I've been outlining AH and am quite pleased with what I am coming up with. The freemind software I have seems to be working quite well for me.

Though I'm getting antsy and think I need to start writing some scenes up. So, I am going to write up some random scenes to get the feeling for the story again.

Hope everyone had a happy 4th of July. I got to take my son to see fireworks. Though, we got home extremely late and my back went out.

I'm also getting an itch to do some genealogy: with what time, I do not know. So I may pick a few days this month and do some of that in the evening. We'll see what happens.

I've been playing around with Freemind, mapping out my AH story. It's been so long and I can't access a portion of my files for this story, so I need to go through the outline process again. I had an idea as well. I thought about when I start the story from the beginning it always comes out wrong and I flounder (all 2 books that I've attempted.) Well, I thought for the 2YN course, I had done some writing scenes and actually ended up using them so I thought maybe I would try that again. I think I will write just a few scenes to get a smattering of the characters and then I'll solidify my outline before I turn around and actually get down to writing seriousness. Afterall, I've got to do something to keep my mind off the fact that I have 4 people reading my first finished novel and 3 of them are family. For some reason, family makes me feel a little more nervous.

Anyway, seems I've been doing a fairly decent smattering of reading these past few weeks. I read some Terry Brooks (2 books), Rachel Caine (1 book), and 4 Graphic Novels (1 Dresden, 1 Buffy, Catwoman, and one that I'm not sure what it was but it was sure odd). I normally don't read Graphic Novels, but my husband does and lately he's been coming home from the library with a smattering of interesting looking covers on the graphic novels... well, actually he did specifically point the dresden one out to me as he thought I would be interested. lately, I'll see one of the books on the dining room table or next to our fouton and just happen to pick it up. I'm quite surprised considering this is more that I've read in months.

So, between crazy work and crazy family...my son is going through one of those rebellious stages that all 5 year olds go through, I've rounded out my days with a good read. Now all I've got to do is figure out what to get various people for their birthdays and I'll be set.

Well, I think I shall move on over to my other project and see what shall be written. I didn't realize I had so many other ideas of stories. there is AH, then there's book two of the one I finished (I had some inspiration). There's a few supernatural ideas I have (sorta vampires and/or werewolves), and there's just one really wierd idea which still needs to cook on the stove a bit. Anyway, though I'm itching to jump into book 2, I think I'll stick with AH as that one has a lot of potential if I can focus my brain on it.

I did it!!!! It's done!
Now I can bundle it up, send it off to be read by friends and family and focus on other things for a bit.

*phew*

Happy Belated Birthday after_the_light.

All I can say is this is the first time I've been online in quite a few days. :)

I hope it was a good one.

Ok. I don't know where I am or where I'm going. Between traveling, sick pets, demanding work, and everything else that's going on, I'm lucky I'm awake.

I'm just posting to let ya'll know I'm still here. If I can be anymore silent than I am already, I will be for the next few weeks while work gets worked out.

I started to make progress, but then I hit scene 3 in chapter 31. It's a scene that needs a complete rewrite due to all the changes in previous scenes. I have basically taken what I originally had and moved it around and added some new stuff and removed other stuff.

Anyway, I've been working on this scene for a week or so and I am so close to finishing and yet so far away. Hopefully next weekend I'll have a chance to finish the scene.

I've only got eleven more scenes to write. I am so close to being finished with this novel.

I'm finishing up Chapter 27. When I got to the end, I realized I would need to add a few more paragraphs to end the scene better than it was. Then I can move on to the next chapter and next scene.

On other fronts, I've been oddly absent from online life. I hope everyone has been doing well. I have a feeling I'm going to be scarce until June.

With only 1 hour, I managed to write the new scene that I was putting off writing. It's tiny and it'll probably need editing after I let it sit, however, it puts me in a good position to keep editing the rest of the book. I'm on chapter 25 (Scene 51). That's about 20 more scenes to go and a majority of them won't really have much to change.

I'm getting a little more inspiration to write some Nadie stuff though it'll more than likely be in short Nadie diary entries. I had to first get an idea of what Nadie is looking to find out about her father and her uncle. That took me some time.

Anyway, how's everyone doing out there?

Ok. So I've now succumbed to my Son's cold. I just hope I don't get it as bad as he had it.

Though, that's not why I'm posting. I wanted to update my progress. I've made it to scene 50 (chapter 24). It's a new scene so I've been neglecting starting it. I also have chapter 7 revisions based off the last critique of it. Thank You after_the_light

Anyway, things are hectic.

Hope LJ land is doing ok.

ETA: Oh yeah, I almost forgot. I did alot of updating to the HOTGT wiki for my serenity character. I added some contacts and other people as well as some diary entries.

http://hotgt.imagination-evolution.net/index.php/Captain2

My husband broke the screen on his PSP about two years back (possibly longer). Recently, we decided to try and replace the screen. So, I just spent the past two hours replacing it. And you know what? I had fun.

I am such a geek.

It snowed last night. What's with that?

Who would have thought. I have too much to do but for some reason I woke up from a dream with some inspiration for a new story. For some reason my story involves gods in more than an almighty sort of form. My other world has much background talking about the relationships between the gods and between their followers and they aren't always yes sir no sir type relationships. And they aren't always seeing the gods as almighty.

Anyway, I rebooted my eeePc back to factory settings and figured out how to download new updates finally. An update installed freemind which I think I might try using to plot out the story.

We'll see what happens.

Oh and I'm getting pretty far with editing on Olvidan. Im on chapter 22 (scene 45 of 73 total) now. That's definitely over halfway done. I am stopping temporarily as after_the_light is reading my edits and she provided me with feedback for chapter 5 which I'd like to incorporate while I'm still focused on that. She has given me some very good advice that I'd like to use.

