J.R. Pearse Nelson's Blog, page 25
August 28, 2012
Mid-Week Update: Crying Over Spilled Characters
Do you ever make yourself cry with something you're writing? I wrote a scene today that had me bawling. It spilled out really fast -- I wrote 550 words in 20 minutes before taking a short break, that was the emotional part, and then came back a while later and wrote another 750 in about 35 minutes. That's pretty fast typety-typing. And there was the crying. I will say it was a scene I've been thinking about for months, and it's pivotal to the entire Children of the Sidhe series. It is emotional, and dark, and wrong, and strangely right at the same time.
I can't remember any other time that I've cried over my writing that way. What about you, fellow writers? Do you cry over your spilled characters?
I didn't write on Monday. I know I said that whole "must write every day this week" thing. But office day, long commute, brain tired and headachy after kids were in bed. I did some blog reading. Fine with that.
Still, with today's 1,300 words, and the fact I can count the remaining scenes on one hand, I will be finishing this book in the next week (note that includes the long weekend). Yippee! Of course, then it goes in my to-be-edited pile, so nobody get excited. I need to edit book three before I edit book four.
Speaking more broadly of the series: It's really exciting to approach the end of a series like this! I can feel it all coming together. There will be five novellas total in the Children of the Sidhe series. Two are out now (Tribute and Vessel), Flight is written, and Descent is almost written. I'm thinking about the fifth novella, Shield, being my project for November. I had mentioned NaNo, but let's be honest, 50,000 words in a month just doesn't feel good to me. It feels like panic and the rest of my world falling apart. But 30,000? After two months off of writing to publish Queen Witch and edit Flight? I think I've just spilled my round four goals. :)
I can't remember any other time that I've cried over my writing that way. What about you, fellow writers? Do you cry over your spilled characters?
I didn't write on Monday. I know I said that whole "must write every day this week" thing. But office day, long commute, brain tired and headachy after kids were in bed. I did some blog reading. Fine with that.
Still, with today's 1,300 words, and the fact I can count the remaining scenes on one hand, I will be finishing this book in the next week (note that includes the long weekend). Yippee! Of course, then it goes in my to-be-edited pile, so nobody get excited. I need to edit book three before I edit book four.
Speaking more broadly of the series: It's really exciting to approach the end of a series like this! I can feel it all coming together. There will be five novellas total in the Children of the Sidhe series. Two are out now (Tribute and Vessel), Flight is written, and Descent is almost written. I'm thinking about the fifth novella, Shield, being my project for November. I had mentioned NaNo, but let's be honest, 50,000 words in a month just doesn't feel good to me. It feels like panic and the rest of my world falling apart. But 30,000? After two months off of writing to publish Queen Witch and edit Flight? I think I've just spilled my round four goals. :)
August 26, 2012
Sunday Update: Nearing the Finish Line
Okay, that might be a bit bright. I'm at 22,000 words on my first draft of Descent. So I'm within 10,000 of the novella's end. This is the point in a manuscript where my writing usually speeds up. If I can get any time to write, that is. :)
Anyway, I know how it goes from here, and it's a matter of execution. I'm totally pumped!
I haven't reported word count in quite a while. But I don't want to bore you, so I'm not going all the way back to the 12th. lol.
I will go back to the 16th, when my mini-vacation started. So productive!
Here goes:
16th- 2,000
17th- 1,100
18th- 1,300
19th- 1,500
20th- 1,700
21st- zero
22nd- 400
23rd- 800
24th- zero
25th- 1,300
26th- 1,500
I'm hoping I'll have the motivation to finish this book this week. That means writing absolutely every day.
It also means I hope to be back to the final edit of Queen Witch September 1st. I should have some decent blocks of time to get that finished by September 8th, and then I can get it to beta readers and move this process forward.
How is everyone else doing? Such a time of transition right now, as we move toward fall. I'm wishing you all the best with schedule changes and the rest of REAL LIFE. Or let's just blow it all off and write. Ha!
Anyway, I know how it goes from here, and it's a matter of execution. I'm totally pumped!
I haven't reported word count in quite a while. But I don't want to bore you, so I'm not going all the way back to the 12th. lol.
I will go back to the 16th, when my mini-vacation started. So productive!
