numbers

sunday progress update

29 out of 64 scenes.

I wanted to hit 30 today, but revising during the kids’ Quiet Time didn’t happen (the Baron was really fussy) and I got a late start this evening (I just sat and stared zombie-like at my screen for an hour, then stuffed my face with tortilla chips and chili con queso). Ah well, I have a green card for my next scene; the last one before a whole string of from-scratch scenes.

I also got to play with one my favorite scenes in the book–a scene I moved up in the timeline–and I really like where it is now. It includes this delightful interlude over a platter of stuffed mushrooms.

How are your writing/revising projects going?

sunday progress update

21 out of 63 scenes down.

It’s been a busy week, as you can probably tell from the unplanned blogging hiatus. The kids started swim lessons (twice a week) again; we visited two museums; picked $25 worth of strawberries and made 12 jars of jam; and just enjoyed the beautiful weather we’ve gotten (again).

And here I thought the summer would be a slow time for us. Silly me. 🙂

And how are you all?

sunday progress

In the past week, I revised (or wrote from scratch):

16.5 out of 62 total scenes.

So far, so good. The next section includes a LOT of new material so my next progress report will not be so dramatic. Onward!

In other exciting news, I became an aunt (again) this weekend. My sister had her first baby!

loving the slog

Susan Wise Bauer on cooking, writing and glamor:

Cooking, I think, must be like writing. You do the same thing day, after day, after day, after day. You’d better enjoy it for itself, not for the rewards. There are certainly high points, and of course we all look forward to them… Occasionally I get to go to book parties, or swan around New York in a really nice dress, and you’d better believe I enjoy it. But there’s no way that those very occasional rewards make the day-to-day slog worthwhile.

SO true. I talked a few months ago about how I took the summer off from writing to get back to my love of creating stories, instead of yearning for validation/publication/a readership. Because, much as it is thrilling (or so I imagine :D) to get The Call (from an agent or editor), to see your book cover for the first time, to find your book in a real-life bookstore, or receive fan mail, those moments are few and far between. For some of us, they haven’t even come yet.

Thank goodness I love writing for its own sake. Otherwise I’d be miserable or have given up a long time ago.

Speaking of slogging, I’m 4.5 K words into Rainbird. I think I can wrap it up in two or three scenes, but I have a tendency to underestimate that sort of thing anyway.