resolutions, schmesolutions

I'm not really one for making New Year's resolutions. It seems that any time I've done so, they've fallen by the wayside by the end of January.

In fact, the whole concept of January being the beginning of the new year is kind of nebulous to me. What do you mean, this is a new year? My new year started in August. In fact, for as long as I can remember, it's always started in the fall. I guess a billion years of school will do that to you. My new year begins with the beginning of a new school year--and even that gets divided a bit, when you consider that my school year is divided into two distinct parts: first and second semester. Second semester doesn't even begin till the end of January.

So, you see what I'm getting at? A resolution beginning in January is arbitrary at best in the context of my life.

However, as it happens to be vacation time, I find myself doing more reflecting than I have time to do usually. And when I reflect, I find I'm not as happy as I could be.

I suck at time management. News flash. I can waste a day better than most people, I'm convinced. When I'm on a break, I complain that, because I have nothing "scheduled," I have a hard time getting anything done. I convince myself that when the break is over, I'll have more structure and therefore be more productive. But then, when I'm working, I jealously guard any free moment and decide that I "deserve" to be able to veg out and watch the same episode of NCIS on USA that I've seen approximately 20 times before. I'm tired. I'm stressed. I'm sad.

I'm lazy.

That's really what it comes down to. And then I look at others who aren't as lazy as I and I lament. Oh, if only I had the time to...

Wait, wait, wait. Do these others I speak of live in a magical world where the day is 25, 26, 27 hours long? Do they have the inhuman ability to survive on 45 minutes of sleep a day? No. They are limited by many of the same constraints I am, yet they are still able to accomplish the things I cannot seem to.

They're better at managing the 24 hours each day provides.

I'm a big fan of taking responsibility for things. If I make a delicious meal, I want the props for it. By the same token, if I get my car repossessed because I "keep forgetting" to make the payments, that's my responsibility too.

The piece of advice my dad always gave me is that "only you can make you happy." What will make me happy? Having Becoming written, edited, and published. Writing and publishing the next two books I've got planned before the end of the school year. Having another two or three done before the end of 2013. Well, guess what? Only I can make it happen. I can't hope enough, complain enough, dream enough. When the rubber hits the road, the fact remains that I actually have to do it.

So, I'm making a commitment. Every week, I will write at least 5000 words. I will not try to write 5000 words. I will actually do it. If that means I have to turn off the TV, good. If that means I have to stay up past my 9:30 bedtime (don't judge), so be it.

If I write five days a week, it's 1000 words a day. If I write every day, it's about 715 words.

Yesterday, I got up to 198. Not quite 715, but more than zero. I'll take that.

So far today, I'm at 1259.

I'll be posting on my FB page every day how many words I actually put out. If it's zero, I'll post that, too.

I hope that if it's zero for more than a day, someone'll call me out. But, really, I shouldn't rely on that, because only I can make me happy.


If you want to keep track of me, check me out at http://www.facebook.com/madelinefreemanbooks.

finally, book two!

Frankly, it's been a long time coming.

Last year, I was convinced that I'd have the whole Naturals trilogy written and published by year's end. Alas, that didn't happen. But, finally, Seeking is finished and available for sale as an ebook. (Links below!)

I've already started working on Becoming, book three of the trilogy. I'm already 14,500 words into the first draft. (For reference, Awaking and Seeking are both around 65,000 words.) Tomorrow, I've got some dedicated writing time, and I'll get some writing done on Friday, but after that, I'm back to work. (I can't believe it's back-to-school time already!) It is my dearest hope, though, that it won't take another year for the last book to be finished.

We'll see how that goes.


