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How once woman went from being a SAHM of four to a published freelance science journalist |
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I'm revising this intro after more than 15 years to better reflect my intention When I started this blog in 2004, I was a stay at home mom to two small children, a college graduate with a degree in English and Astrophysics. By 2007, I had four small children, ages newborn, 2, 4, and 6. For several years, Writing.com was how I kept my sanity. This blog began, first as a way of staying connected. Later, when I worked on a novel, I used it to stoke the writing fires as I plotted out short stories and the next step of my novel. Ultimately, I moved my writing preparation to "Invalid Item"  In 2010, I became a single mom who had homeschooled her children for several years. I had a 2, 4, 6 and 8 year old and had never had a "real" full time job, since I was married while in college. Everyone told me that I would have to buckle down and take on a "real" job. Instead, I decided to attempt to live my dream: to make it as a writer. I knew that if I didn't try then, I would never really dive in. I counted my money and set a deadline. If I hadn't began making a decent (defined) amount of money after so many months, I would suck it up and get a J-O-B. After some thought, I decided to play to my strengths. I served an internship at Sky & Telescope magazine while in college and enjoyed writing about space and astronomy. With an astrophysics degree, I thought I would be able to sell myself more easily, and a small niche should be easier to penetrate. It's been about ten years since I was first paid for an article on Space.com. In that time, writing - journalism - has been my primary moneymaker. I've often thought about setting up a blog on my website - www.astrowriter.com - but just haven't gotten around to it. There are a few things I would like to share for those who are interested in scientific journalism in general. Now that I'm back on WDC, there's no reason not to combine the two and use the site blog for that sort of interaction. There are certainly plenty of folks on this site interested in the publication process. So while I'll probably meander around some, that's the intention of of this blog: to share some of my struggles as a published journalist and to help answer oft-asked questions. |
| I know. It is a mystery how I can be such a slacker. The whole week, gone. I really did do some thinking but, honestly, I probably could have managed it all by sitting down and...thinking. And maybe writing my way thru it in my other book. /sigh I slacked off. That said, I did manage to work my way through my good excuse, some personal issues. I feel more confident about a few other plans I've got going on. I'm trying to make a decision on whether or not to apply for a job. I went away for the weekend - that's my excuse for Friday and Saturday, anyway. And I really did get some good input on my side plot. Well, not input, but thought process. I should probably be over there. You know. This walking is getting to me. Like, I am tired again. I woke up this morning and walked, and now I feel physically exhausted. What is up with that? I don't know. I have no energy. It makes it hard for me to focus my brain. I know that I need to, and I'm trying right now to get it back in focus, but I'm having a hard time. It's 1:30, and I'm seriously considering taking a nap, which I know is a terrible idea. So, on a side note, I am starting to get excited about the next novel, which is a good thing, but also not helping with this one. And I have a tentative idea for the one to follow. In terms of ideas, I am doing good. It's the actual work that I seem to be lacking in. I dunno. Maybe I don't have what it takes to be a full-time novelist. I seem to lack the dedication to the writing, or maybe it's the self-discipline. Yeah. I am sorely lacking in self-discipline. There is a way to fix that, of course. Write. It's not complicated. I don't know what the problem I'm having is. Yes, there are a lot of personal issues going on, but that's life. I don't know. Maybe I'm self-sabatoging. Maybe I'm just a twit. All I know is, the thought came to my head: go lay down and think about why you're out to sabatouge yourself and your writing. Yeah. Cuz that'll work. |
| Had a good walk today. I've spent the last few days really letting things simmer. One of the problems I've been dwelling on was fitting this new villain in. I mean, in some ways, he's very much like the problem I had with Alex. That is, Alex comes in at the beginning and the end, but not so much in the middle. This guy is the solution, but he's so action oriented, and because we are thinking he is following Alex's directions, we don't get to learn a lot about him. I don't like that. So. I have been playing with how to make him a little deeper. I have some good setups on how to involve him, and I've really thought about him from a background perspective, but I wanted to have the opportunity to show him to the audience. And so, I think I'm going to figure out how to write a few scenes from his point of view. I'm not completely certain of the best way to do that. And I have to let information about him out sparingly. That