Writer’s Life: The Year of Insane, Rediculous, and Nonsensical Challenges
Photo by Derrick Tyson, Creative Commons
2010 was a pretty good year, but I have to be honest…I spent a good chunk of it staring off into space. Not outer space, mind you. That would actually be cool. I’ve been spending too much time in inner space, the realm between my ears, thinking about whatever aspiring writers think about. Word counts. Rejection slips. Blog posts. Chocolate.
In 2011, I want to do less thinking, because really what is it good for? Doing is better, right? So this coming year, I’m eager to take advantage of my awesome part-time work schedule and fill my days to the brim with ridiculous challenges. Ten of them sounds like a good number, so here they are in no particular order:
1. Write 1, Sub 1 (write and submit one story per week)
2. NaNoWriMo, because is there any other option?
3. Script Frenzy, because the rest of my writing group is doing it, and if they jumped off a bridge, I would too
4. Ride my bicycle every single day
5. Become fluent in Japanese, or at least be able to have a passable conversation
6. Story a Day in May, because sanity is overrated
7. Read 26 novels pulled off the shelves of Half Price Books at random (an author from each letter of the alphabet, different genres, $100 limit)
8. Learn to play an instrument, preferably a sitar if I can afford one (I am completely tone deaf, so this will be much harder than it sounds)
9. I’m pretty sure I’m going to regret this, but I’m going back to being a vegetarian (with exceptions made for turkey jerky, of course)
10. Learn to do a headstand, which probably means I’ll need to restart my yoga practice
And not counted in the above list, finishing three other novels that I’m working on in various stages of completion. I think it’s pretty doable. I mean, I can always practice my Japanese while doing a headstand, or play my sitar while reading, or figure out a way to rig a laptop to my handlebars so I can write while I ride. Multitasking will definitely be the key to a successful year.
Day 1 – So far so good. Submitted 3 stories today, practiced Japanese, rode my bike, and the only meat I ate today was turkey jerky. Plus I found this t-shirt that I want so, so bad. http://www.teefury.com/archive/516/Sitar_Hero/
Day 2 – Beautiful day for a ride, especially after yesterday’s frigid one. Got more Japanese in, ate the last of my turkey jerky, so it’s all veggies from here on out. Need to put in a couple hours on my NaNovel though. I’ve been neglecting it.
Hi! I just read your extremely original story in Everyday SF and stopped by to visit your site.
Good luck with those goals. I tried Japanese for awhile, but after about a year my brain discarded one word and grammar rule for every one it allowed in.
Thanks for stopping by. Glad you enjoyed the story.
This is my third time trying to learn Japanese. Hopefully, this time I’ll stick with it.
Day 3 – Got 1000 words in on the novel, plus a quick bike ride, a bit of Japanese, no meat at all. Going to Half Price tomorrow to get my first set of random books!
Neat story in my Daily SF … I always wondered how the Asiphants did that! ….
…. Think I’ll hang around and see how your year goes…
…. P.S. sometimes public libraries give away or sell for what you want to pay old books
Hi Widdershins.
Those Asiphants are marvelous creatures, aren’t they.
I’ll think about going to the library for one of my trips. Maybe that’ll be one of my goals for the year, too. I’ve avoided libraries in the past because of my issue of returning book late and racking up fines.
Glad you’re sticking around. I’ll need the encouragement. Off to practice Japanese now!
Coo, I studied Japanese at university. I think I’ve forgotten everything but “I don’t understand. Do you speak English or German?” though.
That sounds like a tough but interesting list of challenges. I feel a bit wimpy in comparison now.
Ah, Sylvia! The year has only just begun and challenges are aplenty. I’m using Live Mocha until I get a basic understanding of the language. Not sure where I’ll go from there. The basic classes are free if you want to brush up.
Day 4 – Managed to get in a very short bike ride before going back to work after a wonderful two-week vacation. Practiced telling time in Japanese, got 500 words in on the novel, started short story for week 1, and had a black bean burger for a late lunch (made a big batch of them last night.)
I’m putting book shopping off until tomorrow. I’m a little worried about that since I’m a slow reader, and I don’t want to get behind. Plus I’ve got a book club book to get through this month too! Ah!
Day 5 – Practicing my Japanese while eating cereal was very interesting this morning, but it’s fair to say that the multitasking has begun. I wrote the first part of my first short story, had a nice 2-mile bike ride, and bought seven books to kick off my reading fest. Came up with some promising titles. I’ll post more about it tomorrow.
Day 6 – No writing today. I was whipped from the rest of the week, plus cedar fever is giving me sneezing fits. The dog was looking at me crazy while I was getting ready for my bike ride this morning, so I took her out for a walk, though I still managed to get a mile in on the bike. Practiced my Japanese vocab a little by riding (tree, house, truck, flowers…)
One more day to finish up my first story. I could work on it now, but I think I’d rather go to bed.
Day 7 – Just finished my Write 1 Sub 1 story, right in the nick of time. It’s far from done. I didn’t really know what the story was about until I wrote the ending, but I’ll be able to back-fill the appropriate details when I’m ready to make it a cohesive story.
In other news, I made the awesomest veggie fajitas last night (potato, eggplant, and carrot), though I went out for lunch today, and almost ordered Aztec Carrot and Shrimp soup until I remembered I was a vegetarian. I made it the whole week riding my bike each day. Overall, it’s been a successful first week of insanity!
Day 8 – Tried to eat around the meat in some gumbo, might have gotten a fleck of crabmeat or so, but I hadn’t eaten anything besides peanut butter crackers and it was nearly dinner time, so I’ll just have to trump that one up to survival of the fittest. Did take my bike for a quick spin around the block though, and downloaded the next Japanese lesson…on to the 102 class!
Day 9 – Vegetarian fast food options suck. I took a quick trip to Houston for a friend’s baby shower this weekend and haven’t had a decent meal since Friday.
Did catch up with old high school friends, funny how good friends can pick up right where they left off, even if it’s been years since you’ve seen them.
