Holly Lisle's Blog, page 16

An even 500 words today, and a conundrum for my hero

I’m a solid third of the way through Book 5, and threw a conundrum at my main character.

I also solved a problem way, way too easily, though, so when I come back to this tomorrow, I have to have the solution sprout horns and fangs and a bad attitude… 

Or at least dump a little rain on her parade.

However… in the middle of relaunching my writing website and getting ready to wrap up the half-price writing-class sale on Friday, and with a pretty nasty headache going on, I STILL got words today.

Right at the moment, that feels like a big damn win.

I got words today. (Yep, even with a launch going on)

I got the things I needed to do on the HollysWritingClasses.com site launch finished, then set up Ohio 5… and got 1,013 words.

And I like them. They’re dark, and grim, and they surprised me. What I thought was going to happen didn’t… but what did happen was better.

Not happier. But it makes more sense, and it shows that sometimes there are no easy ways to get where you have to go.

My guys are right in the middle of The Hard Way… and the scene worked for me far better than what I had planned.

Going to shoot for 1250 again tomorrow, and pick up where I left off.

The Write Stuff 2022 Story Bundle… and me!

This year I was invited for into a StoryBundle for the first time… and I accepted the invitation because the bundle includes not just a bunch of really good writers of both fiction and nonfiction, but two of my genuine writing heroes — Lawrence Block, whose Telling Lies for Fun and Profit helped me teach myself how to build a fiction career back when I was a registered nurse working ER…

…And Kristine Kathryn Rusch, whose work I loved, and from whom (in her other job as editor of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction back then), I received a number of my better rejections.

There are also folks whose names I knew, and two who are brand new to me.

And I liked the cause: AbleGamers. While I’m primarily a solitary gamer, I’ve played with other folks on occasion — and you can build meaningful relationships through shared gaming peak experiences.

So…

Find the story bundle here: https://storybundle.com/writing

Epic Stakes Day: 29,243 words total, 1045 words for the day, and bigness

About a third of the way into Book 5, and today’s words were a blast.

Crazy fun (for me). 

My main character has both just discovered the magnitude of the problem she faces, and has come up with an idea that may help her (and her allies) solve it.

It’s dangerous, of course.

And the stakes if she fails could not be higher.

And she still has a problem she hasn’t identified staring her in the face.

But…

I love where the book is going, and I cannot wait to write the next scene.

Tomorrow…

 

Gotta be tomorrow, because right now, I have to get back to getting the HollysWritingClasses.com Half-Price Ten-Day sale built, and that work, unlike writing fiction, is finicky, precise, exacting, requires complete silence and absolute concentration…

And is not fun at all.

And can only be done by me.

Once it’s done, though, I’ll have solved the final problem I face with the new website, and can get back to writing fiction, and hanging out in the forums and doing upgrades on the writing classes.

Two hours of fiction, nice progress, and wickedness afoot

My MC just met someone who’s going to be important in her life, at least briefly. And has finally discovered the source of the amazing smells coming from one of her neighbors’ houses.

While absolutely terrible things that have been running amok have been, for a moment, slowed down.

The temporary sense of things coming under control is premature, of course.

Very good, very happy writing day. I love what I got, I love the people I’m writing about.

1156 words, 28,198 total, and I left myself in a very good place for tomorrow.

But now it is time to go build pricing boxes and make sure I don’t have any MORE products I forgot to set up for the ten-day half-price writing class sale.

The Ten Day Half Price Writing Class Sale should have started tomorrow, but I’ve delayed the kickoff until NEXT Tuesday (April 18), because I discovered that I hadn’t even set lesson timers on a couple of classes, and I would have had to work the entire weekend to get those missing timers set, AND set up the rest of the pricing boxes, AND build out products shopping carts on the couple of classes I’d missed in the every-second-week versions… and I was exhausted from the previous week’s work, and I would have been prone to error.

This way, there’s no gawdawful rush. I can get my words, do what has to be done, and NEXT Tuesday when the sale goes live, I’ll still be happy and relaxed and in a good mood. Instead of a frazzled wreck running on no sleep.

On that happy note, I’m off to do during five days and normal work hours what I did not try to squeeze into two days working awful hours. 

MINIONS!!! Minions are awesome! And today my main character had some!

I’ve run out of time, but I got 899 absolutely wicked words in Ohio 5 today.

