A New Year and a New List

Today's Earworm: Fear Not This Night by Freya Catherine
Today's Date: January 2, 2017

If you want to compare this list with the last list (2/1/2016) go here. There really isn't much change outside of me going more into details as to what the stories/series are going into and the state of each book.

Now that I've said that, HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope that you are warm and cozy at this time and that life is treating you semi-well.

And that you're staying safe. Seriously you guys.

Me, I'm trying to get something done this year. I have a list, which will be at the end, of the  books I'm hoping to work on right now.

So let's go over what I have going on shall we?

And once again, the setup is this:

Title:
Genre:
Pairing styles: (M/M, Poly, F/F, M/F, none)
Books in the series (if a series):

Status

Minimum words planned for:
Notes on the story:

Rewriting/Editing/Note Taking

Title: Untitled
Genre: Romance
Pairing styles: Male/Male (M/M)
Books in the series (if a series): 1

Status: Rewriting

Minimum words planned for: 24,000 (1,100 words per chapter)
Notes on the story: This is still my Lex/Rose story and no I don't have any kind of title for it. But I have gotten through the note taking and have written out a new outline for it. It's somewhere around 24 chapters planned out. 

This story was originally 11 chapters in length and when I'm done with this first rewrite, I plan on printing it out to go through it and tear it apart. I do this because it allows me to get away from the computer to edit it without worry. So it's going to be very interesting.

Title: All You Need
Genre: Romance
Pairing styles: M/M
Books in the series (if a series): None

Status: Note taking/Outlining

Minimum words planned for: 11,000 to 22,000 (1,100 words per)
Notes on the story: In the current version of this story, there is 5 chapters. I want to expand it into something like 10 to 20 chapters in length.

I want to expand on the world and change the names of the characters and build up the history for a few chapters before I introduce the main characters. I have 5 chapters planned out already but I don't know if I'm going to keep them or replot those first chapters out. But I do know that I'll be rewriting and writing quite a bit when it comes to this story.

Title: Untitled
Genre: Romance
Pairing styles: M/M
Books in the series (if a series): None

Status: Noting

Minimum words planned for: No idea.
Notes on the story: This one I'm still making notes on because it's so old. I think I might have to print this one out and work from there. It's going to drive me up a wall, I can tell you that. 

Cause it's doing that to me now.

Series Already in the Works

Title: Shades of Red series
Genre: Horror/Paranormal Horror
Pairing styles: M/M, F/M,
Books in the series (if a series): Planned so far is 3

Status: Book 1 in rewrite/writing

Minimum words planned for: 50K (1,100 words min per chapter)

Notes on the story: Yes this series is still in the works, but I'm having quite a bit of fun with this story since my original story is printed out and I'm working from that along with the original file that I did find after the great Flashdrive Reformat. 

I am working on what book 2 is doing but outside of that, this particular story is coming along rather nicely.

Book 1: Crimson Shadows - WIP

Book 2: Drips of ?

Book 3: ?? 

Title: Honey Drops Series
Genre: Romance/Sci-fi/Fantasy
Pairing styles: M/M, F/M, Poly, F/F
Books in the series (if a series): 6 books planned plus a book filled with bits and stories that didn't make it into the main story line
Status: Book 1 - WIP
Notes on the story: This series is being a pain in the ass but I'm working on planning it out. It is still a total of six books plus another book that fills in stories that didn't make it into the main book series for whatever reason. Mostly stories that came to me as I wrote the story that fill in some history. Or gives you interesting bits of interactions between characters.

Bk 1: Nix's Story - In progress
Bk ?: Cho's Story
Bk ?: Kain's Story
Bk ?: ?? Story
Bk ?: ?? Story
Bk 6: Final Book

Title: A Living Zombie series
Genre: Dark Comedy/horror
Pairing styles: various
Books in the series (if a series): 2
Status: WIP
Minimum Words Planned For: 50K
Notes on the story: Big Bertha Rides Again!

Okay, inside joke if you don't hang out with us in the Forward Motion chat room or the Writing Groove chat room and J.A. Marlow is around.

