Busy...

Ok, I haven't been so good about keeping up with the blog. Somehow the summer totally slipped away and in a few days it will be fall. Crazy! It's funny because somehow I'm way busier now than I was working in an office full-time. How did that happen? Between working on the novel, freelancing and just keeping up with the house and life in general, I'm swamped.

Early on I set a deadline for myself of the end of September to finish the first draft, but that's clearly not going to happen. Right now I'm at 58,000 words, and I think I might have managed 1,000 words over the past two weeks total, which is terrible. I recently started a new freelance copyediting job, and because of that I haven't had the time I once did earlier in the summer to write.

While I'm excited for the opportunity, it definitely has made it harder for me to stick to my daily word count goal of 1k, which makes me sad since I was managing 1k or close to it every day for a few months. I'm trying my best to plug away at the novel and think a more realistic goal is December at this point. As long as I finish before the end of the year, I will be happy.

On top of everything else, I have my reviews for Examiner and a huge pile of books to get through. I haven't had time to myself to read in weeks, and I really need to do that. I'm determined to get through at least two books this week because I feel SO behind right now...

Word count

I hit 30,000 words on Friday - woo hoo! My celebration was short though, because when I thought about it I realized that I'm not even half-way done. Still, I've come a long way since the beginning of June when I only had 14,000 words.

I just finished Stephen King's "On Writing" and it made me feel a lot better that he writes 2,000 words a day, but suggests the beginning novelist to aim for 1,000. That's exactly where I am (I aim for 1,000 each day, sometimes I write a little more, and sometimes a little less).

I guess sometimes you just need an "authority figure" to confirm that what you're doing is right!

Yesterday wasn't very productive and I was feeling down on myself because I only managed about 500 words. Between an eye doctor appointment and applying for jobs, I just couldn't concentrate on writing. Today I'm feeling a lot better and I've made decent progress this a.m. polishing a short story that I want to submit for a contest. Fingers crossed!

the long and short of it

I finished my first short story today. I don't think I've written a short story since I was a kid and strangely obsessed with writing about teenagers from California. (What? You haven't read "Miss Real Cool?")

I keep hearing about the importance of clips, so I want to start sending out some short stories in hopes of getting published or winning some writing contests. Not having any published works to put in my query letter is somewhat terrifying. Sure I have some online clips, but I feel like those aren't looked at as seriously.

Now comes the part that I dread: feedback. The thought of people reading and critiquing my writing makes me feel a little sick. What if my friends and family think the story sucks? Will they tell me it's good anyway?

Makes this an interesting career choice, huh?

New directions

Since I started writing for Examiner.com about women's fiction, I haven't really had a reason to post reviews on this blog anymore. However, I thought I would turn this into a blog about my writing, since I'm now moving full steam ahead with finishing my novel.

I lost my job earlier this month, and I have to say I'm not so sad about it. Working for a PR agency was not my cup of tea, and after five years in the industry I realized that it wasn't getting any better. I had started looking for a new job and weighing my options months before I was laid off, so at least this has given me an excuse to focus on something that I love. I never would have left my job without having something else lined up ... and now I feel like I have an amazing opportunity to be able to finish my novel while I look for my next position.

It's exciting and scary at the same time ... the transition from a 9-5 job being around coworkers and clients and deadlines to being your own boss with no one to make you do anything is pretty extreme. Deadline-wise I've been setting word count goals for myself each day and have been doing really well in meeting them so far ... as long as I keep distractions to a minimum.

Anyway, so far, so good. For the first time in years, I don't wake up dreading each day ... and that in itself is pretty damn awesome.

Rumors

I've been looking for this book for a while now, but every time I go to Borders it seems to be sold out. That being said, I was really excited when I went to Barnes and Noble this week to spend the last of my Christmas gift cards and found they had "Rumors." I loved the first book in the Luxe series and Rumors definitely did not disappoint.

This book picks up a few months after the happenings in The Luxe. As not to spoil the first book for anyone who hasn't read it yet, I won't get into too much detail, but this really was a great (and fast) read. It features all of the same scandal, backstabbing and romance as the first book, with some especially dramatic events toward the end. I was especially pleased to see the character development in Lina, the maid, who is becoming one of my favorite characters in the series.

I will say that the ending was a bit of a shock (a little upsetting), but I can't wait to find out what happens in "Envy," the next book of the series. Even though this is a YA series, I think anyone who enjoys historical fiction and/or chick lit will love these books, they are a great combination of the two genres.

Highly recommended!

Gossip Girl Prequel: It Had to be You

Ok, I admit I was skeptical about reading these books for years, even after I started watching the show (and I LOVE Gossip Girl on TV!) ... but finally I broke down and grabbed the prequel when I was at the library.

And I am now obsessed.

The prequel takes place when Serena and the gang are 15, before she takes off and mysteriously leaves NYC. A lot of things that happened are totally different than the show, and some of the characters are different too (Vanessa is a badass punk girl with a shaved head!) but I still loved it. Seriously read it in one sitting.

So what if I'm practically 30 - these books are great!! Total guilty pleasure. I'm definitely going to read the rest of the series.

Quentins

I've heard good things about Maeve Binchy, but this is the first time I've ever read one of her books. I was at Borders and this one happened to catch my eye, but then I thought I'd just get it at the library...I'm trying not to spend as much money on books as I usually do, and figure if it's an older one, I can likely just find it at the library for free. (I was going to check out Circle of Friends as well, but it looked gross. You know, like it had been in the library for 20 yrs and the cover was all nasty looking and falling apart. Gah).

Anywayyyy....I really loved this book. Quentins is a restaurant in Dublin, and the book talks about all the stories of people who frequent the restaurant and most of their lives all connect somehow. There are quite a lot of characters to follow, but it never got confusing. The book mainly follows Ella Brady, who falls in love with an older, married man (Don). Don ends up screwing up her whole life (and the lives of half the other people in Dublin). She decides to make a documentary about Quentins over the years, in part to help make money since she's totally broke.

Basically, the book goes between Ella's story, and the people who run the restaurant, and then there are some random chapters that are sort of short stories about different people and things that have happened in the restaurant.

Apparently Quentins features a few of the characters that were in early books, so when I returned this, I checked out "Evening Class," which features one of the more minor characters in Quentins. I'm excited to read it!