drink. Ever.

Yep, up late to write. I will write every day this month. I will.

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

Just got words done on Episode 2 of Tales today, because I had to finish the edits for S&S. WHICH ARE FINALLY DONE!!!!!

Starting Count: 5343
Ending Count: 5509
Net Gain: + 166
Current Word MTD count: 2257

Wow, that really sucks as a MTD word count. Seriously. Going to need to get my ass in gear here if I want to hit even 5k by month end.

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

337 words of world-building for Advent. I'm exploring the Roads, the Gate Stations and how they work. I need some more stuff on the Cosmic Web. To Netflix! :p

Well, tomorrow, maybe. I also jotted a short story idea for Sapph and David, which might be the best way for me to start working on that world as well. Sapph and her crew might just work better for shorts right now.

Time for bed. Morning comes too damn early.

(And yes, this is because dammit, I'm a professional, and she was whining today.)

Didn't want to post this from MiniMe, because Open Office counts words different, and I end up with weird counts. So while I'm getting everything up on the big computer, I'll post this here.

Starting Count: 934
Ending Count: 2672
Net Gain: + 1738
Current Word MTD count: 4524


Starting line:

The deck lurched beneath her as the remainders of the spell spun out into the seas around them, whipping up choppy waves.


Ending line:

But she wasn't the same girl she'd been then, and the Scorned Lady had no cabins for passengers.


Darling:

It sounded good, but she couldn’t help herself later that night, as the crew lowered the dinghy over the side, from looking up and wondering if this would be the last time she would see her ship. The full moon floated behind the masts, and for one moment, Cassandra saw, not the Scorned Lady, but Destiny’s ship of the damned. Ice crept down her spine.

**

Cutting things, and fixing the scene I stopped on last time. Amped up the tension in this episode - and you get to meet new characters!

Also, I'm considering letting Schrodinger have his own Twitter feed. What do you guys think? Should I let him inflict himself on you more often than he already does? (He's NOT getting a Facebook page unless I sell Advent Murders. I hate FB and have issues keeping up my own page, never mind his. But I could handle another Twitter account for him on my Hootsuite.)

Edited: I can see when I'm beat. His Twitter feed is MollysSchrodngr - and he already has 6 followers. *sigh* You guys are too funny!

Today, the birthday celebration is over. MiniMe sleeps downstairs, charging up her little battery in preparation of her first trial - my sleep study tonight. She's so amazingly tiny! (For those who don't follow me on Twitter, yesterday I bought an HP Mini netbook for my birthday. She is 3 lbs with her battery in. She is also covered in pink plaid. I have, of course, called her MiniMe, because MiniPinkPirate just didn't have the right ring to it.) I leave for that at 4 pm, because I think I have to be there by 6:30. I need to check that.

Metrics from March - it was a good month. Very good. I wrote 20,736 words, which brings my year-to-date total written to 36,262 words written so far this year. Wow. A lot of that was finishing Last Rites, so it's time to dive into a new project with just the same intensity. Luckily, there's a certain CrossCat who is determined to be a star detective waiting impatiently in the wings.

I also did a LOT of morning pages in March, which I think helped me. It's a habit I really want to get into for every day of the week. This month, we tackle Artists Dates as well. I need to remember that I need to get away for ME. I'm going to start looking at places here in NH, VT, ME and MA that I can do in a day and that I want to see. Stuff like local museums. Hikes in the White Mountains. Exploring things that I've always wanted to. Sitting on Hampton Beach or Odiorne Point for a day. Things to enrich my inner artist.

Goals for this month:

1. Finish the outline for Tales.
2. Finish the edits for Spells and Swashbucklers.
3. Write the plot summary for Advent Murders.
4. Write the new plot summary for Last Rites.
5. Write the next episode of Tales.

That's the MUST BE DONE list. With MiniMe, I'm going to be able to get some writing in at work, before and/or after, because it doesn't take 20 minutes to just boot up. (I wish I was kidding, but that's about what my laptop is up to now) If I can, I'd like to have the entire Tales arc written by the end of April. I also have a baby blanket to finish and a baby sweater to make, and training for the Race for the Cure 5k I signed up for. The race is June 4th, and I'll have a link to my fundraising page up soon.

Lots of stuff coming with the new year (I consider my birthday an personal New Year's Day for me) - and I'll have some more pagan posts coming soon. Got some very cool books for my birthday, courtesy of my BFF Laura, who knows me better in less than a year than some people have who have known me for decades. It's a little scary, very cool and I don't know what I'd do without her. Thank you again, Laura - they are the best books I've gotten in a long time!!!!

Now, I'm getting ready to go and swim. I need to get dressed, and get my swimming stuff together. Then, when I get back, I'll pack up for my sleep study. Writing will be done tonight.

Have a good day, folks!

Really! Almost half a Lowell! (which is 10k in a day) For being exhausted, that's damn fine. If I didn't have to be up at 4:30 am tomorrow, I'd write more, but well, yeah.

Time for bed for me.


Starting Count: 101887
Ending Count: 106465
Net Gain: +4578
Current Word MTD count: 7857


Starting line:

Alex growled something from behind his gag, but Nikki ignored him. She looked at all of them. “Then go, and know that no matter what, we are one. We are the Horsemen. We are together.”

Ending line:

“We gave you every opportunity to be together,” Lyla told her. “Every relationship must have some sacrifice. He was not gone long.”

Darling:

“The very first thing I will do is skin that Horse,” Madness said, her voice cool. “And use it for a rug.”

An image sprang up in front of him, framed in more of her webbing: Malattia’s flayed hide, head still intact, spread out before a fireplace, a grotesque mockery of a bear rug. Her eyes, though, weren’t glass: they were filled with pain and anguish, and he realized in that moment that Madness would keep the Horse alive, trapped in her own skin, tormented for eternity.

Metrics for writing Monday morning on the Tales of the Scorned Lady outline:

Starting Count: 1166
Ending Count: 1564
Net Gain: +398
Current Word MTD count: 1938

Take that, Monday!

So this year, I've been trying to keep track of how much and how often I'm writing. I love Excel spreadsheets, so I have one made up, a sheet for each month, tracking my various projects and when I'm working on them, and also when I'm doing my Morning Pages. I haven't even really added up any totals for the year yet, so I'll be interested to see how I'm doing. I feel like I haven't really done anything, but who knows.

Let's see what the spreadsheets say.

January 2011:
Wrote 5 days
Morning Pages: 2 days
Projects worked on: Tales of the Scorned Lady, Last Rites
Total Words: 3059

Ugh.

February 2011:
Wrote 8 days
Morning Pages: 6 days
Projects worked on: Tales of the Scorned Lady, Last Rites, The Sun Never Sets
Total Words: 12467

Better, but not great.

Total words for the year: 15526

I need to get better. This is why I don't have things to submit, or to even try and Kindle on my own. I'M NOT WRITING ENOUGH.

This needs to change, obviously. And just as obviously, when I write my morning pages, I tend to write other things. Ergo, I need to write more morning pages.

The goal for the next week: get up every morning. Get tea. And then go into the Lair, pull up my morning pages blog, and write my morning pages. Then, open one of the WIPs and write 350 words.

I'll be reporting back here on how I do.