#writemotivation Week 2 Update

*hangs head in shame*

I’ve been a bad little writer this week.  I haven’t touched my goals though the few things I have done are working toward two of the goals.  Honest!

Last week was also filled with appointments along with the normal Thursday fun-filled therapy sessions.  Between those and the heat, I felt wiped and not very inspired.

Colin had a visit with the surgeon who stitched up his foot.  There is a lot of what she calls isotropic growth, which means the scars building too much tissue and the oil rubbing isn’t helping as much as it should.  He has been prescribed a compression sock and massage therapy to help break up that excess tissue before it becomes permanent and affects the development of his foot and his walking/running later on.

Dave also had his doctor appointment the same day, after we sat at the place to get Colin fitted for the sock.  His went well.  He has maintained weight since the last visit which is good.  But, he has to talk to his other doctor to get the ball rolling for his gastric surgery and the options he has.

That was Monday.  On Tuesday, I went into the office and filled out the paperwork to get me listed on their payroll and went through a sample presentation.  There is a script I need to learn.  Only three paragraphs, to be honest, and the rest we can adjust to our own wording.  Also went over the rules and fun stuff.  All of that was being done while my laptop downloaded and installed the app which I’ll be using in the field and can customize to the people I’ll be talking with.

Wednesday, Colin has his first massage therapy session and we went over everything.  I was given instructions on how to use the stuff they gave us to work on his scars.  It’s barely been a week and we can see improvement already.

Thursday was normal, out all day with the normal therapy.  Friday, I was back at the office, Colin came with me because we had another appointment for him.  I didn’t get the script to go over on Tuesday and I forgot Wednesday until it was too late to catch anyone in the office.  Allison, one of the other agents, helped me out and gave a rough idea of what I’ll be doing over the next two weeks.

Everyone there is so nice and friendly.  They want to help all the newbies so they can succeed.  That vibe is just so strong there, I can’t help but to feel more confident in myself.

Anyway, on to what this post is about.  :D

Header image and thumbnail photograph by Hugh Lee and licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.http://www.flickr.com/photos/sahlgoode/

1) Focus on Black Friday 2. Get at least two chapters written.

Nothing new written, yet.  I’ve backtracked some to gather pertinent information about who the named characters are and when they entered the story.  I’m also making sure I know what the general make up of the current group is so I can keep things balanced when I bring in the next group.  There will be many more, enough to make the resort into a small community with others coming and going, possibly taking some of the group with them.

Where they are now and the need to keep warm will cause some problems eventually.  Fires cause smoke and someone is bound to notice a thin plume of smoke rising, or several plumes, before the weather turns warm.

2) Pass the second half of the State Exam.

Done, done, doooonnnne!

3)  Get at least 10K on a submission for the Dark Crystal prequel for a contest for Dark Crystal.

I haven’t written a single word on this, yet.  *sigh*  I know what I want to write but I just cannot come up with a way to start the stinkin’ story.

4) Exercise twice a week. (I mean it this time!)

So far, yes, this one has been achieved.

5) Work on revising and editing Black Friday, the original book. 

This one is occupying my time.  I am, more or less, rereading the story to make notes of not just the characters and who has a name and who doesn’t, but events that happen.  Some of the timing is off, in my opinion, and needs to be adjusted to feel more realistic.  I also want to make certain scene less obvious since, as they sit now, they aren’t really needed in the story, but other spots could use more attention; such as when the main characters are under attack early on, the first hunt and a bit more life event happening while Karina is raising Nick and the rest of her young.  There’s also other things which need some explaining and making the ‘other side’ have more of a presence instead of the few times they are given.  Really, the bad guys actively try to go after Karina’s people, which is another reason why they are dying out.

Really, if anyone has read the book, the final fight scene is just pure drivel.  It needs to be redone in a huge way.  I’ll excerpt that chapter out to anyone who wants to give it a look and offer advice.

In the work I have done, I can see some of the influences from my favorite and most read authors,  I spotted some Piers Anthony and Jean M. Auel, and even a flicker of Anne McCaffrey.

This week, I have a few posts to make; one book review and two more interviews.  I enjoyed the interview with Hanna Gray Gordon from the NaNo group and it took a while to come up with the questions.  I just may do others.  There’s four different blogs these posts go to, so there’s plenty of people to see them.

I hope your week has gone well!