Writers' Chasm

I can't believe 2014 is over. It seems like just yesterday I was celebrating New Year's with my family. It's been a rollercoaster of a year and I know 2015 will be just the same. Keep track of my daily word count Success! I tend to have trouble remembering to record how many words I wrote in a day, but this year I managed to get in the habit of it.  Read 100 books Last year is no longer my worst reading year since I started keeping records.  Go for a run every morning three days a week I tried to get started over the summer but I also had to walk the dog and the dog won't run with me. I didn't want to go for a run, come back, and then go back out to walk the dog. Watch 50 movies So close. I know I watched way more than 50 movies but unfortunately too many of them were movies I'd already seen before.  Do five things I've never done before This is one of my favorite resolutions and I was able to check it off early this year. On the list for this ...

I don't have a ton to report on with writing this year. The year started off with a partial rewrite of Weredragon that I felt made the book much stronger than it was. It's still gathering dust at the moment while I try to decide what to do with it. I'll likely go over submission materials after the new year and think about querying again. It's been a while since I've jumped into that ocean. I also drafted my newest work in progress, nicknamed LP, and it rounded out at 75k. I'm really excited about it but I also know that it's going to need a lot of work. It's simmering for the time being. I don't have anything in the works at the moment, though I am toying with the possibility of returning to a couple old manuscripts. One of my goals this year was to keep more careful track of my daily word counts and I succeeded, although with some bumps in the road. My best month was easily June, with 32,628 words. My best day was November 23rd, with 5,572 wo...

As usual I set a new year's goal to read 100 books. I did not read 100 books. I didn't even come close to 100 books. I'm embarrassed for myself after crunching the numbers and subtracting unreleased, unpublished, and class-assigned books so I'm just going to talk about some of the highlights. I may not have read many books this year but there was no shortage of quality. My favorite book this year was: Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan This was easily one of the greatest books I have ever read. Now I've loved this series since the beginning. I remember the exact moment I picked The Lightning Thief off the shelf at the library. I remember quickly devouring the next two installments and going into the bookstore when the fourth came out. I remember reading The Last Olympian in one sitting and declaring it a member of my top five favorite books. I had very high expectations for this book and it was everything I wanted and more. On my personal records, it's rated ...

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly blog hop created by Jaime Morrow and Erin Funk to help writers stay in touch. I can't believe it's December already. It seems like New Year's Eve was just last week. What I'm Reading:  Last night I skimmed through two books about octopus for a presentation. In other words, no pleasure reading. What I'm Writing:  I read through an old WIP over the weekend just to see where it stands. It definitely needs a massive overhaul, especially in the middle, but that's going to have to wait. What Works for Me:  Keeping notes of future revisions while working on the first draft and then while it's simmering. I find that when I get an idea for revisions when I'm not actually working on them it's best to just write it down and keep it aside until I get to that point. I don't revise while drafting because I'd probably never finish but it makes sure that I don't forget. What Else I'm Up to:  It...

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: Now that it's break I should read more. I feel like it's not working like it should be. What I'm Writing: Nothing! I finished LP in one big writing spree on Sunday. Once I got to the big climactic scene I just couldn't stop. It's rounded out at 75k and is on the back burner for a while. I'm taking a break from writing until, at least, the semester is over. Next up is going to be revisions, but on what I'm not sure yet. I have a few projects that have been on the sidelines for a while. What Works for Me:  Letting the words flow. On Sunday I almost stopped once I hit my 1k goal for the day so that I could work on something else. Instead I kept my Scrivener doc open and I just kept going until I wrote the final sentence. It meant that I had to put a couple of tasks on my to do list off for another day, but it was wo...

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly blog hop created by Jaime Morrow and Erin Funk to help writers stay in touch. This picture is very appropriate for this week. I don't think it's ever going to stop snowing. What I'm Reading:  Still Dead to You. I haven't had time for pleasure reading in a while. What I'm Writing:  I'm so close to the end of LP I can feel it. I have most of the remainder planned out and I can't wait to write it. Unfortunately I'm going on vacation for a week starting Saturday so it might have to wait. What Works for Me:  Instrumental music. Sometimes I need background music to help me block out everything that's going on around me but songs with words are even more distracting. Instrumental music is the perfect combination. I really like movie soundtracks because some of them (Pacific Rim, Pirates of the Caribbean, Lord of the Rings) have that undertone of urgency that works as an extra motivator. What Else I'm U...

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly blog hop created by Jaime Morrow and Erin Funk to help writers stay in touch. NaNo started on Saturday so a big "Good luck!" to everyone participating. I thought about doing a personal one, just writing 50k in general rather than on one new WIP (since LP is so close to being done) but then I remembered that I don't have time. What I'm Reading:  Dead to You by Lisa McMann. It's good so far, though I haven't been able to read it as much as I would like. What I'm Writing:  LP hit 60k and climbing this week. I have most of the rest of it outlined now so it's just a matter of putting it on the page. I thought up some really exciting things over the weekend and I can't wait to write those scenes. Some characters will be playing parts that I didn't expect. What Works for Me:  Getting out of my usual space. I've had so much to do the past couple weeks that I've found myself in the library a lot...