Progress Report on The Peculiar Predicament of Poppets (Plus, blatant pandering with pup & cat pics)

Today I had the day OFF! Well, not entirely. I'm house-sitting for Phoebe, this beautiful pup:

Adorable Phoebe!

Also, I had to stop by the shelter to get more cat food for Björk, the pregnant lady cat I'm fostering. She is VERY preggo and eating constantly. She's super sweet too! Here she is enjoying head scritches:

"Keep scratching, human!"

Anyhow, between walking and playing with Phoebe and visiting our cat boys and preggo kitty, I took myself out writing. I feel like I made a LOT of progress on my novel, The Peculiar Predicament of Poppets. Here's where things stand:

• My novel is now over 40,000 words, more than halfway through. (I thought I'd be revising all the things by now, but I've been slowly making my way through each chapter and they insist on getting revised before I move on.)
• I KNOW how the novel is going to end! (I just gotta get there now...)
• I fixed some character glitches.
• I got rid of a few characters that weren't fitting.
• I discovered things about some of my characters.
• I love you, google maps, for having "walk" & "bike" options so I can figure out how long it would take my one character to walk / pull a cart across state lines and how long it will take another character to reach her destination on a runaway horse in 1871.
• As of now, there will be 30 chapters in 2 parts. I have 16 chapters fully written and the rest have at least a spark of what they're about.
• I sketched out the layout of a scene to give me a better idea of movement. I haven't done that since I was writing stage plays. It was good. I need to do more if that!

The Last Day / Few Minutes of 40...

Today is the last day of my 40th year! 

Time to set some goals for the next year of my life.

40 Goals...

In no particular order...

Here goes!

1. Set up a regular Blogging schedule... and stick to it!
2. Finish all the short stories I currently have in the works
3. Send those stories off to be published
4. Get published? (Okay, so I have no control over this... but it is a goal!)
5. Finish my novel: The Jurisphere (working title) - hopefully this'll be the last draft... to be seen!
6. Work on my novel: Sister Stitch-Witch
7. Clean my room (Come on, with a list of 40, I gotta have some easy ones! Sadly, this is not that.)
8. Research getting an MLIS degree
9. Run the No Shush Salon
10. Take myself out for writing dates more often 
11. Begin a writers' group
12. Get a bunny... maybe?
13. Foster more kittens
14. Visit my family!
15. Snuggle ALL the furry creatures living in my house!!!
16. Get a new car... maybe?
17. Learn illustration to a satisfactory degree
18. Illustrate the Stanley stories
19. Work on my Spanish
20. Read LOTS of books
21. Watch LOTS of movies
22. Study Science (For Science!)
23. Sew stuff
24. Get another tattoo or add to one of the ones I've already got
25. Set up a writing schedule
26. Go camping
27. Try new foods
28. Write at least one note of appreciation each month
29.  Learn more about trees
30. Organize my sock drawer
31. Get a drawer for my socks
32. Help with finishing the Death Metal Kitchen
33. Do more rituals
34. Meditate
35. Begin a podcast for Ninyx Natterings Presents
36. Join a gym (YMCA?) with a swimming pool
37. Research different librarian career paths
38. Play the Harp again
39. Go kayaking
40. Invent teleportation 

Meta: Posting on Posting

So my plans to update twice a week has been an abominable FAIL!!! Then, the longer I went without posting, the harder it was to kick myself in to posting again. (Stupid loop of stupidity!)


BUT!!! That's not to say that I have not been writing... I HAVE!!! Here, let me catch you up on all the things I have been doing in my writerly life:

• I dubbed 2013 "The Year of Rejection"! (I was going to post about that closer to Jan. 1st...)
• I FINISHED my story, "High Priestess of Roadkill" AND sent it off to be published!
• It was rejected, but there were some helpful comments that came with that rejection
• I have sent it to two friends for critique
• I am working on two new stories:
• "Why I HATE Dragons!" (working title)
• The Birth of Squid Shoes: A Cautionary Tale
• I have started research on a Secret Project... (Oooooooooo!)
• After working on a map and timelines for Tech Forsaken (maybe working title?), my Jurispherian novel, I have set it aside. I got lots of very helpful critiques from my friends, but I was getting waaaaaaay too bogged down and need some time away from it. I plan to pick it back up again in March.

I have also, sadly, hit a glitch in the "and now I must purchase a computer" department of my life. This is partially due to finances, partially due to indecision and partially due to the demands of the "Secret Project... (Oooooooooo!)"

I'm also going to give myself a specific day of the week to post to this blog. So since today is Monday, that is the day it will be! (I thought this through quite a lot... can't you tell?)

Postings every Monday! Aaaaaaaaand GO!!!