Good morning all. Thanks for the setup and the treats.

I actually have to drive across town to deliver proof to the IRS that I paid them. You'd think they'd just be able to look in their coffers, because they cashed my check, but no. So an hour and a half out of my day.

Other than that nothing to complain about. I'm submitting stories today. I hate submitting stories, and I am not very good at it. I'm not very detailed oriented and everyone has their own set of manuscript rules.

Mets got spanked last night. Sara's Braves are only 4 games back.

Coffee and Mets-shaped cookies please!

Good morning all. Thanks for the setup.

Weird waking up without immediately jumping onto working on the novel. I feel lazy! Today is the 1/6 hearings as I battle the IRS on whether I owe them money or not (I already paid you!). Other than that, not much else.

I hope everyone is well. Publish that story,

Scott, you know my answer to that will always be PUBLISH it! Especially since you already have the formatting part down. You can always pull it back down.

So, I have my angry flash, and two different edits of it from two folks I trust (this theme is out of my wheelhouse, I need some help). So today's chore is combining those three docs into one final version and sending it off.

Other than that, it's sunny and warm here, and I have no obligations except those I have chosen.

A coffee and a watermelon cookie please.

Quote by AnnaMayZing

Well done, Verbs, a great achievement indeed. Are you going to you self-publish, or go the whole hog and find a publisher? I wish I could. Either way, good luck with it. 👌😊

Thanks for the kind thoughts. I won't really know if it's any good for another draft. I'll try to get a trad publisher if I like it in six months. Otherwise, I will self-pub or just put it in a drawer.

I got invited to an anthology with a very specific topic--I won't mention what it is, but it's very angry, which should give you a clue. Dashed off 1200 words yesterday, honing them now, they'll go out tomorrow. I have no idea if it's any good or not. I'm really new to pushing out a story this fast, but they want a quick turnaround.

A decaf and a cookie please!

Blinking Hello everyone. Didn't sleep well, but f it, I don't have anything to do today anyway. Take a walk. Listen to the news. Sigh.

I thought there was a Writers Group thread, which is where I was gonna post this. It's the weekly word count doc I used to track the novel (Chew). I hope it's presumptuous of me to post here, but I thought it might be interesting to a group of writers such as yourselves. You can clearly see the horse latitudes when I was selling the house, and the big push I made after that. You can pick out a Thanksgiving/Christmas break too.

Anyway. Extremely lazy day today, for a change. A coffee and a constitution-shaped cookie please.

Quote by Mendalla

Cool. Good luck on the next pass. Hope it is not one of the ones where you go back and realize chapters 4-8 need a total rewrite or something.

Goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood Morning!

Coffee is black and strong. Tea is tastier but still packing some punch. Iced tea is fresh and ready. It has cooled off here but only for today, supposed to be hot and muggy this weekend.

The whole damn thing needs a total rewrite. But I'm up to it. Not today, or tomorrow. But within a couple weeks. I hope to lose 30,000 words this time around. There's a nice taut story somewhere in all that mess.

Red, you are right, it does feel like a load off my shoulders, though I'll be picking it right back up. It's called Chew, and I wouldn't look for it anywhere soon - lotsa work ahead of me first.

At any rate, thanks for the congrats, it's nice to part of a supportive writing community.

I'd love a coffee and a novel-shaped cookie.

Done.

I'm gonna get to the end of this Damned Thing today. Nothing in the way, I know what to write, and I'm pointed toward toward it like an arrow toward the target.

Let's do this. Coffee please. A cookie when I finish.

Quote by Mendalla

Thanks for the kind words, red. I know it is a bit long for the current climate of this place but I just could not find a good breakpoint to split it and rewriting it into two shorter stories did not appeal. Glad you enjoyed it, hope others do as well.

Coffee is on, teapots are full to the tippy-top with Earl Grey and Red Rose. Iced tea and lemonade and made and in the fridge. Gonna be a hot one in my neck of the woods so might need cold bevvies later.

