Sunsets and Priorities


A sunset photo seems appropriate to end our week. The end, at least, for those of us still working the day jobs.

I feel like the day job ate my brain this week. I’m happy to have this project to work on, and it’s interesting, but it’s taken a lot of thought and decision-making.

There’s that saying “No one pays you to think.” Except they actually do. Not always an easy thing to deliver.

So my wordcounts have gone down as the week progressed:

Monday 1808
Tuesday 1647
Wednesday 1503
Thursday 526

Yeah – worked late Wednesday getting something done before a Thursday morning meeting. It shows.

And yes, I hear you all out there telling me to ease back the pressure on myself. I’ve passed 91K now. My original goal was 90K, but the story has become longer than I thought. It will probably take another 10K or so to finish the story and I’m trying not to rush it.

Actually – it occurs to me writing this that I’m worried the end isn’t moving fast enough when the worst thing for me as a reader is a rushed ending. That may be key.

At any rate, I’ll work on it this weekend, I think. I had planned to go to the LERA meeting tomorrow and go shopping for clothes for the National convention after, but I’ve decided to stay home. It’s easy to put focus on things like outfits for pitch sessions and costumes for the Steampunk Ball, but the most important thing is this novel I’d like to sell.

Meanwhile my childhood home is officially on the market. If you click on the panoramic link, you can see the tour. (Hey – it’s a Friday. What else are you going to do?) My mom and her David have done an amazing job of getting the house ready. It’s a lovely house, too, if you know anyone looking in Denver. I walked to elementary school out those back doors and through the park.

The worst thing that ever happened to me was when Chris Rieber stole my tap shoe and dropped it through the ice in the creek.

May the next people to live in that house love it as much as we have all these years.

3 Replies to “Sunsets and Priorities”

  1. It was nice taking the virtual tour. The kitchen island looks weird to me without a rack of wine glasses overhead, but I'm sure that's old hat to you.

    Also, Linda Savage is an excellent name for a realtor. Much better than the guy who works our area, Dick Crook. How can you do business with a guy named Dick Crook?

  2. You know, I've never been one to focus on word count. It just doesn't matter to me. Maybe it should. But I take whatever time I can find to write and am happy when I complete thoughts or chapters, not reach specific word counts. But we all have our own techniques and motivations, and that is what makes life interesting. 😉

    Good luck to you in completing this baby! You go, girl!

  3. Should we applaud Dick's bravery in not changing his name to cater to the superstitious name-haters?

    I never used to focus on wordcount so much either Elizabeth, but with a couple of friends getting book contracts and going through the hell of working with deadlines, I thought I should start practicing working that way. It has definitely been a wrench for me and I'm just grateful my "deadline" is self-imposed for now!

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