650 words

I admit it isn’t my best writing day, but it really shouldn’t have been a writing day at all.

I had some critiques back and my only goal was to work through those. Old What’s Her Face is off today, so I went into my home office for the sole purpose of doing that.

I’m also trying to get more organized. It’s easier to send out my submissions as whole chapters. It also makes those submissions easier to understand because they are chapters. Prior to this, I used a word count to send out submissions. With this goal in mind, I wanted to get to the end of a chapter.

I don’t hit the backup story as hard as Lanternfish right now, but it feels nice to have everything on an even keel. Lanternfish has 32 chapters completed. The Ballad of Mrs. Molony has 7.

They’re different genres, and stories about Lizzie and The Hat are short on purpose. Lanternfish kind of fits the mold of epic fantasy, so it is longer. The spread between these genres could misrepresent the proportions of giving you simple chapters alone. Also, Lanternfish is sailing toward the end, while Mrs. Molony is somewhere in the middle.

So, my 650 words kind of brings my writing life into balance. It’s a small thing, but it’s good until I mess it up again. I’ll probably mess it up this evening.

Messing it up involves the fact that they called my wife in for an extra shift. She’ll go to bed about 6:00, then report for work at midnight. I’ve been staying up when this happens unless it is one of my work nights. It’s just easier on her that way.

I have an entire evening to myself. I may break down and look for an old movie, but I’ll probably work on one of my stories. I’d like to get Lanternfish across the ocean and right up to the face of the action.

I’ve been dealing with scenarios that require certain characters to be in two places at once. I’ve been thinking about them for months, and writing it is going to be how I solve the problems. Some of my scenarios will have to fall by the wayside. After I commit to where they will be, that will build the fences for how the rest of the tale shapes up.

I also need to keep planting some things as they cross the last ocean. These can payoff in the final book somewhere. Tonight could be the night for some of that.

Tomorrow will probably be a strange day. I have no idea what my wife will expect. Sometimes she wants to sleep, and I try to be quiet. Other times she wants to stay up so she doesn’t get jet lagged or whatever you might call it. I’m not making any plans for tomorrow, and will take it as it comes.

It doesn’t sound all that productive, but it was good stuff to get done. How is your weekend shaping up?