Road Trip Wednesday- favorite lines from your WIP.

What's your favorite line of your WIP (or of a recently read book, if you're not writing anything)?


Penny and Hank is a retelling of the Persephone Demeter Myth.  Hank and Penny get exposed to a deadly virus and they are locked up in quarantine.   In this little bit, Hank has just woken up, he's wearing one of the doctor's office paper robes.   He's just figured out where he is and that the people who are holding him captive and no idea who he is.

Penny and Hank

          I looked down at my arm where they had drawn blood. “Listen you’re going to march up or down which ever direction it is to the fifth floor, run my blood sample through the DNA database. Shit your pants when you see my name, go to your boss and figure out the best way to tell him you’ve got the CEO’s grandson locked in a concrete cell. Then your boss is going to come down here and answer any questions I have, got it?” I lifted my legs up and rested them on the glass.
           Victory.
           He blinked at me. “Boy, you’re not wearing any underwear so I would appreciate it if you put your legs down.”
           Crap.
           He stood up and walked out. Flicking the light off and leaving me will a full view of my junk.
           Christ, why could nothing be as cool as it was in the movies?


No System At All

Colin and his brother bully the bullies out of the school.  When Colin doesn't achive his life long dream of going to Julliard he opt to become a rock star instead. 




Here are some tiny bits of dialogue from my WIP that's the closest to being done.

In these two bits Colin the MC is walking around with his best friend Dave, a comic book geek.

           As they walked through the cafeteria, a lump caught Dave’s eye. “Christ, is that Tyler? He looks worse than Wolverine did when Magneto ripped out his adamantium skeleton in "X-Men" number 25.”
           “Really, that’s the reference you want to go with?” Colin said.


Colin jammed his hands into his coat pocket, “try to remember who you used to be, then you’ll understand.”
           Dave blinked at Colin, “That’s some serious Yoda shit there.”




In this scene Colin has just met his idol the bass player in his favorite band.  The bass player is giving Colin some life changing advice:

"I’ve heard this story a thousand times, the precise moment that inspires a kid to take the leap from screwing around to turning pro. Hmm. Word to the wise: the competition is heartless, the hours suck, the money’s worse, and there comes a time in every touring musician’s life where he has to shit in a bag.”
           “What?”
           “You’ll shit in a bag and hopefully it’s a plastic one.”

Blog house keeping

This blog will come to you in four parts:

Part 1
I've been thinking about switching up my blog layout.  Mostly because it dives me nuts that my tabs at the top aren't functional.  Yep, I don't know anything about HTML and hence I'm unable to make my blog look pretty, I can only use free blog templates but I can't modify them.  Loser.

Anyway I wanted to give you all a heads up about the potential change.  There's nothing more jarring then when you're favorite blog changes for no apparent reason.

Part 2
Another question I have is about comments.
When you make a comment on a blog, do you check to see if anyone replied to your comment?
Do you check off the notification box?

I normally don't comment in a response to my comments, but I read them all.

Do you feel like this a one sided relationship?  I try to comment on blogs I enjoy reading and I try but sometimes I fail, but I try to comment on everyone's blog who commented on mine.

Part 3
In other news:
I read through Penny and Hank in one sitting, and you know what, it didn't suck.  In fact it was pretty damn funny.  It made me laugh a lot.  I think this story might maybe be worth spending a few more months, maybe a year on, and see if I should query.

It's a good feeling.  It's a great feeling.

I don't think it will take 3 years of solid revising like How To PWN nOObz did.  I think it might take about a year.

I'm ready to give it to my beta's, I think.  YAY.

Anyway.  That's all I have for now... but I think I'll rehash a fun little story about Puppy Size Elephants from my very old project, Project Nice.

Part 4

Once on this planet, when the water levels were different, there was an island on the coast of California.

This island had elephants. ELEPHANTS!

But as the water levels started to rise and the island shrank, so did the elephants.

At one point on this planet there were puppy sized elephants.

Stop. Picture an elephant, perfectly proportionate but the size of a puppy.

Yes, that is the cutest thing in world.

Now stop and picture a HERD of puppy sized elephants.

Now picture that herd of elephants RUNNING.


Yes, now you have the cutest picture nature has ever produced, in your head.

HAPPY MONDAY EVERYONE!

Remember comments enter you into the awesome music contest.

Funniest thing you have ever written

So here are the funniest bits from my novels.

