The burning question: did I get to spend as much time on Before the Blood as I wished?
Not even close, which is profoundly disappointing.
Was it a good three days off? Yes, in many ways.
On Friday, I reread some portions and wrote snippets left and undone here and there. I was a amazed at how much real progress I actually make in my half hour each morning. This was heartening. So while I often do not spend entire days writing 3,000 words at a time, typical of Saturdays when I wrote the drafts of my trilogy, I am ending up with copy that will need minimum self and outside editing when the time comes.I also have to remember the prequel requires an extraordinary amount of research, which also slows my pace. When it's done, and I'm ready to begin my standalone werewolf novel, the drafting pace will be much quicker. So all things in their time, I suppose.
A reminder: Enjoy the roll.
We finished the formatting for Cornell Dyer and the Missing Tombstone only to realize there's a formatting glitch that made adding page numbers impossible. So we reverted to an earlier draft, and I need to refix the mistakes,which will occupy my fiction time this morning, grumble.
On the other hand: I learned this weekend not to be so stoic. I applied the maxim, "Ask and you shall receive" and received mixed results.
I reached out on my personal Facebook page for reviewers for my series with the result that I mailed out six books and received a request for a seventh, and then an eighth, which that reviewer offered to pick up from me. In addition, someone who works at a local Montessori school would like a grade of students to review "Cornell" as a class project. So I am most anxious to get this book done.
I also reached out to a friend I'm deeply missing, but received a distracted, lukewarm response. Ah, well.
Still, I'm proud of myself for showing a vulnerable side, even if it was not received, in that moment, as well I might have liked. An especially poignant poem a member of WriteOn Joliet share with the group on Thursday evening stirred it inside me and she kindly gave me a copy.
A reminder: Enjoy the roll.
I had lunch with family Saturday afternoon, but a high stress evening followed it, which resulted in a night of insomnia. I slept better last night, but am entering the week tired. I also had to get about an hour's worth of work done on Friday, double that on Saturday, and five yesterday after church before I cut it off to walk in the waning sunshine.
I finally scheduled a catch-up at week at work, which I might extend into two, for my goal is to genuinely get on top of some pushed aside items. It will probably mean a temporary reduction in actual feature stories for a week or two, to be occasionally repeated when necessary, but the goal is to open up some free/family time and stay on top of things, not a bad goal, methinks.
A reminder: Enjoy the roll.
On Thursday, I received a gift of original poetry from a new friend in WriteOn Joliet. I met her a year ago at a revision workshop a local library asked me to present, and she's been attending the Joliet group ever since. I really wanted to purchase her book but she insisted she felt inspired to publish it because of me and wanted to give me a copy. Well! That made me feel good. So I have it at bedside and am reading one poem per day and night, to soak up the words and inspire ME.
And these are my thoughts as I enter Monday. Enjoy the day, vampire fans! :)
Illustration by Matt Coundiff for "Visage." Follow him at www.facebook.com/artbymattcoundiff or @MattCoundiff on Twitter.