Biked a mile today, that was nice, and worked on my profile for the Campbell Award. Too tired to sit up straight. Too tired to think. Too tired to write. Hopefully a good night sleep will get me going. But I have to go to work on my day off anyway, so blah!
Day 10 – Riding my bike today nearly froze my fingers off. I think gloves may be in order. Successful news on the vegetarian front, though I will spare you those details. In related news, my toilet humor story is up at Daily Science Fiction, and I’m working on getting a couple stories submitted for the week. Learning the days of the week in Japanese, which is timely, since I was just complaining about how my new wall calendar starts the week on Mondays.
Day 11 – Biked a mile, wrote some on a new short story, plus submitted my story for the week yesterday (an old one). I’m going to have to work on not judging the quality of a story until it’s written, but for some reason, this one feels like it has suck written all over it.
I’m really hoping that February will be less busy than January.
Day 12 – Made awesome veggie tacos again–eggplant, carrots, and potatoes. Rode my bike on the coldest day of the year so far, though it was probably up to 36 degrees by the time I went out. Finished my short story for the week. Needs some fleshing out, and it’s dark. Last week’s story was a little dark too. Wonder what that means?
I’ve got a manuscript to critique and a book club book to read, but as soon as I’m done with those, I’ll be starting on my random novels!
Day 13 – I took it easy today. That meant working on my novel, a near-freezing bike ride, and three short story submissions. Made bean and cheese tostadas for dinner, plus a side of rice. I also started doing some research on sitars!
I think I needed the mental break.
Day 14 – Well, today I learned that if I ride my bike while it’s drizzling, I will not melt. Nice ride, too. Excellent dinner of veggie tacos (black beans, mango, bell pepper, and tomato). Not much done on the writing front. Still trying to catch up with my critiques. A three-day weekend is coming up, so I hope to get in my words that way, plus maybe start a new short story. I’ve got two to edit also. I hope they don’t start stacking up!
My Japanese has been lax these past few days. Must remedy that soon too!
Day 15 – Just biked in a light rain (as opposed to yesterday’s mere sprinkle). Can I call myself hard core now? Got 1100 written on the novel this morning. I’d forgotten how much fun it was to work on. Had lunch with a friend at Manny’s (was Mannyhatten’s). Roast veggie sandwich was DELICIOUS! Now, on to do some review of Japanese. Tonight more novel critiquing, and I hope to squeeze in some Xbox Kinect!
Day 16 – Was going on a bike ride, but got side-tracked and ended up cleaning out the garage a bit. Maybe this will be the year we’ll be able to park a car inside it! I did get to do my ride later in the evening though. Dreary, but it beats getting rained on.
Started editing my week one story. It’s got some serious issues that I hope I’ll be able to figure out. I’m pretty satisfied with the first 5 pages. It’s just the last 1 and a half pages that suck now, so I guess that’s something. I’ve learned some about Bolivia and Tinku which is some kind of festival where people get the excuse to beat each other up.
So many pages left to critique. So many pages…
Day 17 – Critique. Critique. Critique. I also got some editing done on my week one story, though it’s nearly time to crank out my week three story. The novel has come to a crawl in the meantime, and there was no effort towards Japanese.
I did get in a nice 3-mile bike ride today. Beautiful day. I think I’ve decided to up my daily mileage to two miles in February, three miles in April, four miles in July, and five miles in November. (Or however many miles I ride, I’ll do it for that many months.)
I bought ten pounds of potatoes a month ago, and the bag doesn’t seem to be moving down. Nevertheless, I made potato egg and cheese breakfast tacos, and had leftover bean tacos for dinner.
I think things will calm down after Wednesday though. I do need to catch up with my book club book soon too. Good thing I’m a big fan of crazy, because this week promises to be that.
(My daily updates seem to be getting longer. Wonder why that is…)
Day 18 – Busy day coming up, so I thought I’d get my update in early. Week 3′s story came to me this morning in that wonderful state that comes between sleep and wakefulness. I’ve got it outlined with sort of a plot and everything. I went to Wikipedia to help me fill in the details, which it promptly pointed me in the directions of Anansi, the spider trickster god, who will now figure into my story (probably very subtly).
Well, I’m off to spin a little critique before hopping on my bike. Happy Tuesday.
Day 19 – My crazy week of critiques is over! Woot! Now maybe I’ll get some more fiction written. I did get 1000 words in on this week’s story. Loving it so far. Beautiful bike ride–could have gone forever if I wasn’t already late for work. Two days of P.Terry’s veggie burgers in a row. I never get tired of those things. Oh, yeah, I’ve still got a book club book to get through this weekend, but that shouldn’t be too tough.
Day 20 – Got my ride in despite the wind’s attempts to blow me off my bike. 900 words done on week 3′s story. Hope to get all three W1S1 stories out by Monday. Then back to working on the novel. Maybe I’ll try to catch up on my Japanese this weekend too.
Sweet potato soup tonight! Brrr. It’s cold out there.
Day 21 – Cold ride this morning, but it wasn’t so bad once I bundled up a bit. Got 500 words written on my W1S1, with one last scene left to finish. Maybe I’ll be a good girl and try to get it done tonight. Learned to say “Somebody is in a bucket” in Japanese–the illustration that went along with it was hilarious.
Had a spicy “chick’n” patty sandwich, which was surprisingly yummy. In the past I’ve avoided foods that deliberately spell what they are wrong, but I guess I can make an exception for fake chicken.
Day 22 – This story will. not. end. One more scene. I know I said that yesterday, but I did write about 600 more words today. Now I’ve got the pressure of writing a flashback that needs to envelop the emotional stakes of the whole story. Sounds easy, right?
Had another one of those didn’t-eat-enough days, and had probably one of the slowest, most lethargic bike rides evah. (Of course, this was after my dog demanding to be taken on a nice walk.) Plus I did play Kinects over the Xbox Live with my brother, which was mucho fun.
I also got a good chunk of reading done on my book club book, though I still have some 350 pages to go before Monday. Plus I got my Japanese in, and am feeling not quite as lost with it as I had been. I guess my one complaint would be that the lessons aren’t really building on the previous lessons, so I feel like it’s going in one ear and out the other, even though I’m doing pretty well on the quizzes.
