Week in Review – 2013/06/24 – 2013/06/30

Posted on 2013/06/30 by Tonette dela Luna

WRITING:

JuNoWriMo and Kiwi Writers SoCNoC. Also tweeting word count updates using #JuNoWriMo and #SoCNoC hashtags.

Fractured Tales Series Word Count Grand Total: 88,403 words (June)

Sleep. Does wonders. Chugged along and got splendiferous results. This total can join the 75,416 words I wrote in April. Not too shabby. I’m also pleased that I was able to exceed the 6K in a day challenge twice this weekend.

I have updates for WRITE YOUR NOVEL THIS SUMMER every Friday. More on that below.

I have some solid material to continue with for JulNoWriMo, Camp NaNoWriMo, and possibly Savvy Authors Boot Camp that starts on Monday. Already giddy because I’m enjoying the scenes I’ve written lately, pleasantly surprised and complete with oohs and ahhs.

READING:

Already the non-conformist, I’ve read books outside of the list I posted last week. Here’s what I read this week:

Currently reading:

I’ll continue reading non-fiction because it helps in my prep for next month’s writing challenges.

BLOGGING:

The third round of #ROW80 starts on July 1st. My goals are pretty straight forward for the next eighty days.

1) Continue to work on my Fractured Tales Series with all the WriMos and writing challenges I can find (see above).

2) Working simultaneously on BOOK ONE: HAMELIN and BOOK TWO: THE CURSE OF BRIAR ROSE.

3) Outline and plot BOOK THREE: AND THEN THERE WERE SEVEN.

4) There are some submission call-outs I’m considering with due dates on July 31st and August 31st. I’ll get those sorted.

5) Continue reading and blogging because I think all of this has helped me become a better writer.

6) Try to keep up with the supportive #ROW80 family and meet knew writing buddies on the blog hop.

7) Try super-duper hard not to edit as I write. That’s always been something that I need to work on (or not, as the case may be).

I’ll also be checking in with the #wipmadness community. To share my progress with WRITE YOUR NOVEL THIS SUMMER I started a new series of posts entitled FRIDAY FORAGE. Those posts are going to be fun.

OTHERS:

Treadmilled my brains out only to follow it up with both TKT having fevers. I’m also considering Urban Rebounding. It was a long week so I finally had the chance to unwind and catch up with my word counts this weekend. Duolingo still waits in the wings, but I’ll get on that.

A busy June. Can’t wait for July. Good thing I won’t have to. 🙂

Week in Review – 2013/06/17 – 2013/06/23

Posted on 2013/06/23 by Tonette dela Luna

WRITING:

JuNoWriMo and Kiwi Writers SoCNoC. Also tweeting word count updates using #JuNoWriMo and #SoCNoC hashtags.

Fractured Tales Series Running Word Count: 52,999 words

I’m not including today’s total yet because I still have some scenes I want to churn out. My weekend was on the higher end of the blerg scale and my super writing marathon didn’t end up happening.

Speaking of…

The WRITE YOUR NOVEL THIS SUMMER Facebook page has been quiet since the challenge started on Friday, June 21st. I’m hoping that it’s just because everyone’s busy writing. Even if that challenge doesn’t end up happening, I still have JulNoWriMo, Camp NaNoWriMo, and possibly Savvy Authors Boot Camp in July to keep me busy for at least the next six weeks. That’s triple the accountability. Good stuff.

My word count may not have poured forth, but I’ve done some plotting and more character sketches that will prove useful in the longrun. It’s a writing journey, after all, so I’m looking for that silver lining.

READING:

So, I’ve been psyching myself up for this 30 Books in 90 Days challenge that started today. Of course, I was finalizing my flexible reading list–which kinda makes it anything but final–and forgot that today was the start date. Haven’t read anything from the list yet, but hey, I’ve got 90 days. I suddenly went into panic mode for no reason so I think I’ll just post my list here and do the challenge unofficially, that way, I’m still reading without the added pressure. Here’s the list so far, but I’m willing to make changes and shift the order around.

