Chapter 21 started, 1078 words.

Trouble with this is I’ve never attended a rookie musher meeting. I finally found a decent description of one from 1996. I’m using it as a template, though these days the meeting is two days long. The one I’ve got notes on was back when they were only one day meetings.

Ah, well.

Off to a half day at work.

Chapter 20 has been started, written, and completed. WOOT!

Tomorrow, I work late in the afternoon. Chances are good, I can swing at least another chapter then. Off again on Tuesday, so there’s another.

Slow work days can be a good thing.

2787 words today and two chapters finished!

A few days ago, I read through the outline and discovered that my leads were a bit more intimate than I had been writing. There were a couple of kisses involved during the race, and the promise of a hot night in a hotel room when the race was over. To that end, I’ve had my girls lock lips, forcing them to deal with their mutual attraction. We’ll see what happens tomorrow.

Seems that my other blog is down. Since I only mirror writing related posts here, I’m hoping the folks who regularly read there will think to hit my website instead. We’ll see how it goes. LiveJournal says they’ll have it up and running before the week is over. Wonder how much got lost?

Coatcheck last night yielded $16 in tips, time to finish the second half of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and 816 words to finish out chapter eighteen of the Iditarod story. All in all, a very productive evening.

Today I was scheduled at noon, but we have freezing rain falling here. The functions at work have been cancelled, as have we. Tough, huh? Guess that means I’ve got to round out that 816 to 2000 today instead!

I can hear your collective groan of commiseration.

Off to writing. The last chapter is a hel of a cliff hanger, and my beta readers are going to string me up if I don’t resolve things soon.

I’d hoped to finish this chapter before work, but it ain’t happening. 1313 words today.

Coatcheck tonight, so I’ll have a few hours of boring time as we watch over the belongings of symphony goers. I’ve printed up what I have of chapter eighteen. Maybe I’ll be able to finish it out before the night is through.

Doubt I’ll get writing done tomorrow. I’m back at noon, which cuts into my morning writing time. Plus it’ll be a late night, so I won’t be able to get up early. All the more reason to get the writing done tonight at work. When I get home tomorrow night, I can transcribe it to the document.

and 1081 words. Not bad.

Most of it is an information dump. It’s been a month since the attempted kiss, and my two MCs are doing their best to concentrate on training with some level of success. This chapter starts out with Lainey’s POV as she prepares for an afternoon run.

I’m scheduled three days next week at noon. That means if I want to get any writing done, I’ve got to get to bed earlier and get up at the crack of dawn to attain my goals. I’m still debating on that one. Six am is far too early for me! Maybe I’ll aim for three grand on my days off to compensate . . .

Completed. 1092 words this afternoon.

Lainey has decided to continue as friends, and ignore the pass. She won’t attempt to initiate Scotch into the world of lesbian love (you know, since Scotch is an innocent who is only recently coming to terms with her sexuality.)

Scotch has decided to continue as friends, and pray her pass is ignored. She won’t attempt to seduce Lainey (you know, since she’s straight and has a man in every port. Doesn’t every international photo journalist?)

snicker

Tomorrow I work in the morning, so no writing will be done. On Wednesday, the girls will begin training in earnest and Lainey will discover the dangers of wild moose.

Is that she will be honorable. She’ll stay far away (at least intimately) from Scotch, only offering friendship, refusing to be drawn into a fling. She thinks Scotch is only now becoming aware of her homosexuality. Scotch doesn’t need that sort of distraction with training beginning in earnest now.

What she doesn’t know is that Scotch is perfectly aware of her sexuality. She’s just not sure of Lainey’s.

Oh, what a tangled web, eh?

1147 words so far. I may or may not have another go later today.

I’ve gone through all my Iditarod notes. The story will definitely be picking up pace as they prepare for the race. The character interaction will be less in that this tale is primarily Lainey’s – her infatuation for Scotch turning into love, the sacrifices she’ll make to keep the friendship, the hectic pace of preparing for the race, and the ultimate triumph of running the Iditarod. I figure the last half of the book will have little else but Lainey’s POV.

It’ll be a wild ride!

Which is the title of the latest in the Slow Movin’ storyline. Just finished. 1052 words today.

I was thinking yesterday about why I’m having such difficulty getting into the swing of things with On Azrael’s Wings. Then it occurred to me that this has happened before. With the same story. It took me over a year to complete that damned thing! It’s no wonder edits are so damned slow.

Maybe it’s just the nature of some stories to take longer to write. Instead of castigating myself for not being able to push it through, I need to back off for now. Work on something else.

It’s winter now, chilly, snow in the foothills. The Iditarod begins in 55 days (and 16 hours and 30 something minutes, but who’se counting?) I think it’s time to drag it out and dust it off. I know where I hung myself up. The characters tried to escalate things before the storyline was ready for it. So I’m off to reread what’s been done (16 chapters?), edit what’s there, and toss the last chapter out entirely.

This one the Slow Movin’ Valentine’s one. 1124 words today as Slow stands in a convenience store and fantasizes about a uniformed Catholic schoolgirl. I know, I know, it’s a cliche, but at least Slow acknowledges that in the tale, okay?

Besides, I was raised by Catholics and baptized as a child. I have the right to exploit the religion at least a little bit, don’t I?

1154 words. Auction PWP finished. (Whew! Is it warm in here?)

I’ve been told that overseas bids will be accepted, but the auction itself isn’t quite prepared to go ‘live.’ As soon as it is, I’ll post an active link.

Damn that work for interfering! Tried three times to start a Slow Movin’ short for the Royal Academy’s Valentine special and threw them all away.

Today, however, I achieved 1234 words on a short story for an auction. Here in Portland a youth baseball group got ripped off by the treasurer who embezzled quite a bit of money from them. There’ll be no season for these kids if bills aren’t paid.

Steph at the Academy is working an an auction and has asked for a PWP for a limited edition (10 copies?) anthology to help them. I’ll let you know the details as I hear them.

And a decent restart on chapter fourteen. As stated before, my initial reasons to go back over the edited material was to alter Azrael’s parentage. Having done that, I can see where I’ll need to do at least one other pass through to beef up what’s going on within the characters. The tale starts with a very stern and demanding Azrael, and I really need to give the reader a bit more to go on when first encountering her.

I failed on fifty percent of last year’s goals. Here’s hoping I’ll hit at least seventy-five percent of this year’s . . .

1. Write / edit 1000 words a day.

2. Write 6 short stories.

3. Finish edits to On Azrael’s Wings and submit the manuscript somewhere.

4. Finish writing the Iditarod novel.

5. Edit and rewrite the Sanguire novels and submit the first manuscript to Tor.

Wish me luck!

I’ve also gone through every character entry in my fantasy notebook to reflect the changes in Azrael’s family. Tomorrow I’ll catch up te where I’m at in the rewrites. From there, I dig back into the edits, hopefully to finish soon. (Not that I know what to do with the manuscript once it’s finished! LOL!)