Progress report: Silk is Slow Sewing. :-)

 We are hard at work on the Faux-Burgundian, though it begins to look like it'll be more of an "old German" gown... and it's slower going working with the slippier fabric.

  I have finished off the chemise for underneath it, which I used as a "muslin" and made the pattern-test first on that! It's turned out really nice, and lead the way so nicely... but the change in fabric has necessitated a few differences in getting this over-gown done.

  This is the basic shape laid out as we were sewing it together...
(Tip: paper under your pressure foot is a must! And a layer on top is even better, so keep the stuff from slipping into a wrinkly seam. We learn as we go! )

Many late nights have been involved, you can bet on that!!!


The "hand" is really gorgeous on this fabric, though. My very first foray into sewing with actual silk. (From Dharma Trading.)

   I've found that sometimes it's faster to just hand-stitch something rather than fight the slippery through the machine. So I'm developing a technique for when to sandwich with paper and when to iron in place and stitch by hand!



In all, I'm really loving the look of the over-gown, and I think this is really going to come together nicely. But it is taking longer than I'd hoped... but new things often do!!!

  On the up side, we've figured out ways to re-use the piece multiple times, and will be having the sleeves as an "add one" piece instead of firmly attached. This will allow us to go with a lot of different looks while using this one main gown, and should help in the long run with our completion schedule!!
  #6costumes2months And we're already into our second month now!!!


So, as a wrap up on the previous post, with the embroidery question, the horse definitely won out on the votes!
   So we will be going with a horse on the other sleeve, (though I may change the look of that horse) And Perhaps, to keep the pattern from looking imbalanced, we should add a little more detail in other areas, so there's not this open scroll-work, and then pop, tight detail only in the middle.
        I'll be thinking about that!

Many thanks for helping out by sharing your opinions, everyone! It really took a load off my already frazzled mind!

October Update: 20k is Down and OUT!!!

Okay, peoples!!!
 
 I'm just as thrilled as pink peaches to announce to the world today that my 20k for October is

Found at FrontPorchCandles; don't they look scrumptious?!

accomplished!!!
 (Post-scriptus: I wrote this on Saturday, but since my poor blog already had a post that day, I set this to post on Monday. )

   I had several thousand words left over in September from that month's 20k goal to "pay forward" towards October's... which was a good start for "Month Before NaNo Crunch Time".

   ...And then I had a good sit down with my main-brain side-kick and plot-planning partner, and we roughed in some timelines and got several sticky details nailed down.

 (P.S. Snapp and Snurr are some long lived reindeer! They're treading 13 years old now, at this point. And still going strong!!! I tell you what,  does Kai really know how to treat his team or what? He's a master herdsman! )

Current Mock-up Cover Art

 (P.P.S. What do you think of those names for a pair of reindeer? Sound reindeer-y enough to you?)

 So, jet-fueled with all the new scene ideas richocheting around in my head I plopped down in the chair and typed madly for the rest of the day! I held out against distractions, against movies being watched in the next room over.
 I even held out against naps and... food. (Kinda. )

 And I did somewhere in the neihgborhood of 5-7k that day!
  
  And then I hit the keyboard in the days that followed, putting in late nights, and middle of the night writing sprints and anything you can imagine to be sure that I
 A) Got these good ideas down, and
 B) got to 20k as soon as possible.

 Now, I have.
   My 20k for October is accomplished, so I don't have to worry about that anymore.

 And most of my good ideas are down, and I'm feeling very confidant in this book's future as NaNo project starting next month.


 So, with those two worries off my mind, I can now concentrate on the one obstacle that remains: Prince of Demarken, Mission Code Word:WRAP-UP.


 Like seriously, Wrap-UP!!! I've been talking about getting that thing finished off for months now, and I'm deadly determined to make sure it happens before November.

 'Cause I can't start on Reindeer King with the clear conscience it will definitely require if Prince of Demarken is STILL lurking unfinished in the background.
 
  Come one, now, WIPs!!! This is NOT funny by now!

 So... that's my plan for the rest of the month.
 
   What about you?

  ( And do you think it is remotely possible that I will actually finish off this long-haunted project at long last??? )

Monthly 20k, and August Update!