My MC has some helpers who today, in her hour of need, turned into minions — and they’re about to wreck havoc in her defense.

It was a fun scene, and will be fun to get back to tomorrow morning.

Right now, though, I have to go back to building pricing boxes, and setting up the last bits of the new writing site shop software before the official site re-launch (and the half-price class sale) next Tuesday, April 12.

For writers, the site is still in the same place: https://hollyswritingclasses.com

It’s completely different software, it works differently, but it still delivers the writing classes, and still has our forum full of wonderful folks.

If you’re a writer (either along with being one of my readers, or not), and you’re interested in any of my classes, head over and take a look at the courses I offer.

The half-price relaunch sale has a hard time-limit, but it’s a pretty roomy one (ten days).

Hoping to have most of that finished today. 

It would be awesome to not have anything I had to do tomorrow, so that I could just write more Ohio 5.

My poor main character!!! 419 words on Ohio 5, and 26,148 total — AND Writing Classes Stuff

First, the words, because without the words, none of the rest of this would mean anything.

I got a solid chunk of a nice scene written today, added to the overall twisty-ness of the fifth book in the series, and both made things easier and made things more difficult for the villain… with one fun little move.

And by “nice scene” I mean that I did terrible things to my main character, while planning to do even worse things to her tomorrow.

So while I didn’t get a ton of them, I had a great time figuring out the bits I did.

On to the REST of my day, which I’m now getting started on.

I’m building out pricing boxes for the Half Price Ten-Day Sale over at HollysWritingClasses.com.

I promised folks who had been locked out on the old (and now happily dead and deleted and gone forever) site that they would get a chance to buy the classes at half price.

Since I did not wish to build a separate, hidden second shop from which to sell all the courses as a second price to just the folks who got locked out, there’s going to be a ten-day sale which my folks can take advantage of, and during which all of my classes (except for the Clinics, which have undergone a massive, permanent price drop) will be available for half price. 

If you’re HollysWritingClasses.com writer, and you want to be invited to the members-only launch, join the Launch List mailing list here.

 

 

761 New Ohio 5 Words… and a face-to-face with a feisty hero

In spite of everything (and right at the moment, the HollysWritingClasses.com website and getting it live seems like the monster EVERYTHING that’s stomping out of the ocean to invade Tokyo), I got words this morning.

And I like them. I’m about to arm one of my MC’s newest buddies with ancient weapons and set him against a high-tech, well-armed enclosure to attempt a rescue… 

And that’s all I’ll say about that.

Now, however, I have to go back to setting up the 50%-off ten-day new-site launch sale. I’m doing pricing boxes… which is right up there in entertainment value with… well… metaphors fail me.

I’m somewhere between planting acorns and watching them turn into oaks, and things that involve impact zones between big fat books and foreheads.

But, dammit.

It will be done, and once it’s done, it’ll be spiffy as hell.

So… on to that.

More good words: 762 for the day, 24,969 total… and heading somewhere I didn’t expect

Books surprise you. Characters surprise you. And my two MCs are, after a bit of stress and angst, heading toward a solution I didn’t see coming from a character I had not expected to take on a role of major importance.

But this is what characters do. They start out looking like these goofy buggers on the fringe, just there so they can have anvils dropped on them, and all of a sudden they grab on and do something really damn important.

Good writing day. Would have been longer if I weren’t still working on the website, but I am getting the HollysWritingClasses.com relaunch set up.

Date for the reopening is t I have just got to get through this mess before I can get back to writing as the BIG job.

It’s still the first job, though. And the best one.

Wheeeeee! Words and wickedness, and great fun! 778 words, and 24,207 total

While mostly I’m working on the website, and getting ready to put all the classes back on sale for one last 10-day period at half price, followed by the return to full price, I started the morning with fiction. Because FICTION, baby! And OHIO!!!

And after doing terrible awful horrible evil wicked things to her yesterday, today I sent my MC out running with a friend, and sent her to the ‘Mart’s is-shop eatery for junk food and a deep heart-to-heart with her buddy.

And Monday (because TGIF!!!, and it’s been a long damn week and I’m taking the WHOLE weekend) she’s going to have a little moment of clarity, and a little realization of something wicked moving her way.

So on that note, I’m now going to be done with the words and spend the next bunch of hours getting set up for making my writing classes available purchase again.

Hope you have an awesome weekend. I’m going to spend mine stretched out on the couch with the cat, and I’ll be playing video games.