Hello,

Thank you for the likes and follows.

Last week overall went well.  There were some disruptions with poor internet.  I had to call the provider, to make a complaint and find out what was messing with my service.  Despite all that, the reorganization is not complete, and it may take the rest of the month.  There was a time I would’ve been troubled by this.  I am glad that I have moved passed those feelings.   It came from the thoughts that there was no progression with the stories under development and that if I wasn’t writing chapters or scenes I wasn’t writing.  This has been a difficult mindset to ignore.  If it takes a whole month to deal with, I’m okay with it. 

The reason this update is posted on Tuesday was the weekend.  I spent most of that time in Brooklyn, helping a relative with an event. There was no time to write this update.  My ideal time to draft these things is Saturday night.  I was going to skip this update but then I felt like I was giving up and I didn’t want to. Better late than never and all that. 

This week, as part of the writing project reorganization, I will be working on completing the character GMC worksheets.  I don’t remember when I got the template, but it was acquired from author Nadine Avola.  Give credit where credit is due.  This worksheet is a brief goal, motivation, and conflict for characters in the story.  I wrote about Scions last week.  The GMC worksheet that is in focus right now is Connection Lost.  I have a list of every main and secondary character in this story.  It may seem like too much for a 25k story but while reading what was written. It felt like it was going off track.  Making the characters’ goals and motivations clear and figuring out their conflicts will make the story more interesting.  I know that at least 3 characters’ goals are part of the conflict for my main character.  They are co-antagonists, and they don’t even know it.   Later in the week, I will be working on Scions because thoughts on that story have been interrupting me every now and then.  I want to prepare this month so that by the end of the first quarter of 2023, I will have a completed first draft of Connection Lost. 

December is the month of reflection and projection. These last two weeks are going to be difficult. Everyone is going to be in the remember this mode or next year is full of potential for us to do better.

The reading goals for this week are to finish up the audiobooks that I put on hiatus, for transparency and accountability, those books are A Ghost in Shining Armor by Therese Beharrie; Cry of Metal and Bone by L. Penelope; Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond and Pawsitively Poisonous by Melissa Erin Jackson. Three fiction books and one non-fiction they were all started sometime during this year and I thought they were all interesting but were put on pause for some reason. I have not completed the Death Before Dragon series, the last two audiobooks are not free on Youtube. The author Lindsay Buroker most likely got the information she needed in sales and other marketing sections. Fortunately for me, she has an agreement with Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited. Death Before Dragons and two other series are exclusively on Amazon. Secrets of the Sword 2 and 3 will be digital reads and I am not sure when I will start them. Part of my fun in listening to audiobooks is playing games on the tablet- Cooking Madness, Farmville 2, Design Home, and Home Design. Making time to just read is difficult. I guess that can be on my New Year’s resolution list.

That is all for now. I’m sure there is more but time is the issue. I hope these words find you all doing well.

End

Hello,

Last week, went smoothly, which was strange.  I got most of what I wrote about done.  Which was a set up and reorganization of the writing projects.  I am still adding words to Makers because there is a half of a third scene plaguing me.  I was also looking over the scenes and notes for Connection Lost and searching for everything I wrote on the story now called Fayte.  If I wrote about in the past updates, it might be called Night Taxi or Kharon’s mantle.  None of these working titles worked for me. I decided to call the story after the female lead, her name is Fayte.  I am not sure about that name as a working title either, but I am going to go for it.  The last story that was prominent in my mind, last week is called Scions.  It is a story that deals with a half-dragon mage living in the modern world.  It is quite possible that listening to the Death Before Dragons series, reminded me that I had a story like Scions under development.   In the future I might share short summaries for these working titles. I know one was done with Connection Lost, but that story goes under the overall working title of Midnight Fantasy Witch Tech.  There might be some research involved before I do a whole recap. 

The side job of childcare has gone on hiatus.  I need to be able to make money to live.  I have started to look for another day job and that is a job in itself.  The resume has been revamped but since I’ve been sick, it effects the jobs that I am looking for now.  The hustle is long and frustrating.  My silver lining is that I got some coffee stickers, along with the stickers of my day planners and washi tape.  I plan to make my days in December look pretty on paper, reality may differ.  The decorate-for-the-holidays family members have move to their own houses.  I put most of my cheer out on the internet.  

The flower pictures I will be using for the month of December are snowdrops.  I saw an image and I just really liked it and collected all the ones I could for free. Thank you Pexels and WordPress.   I didn’t think to look up the flower for December.  Snowdrops are listed as a January flower, and holly and narcissus flowers are listed as December flowers.  My ignorance has placed me on a path I am sticking to.   I have done this before with birthstones and I think birth flowers.  Deciding on a set of images for the month helps with posts. 

As stated, before I am listening to the Death Before Dragons series by Lindsay Buroker, it is a nine-book series, and I am listening to book 5 Storm Forged. The series started off with the main character being a loner, she has now reconnected with her estranged family and has some found family as well.  Everything that has occurred is believable, so there is no room to call BS on anything. Lindsay Buroker is a slow-burn type of author.  Her main female characters always have a love interest, but it takes almost to the end of the series for them to get horizontal. I have only listened to the 2 series so far and this feels like a feature of the stories.  Her most recent series is based in the Death Before Dragon world. It is not free on YouTube, so it is on my wish list on Audible.

The goals for this week are to continue with the reorganizing of the writing projects.  One priority is to revise and update the essay on adaptations.  The second will be the outline for the December 21 essay that will be posted on Medium.com.  I will also be making changes to this website blog. Please if anyone has any constructive suggestions or criticisms, I am open to read it, by all means, share. 

That is all for now.  I hope these words find you all doing well.  Remember to be kind. 

End.