is, I want to keep us thinking he is Alex's tool, more than anything. I'm not completely certain, then, how to best write him in. I also figured out how to "sneak" him in: I'll refer to him by his first name when he's introduced to Alex and Jonathan, and his last name when he's chasing down Caroline & Jonathan, and we'll figure it out later. So. I need to think about what kind of things I can reveal about him. I think I can reveal that he believes they came back in time to stop something. Except. If Alex sent them back, he wouldn't think that. Okay. So he can think that he has to STOP them before they change something. That would work, and would be a valid reason for Alex to send said guy back. I can reveal his concern about his son, and the mistakes he made with him, and how he would do anything for his son. In fact, I bet I can even notate that he is there because of his son; it would make sense that would be why he would go back in time. We can imply that he was told something by Alex - although he wasn't, but I can set up the implication with careful wording - and that was why he went back. I don't want to lie to the audience, so I have to walk that line carefully. I do think we can make it clear that he would do anything to protect his son, so that the audience knows that, for him, it is all about his son. Perhaps he can imply that they already DID change something, and he wants to stop them before they do it. That makes sense. In fact, given the fact that their presence would change a number of things... Anyway. I have to think a little more about the best way to put this new villain into the story. I like his reasoning behind everything. In the meantime, I am continuing to fake out my life. I'm moderately effective at it, too, which is kind of sad. I hate the fact that I have lost my best friend, even if he admittedly isn't all that good of a friend. But, whatever. I deserve better, and all that hoopla. /sigh Tomorrow, I'll be writing again, like it or not. Oh, and I came up with an excellent exchange between Alex and the new villain, at the very beginning, that lays the groundwork. Although, as I think about it, it could well be too obvious. Hmmm. I don't know. It's a good line. We'll see what it gives away later, I suppose. |
| When I went out Wednesday, and spent five hours at the pool, I wound up massively sunburned. Like, everything hurts sunburned. So I haven't done a lot of work. Also, I went out Weds night and spent a couple hours talking to friends; I was out til like 4. Between what I put together from that trip, real life, and my new subplot, I have mostly just been letting things simmer in my brain yesterday, and I think I'm going to continue to do so today. Personal, non-writing-wise, I think I've come an amazingly long way in the last year. And even further in the last two months. I owe a lot of that to a close friend, to someone who really built me up more than anyone ever has, and helped me feel more confident about myself. And I owe some to several new friends - real and "online" - who have helped me get through my latest heartbreak. Because I think I'm finally getting to the point where I feel in my heart what I already knew in my head. One of my biggest problems has always been that I invest too soon in relationships of any kind - friendship or more. And, granted, I expect too much. And I react too poorly when things don't work out. I take it as a personal criticism. I've known for years that this is the case, that I am way too sensitive, that I should be more confident. But seriously. The other day, one of my friends said that it was a turning point in her life when she realized that her husband finding someone else attractive didn't make her any less attractive. And I realized, she's right. (Now granted, her husband is constantly telling her she's attractive, which is way better than him oogling someone else and never commenting on her, but that's another story.) Someone telling me that a relationship not working does not automatically mean that it is a criticism of me. Or of them. It means they are a square, and I am a circle, and me not being square doesn't make me less an awesome circle. (I get very concrete sometimes.) The fact that my marriage of ten years didn't work out doesn't mean that I am any less of who I am. It means him-and-I aren't all that great, but I am still pretty awesome. I'm about 75% there emotionally, and I'm going to keep going in that direction. What does this have to do with writing? It makes for some awesome character sketches, let me tell you. It is my "excuse" for not getting anything done yesterday, or today, although I am doing some visualizing and mapping of my subplot. I know that things work out smoother if I let them kind of simmer for awhile before I put them on the table, because I can imagine them out. I think it will help me when I get rejection letters - I know they are coming. I think one of the best comments I heard at the OSC writing conference was to the effect of "They weren't rejecting my novel. They hadn't read my novel. They were rejecting my query letter." Yup. And just because it doesn't/won't fit in one publishing house's plan doesn't make it any less good, and just because it doesn't get snatched up instantly doesn't make me any less an awesome writer. When I find something I feel passionate about, I put my heart into it. Whether it is writing or a relationship. And unlike some people, I am unable to make the immediate decision to withdraw. I have to move into it slowly, and even once I know and feel it is the right decision, even if that person hurt me, I don't stop caring about them. It takes time for me to reclaim my heart, it really does. There's a story in there somewhere....  |
| Every elementary creative writing student is taught, “Write what you know.” Writing comes the best when it comes from your experiences, when you’ve touched, and tasted, and felt. At that point, you can invest your entire self into the prose. And yet, this seems oxymoronic, because there are a whole generation of science fiction writers who have never been into space, of crime writers who have never murdered, of Jane Austin love stories written by a single woman. How does this happen? Because not only do I know what I know, I also know what you know. Writers are probably some of the best observers in the world. We people watch to the nth degree. I wouldn’t be surprised to find that we are some of the best listeners, some of the best friends. Combine those skills with an active imagination (not to mention superb writing and editing skills) and you have a novel. Which leads me to my warning. If you have a friend who is a writer, it should be automatic for you to know that they are always, always asking themselves how they can use what you tell them. Not first, and not foremost. When I listen to my friends, I listen because I am interested in what they are saying. Because I care about them. But when they tell me something interesting about themselves or their past, I can’t help but think, wow, that would make an awesome story. Or a terrific novel. If your writer friend is a decent person, this all comes after the friendship stuff; after they are there for you in your pain, after they learn about your past, after they laugh with you about your mistakes, and after they think you are an amazing person. But as a writer, I can’t shut off that part of me that writes a great story. I’ll take a friend’s past and worst-case-scenario it. It may be major drama. It may be minor character development. The other day, a friend told me about their journey from lacking confidence to being totally self-confident. I thought the transformation was awesome. I listened and was glad for them. I listened and thought, I could learn from that. And I listened and thought, one day I’m going to have a character who is going to take a similar journey. As a writer, I am first and foremost a friend. I would never write a story or novel that was obviously based on someone I know. I would never write “this story is based on what my friend such-and-so told me.” I’ll change people, places, and names, and keep the situations. Or change the situations and keep the personalities. The names will never be the same. Writers are fantastic observers. What we write comes from the world around us. From the guy at the Laundromat. From the people at the mall. From a story on the news or in a science journal. But not surprisingly, we draw from the people we know best, from our friends and family. We write what we know. |
| Yesterday's Word Count: ~2,000 Total Word Count: ~18,650 Now I know that someone I know in real life is reading my blog. Well. That doesn't make me self-conscious. Not at all. Um. Yeah. So, I mentioned in the last post that I didn't get a lot written yesterday but I was okay with it. Today was similarly unproductive, but I told you it would be! I overslept this morning. But I took a walk while my ex was...I dunno what he was doing. Taking a shower, I think. He woke up and cleaned the basement because some woman came over to look at the like 75 boxes of books that were sitting down there. She offered us $50 for them. We're holding out for $100. Fail all the way around. I hate the stupid bookselling business, still. My ex asked me if I would take $50 and I said, I'd rather not, but I don't want to deal with the books anymore! I just want them to be blown up. Spent today with two small biz owners (one small biz between them). One of them tried to persuade me that I put too much stress on myself, too much focus on words. So, just so everyone knows, the majority of my blogging is a warm up before my writing, so I'm hyping myself up. But also, my real intent at the moment is to work in a time period. I may not be able to force productivity but I certainly will inspire more if I'm sitting at my laptop or my notebook than I will playing Warcraft. Just saying....Also they told me that they've been reading my blog. Two years back. What the heck was I writing two years ago? Now I have to go find out. So, this morning's walk was very effective. I figured out some things about my new subplot, which was awesome. Worked out some things I need to edit in my head. I need to sit down and chart it out, but I haven't yet. That will be part of what I do tomorrow, I suppose. I'll pull out the 3x5 cards and make a map similar to Caroline and Jonathan's. Then I can post them side-by-side. I brought the guy in who will be the "evil" villain at the beginning of the novel, so I'm going to have to edit some of his comments, but that's okay. Anyway, I'm excited about having that cleared up. I don't know if I'll wind up needing another subplot, but for crying out loud, at least the three middle sections won't be all talk. I still have to figure out the best way to mesh the action and the dialogue. Because really, the dialogue would be better served centered around the action. If they were constantly on the run from this villain...ugh. This is a whole new dimension to my novel. I'll definitely spend tomorrow pondering it. And mapping it. And wandering around my kitchen talking to myself. Okay. I am not kidding. I am now going to go skim two years' worth of my blog entries to see what I said. Because I'm totally that weird. |