But all in all, everything is going well. Going to read more book now. Ahhhh!
Day 23 – Weeee! Finished last week’s W1S1 story a couple days late, but it’s done and pretty clean. I’m not totally happy with the end, maybe too abrupt. I’ll go back in and add a little more description, polish it up, and send it out, maybe to Clarkesworld.
Got my bike ride in, another lethargic day. Maybe it’s the weather. Good day for potato soup and cheese sticks though. Read about 70 pages of my book club book. Hope I can squeeze some more in tonight. And because I must be completely bonkers, I took on a side project building a website, just when my schedule was starting to clear a bit.
I think I’m seriously going to need some down time soon.
Day 24 – Got week’s 1 and 3 stories submitted! Yay! I feel so accomplished, especially after making the week 1 story not suck so hard. Week 2′s story feels a little too embryonic at this point. I might have to ponder it a few more days. I’ll get back to it after I deal with week 4. Speaking of which, I’ve got to get some ideas for that story pretty soon.
Going to go do my bike ride in a bit, just a quick ride around the block. First I need to figure out what kind of food I’m going to bring to book club. Man, where did the day go?
Day 25 – Banged out a 600-word zombie story today inspired by a dream I had last night. Submitted it and everything, so I’m all caught up for my W1S1 on time this week! I did break a rule and submitted it to a semi-pro mag, but I think it’s a good match.
Last night’s book club went really well. It was potluck, so I made deep-fried eggplant, squash, and mushrooms which went over great. We had a really good spread, and I had fun even though I only finished half of the book.
Got my bike ride in today. Beautiful morning, though I was a little too wound up to enjoy it properly. Things should be settling down the rest of the week though. I hope to get some writing done on my novel.
Day 26 – Got a slow start today, not much energy in the morning, but got a boost of happiness when I saw that teefury.com had a zombie t-shirt. Ordered it! Can’t wait to wear. I did get my bike ride in, but no writing.
I also have been distracted by StarJeweled. Don’t tell anyone.
Day 27 – Grrr. No writing today. I did read over all of my subbed W1S1 stories and still like them days later, so that’s a good sign. I worked mostly on my side project, but I did get my bike ride in. Oh, yeah, and played StarJeweled.
I really can’t wait until the weekend. I need some me time. My dog wants to play with me, so I’d better attend to her before I get poked and whined at again.
Day 28 – Well, I needed a break, so I guess I am taking one. No writing today. Did manage some Japanese late last night, and I’m about to start reading for another novel critique. This weekend there will be fiction written!
Bike, too. More StarJeweled, plus American Idol is on. So many distractions.
Day 29 – Man, this cedar fever is driving me nuts. Rode. Worked on some logos. Sent out some short story subs. Read a bit of the novel I’m critiquing. Partied.
Nothing special planned for Sunday, and I’m going to enjoy it.
Day 30 – Got my bike ride in and did a ton of reading on the novel I have to critique. Getting my wisdom tooth out on Monday. I hope things will get back to normal in February. I’ll make a harder push on novel writing.
Day 31 – Wisdom tooth has been successfully extracted. Didn’t hurt at all, plus my insurance surprisingly covered most of the cost, so I was really happy about that. And I got a free bag of dog food from the pet store, so the day overall wasn’t that horrible.
Technically I rode my bike today, as in I got on it and pedaled about a grand total of three feet, just from one side of the garage to the other, so that’s one whole month that I rode my bike every single day! I’m really proud of that. Tomorrow starts two miles.
I did a lot of novel critiquing today, perfect post-surgery activity. I’ve only got about 40 pages left, so hopefully I can knock that out tonight and concentrate on my own writing for the rest of the week.
I did get a little Japanese in today too, just listening though, since I’m not supposed to talk too much today. Hopefully my recovery will go as smoothly as the surgery went. I gotta say, the worst part was the sound of tooth being pried loose, like a door creaking in my brain. It was over before I knew it, maybe five minutes all together. The doctor said that I was lucky that the tooth came out all at once. That leaves just three more of those pesky wisdom teeth in my head. Going at this rate, I’ll have them all out before I turn 130.
Day 32 – Just rode my bike three miles in 30-degree weather. It was a beautiful day out, and I bundled up pretty well, so it was a nice ride except for my face freezing off. Finished reading my critique manuscript this morning, so I’m ready to get some real work done! Maybe after I clean up downstairs a bit…
Day 33 – Brrr… I will have to draw the line at riding my bike in sub-freezing temps. 30s, I can deal with, but 18 degrees? So I did a little back and forth in the garage and called it a day. I started reading my first Random Novel, Bless Me, Ultima, which I’m enjoying so far. I did write a little on my own novel, which was nice. I might try to get some more in this week, maybe bring the first couple chapters to my critique group so I have some kind of outside pressure to keep going on it.
I still need to write my W1S1 story for the week too! Things are getting done. It just doesn’t feel like I getting ENOUGH done, but honestly, there are only so many hours in the day.
Day 34 – More garage riding today. Still way below freezing, and we’re actually supposed to get snow tonight. Started planning my W1S1 story for the week, but still not sure where I want to go with it. AND I FIGURED OUT WHAT TO DO WITH MY NOVEL…everything sort of finally clicked for me, and I realize why I’ve been stalled. Yay! Now all I need to do is write the thing. Hoping for a snow day tomorrow!
Day 35 – Snow day! We got just a sprinkling, but it was enough to close down most of Austin. The weather did warm up to a balmy 41 degrees, so I got my two miles in on my bike. It felt good after two days of garage riding, so now hopefully I’ll be back on track.
I started my W1S1 story today. I was feeling dry on new ideas, so I went to my go to list of story ideas I’ve been collecting over the years. This one might be slow going, but I’ll consider myself on goal as long as I start a new short story each week and finish it within a reasonable time frame. Well, back to work. My story awaits!
Day 36 – Yay! Our normal mild winter is back! In the 60s today, so I took a three-mile ride today, partially to make up for my string of “garage rides” and partially because I haven’t mapped out a good two-mile route yet. My week 5 W1S1 story is going well. I’m really into this character.