I'd also like to thank those of you who actually read this journal. I know not many of you do and I don't post much here anyway, but thank you for listening to my rambling.

BTW: My husband's webcomic "Mysteries of the Arcana" http://mysteriesofthearcana.com/ is doing very well. I suggest you go take a look. The art is beautifully done by Keith W and the story is done by my husband. Anyway, take a look. I think some of you out there might like it.

I finished another big scene I had to add in and I am in love. I enjoyed writing it and I actually like how it turned out. Of course, it's going to require lots of tiny additions to practically all the subsequent scenes but I think it's worth it.

Onward!

I am about two thirds of the way through another big scene change. This one is moving a little better, however, like most of my first time scenes, the emotions are more raw for my characters. They tend to be angrier, more fly off the handle and filled with stronger emotions. When I take a second pass of this scene, I'll remove alot of that unwanted parts and hopefully be left with a beautiful scene.

Anyway, it's going slow though, not because I'm slow (which I am) but I've lost one of my two days a week to write in the morning which means I am down to one day of week almost always gauranteed. What that also means is if I miss my one day, I won't write for two weeks. *sigh* Hopefully my schedule will get better as the weeks/months go by.

Last time I wrote, I mentioned having "inspiration". Well, I'm here to say that I have completed the scene from hell. It wasn't really the scene that was bad, it was the fact that I knew I had to write a scene at this exact point in the story involving these people and I just couldn't figure it correctly. It kept coming out wrong. So, I kept reworking it.I'd change this, then I'd change that, then I'd combine two scenes, remove something else and just turn the whole thing on its head. Yet I couldn't figure why I was having trouble. Once I figured it out, all I had to do was go back to a previous scene, insert that itty bitty line and then voila! New scene love occurred. I love my newly finished scene. I think I will call her George.

Anyway, enough silliness. I am finding my time to write is on the weekends between 4:30 am and 7am. By then I've got enough sleep that my brain is working and I'm not drooling on the keyboard. The only downside is I can only do that on weekends. I'm up somewhere between 4:30am and 5:30am most weekday mornings, so unless I go to be earlier than my son, I have no chance of getting any writing done.

Anyway, hope everyone else is doing well.

Ok, so, I've been busy. New baby, new hours, no time to myself. It's all good. I've been struggling with Olvidan edits. I'm at chapter 17 (over half way finished) and I got stuck. So, I decided to work on something else. It was ok, but I was sad I couldn't finish olvidan edits. So, I decided, no writing, I would do some much needed reading. Read C. E. Murphy's Urban Shaman. Good book. I enjoyed it. Makes me wonder though if every good book these days features a sleep deprived man/woman out to save the day. Must be a product of our culture that everyone is sleep deprived and you can't be great if you've had a good night's rest. Anyway, I digress. So, my brother over the holiday mentioned he's still waiting to read Olvidan (I refused to, give him and my dad the first draft because I was concerned about certain scenes). Then, my dear friend eponin10 gave me a nice journal (Englebright) to help me with finding time to write. The only downside is I can't use it for editing (though I wish I could). Now, let's take last night. Normal bedtime is 8pm. I pass out with the child in my arms. When I wake up, put the child down, and get ready for bed, I get a second wind. Not enough to do more than play the random games on my computer. Nothing fancy, tetris, a typing game, something with penguins. I go through the list for three hours. As I'm going to sleep at 11pm, I all of a sudden think about Olvidan and the fact that I WANT to go back to editing it. So now I have trouble falling asleep. 4:30 AM comes rolling by and I start thinking, well, I could use my new journal to write that scene out by hand and see if that works.

Somehow, that exact thought triggered the answer I needed. I figured out why I was having trouble and proceeded to tell my brain to shut up until morning when I can fix it. Hubby was beautiful enough to let me make that fix and he took the children this morning. So, I went back and changed a single sentence in chapter 15 that will allow me to move on in chapter 17.

So, between my brother and my friend's encouragement and LOTS of tetris and other games, mixed with a sampling of sleep deprivation and I've got a solution that I think might work.

If this is any inkling of what's to come in the new year, I'm in for some excitement.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE - Again.

Hope everyone had a good new year and may this year be fruitful and happy for all my friends out in LJ land.

So...So So So. I'm back at work. I go in very early and get home early but have huge family obligations and great exhaustion. Which means, very little work done. Hubby did give me some nice time on Monday to go off and be writerly and I got to week 10. Woohoo! I am liking how my world and characters are developing. Where I started with no characters, I have three with fairly decent life to them.

I don't know when I'll have more time as the holidays will be sucking away at my time. I've gotta finish christmas shopping so presents can be shipped off, finish tatting the presents I was making for my son's preschool, put up the holiday stuff as my son will be thrilled, make holiday cookies that have passed down from mother to daughter for quite a few generations now. I also want to manage going to the YMCA every saturday to start keeping in shape more.

I'm sure there's more to do, but for now, I think that's enough.

I hope everyone else is hanging in there for the holidays.

Amazingly, I've been busy. At least for me. I sat down and started reading through lazette's 2YN course to start outlining the new idea I have. I've worked through the first 4 weeks and am now working on week 5. I'm feeling good about the story.

I've also done a bit of tatting thanks to the encouragement of my brother who was looking for some crafty stuff to put on his website. He was looking for some christmas or thanksgiving items. His website is over at http://loganwoven.com

Anyway, I tatted a christmas tree and a candy cane. They are from Patti Duff's Minitats book with some of my own additions. I scanned in the tree.
( Tatted Tree )
and still need to scan in the candy cane.