Seeking is available as an ebook from these retailers:

For Kindle - http://www.amazon.com/Seeking-The-Naturals-ebook/dp/B0090L9DTE/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1345595249&sr=8-6&keywords=madeline+freeman

For Nook - http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/seeking-madeline-freeman/1112580477?ean=2940014803236

Smashwords - http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/217448

plotting

Well, I'm pleased to say that Seeking is nearly ready for publication. I'm giving it one last read-through (or, rather, listen-through) to catch errors I might otherwise miss (I'm only on chapter five and have already caught three things). I'm really liking the way the book turned out, but I'm not gonna lie: the thing's kind of been an albatross. There have been many a time I felt like I wasn't ever going to finish the first draft! But I finally did, and it feels good to have worked out the kinks and turned it into something I'll be proud to publish.

And when will I be publishing it? Well, I haven't set a firm date, but I think it'll be next week! The hard copy, unfortunately, will be out a little later.

Now, I'm in the sticky position of plotting out the final book in the trilogy, Becoming. This book, for some reason, is proving to be the most nebulous. I mean, I know many of the things I want to happen. Still, there are some things that aren't clear to me yet. There are some things that need to be cleared up but that I'm not sure how I'll handle.

About a month ago, I got a new laptop. My old one still works, but it causes me to turn green and yell, "Hulk SMASH!" on a regular basis, so my husband and I decided it would be in everyone's best interest for me to get a new one. Well, one of my first orders of business was to purchase Scrivener, a software that helps to organize a document.

It's funny. I really, really like Scrivener, and I know it'll help me stay on track, but there's something to be said for my old standby way of plotting--stream of consciousness writing. It's the way I usually begin a novel (or, in most cases, an idea which will never become a novel). I open up a document for ideas about the story, and I basically start typing. Sometimes I ask questions, sometimes I describe characters, sometimes I lay out a basic plot. Most of the time, I do all these things. And, actually, I've done it (sort of) for Becoming. But--wouldn't you know it?--some of the things I wrote don't necessarily fit anymore. And other things are completely not addressed. So, tonight, my plan is to just start typing. I've already learned a couple things I didn't know, and I've already made some decisions that'll affect tiny smidgens of what I've already written in the draft of Becoming. And it's good.

My goal is that next time I chisel out some time to write, my vision is more clear. It should make the rest of the writing much more smooth. And, with any luck, the first draft of Becoming won't take almost a year to write.

edits and revisions

A couple weeks ago, I finished the first draft of Seeking. It's rough, and I know it, but I've gotten some really good notes on it.

There's always room for improvement, and I'm glad I have people who are willing to help me out!

I'm rather excited that I'm so close to finishing Seeking and putting it up for sale. I really thought I'd have it done last year, but that didn't happen. Now the challenge will be to get book three, Becoming, out in a respectable amount of time. I think I'll be able to do it. I hope I will. I've still got a month and a half of summer vacation, and I hope I'll be able to take advantage of it.

What I've got is a new laptop and a desire to write, write, write! Let's hope it's enough.

epic win

So, the last two days have been excellent for writing

I'm going back to work starting Tuesday. (Back to work for three weeks before summer vacation. A little ridiculous, but it's actually okay with me.) To prepare for this, I went in for a few hours on Thursday--just to make sure I could actually wake up and get there on time, you know? But when I got home, I learned that my daughter had been screaming for an hour, even though her dad and grandpa were there with her: Apparently even though she would take a bottle at night--and indeed did so Wednesday night--she would not take one in the morning.

So, yesterday, my dad sent me out of the house so he could try again to get her to take a bottle. I sat at Starbucks for quite a few hours and wrote almost 3,000 words. Yesterday didn't go very well (though the girl did take a bottle after thirty or forty minutes), so my dad sent me out again today. I wrote over 3,000 words today and... wait for it... finally passed the 50,000 word mark!!

Now, while Awaking is around 65,000 words and I assume Seeking will be of a similar length, I'm not naive enough to think that all I need to do now is write around 15,000 more words. I know I'm going to have to go back and fill in some things (for example, while I've been working on the climax the last two days, I'm not actually there yet in the story). I've also got some revamping and revising to do (I'm still not crazy about the pace at which the story is unfolding).

