Tuesday Tally, Tools, and Toys

Status of my novel

total words to date: 71,226

pages: 310

completed chapters: 14

Last week's goals:

• write WDC Fantasy newsletter - let this one slide... guest editor stepped in. may be about time to step down if I'm having such a hard time getting ideas. 
• write three new scenes in WIP  - completed
• send out poetry. really this time. - submitted four poems to 1097 Magazine  

Goals for this week:

• finish chapter fifteen
• update website
• brainstorm fantasy newsletter ideas 

I learned about this new tool, The Gender Genie. You input an excerpt of writing and it tells you if it is male or female. I seem to be doing good according to its analysis as the Jex POV scenes I inputted came out mostly male, and the Marian POV ones female. I hope my males don't act or speak too feminine, as it's not something I consciously think of when I write. I'll have to remember to ask the guys that read a later draft how they think I did.

 

I finished the Melanie Rawn book, Spellbinder. Very good. It even inspired a few details for my own modern-day witchcraft and romance novel I'll write someday. The setting and plot may be completely different from anything she's done before, but one thing remains true - Melanie Rawn writes memorable and complex characters that stay with me long after I put down the book.

 

In some non-book related news, we bought a new vacuum (Bissell). After using it on our two main rooms (Front Room/Dining Room and Main Bedroom/Media Room), it was obvious how badly our five-year-old vacuum was doing. The dirt cup was full to the brim from the one day vacuuming, so much dirt that our old one wasn't picking up.

 

While shopping at Walmart for the vacuum, I bought a Cars matching game for B. He doesn't have the patience for the memory game aspect, even if we leave the cards up after turning, but he's good at taking turns. Today we set all the cards face up and I let him find all the matches. He's quick and only made a mistake once. It was fun seeing him bounce and get all excited every few matches. This is the first game we've bought to play with him, and it appears I made a good choice.