But I have reintroduced myself to this story and I am going to work on this story. It's a lot of fun considering that this is pretty much "A zombie keeps his mind" kind of story. Which I've seen a few times out there (but I've never actually watched/read any of them seeing as I'm picky about my zombie movies/shows/stories).

I'm going to have fun with this though.

Book 1: WIP
Book 2: Planning

Title: Don't Look Series
Genre: Paranormal Horror
Pairing styles: Various (but not really a focus)
Books in the series (if a series): 4+ books
Status: Writing
Notes on the story: I actually started a new first book for this series called "Thread the Needle" which builds up the world into what it is in the main story. It will be going into the family's history and the cities history and all of the good things. So that's going to be a lot of fun to do because it's...going to get kind of sexual for this first book since a lot of the magic in the first book is sex magic.

But there will be other types so don't go thinking that this is a poor excuse to write smut you guys.

Bk 1: Thread the Needle - WIP
Bk 2: A Delicate Thread - WIP - On hold
Bk 3: Twine the Soul
Bk 4: Spin a Yarn

Title: The Ages Series
Genre: ...superheros?
Pairing styles: various
Books in the series (if a series): 8 books
Status: Writing
Minimum words planned for: 50K Per book
Notes on the story: I'm actually on chapter 32 of book 1. I have 36 chapters planned for this story and once it is done I'll be putting it to the side to let it sit and gather some dust before I work on getting it edited and rewritten.

Because this needs a lot of work.

So very much. But it's going to be worth it.

Bk 1: WIP
Bk 2: Planning
Bk 3:
Bk 4
Bk 5
Bk 6
Bk 7 - Final

Title: Untitled Story
Genre: Horror/Paranormal/Supernatural
Pairing styles: M/M
Books in the series (if a series): 2
Status: Writing
Minimum words planned for: 50K
Notes on the story: I'm quite a bit into the first book and I still don't have a good name for it, but that's about normal for me. I have an idea of what it's going to do and I'm still calling it my Mean Bunny story.

Go figure.

Bk 1: WIP
Bk 2: Bellamy's Story - Planning

Title: (Working title) Retail and Supernatural
Genre: Comedy-Horror
Pairing styles: M/M, M/F (not really focused on them though)
Books in the series: 4 planned for, more on the way
Status: Bk 1 WIP
Minimum words planned for: 35K per
Note: This is my brand new baby and I started it for NaNo 2016 but other stories came to be the focus of my month. Such as my Ages bk 1. I have no idea just how long it's going to be but I know just what I want to do with the series and how it will go.

I can tell you right now it starts pretty light hearted, but as the series goes along, things get really dark.

I love it.

Bk 1: Bad Dog - WIP
Bk 2:
Bk 3:
Bk ??
Final Book

Title: Untitled
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Pairing styles: M/M
Books in the series (if a series): 2

Status: WIP

Minimum words planned for: No idea

Notes on the story: This one was dumped on me by the beautiful and lovely Jennifer Amriss while we were chatting in her Facebook fan page. And of course she knows that I have this thing for writing naughty things going on, so she handed it to me.

And then ran away. 

Claiming she didn't need another damn PNR on her plate. So there's that.

It's going to be a Vampire/Half-Angel pairing and despite how much I've talked about the first sex scene, it's not going to turn into an erotica. Why? Because there will be, I'm thinking, one or two actual on-screen sex scenes. And those are kind of needed due to plans and plots.

Now if I could choose which starting scene I'm going with, I would be happy. 

Stories That I'm Not Working on Actively Right Now

Title: "Magical Girl" Series
Genre: Fantasy/
Pairing styles: F/F, M/F
Books in the series (if a series): 2 books
Status: World Building
Minimum Words Planned for: 40K
Notes on the story: Yes, I am still working on this world. It's taking me time because I want to have something of a world going for this.

Bk 1: Planning
Bk 2: Planning

Title: A Magical Taste Series
Genre: Contemporary Fantasy
Pairing styles: Various
Books in the series (if a series): 2 to 10 books
Status: World Building
Minimum Words Planned for: 50K per book
Notes on the story: I still so very much want to do this series but I need to finish off a couple of my other stories before I dive into this rich and diversified world. Because it's going to span all sorts of characters and the such.

