HtPD

1/12 of the year is done…

/ Alex Whitehall / Leave a comment

I spent the last week of January pet sitting, which involved caring for a geriatric dog and a horse, and I’d like to blame that for why my productivity slipped, but it’s more likely because I had access to TV. And fast internet.

So much TV. I watched all of Jessica Jones, all of Gangsta., and few episodes of Sekku Boys, which is just for fun because Japanese idols that are actually sculptures is kind of amusing. It seems.

I still got just under 10k written for January, a rough set of edits done for HtPD, and a book read. So pretty productive. Except for that whole “take care of health” goal.

Coming home after a week away is always a wonderful thing, because I get to sleep in my own bed, where I sleep better, and my responsibilities are half of what they are at the pet-sitting gigs. The horse is about an hour each day, which isn’t much, but is still an hour. And then this little thing.

She doesn’t look like much, but she can be a needy thing  🙂

Anyway, I got home and depression hit me hard, and then my muscles all tightened and made my head/vision wonky. Which really knocked out any productivity. I think I may have been pushing myself a bit too hard and putting a bit too much pressure on myself. So I’m trying to take a break this weekend (at least a little). If things get done, they get done. But otherwise I need to breathe and not freak myself out.

I KNOW I just did a post about “slow and steady” but I’m really bad at listening to myself. 🙂

How things go…

/ Alex Whitehall / Leave a comment

As I watch the counter on Scruples remain the same in the sidebar, I struggle to not feel frustrated at my lack of writing.

But yes, Scruples is on hiatus as I write the shifter story, which I’ve done about 2-4K on since the beginning of the year. However…

Mostly this month has been focused on heavy edits for HtPD, which eats up a lot of time as I rework sentences, add details, and sometimes add entire scenes. And when I’m in editing mode, I’m not as great at being in writing mode. Something I need to work on. Yet HtPD has gotten an additional 1,000 words and I’m only just over the halfway point. So while my other stories may have briefly stalled, I at least have been busy.

But my ultimate goal is to read a book for work, read a book for pleasure, edit a book for pleasure, and write a book, and keep all the characters separate and in my head, keep all the facts straight, and remember who belongs in what story.

No pressure, right?

November is over!

/ Alex Whitehall / Leave a comment

Okay, so:

My goals for this month:
1. Edit/write every day I don’t have a conflicting event (like my GKE trip next weekend). *Holds up calendar* You can tell I’m serious ’cause I wrote it down.
2. The above should let me finish a pass of edits on SaP, SS, and HtPD. So hopefully.
3. I’d love to get 3-5 K written this month, and I’m keeping track, but it’s not make or break.

I am excited to announce that I was very successful this month.

My writing hit 3K, but it wasn’t as much original, publishable fiction as I would have liked. And I haven’t written anything since the 16th. So that one wasn’t a huge success, but it did keep me writing a little when I knew my edits would overwhelm me.

As for the edits: I finished doing a pass on SaP, SS, and HtPD. I sent SS out to two beta readers and have gotten feedback from one. Overall positive feedback, so that makes me happy. She pointed out an issue with the end that I also felt…but I need to ponder how to fix it.

SaP, sitting at just over 50K, was a close one. I just finished my editing pass today. I also have to ponder how to move forward with this one. There’s a submission call that it can be sent to, and the deadline for it isn’t until 1/31/15, so I could hunt up a beta reader and get feedback, or I can just send it off and get it off my plate.

I’m leaning toward the second, because I’d like to focus on finishing up SS and then returning to BaW, which I’d REALLY like to get done or closer to friggen done 😛

Which leads me to this month’s goals:
1. Finish writing new ending to BaW.
2. Enter handwritten edits into final file.
3. Submit BaW to the writing group.

Midpoint update!

/ Alex Whitehall / Leave a comment

My goals for this month:
1. Edit/write every day I don’t have a conflicting event (like my GKE trip next weekend). *Holds up calendar* You can tell I’m serious ’cause I wrote it down.
2. The above should let me finish a pass of edits on SaP, SS, and HtPD. So hopefully.
3. I’d love to get 3-5 K written this month, and I’m keeping track, but it’s not make or break.

