Well, the deadline came and went yesterday. And no, my book is not finished. If it was, I would be shouting it from the rooftops on a megaphone attached to sub-woofers, broadcasting at sonic-boom decibels. Sigh.
I have been trying not to be super depressed or down on myself the last few days as I came to realize that I wasn't going to be able to meet my goal and have my work-in-progress completed by September 17th as I had made a pact with my BWFE (best-writing-friend-ever), Becca, that I would. To pull myself out of the dumps and come a terms with how imperfect life is and how plans, even cemented ones, have a way of crumbling into microscopic dust, I have decided to make a list of all my non-accomplishments over the last six weeks and see if I can find a reason why my WIP is yet to be finished. (I must say though, I am uber close, like 2-3 chapters away from the end! I will finish within the next 2 weeks!!)
My Non-Accomplishment List
In the last six weeks since making a pact with my BWFE to finish my manuscript, I have:
-Written a script for a musical/skit the youth in my church congregation will be performing in October.
-Had my braces adjusted twice.
-Taken Thing 1 and Thing 2 to speech 12 times.
-Taken Thing 1 and Thing 2 to the developmental pediatrician 4 times.
-Taken Thing 1 and Thing 2 to the school for diagnostic testing 2 times.
-In all, taken (between the six of us) someone to some appointment 40 times, that may be a slight exaggeration, but seriously only slight... we really did have about that many appointments in the last six weeks.
-Driven about 2200+ miles (do not want to know how much gas that used).
-Washed at least 63 loads of dishing.
-Washed at least 84 loads of laundry.
-Scrubbed the toilet (3 in the house) 18 times, minimum... and don't forget about the great poop disaster.
-Dusted the house six times.
-Mopped the kitchen floor 3 times (I LOATHE mopping.)
-Written 9 checks.
-Gone out to eat 7 times (don't judge me).
-Enrolled 3 of my 5 children in online school.
-Unpacked 20 boxes of new school supplies for said children.
-Rearranged my downstairs to accommodate ^^^
-According to the school's website, I have overseen 180 hrs of school work.
-Have actually overseen many more hours than ^^^
-So many hours, in fact, that I have now disenrolled 2 of the three... note to anyone who cares, online school is NOT appropriate for the severely dyslexic. Don't let anyone convince you otherwise.
-Repacked 9 boxes of school supplies.
-Made 3 separate trips to the post office.
-Mowed the lawn 6 times... hahahaha... who am I kidding, we all know I don't mow. Thanks, Bruncle! The lawn looks fabulous.
-Read 13 books.
-Read at least 1 hr each day with my children, which would mean at least 42 hours of reading... although if you add in all that I have read to them for school work, the number reaches somewhere in the thousands... seriously, I lost my voice for a few hours last week from reading so much to them. See above comment about online school not being appropriate for the severely dyslexic.
-Written 17 blog posts, one of which drew the attention of the author of the book I reviewed. Another mentioned my moment of fame on another author's blog.
-Accumulated nearly 800 blog views in the last month.
-Submitted poetry to eFiction magazine, which was accepted, though I don't know when it will be published.
-Taught in church twice.
-Spoken in church once.
-Had sick kids twice.
-Talked to my husband about 50 times.
-Taken my kids swimming nearly 20 times.
-Made 200+ lunches, 42 dinners, and at least 25 breakfasts.
-Made 42 green smoothies.
-Made 18 loaves of homemade bread.
-Made homemade brownies 3 times, no-bake cookies 4 times, milkshakes twice :)
-Slept approximately 252 hours.
-As of this evening, made one trip to the ER.
-Written 57 pages for a total of 19,978 words in my WIP, not to mention nearly 20 notebook pages full of notes and outlines and character sheets, maps, faerie language and spells.
Yeah, I'm not going to feel bad or beat myself up that I didn't reach my goal... There is always tomorrow. And the day after that, and the day after that. But I will, dang it, I will finish this book! Like I said, uber close. I am not losing hope, just re-defining my goal :)
Until it's finished here's another snippet.
We are picking up the story a few days after the last snippet. Dee, Luke and Dane are adventuring in the Alaskan wild (aka the forest) when rocks begin pelting them from out of nowhere. And then arrows begin to fly and so do their feet, in hopes of escape. *I should probably explain something that may not have come up in previous snippets: As Dane's protector, Dee has a sonar-like connection to him, ie she gets physical input through his heart beats (put in simplest terms).
Also, if you haven't yet, please check out snippet one, two, three and four.
My eyes flitted back to Luke. “Fight or flight?”
“We have no way of knowing what’s out there, I’d say flight, but I’m not sure that’s possible. We could be surrounded.”
I nodded in agreement.
“Come on out, you cowards,” I called into the trees.
Another rock. Another deflection. An arrow whizzed past my head. Yep. Perfect day out in the woods.
“Flight,” I yelled, running to where the boys were. I grabbed Dane’s arm, trying to pull him to his feet. Beat. Pulse staggered, breathing shallow. He didn’t budge. “Damn it. He’s passed out, Luke. That rock must have hit him pretty hard.”
