Author’s Log: We Has A Cold Edition (& #ROW80)
This week the Writer Monkey household came down with colds. For the record, I’ve haven’t had one in, oh, about two years. I don’t get sick very often, but when I do, I do it GOOD. Like, soul-destroying good.
Example: The Tech Monkey came home from school with a stomach flu. Normally, I would have a day of mild discomfort, but that’s all. THIS time, however, it blossomed into full-blown IBS. I now have to manage it with supplements and dietary restrictions.
Do you know how hard it was to give up my daily cuppa hot coffee? I LOVE COFFEE. Now, no more hot coffee for me. *sobs*
The week after Labor Day the Tech Monkey came home from work with Horrible Scratchy Throat. As per Monkey House Rule Number 7, I made my 3-meat, 5-bean chili (one bean for each alarm). Two days later, despite sleeping on the couch (I managed to avoid his last cold by doing this), I came down with Horrible Scratchy Throat.
Great.
If I get sick, I take it personally. Because I do whatever is necessary not to get sick. When I am sick, I do whatever is necessary to make sure no one else does. Someone in my office gets sick, I turn into the Germ Raider, double-fisting Lysol and Chlorox until my entire cubicle area is doused. Then I bulk up on Vitamin C health packs.
Thankfully, this cold never made it into my chest (the Tech Monkey is still horking up some epic nasty), and only got into minor congestion territory that I treated with copious amounts of my family hot toddy recipe (Mentholmint Schnapps AND whiskey in boiling hot water from the kettle–necessary to released the Irish goodness–and then add lemon wedge and honey).
This made getting through Keepers #3 editorial revisions with less pain that I anticipated. I submitted the edits back to Editor Awesome on Wednesday. Next comes line edits from Editor Eagle-Eye, probably in another few months.
On to the goals!
1. DRAFTING: FALLEN ANGEL–Waking Muse #3
I started drafting my rough draft this week. After an initial rough start, I seemed to have found my stride, and am now merrily making with the typeity-typeity. The Save The Cat outline/pacing spreadsheet I used is really coming in handy. I have a feeling it will also help me with revisions when the time comes. I’ve inched my way to my Inciting Incident (10% mark), and am now making strides to First Plot Point (25%). I’m still angling toward 10K words a week.
2. IN REVISION: Keepers of the Flame #4
I plan to start on this on Monday the 15th, using the master Save The Cat spreadsheet to making sure I’m hitting things when and where they need to be hit. I also want to make sure I’m hitting my romance arc plot points at the appropriate juncture.
3. COMPLETE/RELEASE: HEARTH & HOME–Waking Muse #2
I’ve FINALLY completed the final scene rewrite I desperately needed to do. And not a moment too soon–I’ve started getting nasty grams from KDP about uploading my final draft for my pre-order. Yeesh. One final polish, to make sure everything’s in place, add the FALLEN ANGEL excerpt to the back matter, and I’m ready to go. Like, today. HUZZAH!
And also, WHEW.
Your turn–how’re your pre-autumn goals going? Are the kiddies back in school yet, or are you counting the days?
