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Morning all!!

Haven't done a thing all week, but then again I was in hospital on Friday, so I'm not going to punish myself over this one.

I'm taking a week off work, so I'll be able to get stuck into writing, reading and watching dvds - hopefully, in that order.   

Hope your writing week was wonderful.

Mdx

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Hi Merryd Enforced rest and DVDs. Nothing could be sweeter. enjoy and get well quickly. And hello all I've had a briskly busy last week, getting the edit of The Whisperer away and beginning book 2 of Valisar. I have just looked up, emerging from my writing session after hitting my daily word count and I have 133,600 or so words to go. Always feels very daunting so see that huge figure but I love watching that figure reduce daily. My first goal is to drop below 100K. That's when I make my first noise to the family. The next is to drop below 50K - I punch the air on that one. Once I have only 10,000 to go I start to get excited and I can hear the chorus of angels warming up their voices in the back of my mind. Ah, the little games we play as writers to keep ourselves motivated. This sort of benchmarking always works for me, especially when I write back to back to back novels. This is my third for this year and I'm feeling the effects of the workload but when I use all these tricks it really helps. Do you have any tricks you use against yourself to keep yourself pushing hard? Fx

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Not again, Merryd. I hope you get well soon.

I've scraped in just under my word count for the week. The other half is on holiday at the moment and it can get distracting having him rattling around the house. I'm just used to having the place to myself during writing-time.

Motivation for me... Well I also do the milestone thing although my miles are much shorter. I give myself a little pat on the back every 10,000 words or so and a treat at each quarter-mark. The only other thing I do is celebrate if I manage to really blow out my word count for a week. Plus there's a competitive streak in me, so I congratulate myself whenever I beat personal bests.

Have a great week, all.

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Hi everyone, Been away for a bit sad times with the death of a family member so haven't really done any writing this month. I have to be honest though in the past week getting lost in my own little world has been just what I needed to try to bring back a little bit of normal. Hope you get better real soon Merryd and take care. It has been good today seeing what has been going on with everyone over the last few weeks I did the make a cuppa sit down and had a read its was like catching up with old friends after being away. I think the best part is the way you always feel encouraged to keep going when you hear that we all go through the different stages and there is always someone there to provide that practical advise. Some of the tips you have give over the weeks Fiona made me feel good today so thanks.

Well roll on July and maybe I can start bringing down the needed word count on ms2 I do similar to you Fiona as the number drops but my thing is shopping and because I am a real notebook addict I always buy a new one each 20,000 (has to be that small or it would take me months to get one and can't go that long without a new one)

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I go shopping for each advance or royalty payment. My husband is always nervous about telling me when money's come in. I only get paid twice a year you see so the moment it hits or if I'm fortunate to have some advance money coming my way I hit the shops and reward myself. Rarely anything grand. I usually buy a new handbag. That's been my passion for a couple of years. But I may move on. I think it might be coats next...not that we have a big call for coats in Australia. Anyway, much more important, welcome back T. Sorry you've been having a sad time and dealing with a sorrowful event but the escape into your writing and to joining us here is lovely to know. So we're all thinking of you and wishing you happier days as time passes. Fx

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That comment made me smile, Fiona. Coming from New Zealand I have this weird sort of embarrassment whenever I start thinking, jeez it's cold at the moment! So when you mentioned about Australia not being a land of coats it reminded me of some of the conversations I've had with family back home. Of course they get the reverse of that in summer when they start complaining about the heat. But on a more serious note, I'm sorry to hear about your loss, Trissn.

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Oh, it's a bit embarrassing; but I'm not actually sick.    I'm on IVF and the drugs leading up to the surgery make me feel pretty ordinary.  Actually, it's a lot like having PMS, but in a really, really concentrated form; you know, the bloating, slight nausea, wanting to scratch peoples' eyes out... that sort of thing.  I'm just taking some days off work because I work in a stressful job and stress has been identified as a possible factor in our non-success so far.  Just trying to give us every chance of having a successful cycle this time.  My husband is not coping at all with the fact that I just want to slouch around the house watching dvds - his idea of a holiday is to have 50 things done before breakfast.  Fortunately, he's not taking holidays at the same time, so I can slob around doing whatever I like.  And thank you all for the well wishes.

I'm rather partial to woollen scarves...  I think it's a throw-back from watching Tom Baker as Dr Who when I was younger.  I was pretty happy when I reached 20,000 words but didn't do anything to celebrate.   I think I celebrate when I have a new idea, rather than when I reach a particular word count.  When my character found his gift was a pretty exciting moment for me - I very gleefully rubbed my hands together and patted myself on the back.  Hmmmm, perhaps I should've bought a scarf as well...

Sorry to hear about your loss, Trissn, but it's lovely to have you back.

Mdx

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Merryd,

*Hugs* I've done IVF a few times so I know your pain, and the emtional roller coaster it sends you on... I hope it works for you the first time. When you said you were sick, well I believe you.

...As for writing... Ebony steps back and chuckles. I haven't done any this week...hangs her head in shame...I have done ZIP! But then I have had a busy week, but my characters are getting axious. I've left them in an umpleasant predicament, and they want to know if they'll survive to ordeal. So I best get back to them and help some of them out of it...

 

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"The world is not enough..." James Bond 007

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Me too. My boys - now 17 - are GIFT. So just keep positive. If it happened for our family, it can happen for yours. Fx

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Thanks, Ebony and Fiona.  *hugs back*

I managed to drop the pregnyl this morning before I could get it into the syringe... fortunately, the little air bubble at the top of the bottle didn't budge and so the liquid stayed in the bottle.   It was a bit of a heart stopper though. 

This is the third time I've had a transfer done and so, for us, it's a matter of waiting patiently until one takes.  It's the waiting that kills me; the rest of it is just fine - even if we get a negative result, we handle it ok.  But, the interminable waiting for results drives me nuts. 

Oh, well.  I'm off to grab another couple of dvds.  I finished reading Stephanie Meyer's latest 'The Host' yesterday and sobbed like a baby towards the end.  She really is a fantastic author - I had a great deal of difficulty putting this novel down.  The main characters are so well drawn.  I also watched 'The Bridge of Terebithia' on dvd which also made me cry.

I'll get into some writing later as well.

Mdx

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Merryd I remeber those needles...my husband couldn't handle watching me do the injections... Don't worry about being emotional witn it all and the waiting. Hard to do when you're going through it. Just don't be hard on yourself. Fingers crossed for you that this time they take for you both... If it makes you feel any better, at one point when I was on those drugs someone over changed me through EFPOS, I found out days later, went back to get it fixed and then went off at the poor store manager for doing it in the first place. Then I got home and cried for ages being such a bitch about it to the sales assistant who was so nice to me. I went back and apologised to the manager for my behaviour.

Hugs Ebony.

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"The world is not enough..." James Bond 007