For this week anyway!

I hate the parts that are such a struggle I’d rather poke out my eyeballs.

This week, however, and maybe I shouldn’t say this out loud, has been steadily ok.  I wrote one scene and finished another yesterday, then wrote another today.  I’m getting it done semi-early, so I still have the rest of the day to do home/mom stuff and work on the idea for the next book.  So Yay!!!

As for the next book…  This is the third and a half idea I’ve been brewing for a month or so.  The first one is still good, but it’s very typical, overdone.  It originated from a dream I had, so not the most original.  Plotting some of it allowed me to start thinking outside the box though.

Then one night, I got the itch to write a horror.  I won’t label my current work as such until I’m certain I can pull it off, but that idea ended up going the way of psychological thriller anyway.  This one, which I titled Smoke and Mirrors (love that), was going GREAT!  Then while writing my fingers off, I got the idea to change the villain and make it the hero.  But I can’t make my hero the villain, so then I needed to decide if I was writing a suspense with romantic elements or just a suspense.

I’m not opposed to having it labeled as just suspense; it’s mostly what I read, but I don’t know if I’m ready as a writer to make that a part of my “reputation”.  Make sense?  I’m not even published yet.  So instead, I decided to tweak the plot and add another character to either be the hero or to be the villain.  I worked on this for about a week before I finally had to throw in the towel and say “enough is enough”.  One day I may get back to the idea, and hopefully at that point I’ll have a stronger desire as to what I want, but until then I have to move forward.

Which is where I’m at now.  I started the new idea based off the last and with only one scene in my head.  Who are these people?  Where did they come from?  Who is after them?  It took a while to come up with answers, some of which are still hazy, but I’m working on it.  Which I’m going to get back to now.

I feel kinda guilty simply reporting Yay, another day of five pages written, every single post.  There has to be some unpubbed’s blog more interesting that this, right?  But…it’s all I have at the moment. :)  I can’t  spend time reading and roaming the web for juicy tidbits, or I can’t get done the writing and plotting and mothering and housecleaning and sleeping…you get the drift.

So, I got my scene written and not only did it go wonderfully, but it’s cute and a bit funny.  What more could I ask for?  The same for yesterday’s goal.  All done and I enjoyed it.  I almost didn’t work this morning.  I told myself to stick with the brainstorming for the day, because I had thought of a couple of plot points while falling to sleep last night that I did not write down.  But I opened my WriteWayPro program (highly recommend it) and just started writing the scene.  Before I knew it, it was completed and I could move on to the brainstorming.

Which brings me to….Smoke and Mirrors.  I’m currently writing the book journeys of each of about seven characters.  Not all of what I write will be shown, but it allows me to see the path they each take and how some events catalyst others.  After this, I will create a timeline, braiding the journeys together to create “one”.  After that, I will start outlining which scenes to use in great detail.  This time around, I want to outline/write the first draft, much how First Draft in 30 Days suggests, but not her way. :)  My way!  I’m not sure how it will go, but it’s my journey too.

Ok, off to work on that.  More boring writing progress tomorrow.

Whoo hoo!

Well there is editing and all that, but Act One is now completely written. Yay!  I’m so happy.

Tomorrow I will start Act Two and begin that looooong journey.  If I don’t slack off anymore (ok, did you hear that cackling?) I can have this book done by the end of August, as planned.  *crosses fingers*  Just in time (or slightly after) learning whether or not my entry finaled in the Stiletto contest.

Now, well after I make spaghetti and meatballs, I can continue with my brainstorming for Shadows and Mirrors.  I’d really like to start outlining that tomorrow, so I can have that done by the end of September.

Pages that is.  It’s not my usual five but at least I got them out.  I’m trying to just push through those moments when I’d rather pluck out my eyeballs than write.  I figure if I at least get something down then it’s an accomplishment.  So today was a pluck my eyeball out day.

Now that I’m done I can’t help but think, “that wasn’t so bad”. LOL Yeah, I’m strange that way.

So, the new “horror” idea…  I can’t officially call it horror, because I seriously don’t know if I can pull off fear.  I’m writing about a subject that if I placed myself deeply in this character’s head could really sadden, hurt and scare me, but at the same time I don’t know if I can get those emotions on paper.

I think I focus so much on the external…or maybe I simply don’t spend enough time in them.  Maybe I stay one step outside, in the distance.  Maybe I write what he/she should be thinking, feeling, tasting, etc. and don’t actually feel what they feel.  Hmm…  Definitely something to ponder.

In a conversation at Romance Divas we are discussing what scares us and where we get our more sinister ideas from.  In mentioning I am fearful of losing my kids, dying and leaving my kids behind and being completely alone, other members allowed me to see that the wonderfulness behind horror is not the monster or force but the fear.  So instead of death being the catalyst (cause how horrible is that?), there are other ways a woman could lose her kids or be removed from them.

So, what if I combined by three greatest fears into one?

What if a woman lost her kids as a result of being removed from them and then learned she was alone and on her own?  *insert evil, maniacal laugh here*

So, serial killers get put on hold (especially since the hero refuses to speak to me) and greatest fears are on.  And in the meanwhile, I am on Chapter 6 of AMTDF.  I plan to have that written by the end of this week, then I have two months (personal deadline) to write the next two acts.  Sounds easy and smooth, but I know full well it won’t be.  Nothing ever is with me.  I make problems for myself cause the world doesn’t create its own, ya know.

Today, I woke up at 7:47 and realized my alarm (set to music but obviously to low) had been playing for 57 minutes.  I watched the last 13 minutes of Buffy, then wrote my next scene for AMTDF, worked on medical billings, read emails and then began judging the Stiletto contest.

I received eight entries and began with the first one.  It turns out it isn’t in the right category, so I emailed the co-coordinator and informed her.  I stopped reading in the meantime, while waiting for a reply.  So, I moved onto the next one.  I read all 35 pages (well forty when you include the synopsis) and then read the scoresheet, where it told me to make at least 20 comments in the actual document.  Damn!  I filled out the questions, adding up the points and stopped.  I didn’t feel like going through it again right then, so I’ll get back to it another time.

Then I went and worked on my third one.  That one I completed correctly and completely.  It was actually a lot of fun, and I can’t wait to do more this week.

I’m starting chapter 6 tomorrow, and when that is completed–hopefully by Wednesday night–I’ll be at the end of Act One.  Act Two is where my heroine starts to really change (it starts almost two months after Act One ends) and where the story gets better, I think.  Not to say it’s boring now (at least I hope not), but Giada stays in the background when it comes to what is going on in the house.  Later on, she gets very involved, which hopefully adds more comedy to the situation.  We’ll see!

I need to have the entries judged by Aug. 6 and then we learn who finaled by the end of Aug. I believe it’s the 26th, two days after my daughter’s birthday, but it could be the 25th.  Either way, I plan (crossing fingers and toes) to have the whole novel written by then.  Unlike last year where I didn’t finish until Oct. 4.  Yes, I still remember that.

So, right now I’m researching fairytales and urban legends for future ideas, even though I haven’t finished brainstorming my serial killer idea.  I will but this is taking precedence at the moment.  Something always does.

Ok, so I’ve had horror on the brain since yesterday.  The problem is I have no horrific ideas.  Not one that seems at all fearful.  It sure as heck doesn’t surprise me, and I think it’s more a paranormal suspense–which is fine, but not what I want.  Unless I take the idea of leap outside the box.  Not sure how but I’ll eventually figure it out.