Here goes:
16th- 2,000
17th- 1,100
18th- 1,300
19th- 1,500
20th- 1,700
21st- zero
22nd- 400
23rd- 800
24th- zero
25th- 1,300
26th- 1,500
I'm hoping I'll have the motivation to finish this book this week. That means writing absolutely every day.
It also means I hope to be back to the final edit of Queen Witch September 1st. I should have some decent blocks of time to get that finished by September 8th, and then I can get it to beta readers and move this process forward.
How is everyone else doing? Such a time of transition right now, as we move toward fall. I'm wishing you all the best with schedule changes and the rest of REAL LIFE. Or let's just blow it all off and write. Ha!
August 23, 2012
Living the Dream
I'm back!
It's been kind of a rocky week. I had a blast on my mini-vacation, with all sorts of fun family activities and a little time for myself, then got back to work for one day before my kids got sick and had to stay home. So now we're going a bit stir-crazy, but they're still not sounding well, so it will be another long lazy day at home. Wish me luck thinking up fun projects for them.
You know I have no trouble thinking up fun projects for ME. :)
Writing progress! I've made some! I'm going to wait until Sunday's update to let you know specific word counts, but I'm usually not having trouble hitting 1,000 on days I write.
I read recently on another author's blog that her target is to write 10,000 a day. OMG!! How?!? Reading statements like that is depressing for me. I think, here's this person who is obviously so much more productive than I am, who manages to fit in that much writing, and I know she works incredibly hard at it.
Writing full time would be amazing, but even at that I can't imagine producing 10,000 a day. I can't imagine producing 5,000 a day. I bet if I wrote full-time I could manage 3,000 words a day before I was writing complete crap with my brain on overload. Yes, that would only take me about three to four hours daily to meet that target, but after that my brain is usually all mushy and ready to wander on to other things. Forcing myself to stay at it, I don't think I'd write the same quality of work.
And that's the danger of such comparisons. Why should I be depressed? I'm making up characters, plot lines, stories...and bringing them to life on the page. That's the dream. If I tried to PRODUCE, what would be fun about that? And as much as this is a job -- sure, it's a part-time job, and a business I'm developing -- the DREAM is to write stories people want to read. It doesn't happen instantly, but every step I take gets me closer. So, I'll keep taking those steps, and being happy with what I am and what I can do as a writer. I'll keep living my dream.
It's been kind of a rocky week. I had a blast on my mini-vacation, with all sorts of fun family activities and a little time for myself, then got back to work for one day before my kids got sick and had to stay home. So now we're going a bit stir-crazy, but they're still not sounding well, so it will be another long lazy day at home. Wish me luck thinking up fun projects for them.
You know I have no trouble thinking up fun projects for ME. :)
Writing progress! I've made some! I'm going to wait until Sunday's update to let you know specific word counts, but I'm usually not having trouble hitting 1,000 on days I write.
I read recently on another author's blog that her target is to write 10,000 a day. OMG!! How?!? Reading statements like that is depressing for me. I think, here's this person who is obviously so much more productive than I am, who manages to fit in that much writing, and I know she works incredibly hard at it.
Writing full time would be amazing, but even at that I can't imagine producing 10,000 a day. I can't imagine producing 5,000 a day. I bet if I wrote full-time I could manage 3,000 words a day before I was writing complete crap with my brain on overload. Yes, that would only take me about three to four hours daily to meet that target, but after that my brain is usually all mushy and ready to wander on to other things. Forcing myself to stay at it, I don't think I'd write the same quality of work.
And that's the danger of such comparisons. Why should I be depressed? I'm making up characters, plot lines, stories...and bringing them to life on the page. That's the dream. If I tried to PRODUCE, what would be fun about that? And as much as this is a job -- sure, it's a part-time job, and a business I'm developing -- the DREAM is to write stories people want to read. It doesn't happen instantly, but every step I take gets me closer. So, I'll keep taking those steps, and being happy with what I am and what I can do as a writer. I'll keep living my dream.
August 16, 2012
Mini-Vacation Starts Today
Yay! Another little break from work. This one will be centered around several family members coming into town, most of whom we only see a few times a year. We shall gather at the pool, and over bbq, and hopefully in homes more air-conditioned than ours. Today is our first in a string of a few days supposed to come in around the 100 degree mark. It's 101 outside right now. Our bedroom window unit just isn't doing the job today. Ah well.
I'm off work through Monday. Rock on! Hopefully my word counts will show it. But writing can't be my first priority, either. That's okay, I'm just a few days behind my goal.
