Wednesday, August 27, 2014

ROW80 check-in: A bit of maybe . . . in 45 minutes

Forgot to post this lovely 'card' from Tara Tyler's "beastly survey," another marketing idea which somehow seems doubly appropriate today. At 8, I wake up Allen, stuff him in the car, and off we go to the hospital, check-in at 9, surgery at about 11. I'm hoping for those healing properties!

I didn't think I'd write anything today, still need to pack my bag for today -- hand quilting and threads, journal, Kindle, three writing magazines I'm behind on. But today is WIPpet day, check-in for ROW80 day, and I've been reading this fabulous book The Voyageurs by Grace Lee Nute. Although she talks about the voyageurs in a general, anecdotal way, sometimes her information comes from the 1840s, and I know this history shapes what my characters would know.

ROW80 check-in: I have this precious 45 minutes and am stuck between checking in and writing. So a quick check-in would be: I'm writing every day, though Lauralynn's ideas of taking a day off sound pretty good. Read her motivational article (if you haven't already), "Carving Out The Time."

Need to do before the week is done: Finish quilting article by deadline. Complete another critique for Novels-L (The Internet Writing Workshop), and stay on target for this week's 1,500 words. Map out topics for my blogs for the next month:  Focus, write, share! And take a day off (thank you Lauralynn).

Wednesday WIPpetIn the spirit of sharing, here is a snippet from my WIP (work in progress).  It's August 27. I still want to write this morning, so today I will post 9 sentences from Rivers of Stone! Very short. 

Context: Orkneyman Dougal and Cat, his wife, disguised as a boy, have joined the Hudson's Bay Company with younger brother Colin. It's May, 1842, and Dougal and Colin have just been assigned to the Fur Brigade Express, leaving the York Factory (Upper Manitoba) within a few days for Fort Vancouver and the Pacific Northwest -- and leaving Cat behind.

“I’m Fronteneau,” said a small, wiry man. A red scarf held back his hair, his beard was neatly trimmed, and his eyes heavily lidded but alert, as he scanned Dougal. His upper body and arms were heavily muscled, but his legs were bowed, scrawny and underdeveloped.
“Hargrave sent me. Me and my brother are to travel west with the Fur Brigade.”
Fronteneau’s eyebrows raised. His words were shaped with the sound of French and something else.  “And where’s your brother? I shouldn’t have to explain everything twice to a couple of new fish.”
Send words of encouragement to other ROW80 writers, those folks who truly appreciate that life has a rhythm of its own, HERE

Read what other WIPpet writers have written HERE. To participate in WEDS WIPpet, post a snippet from your WIP (current work in progress) on your blog that is in some way connected to today's date, and add your name to the links at K. L. Schwengel's blog. Read what others have written. Thank you, Kate, for setting up this way to share our wips! 

Quetico Superior Route, Passing a Waterfall by Frances Anne Hopkins









9 comments:

  1. I hope everything is ok with your hubby at the hospital and that it all goes well. The waiting room is probably a good place to write, but not very comfortable.

    Well done on writing every day, and I hope you have a good rest of the week. :)

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  2. Hang in there with the hospital day! Sending you both well wishes.

    Sounds like you're doing well and juggling quite a bit. Nice snippet of writing! Thanks for sharing. (Oh, and you reminded me how far behind I am on my own writing magazines! Yikes.)

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  3. Hope everything goes well for Allen!

    I liked the description in this snippet. One nit, which I think is probably leftover from some rewriting: "scanned Dougal" didn't make any sense to me.

    Congrats on continuing to write every day, despite everything!

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  4. I hope the surgery goes well. Sending hugs and well wishes to both of you. Good luck!

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  5. Hope surgery goes well. Prayers and thoughts are with you.

    Great excerpt. I like this story more and more each time I read an excerpt!

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  6. Heh. I sympathize with Fronteneau. Explaining the same thing multiple times gets old.

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  7. I hope all went well yesterday.

    Interesting snippet. I want to know a bit more about Fronteneau.

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  8. I hope all went well with your hubby's surgery. Sending good thoughts your way.

    I'm with Fronteneau, I hate explaining things twice. I did trip a little over the first paragraph, either the wording or the comma placement, not sure which did it. I get a very clear image of him, though, so it works. :)

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  9. Here's to the hubby's recovery! The book about the Voyageurs sounds fascinating. I love reading about Canada. I hope to do more exploring there some day. Having flown over Baffin Island I've developed a rather odd fascination with it.

    Excellent excerpt. I'm eager to read more of your work!

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