Tag Archives: Academy of the Accord

March 7, 2022 · 8:09 PM

Too Much Time?

The stomach virus is still hanging on. My legs hurt from so many trips down and up the stairs. (Our bathroom is in the basement. Don’t look at me – I didn’t design the place. It was built in 1920 (long before my time) so we’re pretty much just glad it has indoor plumbing.)

On a brighter note, I am at least feeling hungry now, even though I’m not entirely sure that food is my friend.

And I’ve been keeping up with my 100 words per day. I need to step back and reread what I’ve got going on in Song and Shadow, though; I kind of feel like I’m losing the thread of the current scene/situation.

Of course, that can happen to me in longer writing stretches, too, so I can’t blame it just on the hundred-word spurts.

I need to finish something. Anything. I have so many Works in Progress that I feel like I’m not making any progress. With so many things so close to being done I’m beginning to wonder if maybe I should put Song and Shadow aside and focus on one of them.

And the Academy of the Accord series is calling again…

See what happens when I have too much time off? I start thinking about tackling the world. Or at least my writing backlog.

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March 22, 2021 · 9:10 PM

Ten Days…

We have a new toilet!

(No, it hasn’t been ten day since the leaking toilet saga started, although, come to think of it, it might be close to that. It’s just that the new toilet was the most exciting part of my day.)

The bathroom still needs to be put back in order but that can wait. I’ll do a little bit tonight and probably finish tomorrow but I’m too tired and sore to do much tonight. (Hopefully that won’t take ten days.)

In ten days Camp NaNoWriMo starts, as does NaPoWriMo. I’ll be doing both, as usual.

For those who don’t know about it, NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writing Month) is based on but not affiliated with NaNoWriMo. It’s a challenge to write 30 poems in 30 days and post them on a blog. I actually find it easier to write 50,000 words than 30 poems.

As for Camp… I haven’t quite decided what I’m working on.

I should work on edits, preferably of Onyx Sun or The Academy of the Accord, but I never do well on editing goals, so it looks like I’ll be writing again. I’m just not sure what. I’m torn between Song and Shadow or Hedge House so I’m kind of thinking of maybe doing both, adding 25k to each.

Ah, well… I have over a week to not come to a decision…

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March 19, 2021 · 8:19 PM

I Lost a Week

I know that last weekend we all lost an hour’s sleep, but I seem to have lost an entire week. Somehow I didn’t realize that Monday was Monday until sometime late Tuesday, which is why there was no blog post on the Monday that I forgot was Monday.

Actually, I wouldn’t mind losing this past week.

Between a toilet that needs to be replaced (happening Monday), an ever-changing work schedule (which is looking to be just as much “fun” next week), and an internet that is up for a few seconds, down for several minutes, up for a few seconds, down for several minutes (and an ISP that is staffed by idiots), I am so done.

On the other hand, I kind of can’t wait to see what the coming week brings.

And if I have no internet this weekend I’ll be more productive with writing and editing and crocheting. And with deep cleaning the bathroom.

(Eternal optimist, I am.)

I did a quick re-read of what I have written for Hedge House. Lots of plot holes and things to go back and add to it, and it needs to be finished, but for my first foray into present day urban fantasy/paranormal I think it’s not too too bad. At least, I don’t hate it.

Other than that, I haven’t done much with writing and editing this past week. I have Book One of The Academy of the Accord in my car, along with the binder that will be the concordance, but I need to spread out to work on those and I feel guilty hanging out at Starbuck’s or Panera when they are limiting seating due to Covid and social distancing guidelines, so they’ve just been hanging out in my back seat for the past week.

I’m going to hope that my internet holds long enough to get this posted. It’s been stable for about the last half hour (a new record for the night! thirty minutes vs thirty seconds!)

 

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March 1, 2021 · 8:36 PM

Now What?

Have you ever finished a big project and suddenly found yourself feeling lost? You spend so much time and energy and focus on a project and then suddenly it’s done and there’s a huge void, no matter how many projects are waiting their turn.

