April 29th Challenge

Hi it’s Christina -

Good Morning! Yeah, my daughter finally turned down her radio so I can concentrate enough to write. She HAS TO have the radio on when she’s in the shower, and in order to hear the music while in the shower, it has to be a quite loud.

I don’t know about you, but at 5:00 am, I kinda like it quiet. I require just a little bit of time in the mornings, before everyone else is up, to sit, have my first cup of coffee, and wake up. I don’t need much time, fifteen – twenty minutes or so. Now, with the weather getting warm, unless I plan on waking up at 4:30 every morning, I won’t get that time. Warm weather means shorts weather, and shorts weather means extra time in the shower to shave weather. Which means Dani wants to be woken up at five, so she has time to get ready for school.

So, Monday through Friday for the next seven weeks until school gets out, my writing is going to be done in fits and starts – a couple of minutes before she wakes up, a little bit more while she gets dressed (the music is on low then and it’s in her bedroom, so it doesn’t disturb me), and then I’ll have to wait until she leaves at 6:45. Then I’ll have until 8:15, when I have to stop to get my hubby up and out of the house. Then, depending on the day, I may have from 8:45 – 10:15 before I have to get ready for work. Basically, if all things go smoothly, I get four hours to write every day.

Not sure how things work around your house, but around here, they rarely go smoothly. It’s going to take a whole lot of days to finish FTQ and Simply by Chance, only being able to work for four hours a day. I was hoping for a July release date for FTQ (before the next camp starts), and then a November release for Simply by Chance (before real NaNoWriMo starts), but I’m a little concerned now if I will be able to make those deadlines.

My first two weeks in May are going to be spent editing a book for a friend and also reading and reviewing another book. These were promises I made before Camp NaNo, which I had to put on hold until camp was over. After I finish these two, I am going to hang up my editing and reviewing hats for a while, so I can focus all of my energy on my own work. It’s hard to be creative when I’m stressed, and even though the deadlines are self-imposed, I’m still stressing.

My readers have waited a long time for the next installment in the Bradford Series; and I really don’t want them to wait too much longer, they may lose interest. Although I will be sad when my character dies, I do think I am ready now to proceed with the story. I still have a ton of research to do, but I think I’ll just write and then highlight areas I think need more fact checking, then go back and add it in during the editing / rewriting phase.

Okay, let me get going, because I have holy mess to clean up. I left a double load of clean laundry, in a basket, in front of the dryer, for my hubby to bring upstairs for me. He didn’t get to it last night, and Lys went to take a bath. I realize that statement doesn’t make any sense to you. You see, for some reason, whenever we use the jets on the tub, water leaks into the basement; and, you guessed it, the water drips right over the spot in front of the dryer. Now, if I want to have clothes to wear to work today, I need to go rewash and redry my clothes.

Oh yeah, and the second part of the double load, was all my husband’s work shirts, which were laid out on top of the basket. UGH! Laundry is one of my least favorite chores, so having to do it twice really fries my cookies. I don’t blame Lys though, she forgot about the leak, and it took me about fifteen minutes to register she was taking a bath, before I ran downstairs and moved the basket.

I hope you have a great day, and happy writing!

Your Last Challenge was:

This is going to be a tough one, for ten minutes straight – WITHOUT STOPPING – do a stream of consciousness writing. If you get stuck and don’t know what to write, write “I don’t know what to write. I don’t know what to write…” The most important thing is you DO NOT stop writing until your timer goes off. Your subject is OUTDOORS.

Outside? Why did I pick outside? Was I thinking I would write about the beach or a walk in the forest? I have no idea. I know, outside is something I get to look at through the window and wish I could spend more time out there, but I’m inside on my computer instead. If the screen was better on my computer, I could sit outside and write, but the battery would die too quickly so that would be annoying. I guess I could drag an extension cord out there. Boy wouldn’t that look ridiculous. If I was outside I would get distracted by the noise or a squirrel or something. You know me, shiny objects. I don’t know what to write. These things are such a pain. By the time I get done with what I call a brain puke – ten minutes of non stop writing, my head hurts and my fingers are all cramped up. I don’t know what to write. I hate it when Kieth does these in our writing group. So why the heck did I suggest one here. My head is starting to hurt already and my pinky is getting cramped. My right pinky. I hold it up in the air while I type. My left pinky I actually use while I type, but that right one is poised like I’m at high tea. I’m glad no one watches me while I write. I have some really quirky traits. What does this have to do with outdoors? Man, another shiny object. I’m hopeless. Three more mintues and I don’t know what to right. I don’t know what to write, I don’t know what to write Outdoors. Outdoors. I want to be outdoors. I want to be at the beach. Watching the waves, listening to the surf, smelling the salty air. I love the beach, but I love the beach when I’m the only one on the beach, and that never happens. It’s always so dang crowded. Even if I go in the off season, and a not so nice day, I still run into someone. It makes me a little annoyed. No that is not accurate it makes me mad. I selfishly want the beach to myself. My quiet time, my time to think or not thing.

Time is up. Yeah!!! Thank God. Ugh, those are tiring. Don’t worry, you won’t get another for a long time.

Your Next Challenge is:

I wonder what’s in the box…

You have 10 minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.