Late Night Updating

I have received another request for pages. I think I can safely say my query letter is a success. Now it remains to be seen if my writing is.

Meh

I didn't hit my word count today (missed it by about 177 words, I do believe). But at least I wrote SOMEthing. Nothing grates on me worse than the days that I stare at the blinking cursor of doom and NOTHING happens.

I finally got around to reading I Am Legend yesterday. Just the one short story, not the rest in the collection (yet). And I realized that it incorporates one of my big phobias in movies/books. (no, not zombies. though sorta) See, I get really creeped out when people are in situations that there is NO escape from. Like movies in space. Or deep underwater. To this day, I think I can only watch The Abyss because I know how it ends. And movies/books where the bad guys are all around you, and there is no where to run to, no safe place to aspire to.

That creeps me right out.

Which of course led me to imagining how I would do a story with a similar scenario. My difficulty, of course, would be in finding the new twist to put on it, something that hasn't been flogged to death like the proverbial horse. I haven't quite figured it out yet (and it may see me branching into short story writing, 'cause I don't know that I'd want to write an entire novel centered around something so bleak that also makes me have full body shudders). But if I ever do wrap my brain around a truly unique idea, we'll see how writing works as phobia therapy. (there is also that zombie novel I'm going to write someday....way WAY in the future)

Mission Accomplished

As predicted, there was no writing today, but kiddo is officially registered for Kindergarten!

Poor little thing got five shots and a blood draw today. She's had all kinds of holes poked in her. But she was a real trooper, and even thought that seeing her blood was "pretty cool, Mom!"

And we rewarded ourselves by having ice cream at Maggie Moos. She had bubblegum ice cream with gummi bears mixed in. Trust me, it IS as vile as it sounds. Yuck.

Day off, or off day?

Actually, tomorrow will be my day off (from the Real Job (tm) at least). I am taking the kiddo to get shots, and various other paperworkings necessary for her to start kindergarten in the fall. I am SO not ready for this! She, on the other hand, is very excited. Only kid in the world who likes her doctor so much, she's happy to go get shots.

Hit my word count today, plus a little over. Did absolutely nothing yesterday. Bleh. But I finished chapter 5, and started a teensy weensy bit of chapter 6. (which reminds me, I promised to send Chie chapter 5, gotta go do that)

I don't figure tomorrow will have any success with writing, given the massive amount of errands-with-child I have to do, and that's ok. But maybe I'll be able to get some done this weekend. (yeah right)

No word on the submission front, but I did send out another query. I just have to feel like I'm DOING something, you know? And in my head, I know that the publishing industry moves at a snail's pace, and if I want to be a part of it, the waiting is something I have to get used to. But my inner child is whining "Are we there yet?"

Forecast: Bloggy

Yeah, that's the sum total of my wittiness today. No updates on the submission front.

Hit my word count goal, and I'm about 2/3s of the way through chapter 5 of Project 3. One of my characters has turned out to have more backbone than I gave him credit for, and it may make the climax of this book play out way differently than I first thought. Time will tell.

But that little fact got me to pondering how much fun it is to have characters that are only half-formed in your mind, and letting THEM tell YOU who/why/what they are. So far, I have one character who is shaping up to have a much bigger role than anticipated, and then of course my new-found man-with-spine. It's fun!

(I'm safe as long as I don't let them run off with my story. You never really domesticate them, you know, and they could bolt at any moment.)

The week in review

Well, I did zero writing today, because the Real Job(tm) was just nuts. But since I exceeded my goal every other day, I'll call it good.

Still no updates on queries/partials out. One query I expected to hear back from by now, and I'm starting to wonder if the agent received it at all. I'll give it another week, and try again if I don't hear anything.

And as for the spa day last Sunday... I can safely say it was the strangest thing I've ever done.

First, you have to understand that I'm not a girly girl. I don't wear makeup, "doing my hair" = ponytail, and I never ever pamper myself. So the spa was a strange and foreign land. I entered it wary and on edge.