That’s sort of where I am right now. Yesterday, courtesy of a wonky internet that kept disconnecting, I finally finished going through the last book of the Academy of the Accord series (not counting the very incomplete prequel) and now I’m sort of like, “What do I do now?”

I mean, there’s a long way to go on it yet – I’ve barely made a dent in the project but still…

What do I do next?

Do I keep working on the Academy of the Accord? If so, do I start by printing Book 1 and going through it and taking notes for the concordance?  Or do I go through the books that are already printed (from many years ago) and see what I might have changed in them and make the changes to the files before I print them. Or maybe do both, since the printed ones start at Book 5 or so?

Or do I take a break from the series to work on something else? I mean, one of my goals for this year was to release Onyx Sun and I pretty much haven’t touched it. (Yeah, I know. It’s only the first day of March.)

And a friend is not-so-patiently waiting for another Elven Bard novel.

And there are an unknown (because I’m scared to actually count them) number of Works in Progress and Plot Bunnies waiting in the wings. (Seriously, I could write and release a book a year and live to be a hundred and still have more to go.)

But will I even be able to work on something else since I seem to be on fire for it at the moment for some reason?

And I’d really like The Academy of the Accord to see the light of day before I die and I’m not getting any younger.

Of course, that goes for the rest of the Elven Bard novels, Onyx Sun, the Other Mages trilogy, and a host of other books and trilogies in various stages of completion, too.

*sigh*

But on a brighter note, I’m pretty sure I’ve just talked myself into continuing with The Academy of the Accord. I’ll get Book One printed soon and in the meantime I’ll start looking through what’s been sitting on my shelf for years.

Here’s to living to be a hundred and twenty…

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February 26, 2021 · 8:21 PM

T.G.I.F.

(Someday that “F” is going to stand for “Finished” but for now we’ll settle for “Friday.”

Only one more Friday in Bedlam. People who work with special needs kids do not ever get enough credit. Or money. I know I couldn’t do it long term, or even for a five day week.

Still plodding along with The Academy of the Accord. Only two more books to get ready to print. (I’m not counting the prequel as it’s nowhere near done.)

The last book I worked on had chapter breaks… Starting on page 70. Yeah, no. I added a few before there. Probably a few too many but I’ll sort that out in edits.

Some of the books were printed ages ago (I knew that) and have paperclips marking their chapters, as well as margin notes and post-its (I’d forgotten about that). I suppose I should probably go through them before I print them again.

Then I got a bright idea to change something in the last book. It’s not going to affect the outcome at all, but it will affect large parts of text and will make me have to work in a new subplot.

Maybe by the end of the year I’ll be able to start a solid round of edits and bible-building.

(Yes, I know it’s only the end of February. But there’s an overwhelmingly long road ahead of me…)

So, anyhow, it’s supposed to rain this weekend so my plans are to curl up with a bad draft of a good book or two, drown myself in tea, and see if I can get ready to start the comparisons with what was printed earlier by the end of the weekend.

And blog hop and set up my weekly posts for the next month.

Happy weekend, everyone!

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February 22, 2021 · 9:29 PM

Plodding Along

And I have chapters!

And possibly a cold.

And probably bronchitis.

And how was your weekend?

I went to my mother’s on Saturday and took both dogs with me. I took my two out for a potty break and hers got out too and all three ran circles in the snow, chasing each other and having a great time and completely ignoring me when I tried to get them to come in.

I finally got the Demon Dog inside, but the Diva was having too much fun on her “girls’ day out” and I might as well have not existed.

Then mom’s dog (Hershey – yes, she’s a chocolate lab) took off around the front of the house with the Diva in hot pursuit and I lost sight of them.

By that time I was starting to panic, worried that something would happen to the Diva, and, in addition to my own guilt if something happened to her, my roommate would kill me.

So I trudged along after them, following their tracks in the snow, breaking through a crust of ice and floundering in snow halfway up to my knees.

