progress report

atthequillsmercy

“Weekly” Writing Update: Well, fuck…

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When my friend was diagnosed and ended up in a care home, I volunteered to take care of the dog she left behind. Now… While this dog hates my guts, I’ve done my best to take care of her. She’s got digestive issues that require prescription food and teeth issues that will need to be addressed and OOF. I was not expecting the bills. Holy shit…

Since I won’t be getting any overtime until September (expect me to complain a LOT about being tired because I took any available OT day I could get), I’ll be pushing to get more words out and get more stories published. Here’s the word counts I’m up to today:

  • Smut: 5,126
  • Dewey: 12,369

I’m not here to beg sympathy, I’m here to bitch a little and share my plans. I’m not going to let this mess with the quality of my work, either. The smutty stuff may be mid-tier stuff I shill for money but my longer stuff means a lot to me. I’ll also be blogging more reviews. I have so many books I’ve read and need to read that I’m sure I’ll have plenty of content for this blog. Wish me luck.

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atthequillsmercy

First June Writing WIP Update and a note on AI

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June is always a crazy month. It’s the month my kid was born, so all his checkups happen around this time. Either way, I’ve been plugging away at my projects, and here are the word counts:

  • Dewey: 11,524 words
  • Other Pen Name: 1,041 words

I’ve been focusing on these two. That’s why Emma’s book is not on the list. I’m having that problem of feeling super inspired until my fingers hit the keyboard and then my brain just locks up. Not only that, but I’m trying not to go overboard on the naughty stuff. It’s supposed to be short and quick stories for like $0.99, but then it blooms up to a novella that I didn’t mean to happen. I’ve noticed people are less willing to take a chance on more expensive books, and I price my books by word count: The longer the book, the more it costs. It’s only fair. I do this in whatever spare time I have, and that time is still worthy of some sort of compensation.

Aside from that, my inspiration has seemed to strike at the oddest times. I’ve fallen asleep on Shelley (I named my Freewrite, remember) a couple of times this week or taken her out to stare at the screen. And since AI is a legit concern these days, I am taking a moment to say no AI is involved in the creation of my work save for whatever bot powers Grammarly. They didn’t used to use AI and I still use the free version. I even make sure the covers I buy aren’t AI at all. I am very against people using it in place of their human creativity. That is a shortcut I will never take and I stand on that. Authors are leaving whole ass prompts in their books! I get paranoid when I put “eye color here” because I might forget to remove that.  I can’t imagine leaving AI text in my work like that, let alone using it to copy another’s writing style. Allegedly. In Minecraft. I’m not trying to get sued, accusing people of anything, but yeah, the industry is trippy right now, and I’m just a tiny indie author. I just wanna tell fun stories, not have a robot write for me.

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atthequillsmercy

March Writing Update!

Yes, I know it’s late in the month for an update but hey, you’ve seen my previous posts. I’ve been a busy witch.

Since I am out of complete stories I had previously unpublished, this month has been about finishing my works in progress. I am working on finishing the go away girls novel and another fantasy story that I’m not sure it will be a novel or an episodic series. I keep going back and forth on that.

At least one of these projects should be complete next month.

My strategy of writing all week and typing/editing on weekends has been fantastically effective. Not perfect but very effective. I never end up with a day where I get discouraged with how much I typing I have to do. It feels like running through all I’ve accomplished during the week so I get a great sense of satisfaction.

As long as that keeps working, I’ll keep doing it!

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atthequillsmercy

What I’ve been up to.

I’m sure you’ve all been wondering where I’ve been all this time. Of course, I’ve since recovered from whatever sickness I’ve had and with that new-found health, I went immediately back to work on book two of my vampire series. I have an irrational zeal to get this thing up and published before the end of the month and based on how I flew through this last round of edits, I just may be able to pull that off.

As a result, I have a polished draft but EVERYTHING else went by the wayside. I don’t even know where Winter Boot is, much less have a written conclusion for it.  =_= Rest assured, it’ll turn up – they always do –  and I’ll resume my regular updates on other projects as I get through them.

And hopefully more blog updates. I know you’re all DYING to hear my nonsense. 😉

 

 

atthequillsmercy

Huzzah! Writing Progress Report.

Instead of watching the game, or the commercials, I hid from it all and finished one anthology entry! 😀 Tonight I’ll be typing it and all day, I’ll be starting work on the next one. 🙂

Also? I have given up working out in the morning. :p Not because I’ve given up working out mind you. I’ve just noticed how much less sleep I’ve been getting which is just as unhealthy for me as not working out at all. :p I’m aiming for 45 minutes 6 days a week to get nice and fit. ^_^

I suppose that’s about it. What do you really expect this early on a Monday? =_=

atthequillsmercy

Updated Book Challenge Count

1. Lightning, by Jean Echenoz

2. The Demon Lover, by Juliet Dark

3. Netsuke, by Nikki Ducornet

4. Smut, by Alan Bennett

5. Never Cry Wolf, by Cynthia Eden

6. Feral, by Joley Skye

Yes, I am aware it seems I’m posting about nothing but this but in the background, I have completed the rough draft of the sequel to this book and I am flying through the typing process as quickly as possible. I am so psyched to get this edited and fleshed out so I can post it, you have NO IDEA! XD

Back to work for me!!

atthequillsmercy

My current list of WIP’s

Inspired by a conversation via Twitter with my friend at Flames and Flowers, here is a list of my current Works In Progress in order to really drive home the reason why I am so overwhelmed, I need to outline:

  1. Winter Boot: A short story which, compared to my other works, is fairly kid friendly. This is all plotted out but needs to be written.
  2. Go Away Girls: The Silver Slide: A novel length steampunk lesbian story starring these ladies. This novel is started but still in the starting phase.
  3. First Brood: Greenhouse: The sequel to Dreamhunter. This novel is about halfway done but needs a TON of editing.
  4. Dijinn story: another in this universe but is still in the brainstorm stage.
  5. Suicide Troopers: scripts for this comic I’m working on with my friend. This will be an ongoing project.
  6. Untitled sci-fi/fantasy m/f novel: This may be an erotic one. I’m not sure. This is still in the outlining stage.
  7. Untitled horror short story: I have two pages of this written and no plans whatsoever. I need to make them. >_<
  8. A list of erotic short story submission ideas about 12 deep as of today. I may get more soon. I just compile them for whenever I have a chance to work on that.
  9. Sketch practice so I can add more to my Deviant Art gallery, my Storm Artists gallery, and my Zazzle shop.

And I’m fairly certain there’s something I’m forgetting. Yes, I have a full time job, overtime, housework, and a 4 year old. Yes, I am clusterfuck crazy. Scary, isn’t it?

There was a time, when I was a younger gal, where I could mentally keep all this straight with only a few notes. But the worlds are getting so expansive with so much detail, I’ve had to use outlines to keep the parameters straight and make sure one world doesn’t seep into the other by mistake.

I  have a writing planner AND I utilize Asana to keep on schedule with an ADDITIONAL daily alarm on my phone to ensure I meet (or TRY to meet) my daily goal of 4 pages a day. Sometimes I sit in bed, literally encircled by notebooks as I bounce from one story to another to get those 4 pages.

And somewhere in here, I’m supposed to lose 20 pounds and to a book challenge? Why do I get the feeling I’m setting myself up to fail here. 0.0