1) THE GIVER – LOIS LOWRY

2) GATHERING BLUE – LOIS LOWRY

3) MESSENGER – LOIS LOWRY

4) THE STORYTELLER’S DAUGHTER – ONCE UPON A TIME – CAMERON DOKEY

5) BEAUTY SLEEP – ONCE UPON A TIME – CAMERON DOKEY

6) SUNLIGHT AND SHADOW – ONCE UPON A TIME – CAMERON DOKEY

7) GOLDEN – ONCE UPON A TIME – CAMERON DOKEY

8) BEFORE MIDNIGHT – ONCE UPON A TIME – CAMERON DOKEY

9) THE WORLD ABOVE – ONCE UPON A TIME – CAMERON DOKEY

10) BELLE – ONCE UPON A TIME – CAMERON DOKEY

11) WINTER’S CHILD – ONCE UPON A TIME – CAMERON DOKEY

12) WILD ORCHID – ONCE UPON A TIME – CAMERON DOKEY

13) THE FORT – ARIC DAVIS

14) THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER – STEPHEN CHBOSKY

15) THIRTEEN REASONS WHY – JAY ASHER

16) THE SELECTION – KIERA CASS

17) THE PRINCE – KIERA CASS

18) THE ELITE – KIERA CASS

19) THE SUPERNATURALIST – EOIN COLFER

20) LEAPING BEAUTY – GREGORY MAGUIRE

21) WHAT-THE-DICKENS – GREGORY MAGUIRE

22) SHELTER – HARLAN COBEN

23) SECONDS AWAY – HARLAN COBEN

24) THE EYRE AFFAIR – JASPER FFORDE

25) BEASTLY – ALEX FLINN

26) BEASTLY: LINDY’S DIARY – ALEX FLINN

27) BEWITCHING – ALEX FLINN

28) CLOAKED – ALEX FLINN

29) ANGELFALL – SUSAN EE

30) OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE – NEIL GAIMAN

I might read more than one at a time, I might stop reading one altogether, if I lose interest, but the point is, I want to increase word counts both written and read for the rest of the year.

BLOGGING:

The third round of #ROW80 starts on July 1st. I need to take stock of my goals by then. The next 80 days will certainly be busy (just take a look at the challenges above).

Kim Baccellia’s blog hosts the June check-ins for the fantabulous #wipmadness community. Everyone’s working hard on their WIPs. Two more weeks until we switch hosts but the peer support continues.

OTHERS:

All my ‘gold star’ achievements have dwindled with Duolingo. Apparently, they want you to use the app on a regular basis. I get that. I suppose I was miffed that a glitch ruined my fifteen day streak. I used to get all happy when I’d receive an email saying that I’m doing well. Sure it’s automated but I thought it was super duper progress. Turns out I can learn Spanish beyond my family and my friends Dora and Diego.

No treadmill last week but The Keysmashing Tots did the equivalent of intense cross training with me. I totally believe those studies that show two football players completely spent after taking care of a two year-old for a single day.

June’s almost over. How’s your first half of the year been, so far?

#ROW80 Mid-Week Check-In 2013/06/19

Posted on 2013/06/19 by Tonette dela Luna

FINAL CHECK-IN FOR ROUND TWO

This was my first time doing #ROW80 and it was quite a ride.

APRIL:

Camp NaNoWriMo. Wrote the beginnings of a YA Fantasy Series. Book One turned into more of Book Two (more on that later.) Working titles are BOOK ONE: HAMELIN and BOOK TWO: THE CURSE OF BRIAR ROSE. I’m still stormin’ the brain for the Series Title.

Savvy Authors Boot Camp. Wrote contemporary fiction. Title: A LOVE LESS ORDINARY. Like the YA Fantasy Series, it’s the first time I tried writing in this genre.

Blogging A to Z Challenge. A month of firsts, I created this blog for the purpose of chronicling my progress. Then I discovered this challenge. It was interesting to keep this going while writing two stories at the same time.

#ROW80, Round Two. Yeah, so I figured with all that on my plate for April, I couldn’t say no to this awesome method of accountability. It certainly kept me on my toes.

MAY:

Last year I joined a lovely group of writers where we checked in with each other each Monday for pep talks, moral support, celebration and commiseration of our writing efforts. #wipmadness and two years of March Madness has kept my creative juices flowing and definitely served as a catalyst to my foray into the online writing community.