Funniest things I've written No System At All

Set up: Colin is talking to his idol, the bass player of NEO, Evan Porter.

Evan lifted the lid off of his cup and frowned. With one smooth motion, he threw it into a nearby trashcan, scattering a swarm of bees. “You want to be professional musician, don’t you?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ve heard this story a thousand times, the precise moment that inspires a kid to take the leap from screwing around to turning pro. Hmm. Word to the wise: the competitions is heartless, the hours suck, the money’s worse, and there comes a time in every touring musician’s life where he has to shit in a bag.”

“What?”

“You’ll shit in a bag and hopefully it’s a plastic one.”


The boys of No System at All are on their first tour, in New England, in January. Sleeping in their van got old, so they started asking their fans if they can sleep on their floor.

At day ten, Bryce snapped and in between song begged the audience if they could crash on their floor. “Any takers please see me at the merch booth.” Bryce ignored all the glares from his bandmates, he was cold, tried and hungry and mostly sick of sleeping in the damn van. Much to his surprised, a college chick home on winter break, took them up on the offer. Even better, she was hot, she wore a little too much eye make-up but had a cute curvy body. Her house was the same size as Bryce’s. Their benefactor let the rest of the band sleep in the living room, Bryce spent the night in her bedroom. In the morning she made them breakfast.

Bryce tried his luck again a second night, this time Colin was the winner of night stay in a cute girl’s bed. They got breakfast again. They came to the conclusion, “if you do a good job, the girls will cook you breakfast.”

Dave pointed out a flaw in their plan, “What if we stay at some dude’s house?”

Bryce and Colin caught each other’s eye. The lead singer said, “we’ll hit up a Dunkin Donuts on the way to the next venue.

New York Karma:

Stephanie and Spencer are talking about the important things.

Before I fell into another trap, I changed the subject. “What superhero had the most unbelievable origin story?"

"The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Their entire origin was based off of gross incompetence by New York City's Public Works. First off, how does a rat learn karate? Then what pet shop pours its unsold turtles down a drainage pipe? It makes you wonder what happened to the unsold puppies. Then who the hell drops radioactive ooze and doesn't report it? The CDC should have been swarming that place. Besides, 'ooze' is a verb not a noun. Most annoying, how do you get a California surfer accent in the sewers of New York?"

Her outrage was damn near the cutest thing about her. "So you didn't like them?"

"No, I loved them. Come on. Stupidity aside, they were Teenage. Mutant. Ninja. Turtles. What's not to love? I own all the movies on DVD and watch them once a year. On TMNT Day. It’s a holiday in my house, I don't go to work, I eat pizza and hit people with a Bo Staff."

I didn't think it was possible for her to get cooler then she already was.

“If it wasn’t for those turtles, most Americans might not have heard of the great Renaissance painters. It’s sort of sad if you think about it too much.”

Penny and Hank--- I wrote this a month ago and I've completely forgotten everything in this story. I'm sure there are funnier parts in the book somewhere.
Hank is talking a Ashley, a popular girl he doesn't like or trust.

She wrapped her arm around mine. She was touching me. How alarming and very violently. I yanked and side stepped out of her grip. She glared at the space I created. Her ice face melted into wet sugar. “I know a little secret.”

Was I supposed to care? I’m sure she knew lots of things I didn’t know, like the warning signs of herpes out break. But I kept that thought to myself.

So dear readers, what is your funniest bit?

Music and Writing

I love music. I hate silence. Serious, it freaks me out. As a teacher I get panicky when I hear NO noise, it means something BAD is about to go down. I need sound, music or the screams of a child to make me feel at ease.

When it comes to writing NEW material I found I can not listen to music I love. I can't do it. I start off writing about the character's mother and her relationship with the mailman and the next thing I know I've got Green Day Lyrics filtered through out. Or worst of all, I start to sing. No one needs THAT in their lives.

I can listen to the music I LOVE when I'm revising and doing line edits or doing a Seek and Destroy... that's what I call going through the entire document and cutting all the adverbs, that, just, pretty, all the empty words. I normally do a find and replace sort of thing in Word.

When I write, I need music I've never heard before. Normally I bust out my i-Tunes and start listening to my recently added list.

I won't lie, music is my biggest expense. I buy a lot of music. Why? Because the music is hurting more than the publishing industry. I know the band only makes 10% of the CD sales, but the band has a lot more people they have to employ.