I did about 900 words today and 1000 yesterday. I dreamed about the scene I wrote today and it fit in perfectly. I love it when my subconscious does all the dirty work for me. The story will probably end up 4500 words, so I might not finish until Tuesday, which is way late, and I’ll have to turn around and write another for week six. Hopefully that one will come out as flash! Hopefully! I used to be good at cranking out flash. I don’t know what’s happened.
I’ve been reading on Random Book #1, up to about page 30. Not a lot, but it’s steady going. Now I’m off to practice some Japanese, and I’ll be doing some website work this evening. I feel like I’m getting way too much stuff done for a lazy weekend.
Day 37 – Got my ride in today, and yesterday got a big ole chunk of work done on the website. Just some tweaks left here and there so I hope the project will be over in a few days. Studied a little Japanese, and it went really well. I think it’s finally starting to sink in!
No writing done yet today, but I did outline the next scene in my short story. I’ll just have to sit down and go at it. Read some more Random Novel last night, too. Things are getting done!
Day 38 – Wonderful day of writing! I worked some more on my short story. It spans four decades of a woman’s life, but I’m writing it in a non-linear order–ages 40, 20, 50, 30, 60. It’s kind of fun, getting to see her at different points in her life, but challenging also since each scene covers only less than a day of her life, about a thousand words each
I had an early lunch with a friend at Chuy’s, now I’m just waiting for my food to digest a bit before I hop on my bike, then take the dog for a walk. I got a couple of stories that got rejected and I need to send back out. Not sure what I’ll plan to do tonight. Maybe some reading or Japanese. I’m so full right now though, I don’t even want to think about it.
Day 39 – Rode like the wind this morning since I was already running late for work, so I got a pretty nice workout. Got my next scene of last week’s short story outlined, and wrote a draft of this week’s story–a flash fiction piece at last! And I wrote it at my writer’s meet-up at the coffee shop, so that probably makes the first time in years that I’ve gotten anything written while there. That’s all there is for now!
Day 40 – Wimped out this morning and only rode 1 mile. It was COLD, but I also was running late to work. Gotta do something about that. I did write another scene on my Week 5 story. My dreams have been giving me lots of little ideas to flesh this story out, so now I’m very mindful to remember my dreams when I wake up.
I think I might chillax for the rest of the day. Maybe try to get some reading in. The new book club book has been chosen, so now I’ve got that to read too. It’s already February and I still haven’t finished a Random Novel. Should I be worried?
Day 41 - A nice day, deceptively sunny. I started off my ride with my gloves in my pockets and my hood off, but ended up putting both on by the end of my ride. My route took me a little under 2.5 miles, but it’s a pretty nice route, so I might do it even though it’s over my two-mile target.
Got to do some fun alien building for my week 5 story. I had to come up with the biology for space-faring amphibian-based creatures who live only 5-7 Earth years. I think I found an odd way to make it work, but it was tricky.
My goals for the weekend are to finish up week 5′s story, and have it and week’s 2 & 6 out the door on Monday. Then I’ll be all caught up, ready to crank out next week’s story. Will the madness ever end???
In vegetarian news, I’m seriously impressed with the selection of meat substitutes. I bought some veggie corn dogs the other day, and they were adequate. Definitely easy to make, so that’s a plus. Streets ahead of what I had to put up with when I was a vegetarian almost a decade ago now.
Day 42 – Didn’t want to get on my bike today, but I made myself and had a pretty nice ride. I really like my two-mile route, it’s mostly downhill except for a nice climb at the end. Plus the advantage of doing a two-mile lap as opposed to two one-mile laps is that I can’t flake out halfway through.
I’m going to try to tidy up my two flash pieces tonight. It’s one of those days where I don’t feel like doing anything though, so we’ll see what happens.
Weekend!
Day 43 - Got my bike in today, beautiful weather! Still working on my week 5 story. I’m really hoping to keep it under 6,000 words, but this last scene seems like it’s going to stretch on for a while. I’m really liking it so far, though. Maybe it will end up as one of my favorites.
Oh, went to Red Robin’s and it was soooo tempting to get a turkey burger, but I was good and had a gardenburger. Probably didn’t matter since I mostly ate fries anyway.
Also, I chatted with my neighbor about my goal of playing a sitar, and he said I should check out Austin Strings, that maybe they could point me in the direction of lessons and an instrument. I probably won’t get around to in until at least the spring, but it’ll be good to keep my eye out in the meantime.
Day 44 – Wimped out on my bike ride, even though it was a beautiful day. Just did a quick lap to the end of the street and back. But we did put in some good hours getting the garage organized and had omelets and pancakes at IHOP.
Did some outlining on the short story that would never end. More writing to come on it tomorrow. Also got an acceptance on a short story for Bards and Sages Quarterly! I’ll post on that soon.
Day 45 – Seriously, my W1S1 week 5 story will. not. end! Up to 6200 words. I’m feverishly trying to figure out how to wrap this up in 1300 words, because I really don’t want to go over 7500. I think I might workshop this story early on, since it’s length will cut down the markets to which I can submit it.
In other news, biking went well, but probably not well enough to offset the Valentine candies I intend to eat. I got my contributor’s copy of Space and Time Magazine, which I’ll post about in a couple of days. Still fighting with Japanese. Some serious concepts going on, so I’m trying to keep up.
I guess I’ll have to start another W1S1 story soon. I’ve still got to others that need to be polished. I didn’t get to them this weekend, but hopefully I will soon. Almost halfway through Random Book #1! Yay!
Also, I’m thinking of spiffying up my blog, and doing some sort of blog/website combo that’s easier to keep updated since I’ll be making tons of sales this year.
Day 46 – 7000 and closing in on the final stretch! This story will soon be finished. Rode today, nice out. Veggie Pizza. Trying to figure out what to do with the pineapple prompt for week 7′s story.
Day 47 – Blah. Rode. Tried to write. More blah.
