Write-A-Thon Week 2 Update -- and Upcoming Vacation Time

Okay, it's early crunch time, on the Clarion Write-A-Thon. I'm a little behind where I want to be, at an average of 877 words a day so far, but if I meet my daily goal of 1200 words a day for the rest of the dare, I'll make the total goal.

My main disappointment is that I've been making my goals not by working on the W.I.P., but by writing on whatever project comes to mind. While, on the one hand, I am excited about what appears to be a hard-boiled mystery novelette featuring a human detective inspired by my cat, that's not what I need to be writing right now.

I am making progress on the W.I.P., though. It's just slower than I'd like because I have so many generations of drafts, and I realized I needed to ditch some foolish revisions and go back to the original premise. That actually does make it all easier... but I still have to figure out which pieces are which.

Plus, I've been having a nice sales pick up on Have Gun, Will Play, and some extra interest in Mick and Casey, so I really need to get at least "Devil In A Blue Bustle" done. It's a novella which I think will end up relatively long and meaty (it's at least half done now), and it's a fun story. (A mysterious woman in blue snubs Mick and Casey when she comes looking to hire a desperado. They aren't sure whether to be insulted or not... until the woman is found dead, and the bewildered man she hired instead of M and C is caught standing over her with a smoking gun. Something went very wrong with the job. Or did it?)

And I have family arriving and the upcoming memorial gathering.

So I need to declare a cut back on everything I can -- and this means a severely reduced blogging schedule. (Reduced? Not suspended? No, just reduced....)

On Tuesday, I'll post about the inspiration and creation of my new cover for Wife of Freedom, how it fits the book, AND fits in with my plans for branding myself with my own style.

Then I'll be posting a joke every Tuesday and Friday, along with the update numbers of my write-a-thon progress, and a little lesson related to each joke.

• Tuesday, July 12 - Creating The Cover - New Wife of Freedom Cover
• Friday, July15 - Update and the Turtle Joke (and a lesson about expectations).
• Tuesday, July 19 - Update and the classic Pony Joke (with more on expectations).
• Friday, July 22 - Update and the Unemployed Middle Manager Joke (point of view, and when the fool is right)
• Tuesday, July 26 - Update and The Roast Ham Recipe Joke (and why it's good to let your internal editor interrupt once in a while).
• Friday, July 29 - Update and The Hunting Accident Joke (and thoughts on following directions).

On Saturday July 30, I will begin the last week of the Write-A-Thon, and I'll also start getting back to a regular blogging schedule.

See you in the funny papers!