Sometimes in a person’s life they need more ‘atta girl’s. Not always. Sometimes just everyday keeps us going. But I have found that when I feel least alive and I can’t find motivation for even breathing, I need to stop and take stock of my day, week, life. While it is nice when others congratulate me. I find my own boost in saying, “Look at that! Look what you survived, created, loved!”
This blog has been that for me. Day-to-day can be dull. Downright angsty. Especially these last two years. So I am learning to see small accomplishments. Not earth-shattering wins. But things that make me smile and feel alive.
Today’s win is I ran out of Haven 2 to edit. There were 52,053 words altogether. There was no ‘the end’ and quite a few undeveloped characters, scenes, and plot bunnies to work on. I have a better working title: Haven, Above, Beneath, Beyond. My next step is to work toward 60k a full story, minus stuff that needs to be deleted.
Sorry. Not sorry. Just didn’t finish the Sunset Beach. There was only straightening, sealing, and painting a frame, but for me the straightening is the hardest. Hopefully, tomorrow I’ll ‘gird my loins’ and face it.
The socks are nearly finished. Just putting on the ribbing.
And it looks like I’ll have just the right amount of yarn for both socks.
Editing/reading first round is nearly done. I’m happy that I almost doubled my goal for February. I set up this months’ goal as just finishing. Though the project has nearly 58k I set the goal (extended last months’ goal) to 60k. That will encourage me to write a couple thousand to build a few characters up.
Sorry cell picture of the computer screen doesn’t do well. But hopefully, you can read it. I have 45,190 in my project so it seems an easy goal.
My passion this week has been my reading, first edit of Haven Above and Beyond. Or until I choose a better title, Haven book 2. My goal when I started February was 25,000 words read/edited to yWriter7. I have ended February with 45,190. Nearly 50k! I’m more than pleased. And I’m excited about the project. I can’t wait to dig in and rewrite, elaborate or kill parts of the story to make it better.
The heels are done on the socks. It won’t be long now!
My body hasn’t cooperated to finish the last bits of the Diamond Painting. Maybe tomorrow.
I have started working with the Trapp recorder book as it is for the English/Baroque. Then I review what works from the other book. I’m starting it over sadly. I had finished that book.
Now I need to go finish a library book that is due tomorrow.
A classroom of students shuffled as they pulled textbooks from backpacks. Books pounded the desks. Pages fluttered as everyone found their places.
Sue moaned quietly. Not another story of rainbows and unicorns. Well, the unicorns were fine but why did they think all girls wanted princesses and all that fluff.
If Sue wrote a story, there would be peasant girls. There were more of them than the spoiled, weak, brainless royalty.
A pheasant walked by. It seemed to want to make sure of spelling. “Hhhhhh.”
“I’m not writing about beautiful birds this time, thank you.” Sue was always polite.
“I want a story about dragons. Smart dragons. Not a knight or sword in sight.” Her pencil raced across the page. “Who needs royalty?”
Suddenly the girl next to her kicked her desk. “Psst!” She hissed. Sue was always jealous of her friend. She always had that perfect pageboy.
Suddenly, she had a young page telling the dragon how to slip by the castle unnoticed.
Her pencil drew the scene. One line squiggled wrong. She erased, blew off the eraser bits.
Her friend coughed. “I’m sorry!” Sue said as she smoothed her friend’s hairdo.
“Sue, look. We’ve turned the page.”
Sue caught up and saw a picture of a dragon holding a young person who was reading an announcement.
NaNoWriMo is doing another group push. It’s called Now What 2022. It helps to have these things to try to kick me in the butt to get my editing and more writing done. So for my own accountability, I’m keeping track of words as I add my second Haven book back into the newest version of Writer. I wrote this and Haven back when the program was newish. yWriter5. We are now to yWriter7. I am nothing but redundant in my saving my WIP. So I consistently save the day’s writing in that program to RTF. Now decades later, I am glad I did that.
In this case, I can find my book, Haven Above and Beyond, open it in Word, and then use Grammarly to help me weed through and make a better version, if not rewrite the whole thing to make more sense. And as I enter it into a new yWriter7 project, I can count the word as I paste the worked-out bit in. I set my goal to 25,000 words. I have a few of my other books set up with the same goal because I might feel like moving around. I am not good at editing. I love the adventure of imagining a new story. But jumping into the mess and fixing what already played out as a movie in my mind, I miss a lot, and fixing things just doesn’t come easily. So the word count to date is 2,949. There are two scenes within that that are entirely yellow highlighted as I hate how it reads and will have to totally rewrite them. That’s okay. I’m glad I can see the awful within that movie.
So between editing, Diamond Painting, making a new charity hat while watching Sweet Magnolias, Duolingo, finding the moments to walk or play the recorder, and having a high need dog, I can get pretty turned around. I am grateful to be retired, with nothing but time. But there is never enough even without a job hogging it up.
Oh! Did I mention that in our tiny little community that had one gas station/convenience store and a tiny grocery store, both of which are charging twice as much as they used to, and even then, they were high? We just got a Dollar General. My son and brother went the other day. They came home and told me that it was a TARDIS of a shop, bigger on the inside. My husband and I plan to check it out tomorrow. Who knew, back in my big city days that I would be this excited to go into a Dollar General?
Journaling has always been hit and miss for me. I was most successful last year. In January at the beginning of the pandemic I heard someone say the more people who wrote about our world and related it personally, the better for the archeologists who find said diaries.
I was extremely consistent and as accurate as I could be and let my worst fears, angers, and imaginations go wild. I managed longer than any other attempt at writing a journal. I think I wrote daily at least until June. Then the journal informed my Camp NaNo project Pandamapocalypse.
By September, I had fallen into my old habits. At first, I missed a day here or there. Before I knew it months had gone by with no entries.๐ช
At least here at the blog and Duolingo, I’ve been consistent for quite a while, a couple of years, actually. So, not a journal per se. But an entry a day. Yay!
Check out the rules and make friends for JusJoJan.
It seems if you look at the protocol to participate in JusJoJan are endless. But really, it is just an encouragement to write, even a little. And these days a little seems huge at times.
Still it is fun, and if you’ve the eyes for it, reading all the connected blogs is fun and you make new friends.
Your prompt for JusJoJan January 13th, 2022, is โprotocol.โ Use the word โprotocolโ any way youโd like. Enjoy!
What is this Gobbledygook? “Dogs and cats living together” <— A quote as I remember from Ghostbusters. But yet here it is as I documented this morning. Maybe so much rigamarole. I don’t know. See for yourself.
Teddy and Kali on a quiet Sunday morning.
I don’t think there’s a natural hatred between the two species. I do know if either animal appreciates the sudden intrusion of the other. But most nights they share my bed. And do so in such a way to leave an inch or two for the human. How do they, such smallish creatures, manage to take over? Maybe it isn’t Gobbledygook! Maybe they are looking for global domination?
Your prompt for JusJoJan January 2nd, 2020, is โgobbledygook.โ Use the word โgobbledygookโ any way youโd like. Have fun!
Wow! Can you believe we are back to January in a year that can look like this Y2K22? Beginning Just Jot it January, again, a prompt to write on everyday. Today’s blends with the Stream of Consciousness Saturday with the word prompt appropriate for the day, resolve.
Resolve according to Dar’s silly dictionary is to repeatedly solve. Which is how we all continue an insanity every year. Resolutions have been proven unsuccessful most of the time.
My friend and I choose to sit and write out possibilities. Last year I saw a possibility of getting healthier. It took the whole year adjusting eating habits losing over 30 pounds. And Intermittent Fasting has been the best, easiest method of my life.
This year will mean a possibility of more movement. More music making. More art enjoyments. Of course more knitting. But I’m determined to knit socks on circular needles, flippiesย or whatever they call those bendy short ones, and I want to learn to use double pointed needles. Right now, loom knitting is fast and I don’t lose stitches. But I am determined to be able to use any of these methods.
I see myself writing more letters and cards. And speaking of writing, I see those many books edited and finding readers.ย
I see people being kinder to each other. So let’s see if we can make this and more come true!
Working on my series: Haven.
Doodler (zendoodle.com)
Music major: voice and piano
Mom of four great adults
Reiki II practitioner
I have been on disability/retired for 10 years now from depression, anxiety and fibromyalgia.
Hi! my name is Sebastian (You can call me Seb!) ...welcome to my Blog. I'm a photographer from Worcester, Worcestershire, England. Thanks for dropping by! I hope you enjoy my work.
Books, games, music, and life โ filtered through the mind of a writer, drummer, and philosopher who thinks too deeply about all of it. If it moves something in your chest, I'm interested.
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