Later, alligators.

I look forward to reading it.

Writing and 1/6 hearings and lunch with daughter and Mets-Astros tonight! Busy fun day! I think I consolidated events during my walk and have a chapter and a half left to write.

Happy Solstice all! I'd love a coffee and a cookie.

Where is everybody? There's no coffee in here!?!?!?

Okay, that looks like coffee beans. Grind em, slap em in the Mr. Coffee, right? Piece of cake!

Saw a great play this weekend - The Wolves - about a girls soccer team. The play was performed outside, on a facsimile of a soccer field. Very creative cool presentation.

Bought a suit too! Talia had so much fun. I'll grudgingly admit I did to. It's for a wedding in July.

Time to write. 113,855 at the beginning of this morning. I'm thinking maybe 6000 more words to finish.

Coffee and a cookie please.

Quote by redwriter

Today is the day for me to remove the dressing over a small lesion I had cut away last week. (Results of survey early July.) But I think I'll leave the removal until tomorrow simply because I'm a coward, and I'm expecting to see the equivalent of a bullet-hole in the centre of my chest,

For a change I'll try the Earl Grey tea and look forward to a munch on one of Susan's delicious cookies.

That sounds a little scary, though I'm sure it won't be. Were it me, the results of my imagination would be way worse than the reality, so taking off the bandage would be a relief.

Busy day yesterday, including a family medical scare, but things seem to be okay today. So while I fell short yesterday, I'll once again reach toward my thousand words today.

Hot and sunny out. Stock market is holding steady. Time to make the coffee and munch on cookies and get to work.

Hey, your coffee is better than the swill I made yesterday.

Dealing a lot of chores today - physical therapy, actual therapy, a tree guy coming to take down broken limbs, and the 1/6 hearings. Plus I gotta get a newsletter out soon. Still, hope to get my thousand.

The stock market is falling like a rock. Yikes. I'm gonna have to go back to work if this keeps up.

14 in a row for the Braves. Double yikes. The Mets got pummeled.

A cup and a cookie please.

Quote by AnnaMayZing

Anyone remember The Partridge Family? They sang some great tunes that went on to become huge hits.

I had a big crush on Laurie Partridge.

Quote by TomEccleston
The Usual Suspects.

Absolutely. (It's where my name came from.)

Also, Cabin in the Woods

I'm the first one in? It's like 10:30!

I can do this. Brew one cup of Keurig to get caffeine levels high enough to brew a full pot. Got it. Fling some of Sara's delish cookies about on doilies. Put out a dish of Necco wafers. We're good.

Braves have 13 wins in a row!!! Congrats, Sara. The NLE is a race again.

At one point I hit 111,111 words yesterday. Right now I'm thinking 4 more chapters which puts me AT LEAST a week out from finishing.

I'll pour myself a cup and munch on a cookie. Enjoy the day folks.

Thanks for the coffee Ape.

Congrats on those 12 wins in a row Sara! The NLE race is heating up (Phillies are rocking now too).

Broke 110k yesterday. Still not done. I may try to figure out EXACTLY how many chapters it'll take to finish before I start today. I may be rushing things, and I want to get it right. Put all the ducks in a row before I pull out the shotgun.

Ugly metaphor. Sorry. I love ducks.

Coffee and cookie please!

Quote by AnnaMayZing

Now that my story is done, a few facts and figures.

3 Books:

The Nurses:

140,543 words

426 pages

42 Chapters.

Kindred Spirits, Distant Hearts:

115,792 words

351 pages

33 Chapters.

The Long Road Home:

132,442 words

401 pages

39 Chapters

Total:

388,777 words

1178 pages

114 Chapters

For a tale that began as a short story of around 5000 words, these figures come as somewhat of a shock. However, I have loved every minute of writing it and would like to thank the many thousands of people who read and enjoyed it. Especially those who left such wonderful comments.

