Mamma's decided that now that spring is here, I'm not allowed online between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. There are two really frustrating things about that; first, that I've been paying the phone bill, among other bills (which is why I'm working two days a week at a job I hate and not making a penny for myself), and the second is that finding time for things like checking email and updating logues and reading submissions is already hard enough. The last thing I need is for it to be even harder! That's not fair.
Sooo...basically, this means that I get Monday evening, Friday evening, and Saturday, plus two hours Sunday morning, Tuesday/Wednesday morning every other week, Thursday morning, and Friday morning, if I can manage to be up by 5. (With my schedule the way it is, I rarely can...too many late nights and early mornings. Basically, it's just evenings for me.) But when am I supposed to find the time to do the things I need to do online? I've already cut out forums on weekdays and Sundays...now I'm losing more time.

I can't do this.

I'm not angry, really; anger takes energy that I don't have anymore. I'm just sort of hurt and overwhelmed. I'd like to cry, actually. It's been like a game, recently, and I'm the playing piece; see how much you can put on top of Keesa before she squishes.

I'm feeling pretty squishy today...

But, I wrote today!!
And I mean wrote! I sat down and hammered out over a thousand words on 'Crown and Glory' (whose title I think I'm finally happy with). I have a pretty good idea of where it's going (although, I got a little lightning bolt of inspiration earlier, and I need to find a way to work it into the storyline). I'm also pleased with the characterization so far.

I'm a little nervous about the story itself; it's a much faster-paced, tenser (more tense?) story than I'm used to writing...I write melancholy little stories, stories with more emotion than action. Stories like 'Russka's Last Painting' and 'To Dance with a Hurricane' and 'To Name a Star'. Those sorts of stories. Even in Streams, where the danger is physical, the struggle is still emotional. Crown and Glory is different...it has spies and assassins and brigands and the heroine's life is in danger a couple of times. I'm not used to writing those kinds of stories, and a little nervous about how it will turn out.

I guess that's what rewrites are for, no? :-)

And, I'm on Day 24 of Club 100--one day away from being a quarter of the way done! I'd like nothing better than to get on the Nano forums and see how everyone else is doing, and share my own success, but I can't do that until tomorrow. Meh.

I'm so glad that tomorrow's Saturday. A day without responsibilities! A day to be lazy! I cant believe I signed up to go to the counseling seminar next week...inserting more stuff into my week? Disrupting Friday and Saturday, my only full days at home? What was I thinking?!

Well, I was thinking that the counseling seminar was an opportunity that I didn't need to miss. That's what I was thinking. But that doesn't make me fell any better about giving up Friday and Saturday.

Reprieve

I don't have to work today! I don't have to work today!

Well, I don't have to babysit today...the stuff I do have to do, I don't really consider work. Not in comparison. I've got enough studying to do to keep me busy for another week, and writing and chores and such--but I have time to do them! I don't have to work today!

Hehe. I suppose you can tell I'm pleased. ;-)

I've done my Club 100 for the day. Day 21! I'm over 1/5 of the way done. I'm not any happier with the story...I'm considering just starting completely over, but I don't know if I'll do it or not.

I've also been working a little on Kesia, tentatively renamed "Crown and Glory". I'm hoping to get it typed up (everything I have of it so far is handwritten, which is nice, but not the best of formats) . Once I get what I have typed up, I'm going to finish it, and see if I can't get excited about it. We'll see, anyway. :-)

Sunrise and Writing

Ahhh, sunrise. It's my favorite time of day. I've missed it so often lately, thanks to these weird hours I'm keeping, that I'd almost forgotten what it felt like to see the sky grow light and blaze with color over the computer screen. But, May is coming, and with it the end of my job. (Also the end of this semester's classes, but I try not to think about that.)

The only writing I've done recently has been Club 100, although I did get back a rejection of The Red Geranium just yesterday, so I'm thinking about doing a little rewriting on that. Even rewriting would almost have to be better than nothing...

I'm planning on bringing my notepaper with me today, of course, but I doubt I'll do much in the way of storycrafting this afternoon; my afternoon hours, what there are of them, are already spoken for, for studying. I have so much to do before Tuesday, it isn't even funny. And no chance, I suppose, of getting anything done on Tuesday, not with work. Last semester, when it was just Maya, she was napping twice a day, sometimes for two or three hours at a time, and that gave me plenty of time for studying. But not this semester.

Anyway, that's a topic I'm avoiding at the moment, mainly because I don't want to think about it. :-D

Writing, on the other hand--that's something I can't think enough about! I'm trying to brainstorm ideas for Death is a Cat's Eye. On the one hand, I have a vague idea to go with the title--but on the other hand, I'm not even sure that it goes with the sort of mood I'm looking to create in said story. But we shall see. At the moment, it's time for me to get Mamma up and set about gathering my schoolbooks for this afternoon.