Day 48 – Nice ride. Got that too long short story finished. Well, it ended anyway. The last scene still pretty much sucks, but I think I need to wait until I’m in a better mood to look at it critically. Working on a sucky story really puts a damper on my overall mood. I’m going to send it to my critique group though. Maybe they can help.
In other news, I heard that all 3 Borders are closing in Austin, which is kind of sad. I’m a mostly a BookPeople gal, but Borders is my backup when I’m not in central Austin, or when they’ve got good coupons. Plus I’ve got a gift card there I need to use.
Now I’m off to an art show. It’ll be good to give myself something to do besides writing. I think my brain is burnt out. I’ll try not to think about the week 7 story I still need to write, but I bet you it’ll be SHORT. No more 7000 word monsters, please!!!!
ETA: Also, I just realized that I have not had any short story rejections this week. That means I’ll have to sub something new tomorrow too. Weee!
Day 49 – Whoo-hoo! Got my week 7 story in right under the wire. I still need to submit something, but it’s still the 18th somewhere, so as long as I get it before I go to bed, I’ll be all right. Got a bike ride in. Bought my book club book. Everything is looking up!
ETA: Sent out the same story! Now that’s the way to get them out there!
Day 50 – Took a well-deserved day off. Well, not really. I biked and worked on the website project. Did a little editing on some short stories, and now I’m about to go read. I guess that’s a day off. I feel pretty rested anyway.
Tomorrow I plan to get back on my novel writing. I’m giving myself until April 10th to finish. That’s 50 days to write about 30,000 words. So that’s just 600 words a day! Easy, right?
Day 51 – Got my ride in, plus broke down some boxes in the garage and got a little bit more cleaned up in there. It’s starting to look like a real garage. I subbed my week 2 story yesterday and it already got rejected. I’ll send it out again tonight.
Ate some veggie hot dogs today. The jury is still out on that one. Looked like dead people fingers, and didn’t taste a whole lot better. Maybe some relish would help.
Day 52 – Today started my 600-word-a-day challenge on my novel. This meant no internet until I made my word count. I did that in about an hour, then proceeded to spend the rest of my day on the internet goofing off and putting together a fairly lengthy blog post that I actually had to put a little thought into. Don’t know if this is going to be a particularly good strategy, but hey, I didn’t make the rules. (Well, I guess I did, but it’s too late to change them now.)
Got my bike ride in too, and had a huge potato with broccoli and cheese from Jason’s Deli. Soooo good.
I really deserved some down time, and I’m glad I took it for myself. I also really love that my version of “down time” still involves writing and blogging. Maybe one day I’ll truly spend a day doing nothing.
ETA: Woohoo! I just read over my 7300-word story, and it’s not nearly as awful as I thought it was. Being in a good mood can make all the difference.
Day 53 – Stayed up into the wee hours of the night editing my 7300-word beast. Went to bed around 4, which meant I didn’t get up until 10:30, which didn’t give me much time to get in my 600 words, but I did it gosh durn it! Rode by bike too. I also figured that by the end of the year, if I keep up my riding schedule, I’ll have ridden over 1200 miles!
Pretended to do writing at the coffee shop as always and came up with my prompts for this week’s story: Ace-of-Base’s song “Love in December”, Hockey, Film Critics, She-Tragedy, and something else I don’t remember. Gonna let those percolate for a while. Had a good time. The barrista called us rowdy.
You know how us writerly types can be!
Day 54 – Had a crazy dream about vampiric desert birds that sucked people dry into dust. (Maybe inspired by the Hitchcock episode of That 70s Show?) But anyway, it’s going into my novel. I didn’t do my 600 words today but I’ll double down tomorrow morning.
I did dabble some in the domestic dark arts and made two quiches today. They turned out pretty yummy, maybe a little on the salty side for my taste, but a couple dabs of honey made it better. I did sauteed mushrooms and spinach, and combined three eggs, 3/4 cups milk, 3/4 cup Greek yogurt, plus feta and cheddar cheese.
Did my bike ride.
Another late night last night, and I’m working on 5 hours of sleep. Can’t think straight right now. I think that’s all I’ve got to say.
Day 55 – Well, I didn’t get double the words done on my novel, but I did do the 600 I was supposed to do. Also rode my bike, but two miles a day feels too easy. So I’ve decided to up my mileage to three miles a day next month, and keep upping a mile each month. So by December I’ll be doing 12 miles a day. I’m not worried so much about endurance as making time to do it. It’s easy to fit 20 minutes in anywhere in the day, but 12 miles might be a little more tricky. But I’ll worry about it when the time comes!
I’ve got less than a week and a half left before book club and haven’t even started the book yet. Maybe I ought to go do that now!
Oh, and I ordered a Buddha Bot shirt from teefury! I’m limiting myself to only one shirt a month. Good thing February is almost over!
Day 56 – Totally unproductive day today. All I did was go to work for 7 hours, then shopped around a bit afterward, which meant it was dark when I got home. So I ended up doing the garage ride, despite it being a marvelous pretty day. Maybe I’ll get some writing done, but this day has already sucked me dry. I should at least try to do something.
ETA: I just checked back at some earlier posts, and it looks like I had at least 12 days since my last slack bike day, so that’s pretty good I guess. Shouldn’ t be too hard on myself.
Day 57 – Great day! Started on my week 9 story, which is pretty awesome so far. Did 2000 words today with about 800 or so to go. Rode bike, walked dog. We did have a little scare with the dog last night, maybe some kind of a reaction to her heartworm meds. It only lasted a couple minutes, but she’s getting a vet checkup next week anyway.
I’m breezing through my book club book. Gonna do more of that now, I guess!
Day 59 – Spent a gazillion hours working on revamping my new website. Sooooo tired. The good news is that I discovered there are not one but two cupcake stores a couple miles from my house. Yes, there was the glorious consumption of cupcakes today! And there shall be more!
I also rode my bike and took the dog for a walk.
Oh, and it looks like I forgot to post my comment for yesterday. Ooops.
Day 60 – Nothing much new to report. Rode three miles. Lagging on my book club book. Tomorrow I may try to work on a short story or something.