| So I went ahead and created a brand new entry for today to describe the problem I encountered when I started writing tonight. You see, I realized that the middle of my novel is...boring. I lack subplots. Sometimes this is acceptable, but not so much when said novel is...boring. I've wanted to do subplots before. I've considered some middle ground for each distinct time period; a subplot that works for that era, particularly when I was gonna make it all historical and crap. But really, no one cares about those. I knew I needed something that accomplished a couple of things: 1. it held the readers' interest, 2. it added suspense to the story somehow, and 3. ideally, it keeps us in terror of our villain, Alex. Because since we have a good 40k+ words without him, other than random parenthetical mentions or "how are we going to defeat his vile plot?", it really becomes very hard to stay afraid of him. Well, I solved this problem at soccer practice today. I think it's going to take me out of writing commission for at least a day, maybe two. I have a new character to introduce, and I need to develop him. Then I need to determine how much he is going to intercede in Caroline & Jonathan's lives, how often. The tip top details, I can figure out as I go, but the basic overview is what I need to work through. Especially the character development. I'm going to go to bed early tonight. I'll wake up early tomorrow and go for a walk, and then I'll do a little brainstorming when I get home. My ex will actually be here in the morning, so I may let him deal with the kids while I hash some things out. I'll probably wind up doing quite a lot of it verbally, but then I'll need to add more. And I'll have to back-edit, too, and write in a few new scenes. Actually, it would be kind of cool to have said bad guy (I still don't know his name, that's one thing for tomorrow) to show up right when Caroline meets Jonathan. I'll have to think about that. Anyway, remember, I also have a social conflict for tomorrow, so don't hate me if you don't see me. I am beyond relieved to get this figured out, because I have seriously known there was a problem, and I couldn't quite put my finger on it. I'm going to let things stew a bit and go from there. Also. While walking today - the first part of the second walk - I couldn't keep my mind off the premise for my new novel. And I'm actually thinking about writing it first as a short story and entering it in the Writer's Digest competition. We'll see how well it does. But I've flirted with a handful of ideas on how to make it work, and I'm excited about it. I think I'll be able to jump on it pretty quick after I finish this one. Of course, I have to figure out how to make this one work now, lol. |
| Yesterday's Word Count: ~ 5,000 Total Word Count: ~ 16,650 Okay. I like the whole walking thing. In fact, I like the two walk idea. There are a zillion good points to it. Not just writing-wise, either. Also a huge plus: I crave water. Soda becomes less tasty to me. Chocolate, also less appealing. Fruits and veggies, yum yum. In short, walking (or running) makes my body literally crave a healthier lifestyle to keep up with it. But omg, I am so tired! You think to yourself, well, you're a night owl, you're not getting enough sleep. No. Last night, I had the computer off at 10, I read until 10:30. So you think, maybe I'm not getting enough sleep. I woke up at 8. That's pushing, what, 9 hours? I honestly don't know if I'm going to be able to get myself out of bed at 6 tomorrow, much less 5:30. Then again, I'm not certain I'm going to be able to stay awake today. Like, I am not just physically exhausted, I am sleepy! What is up with that? So I'm hoping that, over time, that will even out. But anyway. LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT THIS MORNING!! I know, caps are so overdone. I had some good ideas about today's novel writing, which is awesome. But. I also had this random brain-stroke for the next s-f novel. Now, I know I was going to write about the stupid other novel, but I gotta tell you, I'm not really eager to write a novel about someone who's marriage is in trouble and how they make the "right" decision to "fix" it. Which is basically the parallel, not-so-obvious plot, in addition to the OMG-so-cool plot. I mean, I really do have the whole thing plotted out. But I don't want to deal with the emotional. Then, too, there is the fact that getting a second novel published will be easier if I follow the same genre (ie s-f) as the first. That, of course, assumes the first one gets published. Because if it doesn't, well, the second one doesn't really matter, does it? Still, I am leaning towards writing s-f, so it makes more sense to concentrate in that genre. All of that said. I have a good setting-style novel in my head. I will admit, I actually need a plot to go with it. But that's so overrated, right?  