Writing – Page 15 – Writing Wrongs

Weekly writing check-in: words with (new) friends

Look! I have a new friend! A new mouse friend at that.

Apparently, I wasn’t the only one missing friends on my walk. So many new critters and heart rocks and such along the trail this week. I’m thinking I need to add my own contribution.

This week, I did some brainstorming on the next two episodes of Coffee & Ghosts, Season 4. My goal is to get the outline done and start writing episode 2 by next weekend. (And to be fair, my “outline” is more like a road map. It tells me, generally, where I want to go, but that’s about it.)

I also worked up some new story posts and the images for the coming month. So, I have a little breathing room there as well.

And that’s it for this week.

Weekly writing check-in: cucumbers and novellas

Life has given us cucumbers. Many cucumbers. All the cucumbers.

In related news, we also now have pickles.

And I have a novella! That’s right. It’s done! (Well, for now.) I’m pleased with my progress and the story so far. I’m going to let it rest while I work up the second novella in the season, which as yet has no title, but might involve haunted engagement rings.

That’s it for this week since I really, really, must go get some story posts ready for August.

Weekly writing check-in: soggy with a side of words

My rock friends have vanished. (You may or may not have been waiting for an update.)

This may have something to do with all this rain we’ve been getting this week. I don’t know. I miss them.

However, I’ve been drowning my sorrow about that with writing. I’m over 20,000 words and closing in on the end of this novella.

Even better, I’m having so much fun. It’s been a while since I’ve been able to say that. I think I may have figured out my (new) process. More on that later. I don’t want to jinx it.

I also played around with a cover for Season Four.

Not a bad week, although I really must get the stories for August posted.

Weekly writing check-in: rain and words

No rock friends. Have a misty, storybook view of my walk.

We’ve had some serious thunderstorms and rain these past few nights. This morning I discovered my rock friends have been washed away!

I hope by tomorrow they’ve found their way back into their trees. If not, I may need to search for them. (Yes, I realize I may be too heavily invested in this rock friendship.)

In actual writing news, I’m making good progress. I’m about 60 words away from an even 3,000 for this writing session. I’m compelled to get back to the manuscript–if only to make it an even number.

So with that, I’ll leave you to your Sunday.

Weekly writing check-in: taking walks, making friends

I made it past 10,000 words this week (with plenty of words to spare.

My ankle is (almost) healed. I think. I don’t want to jinx it or anything.

But I’ve been taking long walks in the morning and making new friends!

Someone has painted little bug rock friends and left them scattered about along the walking trails around here.

Someone (perhaps the same someone, perhaps not) moves them about from time to time, so you have to search out your friends to find their new homes. It’s an exercise that never fails to make me smile.

I don’t know who’s doing this, but they’re clearly performing a public service here.

Weekly writing check-in: even more writing and walking

Even more walking this week. I’m surprised and pleased with how quickly my ankle is healing.

I get around pretty well as long as I have shoes on and the surface is relatively even. I’m grateful for that because I really love walking and working out, and I don’t feel quite right when I can’t do either.

And even more writing this week. Not so much during the week, but I got some words in over the long weekend. I’m in spitting distance of 10,000 words on the first episode of Coffee and Ghosts, Season Four, tentatively titled The Ghosts You Left Behind.

Perhaps the very best part of all of this? I’m having so much fun with the story.

Weekly writing check-in: writing and walking

Yes, I am walking! My ankle still hurts, although it doesn’t actually hurt when I walk (which sounds weird, but it’s true).

And … I’m writing, too. Not as much as I want to during the week, but I got some words in this weekend. I’m having fun with the story, and new notions for what happens next keep popping up. It feels good to be back at it.

Plus, I signed a contract this week for my story Simon the Cold.

The Centropic Oracle will produce the story in audio. I have two other stories with them: Keeping Time and Straying from the Path.

I love audio, and I’m looking forward to hearing what they do with this story.

Weekly writing check-in: Morning rainbow

A little more progress this week on Coffee and Ghosts, not to mention this rainbow out the back deck this morning.

My ankle is so much better, too, surprisingly so. I’m hobbling around the house and garden reasonably well. Our eggplants and cucumbers are flowering, and we have tiny peppers and tomatoes.

Right now, I’m looking at ways I can get more writing done during the week. Oddly, working from home doesn’t translate into more time for writing.

When I went into the office, I wrote during my lunch hour, away from my desk. That was my mental trigger for: now it’s time to write.

I don’t have anything like that these days, and it shows.

This week’s goal: figure out a new writing trigger/ritual.

Weekly writing check-in: Lemons into Kona blend

So, just when you think it’s safe to step outside and maybe walk the dogs … you take a tumble and end up hurting your ankle.

When the doctor first saw it, she gave me a 50/50 chance of it being broken. Fortunately, it’s not. Just a bad sprain.

My urgent care experience was excellent. Yes, there were the COVID precautions, which I appreciate, but it didn’t take too long, and everyone was so nice (and apologizing for the wait–truly, it was fine).

My ankle is still swollen and has entered that truly ugly phase of all the bruising coming to the surface in all its purple and greenish glory.

So what to do when life gives you lemons? Make lemonade, or in my case, some Kona blend.

I opened the outline to season four of Coffee and Ghosts, made a few notes, and then this morning, wrote the first scene.

So that? That was good. I’ll take it and hope to post more progress next week.

Weekly writing check-in: Victory garden

Look! We have a garden. Maybe it’s not the prettiest garden out there, but it’s ours.

And soon, we’ll have peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, and eggplant (along with the mint, basil, parsley, and dill).

I found this article in The Atlantic, and this particular paragraph sums up most of May for me:

Others are likely having problems with their sympathetic nervous system, which controls unconscious processes like heartbeats and breathing: They’ll be out of breath even when their oxygen level is normal, or experience what feel like heart attacks even though EKG readings and chest X-rays are clear.

So, not so much writing lately. I did work on a few edits of stories. Because the brain fog part of this whole deal is also a thing.

So I leave you with a picture of our garden.