Dreaming In Ink Writers Workshop

Me: an insomniac in general, have ADHD, and am already at least double my optimum weight.

The side effects of the medicine for the allergic reaction that actually are affecting me: difficulty sleeping (translation: sleeplessness), nervousness (not nervous, but definitely WIRED), increased appetite.

I'm sure you saw that coming....

*head desk*

It's going to be a long 6 days.


On the other hand, the shot and medicine does seem to have reduced the redness and itching some (not A LOT, but some), though the one large one is still about as swollen as before. With those side effects, I'll take almost any progress as a good thing.

I'm going to try to nap again. Not likely to happen (see the WIRED part), but damn am I tired!


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whysper not over yet :: journey Challenged :: booklog The Four Forges

Dear Author,


When I reject your manuscript based on how it is formatted, maybe you should READ THE ENTIRE EMAIL and do what it says (go to our guidelines page) rather than fix one item out of two or three formatting/guidelines problems and attempt to return it. I say attempt because the manuscript was not attached in your "correction". I didn't even know about the problem you stated you fixed existed because we DON'T accept doc files. Had you read the email and the guidelines page fully (as instructed both in the email and at the very top of the guidelines page), you would have known this. You didn't even include the synopsis in your email as requested both, you guessed it!, in the email and on the guidelines page.

It always bothers me when things like this happens. Yes, you are a writer, but writers should be readers, and this kind of thing proves you are not.

On another related note, an email all in lower case is not encouraging. I use lower case on my personal journal, but attempt proper punctuation in my professional correspondence. Consider doing the same.


Highly Annoyed,

Me


(And, yes, I know I should be in bed. Was on my way and got distracted. Am on my way again. I will also state for the record, the number of improperly formatted or manuscripts in the wrong file format has dropped significantly recently, for which I am very grateful, but that also tends to make this kind of thing a bit more annoying. Especially when the author "resubmits" and STILL gets it wrong.)


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most recent

whysper not over yet :: journey Challenged :: booklog The Four Forges

Finally got to this! Yeesh! I really was more out of it than I realized when I originally made my plans for the day. I was pretty distracted when I was up, then ended up napping, eating dinner, going to after hours care, and waiting until after Atlantis (which I wasn't really all that impressed with tonight, but is it a case of the series actually running its course, or is it the writers knowing this is the last season and not working so hard?) before I got started even on the crit.

Yes, I did finally decide to go to urgent care. The welts weren't getting bigger (thank God), but they also weren't getting any better. Doctor thinks it wasn't a mosquito but something that stung me instead of biting me. I got a shot and drugs and came home -- the whole trip took me 2 hours because anyone with more serious problems who came in after me were taken back before me. Pretty standard anywhere, I think.

But here's the counts! I'm actually pretty impressed -- quite a boost and I don't think much, if any of it, is fat! (Which probably means there's a whole lot of fat in there. lol)


Assassin's Choice ch. 27 v4
starting count: 2644
ending count: 3850
gain/loss: +1206
Actual (processed) word count: 3850

Total New Words (Day/Week): 0 / 1028
Total for the Day: 3850
Total for the Week: 4878


( A major change in this chapter for those who might be interested, but if you're from DII, only read if you want spoilers! justjayj, you have to read regardless.... ;) )
=^.^=

Yes, it is still a little on the rough side, and yes it totally kills my present ending and when I have the "great reveal" in the v3 draft, but I think it came out pretty good anyway. And this isn't the only stuff revealed in the new version. I think some of the new stuff wasn't mentioned, or was barely mentioned, by chapter 36ish or whatever when all this originally came out.

Obviously, no world building being done tonight, which means I need to do 3 days worth tomorrow. That actually shouldn't be that hard with everything I need to tackle, and it should help give me some space from the chapter before I work on it for v5 (which I would like to have done by Sunday night). So tomorrow, 1 crit and lots of world building going on.

For now, signing off. Going to go play on the PS2 and put ice on my welts. :P


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most recent

whysper not over yet :: journey Challenged :: booklog The Four Forges

Or is it dragon fruit? Regardless, the man picked some up from the new FM he tried and neither of us have ever dealt with it before. How do you eat it?