I also ordered some organic fertilizer that’s supposed to work really well on lawns. I went to Home Depot Friday, intending to do the same, but looking at all the labels really freaked me out. “Wear long sleeves and pants, gloves” and then all but said to burn the clothes after you were done. Didn’t sound like something I wanted in the grass I step in, so hopefully the organic stuff will be better.
Had Chipotle for dinner since I didn’t feel like cooking. Got the veggie burrito. I usually skip on the bell peppers and onions, but this time they had orange and red peppers, which I like a bunch more, so I got those, and it made the burrito so much prettier inside. Good stuff! I also think I’m going to try to make lemon and pistachio polenta cake for my book club pot luck. One of the characters was eating it in the book, and it sounded awesome, so looks like I’ll get to practice some of the domestic dark arts after all.
Well, I guess I did have something to report after all.
Day 61 – Awesome bike ride this morning! I didn’t want it to end. Our work-study student had a birthday, and we’ll just say more cupcakes were involved.
Day 62 – Got my 7400-word short story critiqued and submitted. Made some good changes, I think. Nothing drastic, though. Had to split my bike ride in two to fit around my dog walk, but that wasn’t so bad. I attempted to take my bike through the house instead of going through the garage, thinking it would be less of a hassle than dealing with the garage door, but turns out it takes even more time trying not to scrape up the walls.
About to go have pancakes and eggs for dinner, then work some on getting my week 8 story finished. I’ve got a super duper plan for it. We’ll see what happens!
Day 63 – Biked! No words. Some thinking. Veggie pizza.
Day 64 – Biked 5 miles with my mom. Had fun riding by my old elementary school, middle school, and high school. (All next door to one another.) went to the most awesomest baby shower ever…coed, more like a party that just happened to have baby shower decorations. Great Indian food. Caught up with old friends. Sooooo stuffed right now! And so tired. Good day.
Day 65 – Another 5 mile bike with my mom. I could have sworn we went further than yesterday, but gmap-pedometer says otherwise. Our route was straighter this time, so that could be why. No writing today, but I did create a clay sculpture of a wizard. Maybe I’ll soon make a post about the importance of other creative outlets…
I also had the pleasure of meeting another friends baby for the first time, so sweet, and oh the lungs on her! Now I’m about to attempt to make lemon pistachio polenta cake for my book club tomorrow. Sounds delicious, but we’ll see how it holds up to my domestic dark arts.
ETA: THE CAKE IS AWESOME! Now I must try to modify the recipe so that it doesn’t call for two sticks of butter.
Day 66 – The cake went over well with my book club. So far I’m two for two with yummy foods. I used this recipe: http://anncardus.blogspot.com/2010/12/gluten-free-polenta-lemon-and-pistachio.html but I think I might try to tweak the recipe so that it doesn’t have a ridiculous amount of butter in it. This recipe is vegan, and I might give it a try: http://teafortilly.blogspot.com/2010/05/lemon-pistachio-polenta-cake.html
Also, I’ll be hosting out next book club, and I get the responsibility of introducing them to Science Fiction. No pressure there, right? So now I’m looking for something enjoyable and digestible. I promised them robots or aliens.
Rode 3 miles. Had an excellent 3-day vacation from writing, a taste of life back in the real world. But I’ve got to get cracking!
Day 67 – Sooooo tired. Cut my bike ride short this evening, just a mile since the dark was trying to catch me. I guess I need to invest in a bike light.
Got a few rejections this week. Need to turn those around, plus get around to writing this week’s W1S1. Man, playing around in the real world really puts me behind on my writing.
Days 68 and 69 – Ooo, it’s been a little crazy up in here. Got my biking in both days. Yesterday I went to go see Endhiran, which was so funny it actually brought me to tears. Book club went well, I came within 30 pages of finishing! A record for me. I also get to pick the next book, which will be some people’s introduction to Science Fiction, I’m leaning towards The Sparrow since it’s been recommended to me so many times. I fertilized the front yard, so we’ll see if it makes a difference. I might do half the back for an experiment to see if I can tell the difference between non-fertilized and fertilized. Work’s been busy too, and I really need to get this web project finished. This weekend should be relatively quiet, thank goodness!
Day 70 – Crazy few days at work. Actually had to do work, and it took a lot out of me. Got my bike in. Walked dog. Looking forward to getting back to normal this weekend. Not excited about the time change. Grrr.
Day 71 – Bah, I’m having a hard time keeping up with these daily updates during my insane week of insaneness! We had a old friend from college crash with us last night. Good thing I cleaned the house a few days ago! But it’s been fun. Still biking, still trying to be a vegetarian, still trying to get some short fiction cranked out. I really need to focus on my novel though. I want to get it done before April 10th, and I’ve got about 30k to go. I think I’ll feel better once I’ve got my pending stories finished. Then I can shift focus I think.
Day 72 – Still haven’t gotten back into a writing mood. Need to change that soon! I did finish up my submission for Paradise Lost, and got a bike ride in. Thought I was going to get rained on, but it just sprinkled a bit. Have some critiquing to do.
Day 73 – Man, I feel like I’ve lost my mojo. No writing. Only biked two miles. What’s up with that? Maybe it’s all of the pollen in the air messing with my brain. That has to be it.
Day 74 – Feeling drained again, but I did get my 3 miles in, plus made quiche. Myndi, my awesome coworker, brought me vegan chili cheese macaroni for lunch and it was yuuuummy! I look forward to making it on my own soon–mac and cheese, pinto beans, fake meat crumbles and some chili powder. Sounds super easy. No writing yet, but I had crazy dreams last night, which usually means inspiration will soon strike or else. Maybe I’ll go read some of my book club book.
Day 75 – Ug, another garage ride yesterday. Maybe I’ll try to make up for it and do five miles today. These allergens are really whipping me this year. I’ve been so tired, I’m actually going to bed before midnight. Had a weird dream that will serve as a bit of inspiration for this week’s short story, plus wikipedia gave me some interesting prompts: Townships, Evil Empire, LGBT Rights, Sea Snails, and Benz Coup. Percolating on that now, but I think I’ve got something pretty good. I still need to finish some previous stories.
