Ready, Set, WRITE! - Week Four

Ready, Set, WRITE! is a summer writing challenge hosted by Erin L. Funk, Alison Miller, Katy Upperman, Jaime Morrow and Elodie Nowodazkij as a way to encourage participants to get going on their projects and to help keep us accountable.  We share brief updates every Monday so as not to interrupt writing time with blogging.  You can find out more here or check out others' updates over at the hosts' blogs.

1. How I did on last week’s goal(s)

More misses than hits, to sum up.  I succeeded in writing over 3,000 words (3,142), but it's still nowhere near my upper target of 5k.  I haven't finished G for Gabrys yet because the story has decided to grow.  And I am not halfway through chapter 7 of RoK because Gabrys's story decided to grow (but I am maybe a third of the way through it).

2. My goal(s) for this week

Continue (still) to aim for between 3,000 and 5,000 words.  Actually make a concerted effort to finish G for Gabrys (which should make things interesting).  And work a little on chapter 7 of RoK while I'm at it.

Fun thing to throw into the mix: try to finish The Ace of Skulls by Chris Wooding, because I've been putting off reading it for ages—it's the last book in a series I don't want to end!

3. A favorite line from my story OR a word or phrase that sums up what I wrote/revised

Ardashir dismissed his concerns with a simple gesture.  “Nonsense.  If I cannot show I can provide for you before our wedding, how could you have any faith I would after it?”

It was a reasonable concern, but it did nothing for the gnawing twisting of Gabrys’s stomach.  It was a very beautiful suite, there was no denying it, littered with thick rugs and low tables on which sat bowls of ripe fruits, with fine curtains separating each room and more than enough gilding on every available surface to make Gabrys’s head spin.  From this suite alone, it looked as though Ardashir was not just capable of providing for him, but for the subjects of both their countries combined.

That was the whole point, Gabrys supposed.

4. The biggest challenge I faced this week

Keeping myself on track.  I began to struggle on Wednesday and got nothing written at all on Thursday which I'm really not happy with.  I've also struggled with procrastination, particularly the bad habit of browsing when I should be writing or aimlessly checking for nonexistent emails, but I splashed out on the promo (pro) bundle of Cold Turkey which lets me block apps as well as websites and that's been working quite well so far.

5. Something I love about my WIP

That it keeps growing, mostly without me.  It was supposed to be a 500 nothing-thing for the A-Z Challenge but it seems to have developed itself when I wasn't looking.

Some A-Z Stats and WiPpet Wednesday

It's been a long time!  ...Well, a month.

It feels a little weird getting back into this routine, as opposed to the mildly terrifying one that was Blogging From A-Z.  I came out of the other side of that with 24 stories (some unfinished), one picture that was more convoluted to do than it looks and the unpleasant experience of sinusitis, hence one hiatus post.  I even started to get the hang of typing on my Surface keyboard, which is brilliant because I've only had it around two years now...

Lessee... some stats...

In total, I wrote 14,197 words (approximately 645 words per story), which wouldn't get me anywhere in NaNoWriMo but isn't too bad considering I've written nothing for two months.  And...

Out of 24 stories, 22 are outright finished and 2 need completing (Gabrys and Jonathan).  They span 10 series with Radial/Unravel being the one I wrote most in, with 4 stories.  I also wrote 7 standalone stories, mostly because they were obscure letters like, uh... L (but not Y or Z).  My most common rating was PG (10), followed by G (7), then 18 (4) and 15 (3).  (Who'd have thought it.)  Absolutely nothing was pre-written for the event; I did every story on the day.

I don't think I have a favourite story, though there are some things that stand out the most to me that I enjoyed writing the most, such as Corliss's introduction (fastest appearance of a sex scene of the whole lot!), the dialogue between Yirien and Aralelle, and the simple fact I wrote about Eden again for the first time in years.

Would I do it again?  Possibly...  If I wasn't a neurotic wreck incapable of writing in the two months beforehand, it could be fun.  Trying to every story every day made it a little less so.

Fun fact: not written anything since either.

