Writers' Chasm

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly blog hop created by Jaime Morrow and Erin Funk to help writers stay in touch. What I'm Reading:  I don't really know why but I've been horrible about reading. I can't even say it's recent because I've only read 20 books so far this year. I'm still on The Horse Boy. Every so often I read a few pages and then remember that I have something else to do. What I'm Writing:  Nothing much. Things have gotten crazy around here and writing has been falling to the wayside. My daily word goal is back down to 250 in the hopes of jogging something. What Inspires Me:  I was going to watch Inception today (because it's my favorite movie and it tends to inspire me) but then I realized that today is Neville's birthday and tomorrow is Harry's so perhaps a Harry Potter marathon would be more appropriate. What Else I've Been Up To:  I head back to school in less than a month so I've reached that time of ...

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly blog hop created by Jaime Morrow and Erin Funk to help writers stay in touch. What I'm Reading:  Over halfway through Horse Boy. I've also been doing a lot of reading on the GRE because I'm supposed to be taking that in the next month. What I'm Writing:  LP hit 25k this week. My MC and LI finally kissed and that was a lot of fun to write. I also had one of those "Eureka!" moments while I was out walking the other day where I figured out a plot issue that I've been having. The scene involved is still a long way off but it's nice to know where I'm going. What Inspires Me:  I've seen a fair number of show jumping rounds but nothing like this. Conrad's bridle falls off on the third to last fence and not only do they finish the course, but they jump clear (no poles down). What Else I've Been Up To:  Cleaning. Lots and lots of cleaning. I'm going to have company over in a week and a...

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly blog hop created by Jaime Morrow and Erin Funk to help writers stay in touch. Lots of storms this past week. A large branch almost fell on our garage and our neighbor's yard looked like a war zone for trees by the time the storm was done with us. I hope everyone is staying safe. What I'm Reading:  About a third of the way through The Horse Boy. What I'm Writing:  LP hit 20k and climbing. My characters are really starting to take shape and it's very exciting to learn more about them. I tend to have a very general idea of my minor characters so I enjoy learning about them as the story progresses.  What Inspires Me:  I live in the country so nature is always inspiring to me. I saw the first fawn of the year a couple days ago, a young thing trotting after its mother without a care in the world. I wish that I could post pictures here but I wasn't carrying my phone with me at the time. Yesterday we caught sight of a bald e...

Where did June even go? Wasn't I just writing May's check-in, like, yesterday? It was a good month. Certainly lots of things happened. Writing:  Word count: 31,451 This month easily broke the records set by the previous months. In fact, a third of my grand total for the year so far was written this month. It really does help to have a steady WIP. I haven't quite hit 20k yet but I'm loving it so far and looking forward to seeing how the rest of it goes. Reading:  This month: 2 Total: 20 Should be: 25 I've reduced my goal to 50 books once again for the year because I don't see myself getting caught up and making it to 100. I spent most of the month reading Son by Lois Lowry, through no fault of the book itself. I'm just having a really hard time settling down to read when there's so many distractions. Movies:  This month: 8 Total: 22 Should be: 25 I should be able to get caught up pretty easily at this point. Movies I highly recommend from...

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly blog hop created by Jaime Morrow and Erin Funk to help writers stay in touch. What I'm Reading:  I did actually keep my promise from last week to have a new answer to this question. I finally finished Son by Lois Lowry. I'm not going to write a review of it because I'm not sure what to say (and also because I took so long reading it), but I did enjoy it and it made me want to go back and reread the first three books. Next up, I've started a memoir called The Horse Boy by Rupert Isaacson. What I'm Writing:  Progressing a little bit slower on LP this week. My word count is up to 16k and climbing. I have a good idea of where I'm going, but I'm not so sure of what's happening now and that's slowing me down. I am a pantser by nature but I do keep a rough list of future scene ideas and questions that need to be answered. What Else I've Been Up To:  Over the weekend, I passed my road test and got my dri...

There's a saying in the horse world that sometimes comes up, especially among young riders. "You're not a real rider until you fall off a horse seven times." I hit that point several years ago and here are the lessons I learned that I also apply to writing. Fall #1:  I was up on an old, bombproof gelding responsible for giving me the "horse bug." I wasn't experienced enough to know how to do much more than hold the reins. There was only a thick blanket between me and the horse. My gelding was following his pasture mate and, of course, they both decided to trot. The blanket started to slip and I landed right on my tailbone. I was completely fine and while I don't remember getting back on the horse, I must have at some point.  Moral: The first fall is always the hardest. It'll be a shock to your system but get right back up there and you'll be fine. Fall #2 and #3:  By this time, I was under the instruction of a professional trainer (i...

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly blog hop created by Jaime Morrow and Erin Funk to help writers stay in touch. My apologies for reading so few blogs last week. I use feedly to help keep track of posts and it was down for several days last week. What I'm Reading:  To hold myself accountable, I'm going to make a promise. Next week, I will have a new answer for this question. I need to get in gear because I've been informed by people who actually watch it that the Game of Thrones show has caught up to where I am in the books. Which means I need to take advantage of the hiatus to get ahead if I want to stay that way. What I'm Writing:  Making steady progress on my new WIP, nicknamed "LP" for the time being. I hit 10k at the end of last week and then took the weekend off writing, but I've started up again this week. The original premise that I had in mind is not exactly what's coming out now. While I'm excited about the change, I'm al...