I shall have fun.

Bk 1: Forensic/witch
Bk 2: Artist/seer witch

Title: A Family Pack
Genre: Romance/Supernatural
Pairing styles: various
Books in the series (if a series): ??
Statu: World building/plot building
Words minimum planned for: 50K per book
Notes on the story: Actually I need to figure out my notes for this and get is figured out how I want to tackle this series but it's kind of sitting there for the most part since I'm not wanting to do something typical but I still want to do something interesting with this series.

It's just going to take time.

Title: A Twist of Fate series
Genre: action/adventure/survivalist/romance
Pairing styles: various but not the focus
Books in the series (if a series): 2
Status: World building/plot building
Words minimum planned for: 50K
Notes on the story: I had to actually put this to the side. Not because I wanted to but because things go really busy and it's going to take some time in getting around to actually do some research on virus and the such.

But I am working out the plot. Slowly, but surely.

Stand-Alone Stories

Title: Follow Me Down
Genre: Dark Fantasy
Pairing styles: M/M
Books in the series (if a series): just the 1
Status: WIP
Words Minimum planned for: 50K
Notes on the story: Ah, my baby. I do plan on working on this story come 2017, but I'm still not sure what I'm going to do with it.

The history behind how this story came to be kind of messes with me but I love the story line. So it's going to be fun trying to cut that history away from this book.

Title: Black Veiled Saviour
Genre: Mystery
Pairing styles: M/M
Books in the series (if a series): 1
Status: WIP
Minimum Words planned for: 50K
Notes on the story: I'm working on this and I think I know where I'm going with it, so this is going to be fun to write on once more!

I'm so happy to have an idea on how to get things going.

Title: Untitled Prompt Story
Genre: Horror/Paranormal
Pairing styles: nothing truly important
Books in the series (if a series): stand alone
Status: WIP
Minimum Words Planned For: 30K
Notes on the story: Ah, so what to say about this. I'm going to work on this story as I go along because I need to recreate the outline and fill out the story line itself otherwise this is going to drive me up a wall. So I'll be doing that this year.

Fun times.

Title: Untitled
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Pairing styles: M/M
Books in the series (if a series): 1 (for Now)

Status: Planning

Minimum words planned for: Not a clue
Notes on the story: This is a holiday themed one where I wanted to tackle the whole "Santa needs a wife before becoming Santa Troupe". It's actually really interesting and I know who the love interest is, I just have to figure out a few other bits and pieces. Yes, joy. This pounced me near the end of 2016 okay? It was NOT happy making.

Nope. But I'll write it.

What Am I Focusing on in 2017?

I have a couple of lists actually, so how about I give you those lists? 

My lists have changed so often in the last month that I've given up having just several lists and narrowed them down to a few of the stories that I am going to really focus on.

Rewriting/Notes/Ect:
Ages Book 1 (I'm hoping by the time this goes up I'll have the last 3 chapters done)
Lex/Rose
All You Need
A Butterfly's Dream

Focusing on:

Bad Dog
Mean Bunny
Half-Angel/Vampire PNR
"Alive" Zombie story
Honey Drops bk 1
Crimson Shadows
Santa Claus PNR
Follow Me Down
Thread the Needle
Black Veiled Saviour
Untitled Prompt Story

Not that long of a list and it helps me to narrow my thoughts down to what I want to finish. So here's hoping that I get at least a few of these off of my list as 2017 progresses. 

Writing and Rewriting

Today's Earworm:
Today's Date: December 19, 2016

Well now, we're about halfway through December and I'm just...exhausted. Straight up tired. Why?

Because I've been baking (which you can check out the pics of the goodies and all sorts of things here), decorating, and trying to stay up to date on my writing.

On top of that, I got new flooring! Finally! I swear. I'm so happy to have new flooring. I really am. Which means that I've been unpacking all the shit that I had to pack up to lay it down.

But I've done it and I'm sitting here and was thinking about what to write this round.

And then I remembered that in a part of my Story List (coming on Jan 2nd, guys) that I talk about rewriting.