Sometimes I use music I don't even like very much, artisy folk music where the musician isn't singing about sex and drugs, but about real life. I sort of hate that crap. Sorry if I offended anyone.

When finishing Penny and Hank I listened to Arcade Fire and the first Manchester Orchestra EP.

So what do you listen to when you write?


BTW- I've been away in BOSTON since Thursday. I've been writing the blogs ahead of time. I'm not snubbing you and I promise to get back on track when I get home.

Writers' remorse

I've been away from my laptop for the last few days, I've been reading and living life. Weird.

Last week I finished my first draft of Penny and Hank. You know that blissful feeling of accomplishment? That rush of a job completed? The ability to cross something off your to do list?

That buzz latest less then five minutes for me.

By the time I drove from the library, where I was writing, to my front door, the thrill had vanished.
Poof gone.

My next thought was "this is going to be a bitch to revise."

It will be. There was at least 5-10 spelling mistakes on every page, I left words out of sentences, typed the wrong word but spell check won't catch them. That's the little stuff, there's big issues too, like the overall tone of the book, character development, word choice. Blah blah blah.

I hung my head an thought, I don't know if I can handle this book for another three years.

Sigh.

So I vowed to not look at it for the rest of the summer.

I'm doing a reading binge, focusing on my daughter and getting ready for our trip to Boston!
When I get home I'll revise No System At All.

When I drove to pick my daughter up from daycare, I had to force myself to get happy and proud. I listened to Glee, because as much as I love Alt rock- I dig show tunes too, and tried to get myself pumped up.

So writers, does writers' remorse ever set in for you?

Mission Complete!

DONE!!!!!!!! Penny and Hank Draft 1 is completed!

I won't lie, if it wasn't for this blog I would have quit in the beginning of June. Thank you!!!!!!!

Penny and Hank, final word count 59804!
Pages 237
Genre YA

No Ya Highway post today. But I promise to comment on blogs later on tonight!!!!
Thank you for all your support.

Plan for rest of the week- Play with my daughter, go to Hershey Park with the family, do a thousand parties on Saturday, read On Writing by Stephen King. Maybe next week I'll finish spell checking and do a read through of Penny and Hank. But I plan on Revising No System At All for the rest of the summer.

(anyone know where I can print of a 300 page MS for cheap? Or is it better and cheaper to use my home printer?)

Penny and Hank 24 hours left

Today sucked. The whole day. From 2 pm until about 9:30 I wanted to punch kittens in the face.

Every time I went to write someone or something would interrupt me. I sat at Starbucks and wrote for two hours. I got some solid work done, but still it wasn't moving as quickly as I would have liked.

Then I had a dentist appointment it was my third one in two months, Ive been so foolishly trying to get my teeth cleaned. Yep they still aren't clean.

Then I got lectured by an elderly lady who was way to positive that I should live each day for itself. Great advice, but I was NOT in the mood to hear it.

Then I went to Panera, I ordered a new salad, it wasn't as good as I would have liked. Hubby called, I told him I had 1 hour to write before I picked up our daughter. Then the women next to me started to talk to me. FOR AN HOUR!!!

Then my daughter was exhausted (YAY) when I picked her up. YAY YAY and she wanted a nap. YES YES YES. I wrote one paragraph and Hubby came home and started to clean. Now I feel pressure to clean with him. I'm on the verge of tears.

AUGH

Daughter went to bed at 7:45 and I"ve been writing since then. I have three scenes left. They should be sort of short.

Plan for tomorrow, Drop of daughter at daycare*, go sit at a library and write. Then go to Let's Dish with Cindy, go to lunch, Best Buy and get the comics. Go back to a library and finish writing. Pick up kid by four. Write until it's time for bed.

*I'm not a stay at home mom who sends her kids to daycare. I'm a teacher and my school shut down three days earlier then the rest of the school system because it was getting renovated. Since I already had my daughter scheduled for daycare, it would be a SHAME and a CRIME not to use it.

Word count 5510 words written today. Total 56k

Penny and Hank update-- two days left

I hit 50K today. I dropped by kid off at daycare, drove to a Starbucks, parked my butt down and wrote until I' hit 50K... I was 4 thousand words short. It took about three hours. It was also a very emotional and slow writing part as well.

Once I got home I wasn't nearly as productive. I ate lunch, commented on TONS of blogs and did laundry. It was real life productive but not writing productive.

Tonight my plan is to write after my daughter goes to sleep.

I'm also really glad I outlined (sort of) because I LOVE to cross things off a list.