I love summer.
I'm off work through Monday. Rock on! Hopefully my word counts will show it. But writing can't be my first priority, either. That's okay, I'm just a few days behind my goal.
I love summer.
August 12, 2012
Sunday Update: Busy Summer Progress
It has been a lovely summer so far. I wish I'd been able to take a little more time off, and of course to have more time to write, but I'm telling you, there's been lots of good stuff. And we just bought our little one her first school supplies -- she starts preschool in a few weeks. Once again, change is the name of the game raising little ones. As soon as you're settled into a lovely pattern, or a not-so-lovely one, something changes.
Last weekend, my husband and I sat down with the calendar and realized we have exactly one completely free weekend in the next six, and two are SLAMMED. So ... busy, busy. Yesterday was a big family get-together a couple of hours away, and it took the whole day. But it was super fun, and most of these folks I only see at this event in the summer and at Christmas, so well worth it.
I guess this is all to say, I'm glad I have a good start on the book I'm writing, because I'm not likely to see long writing blocks on Saturdays.
Word counts this week:Sunday - 1,250Tuesday - 1,000Thursday - 1,600Friday - 1,350Saturday - 500
Did you notice Monday and Wednesday aren't on there? Let's not talk about it. My summary conveniently chooses not to list them as a part of the week at all. There you go .
I need to write 1,100 today to stay on track for finishing this draft this month. By word count, I should be about one-third of the way through, but I'm only about one-quarter of the way through my outline. So that's interesting. In the middle of a novella series I start writing long? Aargh. I'm just going to write the draft and see what turns out instead of spending my writing time worrying about it. :)
How's everyone else doing? Are your summers allowing you some writing time?
Last weekend, my husband and I sat down with the calendar and realized we have exactly one completely free weekend in the next six, and two are SLAMMED. So ... busy, busy. Yesterday was a big family get-together a couple of hours away, and it took the whole day. But it was super fun, and most of these folks I only see at this event in the summer and at Christmas, so well worth it.
I guess this is all to say, I'm glad I have a good start on the book I'm writing, because I'm not likely to see long writing blocks on Saturdays.
Word counts this week:Sunday - 1,250Tuesday - 1,000Thursday - 1,600Friday - 1,350Saturday - 500
Did you notice Monday and Wednesday aren't on there? Let's not talk about it. My summary conveniently chooses not to list them as a part of the week at all. There you go .
I need to write 1,100 today to stay on track for finishing this draft this month. By word count, I should be about one-third of the way through, but I'm only about one-quarter of the way through my outline. So that's interesting. In the middle of a novella series I start writing long? Aargh. I'm just going to write the draft and see what turns out instead of spending my writing time worrying about it. :)
How's everyone else doing? Are your summers allowing you some writing time?
August 5, 2012
Sunday Update: Plots, Progress, and Weighty Romantic Entanglements
The first draft I started last Wednesday is progressing nicely. I've met my test mile of at least 500 words each day, and I'm just one hundred words from the cumulative goal of an average of 1,000 a day needed to write this novella during August.
Here's my word count since the last check-in:Wed - 600Thur - 1,200Fri - 700Sat - 1,700Sun - 700
Another thing I should mention is that I've plotted more of book five, the final book in the series. I had a big EUREKA! moment the other day, as I considered the powers of the characters in the final book. It just clicked and I knew how the final battle plays out. Yes, yes, yes!! So now I feel confident about where I'm headed, and the major points of action at the series climax. I know where each character fits in the overarching plot and ending of the series, and that is a major plus as I draft book four.
One area where I'm having a bit of trouble: This story isn't quite romantic enough yet. My characters will come together, but there's a lot of drama right up front since this is a couple with a weighty history driven back together by events beyond their control after years apart. I love the female character, but I don't feel like I'm quite in tune with my hero. I spent some time Saturday reading back over his parts in Vessel and Flight, trying to feel out more depth there... it will come. No worries. I've made great progress this week.
For anyone else who writes romance series, here's a question for you: When your characters are particularly closed-mouthed, what tricks do you use to bring them out of their shell? I could use a couple of tricks with this fella, but I have a sneaking suspicion he'll be well worth the trouble.
I hope everyone's having luck beating out the summer heat, and making progress on those writing goals! Here's to another productive week everyone!
