I've been a terrible blogger this year

I really have. :/

 

I think it's because of Twitter. Yeah, let's blame Twitter. LOL. I usually post there throughout the day and before I realise it, another day is done and I still haven't blogged.

 

Really need to change that, because I actually like to blog. It's time that gets in the way. Where can I buy some?

 

Well, last week I had a to-do list all ready to go and ended up not doing much because I wasn't feeling well. I somehow hurt my jaw and just didn't feel like doing much but sitting around or napping. It sucked, but the doctor prescribed some antibiotics and anti-inflammatory tablets that really helped.

 

I feel like I've got a lot more energy than I had this time last week, so that's a good thing.

 

At the beginning of the month I tackled the LAVIE second draft. In case you've forgotten, this is a Sierra Fox spin-off story featuring the demon hunter Lavie Grye. It's a road trip story that takes her from Sydney to Victoria, and I was glad to get it done. But instead of taking one week, which is what I usually take for a story that size (at the time it was in the early 70k region), it took me two.

 

The problem was that after writing the first draft I decided that there were a bunch of things I was going to change. The direction and main plot was the same, but I wanted to enhance it with some demonic myth and occult references. Not to mention that I wanted to make sure I caught the essence of the places they stop. It was pretty much Lavie and Saul driving down a highway without much feel of the scenery. Well, that's all changed now.

 

And that means that I ended up rewriting a lot, cutting even more, and doing a bunch more research than I expected. BUT, it was all worth it. Actually, I opened up the doc this morning to deal with the last bits on my Additions List and ended up adding another 1,027 words.

 

Final second draft word count: 80,561.

 

That makes me happy for several reasons:

 

1). I've passed the 80k mark, which I was aiming for,

2). The second draft is completely done before the end of 2014,

3). I'm MUCH happier with the story now,

4). There's only one more draft to go!

 

Now I just need to settle on a title. I have a few possibilities, but haven't decided yet...

 

Oh, and did I mention that my daughter's on school holidays now? Yeah, she doesn't go back until the end of January, so sticking to goals is going to be a lot harder. LOL.

 

That's it for now, I suppose. I just wanted to post an update because I've been so terrible about updating here. I must organise myself a lot better next year. Even if I end up blogging once/twice a week, it'll be a lot better than just posting book reviews.

 

Well, see ya!