SO - there are going to be some changes to *this* blog once the baby gets here and I'm up and running... this one is going tobe my "mom" blog - for all things child and weightloss related. I've got nearly 100 pounds to lose and I need a nice place tokeep myself honest...
~S
On the Baby:
Had my dr's appt a few days ago - lost 4 lbs of water weight - which is good but so not good enough. I still have 11 days or so to go before the c/s... And I can't seem to stop eating. So - 75 lbs gained will probably be more than that before the end... yuck. But - that's ok. Baby is healthy - going to big like his brother was. I have an ultrasound and a dr's appointment scheduled for the 3rd - to get a morre accurate weight on the baby. hubby was a big baby. D was a big baby. this one is going to be a big baby. I was tiny. It's all his fault.... I also have a bit of carpal tunnel syndrome and now am wearing braces.. but - it's supposed to go away when I'm not pregnant anymore. But - if I don't post much until after the baby - that's why...
~S
OK - I've made up my mind... I'm going to work on *all* my projects until one of them grabs me, shakes me, and won't let me go... So here's the tally and goals for the next several months....
To begin after the baby gets here of course:
Monday: Sparrow (Project w/Sparrow - novella length)
Tuesday: Vessel (project formerly called Will of Three - revolving around Indima)
Wednesday: Switch (project w/spider - probably novel/novella length)
Thursday: Ghost Men (project w/Defmal and the underground peoples of Asher)
Friday: Poetry & Shorts
Throughout the week: 3-4 crits for my various groups...
Saturday/Sunday are my leeway days - days when Hubby is home I will get next to nothing done so - I need to have days to make up for that... Looks like a doable schedule though in all likelyhood - I'll get hooked by something soon and the schedule will change for a while....
~S
With Strange Angels in the next phase - meaning I put it on the back burner while I wait for critiques and put some distance between it and myself - I have the itching urge to start something new. I blame Linda. A friend of mine who asked about the sequel. There's not one - not in the way of sequels anyway. I have one character who may someday get a tale of her own and two related books already in various stages of progress. I am trying to decide now if I want to work on one of those - The Will of Three (title most likely to be changed) about the Jaffine and Indima, or the one about my Hresh peoples (untitled at present). Or if I want to work on the novella I've got in mind for another character - Sparrow. Or the length as yet to be determined project for another character of mine - Spider. I thought I could get away with doing Spider as a short but, now that two editors have told me that a - the writing and the characters are great but b - it's a novel not a short... I suppose I have to believe them. My gut is confused... I know I shouldn't really work all of them - even if that's what I *want* to do... It's not like I have to decide RIGHT NOW - even though I want to. I have some crits to do before I head for the hospital and I have some short work that needs done and some poetry that needs to go back to market... I do have other things to do but I'm obsessing over this. I haven't been without a project for a long time and it's weird. Of course, I could always go back to Evolution of a Shadow and see if this last year has done enough - and I've gotten good enough to write it... eh - no clue yet...
~S
Can't believe it...
I've finished Strange Angels.
At least this draft ;) but - if something happens to me on the operating table next month (which I'm sure it won't) then it'll be done... I'll have accomplished at least that much
~S
Over the last few days - there's been a fire under me that I cannot explain. Last night I wrote the last chapter of this draft of Strange Angels... This morning I woke up and threw out that chapter as that's not how I want this to end but fact is - for those few hours - this draft was done... Tonight or tomorrow night this rewrite of this last chapter will be done and she'll be done again. I'll post this last chapter to my Critique Group... and open the next project on my list of priorities... I've been anxiously waiting to get to that list. I have a novel, a novella, and several short stories on that list. I don't put poetry on my priority list anymore - it just is... poetry is my constant - I'm always writing it, always editing it. Of course - it makes up the bulk of my publications so far too so - I might actually be doing something right in that respect. Part of my list of priorities - as far as the short stories go - I've made a list of ten target markets to shoot for over the next six months. I'm going to try really hard to write something for each of them - something new and perhaps a bit tailored to what I see as their preferences...
I'm thrilled to have Strange Angels in this next phase - the second rewrite. It means I'm one step closer to sending it to market. I've dreamt of that step for a long time and to be so close to it now is not the least bit daunting. I just have to wait for the critiques, find a way to add in 25,000 words of description, mood, and atmosphere, and polish her up. Then I'll focus on the query letter... bleh.
So I guess it's been a big few days for me... Maybe the push is coming from within me - trying to get at least this much done before I have a new life to care for.
~S
I am obsessed with sending out my work... almost to the point of distraction. It's not just the work I obsess over - its the markets themselves. At the beginning of the year, I sat down and made a list of fiftythree markets I wanted to get into this year with the goal of actually finding myself in 5 of them. Well - it's now July and 4 of those markets are now dead markets, several are closed to submissions, and I have a new list of the frustrating markets that *I* love that do not love me back. The worst part is - these are my favorite mags and zines to read - I'm sure others out there feel the same way about them too. Actually, that's not the worst part - the worst part is that I *know* my work is going to get rejected before I send it out and the moment it's in the mail, in the ether - I'm checking for the next market. Someday the strangest thing will happen and one of these markets will send me an acceptance and I won't know what the hell to do ;)
~S
I'm getting antsy... every day more so. I have packed for myself for the hospital but not yet for the baby. Soon though. Very soon. I'm also starting to get nervous about the surgery. I admit it - I'm a pansy when it comes to hospitals (bad things happen in hospitals). I don't want to freak out when the time comes but at the same time - I can feel the urge already to do just that.
My Dr’s appointment went great... no longer looking at the scales of course... My son was an absolute riot. He has the whole staff there in stitches every time we go... Forgive me if this is TMI but it’s funny... We get there and I do what I’m supposed to do so they can check all my levels of whatever - protein etc... my son is following the nurse - wanting to know everything about everything (he’s five). He wants to help her check the levels. She explains to him that he really can’t do that. He decides he’ll live with that but he wants to know all about the results - specifically, if she was able to test my calcium. This sends everyone into giggles - mostly because he’s five and asking if the tester strips can measure calcium.
As far as writing goes - I’ve not been doing a whole lot of it. Certainly not as much as I should be. Certainly not as much as I *want* to be. I’ve a stack of poems getting ready for the final revisions before I send them out. I’ve got two stories that need a good polishing - one a complete rewrite but I know *how* I want to do it, I just have to get the energy and drive to *do* it....
Nothing new on SA just because I hit a place where I’m stuck... I’ll get it - just not today.
~S