Here's my word count since the last check-in:Wed - 600Thur - 1,200Fri - 700Sat - 1,700Sun - 700
Another thing I should mention is that I've plotted more of book five, the final book in the series. I had a big EUREKA! moment the other day, as I considered the powers of the characters in the final book. It just clicked and I knew how the final battle plays out. Yes, yes, yes!! So now I feel confident about where I'm headed, and the major points of action at the series climax. I know where each character fits in the overarching plot and ending of the series, and that is a major plus as I draft book four.
One area where I'm having a bit of trouble: This story isn't quite romantic enough yet. My characters will come together, but there's a lot of drama right up front since this is a couple with a weighty history driven back together by events beyond their control after years apart. I love the female character, but I don't feel like I'm quite in tune with my hero. I spent some time Saturday reading back over his parts in Vessel and Flight, trying to feel out more depth there... it will come. No worries. I've made great progress this week.
For anyone else who writes romance series, here's a question for you: When your characters are particularly closed-mouthed, what tricks do you use to bring them out of their shell? I could use a couple of tricks with this fella, but I have a sneaking suspicion he'll be well worth the trouble.
I hope everyone's having luck beating out the summer heat, and making progress on those writing goals! Here's to another productive week everyone!
August 3, 2012
Rolling In The Deep: This Song Captures Descent's Romantic Conflict
I love Adele. She's stopped me in my tracks many a time. What a VOICE!
As I listened to this song, it fit so well with what Descent's character Rosa feels about Mikhail. I have the album and have nearly worn that track out. Ha! It's a song I can't listen to with headphones, because I MUST belt it out. As I approached writing the scene where my characters see each other after years apart, I listened to it over and over (I get that way with songs) and I'll admit I shut the windows and danced and sang my heart out. Fun times. :)
Enjoy!
I had to watch the video again after I embedded it. See? She gets me. This is also a freaking RAD video! I love the water glasses.
As I listened to this song, it fit so well with what Descent's character Rosa feels about Mikhail. I have the album and have nearly worn that track out. Ha! It's a song I can't listen to with headphones, because I MUST belt it out. As I approached writing the scene where my characters see each other after years apart, I listened to it over and over (I get that way with songs) and I'll admit I shut the windows and danced and sang my heart out. Fun times. :)
Enjoy!
I had to watch the video again after I embedded it. See? She gets me. This is also a freaking RAD video! I love the water glasses.
August 1, 2012
Mid-Week Update: Descent Begins Today!
Today marks the starting line for my first draft of Descent, the fourth Children of the Sidhe novella. I can't wait! I have a great outline, as well as a decent understanding of what happens in the fifth and final novella, so that I can keep the general course of the series on track with this draft, instead of repairing the damage later. And there is damage when I write without an outline. Believe me. :)
I want to write this draft during August, so the goal is an average of 1,000 words per day, with a test mile of 500 words EVERY day. That's going to be the hard part. Mondays and Wednesdays are hell on writing. I commute almost 60 miles to my office those days, which burns any extra time I might think I have. And by the time the kids are in bed...you know. But I have to get over it.
I'm beginning to think nature was conditioning me for this. My youngest started getting up in the four o'clock hour during our vacation in early July. Every day, she's up by 4:45. She might go back to sleep, but it's not for long. Lately I haven't been able to get back to sleep because I'm sure she's going to wake me as soon as I do. So I need to get up and write with that time. Even if she is up, after I spend five minutes with her she'll happily toddle around getting into stuff. I can get 500 words in before the rest of the household gets up. I'll just set up my iPad at night, so it greets me first thing in the morning -- the time I used to get my best writing done (read in "pre-kids"). How's that for turning lemons into lemonade?
How about you, ROWers? What are your tricks for getting word count on the page? What time do you work best?
I want to write this draft during August, so the goal is an average of 1,000 words per day, with a test mile of 500 words EVERY day. That's going to be the hard part. Mondays and Wednesdays are hell on writing. I commute almost 60 miles to my office those days, which burns any extra time I might think I have. And by the time the kids are in bed...you know. But I have to get over it.
