#ROW80: Life Happens

So, it's true, the whole idea behind ROW80. Sometimes things happen you really weren't expecting. Someone close to me, an alcoholic, hit rock bottom this week. I've been dealing with fallout, and feeling pretty emotionally drained.

I managed about 1,500 words this week, squeaking through the 4,000 mark for total word count on this new book. Terrible. And Monday I go camping for a few days. Maybe I'll take the manuscript I need to edit with me -- might be a nice change of pace. But no new words on the urban fantasy until next Friday at least, unless I can get a few in today.

I'm going to wait a couple of weeks to see how this affects my overall goal, but I'm thinking I might reduce my word count goal to 30,000. I still need to publish Tribute, and edit and revise Vessel. I don't want to let stuff I've already written sit on a shelf.

Tribute Cover and #ROW80 Update

I've mentioned the cover for Tribute, which I'll publish next month on Amazon and Smashwords, several times. Here it is! My friend Kate Bateman designed it with help from another buddy of ours, Erin Kelly Brown. They're awesome!

As for ROW80, things are going pretty well at the moment. I finished the outline for Queen of Peace, the urban fantasy I'm writing in the last two months of the challenge. I probably won't be able to complete the draft by September 22; I expect it might turn out around 60,000 words. My original goal was 40,000, but I thought I'd get started a bit sooner. Revisions to Tribute took longer than I anticipated, and I know I'll spend more time on it when beta comments start rolling in, and on publication day!!

If I write 5,000 words on Queen of Peace each week, I can still make my goal of 40,000. And maybe I can sneak in a little extra. Yesterday I was totally sneaky and wrote on the iPad, getting in a few minutes here and there while the family played around me. Wrote the first scene: 1,166 words! Today my darling husband plans to take the kids out for a couple of hours so I can get some quiet time. Can I hit 3,000 for the weekend?

ROW80 Check In

I'm feeling very successful at the moment. On Friday I sent my paranormal romance novella Tribute out to a handful of beta readers. Other things I need to complete to publish have been falling like dominoes, too. I have a cover (which I'll post soon, I promise), a description, and a growing list of to-dos for publication day. I'm super excited!

I also made significant progress on the outline for the urban fantasy I'll write next.

Here's my issue, and I'm sure everyone else working on this challenge is noticing the same thing: the summer is flying by! Weekends are filling up with impromptu BBQs and long-planned camping trips. My husband's band also has a big show coming up, so I need to give him time with his guitar, instead of him giving me time alone to write... so the next month it's going to be difficult to fit writing in. But I will manage, of course. :)

ROW80 Check In

Not much to report at the moment. This past week I've been working away at final edits on my paranormal romance novella, Tribute. Almost there! I also wrote a few thousand words of background and outline for the urban fantasy novel I'm working on. I haven't started an actual draft yet. This week my goal is to finish outlining, and then I can start a draft.

Indie Summer Book Review

Dark Relic: Vampires' Curse by Lauralynn Elliott

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I bet many other vampire romance readers would give this book a higher rating. This type of vampire story isn't my cup of tea. This book has a "discovery" story line; the main character doesn't know vampires exist until the middle of the book. And that really bugs me, personally. I like for everyone to be clear about their natures so you can get into the meat of the story.

This book has a great plot that moves along nicely, centering on a relic that kills vampires. I don't know enough about the relic after reading the first book, so hopefully the author follows up with more details about the history of the cross in the next Libby Fox book.

Libby is a fun heroine. She reminded me of myself, which is always nice in a POV character! She's a bit straight laced, but when hit with a big revelation, she holds up under the pressure. She's very moral. So is the hero, Adam. He is too human a vampire, in my opinion, but he is sexy. I hope both of them let down their hair a bit in the next book.

View all my reviews

#ROW80 3

I love a writing challenge. Something about knowing a whole bunch of other crazy writers are out there hammering away at their own goals, making strides toward their dreams. Romantic, isn't it?

On this fine July day begins ROW80 3! ROW80 is an 80-day writing challenge where you set your own goals and cheer on other writers as they do the same. It happens four times a year. This round runs from July 4 through September 22, so if any of you are interested, head on over and sign up.

Here are my goals for this round:

• Publish my first paranormal romance novella, Tribute, on Smashwords and Amazon.
• Complete edits and revisions of my second novella, Vessel. Specifically, edit or revise two pages of the manuscript per day.
• Write 500 words per day (for a total of 40,000 words) of a new urban fantasy novel.

I'll be posting updates on my ROW80 progress each week, so stay tuned!