Much Progress

Today is a mass of hysteria and confusion as I sort out everything I need to do. Bear with me, Dear Readers. I am trying to get caught up on stuff, so this is getting posted on the late side.

This Week:
      *Reading: making slow work of Inkheart (Cornelia Funke). It a good novel and I need to soak it in. I have forgotten much of it since my last read of it.
      *Writing: wrote my OctPoWriMo poems daily (about 100 words each), Tuesday Writing Blitz (700+ words), Wednesday Writing Blitz (713 words), ROW80 post (863 words), and some NaNoWriMo prep work (its coming too fast).
      *Editing: Didn't get to editing Tuesday, but managed to get about an hour on some edits tonight. I wrote this so out of order that getting these edits and re-writes into the script is really going to take a while. But on the upside I feel I am getting a clearer story out of The Real Road Trip. Its becoming a stronger story. I have chapters now, but they feel more like sections while I sort this story out. We will see after I finish with this re-write draft.
      *Theatre Stuffs: scanned the my script (so I can print of a Lighting and Sound Technical Script tomorrow). Making sing-up sheets for make-up, and help for box office and parental guard duty. Typed up stage notes for Act 1. Much more to come....less than three weeks now!
      *House Tending: got plumber to fix leaky pipe in basement, getting a quote on a new furnace (joys of home ownership) as it appears that the furnace is shot, keeping up with laundry. Most of the dishes are now done.
      *Social Media: spending tine on Twitter, visiting 4 blogs daily from ROW80 and OctPoWriMo (at 4 for each since Sunday), and keeping up with my sponsor duties.

This (upcoming) Week:
       *Reading: continue reading Inkheart, read Murder Comes Ashore (Julie Anne Lindsey), and start Mrs. McGinty's Body (Agatha Christie). Update my Goodreads Reading Challenge.
       *Writing: write daily, at least 300 words. Hoping to make this happen in the latter part of the week this week. Spend a little time getting character sketches done and finish a mock outline for Modern Muses for NaNoWriMo, because that starts on Sunday.
       *Editing: Spend 1 day between now and Sunday editing The Real Road Trip for an hour.
       *Blogging: post Thursday.
       *Social Media:  4 blogs daily, sponsor duties, spend time on Twitter.
       *Theatre Stuffs: report.
       *House Tending: report.

A Round of Words in 80 Days is a blog challenge that knows you have a life. Come and see what the other ROW80-ers are writing about at the Blog Hop.

HOw are your goals coming? Who is doing NaNoWriMo? Ready for November?

So much stuff and now time for a little WIPpet Wednesday!

The creation of K.L. Schwengel, where writers post a bit of their WIP on Wednesday to a Blog Hop (CLICK HERE) to visit the other WIPpeteers. By using today's date you share a snippet and give a little background on the piece. Today is 10/28 so lets do 2 + 8 = 10 paragraphs from the beginning of Modern Muses (working title). Here we meet Thalos and what was doing at the top of the novel and a little bit of Teri.

A man bounced a tennis ball against the ground as he heard shouts from the field. “That’s fifteen – love, mate.” The guy on the further end of the courts called to his partner. 

“Okay, my serve then,” and he reach up just in time to miss the ball and as he ran to catch it his laces which were now loose and sprawled out across the court. He did a tuck and roll, but still managed to bang his head on the fence.

“You okay mate?” his friend called.

“Yeah, just cracked my head that’s all.” Everyone else on the nearby courts eyes the event unfolding, some even chuckle a bit, but most turned back to what they were doing when the young man slowly stood up.

They were supposed to laugh, Thalos thought. Why didn’t they? He thought it was funny.

What people didn’t see was that the man, Thalos was laughing and moving his pointer finger as the young man had skidded into the concrete, dropping his racket as the ball went out of bounds and bumping his head. Thalos wiped tears of mirth from his eyes, “Oh that’s good…” as he mentally checked off points about the young man’s fall.

“I thought you were in charge of inspiring the lighter side of poetry, comedy, and mirth.”

“I am,” said Thalos who now stood, dropping the tennis ball into his draw string bag. “I am just sitting here minding my own business. Doing some research for one of my…um, charges.”

“Right….Thalos. You think I was born yesterday.” The voice belonged to a short and thin girl, who looked much younger than Thalos. She was certainly clean in appearance. “You’re a bum, Talo.”

He hated that nickname. It made him think of candle, “What’s it to you, Teri?” Thalos said ignoring Teri and walking past a girl who was wearing black yoga pants and a purple spaghetti strap top with some brand name store across her meager chest.