First I had a facial. It was all right, I suppose, but I could have done without the lady telling me how I was ruining my skin by not moisturizing in one breath, and telling me how perfect my skin was in the next. I mean, really, it can't be both, yes? She kept saying "Now, I want to see you back every five weeks!" Yeah...not happening.

Next, I had a body wrap, which basically consists of me being scrubbed all over with bristle brushes, slathered in extremely HOT lotion, and then getting wrapped up like a Chipotle burrito for twenty minutes. I will say that my skin came out very very soft afterwards.

Then, I had a massage, which was probably the only part of the experience I would repeat. (like...once a year. Not all the time) I even let her do my feet, which most folks who know me should be shocked by. And then she took hot towels and wrapped around my feet, and that was just heaven.

Finally, I had a shampoo and style. And I had no idea what I wanted done, so I told the guy to just play with it. So first, he blow dries my very curly hair straight. Then, he proceeds to RE-curl it with a big curling iron. I wound up with pageant hair. And I had to wash it immediately when I got home, because the hairspray fumes were making me nauseous.

So, all in all, it wasn't a vile experience, and I'm glad that the mystery of the whole environment has been removed. But I doubt I'll be doing it again. I guess I don't have to worry about spending all my fabulous riches on spa treatments, once I get famous and wealthy.

So far, so good!

I've exceeded my word-count goal every day this week (so far)! Yay me! Now, not all of it was on project 3, I stuck some WoW writing in there, but I did manage to hit 10K.

I'm currently working on chapter 5. I know the specific things that need to happen in this chapter to move the plot along, but I'm a little hazy on the details. So, I'm going to go at it from the POV of a character I haven't touched on yet, and see what he has to tell me about the world. I'm kind of excited!

I realized the other day that I have well and truly moved on from Project 2 (writing wise) and I'm getting into Project 3. For some reason, this seems like a major accomplishment for me. It's all brand new again! Now, in a few months when I'm starting revisions on Project 3, I'll remember just why there are parts of this process that drive me insane. (and of course, when i move on to the next project, I'll forget the pain all over again. It's kinda like childbirth, that way)

I wonder if this whole weird repetitive process will ever get old.

I must be old

I mean, you know you must be getting old when you don't even remember it's supposed to be St. Patrick's Day until the kiddo reminds you that she's supposed to wear green to daycare. Then of course I had to frantically scramble to find ANY green shirt she could wear that wasn't dirty and/or too small... But, I did, and she had a grand time, and we survived yesterday.

Both yesterday and today, I more than doubled my word-count goal, and I finished chapter 4 so I'm feeling pretty proud of myself. If I can hit word count tomorrow, I'll break my first 10K on this projec! Go me! (it's the small things in life that make me happy)

I have nothing new to report on the submission saga. Presumably, those who have asked for pages are reading them, and those who have not...are not!

The weekend cometh

Ah, Friday. Even better than that, it's post-workday Friday. I am so glad to see this weekend arrive.

My snail-mailed partial arrived at the agent safely, per the United States Post Office website. At 6:38 this morning, to be precise. Of course I was checking. I'm anal, it's what I do.

I still have two unanswered queries out. One of those won't receive a response at all if it's a rejection, and on the other, the agent is running behind due to illness, so I'll forgive her.

I got my 500 words in yesterday, but it was on WoW writing, so nothing I can document on my nifty little bars to the left. I got absolutely no writing done today, work was just icky and flighty. And you'd just have to work where I do to understand how those two things can go together.

I doubt I'll be doing any writing this weekend either. Crayon has sent me an SoS needing transport due to vehicular malfunction, so I'll be running around with her tomorrow, and then Sunday, I shall be spending the better part of the afternoon being pampered at a spa! It's my first time doing this, so I hope it's as cool as I think it will be. Thank the hubby for my really great Valentine's gift!

Happy weekend!

Fly, little partial, fly!

My snail mail partial is on its merry way! At least, I hope it's merry. I suppose it could get stuck next to the package that gripes all the way and doesn't share the armrest, but...

Ok, yes, I'm a little punchy today. Querying results in these drastic highs and lows of emotion that are just downright exhausting. One moment, I am convinced that my book is unique and well written and marketable, and in the next breath, I become just as certain that it's the biggest pile of horse puckey ever written, and I should be embarrassed that I'm wasting these poor agents' time.

