Forget the Sun Metrics 12

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METRICS
New Words: 176
Chapter One total: 2111
Chapter Two total: 2525
Chapter Three total: 817
Total words for the first draft: 5453
What I hate about my writing: I don't get as much done on Fridays after the blogging.
The Good: I got something done today.
The Bad: Paying job server issues.
What I Accomplished in the Narrative Today: Ferris left the library ready to consider Sally an ally, and Alexander and Deats have started a long-overdue conversation.
Fave line: "I've always been curious about my parents. You always change the subject."
What I'm looking forward to: IF my finances go well and I don't run into major issues with car or house, I'm buying a laptop so I don't have to deal with second-hand smoke through my papers.
What I'm not looking forward to: Going through all the images I've found of a major location stand-in.

2013 Fiction Word Count Week 10

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Forget the Sun Metrics 11

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METRICS
New Words: 545
Chapter One total: 2111
Chapter Two total: 2525
Chapter Three total: 641
Total words for the first draft: 5277
What I hate about my writing: Maybe I'm not getting into character's heads enough?
The Good: I got writing done!
The Bad: Woke up late, car needed more oil, Google is shutting down the Reader (which I keep pinned to use both at work and home), I can't keep details straight on anything I'm doing for the paying job, and I managed to erase the time I had spent writing.
What I Accomplished in the Narrative Today: Ferris found details about the Hatfield murders and is being his adorkable self with Sally.
Fave line: "How did you get stuck with that?" She slapped her hand over her mouth. "Sorry, that was unprofessional."
What I'm looking forward to: IF my finances go well and I don't run into major issues with car or house, I'm buying a laptop so I don't have to deal with second-hand smoke through my papers.
What I'm not looking forward to: Going through all the images I've found of a major location stand-in.

Forget the Sun Metrics 10

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METRICS
New Words: 395
Chapter One total: 2111
Chapter Two total: 2525
Chapter Three total: 96
Total words for the first draft: 4732
What I hate about my writing: Today was a good day to write.
The Good: Nearly four hundred words despite having a low-grade headache right between my eyes that I can't decide is due to allergies or blood sugar wonkiness.
The Bad: I lost my alarm clock lamp thanks to timer dying with Daylight Savings Time starting. I haven't woken up at the right time yet this whole week. Early bedtime tonight hopefully will shift things.
What I Accomplished in the Narrative Today: New topic. :) I wrapped up awkward family bonding in chapter two (and I'm not sure it's awkward enough yet) and Ferris is about to meet proto-librarian Sally Rogers in chapter three.
Fave line: "What happened to microfilm? I was good with microfilm."
What I'm looking forward to: IF my finances go well and I don't run into major issues with car or house, I'm buying a laptop so I don't have to deal with second-hand smoke through my papers.
What I'm not looking forward to: Going through all the images I've found of a major location stand-in.

Forget the Sun Metrics 09

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METRICS
New Words: 636
Chapter One total: 2111
Chapter Two total: 2226
Total words for the first draft: 4337
What I hate about my writing: Never enough free time.
The Good: I got a fair chunk of writing time during the weekend. I would have preferred more of that rather than the painful blister I got on my foot, but it is what it is.
The Bad: March 8th: Today I noticed my pattern. I didn't get my writing time since I had to pay bills this morning. Today at the paying job, it has been hard to get my grove on the story. So even when I think I'm not accomplishing anything because I spend 15 minutes in Google looking for a character's image, it pays off later in the day.

March 11th: Packed my purse with everything I needed for the day and left it at home.

March 12th: I typed up all the rough draft I had written from the weekend.
Fave line: "That was my only recital. I barely got through 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.'"
What I'm looking forward to: IF my finances go well and I don't run into major issues with car or house, I'm buying a laptop so I don't have to deal with second-hand smoke through my papers.
What I'm not looking forward to: Going through all the images I've found of a major location stand-in.