I’m going to a friend’s book signing tonight, which I’ll post about soon, plus since I had to work on Monday, I’ve got a four day weekend ahead of me, during with I hope to get some serious writing done. No facebook until I’ve got 10,000 words of fiction written. That’s going to be tough, but I need to crank it up a notch!
Day 76 – Well, I got three miles in, but I did do a different route. It was windy out, and somehow it seemed I had a headwind no matter which direction I was going in. Got my Sunspots story polished. Now I just need to send it out. Hopefully tonight!
The book signing was awesome! Best one I’ve been to yet. (So I’ve only been to two others, but still.) There were cupcakes involved. And cheese. And reading too, of course. Yummy book signings are the best!
Day 77 – Well, I’ve got 55 minutes left to start this week’s story. It’s been percolating, and I did a little character backstory, but I have yet to write any words. Biked three miles, got to hang out with my awesome old roommie, which involved shopping and great deals on badly needed jeans. (By the way, I have learned not to bike in jeans. It wears them out crazy fast.)
And, I put google friend connect on the site! We’ll see how it works. So far I have two friends including myself. Hopefully that number will grow. That’s all there is now. Yikes! 50 minutes left!
Day 78 – So you know when you’ve got so much stuff going on that you end up not getting anything done? We’ll that’s been my weekend so far. Got a couple of second round rejections. Man, I know that means I’m getting closer, but ouch they hurt! On the positive side, I’ve got 20 submissions out there right now, which is a record for me. Still hoping for my first W1S1 sale. I’ve been a little jealous of all of the participants that have sold so far. This business is full of ups and downs, but such is life.
Ahhh! I ate tuna fish today. Sooo good. I also have decided to give up learning Japanese again. I made it to March at least!
Day 79 – Napped and took a break from worrying about writing. I think I deserved it. Got my bike in. I was a little worried about doing 4 miles a day, but I think if I do my 3-mile lap, then a 1-mile lap it will be a little less of a mental jump for me. Have some yardwork planned for tomorrow. Grass is looking greener bit by bit.
Day 80 – Well, I only got 1 mile biked today, but I did spend an hour raking leaves, which only covered the front yard, and not even all of it. No writing, but I did finally figure out what I want to do with my week 8 story, and the good news it will be shorter than I’d intended. Yesterday and today were much saner for me and I actually got some rest and relaxation in. And there were cupcakes involved.
Day 81 – Felt like I was just getting warmed up after my 3 miles today, so I decided to bike three more! I don’t feel so nervous about stepping it up to 4 miles. Plus it gave me the chance to work out some frustrations and work off some chips and guac from my most hated tex-mex restaurant. Man, that place is crappy. I’m not going to name names, but it rhymes with Smell Arroyo. Bad food, bad service, bad prices. Still no writing. I think I am officially in a funk.
Day 82 – Got a good ride in despite the deluge of oak pollen. I felt really strong riding, which was nice. This bike is definitely the best $50 I’ve ever spent! Walked the dog and also took a little walk at work, so I think I got my workout’s worth today. I’m bragging about all of this so hopefully you won’t ask me what my word count has been like this week.
Day 83 – Garage ride today. But good news is that I’ve got a new ereader. I’ll posg about it soon!
Day 84 – Nice ride today. Got an idea for a new short story, so that’s something. Enjoying my eReader so far!
Day 85 & 86 – Garage ride yesterday, three miles today. Had to wear a jacket, what’s up with that? Got a couple paragraphs written. Made some awesome lasagna–carrots and spinach, plus used some of my herbs. I think I might use up my herbs faster than they grow if I’m not careful! Lots of reading done. Lots of ice cream eaten.
Day 87 & 88 — Ah! I’m falling behind on my entries! Still biking. Might switch to Light Ray for W1S1 in April because the month will be crazy enough as it is. Working on getting my short story ebooks out in a couple weeks. Then I will be rolling in my millions, and my plans for world domination will be complete. Mwa-haha! Just kidding.
I am very excited about sandwiches.
Day 89 – ZOMG! I just ate a turkey hotdog. It tasted soooo good. I had to eat it. I haven’t eaten enough in a couple days. Need to be more careful. Need a nap now.
Day 90 & 91 – Okay, back on track after a couple down days. Rode 4.3 miles today and yesterday, got a little done on my novel, and am scheming up my masterplan for my ebook release. I think I’m going to do two per quarter, one free and one at 99 cents, so there’s a little for everyone. I’ve got four books drafted, and have a few stories left over so I shouldn’t have a problem filling up the first six volumes. I’d better get some sales soon though, since I mostly want to release previously published work, with a freebie original work thrown in each volume. Still no rejections for the month yet. The clock is ticking.
Day 92 & 93 – rode 6 miles with my mom yesterday, but just took a swing around the block today. I am so swamped with reading material, but trying to be Zen about it.
Very exciting challenge. Good luck!
Day 94 – Rode just a mile today, but that’s all I had time for. Good news, sold a story. More on that soon. A little pick-me-up is just what the doctor ordered.
And thanks, Jet. It’s a lot easier written than done, but I think I’m hanging on as best as I can.
Day 95 – Rode my four miles today, nice out. Crappy day at work, but had fun doing a table read of a friend’s script. Full day. More to come tomorrow, and the next day, and the next. Sunday may offer some reprieve.
Day 96 – Got my ride in. Had fun at work, last day my old friend is working with us, which is kind of sad. Had dinner at Hyde Park Bar and Grill with some of the Paradise Lost peeps and some other Austin writers, fun time! Then had a giant cookie at Quacks. The weekend is off to a good start. I also published my ebooks, but I’ll post more about that as they filter through all of the distribution channels. Pretty simple process overall. Here’s hoping to a few sales!
Days 97 through 100 – Wah! It’s been a crazy few days. Rode four mile two days, garage ride Saturday and 3 miles today. Broke down and had turkey tacos, but how was I supposed to resist? Had a great time at the Paradise Lost retreat. Jay Lake was a great resident writer, and got to have lunch with Howard Waldrop. This probably deserves a post all of it’s own, but I’m pretty much exhausted and need a little time to decompress. Still no writing done. I think I just need some time off. I’m almost done with my book club book, and still need to start doing a novel critique. Thankfully it’s a pretty short novel. Lots of house cleaning to do for the Waffle Party this week. Stories to edit. Banks to harass and a broken pipe to locate. Should be a fun week.
