Watermarks

Wow, had no idea I’d be writing a story this long. I’m at 6900 words and going into the last scene. Where Bliss puts it all together and knows what she has to do. Sometimes this writing thing is crazy. Hope it doesn’t go much past 7500 words. We’ll see. I will take it to it’s conclusion and hope it doesn’t become a novelette. I had dinner with a couple of friends tonight after work, so I didn’t get home until nearly 9, so only had a little over an hour for writing tonight. I definitely will finish it tomorrow, maybe even during lunch tomorrow.

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Okay, so I needed 3 days to recover this week. Was a tough week; unfortunately, I had a lot of personal issues to deal with besides the pulled back muscles (still working through some emotional things I’m having a hard time with). Another setback, but I’m doing a little better today.

So I had this story idea all ready to start working on, but as Tuesday faded to Wednesday and finally after five days with little sleep, I realized that I wanted to work on something different. Something not so dark. From Jack the Ripper to a Mourning brooch…was just too much darkness. So I let my brain wander off in a different direction, into some SF…and a more straightforward story hit me. Working Title is The Overwhelming Crash of Light. Will probably change, but we’ll see. I put down over 800 words tonight, so I’m very pleased with that.

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Something about the ending nagged at me last night and today, but as I was painting our deck (until the paint ran out), it came to me what I needed. So after I ran out of paint, I sat back down and added a bit more to the ending. About 2 more pages in fact, so final word count is 4600. After dinner, I did a final pass to fix stupid stuff, missing words, misspellings, etc. and got it ready to mail. Off it goes tomorrow morning. Gives me a pathetic 16 race points, but that number will keep getting bigger as I get more stuff out the door. : )

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I feel like I need to take a shower after finishing this one. Just felt icky, but I hung with it through to the end. A little tiny twist that I didn’t see coming emerged at the end, so that’s kind of cool. Don’t know if there’s any sort of market for this story. I won’t pre-edit it though. Will do another pass on it tomorrow and see what needs to be done. I think I need to go watch a Disney movie or the Hallmark channel. Feeling unsettled after writing this one. I wrote nearly 2000 words on it tonight though. It came in at almost exactly 4K. Averaged about 1000 words an hour, so that wasn’t too bad. Had to stop and get bits of info several times for authenticity. But another one done. Title is Jack the Reaper.

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Put down about 800 words to start the third act at 2100 words. I think this one will go about 3000 to 3300 words. Not sure what I’ll have at the end, but I won’t know until I finish the story. I’ve got everything setup, all the elements in place for the story’s final events. Still don’t quite know how the ending will play out. I have a picture in my head, but I don’t know what it will look like on page. Hopefully I can make the two reasonably match. We’ll see. I should finish this one tomorrow. Could probably forge ahead and finish tonight, but I think I’m too tired to tackle the ending tonight. Glad tomorrow is Saturday. And my kitty, Kelsey’s 4th birthday. : )

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Okay, tonight I was just plain procrastinating. : ) Was really tired and not feeling well all day. So glad tomorrow is Friday. Didn’t get started writing until about 9:00 PM. But I managed about 3 pages tonight. The story is over 1200 words now and I’m just about to close the first act. I think a certain part of me is having an eeeeuuuuwww moment, not wanting to get too deep into this guy’s head. But I know I have to in order to pull this tale off. And I’m dreading the third act because it chronicles his last slaying. I have to get into this creep’s head as he murders and brutalizes his last victim. But once I get through that, I have some satisfaction coming to me. Just gotta get past that ugliness first.

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Took me a little longer to get started tonight because I needed those minute details that give authenticity to a story, so I wrote a few sentences, did some research, wrote a few more, did more research, rinse and repeat. Only managed 500 words tonight, but I’m into the story and I have command of it. Will make tomorrow’s writing go a lot more quickly. Gotta get the history and the details right on this one or it won’t work. Hope I can hold it together and that the ending will work. I see it coming, but there are a few vague spots that I won’t know how to address until I’m in the third act.

Oh and while doing this research, I came across a random item that sparked my interest. So I sort of already know what next week’s story will be about. Dark? Yeah…what can I say?

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Realized that I needed more information to get an authentic feel to things, so I spent an hour reading about Jack the Ripper’s victims and some other 1880s London details. Needless to say, I got very little written. About 60 words, to be exact. LOL! Better than nothing, so I won’t complain. Got home late, so it is what it is. Hopefully more will hit the page tomorrow.

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My stories are much darker than they used to be. Tonight, after poking around in various places, I came up with a storyline for the next story. Looks like I will be writing about Jack the Ripper. Never thought I’d be doing that, but I’m just going to go with the things that materialize in my brain. This story may get uglier than I really want to go, but we’ll see. Everything I’ve written this year has a dark intensity to it that even surprises me when I look back on them. Not sure what to make of it. I can’t seem to find any lighter stories right now. Guess I’ll just refer to it as my Dark Period some day. ; ) I’ve seen quite a few movies and read a few stories about Jack the Ripper. I don’t think this twist has been done, but if it has, I haven’t seen it. Hope it turns out like the story in my head. Off to relax a bit before I go to bed. Sheesh, Jack the Ripper — of all damned topics. Will start this one tomorrow.

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Wow, I put down 1200 words on this one tonight. Was really surprised when I checked the word count. It feels rough, but I feel in charge of it, so that’s a good thing. New working title is Collecting Faeries, but that may change when I get deeper into the story. A friendship is developing that I hadn’t expected, so that’s kind of cool. Can’t wait to see if this story goes where I’m expecting it to, or if it’ll go off into a completely different direction. I always let out the reins, giving them plenty of room to run. So I’m letting this one stretch its legs. I’d envisioned a very dark story, but I may be surprised. We’ll see.

In other weird news, I’ve had cataracts since I was 30 and they have now reached a point where they must be dealt with, so in about a month, I’ll be having cataract surgery. Just shy of my 46th birthday. It’s not necessarily a bad thing though because now they have implants that can correct not only distance vision, but close up and intermediate distances too. So I am going to shell out the necessary funds to get the premium implants. There’s an 80% chance that I can throw away my glasses (!) How cool is that? As someone who is totally dependent on her glasses for everything, you know, the trivial things like walking, telling the difference between the cat and a pillow, and recognizing people I know, I’m excited about this possibility. I’ve worn glasses since the sixth grade and I haven’t been able to wear contacts for several years. Hope I’m one of the lucky ones.

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