slweippert

• 16:48 @dinajames Thanks so much for the #followfriday love #
• 16:53 A tired after shopping all day #followfriday :people who write fun tweets @skyladawn @seananmcguire @dinajames @ColleenLindsay @jay_lake #
• 18:22 Just got back from PapaMurphys. Take 'n Bake pizza for the win! #
• 19:35 Ooooo! RT @skyladawn: For those ever so excited, tomorrow I bake the gingerbread and will be assembling my zombie nativity scene, Deathleham #
• 20:13 We're putting up the outside lights tomorrow. RT @maureenjohnson: I'm bringing out the Christmas decorations, Twitter! *drags out boxes* #
• 21:03 ROFLOL!! Thanks for posting. RT @shaddyr: Oh dear god. Go to tiny.cc/2wiFy and type in your name. Have a very merry! *snicker* #
• 21:33 night guys. Read you in the morning. :D #

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• 11:43 HAIKU FOR TODAY: Happy Thanksgiving/Give thanks each and every one/Do not eat too much :D #
• 11:46 I'll be over at the parent's for Turkey this afternoon. Family Fun! (please pray for me, ok?) LOL #

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• 10:24 RT @johannaharness: RT @TwinkleChar: Want to write a novel badly? Heres How. Made me think about my process. bit.ly/558iHJ #
• 10:41 HAIKU FOR TODAY: Thanksgiving is near/ frozen turkeys piled high/Do you have yours yet? #
• 10:43 Writer Frustration: want to write today, but allergies won't go away & medicine makes me sleepy...zzzz #
• 17:03 My dog is too. Isn't it a trip having one? :) RT @jimsissy: Sitting outside with my DogWhoIsAfraidOfTheDark. Brrrr! It's getting chilly. #

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• 13:10 TODAYS HAIKU: Turkey day is near/stuffed bird into stuffed humans/Only four more days #

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Ok, some of you may be wondering if I fell off the earth recently. The truth is actually more boring.

A cough took up residence in October and I just recently evicted it. Yeah, I was sick for a whole month to one degree or another. My parents were after me to go see a doctor, and when I did just to get them to stop, I was told it was likely a virus that I caught right as I was getting over a different nasty virus. Not a total waste though, the doctor gave me some nifty cough syrup that let me sleep without sitting up regularly for a coughing fit so bad I'd pee my pants. Not fun. Some writing got done, but not even up to my measly 300-500 word-per-day standard. I do have a short story Work-In-Progress I started, so I wasn't a complete slacker, but still.

Since I was home most of the time, sleeping does that, my reading got voracious. Anything to distract me from my coughing was golden, but not leaving the house and not working so no money made new stuff hard to come by. Consequently, I found a free e-reader for my portabrain, more commonly known as a Palm Tungsten. Even better than that, Baen has this wonderful website where you can download their back-list FREE. Oh, happy dance.

Because Baen is so awesome and wonderful I now have lots of Honor Harrington books by David Weber. I've wanted to read the series since dear jw1776told me about it. I've worked my way through the first seven books and now about half way through "Echos of Honor." It feels like my brain is absorbing them and that's a good thing, since my writing can only improve by taking pointers from someone who's published as many books as Mr. Weber has. :D

So I'm still at this writing adventure, but not writing as much while I absorb the techniques of a successful writer. I promise I'll be back to my writing, and the twitter & Livejournal updates will return to normal.

• 01:13 I am *not* going to stay up tonight like last night. I'm gonna take some sleeping pills & sleep tonight, dammit. lol Night everybody #
• 16:06 @sharifwrites Thanks for the mention :D #
• 16:09 Ok, I've tried to write all afternoon;first call from school-kid sick, so kid's home & needs attention, I have a massage this eve. Ghah! #
• 16:10 #wordathon total is pathetic WIP=2,986 #

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• 16:55 Having insomnia then sleeping all day is very bad for writing. WIP=2,858 #
• 16:56 My WIP is in another person's world. I've never done this before & I'm finding its kinda fun. #
• 17:20 Wish I'd talked to you this morning.I'd have more words. RT @sharifwrites: @slweippert when i have insomnia i write into the early morning #

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• 22:46 Yippie! I thought I*fail* too! RT @dinajames: Apparently I'm NOT out of the running for special #nano #wordathon! It goes 'til NEXT Friday! #
• 22:47 Since I haven't written a word since friday-ish... (hangs head in shame) AND I should be sleeping now too. #

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• 11:25 Finally getting my butt in chair today. WIP=2,428 working... #
• 12:02 I just bought issue 3 in GUD's "pay what you want" sale. bit.ly/nHKK5 #
• 12:50 still working #writeathon #nonano WIP=2,624 working... #
• 13:41 Sounds like a great time to me! RT @sharifwrites: At the book fair and my arms are loaded with books. #