Days 101 through 103 – I’m doing horrible at keeping up with these posts. I’ve been in sort of a blah mood anyway. Still riding my bike four miles a day. Adjusting to four miles has been easier than it was adjusting to three. I guess that’s because it’s only a 33% increase instead of a 50% one. So in theory the longer I go, the less effort it will be to adjust. Or at least that’s what I keep telling myself.
Tried to edit some of my novel yesterday, but I ended up falling asleep. I think I’ve lost the passion for that book, but I still need to finish it. I don’t think it’s bad, just a tad unfocused. Maybe if I print it out it’ll be easier. I might bring some to my critique group soon. Maybe they can invigorate me.
Ate a turkey burger last night. I think that means I’m officially not a vegetarian anymore. Don’t really care. It was delicious!
Days 104 and 105 – I’m beginning to wonder if my day count is going to end up at 365 by the end of the year. A great couple of days. Spent much time cleaning and prepping for the chicken and waffle party. The party itself was great, maybe the best ever. This year I actually got to play some video games, and we didn’t do a second dinner set of waffles to follow lunch, so I got off pretty easy. They were delish. Had an energetic crowd, feel so fortunate to have such a great family and friends.
Bike riding has been pretty sketchy the last few days, two garage rides and a one mile ride this morning. Going riding with my mom tomorrow, so hopefully we will make up some of that. (Not to mention working off some of these calories.)
Started a new short story today that I feel pretty positive about. My try to put some more words down tomorrow. I really need a writing “win” soon.
Day 106 – Nice day relaxing and recovering from Chicken and Waffles, which of course requires the traditional day after Chicken and Waffle Party waffles for breakfast. (Which is almost as awesome as the day before Chicken and Waffle Party taste test.) I took mom on my four-mile bike route, which was nice though a little windy.
Day 107 – Wasn’t looking forward to my bike ride, but talked myself into just doing a mile…then I went on to do the whole four! Getting on the bike really is half the challenge. I’m noticing an increase in speed too, which is nice since I can get done faster. I think I’m back on my vegetarian kick now, after a decidedly nice break from it. My mom made a ton of shredded salad that is DELICIOUS. It’s got carrots, red and white cabbage, celery, plus raisins, pecan pieces, and raspberry vinaigrette. Man, I have been so Zen lately. I think I’ve finally figured out who I am and what’s important, and that’s kind of nice. I guess wisdom comes with old age.
Days 108 and 109 – Did four miles yesterday-got my spedometer to work, which meant I wanted to see how fast I could go, which means that my hips now ache like crazy. Seriously? After 107 days on my bike, this can make me sore? Well, I took today easy anyway, still did 4 miles but at a very leisurely pace, though the wind almost knocked me off my bike.
I’ve got book club next week and will attempt to make a Puerto Rican dish and appetizer. I’m also excited about the annual doggie Easter egg hunt a friend of mine is having. Dana looks forward to it, and I bet she’s excited about getting to go for a swim.
Oh, and Portal 2 is out, so I’m playing a lot of that. Trying not to let it interfere with my writing TOO much.
Days 110 and 111 – Two garage rides in a row, but at least I got a nice walk in yesterday and went to my friend’s fourth annual doggie Easter egg hunt today. Had fun, but it was HOT out there, and poor Dana got some tangley burrs on her fur. But it was nice hanging out in the river, though you could see the water level was dropping by the day.
Playing Portal 2. Lots of fun.
Did get 3 hint fictions written and I’m working on a short story, about 1600 words now. Hosting book club on Monday. Still got to read half of a novel and critique it with only a week left!
Days 112 and 113 – One more short story sale! I’m waiting on the contracts before I do the official announcements, but I think this is one of my favorite stories. Book club was awesome. People liked the book for the most part. The Puerto Rican food went over pretty well. It was crazy going for a while there. I made Arroz con Gandules, with is rice with pigeon peas (which are a lot like black eyed peas.) I was worried there wouldn’t be enough time to cook the beans, but they came out all right. I made Sofrito from scratch, which is basically a bunch of pureed peppers, cilantro, onion and garlic. An hour before the book club, the kitchen looked like a war zone, but it all came together. I also made a virgin sangria with grape juice concentrate, pineapple juice, lime Itlalian soda, plus mango chunks, papaya, and some mix-berry fruit. It was pretty awesome. Favorite quote from the night about the book (The Sparrow) “This isn’t science fiction! This is just the future.”
Rode four miles yesterday, only one today, but it was in the “rain” so that should count twice. Had some chicken soup, but so what! Just have to finish doing a novel critique and I’ll be home free for April, I think. Man this has probably been the busiest month of my life, but I’ve really enjoyed it.
Days 114 and 115 – Rode. Recovering from insane busyness. Wrote about zombies. Prioritizing writing goals for rest of the year.
Days 116 through 118 – Well, lots of stuff going on. Great weekend overall, went to a nerdy party that was awesome. One garage ride, and two shorter rides (two and three miles.) I might pull back from going to five miles right away. Not sure I really got the hang of four. Had a publication, color nook got apps, so I’ve been sucked into the world of Angry Birds. Got rid of a few things on bulk pick up day. It’s looking pretty good for being able to park a car in the garage! Cranked out my first story for Story a day, over 1600 words, which is just at the NaNo pace. The ending is pretty sketch, but that’s what June will be for.
Day 119 – Lazy day. Rode about two miles. Today’s Story a Day turned out rather nice, about mobster plants.
Day 124ish? – Am I really this many days behind? Sheesh! Well, still riding, trying to keep up with my story a day, but Angry Birds is giving it a run for its money. Just made some awesome purple jasmine rice and spotted horse beans, with red onion, mango, orange bell pepper, and cilantro chutney. Sooooo good! I almost feel like a real cook.