You got to pick up every stitch

Here's recent progress on my modern gothic ghost story about a salvage crew trapped in a doomed southern mansion - now with a crunchy murder ballad center and Bonus! clandestine cemetery where the stones don't match the bodies (and were never meant to). As inspired by a (semi)true local legend:
Project: The Family Plot
Deadline: January 15, 2015
New words written: 4357 (2-day total)
Present total word count: 42,406



Things accomplished in fiction: Had a nice(?) chat with a nice(?) old lady, who obliquely explains what the hell might be going on; started breaking down the barn, and found an old hearse for goth reasons.

Things accomplished in real life: Neighborhood jaunts with dog; went to the grocery store; handed in guest blog post; laundered all our bedding because the time had simply come; sat down with my white board and markers and actually figured out what the hell I'm doing with other projects right now, because I've gotten pretty scattered when it comes to what comes next. So to speak.

Other: I got about one paragraph deep into sample content on that pitch I nailed down last week - before I got hijacked by another idea, and a grain of yet another one. So here's my new plan. First, I'm going to create two more pitches - for a total of three. Then I'll give all three to my agent and/or editors and/or whoever and see what sounds coolest to a third party. Finally, I'll begin work on sample content accordingly. Eventually, perhaps by the end of the year, I'd like to have three strong proposals and three strong correlating chunks of sample content.

Bonus! Other: Of course, I also have to finish writing The Family Plot by New Year's(ish), so we'll see how this goes. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...or I'd damn well better, anyway. I only have one more book to write (under contract) after this one - so that old "anxiety re: being footloose and fancy free and also paycheck free" is starting to poke me with a stick.

Number of fiction words so far this year: 193,787



Canine footnote.