Carolyn

I posted a 'lite' version of this on Facebook, but expand here because the audience there has a lot of my Siberian Husky friends who aren't interested in writing. Just dogs.


11:10 and I have yet to accomplish anything besides putting up my tree and cleaning the kitchen and making bacon. Haven't even written a word either. Yesterday I attended the NTRWA meeting for what, the fourth time? Or third. I'm joining as soon as membership opens again (January) as I had a lot of fun, and kinda am in needs of a support system for writing. Not that I don't have support systems but this is on a professional level. I'm not a romance writer, but Aneli's story DOES fall into the realm of romantic fantasy, or close enough I think. Just as in other genres and the publishing world itself, so much has changed with RWA since I left it that I feel good about being a part of it again.

Added for here: AKA that they now accept gay fiction, self-published authors are treated as equals, all the old guard have been pushed out by more accepting individuals, etc. etc. This next month this chapter is hosting a talk by Damon Suede who is well-known in m/m romance circles. I met him once years ago and didn't think much about him but he has been a huge part of why RWA has loosened its morality and judginess. I look forward to this talk!

Back to FB version:

As for writing itself, Nano was a success (53k words) and the momentum is rocking along still. The first week of December I continued to write on the fanfic to get to a certain point - 62k of that now(!), but now will pick up on Kian's story, book 2 of my Sirensong trilogy.

Added for here: OMG I LOVE HIM SO MUCH! HE IS MY HEART AND SOUL! I love love LOVE writing from his POV!!!!!! Book one is only Aneli, and I debated adding him but HELL YES I LOVE HIM!!! Ahem. Owl's pov is also part of this book, the #1 stakes character, and whom around all this ultimately revolves but we don't know it yet.

Back to FB version:

For the Nano fic, I had no real outline except roughly in my head. Talk about fun - I'm such an outliner, this nanofic is a heavy challenge to write like this and I absolutely loved it. So I am going to put the nerves aside, and tackle Kian's story in the same manner--no outline save for the loose one in my head. I have been frozen on this book for awhile because though I know the end goal, everything else in between for the three POV characters is up in the air. Writing from the pants for a month (lol) definitely has helped put aside that frozenness. (Frozenness is a word, isn't it?).

I am itching to go back to the first book though and rework the opening - on the drive home from RWA yesterday, it hit me finally on how to rearrange the first two chapters so it opens where it really needs to open. BAM - after almost a year after finishing it... :) Too funny, Brain. But thank you!

MORE WORDS FOR HERE ONLY:

Moving - I own my house, and I hate it. Except for my tree, that is, and that isn't enough reason to stay. I am selling it and moving to a much nicer area. I am a very fortunate person in that I can afford to do this, and selling the house will put a huge chunk into the bank to draw from over the coming years. My retirement from Lockheed kicks in next March, too, so though I will still be working, I plan to retire at 62. My personal goal is to have 3-4 books in this world done by then. That's six years or so from now. I am not a fast writer by any means but I do write long so that is the goal. May or may not self-publish - honestly want the traditional publishing experience but we'll see. Now I am just focusing on writing as much as possible and having fun doing it.

All my published books are now out of print. Kinda sad about that. It was a good ride though.

I do GYWO (getyourwordsout) on here every year and 2018 chose to the habit tracker - pretty successful but not as much fun for me as getting wordcounts down so I am going back to that, upping my goal higher than I've ever done, 250k for the year.

Otherwise that is about it for life - working, having fun with local friends when I can, living the single-life-with-dog life.



Oh and now it is time to go walk the dog almost so I need to take a shower. He is my everything! ;)

Today was a much, much better day. I woke up when the pupsters woke me at 7 (the beasts!) but got up and let them out, and oh! the coolness, the breezes, the lovely aroma of Fall! I made myself a cup of my new coffee I bought (mmm so smooth) and sat outside on the porch and sipped my coffee. Even though it is only the second day, I am starting to realize that I have been masking the true delicious flavors of coffee and my favorite tea (Constant Comment :) with Sweet n Low. No more! I THREW IT OUT! I didn't throw it out the other day because in the back of my head I was fooling myself into thinking that I would get back to it. But I've got a new goal to toss in there - no more sweet n low, ever. No more aspartame, no more ANYTHING artificial. Later if I want sugar I will just use sugar, or Agave. Or honey, or pure maple syrup. Those four are at least natural. Yes?

Okay so back to today. It was 8:15 and I said something to Nick about should I make breakfast or go walking and he said GO WALK! So, we did. Maddox is doing much better about harnessing up. Shelby was asleep in the sun in the hole she recently dug for herself so I decided to leave her at home this time and just took Maddox. He did so well! I am so pleased with him. We walked for almost an hour and a half! He also got his very first geocache!



I've ordered him a Geodog dog tag so he can log his own finds. I am sure he is excited about that. (lol)

Got home and made a recipe I found that looked really good - breakfast muffins!



Ever so slightly healthier than the ones I made full of sugar and flour and such last week. These contain kale, eggs, pretty heirloom tomatoes, mushrooms, etc. So good! Well, the only thing I will change about next time is I will use olive oil instead of the coconut oil the recipe called for. I think my coconut oil is just too rich. So there is a slight sweetness to the muffins I am okay with, but not enthused about.

I also made meatballs! Free range beef combined with chopped up green and yellow onions, and sweet potato and spaghetti squash. That was dinner and it was amazing! That will also be lunch tomorrow with my favorite green beans from Trader Joe's.

I also had frozen grapes today. I kinda love that stuff.

It is the end of the day and I have to say I am very pleased. Got good exercise with Maddox, I ate very well, no sweeteners, had a marvelous nap. Emotionally I feel empowered - as one does when doing something like this at first! What was hard though was not being able to weigh! I have a terrible habit of jumping on the scale off and on during the day, apparently. Not today! *bites nails*

And one last thing I did today was attempt to make Ghee. Well, after totally ruining one pound of expensive Irish butter (sigh) I found a recipe to make it in the microwave then put it in the fridge. SO MUCH EASIER. Thankfully I had another pound of the expensive Irish butter (unsalted, btw). I rather like Ghee.

Today was also my dad's 81st birthday, so I called and talked to him for a long time. He finally, FINALLY is doing email regularly, since he got a new Kindle Fire! I have long wanted him to get with the program re: email and he finally has. :)

So all in all a good day. A very good day indeed.