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In the Meantime...

This entry is part 81 of 103 in the series Daily Scribble Reports

March 26, 2014

Was chatting via email with lithiumlaughter and this morning, the conversations turned into a 1397 word fic. Whoops. It wasn't good enough though, not quite enough. I'm changing my Couples Big Bang pairing.

March 28, 2014

Started putting together a poetry collection for lithiumlaughter, since poetry was actually happening (research and fic were frying my brain) and wrote a poem to go with the fanfic.

March 29, 2014

I almost forgot. I wrote a ton of fodder on this day, probably a few thousand words of poetry that will never see the light of day, thus the name "fodder." I'm not counting it.

March 30, 2014

Focused on rereading “Justice” and reminding myself of where I want to steer it. Unfortunately realized that I need to check in for the Couples Big Bang tomorrow, so also need to work on that. Finished out what I started on the 29th of getting gift books ready for publication. Will need to continue wrapping that up on the 1st.


So I owe you all an end of March post and would like to check back in to my publication/release schedule issues as well. I’m not really happy with that bit.

Word Counts:

  • Fiction: 1397 words
  • Poetry: 8 lines | 51 words
  • Blog: 18 words

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Brain in a Fog, Guess I'll Write Poetry

This entry is part 82 of 103 in the series Daily Scribble Reports

This is what happens when I get tired and my brain shuts down. I end up writing poetry instead of fiction or research or anything useful or productive. At least something happened, but I feel woefully remiss towards certain people who were hoping for some cheering material soon, who are also not fond of poetry.

I’m very sorry
I hope you’ll forgive
The muse slipped out
O’ my ‘mind like a sieve’

March 24, 2014

So it started with this story that had played in my head overnight, but it was too long and complex to justify writing, so in the morning when it started coalescing into a poem on me, I memorized the lines and stanzas in my head and at work, I wrangled them into something I liked. All 136 lines of it.

I sent it to lithiumlaughter who likes poetry and she blessed me with an amazing review that inspired poem #2: "Tale of Domestic Life in a Series of Coffee Cups."

Did some research for thecatisacritic before brain stopped cooperating again.

Word Counts:

  • Fiction: 0 words
  • Poetry: 155 lines | 905 words
  • Blog: 90 words

March 25, 2014

The idea of a poetry collection for Kingdoms and Thorn pestered me and then another poem did. I wrote it down and loved it.

I peeked inside the books of Billy Collins and got a little more inspired. There went four more small poems.

Did more research and chatting with thecatisacritic.

Tried two more poems with less than great success. I wrote "The Cup" and promptly deleted most of it. "Daughter" started out better—twice—before I gave up on it.

This evening, the mass market edition of Dowse and Bleed arrived. It's stunning and full of little fixes I need to make, but it is stunning. I love it.

Word Counts:

  • Fiction: 0 words
  • Poetry: 281 lines | 538 words
  • Blog: 72 words

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The 2014 First Quarter Report

This entry is part 83 of 103 in the series Daily Scribble Reports

About those challenges…

The seven-sentence challenge with the goal of daily production went by way of Sandusky. I don’t know that I’ll get back to it.

The publication challenge on the other hand:

Songs from the Dust

So the poetry collection is published book two for the year. (I’m supposed to be at three, so I’m not quite as far behind as I think, though I still have to wrap up the lagging Kindle and mass market version of Dowse and Bleed. Createspace printed most of the white letters on the back cover in black, with the exception of certain random ones.)

Lithiumlaughter is my poetry ally. She has inspired a lot of my stuff by her own favorites among my poems and those of others.

Currently, the most complex poem I have written to date is “Five Reasons I Love You.” There is a definite stanza scheme, a definite and careful choice about every line break and every stanza break, every bit of punctuation. I wrote in multiple meanings to the whole thing and even though it doesn’t rhyme and doesn’t have a defined metrical scheme, it has a very defined rhythm and plays carefully with the specific concepts being mined. Perhaps that’s one of the reasons it’s among my favorites. It means something different but also true if you read it according to the punctuation, or if you read it according to the line breaks, or if you read it according to the stanza breaks.

It was also written a single beautiful rush. I’m starting to like the epic poems that do that. “History Lesson on the Night Train” started the trend, then along came “Queen of Heaven” and “Five Reasons,” then “The Bringing of Light” and finally “Name You.” There’s something about these poems and what it did to me to write them. I’m really excited about how the collection came together and hope to have it out to the world soon.

Daily Scribbling

You may have noticed I’ve gone to daily tracking and irregular reporting. It works better for me because I’m writing and publishing on three different devices with different limitations and drawbacks.

