ROW80 Weds Check-in: Surprise!

Easy-peasy. Sort of. The writing goes steadily and slowly with research supporting the editing, scenes fleshed out, and Cat somehow surviving a winter crossing of the Rockies.

We're 10 days away from leaving home for the month of February to that place of no snow, Corpus Christi, and I'm cleaning up projects, clearing out to-do stacks of work, and wondering if I will finish all that remains. Completed. Pending. Not yet.

1. Edit Rivers of Stone, 5 out of 7 days each week. Done.
2. Research ACX process and identify 2 marketing steps. Surprise!
3. Write 500 words on memoir and/or poetry book. Surprise!
4. Blogx3 and read x10 on ROW80x2, WIPpet Weds, IWSG, Poets on the Page. Done. WIPpet Weds (see below). 
5. Read 100 pages of The Frugal Book Promoter. No progress last three days.
6. Review 2+ books by indie writers each month. List other books read. Done.
7. Exercise 3x week. Meditate 5 minutes daily. 3 sessions done.
8. Declutter office. Keep e-mails under 100. Done.
9. Clean up WSQ projects. Working on this starting tomorrow.
10. Prepare for trip to Corpus Christi. More fretting than planning, but we have the trip binder in progress.

Surprise #1: Poets on the Page challenged us this week to look again at a poem we had written and abandoned -- and resurrect it in some way. Since it is the beginning of the year, I pulled all the poems I've written in 2015 and looked at them anew, knowing if I didn't do something to fix them in a more permanent fashion, they would be abandoned. Wow! Five hours later of unexpected revision, I rediscovered 45 poems and have the beginnings of a chapbook. Thank you, Morgan Dragonwillow, for this lovely challenge.

Voice actor Darryl Kurylo

Surprise #2: ACX/Amazon has approved the audiobook version of Standing Stones -- which should go live on Amazon in the next few days. Wow! Fortunately, ACX provides a nice list of marketing strategies (my nemesis). But I'm thrilled as voice actor Darryl Kurylo adopted so many different voices to bring my characters to life -- and sang the few songs in the story absolutely beautifully.

Now for WIPpet Wednesday to post a snippet of 4 paragraphs (1 for January + 2 from 20th day + 1 for the year) from Rivers of Stone as we follow Cat down a series of rapids near Lake Winnipeg. She's been assigned to assist artist Paul Kane on the journey.

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"You can’t sleep either?" Kane drawled. "Here, sit closer to the fire. I'll teach you how to draw."

Cat scooted next to Kane. "Really?"

"Really. 'Tis not so hard. You need to look closely at what you want to draw, and then let your fingers walk the pen or the pencil until you catch it on paper." He looked at Cat and drew the lines of her face on the scrap paper he held. "See?" He handed the paper and pencil to Cat. "Now, you draw me."

Cat stared at Kane. Her fingers trembled a little as she held the pencil. His face was interesting. They'd been on the road long enough for short rations to pull the skin back from his bones. His cheeks had hollows, and his eyes seemed set in deep sockets. The longer she stared and tried to draw what she saw, the steadier her hold on the pencil. Gradually, a face formed on the paper, but it didn't look like Kane.

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And now, why not check out what other writers have written for A Round of Words in 80 Days, kindly hosted by Kait Nolan? Or join in our round?

Or read a poem over at my writing blog about the tango! Or read a few poems posted at Poets on the Page, hosted by Morgan Dragonwillow.

Or visit other WIPpet Wednesday writers HERE. 

Have a great week. Stay warm. Keep writing and reading!