But the fact is, I'm moving forward. And I'm getting closer.

It's a good feeling.


And, on a side note, remember my friend Mary E. Twomey and her upcoming series The Saga of the Spheres that I mentioned before? Well, if you haven't yet, check out her epic trailer here. Remember, it goes on sale June 1, and it'll be something great to read while you're patiently awaiting Seeking!

productivity

I've written 1,046 words today. That's more than I've written in some time. In fact, I can't actually remember the last time I've written that many words in a day. (Not that that means anything; I can barely remember last night. I suppose not having slept for more then 4 straight hours in the last few weeks has messed with my memory.)

I did a little math (because I find comfort in simple math sometimes) and realized that if Seeking ends up being the same length as Awaking (approximately 65,000 words), and if I write 1,000 words a day, I can have this draft done in 22 days. Of course, if I can get 2,000 words a day, that's 11 days.

I'm not really sticking myself to any kind of timetable here. I've been lucky tonight because my daughter went down at 7:30 and has been asleep since (it's nearly 10 now). I'm hoping that during the summer I can get two hours a day to write. We'll see how that goes!

It just feels really good to have written so many words today. I'm sure they're not all good words, but at least I'm moving forward. I've actually jumped ahead to the climax of the novel (which is what I did with Awaking). I hope doing that will get the juices flowing, so to speak, and that I'll be able to get moving from there.

In other news, my friend Mary E. Twomey (find her on Facebook here) will be publishing her Saga of the Spheres (a series of four books) beginning June 1st. While you're waiting for Seeking to be completed, you could spend some time checking out her books! They're young adult fantasy, too!

And if you're into chick lit, my friend Rachel Schurig's new book, In Search of a Love Story, is now available for Kindle! I'm only in, like, chapter four, but it's really good so far!!

The lilacs are almost in bloom

The first week of May is usually my favorite week of the year for one main reason: that's when the lilacs are in bloom. This year, since it's been unusually warm and I've barely seen a hint of winter here in Michigan, I was thinking perhaps the lilacs would come early, but it's looking like they'll hold off till next week. At least the ones in my back yard, anyway.

There's no doubt about it: Spring is here. It seems inevitable that with spring comes a sense of renewal. So I'm looking at my life right now and checking out what things are new.

One new thing: I'm not working and haven't been for the last eleven weeks or so. Not only am I not working at my day job, I'm also barely working on writing. But that, I suppose, is nothing new. This time last year, I was sure I could have the entire Naturals trilogy out by the end of the summer--September at the latest. Alas, we all know that didn't happen. And I feel as though I've made very little progress on Seeking, even though I am really excited for the climactic scene. (I'm stealing the bones of this scene from the original draft of what became Awaking--a draft so horrible it will never see the light of day again. But you could say the climax in Seeking has been about a decade in the making.) I've written perhaps a page or two in the last eleven weeks, and while I don't find that particularly good progress, I have many friends who are impressed I've been able to get even that done.

Mostly because I had a baby almost eleven weeks ago.

I remember thinking to myself that once pregnancy-brain wore off, the baby would be asleep most of the day and I'd be able to write a lot.

Ha! The naivete of someone who's spent very little time with infants!

So, in the category of all things new, this whole being-a-mom and having-a-baby thing ranks high. And while I in no way begrudge my little girl for stealing my time and brain power away from writing, I do hope that sometime soon I'll be able to start writing again.

It's kind of funny: Even though I had hoped to have published more books by this time, I've still got one published. That means that my daughter will always know her mother as an author. It's kind of a cool feeling.

Okay, I think I should finish this post and use the rest of Norah's nap time to continue working on (or, dare I say finish?) a Tesin-related scene. Though I know I'll have to do a bit of overhauling before it's satisfactory, just to get it out is a good feeling.

Perhaps I'll even skip ahead to the climax and start working on that. Goodness knows that's what I ended up doing with Awaking.

Wish me luck.