Week in Review – 2013/07/01 – 2013/07/07

Posted on 2013/07/07 by Tonette dela Luna

WRITING:

Camp NaNoWriMo and JulNoWriMo. Tweeting updates with @JulNoWriMo and #CampNaNoWriMo. Every Friday until September 21st, I’ll be writing update posts for WRITE YOUR NOVEL THIS SUMMER.

Fractured Tales Series Word Running Total for July: 20,129 words

Totals from April, June, and July: 191,345 words

Some twists and turns this week and that’s just because the household came down with an onslaught of sniffles, fever, and coughs. Tissues a-plenty along with ACHOOS and I CAN’T TAKE THIS ANY LONGER, I still managed to get some interesting scenes written. Made discovers along the way and caught myself saying, “I didn’t think she had that in her!” a few times. That’s always a good thing when it comes to plot development. 🙂

READING:

More great books read. Here’s what I read this week, including me rounding out Lois Lowry’s THE GIVER QUARTET. Awesome stuff:

Currently reading:

Threw in some more non-fiction in there because, hey, why not? If you have any stories you’d like to recommend, please comment below. I’ve enjoyed the reads so far. It’s probably the highlight of my blerg days when I just didn’t want to do anything productive. Reading is awesometastic.

BLOGGING:

Will check in at Angelina C. Hansen’s blog tomorrow for #wipmadness. This is the first Sunday Check-In and we’ve had one Mid-Week Check-In, as well. I like hearing what other writers are doing this month.

Friday, I’ll continue my new column FRIDAY FORAGE and will go through my third week of summer writing updates.

How goes it in your neck of the woods?

FRIDAY FORAGE – 2013/07/05

Posted on 2013/07/05 by Tonette dela Luna

WEEK TWO: WRITE YOUR NOVEL THIS SUMMER

So, there’s that song that goes, “When you’re smiling, the whole world smiles with you.” Why can’t the week be as horrible as I feel from whatever it is I caught from The Keysmashing Tots? Ugh. It’s difficult to concentrate when it’s glorious out the window but your insides want to bust through every pore of your skin. Too graphic? Try FEELING that all day. I expected snow up to my eyeballs and dreary weather with zero visibility, but nooooooo, Raincouver had to go and be all beautiful instead.

Anyhoo, the week was not without words. Plenty, in fact, so there’s my silver lining.

Not even including the bit of June we had to begin this epic writing journey, here are my word count totals since July 1st:

Fractured Tales Series Word Running Total for July: 14,928 words

Me likey.

Things that helped get the words out this week:

– character journals

– what if? games

– plotting out alternate scenes along the same plot line

– throat lozenges

– oh and the midday snoozes helped because holy hockey pucks, I was wiped out this week!

Also, I’m storming the brain for what to fill my FRIDAY FORAGE posts once this challenge draws to a close. I’m thinking of combing the lovely interwebs to find the best of the best in writing sites, articles, and the like. I hope you’ll enjoy them as much as I’ll enjoy the hunt.

Hope your Week Two went well. Forward write!

#ROW80 Mid-Week Check-In 2013/07/03

Posted on 2013/07/03 by Tonette dela Luna

WRITING:

Camp NaNoWriMo and JulNoWriMo. Tweeting updates with @JulNoWriMo and #CampNaNoWriMo. Every Friday until September 21st, I’ll be writing update posts for WRITE YOUR NOVEL THIS SUMMER.

Fractured Tales Series Word Running Total for July: 7,397 words

Totals from April, June, and July: 171,216 words

I’m having fun storming the brain for the series and enjoy the company of old writers and new on this continuing adventure.

READING:

This week, I continued Lois Lowry’s THE GIVER QUARTET. Love her work! She’s one of my new favorites.

Here’s what I read this week, so far:

Yes, I totally dove into it.

Currently reading:

I need to go through my GoodReads account and sort through my Want To Reads and I’ve Reads… review to follow. Gah. So many words. 🙂

BLOGGING:

Angelina C. Hansen took over the hosting duties for #wipmadness on her blog. We had our first check-in for July this past Monday. Monday was also the beginning of Round Three of#ROW80 and today is our first Mid-Week Check-In.

Friday, I’ll continue my new column FRIDAY FORAGE and will go through my second week of summer writing updates.

A great start to the month already. How’s everyone doing?

FRIDAY FORAGE – 2013/06/28

Posted on 2013/06/28 by Tonette dela Luna

WEEK ONE: WRITE YOUR NOVEL THIS SUMMER

Last Friday began another writing challenge for me this year. Oodles of words have been read and written thus far, but I’m enjoying the process.

My project this summer, in tandem with all the WriMos I can count, is to continue my Fractured Tales Series.

It all began with an idea.

I saw an anthology submission call for a retelling of any fairy tale. I stormed the brained and ended up coming up with more than one idea–sound familiar? I ended up with so much story that couldn’t be contained in 7500 words or less. Of course, when April came along with challenges such as Camp NaNoWriMo and Savvy Authors Boot Camp, I decided to make it a full-on novel. I already had one story being written for Boot Camp and when I couldn’t decide on the Pied Piper themed story or Sleeping Beauty, I decided to do a mash-up.

Cut to May. 75K for this mash-up but the subplot started to creep to the forefront. It demanded its own story, so I figured, why not?

Along came JuNoWriMo. I was planning on using the month to prep for July’s Camp NaNo and JulNoWriMo, but I’ve never been one to turn down a challenge. I’m a masochist, that way. I extracted the subplot from Book One and it’s now the main plot of Book Two. This month has been me reconstructing Book One and I hope to continue the Series. At present, the flow is as follows (titles pending):

Book One: Hamelin

Book Two: The Curse of Briar Rose

Book Three: And Then There Were Seven

More to follow.

I’d like to wrap up 2013 with a series I can be proud of, spend the holidays polishing and start the New Year with a publishing twinkle in my eye.

So, here’s the deets for Week One on this summer writing adventure:

Wrote just under 20K this week, but after a lengthy assessment, I found about 7K of it Series worthy. I can always put the other words to good use later.

My beautiful Keysmashing Tots had fevers this week. It’s hard to write on a daily basis when your nephew and niece compete for your attention–with each other or as a distraction so they can climb onto your lap and have a go at the computer. The duo was aptly named. But the amount of sleep I haven’t had this week put a dent in my creative plans. As I’ve said before, TKT trump everything, so my writing time, though diminished, still happened, but my three hour window was cut in half. Sometimes I just had an hour to get the words out.

I’m home for the long weekend to recharge my own batteries and it’s odd (though hardly surprising) that I now find their absence to be a greater distraction from writing. I have two days to keep adding to my June word count–hoping to break 70K–and prep for Camp that starts on Monday.

It’s a long road ahead but the journey is the best part, don’t you think?

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’)?