I'm on item 21, I've got 24 left to write. Plot Bunnies exploded and I might add more.

My plan is to repeat the process tomorrow.

Road Trip Wednesday- When did I start writing?

YA highway asked today on the Road Trip Wednesday:
When/why did you start writing?

Here's the long and deeply personal story of When did I start writing.

I started writing back in 7th grade. Back in middle school I discovered the wonderful world of comic books. I was a Batman girl. I liked Robin, -- Tim Drake, not Jason Todd, or even Dick Grayson. Tim Drake was my Robin. He was also one of the reasons why I started to write.

In my head I had been writing for since birth, running around, talking to myself, living in the wonderful fantasy world in my head. But in 7th grade I started to write on paper. By 8th grade I though, "yep- I'm the most amazing writer that ever was."

In 9th grade was I diagnosed with a learning disability, in language. I leave out words, I reverse letters, I don't read what's on the paper, I make up my own words that sound better. All signs were pointing to, "Erinn, you need to stop." But if Robin could put on a suit every night and fight crime and go to school the next day, surely I could write a short story.

Throughout high school I had a story I wanted to write, because EVERYONE who read comics has a story they want to see in comic form, or they want to draw it.
I wanted to write comics, I wanted an ainmated series. I wanted a live action series. I wanted my characters on the big screen.

So I took every opertunity to do it. I took an elective every year to move ahead in my writing.
But reality started to creep in, I wasn't the best writer in the class. I wasn't the worst but I wasn't as talented as others. If I couldn't win an award in my writing class, then how can I get published. <-- a thought that still lingers with me today.

I went to Salisbury University because it had a creative writing major. I lasted one week when I opted to double major in English and Education. I remember thinking that I was giving up on my dream.

Still my story haunted me.
I discovered Buffy The Vampire Slayer, the Power Puff Girls and other shows that protrayed women as strong and fighters. Plot Bunnies exploded, but they never made it on to paper.

Finally my senior year of college, I was living alone, no roommate to distract me and one of my friends had published his own book. Now was my time. I formatted it like a comic --- still holding on to that dream.

I graduated with about 17 "chapters" of the story. To this day it's still sitting on my bookshelf.

Then I started to work, with a real job. I was a teacher, I started dating my husband, I was a bride, I was a homeowner and poof 4 years had gone by and I had no writing to show it.

Then I started watching The West Wing. Josh and Donna infected my brain as much as Buffy, my own story and Robin had in the past... and I started writing Fan fiction. Some people are ashamed of their fan fiction, I know it's not something I talk about a lot. But fan fiction was the reason WHY I got back into writing.

First The West Wing then I moved on to LOST. I was a shipper. Josh and Donna, Charlie and Claire. 10/Rose. Yep that's who I was. Then I wrote a Fan Fiction taking place in an AU for charlie and Claire... when it was over I said, "Nope, it's not." I changed it from characters who were "real" to my own characters. The story was so far removed from Lost I thought it would be fine.
That's how No System At All was born... sort of. But I called it Love Wears a Sucidial Fish Hat,-- it made sense in the book, I promise.

I did some edits, added scenes and flashbacks. Wrote a query and poof. I had a few requests for partials.

Awesome. I was half way there.

Nope. As it turned out the book sucked, and I was pregnant. So I had to make a choice, give up on writing or push on.

Motherhood loomed in front of me. Life changes didn't even begin to say it. During week 22 of my pregnancy I said, "no, I'm not giving up on these characters and I want to make the book into a series." It would be story of a band's rise to fame. My frist book Love wears a Sucidial Fish Hat would be the series finale and I would just go back and write the band's orgin for the first book.
Author's Note: Yeah all those plans have been thrown out the window, Fish Hat was my "practice" novel and it will NEVER see the light of day.

I spent the next 16 weeks being pregnant, teaching, getting ready for the baby and writing. I was 20 pages away from finishing when my daughter came month early. I went the hopsital and agrued with the nurse, "No, I can't have this baby, I need to finish my novel."

The nurse didn't listen.

Neither did my daughter.

This summer marks 3 years since I started writing No System At All. Since then I have written one other complete novel- New York Karma and I'm 1 week away from my third book Penny and Hank.

20 years since I started writing and you know what, my heart still belong to Robin.