 Hey there!!!
 
    Yes, we made it through August!
 August to me is one of those difficult months... it's too hot to enjoy summer any more, but we're still not ready to acknowledge that it's almost fall. It's like something inside is screaming "I wanna go back to May!!!"

   Which isn't possible... so, everything just slides into a long, sticky string of events, like molasses. Black strap molasses, in fact. 

 But by the time we reach Semptember everything is better. The temps are cooler, the weather more gorgeous, the harvest is coming in and from time to time you can almost catch the smell of fall in the air. And that's okay, in fact, by this time, we're looking forward to fall.
 Hey, by mid-canning-season: we're even looking forward to winter!!!

  So, the big question is: Did I make my 20k goal for August? 

    After the creativity draining Camp NaNo in July, where I over shot my original 20k goal to produce 32k.

          ...Let me tell you, August did not start out with a thunderclap of writing frenzy.

 In fact, August didn't start out with any writing at all.

 My batteries had to seriously recharge.
 And then some Real Life stresses stepped in and messed things up in their own sweet way, and then it was the middle of the month and I had hardly written anything at all.

 So of course, there was mild panic, because I don't want to break my "20k monthly goal" success

streak! Ever since January '14!
 This is the 8th consecutive month that I've produce 20k words in.

 And yes.... I did get them produced.

  It was tough, but I finished the final 2k needed on the next to the last day of the month, and then I just called it quits.
    I seriously need to recharge my batteries!!!

  Progress So Far This Year

     So, on the flip side, I do want to take a minute and publicly consider what this commitment to "Monthly 20k" has resulted in.
  
   August was the 8th month!!! Can you believe it???  (I can't hardly! )

    Here's the math:   8 x 20 = 160

      That means that I have written a minimum of 160 thousand words, so far.

 A minimum! 

  That is 3 novel's worth. .... Or 6-to-8-ish novellas... or... 

    Well, actually, it's two 30k novellas, one 90k novel, and I've got the follow-up novel at about 50k, with a couple of thousands tossed into roughly three of the later in the series. 

  (Yep, all new since January '14!!! Yes, I am kind of freaking out. It seems I've finally closed in on the secret to letting the stories out of my head in a smoother stream!)

  Since I have overshot 20k on more months than not, the total word-count is at least 200 thousand new words.

  That is... to me... pretty amazing. I wouldn't have thought it possible even just a few years ago, and now...? It's still pretty amazing.

 But, having the flexible-timed, large-monthly goal has helped me keep motivated without getting discouraged.

       Discouraged is a horrible place for creativity.

       And learning how to refine the quality of my writing time has hugely affected the words-per-hour.... since I no longer sit at the computer beating myself up for not having a clue what should happen in this scene.

 And having a truly gripping set of plot-lines has inspired a much better conversion rate of time-in-chair.
  
   So, thanks to expert, knowledgeable, professional folks like Rachel Aaron, Dean Wesley Smith, and Hugh Howey for publicly sharing their hard-won perspectives on the realities of being a writer... and particularly, an indie writer.
   You have each inspired me!

   (And if you don't know them yet, I heartily recommend checking them out! As writers, they are truly great role models to watch, and learn from!)

 

  Future Progress

  Also, in August, to get me through to the goal, my first reader and I did a lot of plot brainstorming. We now have the next four-to-five novels lightly sketched out, and the possible spinoffs nailed down enough so that their possibilities will not be impeding forward motion on any of the next up books.

  

   This is huge!!!

 And I'm so grateful to have a sister like that who can bring clarity to the muddle of my inspirations!

    (Also, I do intend to make a post about my/our plotting process to share! ...Soon... ish... )

  So... that was my August. How was yours? 

20k in May: YES!

Yes!
 I made my 20k in May goal! Finished it up after lunch... and then put in a few more k's just because the scene was rolling!
 Ooooh.... shiny conflict! ;-)

~  He stood, flipping his coat tails into place. "No, my love. The answer to that is no. It won't work... somewhere along the way she'll do something so spectacular that no one can hush it up, and then we'll have a fine mess on our hands." He stalked to the door and turned, his hand on the knob. "Not just for us, dear. But for all of Noren, as well."
He pulled open the door.
 "And now," he breathed deep. "I will go chop some ice." He sent a glare at his wife, and shut the door decidedly behind him.  ~  from Thaw: Winter Queen

  And coming up we will have some Q&As, some interviews, and quite a few more posts next month than there was in this.

  So, what are you looking forward to in June?

Scrivener Report

Okay, so here is the promised Scrivener report.

 I'd heard a lot about Scrivener for several years, but

1. being easily intimidated by super-techy things, 
2. as well as dubious of "takes the work away" claims, 
3. coupled with a budget of zero, 

  I didn't get Scrivener.

But after finishing NaNoWriMo 2013, I decided that I had heard enough good things about the program to give it a try. The lovely folks who make Scrivener ran a 30 day trial for WriMo's, so I took advantage of that, and by the time Nov. was over I was convinced of it's benefits!
 Being a NaNo winner, I had a 50% off deal, which I exercised.

Scrivener gives a huge amount of flexibility in arranging a work space that fits you best; it has multiple screen options as well as different ways each option can be displayed, so it's super easy for formatting your thoughts and getting a good look at the big picture for your project.

 It also has places for reference material, in the form of photos or articles or just about anything. You can keep them right there in the program to refer to them at any point during your writing, but they won't be counted among or mess with your actual manuscript. It's pretty neat.

 I have only really scratched the surface of what it can do, but it's been a great leap forward in my writing tools department.

Being a "pantser", I leap right in and jot scenes hither and yon, and build and build until I've got a story that I then must stick into a structure-type frame. This has always been a highly difficult task in Word, and has really slowed my creativity down while I cowered in the face of the monumental task of rearranging everything. (I usually took the passive-aggressive track of avoidance, during which period, I got no writing done, of course.)

  Scrivener makes it super easy to rearrange things, and I have to say I'm totally in love with it's Project Targets aspect!
 This allows me to set Word Count goals for the overall project, each Scene I've created, and also to keep a Session Target, (I've set it to 2k, and shoot for that each time I sit down.)
 This ingenious aspect makes it easy to keep track of how much I'm getting done, and the feeling of accomplishing stuff makes my creative muscle happy!
   A happy creative muscle creates better, stronger, faster, and I get a lot more accomplished!

  So it's basically a beautiful cycle that keeps feeding upward momentum.

 One thing, I wish it had a smarter spell-check… my Word program had gotten to be a genius at correcting my typos; so I get a little miffed when I accidentally transpose the letters in “to” and Scrivener suggests “oat, at, OT”
 Not sure how much it “learns”, either… though I’ve only had it a few months now.
(I may be wrong, but I’m pretty sure Word “learned” my habits, ’cause it got scary good at suggesting the very word I wanted when typo’d. )


 Do you have any questions about Scrivener?
   Have you heard of Scrivener before?

Word Count Widgets... Wahoo!

 Well, if you're at all like me, you might be lazily (or reluctantly) turning over in your mind a few ways that you'd like to improve something in the next twelve months... and if you're exactly like me, you might be thinking along word and word-creating lines.

  Writing can be wonderful and brilliant and great bursts of fun...

   ...But it can also be a desert of despair in which we weep fat, salty tears and pound rocks together in frustration.

  Taking a cue from my November post, I've been thinking that maybe the desert parts aren't as wide as they seem, they only seem that way.
 If this is true, than actually tracking those monsters would be a good way of cutting their fearsomeness down to size, and thus reducing their mastery over my poor emotions. (Which are sometimes over wrought... yes, they get that way.)

 So, implementing one step in this grand scheme, I set forth in search of word count trackers, progress bars, or things otherwise known as Word Count Widgets.

 Lucky for me, I quickly found a nice collection, all sweetly compiled by the very thoughtful blogger at Writing For Your Supper- 13 Free Word Counters

 This list was made in 2011, but the comment section show how grateful people still are to find them! (Be advised, some may no longer be extant.)
 So, to pass along this little nugget of helpfulness, I've linked to her post and hope anyone in search of Word Count Widgets can find exactly what they need!

   Do you know of more widgets, or have any advice concerning them? Let us know!