Still, the setting here makes a good, strong determination of the plot, and the basic, obvious plot is gonna be survival. I still have a bunch to flesh out, but I think that if I kind of keep it brewing for the next three weeks while I finish up this one, I'll be okay.Reporting in: yesterday, I wrote for 3 hours and walked for half an hour in the afternoon. Or maybe I walked for 45 minutes. Last night, I wrote for 2 hours. That's a total of five hours writing. The serious problem - and I promise I am not making excuses - is that my hand is physically cramping up. Now, that's a problem I'll have with this novel only, because I can do the 3-4 hours writing in the day, and I'll use the evenings for typing and editing. (Hmm that will cut me down to one walk/day if I need to, which is managable. Or I could keep up with two and use that for inspiration. I'll keep it in mind.) My point is, while I did not hit a full 8 hours, I did manage to work 6, which is head and shoulders above what I have been doing. And I'll admit that I made the call last night because I was exhausted. Tonight I am taking my oldest to soccer practice, which is an hour and a half. I will probably walk for half an hour of that time, and then I will write for the rest of it. It breaks up the writing, but it still lets me put the time in. I am feeling so tired, though. If I can hit the 5k this afternoon and evening, I may go ahead and quit. It's nice to exceed it, but frankly, if I hit 5k (which is approximately 15 handwritten pages), I think I will be okay with calling it a day, in general. It would be nice to do more...I dunno. We'll see. 5k words/day winds up being 25k words/week, which is pretty cool. Like I said before, that's 3 weeks instead of 4, assuming I was constant with it. So it's not horrible. I am seriously exhausted. If it weren't for the fact that I know definitively I am not going to be here tomorrow afternoon, after all of this serious goal setting, I would consider a nap. No. I wouldn't, just like I'm not. I'm going to go defrost dinner real quick, and then I will start writing. Thankfully, I think what I plotted out while walking today will cover most of this afternoon's writing. The only problem I have is that it is all expositive, conversational, Jonathan-telling-Caroline-how-it-works crap. Almost a chapter's worth of dialogue, really. I mean, there is some action going in between - ROAD TRIP! - but I'm going to have to work to make it better than it is. Hmm. I think I remember a Koontz book about a road trip, and I may have it. I may grab it and take a quick skim to see how he handles it. I think I will. Max 15 minutes, I'll start writing at 1:30. edited to add: As a testimony to failure, I only managed to get about 1400 words written today, and I am stopping early. Well, not too early, because I need to start dinner in 20 minutes, but still, earlier than I should. I mean, I should at least hit halfway and knock out 2000 words. Part of the reason for said delay is because I took a few minutes and read/skimmed Koontz's book, which was very helpful. It reminded me to think about the setting, the things outside the car, as well as the things inside the mind. But, while I was sorting through, I realized that this was the perfect opportunity to write from Jonathan's point of view, to give us some insight into his mind (and change things up). That said, I needed to walk very carefully through his PoV because I don't want to give anything away. So, the fact that it is so short is because I took some time to seriously consider how to balance this. That said, I didn't include all of the information that I wanted to in the discourse. That's okay, because I was worried about it becoming longwinded, but I almost feel as though the car trip was too short. That said, I laid the foundation for the emotional connection between Caroline and Jonathan, which is even more important than the "this is how it happens" stuff. ...and that's why I had to stop today. Yes, folks, I am totally jealous of Caroline. I watched Jonathan do exactly what she needed him to do, what she didn't even know she needed, and I was jealous. God help me. I texted my friend Adam (remember him? "You should write a novel" so I did?) and told him I was gonna kill Caroline off. Then we got into this whole back-and-forth that you get into with people who don't actually write and so don't understand. Caroline is not whoever I make her. She was. Then I made her. Now, I could no more change her than I could forcibly change my daughter. I create the setting and the action, and from that I figure out how she would respond. Caroline, Jonathan, and Alex are all real people to me. I seriously cried at the end of my first draft, for the villain, of all people. I need someone who knows what it is to write, to guide me. Because he's all, write for fun, not to kill yourself. And I'm all, are you kidding me? You don't just stop writing when it gets hard. You don't just quit cuz you're tired. A real writer keeps going. A real writer presses on. Inspiration comes from the bad as well as the good. Now, I intended to put the whole road trip down for today's writing. I'm obviously not going to do that. I have to think some about what I want to do. So I stopped. I am going to walk after dinner/during soccer, and figure it out. And then I'll go back tonight, and I'll write my ass off. Stupid Caroline. What does she get the freaking most awesome guy for? That reminds me, Jonathan needs a flaw. And he needs it exhibited sooner, rather than later. Hmm. Gotta remember that. |