Convo with youngest:

Girl: What's that?
Me: Dragonfruit.
Girl: Uh huh. (pause) It looks dangerous.

lol



(And is anyone else having problems with LJ loading? I've had issues since yesterday and it's driving me batty.)


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whysper not over yet :: journey Challenged :: booklog The Four Forges

This week has sucked. :P

It could have been worse -- I could still be offline for another 5 days, but still I'm just glad it's about done and today starts my own time. I didn't get to my own stuff as planned last night, so I have a lot to tackle today. And I generally want to get at least the Challenge stuff done this weekend, but I'd like to make inroads on the other stuff too.


Writing/Personal - Challenges
» A.C. 27.4 & 27. 5
» world building (3k total): ch. 28 walk-ons, Aerenfyal, Kalenthias, Tiroshen (fin. country, work on culture)
» 3 DII crits : 1 down

Writing/Personal - Other
» 750 on Phoenix
» alden.nu resources update
» new Meta
» journals: whysper, journeys


Today's plans so far: 1 crit, type up 27.4, and at least 1500 in world building. Might even try to get that Meta written, we'll see.

I may need to go into urgent care this evening though. Seems I'm still allergic to Georgia bugs even after 4 years. When I first moved out here, I got bitten by something and my arm swelled up from wrist to elbow. It was so bad, my hand hurt from circulation problems. Tuesday or Wednesday I was bitten several times by a mosquito (at least I think it was a mosquito -- I managed to kill the bugger and haven't gotten bitten since, but I didn't look at the thing when I dumped it into the trash) and the bites have really welted pretty badly, but none as badly as the one on my arm which is doing something similar to the bite from 4 years ago. It's not as bad and not doing it as quickly, but I may need something to make it go away completely. Itches like hell! Thing is, I've never been allergic to bug bites before. And it's been 4 years! Just weird. Anyway, if it doesn't improve at all by this evening, I'll go in to urgent care since it's almost impossible to get a same day appointment at my medical offices.

Okay, time to get to it. As always, 1 crit first, then on to my A.C. chapter. :)


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most recent

whysper not over yet :: journey Challenged :: booklog The Four Forges

Dear Author,


A prologue is a small introduction to your book, usually in one of the following forms: a sharp, short, focused teaser; a completely fleshed out scene; or a narrative that leaves actual scenes to the novel itself. A prologue can be historical and tell of an event or events that sets up the story itself. Or it can be a "bad guy" prologue and show a short scene of the bad guy doing something that will become a threat to the main character. Or the prologue can start in the middle of the action and lift a piece of the story out of the novel to hook the reader. Prologues tend to be short, and need to be well written.

Your 20 page prologue? It read like a chapter, not a prologue and didn't do any of the above. I mean, really, 20 pages? You do realize that most editors hate prologues to begin with, right? And that a lot of readers don't actually read the prologue? I mean, really, if you knew all that, I can't imagine why you would write such a long prologue with more than one scene to it and have it read more like a chapter. I think you wanted to convey some history. If so, please, please find another way to do that.

And please do something about the 3 pages of historical exposition. Not that 17 pages is that much better than 20 for a prologue, but it would certainly help make it more interesting if it weren't all exposition.


Love,

Me


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most recent

whysper not over yet :: journey Challenged :: booklog The Four Forges

You know, it was only one day and I still got swamped with the email. Granted, 90% of it was spam (and how did those spammers find my new email addy so quickly? Jeeze!), but it still had to be sorted through. New TP edit in, new slush, a few other things, but I spent most of the afternoon paying bills to get us through another month, so this evening will be spent working on LP and personal writing stuff. Because of the payments, we should be good for the rest of the month. Hopefully the man can find a job between now and the time things would start being shut off again.


Goals This Week
Work:
» check TP line edit
» check TP author bio
» check OT formatting
» score editor test
» SLUSH! (lots of slush!)
» check TP, format

Writing/Personal - Challenges
» A.C. 27.4 & 27. 5
» A.C. world building: ch. 28 walk-ons, Aerenfyal, Kalenthias, Tiroshen (fin. country, work on culture)
» 3 DII crits

Writing/Personal - Other
» 750 on Phoenix
» alden.nu resources update
» new Meta
» journals: whysper, journeys


Tonight's plans: TP checking and formatting (lord, all those apostrophes!), slush, typing up 27.4, and doing 1k in w.b.

