Almost there...

18 pages today. I finished the one chapter I promised myself to work on this weekend and now I'm above 300 pages in the MS. 8 chapters are finished, with two chapters just a few pages short. Here's to hoping the first draft will be completed by March 1st...

Club Dead by Charlaine Harris

A very quick read and my favorite of the series so far.

Things between cocktail waitress Sookie and her vampire boyfriend Bill seem to be going excellently (apart from the small matter of him being undead) until he leaves town for a while. A long while. Bill's sinister boss Eric has an idea of where to find him, whisking her off to Jackson, Mississippi to mingle with the under-underworld at Club Dead. When she finally catches up with the errant vampire, he is in big trouble and caught in an act of serious betrayal. This raises serious doubts as to whether she should save him or start sharpening a few stakes of her own ...

Ta-Dah!

There hasn't been much progress on the writing front, but tonight I finally have a few hours to buckle down and work. I'm up to about 277 pages now. This last weekend didn't prove to be as much progress as I'd hoped, but 50 pages was a good chunk, don't you think? I'm finding it hard to balance writing and working out. Both are important to me and there aren't just enough hours in the day!

Slacking...

My post title means just that. I haven't been as productive as I'd like to be with All Because of You. Granted, I have about 220 pages written in the first draft, but have been putting off writing more. The chapters are planned, well, most of them, but I don't have the motivation to make myself sit down and do it. This is a three day weekend though and Monday looks like a good day...

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Through all of my English classes and reading I've never read Wuthering Heights. Stephanie Meyer recommends it, even quotes it in her books, but I've never been curious. I've never been into reading the classics. The language can be difficult to understand and the plot lines are dull. Now, I have to say, I'm disappointed I never picked Wuthering Heights up. I enjoyed the book thoroughly, but couldn't imagine the book ending happily. Heathcliff finally got what he wanted in the end, to be with Catherine, even in death. It was hard to believe he could be so cold and evil, but redeemed himself in the end.

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

Jurassic Park doesn't have as much technical writing in it, but still a little too many math theories for me. Books are always better than movies, but I have to say this one is a lot better and certainly better than Congo. I was a little disappointed in the end. However, the entire novel is action packed and kept me interested.

Overtime

Wow, it's been a busy couple of days, but very productive. I have six chapters written in the first draft and I am still on track for 30 pages each. So that makes about 180 pages written so far. My plot is definitely developing as I go. I really had no outline as to exactly what I wanted like in All That I'm Living For, so it's been interesting to see how my chapters turn out. Chapter 1-5, 11 and half of 15 are done. This MS has less chapters than All That I'm Living For, but more words. Chapter 15 is the last chapter, and yes, I'm already writing it. If you remember from an earlier post I knew how the plot would begin and end, but getting there is what matters. I'll keep those very few of you who actually read this updated.

Success

I have the first five chapters set in The Second Romantic Suspense and have half of the "inserts" done. This pretty much completes my layout of the novel and now I can go in and expand and clarify, and revise and edit...etc...hoping over the next month or so I will have a complete first draft. It gives me great joy when something I've been working on for so long comes together. This weekend I hadn't even planned on getting so much done, it just fell into place.
I'm still waiting on the reviews for my first novel from a few people. Once I get those back I will have a better understanding of critiques and be able to polish the MS. From there I go shopping...for agents.
This week my goal is to revise and edit The First Short Story. I need to get it ready for a couple contests by cutting it down to 4,000 words. It's harder than it sounds...