Ciao!

Classes started yesterday. What can I say about them? They're wonderful...challenging, delightful....and time-consuming.

Ouch.

I have seven pages of outlines of the Book of Romans to memorize, then I have to read through it in three versions other than the KJV (which is the only one I have.) I also have a list of terms and definitions to memorize.

For my Inductive Bible Study Methods, I'm supposed to read Titus 1:1-4 five times, then make sixty (60) observations from it--and no interpretation! Strict observation. In addition, I need to prepare myself for quizzes in both classes next week, not to mention getting ready for Greek class tomorrow! (What's the second person plural form of eimi again?!)

I'm not quite experiencing total meltdown panic...but it's through an act of sheer willpower. I don't see myself being online a lot over the next couple of months. Just until April, when my job ends...what a blissful blessing that will be! In the meantime, I'll keep up my writing and my editing, and I'll try to post to my logues as often as possible and check my email regularly, but don't expect to see me on forums much.

Another Day, Another Deed....

Well, I did Club 100 today, and I'm at about 2700 (of 5000-6000) words on Greatest of These. It's definitely going to need some cutting done, as so far, it's all been backstory. Yeesh. Some will be moved to another part of the story, some will be incorporated into conversations, some will be deleted entirely. But all of it is coming out of the very beginning of my story!! And I'm thinking of writing a completely different opening sentence. The opening sentence as it stands:

There were old wives' tales that spoke of men who had wandered too far into the forest; there, it was said, they had seen the beguiling dryads, and one glance from soft grey eyes had ensnared them.

The new opening sentence:

Lissa stood in the clearing as the forest burned and felt the hot tears trickle down her cheeks like melting sap beneath a summer sun.

I definitely like the second one the best, but there is one problem: I'm not sure the forest actually burns! In fact, for the storyline as I have it, it would be better if it was cut down. But then you don't get that opening sentence.

So, any thoughts, people? Is my sentence good enough to tweak the entire plotline for? :-D (Any thoughts at all...?)

Life Suddenly Seems Worth Living Again...

So, I got up this morning at 3:30, drove for an hour, babysat until 3:00, did my 45 minute walk, came home, and will do it all over again tomorrow (with the caveat that I'll be in chuch intil 8:30 at night, get home about 9:15, etc.). But you know what? I DON'T CARE!! I MADE A SALE!!
I did,IdidIdidIdid!! Not only that, but I didn't sell the story to any magazine where Bill Snodgrass will be signing the check. (Not that I mind, of course, but all but one sale in the entire course of my writing career has been made to either TSR or DKA...call this a little affirmation, if you will. ;-) AlienSkin Magazine bought my flash piction, "To Dance With a Hurricane". YAYNESS!!

More WOOTage would of course be forthcoming, if I weren't about to drop. But I will give one more YAY before I retire for the night.

YAY!!!

Revisions, Revisions, and more Revisions...

Yes, I've been working on Autumn's Game. I wrote on The Greatest of These this morning, but after I hammered out my hundred words, I went ahead and started on Autumn's Game, again. I'm still upset about losing yesterday's work, but I'm getting over it. Who knows, maybe as I rewrite it' I'll come up with something even better! And I still remember the main breakthrough I made yesterday, something that I hope will tie the two weak plots together into one strong plot.

And now that I've changed the name, I'm working on making Autumn more of a prominent figure in the story. Before, she was just a way to tie the two worlds together, but now that the story has been named after her, I think I'm going to show her having more of an effect on the storyline. If it's going to be her game, I ought to show her manipulating her players, not just suggest it. Personally, I like the idea of suggestion...but I'm pretty sure that it was the stuff that was suggested, rather than shown, that resulted in so few people 'getting' the story. But, we shall see. If all else fails, I can always go back to the original (I never edit my originals--in fact, every time I do a major edit, I use the "Save As" option) and start again from there.

Now, back to the old grindstone. I'd love to get this finished in the next day or so!

Art and me...

I was just thinking about my drawing again today. It's been a long time since I've done any real practice--who has time?--and I miss it. It isn't practical to try to keep up my drawing when I can barely get enough time in for my writing, never mind drawing, but I was getting a little bit good when I stopped, especially at drawing figures and faces. (Faces especially...figures have always been a bit intimidating to me because, if you want to learn to draw well, you can't draw them with clothes.)

For a little while, I was getting sort of good. Not really good, of course, but I was beginning to be able to draw wistful and sad faces sort of well. (For some reason, happy or pleasant faces are harder to draw.) And I just miss it.