RoW80 Check-In: March 4th.

”       ‘You know, Locke,’ he said amicably, once he walked beside his friend again, ‘I really don’t see why you’re in such a hurry to return to Kyano. Here, there is an endless feast of exotic treasures. There’s excitement and beautiful women around every turn.’
       ‘Yes,’ Locke murmured, ‘remind yourself of these pleasure the next time an insect the size of your fist flies through your window or you are up all night with illness coming out both your ends from this wretched cuisine. This is no place for us, Gilferen. This is no place for me. For centuries, Battaracks have ruled that land, scaled it from sea to sea, crossing her rivers and fields and forests. I don’t belong here. I need to go home.'”

It’s Sunday morning, so that means it’s time for yet another Row80 update! It’s been an interesting week for me. Utter fail on some projects, but good progress on others, so you won’t hear me complaining too much. A lot of these posts this last week have been talking about being stuck in a rut and working your way out of them, and I feel that this week will be on a completely different note. I certainly hope so. I’m looking forward to three days off this week, which will likely have me panicked for my finances, but you can bet I’m going to luxuriate in all the time this will afford me to write. Let’s have a look at the goals themselves so far:

Serpent in a Cage: This book for me lately has just been singing and I love it. The chapter I’m working on right now is a chapter that will still be used from the earlier draft, so now that I’ve build up to it, it’s mostly just polishing up something I’ve already written. Plus, once again, as I realized in writing the first version, I absolutely love the relationship between Gilferen and Locke and their interactions are easily some of the most fun interactions for me. Writing their banter back and forth, thinking about the brotherhood they have with each other, fills me with authorly glee. I really have a feeling I might just even catch up with my wordcount soon if this energy keeps up. There are few things more exciting for me that really feeling that stride with my characters and getting excited about them, and that’s exactly why SiaC has been monopolizing most of my creative energy lately. But, hey, go where the Muse takes you, my friends! Page count: 27/60.

Teen Fantasy Anthology: Anyone following this blog regularly will already know that I haven’t been able to produce anything for Morgan Dragonwillow’s Teen Fantasy Anthology Contest this entire week, and I hope this week will change that. I have not been beating myself up about it, but I have decided I let myself slip and I’ll need to be a ltitle more forceful from here on in. I think today’s prompt is a good one to get me back in the game, so wish me luck! And, even if it doesn’t, well, I know I still created a handful of cool new stories for this thing, so there’s even just a little gain.

Bowlful of Bunnies: In lieu of being unable to get much out for the Anthology, I did pick a little bit at some of the stories for BoB, though not a lot. I need to get the zombie story finished and then focus on returning to “Black Stones” to brush it up, and then come up with a few other ones to throw in there since I know there’s some that need to go. Right now, I’m looking at about ten stories, if you don’t include the handful of flash snippets that will be peppered onto a page together; I’d rather be at twenty, but we shall see.

The 100 Books Project: Finally almost finished with February’s 700+ pager…there will be a review tomorrow, and I’m very excited to put some focus elsewhere now! On the bright side, I’ve also got three other books I’ve been nibbling at that are half-way finished, so there should be another book right after that. Good, because I’m lagging big time. Books read: 7/100.

Featured Story: Since it’s Sunday, a new Featured Story has gone up, a short little blurb I call “Purgatory.” Thanks to everyone for the kind comment and great editorial remarks on the last story! Bit by bit, you guys are helping me understand what works for me, what doesn’t, and what my fingers don’t catch when I’m typiing!

Other Novels: Lately, there have been three other novels that I’ve been picking at here and there that I feel deserve at least a little bit of attention on my check-ins, and not just because it shows that I haven’t been completely slacking. No hard and fast goals for these, just a little blurb on how they’re coming along. One’s fantasy, a sequel to SiaC, one’s chick lit and I’ve been blowing through that one because it’s just so fun and light, and the other is really exciting because I think it might be the book I focus on after BoB, about a post-apocalyptic circus. So we’ll see how these develop in the next few days and, who knows, maybe they’ll become bigger goals.

So how has the week been treating everyone else? Are you able to juggle all your projects, or has one been really standing out more for you than the others, as with me and SiaC? I’m also curious if anyone else is participating in the Teen Anthology Contest and, if you are, how’s it been going for you? If you get a chance, check out the other RoWers here, too.

Lastly, do you think anyone would notice if I sent the cat to work for me today instead of going in myself?

Happy Writing!