WIPpet Wednesday test drive: Christmas Trees

This week: 
      *Novel: made significant progress on my read through of The Real Road Trip. The only hard part is not making changes now, instead of waiting until I have finished reading the rough draft. I have 49 pages to go. Aiming for the week's end to complete the read through and then begin the small fixes, the spelling, grammar, and minor missing words or sentences.
       *Reading: Almost complete with The Monsters Within (Stephen Cole, a Doctor 9 adventure). It's good, but currently not my favourite. Have 54/55 pages left. Going to start Windhaven (George R.R. Martin) and then I went and bought new Neil Gaiman books (that will be February's reads: Anansi Boys, Stardust, Coraline, and Good Omens). Can't state enough that Neil's writing is Ah-Freakin'-Mazing! Go read his stuff!! Second being James A. Owen.  Also, go read his stuff!! :-)
        *Writing: wrote a press release for The Mousetrap and started working on a complete rough draft of Christmas Trees (the working title) and since I am going to try WIPpet Wednesday Links Page. This is my first time. Here is a 21 lines for the 21st of January from the current draft of Christmas Trees:

Bob stood there, in the singular floodlight of Bob’s Christmas Trees. It was cold and the wind was starting to pick up, but he couldn’t leave to get anything warm to drink, not even some hot cocoa. No he had to stay put, no one to manage while he was gone.  He wanted some coca so bad or something warm. His fingers were getting really cold, but had to stay here until at least nine.

There were a half dozen folks meandering through the small lot of trees. Their conversations, he heard, ranged from the prices of Bob’s trees to whether they were worth the cost. Bob sighed.

A sharp voice said, “He has to wonder why anyone would buy these scrawny rejects,” it belonged a thin yet neat man, from not too far away. He was within eye shot of Bob. Did that on purpose, Bob was sure of it. He shifted from his left foot to the right, his apron weighing down his jeans sagged, they sagged under gravity. Bob hitched up the jeans, realizing that he had forgotten to put a belt on today and was really regretting it now. 

The conversation continued as Bob thought about business. "One, two, three," he said to himself. "Three more, if I could just sell three more." Well then he would break even. It had been a very hard this year. Nobody seemed to have enough money nor did many came for live trees anymore. He sighed.

There was a man who was fondling the needles of a Douglas fir, one of his last on his lot. Bob eyed the man, hoping he would buy the tree, trying to ignore the sharp man's comments.

         *Editing: finished re-write of The Audition. Going to keep the title. I wanted to change it, but honestly couldn't come up with anything better.
         *Social Media/Visiting: Monday and Tuesday visited 3 to 4 blogs.
         *Planning for Critique Partner Meeting: preliminary stage. Have discussed getting together, nothing planned yet. Thinking of working on my smaller writings first, before tackling the novels.

This week to work on:
         *Novel: complete the read through.
         *Blogging: before Friday 1 new blog entry.
         *Writing: complete rough draft for Christmas Trees.
         *Submit: 1 new submission (at least 1 by Friday).
         *Theatre Stuff: various things and stuffs for The Mousetrap...

Overall, Dear Readers, I am feeling that I am really making headway on this year's goals. Making the writing a priority, which last year wasn't always a thing. Doing better because I want it!

Mousetrap is coming along quite nicely. My cast is starting to get off book, two of them have ALL TEH LINES, but I can see characters being born and the accent work is coming along. Also, it's nice to have friends who know how to teach accents. Steadily acquiring props, costumes, and set pieces. It's all exciting! No wonder why I am wired whence I get home. Whilst at rehearsals I have such adrenaline going.

How are your goals going, Dear Readers? This is part of A Round of Words in 80 Days, a blog challenge that let you make goals and share this goals with fellow writers. This is a Blog Hop, come a visit, stay for the writing and cookies!

Music for Today:

Music, Murder, and Progress

Time to get cracking. I am fully aware of the time of day and it's the weekend so I wanna be lazy dammit!

Okay that sounded a bit childish, but it's true. I am still making progress. It's just I slept in and then zoned out to some reviews before cracking the whip. There's something about Sundays, Dear Readers that makes a person likely to be lazy. Not always, I know, but with me it does. Certainly now since I have a M -F day job.

How do you feel about Sundays, Dear Readers? Productive day or excuse to slack and relax? With the colder weather my ambition has taken a little longer to wake up.

Okay, time for a update. Actually, it's not bad. I did a bit before writing this, but it was my first chance to focus on these two items.

This week:
     *Reading: finished The Deviant Strain (Doctor Who Novel) and Murder by the Seaside by Julie Anne Lindsey. Couldn't put down either, spent about 6+ hours finishing them. Starting Only Human (Doctor Who Novel) and The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman.
     *Writing: been pretty good and writing daily, except weekends. I seem to like having a life on Saturdays. Sunday I do writing, partially because of ROW80, but also because I don't go too far on Sunday (well most Sundays). I have written at least 100 words on Monday through Thursday of this week. Friday, I think I just got sidetracked, so, not bad. Might have to ramp up the  daily word count to 500 words and exclude Fridays and Saturdays as they are my 'unplugged' days. Still a solid goal.
      *Editing: I edited a flash fiction I wrote last week (The Bridge). I actually read the story first before making edits. That felt that was more productive. I am a bit impressed, I feel it is actually pretty good. The Audition is on the back burner. I tried to work up the nerve, but oddly, it didn't want to be disturbed, probably why I went with The Bridge. and I realized i said edit updates on Friday, oops! :-) Need to remember to make a post about any and all update on Friday, even if brief. There's is always this week.
       *Social Media/Visiting: except for Friday and Saturday I have been keeping up with my 3 to 4 visits (and sometimes more) visits. Tweeting regularly too!
       *Submitting: 1 submission this week (well, today to be specific). Been looking at new site and journals, but think I should submit new work to the journals that rejected me last year. Had some hopefuls and even some feed back. Continuing with 1 submission per week (at least).
        *Theatre stuffs: finished the Murder Chorus and had scheduled my recording session with my chief audio specialist/videographer.

Up and coming this week:
      *Editing: The Audition. No more pussy footing around. It gets the red pen, or.... Well yeah, will finally get to the long waiting revision/re-write. I think I need to take my notes and the old script and sit down to hash out details. Might take a little longer in the process, but the script will be much better because of it. It's based on a bit of my experiences auditioning for show and harsher truths of auditions.
       *Novel: I have a printed copy and will be starting the read through this week.
       *Blogging: finish my Little Prince review.
       *Writing/Reading/etc....: continue with the goals.

I have been enjoying my rehearsal for Mousetrap. Only 3 rehearsal in and I am seeing the actors building to build their characters. Things I am learned: blocking murder is tough, sometimes it's okay to laughing at rehearsal, and trust is key.

Have a awesome week, Dear Readers, stop by the Blog Hop of A Round of Words in 80 Days (the linky link), and enjoy some Tegan and Sara.