WiPpet Wednesday

Another fun fact: I had totally forgotten where I'd gotten to on this.

I feel kinda like I'm sneaking back, since I've been so totally absent last month (I've been reading the snippets, just not commenting... I'm bad, I know), but between work, the sinusitis and A-Z my brain was pretty much having none of it.

WiPpet Wednesday is K. L. Schwengel's blog hop where WiP excerpts are shared, with the only criteria being that the entry has to relate to the date in some way.  It can be anything from convoluted WiPpet maths or something as simple as relating to the day.  Anyone can join in, just come along and add your WiP~

I'd be doing convoluted WiPpet maths, but I'm presently quite peeved because I've got a render of RQ cooking... and I suspended and closed the external renderer since it was using all Echo's memory and I couldn't do anything.  Opened it again and, oh look, it's forgotten all its 2 days' worth of progress and has just (re)started its Subsurface Scattering pass.  That took... 2 hours? last time.  And I'd got to 86.2% total render too...  *sighs*

SO!

Today's simple maths is 6 paragraphs for the 6th May 2015.

Fayth flexed his knuckles and winced at the sting from the grazes; at least he’d come out better than the crewman, whose clutched shirt was liberally splattered with blood from his streaming nose. And, unlike the crewman, the burn that raged under his skin meant he’d only be wearing the marks for a minute longer. “It’s a shame you decided to hang around though,” he said conversationally, swiping his thumb over the band around his wrist. Obligingly, the gull-wing door of his craft lifted itself open. “’Cause we’re just leaving and in five minutes this bay will be vented of air. You get to die naked. Maybe they’ll put it on your memorial.”

The crewman opened his mouth, but it was the Rose Queen’s gentle hand that caught his wrist as he turned those dear God why eyes up at him. “Please don’t kill him. Please...”

He should resist. The man was collateral damage at best. But something in those eyes, in that helpless expression... “Get in the ship. I’ll deal with it when he can’t make another grab for you.”

The Rose Queen nodded and padded obediently into the ship. Fayth’s skin felt bereft where his fingers had previously touched. Either the man was naïve or had more trust in Fayth than anyone in their right mind should have. Either way, to his disgust, it made him want to live up to it; he shot a glare at the naked man like it was all his fault. “Go and stand by the door. Once we’re ready to leave I’ll open it, but it’ll only be seconds before the security systems shut it again. You got that?”

The man returned the glare full-force and for a moment Fayth thought the idiot would lunge for him. To Fayth’s relief—after a moment’s clear indecision before he came to the correct conclusion that Fayth meant every word of it—he ran to the door with his bloodstained shirt clutched to his groin.

He couldn’t suppress his chuckle.

Z is for... Zero

Blogging From A to Z is a blog challenge where participants post a new item every day (except Sundays), where every item relates to the appropriate letter of the alphabet.  You can find out more over at http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com

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Story: Ground Zero
Rating: PG
Word Count: 737

His enhanced reflexes let him dodge the first flurry of fists. Shame it didn’t work on the second. Zero grunted and staggered back, instinctively wiping at his nose with the back of his hand. Blood. Of course. Considering what a pain it’d been just to find this one, it hardly came as a surprise.

Y is for... Yirien

Blogging From A to Z is a blog challenge where participants post a new item every day (except Sundays), where every item relates to the appropriate letter of the alphabet.  You can find out more over at http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com

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Story: Heavy Metal Generation
Rating: PG
Word Count: 579

It was obvious Reith had set this task as some kind of team-building exercise, but it should have been equally obvious that it was never going to work. He couldn’t tell how the others were getting on, but if it was anything like him and Aralelle, it was a resounding failure.

X is for... Xurxo

Blogging From A to Z is a blog challenge where participants post a new item every day (except Sundays), where every item relates to the appropriate letter of the alphabet.  You can find out more over at http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com

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It's National Stationery Week this week, so it seemed appropriate.