Fortunately they hadn’t gone far and came when they saw me and I was able to grab the Diva’s leash. (And she walked very nicely beside me on the way back, which should have been my first warning.)

Got her inside with my feet soaking wet (sneakers are not the best shoes for breaking trail in the winter) and freezing cold and discovered that all four of her legs were covered with blood. (She’s white, so it was pretty noticeable.)

I cleaned her up and there were no big injuries, just some tiny scratches and scrapes from breaking through the crust on top of the snow and continuing to run like a maniac.

Through all of this it was probably 13 or 15 degrees Fahrenheit out there, so I spent yesterday feeling like death warmed over and left to congeal again.

Today I’ve only felt like death warmed over, so not quite as bad, although it still hurts to breathe. (We had a snow day today so at least I didn’t have to go to work.) Since I felt semi-alive today I got chapter breaks put into the book that didn’t have any. I’m pretty sure they’re temporary and will move a lot.

Anyhow, I’m back to work tomorrow (or so my checkbook hopes) and am finally back on track with getting the Academy of the Accord ready to print for editing and concordance-creating.

Here’s hoping the momentum continues.

 

 

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February 19, 2021 · 8:58 PM

Chapters

And the lack thereof.

So I finally finished the latest untangling of the middle books of the Academy of the Accord series, and thought I was finally in for some smooth sailing to get the rest of them ready to be printed.

I was wrong.

When I write, I put in chapter breaks. (Usually labeled “Chapter Break” because I lose count. I put the numbers in when I do the first round of paper edits.)

When I get a manuscript ready to print for editing, I have each chapter start on a new page. (It’s just how my mind works at organizing things.)

So, I opened the next book and did a Ctrl F to find the word “Chapter” and Ctrl F said “Word not found.” And I said “What the F?” and tried again in case I’d mistyped it.

Nope.

There are no chapters.

And I said “F” a lot. (Without “Ctrl”)

How?

How could I have written this whole novel and never put in chapter breaks?

And how could I have read through it multiple times and never noticed that I didn’t put in chapter breaks?

At any rate, I decided it could wait until tonight, but work left me with a migraine so now it’s waiting until tomorrow so I’m not tempted to delete the whole thing. (Kudos to teachers and support staff who deal with a roomful of special needs students five days a week for nine or more months of the year. You all are a special breed of human who deserve a whole lot more money and recognition than you’ll ever get.)

But at least I got the most problem-filled book printed after work tonight so it’s ready to be attacked with paper clips, post it notes, highlighters, colored pens, margin notes, etc.

I should probably start on that fairly soon, while the memory of what I was trying to accomplish with that mess is still semi-fresh. (There is likely to be more swearing in my near future.)

But tomorrow I have to go try to help my mother recover and reset all the passwords that she lost because despite my best efforts to orient her to the truth she is under the delusion that I am some sort of computer guru.

(Some computer guru. I have a Word doc that is “Read Only” and I know I didn’t do that (at least, not on purpose) and have no idea how to fix it. *sigh*)

Anyhow, I hope everyone has a great weekend.

 

 

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February 15, 2021 · 9:35 PM

I Finished It!

Really short post tonight because today totally got away from me and it’s already 9:00pm and I have to get up at 5:00 to get ready for work, just in case school isn’t delayed or cancelled. (Lots of places around us are already announcing a two hour delay but I swear this school district is allergic to calling it until the last possible moment.)

So, what have I done today?

Well, I shoveled snow and salted the sidewalk. Made a pot of chili. Mixed birdseed and filled the feeder. Played doorwoman for the dogs.

And, for the most exciting thing: I finally finished the paragraph by paragraph fixing of the spacing issue in the Academy of the Accord novel I’ve been swearing at for most of the month. Please cross your fingers, toes, eyes, and any other movable body parts that the remaining books aren’t like that because I’m beginning to think that it would be easier to just retype it than go through all of that again.

It seems that I’m following my heart this year – or at least at the present time – and working on the Academy of the Accord series.

