Maybe I should sign up for school/work on a BIAM more often. Seems to make me more consistent with blogging. Hmmm. Anyways, just checking in to say...
158 pages to go until I can write THE END on my current WIP. That's not bad, considering the past couple of days have been crazy with running around, trying to get into school in time for this semester. I haven't been in school since I was a mere lass of 20, so I'm starting with one class right now which will start on February 2. I am now OFFICIALLY a college student! This class is *online* too. Now that's something you didn't see back in 1979!
But back to my BIAM: This weekend I'm planning on spending some time in my home office. A few straight hours of getting out of the way and letting the hero, heroine and the characters who people their world take over will hopefully get even more of the story underway. After all these years I've learned that once you get that momentum, you just gotta keep that laptop fired up and see that baby all the way through the end. Besides which, I'm really enjoying the ride.
Oh--and I'm hoping to fit in a belly dancing class sometime next month, too! Yes, I'm serious. I've always thought that was such a lovely, womanly dance and it's great creative movement. These past few days have been too cold to walk or hike much and sometimes you need something besides the gym for movement, something creative or fun.
Geez, being 20 years old was never this hectic!
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
My January Book in a Month!
Benjamin Franklin said: "You will find the key to success under the alarm clock."
I took that man quite literally this morning. It's winter, and even here in North Carolina it's been cooooold and dark in the mornings. But I got up earlier than usual, showered and threw on a heavy sweater, tossed my notebook and pen into my new tote and headed out to McDonald's for breakfast.
That was something I used to love to do in my New York days. Just to find a quiet corner in a restaurant or cafe, making sure that you show up at the page. The muse comes when you do that, it's almost like you're meeting each other for a date--but you gotta show up at the page! By the time I was done with my breakfast and coffee and it was time to zip off to work, I'd gotten down just a little under 500 words. That might not sound like much, and I'm not a math major, but 500 is a lot more than zero.
That brought me 500 words closer to my goal of writing my 50,000-word Book in a Month.
It's not going to be easy...that's okay, though. Tomorrow I'm going for my college placement test. Hopefully, I'll be registering for a class this week, marking my return to school after 30 years. Those are two tall orders, writing my first Consuelo Vazquez novel in a decade AND going back to school. But Chapter 4 is now well underway, with GOODNIGHT, MY LOVE (working title) now 39 pages long. And the thought of signing up for a class, even if I'm late and can only get an elective, just adds to the electricity.
Writers have crazy little favorite places to write. For me, The Tea Spot in Greenwich Village used to be a special writing nook. Starbucks--that goes without saying. There's a coffee spot, a wonderful little underground place, in Greenville, South Carolina where I'd love to meet the muse with my notebook or laptop sometime.
Actually, ALL of Greenville, SC looks like it'd be conducive to writing!
For now, though, McDonald's did very nicely. The coffee and egg, bacon & cheese biscuit weren't bad, either.
And now there's...161 pages to go...
I took that man quite literally this morning. It's winter, and even here in North Carolina it's been cooooold and dark in the mornings. But I got up earlier than usual, showered and threw on a heavy sweater, tossed my notebook and pen into my new tote and headed out to McDonald's for breakfast.
That was something I used to love to do in my New York days. Just to find a quiet corner in a restaurant or cafe, making sure that you show up at the page. The muse comes when you do that, it's almost like you're meeting each other for a date--but you gotta show up at the page! By the time I was done with my breakfast and coffee and it was time to zip off to work, I'd gotten down just a little under 500 words. That might not sound like much, and I'm not a math major, but 500 is a lot more than zero.
That brought me 500 words closer to my goal of writing my 50,000-word Book in a Month.
It's not going to be easy...that's okay, though. Tomorrow I'm going for my college placement test. Hopefully, I'll be registering for a class this week, marking my return to school after 30 years. Those are two tall orders, writing my first Consuelo Vazquez novel in a decade AND going back to school. But Chapter 4 is now well underway, with GOODNIGHT, MY LOVE (working title) now 39 pages long. And the thought of signing up for a class, even if I'm late and can only get an elective, just adds to the electricity.
Writers have crazy little favorite places to write. For me, The Tea Spot in Greenwich Village used to be a special writing nook. Starbucks--that goes without saying. There's a coffee spot, a wonderful little underground place, in Greenville, South Carolina where I'd love to meet the muse with my notebook or laptop sometime.