I got no writing done today, sadly, because the Real Job (tm)took up a good chunk of my attention. Guess it's a good thing I came out quite a bit ahead for my last two days. Means I might make quota for the week as a whole. (though I swore I wouldn't take advantage of padding that way) So maybe tomorrow I'll get 1.000 words written and it'll count for today and tomorrow both.

Another first

I have another partial request sitting in my mail box today! You will pardon me while I take a moment to dance around the house with kiddo, making us both dizzy little creatures.

However, this is the first one that has asked to receive the pages via snail mail! Hmmm... While I could probably get away with printing it off on the company printer at the Real Job (tm), I'm pretty sure that's not the best way to go about things.

So once again, I shall be utilizing the Kinkos down the block, and their super-wonderful "you upload it, we print it" strategy. Seriously, if I could kiss the person at Kinkos who thought that up, I would.

And, always thinking ahead and thinking positive, I shall print out a receipt to be held as a tax deduction against future earnings from writing. See, lookit me be a planner!

In writing news, I again did double my word count goal. I finished chapter 3 of Project 3 and got a good starting chunk on chapter 4. I think I'm really getting into this!

And it is Monday once again...

Not a lot to report today.

I did get one rejection from my rather scant list of queries, but it just doesn't seem to have the devastation power now that I've had a partial rejected first.

I blew my word count goal out of the water today, though not all of it was on Project 3. I also did a bit of writing for my WoW family. There's something quite relaxing about writing things in an established world that I don't have to constantly maintain in my head.

And here in a few minutes, I'm leaving to go fight with the eye doctor AGAIN. (Yes, I know the glasses are made to the prescription he wrote, but that doesn't change the fact that I can't SEE!)

Here we go again

Proving that literary agents NEVER sleep and do not take weekends off(something that I've long suspected), I received another request for a partial today. So, pages are sent, and per their website, I potentially have a two-month wait ahead of me as they review my submission.

Now...do I go wake up the sleeping hubby NOW to gush to him, or let him snooze a bit longer?

A moment from real life

So, tonight, the hubby announces "I am going to hide from kiddo!" and goes dashing into the back of the house. The following conversation goes like this.

Me: Oh no, you better go find Daddy!
Kiddo: He hides really good.
*kiddo remains seated at computer*
Me: Aren't you going to go find daddy?
Kiddo: Nah
Me: You're going to leave him back there forever?
Kiddo: Yeah
Me: But what if he's back there all alone, and he has no food or water?
Kiddo: Then he'll be hungry and thirsty.

At which point, hubby gave up hiding and had to come out and watch me collapse laughing.

I love my heartless little offspring.

So much for goals

Three days into my 500-words-per-day goal, and I've missed the goal for the last two days. (not to be confused with missing the gaol, which is what I typed first, and seems to be rather a good thing).

I would actually have to write 900 words tomorrow to make up for the 400 words I've been short these last two days. In my defense, I've taken on new duties at the Real Job(tm) and it's something that actually requires some thought and concentration. (oddly enough, I'm enjoying it, save for the lack of free writing time)

Still no responses to the three queries outstanding, but I was figuring a two-week wait, so I'm not worrying about it yet.

Goals

I've decided that I need to write 500 words a day. It doesn't matter what on, just...500 words must go onto paper (screen).

I met today's goal and surpassed it by over 400. Go me!

Still waiting on queries. No more responses yet.

Milestones abound

So I have gone from my first query, to my first partial request, to my first rejection in the space of just a few days. Talk about roller coaster!

Yes, the agent with the partial opted to pass. And I'm sad, of course, but I know that it's all part and parcel with the publishing game. The agent had several nice things to say, and hopefully someone else will be interested.

I think I'm going to stick with the queries I have out at the moment, and see what responses I get back before sending any more out. No one says I have to do this all at once, anyway.

If it looks like I'm getting partial requests that turn into rejections, though, I think that's going to speak pretty loudly to my writing skill in general. And that's depressing.