2013 Fiction Word Count Week 9

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Forget the Sun Metrics 08

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METRICS
New Words: 358
Chapter One total: 2111
Chapter Two total: 1528
Total words for the first draft: 3639
What I hate about my writing: Need more free time!
The Good: Amazing what just thirty minutes can accomplish.
The Bad: I lost time available because I found a new source of photos for the location I'm describing. It's cheaper than going to Ohio.
Fave line: But the datebook in the upper corner laid open to Peg's birthdate.
What I'm looking forward to: IF my finances go well and I don't run into major issues with car or house, I'm buying a laptop so I don't have to deal with second-hand smoke through my papers.
What I'm not looking forward to: Taking Mom to Biloxi again, because I got so much writing done the last time we went. :p

Forget the Sun Metrics 07

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METRICS
New Words: 140
Chapter One total: 2111
Chapter Two total: 1170
Total words for the first draft: 3281
What I hate about my writing: Getting lost in research.
The Good: I got thirty minutes in on research in the morning before work. Got lost in a Google search of what a 1904 bride would wear.
The Bad: I only got 12 minutes of typing in at the paying job because I got lost on a Google search of painting techniques.
Fave line: Nameplates on the frames would be useful.
What I'm looking forward to: IF my finances go well and I don't run into major issues with car or house, I'm buying a laptop so I don't have to deal with second-hand smoke through my papers.
What I'm not looking forward to: Taking Mom to Biloxi again, because I got so much writing done the last time we went. :p

Sometimes, giving characters hobbies that I have no idea how to do is a headache. Robert is a painter, though he has slacked off on that over the decades. Peggy's portrait displayed in the library is the last one he has done. A landscape he did while he was still alive is displayed in the dining room. He doesn't know that his daughter is an artist, and Peg doesn't know that about her father. So Peg is exploring the mansion and I wanted her to recognize that both paintings despite using different techniques were painted by the same artist. Then both of them bond a little over art.

People match artwork to artists all the time, so that part I wasn't worried about. Read the Wikipedia article on oil painting and found out about the difference between Mixed Technique (Mixed Method) and wet-on-wet, which would apply to the roughly seventy-eight-year-old landscape. So my question shifted. Can an artist trained in the same medium tell the difference between the two techniques? And how?

So I need some technical advice, but it's not a plot point a la Five Red Herrings by Dorothy L. Sayers. Anyone have some sources?

Forget the Sun Metrics 06

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METRICS
New Words: 299
Chapter One total: 2111
Chapter Two total: 1030
Total words for the first draft: 3141
What I hate about my writing: Nothing today, but I have a few choice words to companies who wait for the deadline to send in their payments.
The Good: I did my fifteen minutes in the morning before I left for work! And I managed to squeeze in eighteen minutes before the mail arrived.
The Bad: The mail came and broke my brain. Plus I ended up staying late and missing eating on time which didn't help my mental state.
Fave line: But if she spent the rest of the night here eavesdropping, they'd guess she was avoiding them.
What I'm looking forward to: IF my finances go well and I don't run into major issues with car or house, I'm buying a laptop so I don't have to deal with second-hand smoke through my papers.
What I'm not looking forward to: Reacquainting my body with the butt-in-chair notion at 3:30 a.m.

2013 Fiction Words Week 8

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Forget the Sun Metrics 05

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METRICS
New Words: 16
Chapter One total: 2111
Chapter Two total: 731
Total words for the first draft: 2842
What I hate about my writing: Not even trying to meet my goals.
The Good: Oh hell, that I actually got some writing done.
The Bad: This story deserves more of attention than I have been giving it.
Fave line: The thick humid air slapped them in the face as they left the airport.
What I'm looking forward to: IF my finances go well and I don't run into major issues with car or house, I'm buying a laptop so I don't have to deal with second-hand smoke through my papers.
What I'm not looking forward to: Reacquainting my body with the butt-in-chair notion at 3:30 a.m.

February 25: I fully intended to type during my downtime at the paying job. Opening the file in Baton Rouge cannot trigger a phone call from Mom, unlike the week I took off for the funeral and assorted family stuff. I forgot the flash drive at home.

I also forgot the USB cord for the mp3 player. So I'm stuck with pen and paper—both I remembered to pack—but I on't remember the scene I was working on last time I got to write. Right now, I plan on jumping to the next scene and will pull the two together later.

Along with those good intentions, I planned on writing more than two paragraphs. Monday had the paying job slammed with mail. I barely got to go home on time. And since there was a deadline on Friday, downtime at the paying job evaporated for the whole week.

February 26: Didn't get anything done on the story.

February 27: I realized I needed to shift what I do at home to make more time for writing after working on the wrong project all day, which means not this one.

February 28: I tried out the new routine. Fifteen minutes on the rough draft before I got dressed, a tiny little bit of typing at the paying job (still no real downtime yet), and lost track of everything else since I had a chiropractic appointment.

March 1: Yeah, but no. Since the deadline was this day, no writing happened at the paying job. I didn't drag my ass out of bed on time, so no writing before leaving for work. And I worked overtime and got home late and my brain was dead. Maybe next week will be better.