The Hunter's Journal

I have been working on Demons and Dirigibles lately, and it's been going well. For those not in the name, this is my Steampunk romance thing that I wrote years ago, and have finally started getting serious about it.

Once it's done and can sit and ruminate for a while, I'll be rewriting Other alternatives to necromancy and see if I can get that up to snuff. My eventual thought is to sub these out somewhere. Not sure where, yet.

Demons I have a kinda plot for it, but we'll see what happens. Honestly, I don't think everything will go so well, but I have to try. I'm prepared to be rejected. REJECT ME!

The new job's been going well. We had a happy hour thing last night and I stuck around for it. I wasn't drinking, but it was still fun.

I keep running into people I worked with a year ago. I don't think they understand that I do not want to talk to them. They're representative of a person who was cruel to me - even if they weren't - and I'm attempting to put that behind me, and move forward.

Therapy has been paused for several weeks, as my therapist is dealing with some personal issues. I'm hoping that she gets back to me soon, because I've got that brain itch that says I need to talk about some things.

So, I've gotten into the habit of hitting the coffee shop in the morning, getting a butterscotch latte and sitting here and writing. I'm enjoying it because it's a chance to write and focus for a little while. It lets me put down everything else and just write, hence working on Demons.

Well, back to the editing that needs to be done!

So; I finished a story that has two names. One is just the name I call it in my head, "Kalla's Wedding", and the other is a name I think would suit it well: "Keepers of the Empire". So, going to have to decide on a name for it, eventually.

However, since the story comes in at about 58k, I am going to need to edit it pretty badly and maybe even add to it.

But it's done. It was also my 2013 NaNo project, and now it's done. I'm very proud of that fact. The story is done, none of it was according to plan, but who cares? I like the story.

I'm in that weird liminal space of "I just finished something, but I need to write." I hate this space, because until my brain settles, I might be able to do RP tags, but not much more than that.

I've also got a scarf I'm working on! It's all crochet, so we'll see if/when that gets done. For right now, it's slow going, despite working on it a lot yesterday.

I have several pieces I could work on, NaNo 2014, Slayers, and Fae Hunter. I might need to go back and read NaNo 2014. Or perhaps I will edit? I really need to edit a few things: ( Editing things )

So, those are the four that really need edited, badly. I have others, but those four are the ones that I haven't worked on in a while, and thus, will be the most objective. I'm not sure that I can be objective yet, but maybe?

I need to write something to go up on Patreon, because I'm out of shorts. And I don't want my longer stories up there, yet. I doubt I ever will, because if I can get them edited, there's a few (Keepers of the Empire, Steampunk, maybe others) that I want to farm out, like professionally farm out.

But they need badly edited, and I know it. (I know I can write well, but that doesn't mean I don't need an editor. I am not Anne Rice.)

However, I need to find an editor. I'm having trouble doing that. I don't want to pay an editor, not unless there's literally no other choice. And right now, I have that choice. I may take Steampunk and farm it out as is. After all, a good agent will have an editor, and know what needs to be worked on, right? HOW DOES THIS WORK?

I'm blathering and I know it. I'm just stoked that I finished something, even if it's not ready for public consumption yet.

I'm going to be crocheting for a few days, just until my writing mojo comes back from minivacation. I have about 26 more rows to go on the scarf, so need to get that going. Here's to finishing things, and moving on.

So I have 70+ pages to get through by the end of the month. Why? Because I want to finish the DB edit as March finishes. So, today, I'm making a pretty big push to get some of it done.

Tomorrow, I'll make another one. I have to do about 7 pages a day to get through it before the end of the month. Not impossible but it's going to be hard. Mainly because mentally, editing wipes me out. And marathon editing really gets to me.

Anyway, I'm going back to the editing.

Maybe I can get it done. Wish me luck.

I don't know about anyone else, but when I write, I have music going. Music has become such an important part of my writing that when I hear certain songs, my mind immediately flips to the story they're associated with. (Which is a problem when I'm just playing my musical library, and trying to clean, rather than think about writing.)

I do this as a focus and because not having background noise bothers me to the point that I can't write.

Today, I reclaimed my writing space from the layers of clutter and detritus that always seems to spring up around any space where you spend a lot of time. (You should see my portion of the couch. I am ashamed.)

Now, I have the song that flips my brain into writing mode on. It's not working as well, hence this entry. I'm relaxing into the music and want to see where my brain goes.

One thing that's stuck with me, since I wanted to really write was an interview with George Lucas. He once said that he has music (usually classical) on in the background as he writes. I finally felt a little vindicated, because I'd always been told that I couldn't write if I was listening to music. "You can do one or the other, but not both."

Well phooey on them! I can so do both and do do both. It's an awesome thing to see how the music effects my writing.

Now, to admit something:

I failed, completely and totally at NaNoEdMo. Why? Well, many reasons.

1) Steampunk wasn't done. I just couldn't finish it in February.
2) Personal issues reared up and smacked me around, refusing to let me destress and concentrate on the important things (like writing!)
3) New medications. Now, anyone's who ever switched/started medications for any medical condition knows that when you do there's a period of adjustment. Sometimes that period is longer than others. I'm still not adjusted to them, but I'm getting there.

Those are the main reasons. For now, though, I think my brain has settled into steampunk mode and that means that maybe I can finish it before March is over. I'm hoping to anyway.

91,848 / 100,000 (91.8%)

2 scenes left....

77,543 / 100,000 (77.5%)

9 scenes left... *goes to take a nap*

56,664 / 100,000 (56.7%)

Today, this is all you get along with a bit of math:

56664 - 51680 = 4984

Yes, I'm that damned good.

I was stalled, the entire weekend over a small scene that needed inserted. What did I do? I finally wrote it out and it's now done. I have about 45 minutes until I leave for the doctor, but at least the scene is DONE.

Now, I can get back to my regularly scheduled editing.

This makes me happy.

This means I just might have this thing done before the end of the month - which is the plan. Then, I'll have next month to work on other things.

The irritating thing is that I don't really have time to start a new scene before I have to go start getting ready to leave. This makes the rest of the day pretty much a washout when it comes to writing.

This means that I'll have to really start working tomorrow.

That's alright. I'm pretty sure I've got this. Maybe. This scene may not be right but that's what editing is for.

Also, a great thing about being a writer is I can justify spending 30 minutes Googling things about hallucinogenic gases.

Yep. Today, I worked. I'll probably work more tomorrow - despite it being a holiday - because I want to get this draft done and then move on to other things.

I even managed to finish one book and start another in the last 24 hours. Not bad huh?

I need a nap so damned bad...

So, quick count:



That's over 1/5 done and it's only the 3rd. I'm okay with that. I'll come back after I sleep a little.

Edit: Okay, nap and a couple errands run, but then came back to more writing.



Yeah, I'm that damned good.

Edit 2- Electric Boogaloo: Have done another scene and am retreating into legends for the rest of the night. But still. I'm awesome: