Midweek #ROW80 Check-In

I’ve barely been updating lately.  First because I had the flu and wasn’t doing anything but resting and marathon watching various and sundry things on Netflix and then because I was over the flu and have been playing a great big game of catch up.  And also because I’ve been putting my focus on more practical matters than creative ones, as the university has mucked up my teaching salary for six weeks and I’ve had to focus on beefing up other sources of income (that’s finally getting straightened out Friday, thank you lord–and can we get a great big Boo for idiot bureaucracies?).

I replotted She’s Got A Way because Liam and Riley told me in no uncertain terms that they are a full novel, not the piddly 40k novella I had allotted them.  My mistake.  I’ve got the new outline and will be diving into that by the end of the week.

I knocked out a guest post I promised.

I’m about half through the print layout for my cookbook, Help!  Food Allergies Coming To Dinner, which I hope to finish today.

I did our taxes.

And I am ALMOST ready to reveal my new website.  I’ve been working hard on designing a new one that combines everything that’s already here, plus my cooking blog.  I hope to get THAT sorted by the end of the week (and as such, probably won’t be posting while I get content migrated and such).

I had a fantabulous writer weekend with Lockwood Monk, which contributed to general writer recharge and the plotting of and planning for an anthology novella that’s my next project after Liam and Riley.

I saw Jupiter Ascending, which I totally loved.  The score by Michael Giacchino, btw, is fantasatic.

And of course there’s been a crapton of catching up to do at the evil day job.  Which I must get back to.

Midweek #ROW80 Check-In

Honestly, I feel like I’ve been scrambling to get back into some kind of routine since the start of the month and just failing miserably.  After three weeks off (Christmas break + being sick before), my body had plenty of time to both rotate to it’s natural biorhythm (aka, going to bed at 11 or 12 instead of 9) and sleeping as long as it wanted (10 hours compared to 7 and a half).  Trying to get myself back on my normal Evil Day Job schedule has just been brutal.  I haven’t been able to get myself back into any sort of workout routine in the mornings yet.  Mostly I’ve been turning off my alarm and sliding instantly back into sleep, so I’ve been doing good to get up in time to do my 15 minutes of traction to start the day.

But I have at least been walking two or three times a week and going back to taekwondo, so I haven’t been doing NOTHING.  This morning I started with the Pushups app (it’s designed to build you up to doing 100 pushups with workouts 3 days a week, much like the C25K, but for pushups instead of distance).  And I went through all my forms for TKD (something I need to make a daily practice anyway).  So I’ve just decided to stop beating myself up over what I haven’t done and the fact that I haven’t just been able to turn it on and pull a Nike (just do it!) like I usually do.  I’ll gradually add things back and just go with it.  Courtesy of my dairy allergy, I didn’t put on any weight during the holidays, so it’s not like I’m in some scramble to drop that extra 5 pounds.

Things on the writing front have been…busy.  I took half of last week and tabled the novel I’ve been working on to finish pulling together my first cookbook.  HELP! Food Allergies Coming To Dinner! is specifically geared toward helping those who do not themselves have gluten or dairy allergies cook for those of us who do.  Currently available only at  Amazon and Smashwords, it’ll be showing up eventually elsewhere, and as soon as I can carve out the time to mess with it, I’ll be making a print edition.

Meanwhile, I knew there was something…off with Liam and Riley.  So I let it sit.  And then a couple days ago, I went back to it.  And the pair of them finally let me in on a crucial piece of backstory that makes everything make SO MUCH SENSE.  And also changes…a lot.  Why they couldn’t tell me this 2 months ago, I have no idea.  But rather than try to force things to fit in the mold I already have (since it was originally intended to be a novella and already expanded to a category length novel), I’m going back and starting an entirely new toolkit and plotting it out the same way I usually do my longer projects.  I’m hoping to get through all of that by Friday so that I can dive into the writing again on Saturday.  I’ll be able to keep a fair chunk of what I’ve written (with some adaptation), I think.  But I need to work on the overall structure of the book since it’s definitely going to be a longer novel now.

I already knocked out one alpha read for a crit partner this week, and I’ve got an outline and a second alpha read to do for two others, so I’ll be juggling that while I plot.  And trying to find time to read Candis Terry’s Sweet Surprise, which just came out.  I’ve been waiting on it for MOOOOOONTHS.

I DID at least finally manage (I think) to get ORGANIZED this week, both at home and at work.  So I feel a little more in control than I have all month.  Onward!

Sunday Summary and #ROW80 Update

1. Super late post today because it’s been a BUSY WEEKEND.
2. We’ve had family in town all weekend.  My husband’s grandmother has been moved to hospice and all the cousins were coming in for what may be their last chance to see her.
3. Between visits, I’ve been busting my hump to finish a new project, and I’m ready to get back to fiction this week.  I’ve been up to my eyeballs in recipes for the cookbook I’ve been working on.  I’ll post more about that tomorrow.  But…16500 words this week.  A lot of that was converting existing recipes from my food blog, but still.
4. Middle of last week, I got bitten by a big pregnant mutant plot bunny and I dragged 7 other authors in with me.  There’s an anthology happening later this fall.  It’s gonna be epic.
5. …Yeah…tired.  Headed to bed.