To be precise, what I have to do to rewrite A Butterfly's Dream. Which is a really old story that can be found running around online. I find that the story line is interesting. The story itself needs a LOT of work.

And I mean a lot of work. Enough so that I've decided to do the following rewriting process. Mind you, it's what I'm planning on doing, just probably not in this order.

1: Collect all of the chapters into one file.

What this means is you're consolidating the various versions of a story. That's what I did already. I took the original story (which is only partially written), the rewritten file with new chapters, and my information all into 3 files.

Mostly because that's what my OCD tells me to do.

I have those files and they're formatted for easy of use.

2: Print out the file.

That's right, I'm going to print out the files in full, punch holes into the sides and stick them into a binder for ease of keeping it in place and access. It will be much easier in the long run.

Especially if you're like me and like to read something on paper. Even if you don't, sometimes working from actual paper works a lot better when it comes to working out what needs to be changed.

3: Buy/find all of your supplies.

I need to pick up some sticky notes actually. I learn this from the lovely Inky Laurens (@InkyLaurens) and Liana Brooks (@LianaBrooks) on twitter. They did a video where they took Inky's story, broke it down and used post its for each scene.

I'm going to adopt this style of rewriting once I get the first round of rewriting/expanding done.

I'll find some proper pens and a clear wall and start.


But first I'll need to find an empty notebook or two.

4: Make notes.

This step will include those empty notebooks or two. I'll sit down with my printed out file and start to make notes on characters, settings, plot ideas, and what I need to fill in or add. I'll do this chapter by chapter.

5: Take those notes and put them onto sticky notes.

Once I have those notes written out and ready for this part, I'll pick up the post its and start to write out my scenes, which goes down into part 6.

6: Arrange sticky notes onto flat surface and start to work out the new outline.

Yes, once I have started on part 5 part 6 also starts. I'm going to lay them out in rows and get them all laid out.

It'll take time and it'll drive me insane, but I'll do it. Because once I'm done, it's time to start with part 7.

7: If need be, remove/consolidate/break up sticky notes.

When I start creating a new outline, I'll start to go over the various scenes to work out what needs to go where, how and when. I'm going to clean up the outline and move scenes around.

But...I'll also combine scenes or break some up or even just straight up remove them. It all depends on the scene and what I'm trying to do.

This is where having a solid plot idea with subplot's is a good idea.

8: Do it with a friend.

This part isn't so much a step as it is a good idea when it comes time to start rearranging your outline. It makes life easier. So I'm going to steal my friend Tonya for a day and sit there planning out A Butterfly's Dream.

It's going to take a while since I also need to figure out what I'm doing with the plot in the long run. It's going to be interesting that's for sure.

But again, this is just what I'm going to do.

How do you edit? Rewrite? What works best for you?

For me, this is going to be a new try. It's going to be fun.

Special Edition: Novels and Stories

Today's Ear Worm: Bauhaus "She's In Parties"
Today's Date: December 12, 2016

Okay, so this is kind of a special The Writing Process blog but yet it's not. It's about...the time that someone takes in writing a novel. And mind you, I wrote this back in September, but I had other things to post.

And this is more geared to the readers of the world, not the writers of the world. Because as a writer, we know how much work goes into a novel.

Though I swear if I hear "But writing is so easy and fun!" from someone the world may explode. It won't be pretty okay? Cause those types of writers tend to have some rather poorly edited stories out there.

Which is just URGH! It's enough to make a person rip out their hair.

First and foremost: What is a writer?

Well, when you put the word Writer into a Google Search, you get the following definition from them.

writ·er
ˈrīdər/

noun 

noun: writer; plural noun: writers
a person who has written a particular text.
"the writer of the letter" 

a person who writes books, stories, or articles as a job or regular occupation.
"the distinguished travel writer Freya Stark"
synonyms: author, wordsmith, man/woman of letters, penman; More

So there you go. It's someone who sits down and puts words to paper, or in the case of the modern age, puts words to writing program in a form that creates interesting worlds or information for those who read them.

But there are all sorts of writers out there.

There are those who write articles of all sorts, from literature to English Language to Science to Education and everything in between. There are those who write poetry or who write self-help books or This Subject for Dummies. There are writers who write to sell their stories and there are those writers who write for a fandom.