In May, one of my fellow WIPsters, Deb Marshall hosted #middlegrademay. I read ten books, though if you saw my TBR list, you wouldn’t have noticed the dent. Reading all the great MG books out there reminded me how important it is to be on both sides of the book, so to speak.

JUNE:

Reading books was a nice reprieve for my aching digits. So, I originally said I’d skip JuNoWriMo and just plan for July’s Camp NaNo and Savvy Author’s Boot Camp. It didn’t take too much arm pulling from fellow writers to get me all excited to write NOW, so I ended up doing the following (and am still in the midst thereof):

JuNoWriMo and Kiwi Writers SoCNoC. This time I decided to devote my words–and brain–to the Fractured Tales Series. Formerly known as Fractured Fairytales, the universe has since expanded to include other notables (and less notables) from lore, myths, legends, and other fictional worlds (that I can legally include). In April, my attempts to blend the stories of The Pied Piper and Sleeping Beauty turned too epic even by April’s standards.

I moved the Sleeping Beauty element (previously a subplot in Book One) to have it’s own focus for Book Two. The Pied Piper is my protagonist for the series and BOOK ONE: HAMELIN will serve as an origin story. Therefore, a complete overhaul was needed, characters rewritten, expanded, new angles, backstory, the gamut. It’s been a trip and I my brain’s churning out the scenes faster than my digits or dictation software can record them.

25,000 Words in 7 Days was an ambitious challenge. Made it just shy of 18,000 words but that was because there’s so much material to work with when you have a Fractured Tales Series. Once I got going on certain scenes, it took someone to nudge me from my spot for me to realize how long I’d been typing away. Unfortunately, this time around, I was only able to get two to three hours per night for writing. The rest went to The Keysmashing Tots. They kinda trump everything.

WRITE YOUR NOVEL THIS SUMMER starts this Friday-GAH! Two days–June 21st and runs until September 21st. Meh. I shouldn’t really be surprised. Considering I want to get this series out of my brain by the end of the year, I’ll be participating in every variation of WriMo from now until New Year’s. It’s exciting to be this excited about something. You know what I’m talking about here.

Not to be outdone. Reading made a comeback with THE 48 HOUR BOOK CHALLENGE, June 7th to 9th, and continues with 30 Books in 90 Days starting June 23rd. Should keep me busy, yeah? When not with TKT, I should have a book (or ebook) in hand or should be writing one. How’s that for keeping me in the creative mindset? 🙂

Apologies if I’ve left something out. As you might have noticed, it’s been a busy 80 days. 🙂

I smile as Round Two draws to a close, mainly because I’ve been super productive. I’ve written close to 200,000 words and have read almost 3,000 words of other authors so far. Many, many more words to come: written, read, spoken, and otherwise. I’m already chuffed about my Round Three Goals post. The line-up is expected to be full of wordtastic opportunities. I look forward to Round Three and am grateful for a fabulous writing community that keeps me motivated to keep on keepin’ on.

See you in the next round.

Week in Review – 2013/06/10 – 2013/06/16

Posted on 2013/06/16 by Tonette dela Luna

WRITING:

JuNoWriMo and Kiwi Writers SoCNoC. Also tweeting word count updates using #JuNoWriMo and #SoCNoC hashtags.

25,000 Words in 7 Days was an ambitious challenge. However, a busy schedule and a nearly wiped out exhaustion during the weekend had me fall short of my word count goal. Rather than ploughing through, I think fatigue took over–and I let it. No sense trying to squeeze crap out of a stone, right? I’m happy with the new directions my characters led me or let me lead them towards. New scenes, fresh perspectives, new twists and correlations I hadn’t thought of before. I’d say that’s a success in itself.

Word Count over the past seven days: 17,772 words

Fractured Tales Series Running Word Count: 37,638 words

–> I’m revising my work from Fractured Fairytales to Fractured Tales as it encompasses fairytales, lore, myths, legends, and other fictional characters (that are old enough for me to use without legal fallout).