I'm beginning to think nature was conditioning me for this. My youngest started getting up in the four o'clock hour during our vacation in early July. Every day, she's up by 4:45. She might go back to sleep, but it's not for long. Lately I haven't been able to get back to sleep because I'm sure she's going to wake me as soon as I do. So I need to get up and write with that time. Even if she is up, after I spend five minutes with her she'll happily toddle around getting into stuff. I can get 500 words in before the rest of the household gets up. I'll just set up my iPad at night, so it greets me first thing in the morning -- the time I used to get my best writing done (read in "pre-kids"). How's that for turning lemons into lemonade?
How about you, ROWers? What are your tricks for getting word count on the page? What time do you work best?
July 28, 2012
Sunday Update: Brave (Writers & the Movie)
Yeah, I'm going to use that title. I'm feeling it, baby! Not only that; we took our three-year-old to see Brave today -- her first theater experience. It was fun. A beautiful movie, with lovely music and a good mix of light-hearted tomfoolery and drama. The storyline was perfect for my girl, although it was all about mother/daughter conflicts which I found a little disturbing, but terribly realistic. Sigh. Daughters. I remember the sort I was as a teen...and it's nothing to look forward to. Maybe they'll be more like their dad and end up laid back. :)
But in another use of the word brave...that's one thing we writers have in spades: BRAVERY. I joked to my best friend earlier this week, as my belly churned over my novel, that writers have to simultaneously be extremely critical of their work, and ballsy enough to believe anyone else would give a damn about their stories. That's a ridiculous balance to maintain. R.I.D.I.C.U.L.O.U.S. Mostly, I try to ignore the parts that make me nervous or scared and delve into the productive side. Hey, there's plenty to do to take your mind off the pain of putting your work out there. Ha!
On Wednesday, I took a vacation day to write. That may seem drastic -- to those of you who don't have kids. Those of you who do have kids will know that your regularly scheduled work hours are the ONLY time you can count on. (With exceptions for extraordinary yet not uncommon circumstances of raising little ones.)
My vacation day was a huge success. I added all of the new scenes I'd written into my manuscript, and worked on transitions in the scenes around them. I also read through the first 35,000 words, working on consistency in plot, character, etc. The first 24,000 or so words were pretty clean already, but I had to start tying in some loose ends by Wednesday afternoon. So when I ended that day, I had the final 15,000 words to revise. By Friday night, I was done!! I'm going to print a copy and edit on paper, and then this baby is ready for beta readers. I'm starting to consider my publishing timeline and what I want to do in terms of a release for Queen Witch. The cover is in progress, and the proof I saw was gorgeous! I'll share that when I have a final copy.
I'm still super excited about writing Descent in August. That's next week! Yeah! And I have a decent outline, but still need to do a little work on that before I start writing. I figured out some new stuff this morning, starting to tie up loose ends for the final book in the series (there are five, and Descent is book four). Sometime in August I'll do my final read of Queen Witch, too. Maybe by week two or three of writing Descent a few days off from that project will help.
Onward and upward -- with word count, that is. :) Have a great week, ROWers!
But in another use of the word brave...that's one thing we writers have in spades: BRAVERY. I joked to my best friend earlier this week, as my belly churned over my novel, that writers have to simultaneously be extremely critical of their work, and ballsy enough to believe anyone else would give a damn about their stories. That's a ridiculous balance to maintain. R.I.D.I.C.U.L.O.U.S. Mostly, I try to ignore the parts that make me nervous or scared and delve into the productive side. Hey, there's plenty to do to take your mind off the pain of putting your work out there. Ha!
On Wednesday, I took a vacation day to write. That may seem drastic -- to those of you who don't have kids. Those of you who do have kids will know that your regularly scheduled work hours are the ONLY time you can count on. (With exceptions for extraordinary yet not uncommon circumstances of raising little ones.)
My vacation day was a huge success. I added all of the new scenes I'd written into my manuscript, and worked on transitions in the scenes around them. I also read through the first 35,000 words, working on consistency in plot, character, etc. The first 24,000 or so words were pretty clean already, but I had to start tying in some loose ends by Wednesday afternoon. So when I ended that day, I had the final 15,000 words to revise. By Friday night, I was done!! I'm going to print a copy and edit on paper, and then this baby is ready for beta readers. I'm starting to consider my publishing timeline and what I want to do in terms of a release for Queen Witch. The cover is in progress, and the proof I saw was gorgeous! I'll share that when I have a final copy.