“I got him,” he said, taking Dane and throwing him over his shoulder. He wasn’t much taller than Dane, those biceps meant serious business. Impressive. “You take the rear,” he said, cutting off my untimely thoughts of his muscles, “you’ve got the only weapon.”
Right. I had the only weapon, a slightly soggy branch. Fan-freakin’-tastic.
We ran back up the path the way we’d come and I began to realize just how far from the Jeep we’d wondered. We had a ways to go until we got back to the Falls again and then from there we were at least five minutes from the Jeep. For a few short minutes the assault stopped. I wondered if we’d lucked out and he/they/it weren’t following. No such luck. Something flew out of the trees to my left and crashed into me, knocking me to the ground. I sprung to my feet just in time to see two bare feet as they dove into the trees on the other side of the path. At least, I thought they were bare feet, but everyone knows feet aren’t green.
Luke was about ten feet in front of me and I ran to catch up. When I got within three feet the thing came crashing at me again, this time from the right. I had some sense this time and tried to grab it. My hands found purchase on a necklace that broke as the attacker tore away from me. It got a better look at it this time too. It was male, short and muscly, much more child-like than manly though. It’s skin looked as if it had been tinted green with some kind of dye. It had short, dark, curly hair. His only clothing--since I had recently pinched his jewelry-- a pair of leather pants.
“Coward,” I shouted as I got to my feet. “Too afraid to fight me? You green troll!” I taunted him, shaking his beads towards the trees.
“Dee, quickly!” Luke’s voice was panicked.
I looked up at him, he was again, about ten feet or more in front of me. He looked from me to the woods, to Dane’s limp form on his shoulder. I could see him warring with himself, save Dane or help me.
“Keep going,” I commanded him. “Get to the Jeep, get Dane out of here.” I took off, running towards the boys again, running for the Jeep. Around a bend in the path, Luke and I both came to a halt.
A row of twelve green... munchkins?... stood in our way, all holding bows. Each one had a arrow notched at pointed at us. They were all clad in leather pants and beaded necklaces just as the one who had attacked me. I don’t think my attacker was among them as none of them were missing their beads. I was quite pleased that I had something to mark my attacker out from the others, it would make it easier to give him back some of what he gave later. If not for the missing beads, I would never have been able to pick him out, they were all very similar. Small angular faces--not necessarily child-like, but not the faces of men either--slender frames and ears that slightly pointed at the top. Lined up in front of us, out in the open, I could see that their short curly hair that I had assumed was black, was in fact, deep dark green, as were their eyebrows. What are you? Could these be faeries?
I have been trying not to be super depressed or down on myself the last few days as I came to realize that I wasn't going to be able to meet my goal and have my work-in-progress completed by September 17th as I had made a pact with my BWFE (best-writing-friend-ever), Becca, that I would. To pull myself out of the dumps and come a terms with how imperfect life is and how plans, even cemented ones, have a way of crumbling into microscopic dust, I have decided to make a list of all my non-accomplishments over the last six weeks and see if I can find a reason why my WIP is yet to be finished. (I must say though, I am uber close, like 2-3 chapters away from the end! I will finish within the next 2 weeks!!)
My Non-Accomplishment List
In the last six weeks since making a pact with my BWFE to finish my manuscript, I have:
-Written a script for a musical/skit the youth in my church congregation will be performing in October.
-Had my braces adjusted twice.
-Taken Thing 1 and Thing 2 to speech 12 times.
-Taken Thing 1 and Thing 2 to the developmental pediatrician 4 times.
-Taken Thing 1 and Thing 2 to the school for diagnostic testing 2 times.
-In all, taken (between the six of us) someone to some appointment 40 times, that may be a slight exaggeration, but seriously only slight... we really did have about that many appointments in the last six weeks.
-Driven about 2200+ miles (do not want to know how much gas that used).
-Washed at least 63 loads of dishing.
-Washed at least 84 loads of laundry.
 |
| I really need this laundry room. |
photo credit
-Scrubbed the toilet (3 in the house) 18 times, minimum... and don't forget about the great poop disaster.
-Dusted the house six times.
-Mopped the kitchen floor 3 times (I LOATHE mopping.)
-Written 9 checks.
-Gone out to eat 7 times (don't judge me).
-Enrolled 3 of my 5 children in online school.
-Unpacked 20 boxes of new school supplies for said children.
-Rearranged my downstairs to accommodate ^^^
-According to the school's website, I have overseen 180 hrs of school work.
-Have actually overseen many more hours than ^^^
-So many hours, in fact, that I have now disenrolled 2 of the three... note to anyone who cares, online school is NOT appropriate for the severely dyslexic. Don't let anyone convince you otherwise.
-Repacked 9 boxes of school supplies.
-Made 3 separate trips to the post office.
-Mowed the lawn 6 times... hahahaha... who am I kidding, we all know I don't mow. Thanks, Bruncle! The lawn looks fabulous.
-Read 13 books.
-Read at least 1 hr each day with my children, which would mean at least 42 hours of reading... although if you add in all that I have read to them for school work, the number reaches somewhere in the thousands... seriously, I lost my voice for a few hours last week from reading so much to them. See above comment about online school not being appropriate for the severely dyslexic.