I have a lot of stuff that is so much closer to being finished that I should be working on, but this is currently consuming me, despite trying to find a balance, so I’ve decided to just roll with it. I only have four more books to read through, then I can get them printed (one or two each pay) and start on the concordance.

(And if ever there was a series that needs a concordance, this is it!)

(Five books. Just realized I forgot about the prequel.)

So, anyhow, that’s been my day today. Well, that and a change in my work schedule that will result in an extra hour of pay and one hour less of commute.

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February 12, 2021 · 6:31 PM

Night Shift

In a moment of insanity I agreed to work a night shift tonight, and, as usual, as the time to work it draws nearer I am regretting my decision. (Although I do have to admit that it was kind of worth it just to hear the confusion in the voice of the person from my agency who called to ask if I’d pick it up as the client had requested me. It was quite obvious that she had expected me to say no and she was kind of fumbling for a response when I said yes.)

Anyhow, it’s an easy assignment; most of my work is done by midnight at the latest and then there’s basically nothing to do (except check on the residents a time or two) until 6:00 in the morning.

Which begs the question: what should I take along with me tonight to work on to stay awake?

I can’t take counted cross stitch because the lighting in the nurse’s office sucks. (I’ve tried before; it just doesn’t work.)

I could maybe take yarn and a crochet hook and make a scarf, especially since I’m behind on that goal.

I should take something to edit but I don’t feel like lugging my laptop along and working on Onyx Sun and I don’t think I have any current print outs of The Academy of the Accord to swear, cry, and pull my hair out over.

Maybe I could take a note book and work on the outline of Song and Shadow? That won’t take all night, though. At least, not in a solid stream of working on it. (I tend to do outlines in fits and starts: write some stuff up, let it sit for a while, ask/answer some more questions about the story, add to the outline, repeat… And it’s even worse for this book because it’s started, and I know pretty much how it ends, but it’s getting from one point to the other that is giving me problems.)

Part of me wants to take my portable DVD player and the complete series of Fraggle Rock DVDs that I got for my birthday and have a Fraggle Rock night.

But on the other hand, I should do something productive…

*sigh*

In brighter(ish) news, I’m still chugging through fixing the spacing in that Academy of the Accord book, paragraph by paragraph. And I have another book ready to print for editing. (And might get another one ready before I go to work tonight. The Word doc is open and ready to work on at any rate.)

But I really just want to go to bed.

 

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February 8, 2021 · 9:09 PM

Tips Appreciated

(No, this is not a plea for money. But on the other hand, if you do happen to have an extra million or two in petty cash that you don’t know what to do with…)

Due to a variety of factors I have multiple versions of pretty much every novel I’ve ever started, stored in a variety of places.

What led to this?

Well, it mostly started when my PC’s power supply went snap-crackle-pop, resulting a large amount of panic until my local computer tech managed to salvage my hard drive and transfer all my files onto a thumb drive.

Some of the stuff from that thumb drive (primarily my Academy of the Accord series and the Elven Bard novels) has been moved to my laptop.

Various versions of the Academy of the Accord books exist on my laptop and on multiple thumb drives, making it really hard to find what I’m looking for.

It doesn’t help that I tend to save every new version under a slightly different name:

AotA Bk1
AotA Bk1 1st Edits
AotA Bk1 for Beta
etc.

Now multiply that times the 13 books in the main series and a prequel. And then there are outtakes, stuff to add in, ideas for short side stories… Oh, and let’s not forget the “to print” versions, where I change to a size 10 font (instead of 14) and make sure that each chapter starts on a new page.

And that’s just one series.

Yeah, it’s a hot mess.

I’m currently trying to corral and merge all versions of the Academy of the Accord books onto one thumb drive, which I will find a way to label. (Unlabeled thumb drives are also part of the problem because I have no idea what each one holds.)

So, my question is…

Is there anyone else out there with this or a similar problem? Solutions? Suggestions?

I can’t be the only one. I mean, there is this mug that tells me I’m not alone, at least in the multiple versions department.

 

(I do own this mug, but the image is from a Google search.)

 

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