So far, I’ve done fairly well. I didn’t edit on vacation, but I did get a few hundred words plopped out. I’ve already hit the 3K mark (although 1300 of that was for a World of Darkness game I’m playing).

I’ve finished edits on HtPD and SS, which leaves me with 13 days to finish SaP. So we’ll see. It’s the biggest, but I’ve already started it, sooo….yeah.

This month I also started going to a local writers’ group. I wasn’t sure what kind of mix would be there, but of the four people who came to the one I went to, three were over the age of 50. Only one sneered when I mentioned queer romance. I’ll keep going and see how things turn out, but I’m definitely going to be careful what I take there. Which I knew was going to be something I’d have to worry about in my small town, but I guess I was hoping…

Anyway, back to the grindstone!

Now for my favorite month!

/ Alex Whitehall / Leave a comment

September’s Goals

1. Work toward finishing current WIP (trans* story).
2. Do an editing pass on SaP (shifters).
3. Work on baby blanket (for my second niece). This isn’t writing related, which I’m trying to focus on more, but this is going to suck some time and it needs to be done for the solstice, latest, so I need to give it some serious attention (and it’s going to take forever).

Okay. September went really fast.

1. I finished the WIP last week. I want to do a read over (um, I guess this weekend is the plan, but I dunno) and then get it to my betas. But this was successful.

2. I didn’t really make much progress on this one. HtPD and SS took more time and I wasn’t feeling my edits.

3. I am almost finished the second color of the baby blanket. I also finished 1 half-mitt that my mom wants for xmas.

Generally pretty happy with how things went. The end of SS involved a bit more pulling of teeth than I’d anticipated, and hopefully it will stand up to re-reading, but getting that done feels like one step closer to accomplishment.

October is going to be crazy busy. I’m cat-sitting for friends at the beginning, have a work conference in the middle (I’ll be at Gay Rom Lit, if anyone wants to say hi!), while trying to enjoy one of my favorite months of the year by getting outside.

My goals reflect this. I doubt I’m going to have much/any time for creativity.

October goals
1. Finish first pass on SaP. If ready, send to beta.
2. Finish pass on SS. If ready, send to beta.
3. Another pass on HtPD. Try for 500 more words. Submit.
4. If time/energy, look at R&R on GR.

So. Many. Edits.

September Progress Report

/ Alex Whitehall / Leave a comment

September’s Goals
1. Work toward finishing current WIP (trans* story).
2. Do an editing pass on SaP (shifters).
3. Work on baby blanket (for my second niece). This isn’t writing related, which I’m trying to focus on more, but this is going to suck some time and it needs to be done for the solstice, latest, so I need to give it some serious attention (and it’s going to take forever).

September feels like its been going well, so here’s how it looks:

1. Making progress. Probably have 2K left, but it’s all wrapping-up/ending stuff. Which I haven’t really thought through, so it may be like pulling teeth. I’m also looking for beta readers for this one, which I’m hoping will motivate me to finish this. Or maybe they can tell me how to end it 😛

2. I’ve started this. Slowly. I got a little distracted by HtPD this week. I’m actually happy with some of the additions I made to HtPD, so my beta gave good feedback. Now I’m waiting for my other beta. And I’m going to try to figure out who will take a 9K story (because I don’t see another 1 K coming out of it.

3. Working on it 😛 This takes forever.

Overall pretty happy with things. I’m super excited/nervous about my WIP and if it’s any good. It was one of those that just came out so easily in the middle bits, which either means really good things or…not.

Wake me up when… Shit.

/ Alex Whitehall / Leave a comment

August’s goals

1. Apply what I learned from Code Academy into a website project.
2. 1,000 more words written
3. Review HtPD and see if it can become something. Currently it’s super short so it either needs to get more written for it to stand alone, or I need to hunt down an anthology for it to fit into.

August was different than I was expecting.
1. NOPE. I did absolutely nothing for this. I think because I lost my momentum after June, this goal just fizzled and died.

2. YES. This is actually where all my efforts went. I probably wrote roughly 7,000 words this month (guestimate). I made good progress on a current WIP, and I’m feeling positive about it. I felt since this was going well, I’d go along with it rather than derail potential progress here for Goal 1 work.

