I needed a break and did some webdesigning instead. Today I got back to it and finished revising chapter 11 in "Escape From Walker City". My goals for the week are to revise one chapter each night and to write one more chapter in The Alyssa Project this week.
I just finished reading/editing chapter 10. I started this novel several years ago but only got about four chapters into it. After writing my first novel, "The Scribe of Irohila", I went back to this manuscript and finished the first draft during December 2001.
It has taken all this time to get around to editing/rewriting. I'm so thrilled I'm finally conquering this task. Today I found out NaNoEdMo will start on March 1. Here's my plan... to finish the current editing job of "Escape From Walker City" by the end of February, then to drop the project and for NaNoEdMo, pick up "The Scribe of Irohila" and revise that.
In case you're wondering, NaNoEdMo is National Novel Editing Month, and its sure to be a fun, exciting event.
I've been updating Happy Camp News and wrote a short but fun article about our District Attorney who made national news by prosecuting and jailing a Native American woman for feeding deer. He has such a bad reputation for some of the cases that get run through this court system, I'm glad to see this mentioned in The Drudge Report and the Washington Post!
I've had an idea for an article germinating within for the last week or two. Finally today it came into fruition. The article contains information I wish people would consider before calling Child Protective Services to make unnecessary reports of marginal suspicions of abuse or neglect. I'm planning to submit it to a local newspaper, then revise and seek wider distribution in areas outside this county.
I also revised chapter nine of Escape From Walker City.
Earlier tonight we had our first evening meeting of the Klamath River Writers Club. Until now, we met on Monday afternoons. To include others who work days, we're meeting at night once monthly from now on. We were each supposed to bring something to read. I was in a hurry and grabbed my practice-writing notebook. When I got to the meeting I looked through it and didn't want to share anything. I felt like it was all "bad" writing... plus novel outlines and worldbuilding pages. Finally I decided to read a memoir I wrote about my paternal grandmother and the one conversation I had with her in private not long before she passed away. It has been 40 years, but that conversation meant a lot to me. I think my reading turned out fine - I just worried too much about it beforehand. Everyone seemed moved by the memoir and it brought out deeply cherished memories in others.
I've added more than 1200 words to The Alyssa Project. The new total (so far) is 58921 words.
I've also been making steady progress on revising my "Escape from Walker City" novel. I'm just starting in on chapter nine. There are twenty-two chapters in all.
1. Revise one novel chapter each day.
2. Write one article of at least 1000 words.
3. Revise and send out one short story.
4. Write two chapters for The Alyssa Project.
Tonight I'm revising chapter six of my Escape from Walker City novel. There are 22 chapters and I want to be done with the preliminary revision work by the end of the month.
I've had a terrible couple of weeks! I was knocked off track by a few events, and had to make a concerted effort to get back here. I realized I'd been experiencing shock and trauma. That separated me from my true self (the writing, creative part of me) and I wasn't able to function. I spent two nights nurturing and healing my creative self and now am back to where I should be, working on webdesign projects and continuing with my writing.
Last night I got almost two chapters revised in my "Escape" novel, then started a new short story. I've also been working through Chapter 8 in The Artists Way... one of the most healing journeys around. After doing all that I needed more and worked a couple of chapters in Julia's book, The Right to Write. I feel re-energized now and ready to start another writing night.
Thursday, February 13, 2003 ( 3:24 PM )
I just moved this weblog to my Klamath Design site. Hopefully someday soon I'll get a host for www.lindajomartin.com but for now, this will have to do. I gave my www.happycampnews.com site away to the writer's club, so am trying to move all my personal pages away from that host.
When I got done I became the new editor! What a thrill! Leonard, the owner, is too busy to keep up with it right now.
