WIP Crackin' Wednesday

"Live a little crazy" Edition

My mid-week report to you that covers the three major commitments I’ve made: to write, to edit, and to read.

Writing, Editing, Reading

I’m combining these for a bit because that’s my life now as I try and hammer out Sigils.

Writing-wise, I managed 3500 words this past week. I’m now at 103k total for the manuscript. I’m estimating another 15k to put this to rest. My goal is to bring it in at under 120k.

At the end of last week, I sketched out the final confrontation with the Big Bad. That is going to be fun to write. Every character is going to get their own little Crowning Moment of Awesome if I can get it to come together the way I want. So while I’m still sitting at 10 scenes (because they tend to pop up like dandelions), I know what I’m doing and chipping away at each of those scenes should be quick.

I missed my BICHOK goal though, only hitting 4/7 days. I have - completely coincidentally! - 15 days left this month. So 1k+ a day to finish, but I’m going to have to do it consistently every day. I know I can do that!

Um. Except I’ve got a short story promised for the end of the month as well. So… crud. A good chunk of it is done, and I know how I want it to go, though. So add another 5k in there for that. I really need to do that sooner rather than later, too, so I can get some feedback on it. Please hold while I frantically rearrange my schedule…

But I did get the first three acts out to alpha readers! My Secret Squirrels of the Apocalypse are busy reading through my very rough draft and soon they will be bringing me tiny little buts of feedback. I think. It’s hard, wrangling squirrels.

Reading: I really want to get to In the Palace of Shadow and Joy by D. J. Butler. I’ve enjoyed his short stories about Indrajit and Fix, and I want more. Right now, it’s my treat for finishing Sigils. I get to sit down and enjoy instead of making my brain work overtime. I’m looking forward to it.

Commitments for this week:

• BICHOK. I need to go 7/7 this week & the next.

• Knock out at least 5 scenes/7k words on Sigils

• Start collecting feedback from alpha readers

• Polish off that short story!

Other

Keeping up with #TeamAndMore. I’ve shuffled the posting schedule there a bit so that I’m going to put out next month’s open calls the last week of the previous month. That’s so people will have a chance to get stories submitted to markets with deadline earlier in the month, if they want.

Part of the reason for missing my BICHOK goal this past week was the time dedicated to the Lady’s Tea fundraiser. The food was amazing, the tea was fantastic, and I ended up spending about 12 hours over Friday and Saturday setting up, helping host, and tearing down. After which we had to take an evening and go pick my daughter up at college. Oh, and I managed to wedge watching part of a school play in there as well, because I promised one of my Sunday School students that I would look for them.

Yesterday I reviewed & edited fundraising emails for one org, a blog post for another, and spent a couple of hours petitioning at the primaries to help get a friend on the ballot for school board. Today I have another fundraising meeting for a third organization and a political candidate meeting (post-primaries). Layered in all that is, you know, the day job stuff that I get paid to do.

Oh, and my youngest daughter’s HS graduation - and graduation party! - is coming up, too.

So things are a tad bit hectic. I love it, though. It’s all stuff I like, it’s all stuff I want to do, and Hugh Jackman summed it up pretty well in The Other Side:

So trade that typical for something colorful

And if it's crazy, live a little crazy

You can play it sensible, a king of conventional

Or you can risk it all and see

To be honest, I’m not risking much. However - it is colorful, crazy, unconventional, and fun :) Tune in next week to see how it’s going!