| Seriously? How many times can I recommit to the same thing? I know the technical answer is "a lot" but anyway. I did know going in that last week was going to be tough, based on a handful of RL personal things. Still. On the plus side, I did a recount of my words per page. I have been calculating that I get 250 words on each side of a notebook page, but apparently I am exceeding 300. That means that, instead of having around 8500 words or so, I in fact have closer to 10,250. That's a nice change! I also did 4 pages an hour for two hours last time I wrote. This was an awesome plus because it means that, if I have the right prep and motivation, I can make it through to my 4k goal in 4 hours. Of course, I am bumping it up to 6-8 hours a day. I will go from 12/1-4 in the early part, and then write for another 3 hours at night, from 7/8-10/11. Then go to bed early. I went for a walk today and figured out how I'm going to handle most of what I am going to write today, at least for the first part. I should have the entire novel written by Sept 30th, that is my goal for the second draft, if not sooner. Sooner sounds better. At that point, I'll begin the typing/editing process in the evening, and start writing the next novel in the afternoon. Such is my goal, anyway. Oh the other thing I did last week was send in an unsolicited job application for a writing position. I was exceedingly excited about that on Thursday, which is one of the two reasons I couldn't keep my focus on writing. That said, in and of itself, that is a fail excuse that will not be repeated. Still, if I can get the position - a paid position, mind you - I am warning you in advance that my novel writing structure will change. I would love the position, it would literally be a dream come true, but I admit to not having a boatload of confidence in it. Furthermore, I specified that I was looking for a part-time or freelance position, although I didn't mention my hope to work from home. Suddenly, I am having a thought. Well, two. First, I did decide that I would do a follow up snail mail application. I need to put that together tonight - it may infringe on my writing time, but if I can manage 16 pages today, I'll be okay with that - and mail it tomorrow. But the immediate thought I am having is that, if I want to freelance it, maybe I can take some time to look up a few stories on my own and just send them in, and see if they will accept them. I mean, the worst thing they can do is turn me down, right? I will have to think about how to do best do that. But the snail mail application, I can certainly do that tonight and mail it tomorrow. Okay. But for now, for my novel. My goal is back up to 16 pages per day, although 20 would be even better (that is 4800-6000 words per day). I am going to do this seriously, with no distractions, because there is nothing on earth that is more important than this. Yes, I can technically provide for my children's daily basic needs with child support alone, but I cannot do more, nor can I put together any retirement for myself. Which means I am essentially planning to work until I am dead, which I don't want to do. I want to be able to work work from home, and I want to be a successful writer, and that means actually working like I would if I were running my own company, or were employed somewhere. It means an earnest commitment even when I don't feel like it. After all, if I turn out crummy writing, that's where the editing comes in. And besides, what better way to escape whatever problems I'm dealing with than by writing? Seriously. K, I know what I am doing for the day, so I am going to put my laptop away and do it. No exceptions, no excuses. edited to add: So I am taking a quick break. What that means is OH MY GOSH MY HAND IS CRAMPING UP MASSIVELY!!! How come I didn't take that into consideration when I was making plans? The good side is, in less than two hours - about an hour and 45 minutes - I wrote six and a third handwritten pages. Three pages is roughly equal to a thousand words, so that's better than a thousand words an hour, which is pretty stinking good, thank you very much, no wonder my hand hurts. If I keep it up, that means I should at least hit another three pages by four o'clock, and if I can overcome the physical pain, maybe another three by five, which puts me at four thousand words for the day already. I may reconsider what my goals are at that point and decide if I do, in fact, want to put in another full three hours in the evening, or if I just want to hit a specific number of words per day. I hate to backtrack on myself, because after all - yes, that's right. I want to hit a full-time job, so that's three more hours, and if that winds up being three thousand more words, or 7-8k