WRITE YOUR NOVEL THIS SUMMER starts this Friday, June 21st and runs until September 21st. My participation will be concurrent with whatever WriMo (or variation thereof) will be running that particular month. The Fractured Tales Series continues.

READING:

I’m excited to get all blurry eyed again. My reading list for 30 Books in 90 Days is taking shape. Is it considered cheating if I read novellas or non-fic? Many of the books I’d like to read are in the high 300s. I figure, the shorter the book, the more I can dig through in ninety days. hehe I’m aiming for both quality and quantity. Hopefully I won’t discover too many overlapping challenges in the next ninety days that might compromise any reading time–already challenged due to pre-existing writing time and the priority of TKT. We’ll see how it goes. I’ll post my tentative list next Sunday and see how many of those I can cross off my endless TBR list.

BLOGGING:

This round of #ROW80 is almost over but I’ve had a blast these past eighty days.

Check-ins continue this month on Kim Baccellia’s blog with the fantabulous #wipmadness community. Everyone’s working hard on their WIPs. Encouragement from our peers really keeps me going.

OTHERS:

I haven’t revisited Duolingo yet and I know I should. I’ll get on that to keep my brain muscles flexed. I have maintained my treadmill schedule while reading. Usually three times a week, I missed Friday because I went downtown for the day. Commuting with an overnight bag, (containing my laptop among other things), and walking to and from the theater counts, right?

It was nice to watch Les Mis but all that emotion after a physically and mentally draining week with writing and TKT? Let’s just say I was a lump of uselessness and didn’t get much done this weekend. Recuperation barely lasted a day because I was back with TKT earlier today and have been with them and typing with one hand the rest of the day. Dictation software only works if you’re the only voice the computer recognizes. I use my onboard mic without issues, but can’t with TKT. If I wear the headset, well, you know how that turns out. I’m just glad I can get some work done. They inspire me anyway, so all the time I spend with them is cherished, tiring or not. 🙂

Half of the month of our annual halfway mark has gone hasta la bye-bye. We’re cruising through blockbuster movie season, mid-season shows resume. I’m finding myself enjoying those more. At least, when I marathon them because live TV isn’t something I experience any longer. haha Soon, the kiddies will be back to school and the holidays will be here and… 2014 already?!

How’s your 2013 going (aside from ‘by rather quickly’)?

#ROW80 Mid-Week Check-In 2013/06/07

Posted on 2013/06/12 by Tonette dela Luna

WRITING:

JuNoWriMo and Kiwi Writers SoCNoC Tweeting also using #JuNoWriMo and #SoCNoC hashtags. As expected, my daily word counts dwindled this week as opposed to the frenzied start over the weekend.

Fractured Fairytale Series Word Count: 27,167 words

I think the added pressure–ahem–motivation from the 25,000 Words in 7 Days challenge has helped me churn out the words. So far, it’s been between 8:30pm and 11:30pm, though tonight I lost an hour and gained more wrestling time with TKT. (Totally their idea, not mine. Honest. But hey, I couldn’t resist.)

READING:

See, this his how messed my eyes are. I keep checking my calender and think that this week is my break between reading challenges. It turns out that I have another week of reprieve. However, I have a few books to finish and reviewed, so I’m getting through those as well as catching up on my backlog of workshop lessons and writing reference reading. Any and all education to better hone the craft is essential in any writer’s toolkit. So, basically, I’m reading a lot of stuff. Some made up, some not. All good. 🙂

BLOGGING:

As you can see, I continue the updates with #ROW80 posts and check-ins with the awesome #wipmadness community on Kim Baccellia’s blog. On last Sunday’s Week in Review I posted my entry for FLASH MOB 2013. That should be interesting and we’ll see how it goes. There are a couple of short story submissions I’m working on but as I’ve yet to focus on them, I’m just blogging about the advent of their existence. 🙂

This month, let alone the year, is going by so fast. I hope everyone’s doing well with their goals. I can’t believe eighty days are almost up. It’s been quite the ride. I’m going to assess my current goals and start planning for the next round. I really appreciate how #ROW80 has kept me going. I anticipate the latter half of 2013 will be just as splendiferous–and equally exhausting! Happy writing/reading/blogging the rest of the week, everyone!