Category: CRITICAL SKILLS SERIES

  • So… TODAY was epic…

    So… TODAY was epic…

    Still working from my line-for-scene outline, today the scene i started yesterday just took off. I now have 9245 words done on the first draft. I got 1432 words today, AND discovered the thing I needed to see, and it was completely different than I’d been imagining… but I love it so much. Some days…

  • A very good Ohio Wednesday… and a disturbing twist

    A very good Ohio Wednesday… and a disturbing twist

    I got 1319 words today, nicely over my 1200-word objective. And I like what I got. Yesterday’s stuff was funny, but today’s words got serious as my main character and a friend of hers started investigating a project they want to take on — and my MC pointed out that there are some significant dangers…

  • Ohio 3 is now done in first draft!

    Ohio 3 is now done in first draft!

    57,841 words total. I like the story. I love the ending. And now the novel gets to sit quietly for a while as I plot the replacement Ohio 4. In revision, it will probably get a bit longer. Most of my stuff does. Based on some very good advice, I am, however, now considering doing…

  • Technically, I finished Ohio 3 this morning…

    Technically, I finished Ohio 3 this morning…

    I’ll start my read-through, Monday. And I am considering the possibility of a final very short chapter to point the book toward Book 4. I have the empty file sitting in my template. But I’m not sure the “summation” chapter is needed, and I won’t know until I’ve finished the read-through. The book is currently…

  • Evil Afoot — 2077 words, and I got a nice bit of a cliffhanger at the end

    Evil Afoot — 2077 words, and I got a nice bit of a cliffhanger at the end

    Very pleased with the nasty situation in which I’ve dumped my MC — she’s going to have a rough rest of the week, too. Evil is a foot (it left its footprint all over everydamnthing, in fact…) and my MC is in the process of using what she discovered to lead the bad guys into…

  • Ohio 3, and the Shoe-Drop Moment

    Ohio 3, and the Shoe-Drop Moment

    There’s the “make yourself cry” moment, and there was some of that today. I did, indeed, make myself cry. Again. There was a bit of making myself laugh. There was giving my character one moment I would take in a heartbeat if someone could just stop the world and roll back time. And there was…

  • Today was a heavy, brutal rip-through… but I like what I got in the end

    Today was a heavy, brutal rip-through… but I like what I got in the end

    I hit a part of the novel today that I got way, way wrong in first draft. And while I’d estimate that in FACT I wrote close to 2000 words — over a period of three straight hours of hauling ass — what I was left with after ripping out that big first-draft nosedive into…

  • Today was a plotting day…

    Today was a plotting day…

    I got 391 new words, but I also had to figure out the logistics of the problem into which I’ve thrown my hero — and she’s really, really unhappy with me now. I’m pretty damn happy with myself now. Today was a Mean Girl™ day, in which, for the good of the story, I did…

  • It’s been a good writing week… but today was EPIC — 4220 words, and a major plot twist

    It’s been a good writing week… but today was EPIC — 4220 words, and a major plot twist

    When your fingers are moving so fast you can’t quite keep up with them, because you cannot wait to see what’s going to happen next, that could be described as a GREAT writing day. That was today. And holy crap, I love what I got. I was MEAN today. Bad things happened to a character…

  • The words FLEW, I tell you. They FLEW!

    The words FLEW, I tell you. They FLEW!

    It’s not even 9 AM, and I already finished my words for the day (and even ran over a bit). My objective was 1000 words, and I got my scene, and 1,173 brand new words. Better yet, they fit the line-for-scene outline, they move the story forward — and they are angry. These are words…