Busy day AND I still wrote 2 pages! Whoo Hoo!

To sum it up:

- Woke up early and walked around the block

- Drove to work, sipping on a spinach, kale, banana, milk and blueberry 'shake'. Yumm.

- Busy, productive day at work. Digging around in the guts of Winforms trying to find out why some of my buttons refused to respond to being set to 'visible'. Sheesh! As is usually the case, it was stupid user ( that would be me ;-) error. What used to work in the original code works slightly differently in C#. Live and learn. ;-)

- Drove home. You don't want to know about the crappy traffic. Does Texas EVER finish a highway?

- Paid bills

- Dealt with the mail

- Had a great dinner of seafood enchiladas and black beans

- Updated my blog (this post)

- Updated tweets, adding 5 new followers, thanking each for their interest

- Wrote about 800 words on a battle scene in book three of 'Arlo and Jake' SciFi series

- Wrote some notes on a short story I'm writing ('Etchings' if you're interested...;-). I think I've got the outline pretty well fleshed out now!

- Made a few notes on a game that's been brewing in my fevered noggin... Working title is 'Marching Martian Zombies'. Cool!

- Got in 30 minutes of practice on my classical guitar!

So what? Well, I just wanted to show that if you really think about it, there is PLENTY of time at night for you to get in a couple of pages on that novel you've always wanted to write!

The trick? Pay attention, folks. THERE IS NO TRICK! You knew that, didn't you.

Sit down and write.

It's good for you. It's fun. It exercises your mind and calms your nerves.

Relax and let yourself add a few minutes of writing every night.

By this time next month,  you could have a chapter written!

Be cool.

What a glorious, calm day...

Today was awesome.

No trips to the mall. No phones calls; NOT A SINGLE TELEMARKETER!!! No doctors appointments. Nothing that had to be done today. No honey-do list (thanks, Babe!).

And other than this entry, done while watching TV, on the couch and relaxing with a brew, no thought about all the writing I need to do.

Not a single word written on 'Arlo and Jake', book 3 or 'Etchings', another short story I'm working on.

Nothing.

What did I do? Glad you asked.

For the first time in ages, I spent all day on the patio, reading 'The Dream Map' by Jason Luthor. I started at about 9AM. I took my time, savoring the work of an author new to me. I love finding a new writer; it peaks my imagination to view a story through new eyes. You can see my review of Mr. Luthor's book on my 'Reviews' tab.

The day started perfectly; it was lightly raining when I woke. There is something about waking to raindrops and cool weather that just makes the world seem calm and peaceful.

Grabbing a fresh mug of coffee and the Sunday paper, I walked out on the patio, savoring the smells and sounds of a soft Texas drizzle. The coffee tasted extra bold, the Comics were extra funny and I even read the front section of the Dallas Morning News.

Then I grabbed my Android tablet and loaded up the Kindle App. I spent the rest of the day playing in a realm of Sword, Sorcery and Dragons. It was wonderful.

Next week is a new chance to write. A fresh set of moments to let my imagination roam and play. I'm looking forward to the challenge.

My wish for you is a fresh set of moments and the desire to embrace your challenges.

Be cool.
Be happy.
Just Be!

Now that's more like it!

I just passed 15,000 words on book 3 of my 'Arlo and Jake' SciFi series. Whoo Hoo!

I've been pushing myself nights to move this story forward. I really want to get book 3 published this month! But it's been a real struggle some nights.

Part of the problem is that I want this book to be better than the first two. I want a really satisfying, interesting plot, better dialog, more laughs and guffaws but with a great adventure story. Not too much to ask, is it? ;-)

The first book was short, meant to be an novelette to introduction the series and give readers a taste of what's to come.

Book two brought in some more characters, including a nasty antagonist with his own back story. Taash and the D'bak bring some evil interest into the story line.

In book three, I want to explore and enhance everything in this series!

Therein lies the rub! ;-) I've been pulling what little hair I have left going over and over the story and dialog, trying a plot twist here and a pun there. It's been a real challenge.

But this weekend I used the old backup trick that's got me past this 'problem' before. I read, re-read and re-read the story, out loud, from the beginning to the end, over and over. Each time I found the little glitches and fixed them. Until I made it all the way through without any major hiccups. I still have little places to improve but I just marked them with 'XXX need this there' comments and moved on.

It feels great! Now on to the mid-point of the story! Yaaahhhhhhh.....!