Eleven days...I've got eleven days to rewrite 80% of my manuscript....ah geez.

Okay since it looks like things are FINALLY all in order for the adoption on the 28th I'm not doing any running around and possibly may not even answer the phone today. I have a crap load of rewriting to do and I WILL FINISH ON TIME. *breathe, just breathe*

I know I'm really new at this mom business. Barely a year. And chances are that I'm not doing as badly as I think I am. Taking on 3 kids that all have issues stemming from their pasts is not an easy thing, for them or for me. Some days I wonder who it's really harder for. Typically the vote seems to fall almost selfishly on me every time. If I could go back to the mostly carefree life that I had as a child AND still get to be a grownup....I think I would. BUT how would that even been possible considering that being an adult seems to sweep some of that natural easiness away. Or at least it does for the responsible ones from my point of view.

Writing is creeping forward. I'm starting to stress that I'm not going to make my deadline. AND I most definitely need to start learning how to make my own deadlines if I want to be able to meet other people's deadlines.

Life always seems to get even more hectic when I set a solid goal for my writing. Suddenly all sorts of things pop up that MUST get done and I still must find time to work. Not always the easiest thing with 3 kids and another on the way. BUT there will always be an excuse, an emergency, a tantrum to deal with. I'm finding that squeezing 10-15 minutes in here and there, while now optimal working time, still keeps my motivation high and my progress continuing.

Okay, so I took quite some time off...almost a year. In my defense my life has completely reorganized itself. This time last year we had just had Carson placed with us through the Foster system. I was learning VERY quickly how to be a mom as well as dealing with multiple miscarriages in the six months that followed. Then just as things were settling in with Carson we had two more children placed with us, Connor and Baylee. I don't care what anyone says going from zero to three in less than a year has been an experience to say the least. Carson's adoption was final in June and Connor and Baylee's will be final the end of October. We have also discovered proof that yes, the Lord does in fact have a sense of humor. I am now pregnant. As of today I am 20 weeks and 3 days pregnant. MUCH farther than any of my miscarriages. We go to the doctor tomorrow to find out whether will be adding yet another boy to the family or if we'll have another little girl.

I've poked and prodded at my book this whole time though not consistently. Frankly, I think I'm worried that I will succeed. How strange is that? But I have finally decided that I really do want it and yes I'm not going to put off my dreams any longer. I'll be finishing my rough draft either some time tonight or tomorrow. Then polish it a bit before I submit it to Holly Lisle for her to look at. If she takes me as one of her 2 winners than I'll have the HUGE blessing of having her assist me in rewriting the whole thing into finished format to send off to publishers. While working on that, I'll start the second book in the series so that as soon as the rewrite class is over I'll be able to move right into rewriting the second. That hopefully will help with any book deal offers.

So chin up and hunker down. I'm not giving in this time. If there's one thing my kids have taught me in this year it's that stubbornness is not always a bad trait to have.

51,364 / 100,000 (51.4%)

I know, I know. Not the best but I am making sure to get a minimum of ten minutes even when I'm not feeling well. Dealing with a sunburn. On a good note, I got to wear all sorts of pretties today. :)

I once again hit a wall. I'm starting to think that those are pretty frequent happenings for writers. It's what you do when you hit the wall the decides whether you're going to succeed or not. SO I will most likely not make my goal of September 22 for finishing my zero draft but chances of getting it finished by the end of the month are still looking good. Since I am at the half way point for my plot line and the down side is fast ride I'm worried that I'm not going to make the 100k mark. But then I sat down and thought about all the fleshing out and such that I still have to do after this draft is done. I know there are smaller plot lines that have been dropped that I need to pick up and finish. So really, I don't think I'll miss that mark with the finished product even though I might with the zero draft. And I have decided that's okay. There is no right or wrong way to do this. And really I only fail if I give up. SO I'm pushing forward and hoping the writing will continue to improve. Practice makes better as honestly how can it be perfect? :)

48,960 / 100,000 (49.0%)

45,150 / 100,000 (45.1%)

I've almost hit the halfway point. Still not making that 3k per day so I'm not really sure that I'll make the deadline. Going to keep trying for it though.

42,510 / 100,000 (42.5%)

Finally got the fight scene to where I'm happy leaving it for the time being. It needs polishing, but honestly, what doesn't? Anyway, back on track although I lost a couple of days there with messing with it so I've got some making up to do. Which means 3000 words every day this week. That should put me back to where I was before and still make my September 22nd deadline.

Yes, but there are times when I MUST take a break. Take yesterday and today for example. Yesterday, I was pretty much done with my 2500-2600 new words for the day. Today I still have a thousand words to go. Ugh! Just much harder to pull the ideas out today. Yesterday I couldn't hardly type fast enough to get everything written before my muse was giving me more ideas. I think she's slacking today. Maybe she's just tired. I have written 9001 new words this week which is huge compared to the fact that I have written 41483 new words since the end of May. Not counting all the stuff I've already cut. So yeah, she has worked hard this week. BUT I want 2500-2600 daily words to be the norm from here on out. So she'll just need to get used to it. Exercise those thinking muscles so their big and strong! :D

All of the published authors I'm speaking with say that my daily word count is really, really realistic. SO I know I'm not trying to reach something that isn't attainable. In fact, a lot of them write upwards of 4-5k per day. Once this book is finished, if I write just Monday-Friday I'll end up writing roughly 6 books a year. But that doesn't take into account the revising and editing time frames. So I figure, realistically, it's more like 2-3 books a years since I'm workshopping my manuscripts with my writing group as I go. Which means if I can get a good agent backing me I could be a professional writer in the next couple of years. HOW COOL IS THAT!!!

Okay, my break has been long enough. Must now get back to work for those last 1000 words today.

41,483 / 100,000 (41.5%)