words/day, well, that would be awesome and it would mean I finish sooner. Booyah. Okay, random OMG - if I seriously did 8k words a day - and that doesn't really give me time for brainstorming, mind you - that would really mean the novel could be finished in two weeks. Which would be insane and highly improbable...but improbability is good, right? In reality, I probably couldn't handle doing that much. Also, as I think about it, it would be a good idea to take a walk after I finish writing midday; I saw that somewhere. It gives my brain some time to review what I have written and make changes, which I can make a note of. It would also give me some time to ponder what I want to write in the evening, thus maximizing those hours. Even if I could somehow swing that (I'm not seriously sure about scheduling), I could factor that in as part of my workday. I could do that from 4-5, or in that period of time. I would have to seriously make dinner work around that, but that's doable. I will go ahead and tell you that I have plans on Wednesday for the kids, and possibly Friday for the three day weekend. Although I'm considering canceling Friday's travel plans, for various reasons. It is a good thing to do but...among other things, it would be nice to not break the writing rhythm, especially after breaking it once. Although I am going to have to factor in homeschooling trips; I mean, losing those would almost defeat the purpose of staying home. On those days, at least, and maybe library days, I will wind up starting to write later for the midday hour. On the flip side, the field trips are awesome BUT the highest priority is staying home and the overall homeschooling. Lies. Field trips are one of the best ways for the kids to learn, IMO. So maybe I will wind up working Saturdays to make up for it. I don't know. I'll have to think about it. But as you keep an eye on me (is anyone there keeping an eye on me? lol that's okay, just writing it holds me accountable to myself), keep in mind that at least one day a week, my schedule will be shifted. And then library day.... I'll find a way to make it work. I think I can feel my hand again, so I am going to continue writing. And by the way, I got another sf spark from reading the news articles today. Woohoo! edited again to add: Hey. Don't give me crap. I'm sitting down for two time periods today and writing, so I need more than one warmup. I don't know if I can manage without it. I already did about 2,500 words today, in just under three hours. Here is the problem I am facing: my hand is literally cramped. Does anyone have any suggestions other than, um, stretching it out? I took a walk after my first stint of writing. Second walk today. This time, I took a small notepad and a pen. I filled up the front and back of a page with thoughts that occurred to me. Some of them were random story-type ideas. Others were editing tips for what was previously written. One was that I need a red pen to write down the editing notes so they catch my eye when I'm typing up my notebook. I also walked through what is going to happen tonight while I write, and that should be pretty cool. As an added bonus, I feel way better physically. Less depressed, which is good, especially at the moment. More energized. More positive. (Positiver? I dunno.) I've been craving water; soda isn't appealing to me. I'm going to grab some fresh produce tomorrow while out and about. Chocolate also isn't appealing to me. Seriously considering making cracked wheat for breakfast; my kids will be overjoyed. Also, while walking, I came up with the field trip solution. It's obvious. I'll get up earlier when we are going somewhere and write. I may just do that anyway; if nothing else, I can walk the first time while it is cooler. If I get up at 6, or even 5:30, I can knock out two hours of writing before the kids get up at 8. (Plus half an hour of walking) It's not a complete replacement for the day, but it works in part. It means not giving it up totally, which was the previous solution. The other thing I totally just realized NOW is that I am generally wiped out post-field trip, which means I may NOT make it that evening, even though I would be home on time. I'll have to see how that goes. I will have to be super-self-disciplined and work anyway. I may allow myself less time on working, however, maybe only two hours in the evening. That yields, basically, half a day (2 in the morning, 2 at night), and I could live with that. Well, it is 6 o'clock. I am considering, when my husband is home, letting him handle the kids almost completely (I'll take a break around bedtime) and put my 3 hours in from 6-9. That would allow me to get to bed earlier. Which is another plus from the walking; I'm tired already. I need to fold some sheets, too, actually; I'll do that real quick before heading down to write. Or I could do it after. I dunno. But anyway, I'm going to start writing now and then see how things progress. I think I've thought of essentially everything I want to write today. It may not quite make 9 pages/3000 words, but I suppose I'll live. Although I do like the nice round number of 20 pages, even if the word count is obscure. OR. The three hours. Even better, I am so smart. Okay. Fail side of the walk. I am tired. Seriously wanting bed. Would it be wrong to lay down for a few minutes and just think about my novel? With my eyes closed? Just for a minute...or five.... |
