Happy birthday to Amanda Snyder!

My goal for this month is to write at least 15,000 words for my novel before I leave for California. I'm up to 4,500 words so far. I've always tended to over-edit myself as I write, which slows things down. One of the useful things I learned while collaborating on the short story with Michelle is how to force myself to just keep writing and not worry about editing until later.

Working on my book on a daily basis is tremendously satisfying rather than bits and pieces ever few weeks, plus I'm gradually getting more efficient. 500 words a day was agony at first. Today I wrote 1800. My goal is to get the first draft of this book done by the end of August. It's going to be somewhat of a challenge, what with all the stuff going on in my life between now and then (friends visiting for a week and a half, trip to Niagara-on-the-Lake with my mom-in-law and Jeff, Conchord and California visit, trips to the cottage), but as long as I do some writing every day, I should be fine.

I'm settling on a ritual when I go out to write. Find a coffee shop with a table and chair near a power outlet, order one (1) black coffee, get out my headphones and listen to some Kim Robertson harp music on my computer, start writing. Sometimes I don't even touch the coffee, but keep the cup nearby to prove that I did buy something so have a right to be there. :-) The harp music is to block out whatever music is playing on the loudspeakers; I use my special headphones that I usually take on long flights, able to block out low frequency noise. It works wonderfully...it means that whatever the environment I write in, I can tune out the conversations and music going on around me. I like chairs with padded seats and no arms; that way I can kick off my sandals and work cross-legged (my favourite writing position).

What do I do with the rest of my work time? Do my daily Market Watch column, monthly columns for Writing World and Muse's Muse, online research work for Moira Allen, some magazine market query work. My main focus right now, however, is on my novel for young people. I really, really want to get that finished and off to my agent as promised.

Today's Blatherpics:

Jeff shares office space with Bryan Fullerton and a web design company called One Trick Pony (Scott P., Ray, and Tony). Yesterday was Scott's last day with the company, so we all took him out for lunch.

	Bryan, Tony, Ray, Scott P., Jeff, in front of Ho Tsu on Queen Street.
	Ray. I asked him to put his shades on for the picture.
	Scott Petrie.

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