Productive Day

This week's check-in...

This Week:
     *Reading: finished Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (Douglas Adams). What a strange story. It was engaging. I feel like I lost the story at a few points, but then found it again a few chapters. Adams is a strange writer, yet fascinating. still I liked it. Working on The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (Agatha Christie).
     *Writing/Blogging: Not much really. I have to sneak time to write this week, but this afternoon and early evening I wrote a 99 flash fiction piece, and posted another piece for Tamara Woods' #writestuff monthly writing challenge. Read it here.
      *Social Media: have kept up with my sponsor duties and 4 blogs daily, except Saturday as I was directing and performing in a 1 act for 24 Hour Theatre.
       *House Tending/Exercise: did a lot of house work this after and afternoon from laundry to dishes, trash to vacuuming, and general tidying up around the house. This also included lots of going up and down the stair, so I probably did at least a mile in stair work today. Also I was walking around yesterday during 24 Hour Theatre. :-)
        *Theatre Stuff: finished prop list for The Music Man, updated cast/crew list.

This weekend was KLP's fall 24 Hour Theatre. This was the first time I wasn't writing for it since the very first one. I was directing and acting along side one of my best friends, Sara and my new friend Luke. The show involved elevator, a child with the chicken pox, over acting teenager, income tax, flirting, and talking with your butt. Yeah, good times! Oh and having my husband cross dress as Yasmine Sapphire! You have to be there. Back I've included a few pictures for those curious souls, Dear Readers.

Beauty Pageant

Untitled: A Working Title

Also, yesterday was the season premiere of Doctor Who and wholly crap, what a season opener. After 24 Hour Theatre we all trucked to Sara (she has BBA). Don't worry, Dear Readers, no spoilers! But WOW!!!

Also in the news, I have a smart phone now. I don't know if this is a good idea or not. We'll see...

Finally over thew crude from two weeks ago, just a bit of a runny nose and a small cough. At the Evil Day Job, I survived the week. Tomorrow will be long as I usually go in early to help with the Monday morning crazy. But I am more rested, feeling better, and having a better out look. Been writing more and after today's productivity am ready for a fresh week, Dear Readers.

This (upcoming) Week:
       *Reading: finish The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (Christie), work on Fragile Things (Neil Gaiman).
       *Writing/Blogging: write daily, at least 300 words. Blog on Tuesday and Thursday.
       *Editing: look at The Real Road Trip, make a dent in the edits/rewrites.
       *Social Media: 4 blog daily and sponsor duties. Work on a sponsor post for Round 4 (maybe) before end of this Round.
       *Theatre Stuffs: get sponsors. Report progress on Music Man.

A Round of Words in 80 Days is a blog Challenge that knows you have a life. Here's what you do: write down some goals, follow the goals, blog about your progress twice a week, post to blog and linky list, visit fellow writers/bloggers, meet new friends and learn some new things. Come view the Blog Hop here.
 

Little Bit of This and That...Labour Day and End of Summer

So much to report....

This Week:
       *Reading: I have been bouncing between my menagerie of books. Haven't finished reading anything new yet, but enjoying the progress. Currently, I am working on Invisible Moon (James A. Owen), The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (Agatha Christie), and Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (Douglas Adams). I have recently discovered that I enjoy jumping from book to book, as it suit my mood. This sprang up from a conversation with an old friend from High School two weekends ago now about how we read books. I always marveled at her ability to read books quickly.
       *Writing: wrote Monday (650 words) and Tuesday (953 words), and will be blitzing later today on Modern Muses.
       *Editing: finished the reading through/edit of The Real Road Trip back on Friday. I am reallt please dto have made it the whole way through and even more pleased that the story is still workable. Just need some massive re-writes in the process. Enjoyed a bit of a break during the weekend. Now I start the next phase of the edits.
       *Social Media: keeping up with my sponsor duties and returning to my daily 4 blog visits. Spent a little more time on Twitter with my #writestuff tweet chat yesterday.

In the middle of all this I have to find a schedule to accommodate my upcoming rehearsal schedule. Daunted? Maybe a little. Determined? Heck yeah! I built some good habit over the summer and don't want to lose that. I am also trying to do more challenges, like the WWW Wednesdays:

What are you currently reading?
   -about 5 different novels. The one I am leaning more towards is Invisible Moon (James A. Owen). It the second in his Mythworld series about what happens when Rangarok happens in a little Upstate New York town. I don't think that was too spoilery.

What did you recently finish reading?
     -The Festival of Bones, Mythworld Book 1 (James A. Owen). What happens when ancient literature meets opera?