| Yesterday's Word Count: ~ 2,000 words I don't know what that puts the total word count at, I forgot to update it. So, yesterday was a good day in terms of productivity. I managed to get out the 2k words in about 2 hours, give or take. Then I allowed myself to be distracted - my mechanic friend told me that the transmission on my car was shot and I was probably going to have to replace it, which led to me freaking out. Because of plans, I already knew in advance that I wasn't going to work tomorrow night, which means I only lost an hour of planned work yesterday. I will be writing tonight, however, especially since it is already so late (1:30) and I haven't started yet. I should be able to do about three hours worth of writing, though, so I should be okay. One of my worries with hand writing was that I would be going slower than I typically do while typing (I type 93 wpm last time I checked). Typing, you know, I tended to average about 1,000 words an hour. So it seems that it depends more on how creative I am - and how dedicated - than on speed itself. Legibility is another story, but we aren't going to worry about that at the moment.  Today I'm moving into the second phase of the novel. We'll see how well that progresses. In a number of ways, I kind of like the first draft that I wrote of that, although not enough to totally duplicate it. I think many of the ideas were good. The only catch is that I didn't like the way that Jonathan gained Caroline's trust. I suppose, realistically, trust is something that evolves over time. In fact. One wonders if perhaps Caroline doesn't take the serum until after Jonathan leaves....I might have to consider that as an option, as well. Anyway. I know I keep saying that something is missing from the novel but I can't quite put my finger on it. Oh well. I will finish the second draft and maybe it will become clear at that point. I think really what it is is that my novel lacks a subplot. Still, I think that most first novels tend to, and I know quite a few good novels that do, as well. That really might be what I'm feeling here. I don't know. I have been pawing through astronomy and scientific news, and I forgot how much I enjoy it. So much of astronomy is poetical to me. I have so many good images. I know I have a small notebook somewhere, I need to empty it out and keep those as parts to be used for later writing. I should do that anyway, just for random novels. I really am thinking my best bet is to have my second and third novel be sf, like the first, but then again, I might do better in different genre, and the second one I do actually have plotted out... RANDOM: only when Jonathan is gone does she realize how much she trusts and depends on him. And that is when she takes the serum. I think I like that point, actually. Caroline is slow to trust like that, slow to give her heart but once she does, it's forever. Literally, in this case. Um. Anyway. Okay, I think I'm going to go write now.  |
| If there is one thing I am good at, apparently, it is making excuses. And especially at making excuses for not writing. Bah. So. Having given the whole thing some thought, I am going to stop doing that. Also, 3-4 hours is not a realistic amount of time, not if this is what I want to do, seriously. So I've decided instead to break it up and write twice a day, in two 3-4 hour periods. One during rest time, while the kids are napping, and the other after they go to bed. By 8, they are pretty well settled in - laying in bed reading - at which point, 3 hours of writing takes me until 11. That gives me a total of 6 hours of writing each day, which is pretty close to a full day's work, without neglecting my kids. I make faces at the idea of no "down" time, which is something I cherish, but if I was working a full time job, with my kids in day care and/or school, well, there would be no "down" time. I'll take the weekends off, sleep late and unwind, but otherwise, I am writing. I've also instituted a new "news" program, which I should have been doing all along. Specifically astronomy and scientific type news, which I'm keeping up with online. I read exactly one article today (along with the corresponding scientific paper, which took me forever to slog through and which I barely understood, which was disheartening), and it made my mind and imagination twitch. So I already foresee some ideas coming from that article alone, I just need to crystalize them. I'm planting future novel seeds, which is my intention. I've played with the idea of getting a weekend job. Specifically, working as a desk clerk in a hotel, third shift. That would give me time to write as possible, and give me an income. I'm not thrilled with that, but it would certainly provide some money, which is greatly needed. On the other hand, if I would get off my butt and write, I could start sending stuff out for publication sooner. That is what I would prefer to do, so it's what I am leaning toward at the moment. But it means really being dedicated and busting my butt, and not slacking off. Anyway, that's a good update warmup. Let's see how well the actual writing goes, lol. |
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