Tuesday Tally (sort of) and pack rat trauma

May 8'ths tally shows the following:

Status of my novel
total words to date: 36,679
pages: 160
completed chapters: 8

The sad truth - word count has gone down since then, as all I've done with it is delete a couple of paragraphs. However, since that date I have written nearly 3000 words on Mirror. And it's still not done! I won't have it ready for the deadline I wanted, but I'm sure I can find a different market for it. I only have a couple scenes left to write (truly this time).

Goals for this week:

• finish writing Mirror
  
• write anything for Emergence
  

The long weekend wasn't unproductive, however. We did some much needed deep cleaning. I am a major pack rat and horde anything even minutely sentimental. Some of the papers I threw out were encouraging notes from nearly ten years ago... And I almost cried when I threw away the stack of letters from my childhood friend. It doesn't matter that we no longer keep in touch; his letters were what kept me going when we moved to the other end of the state in my 5th grade year. Anyway, we went through the closet and the front room, throwing away anything we didn't miss in the past five years, and reorganizing what was left. Looks a lot better, but completely wore me out. Sunday we played some Wii sports and my right arm/shoulder is still sore from the baseball and tennis (I lost horribly at both - at least I have a chance when we do the bowling). One of the things boxed away for now is most of the scrapbooking supplies. I enjoy scrapbooking, but don't really have the space here, or a way to organize it all. Hopefully everything works out and we can get out of this apartment and into a house next year.

Books, Books, and more Books

First, a book review:
I finished reading Model Spy by Shannon Greenland. Absolutely love it. Thankfully, the second book in the Specialists series comes out this September. The Specialists are a teen spy organization. They are all children from the system - no parents, shuffled around from one foster home to the next. These delinquents are invited to the team for their unique specialties: computer techie genius, martial arts, electronics, chemistry, et al. Here they find family. Kelly Spree becomes GiGi, girl genius. The book is first person through her perspective. Her teenage attitude brings me back to those days, and she became very real for me. I empathize with her. She may have model looks, but she's a clutz with computer technology on the brain. I rooted for her every step of the way as she grew throughout the book.

The library trip:
I made it to the library on Wednesday. Not a very wide selection of books, but I did pick up a few. Mystic Empire by Tracy & Laura Hickman, book three of The Bronze Canticles. I own the first two so will likely buy this one eventually. Justine Larbalestier's Magic or Madness, which just won the Andre Norton award. I read Justine's blog, and have been wanting to pick this one up for a while. Wolfskin by Juliet Marillier. I love her Sevenwaters Trilogy, so thought this would be a good time to try another of her books. The Dragon's Son by Margaret Weis, sequel to Mistress of Dragons. There were other books I wanted to check out, but 1) that branch didn't have any copies; and 2) as a new patron, for the first month I can only have 5 books out at a time. Next time I'll have to request books sent over from the other libraries in the network, or go to a bigger library.

A tribute:
Lloyd Alexander, author of more than 30 books for children and adults, died yesterday. I remember reading the Chronicles of Prydain. He was one of my favorite authors growing up. I learned about his death on the Endicott Studio blog, where they have a beautiful entry to him. I cannot do him justice, so go read the entry for yourself.

Promoting:
Shannon Aviles, publicist and media specialist, will be guest-blogging for Erica Ridley next week. Head over now to post some questions you'd like her to answer.

Karma? Magic? Mother's Day and an Update

The universe is being good to me! After posting Need to Read, two wonderful things happened. The first, I got a comment from Erica saying she'd send me a book as a RAK (Random Act of Kindness). Isn't she an angel? I look forward to receiving the mystery (referring to the unknown, not the genre) fantasy book

The second thing to happen was a package magically appearing on my doorstep (well, it said FedEx, but no one could be seen when I answered the door, and it was completely unexpected). The label gave no clue as to its origins. I brought it inside and painstakingly peeled open the flap. The only thing in the envelope was ... an AC* of The Specialists: Model Spy, by Shannon Greenland. I should crave books more often! I had to think long and hard to figure out why I might have been sent the book. The only conclusion I came to (with the help that the book is YA) was the monthly contest I entered at TeensReadToo. They must have drawn my name. =) Very rare for me to win something. I started reading the book, and I love it. Great voice, very teenage angst like. I'm five chapters into it already. Seeing as there are only fourteen chapters, I figure it will be a quick, enjoyable read. Adults can read Young Adult books too. ;-)

You can read my most recent fantasy newsletter on the difference between Inns and Taverns at Associated Content. I do a monthly fantasy newsletter on Writing.com, and usually post it somewhere on the web afterward for more public viewing.

