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ROW80: The end is nigh

Posted on November 28, 2012 by Jessica

Just a few days to go until NaNoWriMo ends! I’m at just under 12K left
to hit the requisite 50,000, and that is a daunting task. I feel up to
the challenge, though, and I plan on knocking out at least 4K tonight!
Sprints are my best friend when I am trying to write a lot and write
quickly. I can get up to about 650 words per 15 minute sprint, and
that lets me knock out big chunks of writing in just a couple of
hours. That’s how I managed to get 3K in just an hour an a half on
Monday.

I only got 306 words yesterday, but it was because my husband and I
put up our Christmas decorations. This is the first Christmas in our
house, and we have both been looking forward to making it look
festive. We decorated our mantel, put up hooks for our stockings, and
decorated the tree. I also hung a wreath on the back door…it’s nice
to see every time I leave or come home. :-)

I will probably not get back to critiques before the weekend, but we
shall see…maybe I will have great luck on knocking out words and be
done sooner than I think!

Hope my fellow ROW80′ers are having a great week. Special thanks to
Jess Witkins (gotta love a fellow Jess and a fellow redhead!) for
her ROWmodel Award and kind words about my Sunday check-in. I appreciate the
encouragement. Now, to the finish line!

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ROW80: Jumping in!

Posted on October 21, 2012 by Jessica

I’m jumping in on ROW80 this week so I can get back in the swing of my weekly/monthly goals! Things are pretty simple for me for the next couple weeks until NaNoWriMo starts, but I do have a few key things I am concentrating on:

  • Finishing up critiques for my crit partners. I have one that is just about wrapped up, and then another one due back on November 4. I want to get that one done prior to November 1 so that I can start on NaNo free and clear.
  • Planning out my NaNoWriMo project. I have figured out that my process starts with about 25% plotting, then I pants about 50% of the book while plotting the other 25% as I go. For this one, the plot is a bit complicated and technical, so I want to do a little more plotting ahead of time and planning out some of the backstory that gets things to the point where the novel starts.
  • Getting the house clean! I have company coming this weekend for my 10-year college reunion (yikes!) and then people coming over on Halloween night, so this week I want to clean the things that need a deeper scrubbing so that we can just do a quick pick up here and there before guests arrive.
  • Blogging at least once a week outside of ROW80 check-in posts. I want to do more than this, but I’m going to have to work up to it and make myself an editorial calendar. I’m lost without one.

Hope everyone is gearing up to have a fantastic week! If you’re going to participate in NaNoWriMo, leave me a comment with your NaNo user name and we can be author friends on the site. I’m divajess.

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ROW80: Wrapping up

Posted on March 21, 2012 by Jessica

We made it! This round of ROW80 is over and it has been insanely productive for me.

I’ve hit all my goals–I’ve worked on the research for The Recollector (so I have tons more reference material when I pick that project back up), I’ve sent Burn off to friends who can help me figure out the right direction to take on the plotting, and I’m almost done writing Drawn Together!

I may not write “The End” on Drawn by Sunday as planned since this is an insanely busy week, but I will be close. It feels good to have accomplished so much in this round, especially when I have a ton of things going on outside of my writing. I hope to do the next round too, but I may be taking a slight break in between projects so I might jump in after the round starts.

Thanks for a great run ROW80!

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Six Sentence Sunday: Drawn Together

Posted on March 4, 2012 by Jessica

This week I’m trying something new that my friend Sidney Bristol told me about: Six Sentence Sunday. Now, Drawn Together is my first contemporary romance, and will actually fall under the umbrella of my pseudonym, but I’m okay with sharing it here first! The story follows Sam, an indie comic book writer and artist, as she meets and falls in love with Max, a lawyer turned comic shop owner who is helping her fight her evil ex’s attempts to ruin her career. This is from a scene after Sam’s catastrophic first convention appearance when she turns to the comforting bosom of tequila shots:

“It is nice out,” Max admitted. “And if you’re sure you’re okay to walk, I’m game.”

“I’m sure,” she said, smiling. “Trust me, I can hold my liquor. Granted, I’m not usually drinking on an empty stomach, but I’d say that physical assault, public embarrassment, and theft of intellectual property make for some extenuating circumstances.”

“You use big words when you’re drunk,” Max chuckled.

I never thought I’d write a straight up romance novel, even though all of my work has some element of romance to it because I love the development of relationships. This is probably the most fun I’ve had in a long time while writing, and I’m already half in love with Max myself (don’t tell my husband, though Max borrows heavily from his personality). Thanks for reading!