3. I sent it to a beta, and it’s currently with another beta, who has offered up some ideas that need development. I don’t know if I have 1,500 words of development, but if I do, that’s going to be awesome. I’m waiting for the final report from the Beta 2, but I’m busy with the other WIP, so I’m not too worried about this.

I looked around at a few places for this one, but the length is going to need to go up first for pretty much any publisher I send it to, so I’m focusing more on the revision than anything right now.

And now…September.

September’s Goals
1. Work toward finishing current WIP (trans* story).

2. Do an editing pass on SaP (shifters).

3. Work on baby blanket (for my second niece). This isn’t writing related, which I’m trying to focus on more, but this is going to suck some time and it needs to be done for the solstice, latest, so I need to give it some serious attention (and it’s going to take forever).

August, Not Too Bad

/ Alex Whitehall / Leave a comment

August’s goals1. Apply what I learned from Code Academy into a website project.
2. 1,000 more words written
3. Review HtPD and see if it can become something. Currently it’s super short so it either needs to get more written for it to stand alone, or I need to hunt down an anthology for it to fit into.

August is flying by just as fast as the other months. It’s my birthday month, so you’d think it’d give me some leniency. Nope. I’ve been house-sitting for my parents and my brother, plus I went to Otakon (an anime convention). It’s been a bit crazy 🙂 But I haven’t fallen completely down on the job.

1. Okay, this hasn’t gotten any work done. See above craziness. I have a feeling this is going to fall by the wayside, because writing and editing are more important right now.

2. Yep. I didn’t keep exact track, but I’m pretty sure I’ve hit this mark already. Woo! The story I’m working on is slow going and kind of mellow, but I’m hoping once the drama starts, then the pace will fly by.

3. I sent HtPD to a beta reader and got some positive feedback, so I want to move forward with it. I’m not sure I can get the longer word count I need to make it into something, and it’s too short even for most anthologies, although I think they might let it slide for that. I just sent it to another reader and will await her verdict to see if I can squeeze a few thousand or more words out of this sucker.

So that’s that. While I didn’t set many goals for this month, I’ve been doing plenty off-screen (generally editing, writing, and scrounging up submissions for HtPD…and taking care of various households).

And because I just finished cooking it, here’s some homemade applesauce (I leave the peels on for…health reasons. Yeah, not because I’m super lazy).

Goals for the birthday month

/ Alex Whitehall / Leave a comment

July’s goals1. Finish one level of Code Academy – That’s 6 hours of stuff, so it’s a mouthful, but hopefully I won’t choke.
2. Read a new, nonwork-related book. Just one. I mostly have been rereading old favorites and stuff for work. And I’ll even count rereading books that I read a long time ago (pre-accident) and no longer remember.
3. Work on side project of mystery goal.
4. Write a thousand words OR prep a story for submission. Oh yeah, I do that sometimes, don’t I?

I actually wasn’t expecting to do as well here as I did. I threw a lot of stuff down hoping I’d do some of it and feel victorious.Instead:

1. Finished the HTML/CSS level of Code Academy. I’m not sure how much I remembered, and I’m planning on making a cheat sheet for the codes, and I want to apply what I’ve learned to a “website” but I feel good about what I learned.

2. This was a slight cheat, because I re-read Whistling in the Dark. That counts as a  non-work book, but it’s also one I’ve read before. I also read it because I had just finished working on two historical novels, and I had an itch to read it again. For my house-sitting adventure, I’ve packed a novel to read, but not sure that’s gonna happen. Time works differently here.

3. I did what I set out to do so far with this. The project still has groundwork I need to do, but I feel like I took the big step that I needed to here.

4. I wrote 1,000+ words for BAW, plus some other stuff, so this was a win. However, it also brought to my attention how much more work BAW needs. GROAN.

August’s goals
1. Apply what I learned from Code Academy into a website project.

2. 1,000 more words written

3. Review HtPD and see if it can become something. Currently it’s super short so it either needs to get more written for it to stand alone, or I need to hunt down an anthology for it to fit into.

I think that’s it for now. I’m feeling all panicky today, so I’m not sure if I’m underachieving or if I’m overachieving right now.