#WIPMarathon Report - September

No, no, no, no, noooooo! It can NOT be October already!

(Okay, now that THAT'S out of my system...)

Last report word count + chapter count/scene count: 109,033. 

Current report WC + CC/ SC: 109,044. 

Hey, look at that, I went up by 11 words. I am happy to report though that I finally, FINALLY finished rewriting the last chapter. It's still pretty rough, so I will need to go through and fine-tune it. But it is such a relief to have it DONE. Almost done. Yeah, maybe not that done. Um, well.

WIP Issues This Month: Just my own slackerosity and last-chapter-phobia.

What I learned this month in writing: 

1. To take chances with your characters. Make them lovable in so many ways, but give them an almost shocking flaw. It's too late for me to do this with my current novel, but I really want to heighten my characters' quirks and intrigue in my follow-up novels.
2. To read other people's WIPMarathon Reports to see what they've learned in writing since I can't think of anything else.

What distracted me this month while writing: Remember a long time ago when I wasted hours and hours of my life creating a website for a series I hadn't even written? Well, it turns out that it wasn't a complete waste of time. Because now I really do have a book coming out, and I really do need an author's page. So I modified the site I had already created and turned it into something closer to useable. I started to post a screenshot of my progress here, but I realized it gave away my cover. Sadly, the site no longer has acclaimed reviews from the Tardis Talk or Pixie Dust Press or whatever saying that my book is a fast-paced work of staggering genius and all that, but it is what it is.

So in addition to creating a website (which was really addicting), my weekends haven't really been conducive to getting any writing or editing done this month. Last weekend we hosted my four year-old niece's birthday party at my house--a "Harry Potter Pool Party." Clint's mom made the food, and his sister (Moo) did everything else--including making killer cupcakes and these chocolate frog things that tasted like they came straight from Sees Candy (seriously, just writing about them is making me ticked off that I don't have more).

 Harry Potter cupcakes, goodies, and party favors for the kids. 
And a garden hose.

 Food table (minus the food). Beverages included Pumpkin Juice and Butter Beer 
(the BB was TO DIE for)

"Let's ignore that lovely spacious body of water directly in front of us
and stuff ourselves into the spa instead!"

The weekend before, my family took Shannon and I deep sea fishing for our birthday. It was SO MUCH fun. We were catching fish every five minutes. It turned out that everything was too small to keep, but still--what a riot. The only thing I struggle with is the bait. You have to hook live bait (either mackerel or sardines), and I can't do it. Not because it's gross--I'm okay with that. But because it's ALIVE. I absolutely can not get myself to stick a hook through something living and breathing. No no no no. NO. So I'm ashamed to say that Clint, Jeremy, and my dad hooked my bait (which I find very cowardly of me, because I'm still hurting/killing a living thing by proxy, just forcing others to get their hands dirty on my behalf). Next time I go deep sea fishing, I plan to use lures. Even if it's less effective than live bait, it's still totally worth it to me.

 Shan and me at Dana Point Harbor

We had the entire front of the boat to ourselves for most of the trip.

 The view on our way back to shore.

Shan caught the cutest little fish called a sculpin, or "scorpion fish." It had whatever the fish-version of porcupine quills are called, and was poisonous to touch, but it was SO CUTE. He looked like an aquarium fish. 

What was this blog post about again?

Oh yeah, WIP report. Here we go.

Goal for next month: I want to have chapter 37 (my last chapter) polished off and all beautiful, and 80% of edits and revisions for my entire MS done. 80% is totally arbitrary--I'm just picking a number to sound more goal-oriented.

Last 200 words: Now that I've revised my last chapter, my last 200 words have finally changed. But sadly they give away the end. I mean, because they ARE the end. So I'm going to pick another 200 words. Another non-heavy scene. 

I watched Stryder hurry past the little bay window of the coffee shop. His cheeks were flushed, lips still tight with anger. Under his left arm was a large bag of rat food. In his right hand was the tattered pink tissue box.  
Taking a long sip of my Tazo tea, I smiled at the scene. Guess he had a new pet.

And that’s when everything went dark. A collective gasp sounded through the shop. The previously unnoticeable hum of a half dozen grinding machines puttered to a halt. It was graveyard silent. For about two seconds.

A cell phone went off, a jarring intruder in the gray silence—like a stereo blasting in the middle of church prayer. Then another cell phone joined the ring-tone choir. Then another. Then every cell phone in the shop joined in. Over a dozen ring tones twisted together in garbled harmony. Goose bumps pricked my arms, sending a small shiver up the nape of my neck. Several startled, murmuring customers lunged for their phones, their screens glowing bright in the dark gloom of the shop. I yanked my own chirping phone out of my purse, glancing down at the screen. It showed no incoming calls. No texts. 
         Nothing.

It's bedtime for me now but if any of my fellow WIP marathoners happen to read this, I promise I'll check out your reports soon!