Better Days Ahead...

So, idiot that I am, I've decided to combine this week's big push (writing wise) with my determination to get Little C. to have more bedtime independence.  See, the problem is he goes down to bed just fine.  Nary a problem.  Unfortunately, trying to convince him to stay there has been a hardship.

While my husband is gone this week, number one son will move into our bedroom and Little C. will get a crash course on sleeping in his own bed.  Even if it means I get to be up all night convincing him that his bed is the best place to spend the night.  How this will affect my writing I have no idea.  It will be a fly by the seat of my pants week, and the end result won't even be published here right away because I'll be gone camping next weekend.  Ah well.

This week wasn't as bad as I feared.  I hardcore slashed Zyander.  As in, only 3 chapters of his story remained, mostly setup from the ending of the last book.  I started in on his new outline and got about halfway done with that.  I even wrote two chapters of his storyline and I'm much happier with where it's going now.
I also added about 4500 words to my other project, which made me feel like quite the success.  I mean, compared with what I've done in the past month, this week was a freaking miracle.

Once again, I'm so thankful for the readers.  You know who you are, out there, sending me encouraging emails.  You guys rock!

I found a new booknerd site:  http://tattoolit.com/
Seriously, guys, I might have to do this... or not.  I'm not a huge needle fan.  I wish I could do this.  I'm such a coward.
And I found some new writing music: http://officialbirdy.com/
This video in particular is so creepy and cool!

That's all from me this week!

Happy Reading!

Success -A Little, Anyway.

Sorry I've been MIA for the past week.  My older son was at Grandma's so it was just Little C. and me for 8 days.  I decided to use the time with only one child to push for some words.  My goal was 20,000, but Little C. got sick. Sooooo... that didn't happen!
But guess, what, guys, I hit 16,000 words!  Whoohooo!!!  That is more than I wrote last month.  And the other thing was, it was FUN.  I think with all no sleep and the stressing about writing, I lost sight of why I love this so much.  I started to feel pressured to finish instead of feeling happy to let the story continue.

Discouragement is pretty easy to get lost in, as a writer.  Sometimes it's a review.  Sometimes it's lack of progress.  Sometimes it's lack of confidence.  I've certainly experienced all three.  My word of the year, as you will recall is Determination.  However, Determination without enjoyment equals STRESS.

Why do I do this?  Why do I plow away, day after day, trying my hardest to finish this series?  Because I love the characters.  Because I love the story.  Because I love the world I invented.  This is the reason I started writing about The Five Tribes in the first place.

Using my WOTY, I've Determined, not to let myself lose sight of why I do this.  I've Determined not to lose my love for writing.  I've Determined to keep this fun, no matter what.

Otherwise, what's the point?

Here are some super interesting articles I ran across last week:
The first is a guest blog by Erin Kern talking about how Indies are the new query letter.  If you'd asked me a year ago if this was true, I probably would have laughed.  Since then I've been approached by both a publisher and an agent, so I'd say I was dead wrong.  Take a look, it's a pretty interesting story.
The second is an article by one of my faves, Kristine Kathryn Rusch.  It's on PERFECTION, which is a big deal for me.  I loved pretty much everything this article had to say.

That's all from me this week.  Hope you all had a successful writing week!
Happy Reading!