Getting better

I have survived the great wisdom tooth extraction. It wasn't pretty though. I don't say this often since being an author who dreams up fantastical situations, but it went worse than I imagined it would. 

One of the things I learned about myself is that I don't handle pain meds well. Like at all. I managed to throw up more times in an 8 hour period than I had since I was a child sick with whatever virus it is children manage to get. Not being able to eat solid food probably compounded the situation. We knew my stomach is very sensitive since I have trouble with anything that has iron in it and antibiotics but this was even worse than that. 

I went off those meds fairly quickly. My mouth was a little more sore than I would have liked but I was able to keep food--and more importantly water--down. 

The husband was a rock star though. He did all the errands throughout, picking up the meds and antibiotics, making runs for ice cream and other soft food because I hadn't bought any beforehand. He also made his first cup of tea ever. Granted, I had to groan instructions at him since he's never brewed tea before and I didn't want him singing my tea leaves and ruining the flavor, but he did it. All two sips I had before falling asleep again were delicious.   

Those on Facebook who said I'd at least have something to put in a book were right. One day a character of mine will have a similar reaction to a surgery or medication and those who've read this blog post will know why.

Checking in

I wrote a blog post, but ended up deleting it because I thought it sounded a little too whiney. Unfortunately, that still left me with a blog post to write. Welcome to the world of a writer--write a scene, dislike it, delete it, rinse and repeat until you stumble on something that halfway makes sense. 

Lately, all I've had the energy for is to make word count--sometimes not even that. It turns out writing the end of  a series is taxing business. There's all these open loops you have to be aware of and close. Finding a character arc that brings the reader satisfaction without driving them crazy is a balancing act. There's also the fact I want Tate to go out on a strong note. She and Ilith have been with me for so long. They deserve a good ending.

The good news is that I expect to be done with this draft by the end of next week. Honestly, even if I haven't reached the end end, I'm going to call it the end so I can go back and rewrite and fix everything that is bothering me. 

This story went off the rails relatively early in the process--pretty much from chapter one. For once, I stuck with my promise and did no rewriting, no editing or anything like that. It's a good thing too. My original plan was to toss chapters one and two and start the book at chapter three. 

It would have been such a waste of time and energy had I really done that. 

Two a.m. brainstorms are the best--well, maybe not for sleep. But for figuring out the problems areas and reassembling the storyline into something that actually makes sense, nothing can beat them. I finally know how and why things happen. The pacing of the new outline is so much better than the current version. I have room and space to develop the characters who had fallen by the wayside. The best part is my original beginning can stay! Actually, a lot of what I thought I'd have to toss will be able to stay. Just in a new way.

Yes, I'll have to rewrite a significant portion of this book. Yes, I'll have to add soooo many scenes to round out what I have. 

But! The vision in my mind is going to be so much better than what I currently have. All those fun parts that make working in Tate's universe so interesting will get their chance to shine. 

This is a roundabout way of saying--Dragon 5 is progressing along--maybe not nicely or easily but it's heading in the general direction I want.

Bears and Inspiration

I'm alive! This years backpacking trip is one we'll be telling stories about for years. 

Brief excerpt from the hike

Stop at trail head to read the rules of the path. Notice on board says "Beware Bears. All over nighters must have a bear canister."

B: What?! No one said anything about bears.

Me: Didn't you see it on the forestry website? I sent the link to my sister.

B: No! I saw nothing!

Sister: It'll be fine. We probably won't see a bear.

B: We don't have a canister! The bears will know we have food!

Me: My husband rented a bear canister. Just put your food with ours.

Several hours later from the campsite across the path

Unknown camper: Get bear, get. Go on, now. Get. Go AWAY BEAR. GO AWAY!

B: BEAR?!

Brother in law: It'll be fine. We did everything we were supposed to.

B: BEAR?!

Brother in law: We'll post a fireguard.

Sister: Oh no you won't. You have to come to bed to protect me. You can guard from the tent.

One in the morning.

Dog growls.

Brother in law: Get bear, get. GO AWAY NOW!

Needless to say, none of us got much sleep that night. No one actually saw the bear, but my brother in law said he heard something big coming through the underbrush toward us. He's spent considerable time in the wilderness and is an Army Ranger, so I trust his assessment of events.

Also, when we got off the trail a few campers said bears had taken their food. Thank goodness my husband decided to research everything about the trail this time or we might have had our food taken too.

The trip was exhausting, but fun. I would definitely go on another one. Although I might pick an easier route next time as this one nearly caused a revolt. Nothing went as planned, and unfortunately we couldn't complete it because some of the trail was closed due to erosion.

Bonus: I got a great idea for a scene in a future Broken Lands novel :-) I get inspiration out of the weirdest things.

Updates

If this first month is any indication of how the rest of the year is going to go, I am going to be very, very busy. Not just on the writing front, but in my personal life as well. For starters, I've finally finished my move, and my condo is being prepared to be put on the market. Factor in that I've made significant headway in wedding plans, and you're looking at someone who is surviving on very little sleep or reading time. (Note- Wedding planning is not for the week of heart.)

In addition to all the personal kerfluffel, I've managed to proof and upload the final, final, FINAL copy of Moonlight's Ambassador to Amazon. This is probably the closest I've cut it to the publishing deadline, so it is a huge relief to know it's up and that I don't have to do anything else to it. No more proofing, formatting, or stressing. Just the soothing knowledge that it's done. Unfortunately, I don't know if it makes sense to do an ARC since we only have a week until it goes live. I may have to wait until the next book to put that idea into production.

In other news, Dragon 3 continues to chug along. I have roughly 35,000 words left of the first draft, maybe more. I'm entering the climax and trying to bring to fruition all those seeds I planted in the first part of the book. I'm at the stage where I have no idea if the story I've written is working and I'm just desperately trying to finish. There are so many tangled threads right now that I'm having serious anxiety about whether I'm going to be able to weave everything together into a cohesive whole in the few words I have left. A lot of things are supposed to happen this book. Now it's a matter of making those things happen without forcing or short changing them. It's harder than it sounds.

The crazy thing is I've been here before on other books. The worst was probably Pathfinder's Way. It's why it took me almost 3 years to finish. Since taking that long isn't really an option anymore, it means having to find my way through the weeds. It can be difficult, but I have faith that the finished product will be worth the struggle. If nothing else, I'll just have a really extensive editing cycle this time. I guess that's a silver lining of a sort.

Triple Crown Loop

I've survived my trip of backpacking on the Appalachian Trail and have several blisters and bruised toenails to show for it. I can say with all seriousness now that Shea is a bad ass for being able to hike up some of these mountain passes. The mountains I hiked up weren't anywhere near as high as what I have Shea traversing in my imagination and these nearly kicked my butt.

We had originally intended to hike 32 miles of the Triple Crown loop near Roanoke, VA but decided after hiking 12 miles the first day and several near melt downs that it would be better to drop the packs for the rest of the trip and do day hikes. Instead of 32 miles we ended up clocking somewhere around 25 miles.

I can say with all honesty that this was probably one of the most physically intense experiences of my life. There was one mountain near the end of the first day that nearly crushed my soul and managed to destroy the group's morale. The mountain just kept going up and up and up. Every time you thought you'd hit the top, you'd round a bend and find that there was still more to go.

Silver lining - I came away with some great photographs (another hobby of mine) and some great insight into Shea's character. As I'm currently smack dab in the middle of writing Pathfinder 2, this experience was very timely. I'll have a lot of material to draw from to lend realism to some of the characters.

Overall I'm glad for the experience even it has taken me several days to recoup some of the energy and willpower I expanded forcing my way up these mountains. Still, let's not do that again anytime soon. :-)

Adulting isn't for the weak of heart

Being an adult is hard. I miss the days, few though they were, when I lazed around the house on a Saturday with nothing on my mind beyond how I was going to get to the movie theater to meet friends. Gone are the days when I could sit and read a book-- All. Day. Long. From start to finish.

I miss those days. Granted, I could choose to spend my time like that. I am an adult and can do what I want. But then I'd be plagued by thoughts of how the bathroom won't clean itself, the kitchen looks like a murder victim was slaughtered in it (I made meat sauce for my spaghetti squash), and my next book ever be written if I don't plant myself in the chair and type. Rather than giving myself an ulcer, I just do.

For instance, this past weekend was a three day, but I spent most of my time in some form of activity, whether that was writing many, many words, cleaning after a week away traveling for work, or taking care of much needed gardening. All of which gives me this feeling of accomplishment. Also, I'm always mad impressed with myself when I hit a really high word count goal.

Still, I do miss reading. And lazing.

How does everyone else spend their adult time, and what from your younger years do you miss?

Whole 30 and writing

I've been hearing a lot lately about this meal plan called Whole 30 that follows a strict set of rules which entail giving up alcohol, sugar (including artificial), grains and dairy. Just typing this makes me ask myself why I would want to do this. Sugar? Ok, I probably need to eat way less of it than I do, but the cravings are going to be a monster. Alcohol? It might affect my social life and make going to bars awkward for a while but totally doable. But grain? Dairy? That's a little tougher and requires me to overhaul a lot of what I eat. Dairy or grain is in almost every meal.

This will definitely be a challenge but oddly enough I'm kind of looking forward to it. There are supposed to be a lot of health benefits at the end that might make all this worth it. Today is Day 1 of the plan so we'll see how this works.

To top it all off, I started writing chapter one of the new book. Go me. Most of the day has been spent on meal prep for the week (because this plan requires intensive cooking) and finding time to write between chopping vegetables and fruit.

The first page of any book is always the most difficult for me. Before it is written, my story is full of infinite possibilities. Every written page begins to limit where the story can go based on where it has been. Settling on one beginning and one path is a challenge but one I have to meet head on each and every time I start writing a new book. This book is a sequel so the voice of the character is a little easier to nail down. I have so many ideas right now and can't wait to see which ones bear fruit.

Spring!!!

The weather has finally, finally turned the corner to sunshine and warmth. I have been eagerly anticipating this for months now. When it snowed earlier this month, I nearly cried because in my mind it was spring, and snow just doesn't belong in spring. This is the season where short sleeves, skirts, capris and shorts begin to make their return to my wardrobe. They can't do that if there is snow falling from the sky!!

Now that the warm days seem like they're here to say for a little while, I've begun eyeing my container garden. I need to get it cleaned up from last year. I took the time to plant seeds in starter pots that I can keep indoors until the danger of frost is over. I'm growing jalapenos, cayenne peppers, green beans and spinach this year in addition to the herbs I normally grow. I love using produce from my own garden for meals. It gives me an extra oomph of achievement. Here's hoping my troublesome cat doesn't eat anything that sprouts.

Thanksgiving

It's that time of year again, where amazing food and the people you love come together for a memorable day. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays because it's about spending time with the people you love and giving thanks for the blessings you have in your life, both big and small. I have a lot of things to be thankful in my life right now.

This is the first year where I am responsible for the Thanksgiving meal. My kitchen is small as is my dinner table but it will work out somehow. I'm particularly excited about the turkey that's currently roasting in the oven. I decided to go bold and tried for a whiskey, maple brine that I got out of a magazine. It'll either be amazingly delicious or frighteningly horrible. That's what's so fun about cooking for me. The adventure. You never know if the end product is going to turn into something that will make your taste buds scream in delight or if it's going to be an epic fail your family will be ribbing you about ten years from now.

Along with the turkey, I am doing mashed potatoes, another thing I don't have a lot of experience cooking, corn bread spoon bread, roasted mushrooms and pumpkin pie. All of my favorites.

Now I think I will stop typing and get back to cooking! Hope everyone has a memorable Thanksgiving.