In new words produced, I noticed that my fiction numbers were best in January, then dropped in February and rose slightly in March. Poetry rose slightly in February, then went crazy in March.

In completed words, I’ve solely produced fanfic and poetry this year (bummer), but steadily more each month. The method works, in other words, but I’m not entirely happy with the lack of original fiction work getting finished. Worked on is great, but finished is necessary. Going to try to correct that despite my Big Bang coming up.

Monthly Reading

January and February went swimmingly. March was a non-starter. I’m moving next month. I spent a lot of money at Costco the other day that I wasn’t intending to and bought some books. We’ll see when I actually have time to read them. :rolls eyes: They come after in_the_blue’s new fic. I don’t think I really read anything this last month at all that counted.

I need to file an extension on my taxes too. :headdesk:

Plans

Get. more. disciplined. Finish something to publication. Finish fiction. Get my taxes taken care of. Consider picking up a book to read now and again, huh?

I always want to put giftfic first, but that doesn’t always work best. I’m considering how best to remedy that. I’m considering what to do when I hit up the collaborative novel again. I’m considering whether to read first because I want to check things off, not just make progress.

That’s the 2014 First Quarter Report.

How have you done for the first 1/4th of the year?

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Headspace

This entry is part 84 of 103 in the series Daily Scribble Reports

April 1, 2014

So I got out my catch-up post before 9 a.m. and also got my proof reviewed for my grandparents’ gift and the book submitted for lithiumlaughter’s. My new cover upload last night apparently didn’t take, so I’ll have to do it at home tonight. This is starting to get headachesome.

Fandom

My new AO3 drafting process: I don’t like the expiration on drafting a WIP on AO3 or the inability to really preview all chapters of a multi-chaptered draft, so I found a workaround. Create a WIP collection that is (Closed, Moderated, Unrevealed, Anonymous). Post fic to the collection.

Poetry

I have come to a conclusion. Poetry carves headspace in my mind. It opens the doors that have gotten shut and blows down the walls of the maze I raise for fiction. Sometimes I just desperately need the room to breathe.

Just wrote a poem because my headspace fresh off of poetry just got kinda cluttered and I’m feeling tense again.

And there went another one at the oddest of moments. Make that two.

Will edit this post tomorrow if I write any more tonight.

Word Counts

  • Poetry: 35 lines | 274 words
  • Blog: 836 words

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The Real Work of the Big Picture of This Sort of Writing

This entry is part 85 of 103 in the series Daily Scribble Reports

April 2, 2014

Publishing

So I've got three proofs going back and forth with Createspace: a gift book for family members, Songs from the Dust, and the mass market edition of Dowse and Bleed, which is still gorgeous by the way. I got two ordered, one submitted, and the Kindle edition of Dowse and Bleed finally published. I also have some more editing of Songs from the Dust despite having a print copy on the way because I want to change something on the cover and forgot to add author info in the back. Wow, scribbler. Really batting a thousand.

Anthologizing and Completing Fiction

Creating an anthology isn't as hard as I thought if I have my arms around what I want from the collection. It seems a lot like writing fiction: once I have that handle on the overall arc, I can fly through the story. Same thing happened with creating Songs from the Dust. I knew what I wanted and it just came together with ease.

Today, I work on "Justice." I have an idea of what I want and there's the matter of theme. I've hit on the need for theme and I think thecatisacritic gave it to me buried in with the rest. Let's see what can happen.

Headspace

I spent some time cleaning out my inbox because it needed to be done. I didn't really deal with much, but I deleted a couple hundred emails and finally moved a few thousand into their folders to end up with 9. Yahoo has corrected the most egregious of their errors and so I could actually find my email again. Though the search is still wonky.

Writing

Started on "Justice," then got poetically side-tracked with a poem I want off that 'unfinished' list. Getting back on track. (No, it's not finished.)

Wrote 232 words. Hashed out ideas with thecatisacritic. Have bunny. And got it to 553 words.

Again, will edit this post if I get any more done.

Word Counts

  • Fiction: 553 words
  • Poetry: 102 lines | 530 words
  • Blog: 400 words

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Percolating

This entry is part 86 of 103 in the series Daily Scribble Reports

April 3, 2014

Publishing

All my proofs are in the mail to me. Now I must be patient and wait.

Collaboration

Worked on the collaborative short with thecatisacritic, mostly percolating, but 364 new words were in that.

Fandom

Did research for my Couples Big Bang and the attached, related other crossover fic I'm not supposed to write. Yeah. That'll work. :rolls eyes at self: 208 words there.

Publishing Again

Planned out how to do my next collection. Kingdoms and Thorn. It's my current playground apparently.