What do you think you’ll read next?
     -finish one of the other books I have started. Also want to revisit and finish the Inkheart series (Cornelia Finke) . I have a pending review of the movie that is just waiting to happen. I do book to movie review/analysis.

This (upcoming) Week:
     *Reading: finish reading Invisible Moon and maybe Murder Comes Ashore (Julie Anne Lindsey).
     *Writing: write daily, at  least 300 words.
     *Editing: begin my re-write of The Real Road Trip, trying the edits re-writing all the crap, and finally organizing the chapter, maybe an outline too. To be completed by the end of September.
      *Blogging: missed my Tuesday blog day, so this week will be Thursday. 1 non-ROW80 post. Also blog about goal progress in August and September goals.
      *Submissions: 2 new submissions and report on the progress.
      *Social Media:  visit 4 blogs daily and sponsor goals. Thinking of being a sponsor for Round 4.

Music Man read through is next week. Got to work on a props list. Revise my schedule to account for rehearsals and writing/editing time. Prep for NaNoWriMo in November. Post more spoke word to my YouTube channel (as it hasn't gotten a lot of love in the last year). Prepare for OctPoWriMo in October. Also, enjoy the End of Summer.

How are your goals, Dear Readers? What have you been up to as the summer is winding down?

A Round of Words in 80 Days, a blog challenge that knows you have a life. Stop in the Blog Hop to visit my fellow bloggers/writers.

It's also, WIPpet Wednesday. The day we post a snippet of our WIP. Created by K.L. Schwengel. YOu take today's date and used the NEW MATH to get a snippet of your WIP and share with the interwebs. Visit my fellow WIPpeteers here. Today's date is 9/2/2015. Going to make it simple 9+2=11 lines from
Modern Muses.

We find Thalos calling on Teri and she arrives via a dream form...

“Guess I am hearing things now.”

“No, you’re not,” the voice came again, sounding closer.

“Teri?” Thalos called, but when he looked up he didn’t see anyone or anything.

“You called?” Teri’s voice filled his ears.

“Did I?”

“I heard to whisper my name. Then you said something. I then found myself here” 

“What was that,” he said to the emptiness that was the study and to the direction that Teri voice had come from. He closed his eyes and thought about Teri, her shape, hair colour, her smell.

“Talo, it’s me.” The voice was stronger now and he saw through his closed eyes Teri’ small frame standing near the fire. “Come here, but don’t open your eyes too fast.”

“I how can I do that and not trip over chairs and mediaeval armour?”

“It seems to work better when you close your eyes. Relax . Then slowly open your eyes.” Easier said that done, Thalos thought to himself. “I am glad you called. There seems no way out of this room.”

“Where are you?” Thalos asked, finding that he was suddenly standing.

Thalos and Teri's Song:

Shapoopi Progress

It's been a Shapoopi Weeekend!

This Week:
      *Reading: been spending time earlier in the week on The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (Agatha Christie)Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (Douglas Adams).
and
      *Editing: I finished my read through and edit of The Real Road Trip. Wahoo!!!
      *Blogging: I managed a new blog post, posted earlier today. Working on getting on a regular blog schedule set up. I feel this will get easier.
      *Social Media: I have at least managed to keep up with my sponsor duties. Not much else this weekend.

It's been a long weekend of auditions and discussions. We had a really nice turn out with so much local talent, and now we have a cast. It feels so good! I have missed this, doing theatre and being part of a show. There something organic about theatre. You start with a story and add actors and a good director and BAM, you have a living breathing show. Of course there is much more that encompasses a show, like costumes, music, sets, and such. After all the rehearsing you have a living essence, something alive.

Theatre makes me feel alive!

Is there something that makes you feel alive, Dear Readers?

This (upcoming) Week:
       *Reading: continue with The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Murder Comes Ashore (Julie Anne Lindsey), Invisible Moon (James A. Owen), Fragile Things (Neil Gaiman), and Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency.
       *Writing: write daily, at 300 words.
       *Editing: begin inputting edits and re-write of The Real Road Trip.
       *Blogging: 1 new non-ROW80 blog. Making my days I blog Tuesdays.
       *Social Media: 4 blogs daily and sponsor duties. Spend more time on twitter.
       *Submissions: 2 new submissions this week.

After this week I can return to a normal schedule. I will have to adjust to the the rehearsal schedule, but I am convinced that is workable and it's what I do.

A Round of Words in 80 Days is a blog challenge that knows you have a life. Come and see what the other ROW80-ers at the Blog Hop.

Today's Music: