spring — Blog

So it's Monday morning. The sun is shining (finally!) and birds are chirping. Spring just may have sprung. But this is Michigan, so I'm not holding my breath!

Today marks the last week of Spring semester for me. I've got one last final on Thursday and then I'm done. For three weeks, anyway. I've decided that, since I'm not getting many hours at work due to construction (damn you, construction!), I'd go to school full-time. So I'm taking 4 classes over the summer. I'm sort of nervous about it. I don't want to overload myself. But I'm sure I'm just being paranoid. It happens.

Anyhoo. This is my plan. After Thursday, I'm free for three weeks, aside from 20-30 hours of work. So, this is what's going to happen. Yes, GOING to HAPPEN.

I.

Am.

Going.

To.

Finish.

My.

Damn.

Book.

After months of not even glancing at it, I'm going to write the final few chapters of the book I started last November for NaNoWriMo. And maybe I'll be able to squeeze an edit or two in there somewhere. We'll see. For now, I just want to type The End.

Also, I've gone on a shopping spree lately. In the last month and a half, I have purchased almost 30 books, between online (thank you, half.com) and the used book sale in the basement of my local library (holy crap, there were tons of books!). And I haven't found the time to read any of them. In fact, I've had my friend's copy of Jennifer Weiner's new book sitting on my night stand for at least two months. Now, I love me some Jennifer Weiner, so the fact that I haven't devoured that book yet says a lot.

But I'm hoping to make my way through at least five books over the next few weeks. We'll see how that goes...

Anyway, it IS Monday, and I haven't shared a song with you in quite a while, so here we go. This is one of my favorite songs right now. Hope you enjoy!

Three things occurred to me when I woke up this morning. The first being that it's Saturday, the second that I have the day off and the third that it's sun-shiny gorgeous outside. This should automatically imply that I'll be doing something involving soaking up the rays. I might go bike shopping, since I've wanted a bike for a while now and I have a little extra cash with which to purchase one. Other than that, I have no plans. Zip, zilch, zero.

Which means I should either be writing or reading. I started Water For Elephants two weeks ago and just made it to the third chapter. Not for any other reason that I haven't found the time. I've been trying to write as much as possible. It's almost certain that I won't make my 30k goal by the end of the month. That is, after all, about 15k in three days. I've taken the pressure off myself though. I've been getting about a thousand words written pretty regularly each day, almost two thousand on Thursday. I'm trucking along. My story is making progress, though not as quickly as I'd like. But I'll reach the end...eventually.

I've got split personalities when it comes to editing this massive piece of word vomit. Part of me is like a child on Christmas morning -- jumping up and down with excitement to get my hands on that red (yes, I actually edit in red) pen. The other part of me is dragging her feet, afraid of the mess that I'm going to find. It's going to take forever to fix the plot holes and weak characters and awkward dialogue and flat writing that is this novel. And I've never done a full, all the way through, edit. I'm usually the kind of person who writes a couple chapters, then goes back and rewrites what doesn't work. The downfall to this method is that I get so caught up in making these chapters bright and shiny that I don't write any further. I did this with two other novels I started -- one of which is three years in progress. With this one, I want to finish it, to get to the end, then go back and make it pretty. And it's going to take a lot to make this one pretty.

I'm scared.

Anyway, it's now early afternoon and I'm still in my PJs, so I'm gonna get my day started. Hope everyone has a super Saturday!