I'm not going to post the numbers for the Tuesday Tally, as they are exactly the same as last week... I've done some reading through it, a little bit of editing, notes where I want to do major editing, but haven't written anything new on Emergence. I did work on Mirror some more. My goal for this week is to finish writing Mirror. Once that's done and polished, I'll delve back into seriously working on my novel.

Friday we bought a Wii; they are finally staying on shelves long enough for us to see one! It is now my husband's favorite console. We already have the XBox 360 and the PS3. We only have one Wii game (in addition to Wii Sports which came with the console) - Zelda. The next one we'll be getting is Mario Party 8, which comes out in two weeks.

Mother's Day was wonderful. My sister-in-law had her baby, my husband gave me a new CD - Celtic Lounge II, and I didn't have to worry about meals. After putting our son to bed, we watched a couple movies on Netflix (love their Play Now feature). Not as comfortable sitting in our computer chairs as cuddling on the LoveSac, but very convenient when we don't have any movies.

*AC = Advance Copy. Proofs version of the book, sent to authors for last minute review and to reviewers for, well, advanced reviewing. Though my copy was printed before the first edition, the book is already on the shelves (as of May 10), so you can go buy it!

Need to Read

I think part of my problem writing lately is I haven't been reading much fiction. I've read a little online, but the only books I've been reading are poetry and nonfiction. The last fiction I read was almost a month ago! No wonder I'm feeling out of touch. Unlike lizbit, I don't have an excuse not to go to the library and pick one up. I'm itching for a good fantasy. I'm saving up on MyPoints for a $25 B&N gift card, but can't wait until then to read something.

Next Wednesday I will find the closest library after my son gets on the bus for preschool, get me a library card (hubby has one, but I don't), and check out a big stack of books. In the meantime I can make a list of books to read, and read my WIP.

Tuesday Tally and American Idol

Status of my novel
total words to date: 36,679
pages: 160
completed chapters: 8

Goals for this week:

• 1,000 words on Emergence
  
• write at least three scenes in Mirror

Yes, that count is right. I only wrote about 400 words in Emergence this past week... Remind me never to go a week without working on it again. Makes it extremely hard to get back to, especially being in the mid-book blues. I did write my two scenes in Mirror, so I wasn't an entire slacker.

American Idol tonight! Go Blake! He did awesome last week, can't believe he was in the bottom three. Better be great tonight. Almost finale time. Though I want Blake to win, I would be fine with any of the remaining girls. Not like a few years ago, with Fantasia - don't care for her style.

Tuesday Tally

Status of my novel
total words to date: 36,275
pages: 158
completed chapters: 8

Goals for this week:

• 1,o00 words on Emergence
  
• write at least two scenes in Mirror

Sunday I spent time working on the character outlines for two characters introduced in this chapter, and wrote some background and description of the Fey Realm. Felt really discouraged with my writing yesterday, but pushed through it and ended up getting a lot done. I'm afraid my main character is going stale. Her last couple of scenes have been kind of blah. Hopefully I can add some life again with her next scene.

I wanted to write more today while the boys were napping, but doesn't look like that's happening. They've hooked up a house right outside our apartment, no clue what for, and the water running through the pipes for over a half hour now is killing my head. The rushing is translated to pounding and I can't focus. I'd go out and see what they're doing, but that would require going past the sleeping one in the front room whom I wouldn't dare wake up. No point laying down either. Ugh. Maybe I can get something done tonight.