Lauralynn Elliott's Blog, page 7

ROW80 Update 5/10/15

Writing is still going well. I finished the novella for the anthology under the Catherine pen name. It’s not due until late summer, so I’m going to set that aside a little while, then go back to it for editing later. I might add a scene or two at that time, depending how I feel about it after letting it simmer.

I’ve written a couple of scenes in the second Hemlock Ridge Mysteries series under the Catherine name. I actually started that novella with pen and paper since I was at a diner with no laptop with me. Wow, now I remember why I love my computer.

I’m going to try to write the Hemlock Ridge novella and the sequel to Soul of a Vampire simultaneously. I’ve tried to write books that way before and have never been able to. But I love a challenge, so I’ll try once more. I really need a book for both pen names.

I have FOUR proofreading jobs coming to me soon. It’s going to be challenging to write every day while that’s going on. My deadlines on these jobs are going to be tighter than I’ve had to deal with before. What I’m going to try to do is, during the time I’m proofreading, only write about 500 words per day. That will take me 20-30 minutes, and I’m going to take that time if I can. I can’t put my writing completely aside while proofreading like I’ve done in the past. I have an hour at lunch and somewhere around three hours at home (unless my eyes give out sooner). That will leave me about an hour to spend time with my husband. As long as I use my time wisely, I think I can pull all this off. You probably won’t see me online at night for awhile. And housework? Forget it!

That’s about it. I’ll be overwhelmed for the next month and a half, but I’ll get through it. This might just be good for me. :)

ROW80 Update 5/6/15

I feel like I’m really accomplishing things this month. 19% of the month has gone, but I’m at 29% of my monthly goal, so that’s good. I’ve written 3653 words in the past three days. Also good. I’m almost done with the novella I’m writing for an anthology, so it will be off to editors/beta readers soon. Then I can concentrate on the other two books in the queue. I really think it’s possible I’ll make my 150,000 word count goal for 2015!

By the way, I broke a rule in one of the sentences in that first paragraph. Who can tell me what it was? ;)

ROW80 Update 5/3/1

Just a really quick check-in before I get ready for church this morning.

I finished April off with about 4,000 words over my goal for the month. So that’s good. I took the last two days off from writing to do other stuff. Yesterday, I walked over 4 miles in the Juvenile Diabetes walk. Then I went to a Mother’s Day banquet yesterday afternoon hosted by my mom’s church. Sometimes there are other things we have to do besides write.

I’m kind of stuck in the plotting for my second Hemlock Ridge Mysteries series written under my Catherine Lynn pen name. I have the basic plot, but there’s some important stuff I’m not getting. I’ll probably go ahead and start writing, because a lot of my ideas come WHEN I’m writing instead of before. That’s why I like pantsing better. I think better during the process of writing than the process of plotting. I’m trying kind of a combination of both. I know the basic things I need to know for the plot, just not all the details. Does that make me a “plantser”? Hmm, a new word.

ROW80 Update 4/29/15 – Looking Ahead

I want to look again at my long-term goals for this check-in and see where I am.

This year, I want to have published four things under my Catherine Lynn pen name and one under Lauralynn. I’ve accomplished two of these so far. I have one novella in a two book anthology with Ruth Ann Nordin (writing as Barbara Joan Russell) which is through Parchment & Plume Publishing, and I published Brewing Up Murder (which is doing surprisingly well right now), the first in the Hemlock Ridge Mysteries. I’m about 2/3 into a novella I’m doing for an anthology, so that will be done soon. My next projects will be writing the second Hemlock Ridge novella and writing the sequel to Soul of a Vampire. SoaV was a little complicated to write, and I think the sequel will be equally so. I’m going to give myself plenty of time to write that one. We’re only four months into the year, so I think I’ll be able to write it.

Another goal for the year is to write 150,000 words. This might not seem much to you, but with what little writing time I actually have, it’s a lot for me. So far, here’s what I’ve done. My nifty spreadsheet (you can find them HERE) divides the 150K into monthly goals based on how many days are in the month.

January – Goal: 12,740, Written: 12,890

February – Goal: 11,507, Written: 10,454

March – Goal: 12,739, Written: 1,779

April (so far) – Goal: 12,329, Written: 14,776

As you can see, I got way behind in March. But I’m at 120% of goal for April, so I’m slowly making that up. I’m still 9,416 words behind for the year. If I can just keep up my momentum, I can reach my yearly goal. Can you tell I love spreadsheets?

ROW80 Update 4/26/15

Last week was a good week and a bad week.

The good. I managed to write 5544 words last week. And I only wrote three days, so that averaged 1848 per day. The biggest chunk was on Saturday when I sat down and wrote 2705 words.

The bad, and the reason I didn’t write Thursday. Those of you who keep up with my blog, other than the ROW80 check ins, already know I lost a very good friend Thursday morning. We still don’t know what happened, and the autopsy results won’t be in for awhile. This man and I have been friends for 34 years. He was a co-worker, and it’s going to be hard going to work every day and not seeing him there. His funeral was today, and it was hard.

The novella I wrote under my other pen name is doing really well, but I can’t sell a thing under Lauralynn. I haven’t figured that one out yet.

That’s all I have today.

Operation Kick the Insulin – Week 4 and Much Sadness

I didn’t realize it had been that long since I posted about this. I did week 1, then kept forgetting to weigh in. I apparently skipped weeks 2 and 3. Time flies.