I'm still super excited about writing Descent in August. That's next week! Yeah! And I have a decent outline, but still need to do a little work on that before I start writing. I figured out some new stuff this morning, starting to tie up loose ends for the final book in the series (there are five, and Descent is book four). Sometime in August I'll do my final read of Queen Witch, too. Maybe by week two or three of writing Descent a few days off from that project will help.
Onward and upward -- with word count, that is. :) Have a great week, ROWers!
Sunday Update: Brave
Yeah, I'm going to use that title. I'm feeling it, baby! Not only that; we took our three-year-old to see Brave today -- her first theater experience. It was fun. The storyline was perfect for her, although it was all about mother/daughter conflicts which I found a little disturbing, but terribly realistic. Sigh. Daughters. I remember the sort I was as a teen...and it's nothing to look forward to. Maybe they'll be more like their dad and end up laid back. :)
But in another use of the word brave...that's one thing we writers have in spades: BRAVERY. I joked to my best friend earlier this week, as my belly churned over my novel, that writers have to simultaneously be extremely critical of their work, and ballsy enough to believe anyone else would give a damn about their stories. That's a ridiculous balance to maintain. R.I.D.I.C.U.L.O.U.S. Mostly, I try to ignore the parts that make me nervous or scared and delve into the productive side. Hey, there's plenty to do to take your mind off the pain of putting your work out there. Ha!
On Wednesday, I took a vacation day to write. That may seem drastic -- to those of you who don't have kids. Those of you who do have kids will know that your regularly scheduled work hours are the ONLY time you can count on. (With exceptions for extraordinary yet not uncommon circumstances of raising little ones.)
My vacation day was a huge success. I added all of the new scenes I'd written into my manuscript, and worked on transitions in the scenes around them. I also read through the first 35,000 words, working on consistency in plot, character, etc. The first 24,000 or so words were pretty clean already, but I had to start tying in some loose ends by Wednesday afternoon. So when I ended that day, I had the final 15,000 words to revise. By Friday night, I was done!! I'm going to print a copy and edit on paper, and then this baby is ready for beta readers. I'm starting to consider my publishing timeline and what I want to do in terms of a release for Queen Witch. The cover is in progress, and the proof I saw was gorgeous! I'll share that when I have a final copy.
I'm still super excited about writing Descent in August. That's next week! Yeah! And I have a decent outline, but still need to do a little work on that before I start writing. I figured out some new stuff this morning, starting to tie up loose ends for the final book in the series (there are five, and Descent is book four). Sometime in August I'll do my final read of Queen Witch, too. Maybe by week two or three of writing Descent a few days off from that project will help.
Onward and upward -- with word count, that is. :) Have a great week, ROWers!
But in another use of the word brave...that's one thing we writers have in spades: BRAVERY. I joked to my best friend earlier this week, as my belly churned over my novel, that writers have to simultaneously be extremely critical of their work, and ballsy enough to believe anyone else would give a damn about their stories. That's a ridiculous balance to maintain. R.I.D.I.C.U.L.O.U.S. Mostly, I try to ignore the parts that make me nervous or scared and delve into the productive side. Hey, there's plenty to do to take your mind off the pain of putting your work out there. Ha!
On Wednesday, I took a vacation day to write. That may seem drastic -- to those of you who don't have kids. Those of you who do have kids will know that your regularly scheduled work hours are the ONLY time you can count on. (With exceptions for extraordinary yet not uncommon circumstances of raising little ones.)
My vacation day was a huge success. I added all of the new scenes I'd written into my manuscript, and worked on transitions in the scenes around them. I also read through the first 35,000 words, working on consistency in plot, character, etc. The first 24,000 or so words were pretty clean already, but I had to start tying in some loose ends by Wednesday afternoon. So when I ended that day, I had the final 15,000 words to revise. By Friday night, I was done!! I'm going to print a copy and edit on paper, and then this baby is ready for beta readers. I'm starting to consider my publishing timeline and what I want to do in terms of a release for Queen Witch. The cover is in progress, and the proof I saw was gorgeous! I'll share that when I have a final copy.
I'm still super excited about writing Descent in August. That's next week! Yeah! And I have a decent outline, but still need to do a little work on that before I start writing. I figured out some new stuff this morning, starting to tie up loose ends for the final book in the series (there are five, and Descent is book four). Sometime in August I'll do my final read of Queen Witch, too. Maybe by week two or three of writing Descent a few days off from that project will help.
Onward and upward -- with word count, that is. :) Have a great week, ROWers!
