Updates and Projects

Still writing on my 100 Day Challenge. No takers on joining me, though, so I've signed up for a 100-in-100 Challenge at my favorite Live Journal site, one_million_ words to help me stay accountable. A friend convinced me sharing my 100 Day Challenge as I write would not go over well in future unless I decide in advance to self-publish and since that challenge project is aimed at a small publisher that takes direct submissions, I guess I'll hold off for now. I can tell you it's a mystery set in Daytona Beach featuring  a female detective with DBPD, a former intelligence agent, and the greyhound track. 

I haven't made my thousand words a day quota! It's been harder than I thought to circumvent real life for just an extra thousand words a day beyond my set writing commitments. My little, no-down-time very necessary surgery to correct a cancer reconstruction issue suffered a complication of its own, naturally. And my long-time writing companion, kitty Silverleaf, succumbed on March 1 to kidney disease after four and a half years of modified diet and supplements. My dog, only six, has vision issues and has decided aggressive is better in all things that approach her. Cue attack on neighborhood bulldog. I'm learning a lot about actual, foundational dog training as we work with a professional now, something I've never had a need for in the past. Between my horse training, behavioral modification education, and plain old good luck with past dogs I've always had nice, obedient pups without formal instruction. 

A year ago we were at our lowest medical point with my oldest in her eighteen month fight against new-onset vasculitis. Now she has improved to the point of applying for re-admission to her university and planning a move back there to begin summer courses. I'm thrilled! And scared. And revising my schedule every day to try to work in more words daily since helping her accomplish this new goal is going to cut into...wait for it...my writing time (but who cares since YAY! THRILLED!). We thought she'd wait until the fall but as I stole more time for my work this spring and left her to her own devices—a necessary benign neglect in parenting a child recovering from long illness—she naturally started looking further ahead. And hey! This means more writing time once summer arrives!

My current projects by priority are: 1) Re-writing lit novel set on Beech Mountain 2) Continue writing second Andrea Kelley mystery 3) New Alvarium Project sci-fi novella 4) 100 Day Challenge mystery with indie publisher 5) various writing prompts to juice my creativity- I issued one at Twitter today (@LAndrewsPatt) if you'd like to play- Five choices your character regretted and one choice he/she will never regret. Blog challenge: Post as five-time fic! Leave me a link in a comment here or at Twitter if you accept the challenge :-)

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