Why do I do it?--- it's the plot bunnies, they don't leave my head, the story infects EVERY aspect of my life until I get it out on paper then I can move on. Beside I owe it to my characters to try. I owe it to my beta readers to make the story better. I owe it to myself because I love it.

breaking up is hard to do

Instead of writing Penny and Hank, as I should be doing, I'm blogging--- a classic sign that a project is not going well.

YA Highway asked today on their Road Trip Wednesday (which by the time I post this blog it will be Thursday so just deal with it) This week's topic: How do you know when a project will work out, and when it won't?


Breaking up is hard to do, or its really easy if you don't like the person and or whatever writing project you're on.


I've written 3 complete novels. I've started 3 others. Penny and Hank is my current work in progress, but before there was Penny and Hank there was Cheating Dog and Serial Love Story.

Cheating Dog was a paranormal romance about a recently divorced woman and her boyfriend who's a werewolf. She has "magical" abilities and she doesn't know it... He's a werewolf with a very complex family history, yadda yadda yadda. I sort of dug the concept but I stopped writing it because I COULD NOT WRITE THE NEXT SENTENCE, seriously. My characters are still standing outside of her apartment complex.

I got bored.

It's a bad sign when the writer gets bored.

It also switched from past to present tense constantly because I couldn't pick a tense and I gave up because line editing this would have been a bitch.

Serial Love story was about a serial killer who killed every six months. We start the book with him coming home from killing someone and he gets a phone call from journalist who wants to do a story on him. (Why she never calls the police was a logistical problem I couldn't solve... and one of the reasons I dropped it) They fall in love-- yep, and now there's a ticking time bomb, is he going to kill her?... yadda yadda yadda.

I stopped because it was too much like Dexter (yes I know it doesn't sound anything like Dexter but trust me I would have been sued).
And I outlined it. <--- Kiss of DEATH for me.
The story was out of my head and sitting on a hard drive.
I had, and still have, ZERO motivation to write it.

So when does a project stop working?

Mostly when the author stops caring, when they would rather be blogging, playing farmville, or cleaning her house instead of writing and playing with her new friends.

I'm going to stick it out with Penny and Hank, because it's a book I would WANT to read. I see a light at the end of the tunnel and I think it might be salvageable.

AT the end of the day, I like Penny, I really like Hank and I want to hang out with them some more.

Penny and Hank 22 days left

A quick update on Penny and Hank, this weekend I wrote wrote wrote. I hung out with my family and wrote some more.

First off I got organized-- outlined the scenes I had left to write. I had 25 scenes/ chapters to write. Basically 25 things I wanted to have happen before I ended the draft.

I like lists, they keep me organized and make me feel productive.

Over the weekend I crossed off 5 of those scene.

Last time I updated the blog I was on page 89 and had 22K words.

As of 9:38 on June 1 I have 127 33K words.

My goal is to hit 60K and 250 pages. I don't think it's going to 60k, I think I'll end up getting to 50- 55k. Which is fine because I don't want to drag the story out and have twenty pages of the characters watching Doctor Who, because while I would find it entertaining to summarize all the episodes, I'm not sure if other people would. And I don't want to get sued by a British lawyer--- they're so fancy after all.

Night all, tomorrow is a mid week links--- all about Queries.

Penny and Hank- update

I went dark for a week because I really wanted to win a contest and in my insane logic the longer I had the posting up the better chance I would have to win. News on the contest will come soon.

I've been thinking a lot about this blog, how I can gain more followers, how I can reward my followers, what sort of content I should fill the blog up with.

So I will ask you, all of those who take the time to read this blog, and ask, what sort of stuff do you want to see?

I was thinking about doing a round up all links to all the cool blogs I read in a week on Fridays.
Maybe pictures of things I like one day of the week.

Anyway Penny and Hank. I have less then 1 month to finish the book. I hit 22K words this weekend. Page 89. I'm 2/3s of the way to my goal.

I've also hit the point in my book where I've gotten my characters to the main setting, now they need to do something. How many pages do you think I can commit to them watching TV? At least 150, right?

I have the book mentally outlined, although the outline changes all the time.

How about you my writer friends? Do you plan out your story ahead of time with room to change or do sit at the computer and let the words come? Do you control your characters or do they control you?

Penny and Hank update 2 of the day

Write in was a HUGE success I highly recommend it to any writer. Meet up with other writers and write. Then do little challenges to who can write the most in 10 minutes. Its fun and productive, two things I really like.

Total Word count: 10315

Page count: 39

Not bad for two hours.