Rating: G
Word Count: 401

Xurxo signed his name on the dotted line, and tried not to notice the way the cute guy behind the counter’s eyes widened. Any second now there’d be the inevitable incredulous comment, like he was so clever for noticing, like no one else had even thought to pass comment in Xurxo’s entire twenty- eight years.

W is for... Wyn

Blogging From A to Z is a blog challenge where participants post a new item every day (except Sundays), where every item relates to the appropriate letter of the alphabet.  You can find out more over at http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com

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Rating: PG
Word Count: 463

Wyn ducked behind a stone, both hands pressed to his groin, and wondered just why this always happened to him.  He’d only wanted a pleasant stroll but these blasted ramblers got everywhere and, worse, they made the biggest fusses over nothing.

V is for... Valdete

Blogging From A to Z is a blog challenge where participants post a new item every day (except Sundays), where every item relates to the appropriate letter of the alphabet.  You can find out more over at http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com

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Rating: PG
Word Count: 561

An armoured foot slammed into Valdete’s back, crushing him into the snow.  So much pressure he thought his spine would snap in half; there’d be no use for him then, it’d be an escape.  He prayed, begged, waiting for the crunch...

U is for... Usko

Blogging From A to Z is a blog challenge where participants post a new item every day (except Sundays), where every item relates to the appropriate letter of the alphabet.  You can find out more over at http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com

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Rating: 513
Word Count: PG

His foot slipped from the last rung, depositing him in the ankle- deep water with an echoing splash that made him freeze, fingers so tight on the side of the ladder he was surprised his knuckles didn’t glow in the gloom.

T is for... Tauma

Blogging From A to Z is a blog challenge where participants post a new item every day (except Sundays), where every item relates to the appropriate letter of the alphabet.  You can find out more over at http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com

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Guess which idiot managed to cut their finger open on a crumpet today?

Story: The Palace
Rating: G
Word Count: 700

What he’d expected Tauma didn’t know, but the ruins in front of him certainly weren’t it.  He stared wide-eyed as Kanev’s wagon swayed through the gaping archway where once heavy wooden doors had hung and into the remains of a formerly formidable courtyard.

S is for... Simon

Blogging From A to Z is a blog challenge where participants post a new item every day (except Sundays), where every item relates to the appropriate letter of the alphabet.  You can find out more over at http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com

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Story: Radial/Unravel
Rating: PG
Word Count: 911

It was only by chance I went past the coffee shop.  My boss insists we have this encyclopaedic knowledge of the city, better than any taxi driver’s—not least because we don’t take the scenic routes and, anyway, I can’t exactly get away with a sat-nav on my bike—but sometimes it fails even the best of us.

R is for... Raven/Reid

Blogging From A to Z is a blog challenge where participants post a new item every day (except Sundays), where every item relates to the appropriate letter of the alphabet.  You can find out more over at http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com

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Actually pressing 'publish' would work, wouldn't it?

Story: The Palace
Rating: G
Word Count: 548

Raven had never found gardening attractive before.  What was there that was attractive about it?  Kneeling in sludge and the gods only know what else, sinking fingers up to two knuckles deep in the filth; little more than playing around in muddy puddles.

Q is for... Querry

Blogging From A to Z is a blog challenge where participants post a new item every day (except Sundays), where every item relates to the appropriate letter of the alphabet.  You can find out more over at http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com

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Rating: 15
Word Count: 489

It was hard to wait patiently, but Querry did so anyway.  What choice did he have?  He was hardly the kind of guy who took being walked away from well.  Plus, going back early would mean funny looks from co-workers who got out as often as he did.

P is for... Paradigm

Blogging From A to Z is a blog challenge where participants post a new item every day (except Sundays), where every item relates to the appropriate letter of the alphabet.  You can find out more over at http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com

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Slightly delayed again.  Very sorry.

Story: Arkadian
Rating: G
Word Count: 451

If there was one thing Paradigm was a sucker for, it was a beautiful figure.  Curves in all the right places, stunning good looks, the works.  She was gorgeous.

“You’re thinking about stealing that ship, aren’t you?”

