Unintentional Radio Silence

Or should that be unintentional blogging silence. There was a plan. To do a blog during the Romance Writers of Australia 50K30day challenge. Being consistent, I didn’t pull that off either. Real Life intervened (as it does).

July saw me co-ordinating on the ground the RWA 5DI program. Was interesting being on the other side of the fence as six years ago I did a similar event called EnVision. I’ve never looked back from doing it and wanted to pay it forward. In between timekeeping during 5DI, editing managed to resume (I’d hoped to, but wasn’t planning anything). Was such a relief after so many bumps this year.

Back in June, the plan was to get on with edits and to make headway into my current wip (aka mermaid’s story). However, she and Real Life had other plans.  I’ve spent the snatches of available time reworking the turn she insisted on doing. Now I have this, the dirty draft is going to go down.  

Now, August looms.  Of course, August in Australia also means the RWA annual conference. It’s the 20^th anniversary and looking like being a wonderful shindig with plenty of networking, fun and learning.This year is in Melbourne and one of the guests I’m very much looking forward to meeting is Kelley Armstrong. Melbourne is a lot cheaper (and shorter) to fly to than Canada. 

I find it very amusing in my final year as an unmarried woman I will be room sharing (think of it as a professional girls weekend). Continuing on this train of thought is my other half mentioning since next year’s conference is much closer to home he may tag along (we get married and he comes to crash my girl’s weekend, er, I mean professional development).

Given we are both off to Brighton, England in 2013 for World Fantasy Convention (our delayed honeymoon) perhaps starting with a Romance Conference may be a wise thing.

Committed to June

June is a busy month at the best of times. There are multiple birthdays to remember – some even landing on the same day. This year June also means a month out from my trip to New York visiting my sister. So, why did I think finishing the manuscript by mid-June was a feasible and workable idea? I have no idea. I don’t think any vodka was involved in the decision making process either.

Once I finish the verbal stoush that is occurring in the current scene I will have made it to the beginning of the end of the book. Yay! Though the thought of reaching the end fills me with as much angst as any other section of the book. It happened in the last book I wrote too. I become caught in a state of stasis, unable to move forward or backward. I wonder if I’ll ever write again? If the story will work?

So we come to why I’ve committed myself to the 50k in 30 days challenge. Though in my case I chose 30k in 30 days. I like repeating numbers and also, the book should be ending in about 20,000 words. But having the commitment and guilt to achieve this being answerable to other real human beings…well, that ensures that FireWalker will be done. The wonderful discovery is that the real humans I am interacting with are a very supportive, wonderful bunch of people. I’m sure June (and the word tally) is going to fly on by.

Finishing under my tally means there will be 10,000 words to play with in another world arena that has been brewing for years too. Yes, you read right. Both worlds I am/wish to play in have been in my head for awhile. In some cases, the characters have been living in my head for nearly a decade. Even if they fill my brain to overcrowded levels, many have become like those comfortable old, fluffy slippers you can’t bear to throw away.