Penny and Hank update

Weekend update:

So I finished Chapter three and moved on to chapter four... I've got a whopping 31 pages done. Word count 7893.

A new fear is building, what if I lose interest in my story. I find my brain focusing on real life, and my other novels, but I'm not spending much time playing with my new imaginary friends Penny and Hank.

I'm sitting in borders waiting for my write in to start. A new word count update will be done soon.


By the way if anyone want to buy me a SUPER expensive gift, http://dothewritethingfornashville.blogspot.com/2010/05/day-6-item-17.html
Mary Kole is my current agent crush. It's been up for a few hours and it's already at $600. I internally weep but at least it's a good cause.

Should I drop what will most likely end up being a grand to get my dream agent to read my book (not Penny and Hank of course, but No System At All,) or should I hope I was lucky enough to get her for my 15 page evaluation for the convention in June.

Yep, there's no way I'm that lucky.

Penny and Hank week 1 round up

A week ago I got the idea. This is how far I got.

Chapter 3.

Page 21

Word count 5192.

Not a great day writing wise for me. Stupid real life getting in the way.

It's still a LONG way from my goal but I've got time.

I set up a time for a write in with my writers group.

There's no good TV tomorrow, right?

Penny and Hank- FAIL

Today I didn't even open the file. No new words. Penny and Hank barely entered my thoughts.
Today was filled with real life stuff.

My daughter, beta reading, e-mailing, taking care of a sick husband, shoveling rocks and saying goodbye to my parents.

Tomorrow I'll write.

Wait, Glee and Lost is on.

CURSE YOU GOOD TV!!!!!!!

Penny and Hank- Weekend Goal

Word count 4770.
I wrote up to Chapter 3.
Still a long way from my goal, but I'm making solid progress.

I'm worried my real life will interfere with it. Hubby has a whole bunch of landscaping projects he wants to get started on, translation lots of physical labor, dirty and sweat for me. Yuck.

Yay Alicia for her super great news over the weekend. I won't share it, because I feel like it's her news to share. But YAY and I'm SUPER DUPER PROUD of you.

Penny and Hank Day 5

4000 words exactly. Oh how I love round numbers. Round numbers that are divisible by 5. I'm sort of insane for the number five. Hence why I have to get 60K words and 250 pages, all divisible by 5.

16 pages (I'm not loving that... no 5's)

But I did finish chapter 2.

I met my goal for the evening. YAY and I didn't get overly distracted by the Twitter or Facebook.

Chapter 3 will be one of the hardest chapters I will have ever written. Its very far out of my genre and comfort zone.

BTW- Current writing quality-- craptastic. Thank god for revisions.

Penny and Hank Day 4

Yep, I was home today with a sick kid, so you would think I would get a lot of writing done.

But I was home with a sick kid which means I got about an hour to write.

Chapter 1 is done.

Chapter 2 has one paragraph.

Here it is:

How do I wake up in the morning? Is it the gentle touch of a mother, or the grating noise of a buzzer? Nope, it’s a 75 pound lab mix jumping on my genitals. You would think, since I was woken up this way every day, I would learn and start sleeping on my stomach. Nope. I blame Zack, he was the one who taught the dog to do that. I planned on killing Zack in his sleep one day. It’s been on my to-do list for years.

Word count:2169

Might get some work done tonight, but most likely not. The Office is on and I've got priorities.

My verison of Nanowrimo

Ok I'm starting a new project.
My goal, to finish my newest novel's first draft by the end of the school year. June 23.

My goal is to revise my oldest WIP No System At All and have that ready to query by the end of the summer.

I'm getting all the feedback from my writers group about my second WIP New York Karma tomorrow. I'm going the shelve that one for a while until I start to miss the characters again. After the query/ rejection process is over for No System At All. (I'm hopeful but VERY realistic)

In the meantime, I plan on writing a new story. It's a retelling of a classic greek myth in modern times, complete with a not so goth kid, a accidental kidnapping and six month quarantine.

I started writing it two days ago and I've got 1373 words (three pages for anyone who's counting.)

I want to get about 250 pages and 60K words.

How will I do this? Between mommihood, working, wifing and doctor who, how will I get all this done? Easy--- I plan to do it all, badly.
It's worked so far in my life, lets see how long I can push it.

I'll keep you updated but I need you to help me stay motivated... can you do it? Can I do it?

Let's see if Penny and Hank ever make it out of my head and onto my computer screen.

Penny and Hank Day 3 word count 1373 words.