Fanfiction writers that is.

But there are still others who create these amazing worlds on their own and share it for free or on their websites.

And that's the beauty of the internet you guys! We have all of these beautiful, wonderful delightful stories and worlds and information at our fingertips.

But...as a reader...do you ever wonder just how much the writer behind those worlds' put into each story?

I mean, really think about it?

Not really, I'm betting. Not a lot of readers do. They see that they have this story on their computer, in their hands, or just a tap away on their tablets and phones, and they're good. Until they find that the story isn't done yet, or is on hiatus due to issues. Or something.

Then they sit there and go "Where's the rest of it?"

And yes, this is actually going to be, mostly, geared towards an readership that gets their stories from such sites as Fanfiction.net, Fictionpress.net, Adult-Fanfiction.org (Must be 18 years of age or older to join much less be on this site), and ArchiveOfOurOwn.com (AO3). But in a way, this to can be geared towards the publishing world to.

Now, when a reader gets a story, it's usually been written, edited, rewritten, edited some more, gone over by a couple editors/beta readers, edited some more and then put out there. Or in the case of published books, edited and rewritten to a point that looking at the first draft and the final product, you wonder how it came to be from the trash pile of the first draft.

But they don't really see that. All they see is that there's a good story there and it's not done or it's done but the next book/story in the series isn't out and won't be out for however long.

I'm sorry to say, this has happened way to often to me as a fanfiction writer. I put out a new chapter and am promptly asked:

When is the next one coming out? Will it come out tomorrow?
What? No. No it won't.
Why? You have the entire story written so why not?
Just because I have the entire thing written doesn't mean I'm going to kill my self posting how many chapters is up. That and I post one chapter at a time so I have time to write other stories and get things done. That takes time.
How much time?

And yes, that was a real conversation that I had with someone. It was interesting and actually kick started this idea a long time ago.

But I never had the time to write it because hey, research is needed.

Let's break it down shall we?

Question 1: How long does an average novel take to write?

Well, first of all, it all depends on length. The average novel is somewhere between Sixty (60) thousand and Ninety (90) thousand words.

Now, let's say someone of average speed writes about 5 thousand words in a day, six days a week a minimum.

This is a job you guys. We need to make money.

So 5,000 times six means that in a six day period, they will write 30 thousand words. That means they can write a full first draft novel between 2 to 4 weeks.

Wait a minute though: This is a PERFECT scenario though. Writers don't often experience a perfect scenario though.

So let's go for a little bit more of a realistic number. 2 thousand words a day average, 7 days a week, between life and obligations in any way possible.

So 2,000 times 7 gives us 14 thousand words a week. Times 14,000 by 4 and you get 56,000 words a month. That's actually about average for what I get in a good month myself. Usually.

On average, the first draft takes a month minimum to write.

Okay, so question 2: Is the novel done after that month?

Not even close. Sorry to say it guys, but not even close. Even the most prolific of writers usually take up to six months to have a novel ready to publish. But they have this amazing team behind them and while it's sitting there, they've already started to write the first draft of their next book.

Some writers take years to get a book ready for publishing. They also tend to have a backlog of books that are just finishing going through the editing process.

Myself when I get to that point? I'll have at least one series fully written, several others with at least one book written and editing, and a bunch of stand-alones to fill in some gaps. That's my plan. It's a good plan to since I'm not doing the traditional route, but it also means that I'm liable to have about 10 different readers and editors for the damn things.

Then what are you doing with the novel?

Well, first of all, I'm letting it flee from my brain. All of my notes are packed up and put away, the files are saved, moved and tucked out of sight, and I forget about it for anywhere from two weeks to a month.

Why? Because I want to come at this novel to rewrite or edit it with fresh eyes. I know some writers who edit it a few days after they finish it. I could never do that actually. Not really. It would still be to fresh for me to be objective enough to tear it apart.

Yes, I said, tear it apart. I'm going to sit there and make my manuscript bleed red. I'm going to do it at minimum 3 times. With at least two full rewrites that will take me around 2 to 3 weeks to do each time.