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• 12:49 I'm in #wordathon #nano battle @jimsissy! Starting wordcount 1,921 #
• 12:50 BTW, I'm back. LOL Anyone miss me? #
• 12:53 Me! (waves hi) RT @robertwleonard: Looking for some #FF. Any #fantasywriters out there? #amwriting #wordathon. #
• 13:26 Does killing then in shame count? RT @rachelkvincent: Authors, does reading your early books make you want to cry? Or is that just me? #
• 16:14 Oo, I like that. I may use it. lol RT @lilithsaintcrow: The sound of the hailstorm almost drowns out the pounding bass from down the street. #
• 16:33 #wordathon & #nonano wordcount= 2,303 Progress :D #
• 16:35 @jimsissy Hi! I missed you when I was gone sick. #
• 17:33 Whoa! That's a lot of driving. You have my sympathy. RT @jimsissy: @slweippert Tomorrow I drive 400 miles, load the van and drive 400 miles #

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Editoral Ass, a very useful blog on writing which is a must read if you want to write well, talked today about paring down a bloated manuscript.

QUOTE: "First, over-volume. Lots of people write too long--I think it's about 6 times as common as writing too short--so you must not feel alone in this."

Well, I have the opposite problem. I can write a three plot interwoven story (I just did with Melanie Learns) that ends up just over 53,000 words long with no plot left unfinished.  So what the frack am I supposed to do now?

My particular problem isn't addressed anywhere. I've looked and looked.  I wish I knew the e-mail for the person who writes Editoral Ass because I'd beg them on vitural hands and knees for them to tell me how to get my work up to industry expected 80-100,000 word level.  

Must not pull hair...

• 14:16 @jimsissy What were the strange noises? Are you ok? #
• 14:41 Go look. RT @jimsissy: Authors/writers Wondering if what you're doing makes your editor nutso? New advice column tinyurl.com/yhnkl2w #

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• 09:42 Two Lumps cartoon pokes fun at the writing biz today. I just had to share. :D www.twolumps.net/ #
• 12:13 both kids home sick :( Work may suffer #
• 21:23 Oh evil sickness, why did you return? I *hate* being sick & I have to work tomorrow! #
• 21:23 Great post! RT @jay_lake: Leah Cutter with an excellent definition of writer's block - bit.ly/aOvfh #fb #

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I checked one of the internet comics I follow today and it was so good I just had to share. Two lumps pokes fun at the writing biz. 

Stephanie Meyer fans may not find parts of it funny.

• 15:59 @ann_aguirre when I click the link it just takes me to my facebook home page There's nothing about someone's release day :( #

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Dropped off my absentee ballot this afternoon. I made a point of voting in this one. It's rare that I express political beliefs in this journal, however, there is something on the ballot this time that I feel strong enough about that I want to comment on it.

( My views are not necessarily yours, but make sure you vote today ok? )

• 10:16 staring at a blank page....damn, gotta get the tuna fish for my muse again #
• 10:22 Tuna worked. :D #
• 11:58 Sure you didn't ;) RT @jimsissy: ...working at the food pantry. OUCH. Was attacked by honey bunches of oats. I didn't start it, I swear. #
• 12:31 978 words in WIP #
• 15:33 WIP=1,398 (happy smile) I'm off to do errands. #

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• 16:24 Hi guys! I'm back from a fun Halloween. Did I miss anything? #
• 17:06 LOL RT @uppington:Too funny! RT@GaryCorby: flowchart to help you decide what religion you should follow. Very helpful! is.gd/4KsMy #
• 17:09 OMG! U have way more interesting friends than I do.RT@ElleVee:DUDE, WTF WHY IS SOMEONE ON FB TALKING ABOUT THEIR CLITORIS? WTF. DO NOT WANT. #
• 17:51 Right On RT @Janet_Reid: There really is restorative power in apple pie. Just FYI. #
• 17:52 I'm working on outline for a story request. They asked me to do it for Nano. Sigh, so much for great plans... #
• 21:25 7.5 tons of steel from the World Trade Center made into a navy ship. wow RT @ColleenLindsay: www.ussnewyork.com #

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• 11:41 Happy Halloween to all my talented tweet-friends #

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The short story I just finished is strangly appropriate for today, so I thought I'd post the beginning just for fun.

Afterwards by Stephanie Weippert

A monsoon rain followed a long August dry spell. Rain slicked road with sharp curve he didn’t respect. Helpless curses as the car slammed through the guardrail and the ground expanded in his windshield.

His eyes jerked open but he was no longer in his car. Did he make it? He didn’t feel dead, but it was unlikely he survived riding in a car off that high a cliff. He tried to remember what happened but got a blank. If he died, he had no memory of it; the un-spooling reel of images faltered about half way to the bottom.

But where was he now?