Random Post

I'm 1,200 words (give or take a few hundred) from the end of the third Red Door novella. It's due tomorrow. And yes, I'm going to make it!

That said, I had to share this from the Online Etymology Dictionary.

shrapnel
1806, from Gen. Henry Shrapnel (1761-1842), who invented a type of exploding, fragmenting shell when he was a lieutenant in the Royal Artillery during the Peninsular War. The invention consisted of a hollow cannon ball, filled with shot, which burst in mid-air; his name for it was spherical case ammunition. Sense of "shell fragments" is first recorded 1940. The surname is attested from 13c., and is believed to be a metathesized form of Charbonnel, a dim. form of O.Fr. charbon "charcoal," in ref. to complexion, hair color, or some other quality.

Who knew?

Upping the Ante

Well, the work-in-progress is currently sitting at a little over 12,000 words. The minimum word count for it is 25,000. Which means 1,000 words per day just isn't going to cut it.

So, as of today, the daily word count goal is doubled to 2,000 words per day.

Eep! Better get crackin'!

Playing Catch-Up

I fell way short of my goal the past couple of days due to a raging head cold complicated by allergies. It's hard to write anything lucid, much less sexy, when you've got some fiend poking you in the temple with a sharp stick and you're either sneezing or blowing your nose constantly.

I've got my work cut out for me, but there is no try, only do!

YOUR TURN: How's it going? Cheer me up with all your wonderful stories of progress and success!

30k in 30 Days Challenge--Update

Cross-posted from the Mavens' blog.

I planned to check in a little more often than this, but actually doing the writing seemed to eat up most of my time. (Wonder how that could have happened?) I have been managing to update my daily word count over there on the right, but that's about it for updates so far.

So, yesterday marked Day 15 of the challenge. I'm a little shy of 15k at this point, but that's primarily because yesterday was Sunday, and Sundays are always iffy for writing (this funny little thing called "family time" seems to get in the way, lol).

The good news, however, is that this method seems to be working. Making sure I sit down and write every single day with a specific goal in mind has made a huge difference in my productivity. When I do get a good, solid block of time, I am writing faster and more efficiently, and finding it not that hard to meet or even exceed the 1,000 word goal.

Which is a good thing, because I've now completed two of the three novellas that are due on October 1, and it's going to take me more than 1,000 words per day to finish the one I'm writing now. My math tells me I now have to average 1,400 words to write THE END on that one by September 29, the last day of the challenge, giving me a whopping ONE DAY to polish it up before sending it in. Am I worried? Nah! I'm freaking terrified. LOL.

YOUR TURN: Update us on your writing progress for the last fifteen days. If you're in on the challenge, how's it going? If you're not, what are your current goals and how are things coming along? Remember, we love to hear from you, even if we are pretty quiet ourselves!