I'll then send to my editor and wait for her to make her little green marks and her comments while I work on the next story.

It's a never ending cycle of write, write, edit, write, rewrite, write, edit, write, wait for the editor, write, and then edit some more.

Once I get the file back, I go through all the pages (usually around 200+ pages on a long fanfiction and just as much for an original), and fix the little things, catch a few others, rewrite a few sentences.

Then it's ready to go out.

Question the 3: But does that work for saleable publishing writings though?

Yes actually. Because it's the same process that the better fanfiction writers employ. And the same process that a published author uses. The difference is: the published authors usually have those who are paid to focus on their book and to tear it apart for them even after they themselves tear it apart.

Fanfiction writers are usually the ones who tear their own works apart to put them back together before a volunteer beta goes over it for them.

A good story is good because of the time taken to edit it. Writing the first draft is like putting up the foundation, basement and skeleton of a house. The potential to be something great is there, but it takes that editing, the detail work, to make it truly worth anything.

4: So how long DOES it take a writer to get out a story or book?

That's actually a really good question.

And one that depends on the person. On average, a fanfiction writer who lives their lives and have things going on will have a story once every month or two. Or if they're like me, and they have a story fully written and spread out a chapter to every week or so, they're already working on the next story if they're still writing.

For me, and this will probably carry over into a publishing career, I will have a story ready to read in about 6 months to over a year. But it'll be added to the queue for publishing.

Guys, readers all over, we love you. We love your reviews. But we want you to understand something. We take a extremely long time to get a book or a story just right for you guys, so to see a review demanding the next chapter right now is just kind of like telling us that our work is good but our time should be dictated by your needs and wants.

Calm down. You'll get your story.

Just let us writers know that you're loving the story or book. Reviews are our lifeblood after all. And keep patient. We'll get it out there. It just takes us time to get it to where it's not bleeding red each time we take a damn editing tool to it.

National Novel Writing Month 2016 - Pt 5 And Final Thoughts

Today's Earworm: Now or Never by Age of Days ft.  Sal Costa and  Cody Hanson
Today's Date: December 5, 2016
Word Count Widget

NaNoWriMo Status: Won!
Total Words For This Month: 51,515

Final Thoughts: A quick note on all of the music chosen for the weekly earworm was chosen from my Spotify NaNoWriMo list (which is a permanent list and changes every so often because I go to it occasionally outside of November, April, and July). I can link you to the list, but you can also just look for the bands. They're all wonderful.

What to say? I have finished Nano nearly 8 days ago, and the final word count came out to be just over 51K! Not bad for all of the trouble that I had for this month.

After the first week and a half, I had to turn my attention to a couple of other stories that I was working on before Bad Dog. One of them is Ages Bk 1. I'm on chapter 33 out of 36, so I'm almost done with the draft zero. I know that there is going to be a lot of rewriting in it, but I want to let it set until about April or May before I print it out and start to do the rewriting on it.

Which will most likely be by hand. Which is going to be fun. Ugh right?

Right.

Now, as for the coming year, I do have a post about what I'm going to do for 2017 but for now I'm working on a few things for this month. I have started a new Christmas based story but I'll be working on actually work on building the damn plot before I start writing on it. Why? Because I want to have plot beyond just what I have.

I have apparently started working on Paranormal Romances (PNR).

Thank you, Jennifer Amriss. You helped to reopen that particular door to that genre. It's not a bad thing, trust me. But I'm quite happy with it.

I'll keep you updated on what is going on with each of the stories that I'm working on, I promise. :D

Keep a look out, starting January 31st, for a monthly update on word counts and what I've worked on for that month. And keep a look out on January 2nd for the blog post for what I'm doing during 2017!

Merry Christmas, Happy Yule, Happy Holidays and may your days be blessed and bright.

National Novel Writing Month 2016 - Pt 4

Today's Earworm: I Did It For Love by Age of Days
Today's Date: November , 2016
Word Count Widget


This week is kind of a blur so I don't have much to actually say so I'm going to just summarize this weeks information.