Actually, ALL of Greenville, SC looks like it'd be conducive to writing!
For now, though, McDonald's did very nicely. The coffee and egg, bacon & cheese biscuit weren't bad, either.
And now there's...161 pages to go...
Friday, January 1, 2010
Happy New Year!
FELICIDADES!!!
You know you're getting old when you fall asleep (or almost fall asleep) before you watch the ball descend in Times Square from the comfort and warmth of your bedroom's TV.
That's what happens when the kids grow up, though. Joey, who came to visit with us over Christmas, greeted the new year with his very cool girlfriend Iris in New Jersey, while Brandon ushered it in with his lovely wife Yesica, his daughter Aubrey (aka "Mamita Frita") and Yesica's family. Both boys called, but otherwise it was a quiet night, falling asleep with Bill while the winter night became chillier outside.
Today, more awake, I'm writing this post in between working on my WIP. I have a confession to make: It's not that I write slower now, although that's true, too, but the older I get, the more critical of my own work I get, too.
But I realize that, if I continue like that, I'll never get anything done. So I'm doing a Book in a Month, hopefully getting this baby done by January 31, 2010. The first draft, anyway. I can always clean it up later, but for now I'm taking the backseat, letting my characters take the wheel, and going for a nice, long spin!
You could say I'm riding the "high" that comes with this time of year. People look to every new year with excitement and anticipation and hope. A new year holds possibilities for dreams to come true, besides the chance to reflect on what transpired in the outgoing year. They make resolutions, or if you're like me, you plan goals instead.
My goals are different this year. I can tell you that one of them is NOT to lose weight. In 2009 I started a journey to take good care of myself and to also accept myself as I am, to be gentle with myself. Let's face it: Weight loss is a full-time job. Um, hello, I already have one of those. Now I'm free instead to work on other goals, like going back to school finally and working on my writing. My only writing goal is this--to write EVERY SINGLE DAY. It doesn't matter if I write 100 words or the whole book in one sitting. (Ha! Good luck with that!)
And my other writing goal is to go to uncharted waters...for me. My first project for the year, my WIP, is a period piece that takes place in 1960s northern New Jersey. I'm planning this to be a 50,000 word novel and I'm already three chapters deep in it, and already I'm falling in love with the hero and heroine.
I hope you will, too!
Again--HAPPY NEW YEAR!
You know you're getting old when you fall asleep (or almost fall asleep) before you watch the ball descend in Times Square from the comfort and warmth of your bedroom's TV.
That's what happens when the kids grow up, though. Joey, who came to visit with us over Christmas, greeted the new year with his very cool girlfriend Iris in New Jersey, while Brandon ushered it in with his lovely wife Yesica, his daughter Aubrey (aka "Mamita Frita") and Yesica's family. Both boys called, but otherwise it was a quiet night, falling asleep with Bill while the winter night became chillier outside.
Today, more awake, I'm writing this post in between working on my WIP. I have a confession to make: It's not that I write slower now, although that's true, too, but the older I get, the more critical of my own work I get, too.
But I realize that, if I continue like that, I'll never get anything done. So I'm doing a Book in a Month, hopefully getting this baby done by January 31, 2010. The first draft, anyway. I can always clean it up later, but for now I'm taking the backseat, letting my characters take the wheel, and going for a nice, long spin!
You could say I'm riding the "high" that comes with this time of year. People look to every new year with excitement and anticipation and hope. A new year holds possibilities for dreams to come true, besides the chance to reflect on what transpired in the outgoing year. They make resolutions, or if you're like me, you plan goals instead.
My goals are different this year. I can tell you that one of them is NOT to lose weight. In 2009 I started a journey to take good care of myself and to also accept myself as I am, to be gentle with myself. Let's face it: Weight loss is a full-time job. Um, hello, I already have one of those. Now I'm free instead to work on other goals, like going back to school finally and working on my writing. My only writing goal is this--to write EVERY SINGLE DAY. It doesn't matter if I write 100 words or the whole book in one sitting. (Ha! Good luck with that!)
And my other writing goal is to go to uncharted waters...for me. My first project for the year, my WIP, is a period piece that takes place in 1960s northern New Jersey. I'm planning this to be a 50,000 word novel and I'm already three chapters deep in it, and already I'm falling in love with the hero and heroine.
I hope you will, too!
Again--HAPPY NEW YEAR!
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