And, yes, I did manage to finish the v4 revisions of chapter 27. ;)

Okay, time to get some work done.


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whysper not over yet :: journey Challenged :: booklog The Four Forges

So, um, I was indeed offline for a day or so. I'll probably skim the flist, but if it's important, you may want to comment and let me know about the events in your lives. Otherwise i may miss it.

Amazingly little to catch up on for LP and DII. Have a chapter revisions to type up. Lots of bills that need to get a payment on them, though.

More after I get things done.


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whysper not over yet :: journey Challenged :: booklog The Four Forges

So, yesterday. I woke up with my back feeling a little sore but not untolerable. Anymore, this is everyday. I got up, got showered and went to work. I had some filing that needed to be done but since my back was sore, I thought I'd spend the morning at my desk letting it calm down, and then after lunch I should feel fine enough to file. Now, mind you, this is the norm. If my back is hurting like that and I rest it in the morning, after lunch I'm fine......well, fine enough. Well, not this time. I came home for lunch and my back started spasming. Bad. I got back to work and could hardly walk. All I wanted to do was lay down and rest. I thought that if I got all the paperwork done on my desk, my boss would let me go home a little early so I can relax. So, at about 3pm, I went into my boss' office and asked her if I could go home a little early provided I come in early the next morning. She started in about how my productivity is lower than this time last year, and she's not sure I'm cut out for this job anymore. Woah. Back the bus up. I'm not cut out for that job anymore? She basically told me she was thinking of firing me. And, since I'm already in enough pain with the fibro, this added stress just made the pain much much much worse. She let me go home but with a warning. I felt like my back was litterally breaking into pieces. Like someone took a flaming whip to my back and was tearing the muscle right off my bones. Now, mind you, I did get behind. Very far behind. Why? Cuz Juan and I split, the drs were playing with my meds, and I was under a great deal of stress, which of course translates into pain.

So, now I have to work harder. Mandy told me that if I'm working harder, she would take care of me on my bad days, which will be more frequent. I can't lose my job. Especially with divorce so close. I dont' want to lose my babies. *sigh*

I've been posting my submissions stats for a long time now and I still can't believe I forgot to post last month's! Usually it's something I do on the first! Granted, I've been crazy busy but I still should have remembered.

Better late than not at all:


January: 19 Submissions sent, 3 accepted, 15 rejected, 1 still out
February: 6 submissions sent, 0 accepted, 6 rejected, 0 still out
March: 12 submissions sent, 1 accepted, 10 rejected, 1 still out
April: 10 submissions sent, 2 accepted, 7 rejected, 1 still out
May: 14 submissions sent, 1 accepted, 11 rejected, 2 still out
June: 12 submissions sent, 0 accepted, 7 rejected, 5 still out
July: 14 submissions sent, 0 accepted, 6 rejected, 8 still out
August: 6 submissions sent, 1 accepted, 2 rejected, 3 still out

Total 2008: 93 submissions sent, 8 accepted, 64 rejected, 21 still out

2007 - 2 still out

Overall - not too bad. Could be better, But - my book is coming out October 1st so I can't really complain too much.

~S

And there will be a part 3! lol

Tiroshen (country)
starting count: 2104
ending count: 3132
gain/loss: +1028
Actual (processed) word count: 1028

Total New Words (Day/Week): 1028 / 1028
Total for the Day: 1028
Total for the Week: 1028

total/remaining for the week||challenge: 1028 / 1972 || 1028 / 22,972


And I've done 2 days in one. Keep that up and I just might be able to bump up the w.b. challenge to journeyman and take on a word count challenge at student level.

*takes a hold of herself*

No, really, WHAT is it about challenges that has me diving into way more than I can do? lol

I probably could have kept going, but I do have a few things I need to think about, so I figured I had found a good stopping point. I've been thinking about Tiroshen for a long time, so this isn't so hard for me to do.

Now, the remaining character profiles for A.C.? Different story....


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whysper not over yet :: journey Challenged :: booklog The Four Forges

Um, you know all that stuff for LP that looked like it might take up most of the night? It's done. I'd probably still be at it if TP was ready for me to format, but it's not so, um, yea. Here I am, back to my own things to do. Which works. Really it does.