Nov 21: 3,244

Nov 22: 3,341

Nov 23: 0

Nov 24: 2,741

Nov 25 1,872

Nov 26: 0

Nov 27: 2,930

Total words so far: 48,783

So as you can see I am pretty much almost done. Since this is currently written around 3PM on Sunday, since I'm not going to be home most of Monday, I'll probably have claimed my words and my prize.

So swing by my NaNo Page and check out what I have going on! 

Next week I'll have an actual blog post but the last few days have not been kind to me. Ugh.

National Novel Writing Month 2016 - Pt 3

Today's Earworm: Bombs Away by Age of Days
Today's Date: November , 2016
Word Count Widget


And another week to deal with this shit. I am not feeling well, but this is about normal for me during colds.

Once more: word counts.

Nov 14: 0

Nov 15: 3,127

Nov 16: 1,591

Nov 17: 1,511

Nov 18: 1,449

Nov 19: 3,420

Nov 20: 307

Total words: 34,661

Day 14 included me running up to Gilbert with my friend for her pain treatment and becoming Casper the Ghost. Literally my cold came back and knocked me flat. She came out, still giggly off of the anesthesia and goes "You're white".

And I was. I was straight up white. With no pinkish undertone, which is normal for my skin tone.

Yeah, so. Day 14 got no words but me falling into bed about 6:30 to 7 PM and not getting out of bed until about 11:30 the next day. 

Day 15 was me playing catch up. I caught up.

Day 16  was okayish. I wrote some. Worked on some new ideas. Created a new story with the help of the lovely Jennifer Amriss. I now have a new M/M PNR on my plate. (PNR being Paranormal Romance)

Day 17 was another good day just to lounge around and write on things. So I did.

Day 18 was pretty good though for a while there it was like pulling teeth, but I got the words. Then I did some editing.

Day 19 was really good to me. 2 chapters and another bit of editing because the next day I got nothing.

Day 20 was a near zero count, but did get like 307 words on the new PNR story. Just no idea what to do with it or where to go with it so I'm kind of sitting here playing around with it.

But I'm still happy with the amount of words I have gotten so far.

National Novel Writing Month 2016 - Pt 2

Today's Earworm: Too Late  by Dead by Sunrise
Today's Date: November , 2016
Word Count Widget

So I'm liking the way last week's post ended up. I decided because I liked it, I'll keep it like this.

Let's start with the word counts again.

Nov 7: 1,478

Nov 8: 1,750

Nov 9: 3,305

Nov 10: 1,199

Nov 11: 2,015

Nov 12: 1,785

Nov 13: 1,763

Total words: 23,256

Day 7 was good. It worked well enough for me. I wrote another chapter in Bad Dog and made myself giggle. It was a lot of fun.

Day 8...well, if you were watching the shit going on there, yeah, you know how I'm feeling. Life is going to suck big time next year. Sighing so hard. But I did get words before I got up to the cluster fuck.

Day 9 was spent not doing much beyond writing and hiding from the world. My cold is not happy with me and I'm not happy with the world. It can fuck off for all I care. It was still a good day though.

I got two chapters typed up and saved, which makes me happy. 

Day 10, well I'm still sick on this day. I have added sneezing and coughing to my sore throat but I've been taking cold meds as needed and sipping good tea. I'm staying away from most social media so if I seem quiet that's why. I have issues and right now all off this stuff is making my issues have issues.

But still a good day of writing. I watched SHN Horror Network's "Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs playthrough" while writing. He doesn't do commentary while playing through his games and the videos themselves are usually all one video of the full playthrough, so it makes rather nice background noise.

Just...keep in mind the name. He does horror/thriller games. 

Day 11 was me laying around and puttering through a chapter. Which is about normal for when I'm sick.

Day 12 again was me laying around and puttering through a chapter. I felt like death warmed over but I got a long chapter and a good jump start on Day 13's count.

Day 13 was me writing a full chapter and preparing to head with my friend to an appointment today. So while you read this, I'm probably in Gilbert right about now, reading a book and ignoring people. Seriously. Just ignoring people.

But again, got a good jump on tomorrow's words while I wait for my IPod mini to charge up (the sucker takes 3 hours each time I kill the battery).

So far, I did pretty good this week on the word count and I'm very happy with this fact.