I am Tougher!

I've learned...that life is tough, but I'm tougher ~ Andy Rooney

What a crazy month, once again! Life has been going full force since November. If you remember, I spent November trying to do NaNoWriMo (epic fail!) and going through the editing process for #disappearwithme. Disappear With Me launched right smack dab in the middle of the Holiday season.

I was sick during Christmas and then the cough hung on for three full weeks. There were times I couldn't even talk because I would cough. Then my husband's mother was sick and passed away, we had to make two trips to Colorado in a two week period because of that.

(See my guest post on the Musa Blog for some reflections on the long trips across the Kansas Prairie:
http://deanpacefrech.blogspot.com/2014/01/delighted-by-our-beautiful-little-planet.html )

I was determined after Christmas to get back on track with writing. For the first time in eighteen months, I don't have a first draft that I am massaging and getting ready for submission. It's weird to think it took four years to get a first draft completed, and now just two years later, I'm freaking out because I don't have one.

Between the general busyness of the holidays, year end/tax time at work, and being ill, January wasn't starting out too well at all. But when we got the call that we needed to go to Colorado, having routines stuck in my head immediately kicked in.

Though he teases me heavily about taking so much stuff with me on road trips, I really did pack nearly my whole desk so that I had all my tools available while we were away. I expected to be sitting in the hospital for long periods of time with nothing to do, and I wanted to keep myself busy.

I kept myself as busy as I could, supporting my husband and his brother through his difficult time. I figured out a writing schedule to get my current WIP, The Higher Law, completed and ready for submission later this year. I also figured out a "balance" plan to polish the Higher Law and begin working on the next title, Sartin. That's all in keeping with my goal this year to write three manuscripts and publish two.

It's been easier for me this time because I knew I had done it before. One of my obstacles was figuring out my story. I just used a trick I've used before by jumping to another part of the story and writing that. Sure enough, by figuring that out, I figured out how I would deal with more difficult parts of the story. As a result, I've written 1000 words per day since January 16 and am well on my way to completing the first draft of The Higher Law by the end of March.

How do you get back on track when you've been derailed on your dream journey?

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Is it possible for two Civil War veterans to find their place in the world on the Kansas Prairie?

 

Love is greater than hope or faith, but can Reverend Leander Norris convince a jury that the love he shares with another man is natural?

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