And, actually, I know I'd still be doing LP stuff if I was formatting TP. There's a load of dialect use in there and that means having to check each and every apostrophe to make sure it's facing the right way. And it was bad enough going through and checking the dialect itself! I mean, we're talking a list (single row) 2 pages long in the style sheet.

Anyway, so I guess it's time to start on challenges and what not....


Writing/Personal - Challenges
» A.C. 27.4 & 27. 5
» A.C. world building: ch. 28 walk-ons, Aerenfyal, Kalenthias, Tiroshen (fin. country, work on culture)
» 3 DII crits

Writing/Personal - Other
» 750 on Phoenix
» alden.nu resources update
» new Meta
» journals: whysper, journeys


Still going to do the world building, with the chapter work after 3 or 3:30 (whenever I decide to finally get off the comp). Crits are always weekend stuff. I still need to do a journeys entry, so maybe I'll tackle that between w.b. profiles. Meta will wait until tomorrow.

Oh! And for brunch/lunch? A simple potato. Well, 2, actually, but they are TINY potatoes! And all I'm eating.

Okay, time to work on profiles. Yay.

Don't I sound thrilled? God I wish I had longer than a 5 minute memory lifespan...like a FOREVER memory lifespan! lol


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most recent

whysper cornered :: journey Build Me A World :: booklog The Four Forges

And I'm quite awake (at the moment anyway) to get to work on more. Hopefully the energy will stay with me, but if not, at least the grogginess from the Naproxin has dissipated for the most part. The only problem I see cropping up is not being able to figure out what to eat for my "brunch" later tonight -- we're almost out of lunch and breakfast foods and I have to leave the dinner stuff and milk alone. I'll figure something out.

In the meantime, I've actually already tackled some things, including 3 of the 4 slush pile manuscripts (no acceptances, including one rejection for formatting). I even adjusted LP's submission guidelines to reflect the decision not to accept religious material.

See, here's the deal: 2 of the readers are Christians with varying degrees of dedication, and one reader just doesn't particularly like religious material. So, it would be nearly impossible to get an acceptance, especially if the religion being mucked around with is in the Judeo-Christian tradition. I can see it seeming kind of strange that we would be okay with a homosexual relationship in a SFF novel, but not be willing to mess with the religious foundations that generally don't approve of such things, but that's how it is.

Thus avoiding it all together.

Now, religion can be a part of the story in a minor way: a character's faith, for example. It just can't be part of the foundation of the story or the focus of it. For example, changing the identity of Jesus, Mohammad, or any other religious leader from what current religious traditions state them to be as the foundation of the plot of the story is a no. But character Amy who follows a really off the wall version of Judaism as the MC caught up in solving a murder mystery is okay. And totally made up religions (and that's the key: TOTALLY MADE UP) are okay. If in doubt, don't send. Or send, but be prepared for a rejection. That may not be specific enough a dividing line for some people, but, please, no asking for clarification in terms of your novel's specific situation in the comments. There's probably more permutations of how much religion can get into a novel than there are writers.

*holds one hand up* I solemnly swear I'm not a bitch. honest! ;)

Okay, time to get to it....


Goals This Week
Work:
» check TP line edit
» check TP author bio
» check OT formatting
» score editor test
» SLUSH! (lots of slush!)

Writing/Personal - Challenges
» A.C. 27.4 & 27. 5
» A.C. world building: ch. 28 walk-ons, Aerenfyal, Kalenthias, Tiroshen (fin. country, work on culture)
» 3 DII crits

Writing/Personal - Other
» 750 on Phoenix
» alden.nu resources update
» new Meta
» journals: whysper, journeys


Tonight: read the last of the slush; check over the TP line edit; start taking a look at the OT formatting, 500 words min. on world building, and maybe some 27.4 work (I've kind of started it already, but am running into problems -- I need to insert some stuff but can't seem to find a place to put it in a scene that's already pretty well put together). Sounds like a lot to tackle, but probably isn't for several reasons:

» I read the first 5 pages and decide whether or not a mss goes to reading panel from that (much like an agent who uses 5 pages to decide whether they want to request a partial, only I hand over the full to the reader panel if I'm okay with those pages)
» TP is short so won't take long to check or format
» OT is long, but I'm ONLY checking the formatting, and I can do it in parts if need be, but I really hope to just scan rather than be forced to do a line by line anyway.
» 500 words isn't all that hard as long as I make sure to do it every day; it's doing the full 3k at the end of the week that would kill me
» A.C. can be worked on after I'm tired of the comp since I revise by hand anyway and will still need to be up for a couple of hours

Now let's see if I actually CAN get all that done! ;)



ETA: So, the formatting for TP is off the to do list. There are a couple of things the author needs to make decisions on, so back it goes to her before we go into formatting.


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most recent

whysper cornered :: journey Build Me A World :: booklog The Four Forges

since I've been able to say this:

Here's my stats for today: *grins*

TT, ch5~ start: 2470, end: 2413, gain/loss: -57
TT, ch6~ start: 2142, end: 2108, gain/loss: -34
TT, ch7~ start: 1872, end: 1878, gain/loss: 6

Total Processed: 6490

I so happy!! I have stats!! Yay! Go me!!

Only time can be given, but you cannot trade your life for his, even with a pure heart.

Jerusha dropped to her knees with a voiceless cry of grief, all power flickering away.

~ Assassin's Choice chapter 26


I was told to take the day off, and boy have I! Because my night owl schedule has finally kicked in, I was up until 4 A.M. Being awakened at 8:30 did not make me a happy camper -- neither did the headache or the backache that accompanied waking up too early. I took a Naproxin (left over from my D&C -- damn good stuff, too bad I have to hoard it!), the pain went away, and I slept for most of the afternoon. This actually works since tonight has to be an all nighter and I tend to start losing steam around 3 or 3:30 a.m. Sleeping during the day helps me stay up at night. If I can shake the Naproxin groggy head, I'll be fine...as long as the weather holds anyway. It's been overcast and we're expecting rain.

Last week was okay on the goals -- there are some places I could have done better, but overall I think I did pretty good. Progress is being made where it needs to be, and that's what's important. I do think Phoenix is a lost cause for the year, but I'll keep fiddling with it anyway. And I seem to have stalled on my reading except for the things I need to read for LP. :(

But everything else seems to be going well, and I've managed an average 6k/week for all of August. I should make my word count goal for the year if nothing else. A.C. might end up finished, but probably won't make it to beta readers until early next year because I ended up behind when my physical issues made it impossible to work. I'm not kicking myself for it -- life got in the way, and there's not much that can be done about that sometimes. The trick is to keep going anyway, right?

In fact, I think I'll adjust that particular goal to reflect where I think I'll be by the end of the year. Same for Phoenix. No point in pushing for the impossible. I may not feel too guilty when I don't make my goals, but the point of goals is to reach for the achievable, not to drive yourself to do the impossible. They have to encourage, not make you give up.


2008 Goal Progress
» 350,000 words :: 213,711 (61.06%)
» Finish A.C. v5
» Finish Phoenix rough draft
» read 1 book a month :: read: 8 (15 w/books editing & DII crits; plus the slush pile)

Goals This Week
Work:
» check TP line edit
» check TP author bio
» check OT formatting
» score editor test
» SLUSH! (lots of slush!)

Writing/Personal - Challenges
» A.C. 27.4 & 27. 5
» A.C. world building: ch. 28 walk-ons, Aerenfyal, Kalenthias, Tiroshen (fin. country, work on culture)
» 3 DII crits

Writing/Personal - Other
» 750 on Phoenix
» alden.nu resources update
» new Meta
» journals: whysper, journeys


Pretty much the same old, same old, other than the changes mentioned above. One day I'll manage to do something different, though it's more likely to just be the changing in the books being worked on. I seem to have found the point with my goals that are just challenging enough to push my limits a little, but not so much that I'm completely overwhelmed by them. With LP picking up, my time is becoming more limited as well.

Anyway, challenges will take priority over everything else personal, and I have quite a bit to begin tackling for LP tonight. But I like busy. :)

I just need to wake up enough to get started. lol

After The Closer. Honest.

For now, I have some DII stuff to attend to -- haven't set up the new threads and things for September's activities. Just where did this year go?