Now it is done, I shall have to get it published. Who knows, that might take another six years! 😳

Dang! I'm not worthy! Congrats on nearly half a million words!

I'm pulling out what little hair I have left trying to get to 110k!

As my daughter would say, I'm "jelly" of your accomplishments!

Quote by elizabethblack

Nats took the whole enchilada in 2019, in my timeline, though perhaps our timelines have diverged in this marvelous, mystical multiverse. What's my name? Am I still in Colorado?

The novel got pretty well savaged, but in a constructive way. It's a first draft, there's a lot wrong with it. I hope to finish this week, though I'm not sure that's gonna happen.

Up early to help Talia take her car to the dealer to fix it. Write and watch the 1/6 hearings, all day long.

A coffee and three sheep cookies please. baa!

Quote by elizabethblack

Hope our great ape can get the title he is searching for. I know he will. Great job moving stove and leaning out window to trim the tree; made me laugh.

And Verbal, I am so sorry you have had two whole losses with the Mets. Breaks my heart. Not.

Didn't the Nationals win the World Series in 2019. The last time the Mets won it all was... checks watch ...the Reagan Administration!!! We deserve a little good luck. It's HARD being a Mets fan.

Same old thing today. I'll break 109k words, and still not be done. Critique group reads the next big chunk this Saturday.

Riveting hearings last night. Not sure they will change anything. But spell-binding stuff.

Coffee and cookies please!

I am tired and irritable, but I will attempt to improve my mood before I begin my day.

Warm and muggy now, and I think that translates to hot and sunny later when the clouds burn off. I've got nothing to do today but write, and with a little luck I can finish the book tomorrow. Monday is more likely, but a man can dream.

Mets have been pummeled two consecutive nights now. Good thing tonight is a night off. Watching the hearings on the Jan 6 insurrection will be a welcome change (that was irony).

Time to write. Thanks for the coffee and cookies!

Sunny and hot. Hopefully thunderstorms in the afternoon. CRAZY storms out on the Eastern plains yesterday, lotsa hail and a couple twisters.

I'm at 106k plus, but am going to rejigger some of yesterday's writing, rather than push out new words. This close to the end, I don't want to overly rush it.

Mets got pummeled last night. Sigh.

Thanks for the coffee, Scott, and the cookies, Sara. Time to get to it.

Thanks for the coffee Scott.

Greetings Myrtle! On other sites I'm known as Ensorceled, so we've met in passing. Nice to see you here.

Broke 105k words yesterday, pushing to get another 1500 in the bank today. I'd love to finish this Damned Thing by Friday. Let's see if the characters cooperate.

Sunny and warm here, with thundershowers later. My favorite kind of day!

Time to get to work. A coffee and a sugar cookie would rock!

Whew! We have returned, sunburned and happy and everything we own covered in sand. A really fun weekend playing in sand and water and sun at the Great Sand Dunes Nat'l Park. It was a yearly family vacation for forever, put aside for a couple years, now recovered. I got married there! One of the most beautiful spots in the world. My world, anyway.

So today I will be going back and forth between writing and knocking sand off of crap in the garage. The end of the novel is close - maybe the end of the week.

Great baseball game last night. The Mets earned a split with the Dodgers and proved they CAN play with the big boys. Meanwhile, Sara's Braves have won 5 straight and are moving up in the NL East.

Congrats on finishing the Tara saga, Scott.

Coffee and a cookie without so much sand in it, please.

Carl! I love Kid Creole! Even saw them in concert in NYC back in the day. Good tune. Thanks Fuzzy.

Another gray overcast day, though it’s pretty warm out. Packing for a mini-trip out to Sand Dune Natl Park with Talia and my daughter and her beau. It was a yearly family trip for a very long time.

Also looking to break 105k words today. And STILL won’t make it to the end. 110k length (for this draft) is looking likely. Cut 20k in the next draft - that won’t be hard, the characters wander around aimlessly for like 100 pages.