O is for... Owen

Blogging From A to Z is a blog challenge where participants post a new item every day (except Sundays), where every item relates to the appropriate letter of the alphabet.  You can find out more over at http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com

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Today's entry isn't a story because I accidentally got distracted by rendering Owen in Poser (Pro 2014 - which I'm still getting used to).  Honestly, for something so simple-seeming, it would have been much quicker to actually write something, even if I am very satisfied with the result.

It's also late because I swear, if it's not one thing it's another.  My desktop PC, Echo, was busy rendering a larger version of it (that's now been lost because Windows 8 rebooted itself last night...), my laptop Sixteen was having none of anything last night and Celty, the Surface tablet, flat-out refuses to upload anything to Blogger.  Three attempts!

Story: Honour-Bound
Rating: G

N is for... Niko

Blogging From A to Z is a blog challenge where participants post a new item every day (except Sundays), where every item relates to the appropriate letter of the alphabet.  You can find out more over at http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com

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This short contains spoilers for the end of The Reconstruction of Kirill.

Story: The Destruction/Reconstruction of Kirill
Rating: G
Word Count: 571

True to his word, Niko never had gotten around to placing a table in the dining room.  What was the point, when he had no intention of entertaining anyway?  All the entertaining he had in mind revolved around the figure digging flower beds in the garden, the thin sheen of sweat coating his skin catching the rays of sunlight as they filtered through the ever-shifting leaves.

M is for... Milos

Blogging From A to Z is a blog challenge where participants post a new item every day (except Sundays), where every item relates to the appropriate letter of the alphabet.  You can find out more over at http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com

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Story: Unravel
Rating: 18
Word Count: 1044

The Gillie Dhu turned out to be an administrative nightmare.  There had to be someone up in the Highlands who could take responsibility for the rabid little sod, but if there was Alex had yet to find them.

L is for... Lirio

Blogging From A to Z is a blog challenge where participants post a new item every day (except Sundays), where every item relates to the appropriate letter of the alphabet.  You can find out more over at http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com

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Rating: PG
Word Count: 438

Lirio held his breath, every muscle tense.  One false movement and the rustle of leaves wouldn’t sound natural, wouldn’t blend in with the sweet breath of wind—would alert his target to his presence.   The last thing he needed was for him to startle now.

K is for... Kirill

Blogging From A to Z is a blog challenge where participants post a new item every day (except Sundays), where every item relates to the appropriate letter of the alphabet.  You can find out more over at http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com

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This short contains spoilers for the end of The Reconstruction of Kirill.

Story: The Destruction/Reconstruction of Kirill
Rating: G
Word Count: 392

The air was thick with the chirp of crickets, no doubt all desperately hopping for their lives to escape the flashing scythe’s descent.

J is for... Jonathan

Blogging From A to Z is a blog challenge where participants post a new item every day (except Sundays), where every item relates to the appropriate letter of the alphabet.  You can find out more over at http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com

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Not finished yet, but I'm crying inability yet again—or at least, I would be if I didn't think I was just shedding infection into my eye.  I'm not actually joking.  I'm not sure it should burn.  (This aside is definitely going when I finish updating this story; no one beyond today needs to know the details of my gross eye infection.  I should really show a sample of my handwriting and why this is so difficult to update...)

It's only taken two months!

Story: Radial
Rating: PG
Word Count: 2,230

The problem with lorries in the summer was the heat.  Jonathan could wind down both the windows and hammer the air conditioning in full and the sweat still poured down his forehead.

I is for... Iskariya

Blogging From A to Z is a blog challenge where participants post a new item every day (except Sundays), where every item relates to the appropriate letter of the alphabet.  You can find out more over at http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com

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Any story involving the characters of The Rose Queen might be spoileriffic if you've been following along with the excerpts posted on WiPpet Wednesday, so that's something to watch out for.

Story: The Rose Queen
Rating: PG
Word Count: 439

This was rapidly becoming his favourite place in the whole universe—not that he’d ever tell Fayth, because no way in hell was he going to put up with his insufferable amusement and reminder that RQ didn’t exactly have a vast experience of the world outside space stations and shuttle pods.