Reading

Thought I'd get some time to. Didn't.

Word Counts

  • Fiction: 572 words
  • Poetry: 0 lines | 0 words
  • Blog: 0 words

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A Lot of Not Much

This entry is part 87 of 103 in the series Daily Scribble Reports

April 4, 2014

Wrote a stats post. Wow.

  • Blog: 90 words

April 7, 2014

So mostly I scribbled poetry and false start number one on a crossover I tried very hard to talk myself out of writing.

  • Fiction: 569 words
  • Poetry: 161 lines | 1111 words

April 8, 2014

I got a false start on my Couples Big Bang fic and quickly realized it didn't do what I wanted at all.

  • Fiction: 184 words

April 9, 2014

Out sick and a whole lot of nada. Technically I did do an interview here.

  • Blog: 770 words

April 10, 2014

A bit of fandom progress, which wasn't what I was hoping for, but not awful either. I finally got my Trope Bingo card and am deciding how I want to do it. Also signed up for Origfic Bingo but don't have my card yet. Best and worst of all, made a ton of progress on the crossover that shouldn't. Oh, and got a good scene start on Couples Big Bang.

  • Fiction: 962 words

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A Little Bit of Everything

This entry is part 88 of 103 in the series Daily Scribble Reports

So on July 1, 2014, word counts resume but only for completed works. I wrote on several pieces of wip original fiction, but completed few and went to defrag by writing a few commentfics. I actually completed everything fandom I worked on, so despite appearances, I wrote more original fiction yesterday than fanfiction.

Original Fiction — 752 words completed

  1. Kingdoms and Thorn: "All She Ever Wanted," 207 words
  2. Kingdoms and Thorn: "Come Home to Me, My Love," 545 words

Fanfiction — 1262 words completed

  1. MCU: Taken, 422 words
  2. MCU: But What About the Wings?, 82 words
  3. MCU: Hey, Robin Hood, 177 words
  4. MCU/X-Men: Double Negative, 77 words
  5. MCU: When Silence Falls, 6 words
  6. MCU: What Is Mine, 145 words
  7. Firefly: Sometimes, 232 words
  8. MCU: Unjust Reward, 121 words

July 2014 Totals

  • Original Fiction: 2 ficlets, 752 words
  • Fanfiction: 8 ficlets, 1262 words
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And Here We Go Again...

This entry is part 89 of 103 in the series Daily Scribble Reports

It's nice to get back to prompts, in essence, and start picking up some of my prompt backlog on both sides of the fence. Did a lot of WIP work that didn't translate into finished pieces yet and also finished some stuff. Yay me.

Original Fiction — 1787 words completed

  1. Kingdoms and Thorn: "3 Times Meld Was There for Someone Else and 1 Time Someone Else Was There for Him," 1263 words
  2. Collaboration: "A Helping Hand," 337 words
  3. Kingdoms and Thorn: "Teammates," 187 words

Fanfiction — 1237 words completed

  1. The Unusuals: The Art of Fine Dining, 168 words
  2. X-Men/Roswell: It's Always the Tabasco Sauce, 320 words
  3. MCU: Avengers Team Dinner, 212 words
  4. MCU: Food for Mere Mortals, 130 words
  5. X-Men: Does a Breakfast Make, 121 words
  6. Nashville: In Her Shadow, 136 words
  7. The Unusuals: The Little Things We Do for Each Other, 150 words

July 2014 Totals

  • Original Fiction: 1 short story, 4 ficlets, 2539 words
  • Fanfiction: 15 ficlets, 2499 words
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Playing Catch-Up

This entry is part 90 of 103 in the series Daily Scribble Reports

I took a break for the holiday, but here's some basics.

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Original Fiction — 2216 words completed

  1. Kingdoms and Thorn: "My Couch is Open," 1936 words
  2. Seven Days: "Memory of Love," 280 words

Original Fiction — 56 words | 12 lines completed

  1. Kingdoms and Thorn: "Home Sweet," 56 words | 12 lines

Fanfiction — 402 words completed

  1. MCU: An Untimely Interruption, 214 words
  2. MCU: Not Again, 188 words

Friday, July 4, 2014

Original Poetry — 298 words | 40 lines completed

  1. Kingdoms and Thorn: "Of Rainy Mornings," 298 words | 40 lines

Saturday, July 5, 2014

Fanfiction — 157 words completed

  1. MCU: Avenging Angel, 157 words

July 2014 Totals

  • Original Fiction: 2 short stories, 5 ficlets — 4755 words
  • Original Poetry: 2 poems — 354 words | 52 lines
  • Fanfiction: 18 ficlets — 3058 words
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