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most recent

whysper cornered :: journey Build Me A World :: booklog The Four Forges

It's actually pretty neat to know these are available. The ultimate awesome however would be to see a random stranger pass me on the street wearing one...


They come in Black   and   White.

I didn't quite make 1500, but at least I got something done on it. For some reason, I end up more distractable after dinner on nights when I don't need to actually stay up until 6:30 am, and it ends up harder to get things done.

Phoenix Rising building draft
starting count: 39,681
ending count: 40,520
gain/loss: +839
Actual (processed) word count: 1064

Total New Words (Day/Week): 1064 / 3614
Total for the Day: 3978
Total for the Week: 9130


I think for Writing Challenge months, I'm going to bring my Phoenix draft work down to 750 words/week rather than the full 1500. The world building challenge always kicks my butt, so I don't want too much pressure to write on top of that.

For now, I need to work my counts for this week -- where I am in the goals, work on my goals for next week, finish dishes, and start A.C. ch. 27 (really, all the changes needed aren't going to get any better by delaying, and I get a full day head start with the holiday tomorrow). Knowing me, I'll be ready to sleep around 3 or 4 AM, so that doesn't give me much time to get started.


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most recent

whysper cornered :: journey Build Me A World :: booklog The Four Forges

I decided to start setting up my notes on chapter 27, and oh my Lord what a mess. If I do what my critters are telling me I need to do (and, really, they're probably right), the whole end of the book will change completely. As in being rewritten, not revised.

*head desk*

Getting through this chapter in one week is going to be a bloody miracle.

*sighs*

Okay, back to some Phoenix work. It's at an early enough stage where being a mess is not as big a deal. :P


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most recent

whysper cornered :: journey Build Me A World :: booklog The Four Forges

Finally! Chapter 26 done!

Assassin's Choice ch. 26 v5
starting count: 2602
ending count: 2914
gain/loss: +312
Actual (processed) word count: 2914

Total New Words (Day/Week): 0 / 2550
Total for the Day: 2914
Total for the Week: 8066

Ch. 20-30 w/c: 17,774
Whole novel w/c: 95,619


I started to have my usual doubts about my writing, but I think I kind of figured some of that out, and I still love my ending.

And I'm pushing through.

At any rate, ready to start the challenge tomorrow with chapter 27. 11 left to go! And some of those may end up so butchered that I'll end up with less.

Next, some Phoenix. I have some character stuff to work on for descriptions and things, but I think I can just throw those in without profiles for now and use what I put in the draft to help with the profiles when I get there.


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most recent

whysper cornered :: journey Build Me A World :: booklog The Four Forges

And already my crit is done for the day. Thank god for spell check though. That is a record 16 crits for me this month: 4 more than my usual average. I could currently post 5 full novels on DII right now if I wanted.

Good thing I don't have 5 full novels ready to post, and that DII limits novel forums to 2 per member. ;)

Anyway, I need to finish up 26.5 before I move on to anything else today -- I don't want to start the Writing Challenge tomorrow already behind. So, 26.5 first, then maybe some work on Phoenix. Once those two are tackled, I think I'll try to get my new Meta done before the idea for it leaves me entirely. And I need to tackle a Journeys entry some time today as well.


Goals This Week
Work:
» editing: TP (round 3!)
» slush as it comes in
» the TP blurb (review, edit, tweak, etc)
» TP line edit check & formatting
» TP author bio check

Writing/Personal
» A.C. 26.4 & 26.5
» A.C. world building: ch. 28 walk-ons, Aerenfyal, and Kalenthias
» 3 DII crits
» DII Admin stuffs
» 1500 on Phoenix
» Phoenix world building: Elahi, Tiroshen, Kree, Tanere, House Thalionrhoe
» alden.nu resources update :: started
» new Meta
» journals: whysper, journeys


I'm still trying to decide about tomorrow. It's a holiday and the kids are home, so I probably should take it off. But I'm Miss Conscientious too and have work waiting for me to get to it. 'Course, if I were at Dragon*Con as originally planned, I wouldn't be working.

I really should just take the day off and work on my own stuff. We'll see if I actually manage that. ;)


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most recent

whysper cornered :: journey Build Me A World :: booklog The Four Forges