Anyway. I gained back 4 of the 6 lbs. I lost. It’s not really surprising since last night (the night before weigh in!) I consumed copious amounts of comfort food. I won’t apologize for my binge because I lost a very dear friend. He was a co-worker going all the way back to 1981. His wife called yesterday morning and said he was never coming to work again, then told my boss he had died. We are all just stunned. Yesterday, we were like zombies all day here at work. This is the second good friend I’ve lost in the past four years. You know, we aren’t guaranteed tomorrow, so we need to make our lives count.

I hope next week’s weigh in will be better. I just didn’t really care last night, even knowing what I would see on the scale this morning. The pain in my heart overcame everything else last night.

ROW80 Update 4/19/15

This has been a good week. I only wrote four days last week, but I managed to churn out 4,077 words. So I’m happy with that. My Supernatural (love Sam and Dean) spreadsheet says I’m on track to make my monthly word count goal. This is a novella for an anthology under my other pen name. I still have some plotting to do for my next in a series under that pen name, plus writing a sequel to Soul of a Vampire under Lauralynn.

I still haven’t figured out quite how to write multiple books at the same time. I wanted to this round, but I seem to still be focusing on one at a time. I think part of that is because I figured out some stuff that would make a better plot than the one I originally had planned out. A lot of the basics are the same, but some of the reasons for the conflict have changed. So then I got all excited about writing this. I don’t really want to lose the momentum, so it’s hard to work on something else. We’ll see how that goes.

I’m looking forward to this week because I’m so in love with my current WIP right now. I’m just barely into the second act, so I hope I don’t stall somewhere in the middle!

ROW80 Update 4/12/15

This wasn’t the best week until yesterday when I kicked butt. :) I wrote 2379 words on my WIP under my other pen name (for an anthology). I had a sudden epiphany concerning the plot. I realized the why of the conflict between the hero and shero, so I was fired up. Now you might not think 2379 words is a lot in one sitting, but it is for me. I might have gotten more in, but I started getting antsy about the time because I knew I had to go to a funeral later. (Not anyone close.) That’s why I like to write when I know I have nothing else going on later in the day.

I’m getting ready to plot the second novella in my new mystery series under my other pen name. A co-worker suggested a great murder weapon that would leave no clues, so that’s going to make it more interesting. :)

I’m going to try to work on three different WIPs at a time this round, so that’s totally different for me. I don’t know if I can pull it off, but we’ll see. The anthology story will be my first priority, but I want to work on the other two from time to time, maybe just a few words at a time. I love a challenge, and this will definitely be one!

ROW80 Round Two 2015 Goals

I’ve pondered about this round’s goals. I see a lot of people list a LOT of goals. Sometimes it makes me feel inadequate. Then I realized, I have a full time job, a writing job, and a proofreading job. So I’m cutting myself some slack. I’m only going to list goals I think I can accomplish.

So here goes.

1) Write anthology novella

2) Write at least a quarter of the Soul of a Vampire sequel (I already have it plotted out).

3) Plot out the 2nd novella in the series I’m writing under the other pen name.

4) Continue to lose weight toward my “Operation Kick the Insulin” goal for 2015. (I’m not giving specific weight loss goals because some of that isn’t under my control.)

I think that’s enough. Not overwhelming, but enough to keep me on my toes.

Operation Kick the Insulin – Week 1

The Dreaded Insulin Pen

This post may be long since it’s the first one in this series. I plan on doing an update every Friday.

Diabetes is a very serious disease. It can lead to blindness, kidney disease/failure, neuropathy, and other complications. The key to preventing these complications is to keep blood sugar at the proper levels.

Every night, I give myself an insulin shot. This is an extended release insulin that lasts all day. At this point, I don’t have to take the shots at every meal like many diabetics do. I DON’T want to go there. I also take a medicine called metformin twice a day. In addition to these medicines for diabetes, I take a blood pressure pill and a cholesterol pill every day. This is my life right now. I’m keeping my blood sugar under control, but I hate that shot every night.

So, here’s the deal. My goal is to be completely off insulin by the end of 2015. I plan to do this by losing the weight I need to lose. In doing this, I might also be able to get off the blood pressure meds. Maybe even the cholesterol meds. This is going to take a lot of work. Exercise, self-control when eating, etc. Losing weight is the best way to get your pancreas to start working properly again. And that’s what I’m going to do, if at all possible.

There’s always the possibility that this won’t work. I might be on insulin for the rest of my life. But I’ve seen many people lose the weight and get off insulin. I’m going to try with all my heart.

This hasn’t been a full week because I just started this on Monday. But I want to weigh in on Fridays, so I’m going to have a five day week the first time. That’s okay, because I’ve already lost 6 lbs. :) I know a lot of that is water weight because it’s impossible for someone to lose 6 lbs. of fat in 5 days. But I’ll take it.

If anyone wants to join me, please feel free to comment with your goals and accomplishments. Even if you don’t have diabetes, that’s fine. Many people still want to be healthier. Exercise, eating better, and losing weight can prevent or reverse all kinds of health problems. If you just want to lurk and say nothing, that’s okay, too. But, please, at least click the “like” button, because I want to know you’ve been here. And, if you don’t have any health or weight problems, I would love to have some cheerleaders, especially when I’m feeling down about this whole thing. Because I know that’s going to happen. It’s normal.

So I’m taking the plunge to be a better me both inside and out. Wish me luck! And those of you who pray, I need that, too!