Coffee and cookies Would be swell!

Cool moment in the game last night (Elizabeth will appreciate this) - Mets pitcher was pitching to the Nat's Juan Soto, 2-2 count, and had him struck out, but the ump called it a ball, and on the next pitch he walked. Soto shook his head "no" to the pitcher, like "you thought you had me, but you lost me" and beamed this big smile, and the the Mets pitcher responded with a giant grin. It was very cool, that shared smile.

Small moment, but made the game for me.

Writing calls. A coffee and a cookie please!

Cool and overcast here. No Talia Thursday. The cats and my car keys are both gone - I think they stole my car and are hanging out at a cat cafe somewhere, drinking cat coffee.

A got a story coming out today that I am very close to, and I hope I am not being untoward by putting the link here. https://books2read.com/amt-into-the-briny-deep At he time, I thought this was the best thing I'd ever written. I will let you judge for yourself.

Thanks for the coffee, Ape, and the cookies, Sara.

I love to begin the day with a thunderstorm, Carl. Sadly it's sunny and warm here.

Ventured out with my daughter last night for the meteor shower. It was pretty good, I think we saw around 30 between us. Hung out and talked in the dark and watched the sky.

Today I'm taking the dangerous step of stopping work on the novel for a few days, to write a story for an anthology I REALLY want to enter.

Thanks for the coffee Ape, and the cookies Sara.

Onward!

Quote by Mendalla

So as I bring this saga to a close, I find myself realizing how little I thought through the world beyond how sorcery works (and even that kind of got built ad hoc). Tech-wise, we have a blacksmith as a character so presumably sometime in the Iron Age or later in Earth terms. But then again, there must have been smiths making bronze items in the Bronze Age. However, I think Iron Age is about right. The society is fairly decentralized. Tana and her friends live in villages in a river valley. There's mention of a larger community upstream but it never comes into play. There's no sign of governors or other officials, just a reference or two to Lond the smith being a village "headman", which could just mean an elder member of the community who takes leadership when needed. An alliance defeated The Night Lord but who were the allies is unmentioned.

So it is all pretty vague and what I do introduce is purely in the service of the story. For instance, we know there was some kind of ancient history that produced Pras Tola in The Healer's Power but that's about all there is as far as history.

If I was to expand this into a novel or more, then I would have to spend some time to develop these ideas more. But this is likely staying as is (three short stories that I might eventually combine into a novella) so I am not inclined to spend more time on this world for now. But there is a revelation at the end of the final story that could turn into a hook for a sequel (you'll know it when you read it) so who knows?

Interesting stuff.

As a practical matter, I'm finding my world building contradictory in several places, and I'm not even trying to true it now. I'm going to write it down AFTER the first draft, so I have canon to follow for the second draft.

Quote by Mendalla

For others who may be wondering about the meteor storm/shower:

https://starwalk.space/en/news/meteor-storms

Apparently though, it is not a sure thing. It depends on some suppositions about a how a comet broke up in 1995.

Yep. It looks to be all or nothing. If the pieces of comet exited faster than 60 mph, things might get crazy. Otherwise, nada. But it's early, at 11 pm MST, so easy to catch. I read somewhere that between 11:00 and 11:22 the Earth will pass through three separate streams of dust.

I saw one back in 2001 and it was spectacular. A spiritual experience.

Enjoy the weekend, word-heads! Off to do lawn work.

An iced coffee please. And a cookie!

Thanks for the coffee and cookies Sara. Long and rowdy parties are fun!

Red, my back is hurting from dragging broken tree limbs out of the back yard. You have my sympathies.

I'll break 100,000 words today. Kind of an arbitrary accomplishment, in that I'm not done. Still, it feels good.

The weekend is all lawn, all the time. I'll grill salmon and steak on Monday. And remember - Monday night could bring a HUGE meteor shower. Maybe a meteor storm! Go out! Look up!

A coffee and a meteor-shaped cookie please.