-Written 17 blog posts, one of which drew the attention of the author of the book I reviewed. Another mentioned my moment of fame on another author's blog.
-Accumulated nearly 800 blog views in the last month.
-Submitted poetry to eFiction magazine, which was accepted, though I don't know when it will be published.
-Taught in church twice.
-Spoken in church once.
-Had sick kids twice.
-Talked to my husband about 50 times.
-Taken my kids swimming nearly 20 times.
-Made 200+ lunches, 42 dinners, and at least 25 breakfasts.
-Made 42 green smoothies.
 | ||||
| LOVE green smoothies... and this plate. |
photo credit
-Made 18 loaves of homemade bread.
-Made homemade brownies 3 times, no-bake cookies 4 times, milkshakes twice :)
-Slept approximately 252 hours.
-As of this evening, made one trip to the ER.
-Written 57 pages for a total of 19,978 words in my WIP, not to mention nearly 20 notebook pages full of notes and outlines and character sheets, maps, faerie language and spells.
Yeah, I'm not going to feel bad or beat myself up that I didn't reach my goal... There is always tomorrow. And the day after that, and the day after that. But I will, dang it, I will finish this book! Like I said, uber close. I am not losing hope, just re-defining my goal :)
Until it's finished here's another snippet.
We are picking up the story a few days after the last snippet. Dee, Luke and Dane are adventuring in the Alaskan wild (aka the forest) when rocks begin pelting them from out of nowhere. And then arrows begin to fly and so do their feet, in hopes of escape. *I should probably explain something that may not have come up in previous snippets: As Dane's protector, Dee has a sonar-like connection to him, ie she gets physical input through his heart beats (put in simplest terms).
Also, if you haven't yet, please check out snippet one, two, three and four.
My eyes flitted back to Luke. “Fight or flight?”“We have no way of knowing what’s out there, I’d say flight, but I’m not sure that’s possible. We could be surrounded.”
I nodded in agreement.
“Come on out, you cowards,” I called into the trees.
Another rock. Another deflection. An arrow whizzed past my head. Yep. Perfect day out in the woods.
“Flight,” I yelled, running to where the boys were. I grabbed Dane’s arm, trying to pull him to his feet. Beat. Pulse staggered, breathing shallow. He didn’t budge. “Damn it. He’s passed out, Luke. That rock must have hit him pretty hard.”
“I got him,” he said, taking Dane and throwing him over his shoulder. He wasn’t much taller than Dane, those biceps meant serious business. Impressive. “You take the rear,” he said, cutting off my untimely thoughts of his muscles, “you’ve got the only weapon.”
Right. I had the only weapon, a slightly soggy branch. Fan-freakin’-tastic.
We ran back up the path the way we’d come and I began to realize just how far from the Jeep we’d wondered. We had a ways to go until we got back to the Falls again and then from there we were at least five minutes from the Jeep. For a few short minutes the assault stopped. I wondered if we’d lucked out and he/they/it weren’t following. No such luck. Something flew out of the trees to my left and crashed into me, knocking me to the ground. I sprung to my feet just in time to see two bare feet as they dove into the trees on the other side of the path. At least, I thought they were bare feet, but everyone knows feet aren’t green.
Luke was about ten feet in front of me and I ran to catch up. When I got within three feet the thing came crashing at me again, this time from the right. I had some sense this time and tried to grab it. My hands found purchase on a necklace that broke as the attacker tore away from me. It got a better look at it this time too. It was male, short and muscly, much more child-like than manly though. It’s skin looked as if it had been tinted green with some kind of dye. It had short, dark, curly hair. His only clothing--since I had recently pinched his jewelry-- a pair of leather pants.
“Coward,” I shouted as I got to my feet. “Too afraid to fight me? You green troll!” I taunted him, shaking his beads towards the trees.
“Dee, quickly!” Luke’s voice was panicked.
I looked up at him, he was again, about ten feet or more in front of me. He looked from me to the woods, to Dane’s limp form on his shoulder. I could see him warring with himself, save Dane or help me.
“Keep going,” I commanded him. “Get to the Jeep, get Dane out of here.” I took off, running towards the boys again, running for the Jeep. Around a bend in the path, Luke and I both came to a halt.
A row of twelve green... munchkins?... stood in our way, all holding bows. Each one had a arrow notched at pointed at us. They were all clad in leather pants and beaded necklaces just as the one who had attacked me. I don’t think my attacker was among them as none of them were missing their beads. I was quite pleased that I had something to mark my attacker out from the others, it would make it easier to give him back some of what he gave later. If not for the missing beads, I would never have been able to pick him out, they were all very similar. Small angular faces--not necessarily child-like, but not the faces of men either--slender frames and ears that slightly pointed at the top. Lined up in front of us, out in the open, I could see that their short curly hair that I had assumed was black, was in fact, deep dark green, as were their eyebrows. What are you? Could these be faeries?
Comments
Good luck- can't wait to read the rest of the book!
Make those lists. You will be amazed to find you are amazing!
P.S. You could have just put "Talk in Church" and that would've been enough ;)