Today’s post is brought to you by “Exact Change.” Why? Because I paid for my Taco Bell lunch with it today, and I honestly can’t remember the last time I paid with exact change for…anything. It was quite satisfying, even if I had to dig out four pennies.

NaNoWriMo/Nonnative Ice

Trying to break through the 30k mark–I’m at 28,100 and coming along slowly. The novel’s hit that point to where it’s become a chore, and while killing someone off got me another 2,000 words, it’s slowing down again. Ah well, I suppose I’ll keep on truckin’ and get those words in…and see what shows up at the end. I might be able to save half of it. Hopefully.

Children of Hephaestus

So, finally sucked it up and decided to start following some common advice I’ve seen around the writer’s blog & spheres: I printed a copy of the book on paper, and am currently reading it out loud–with a pen in my hand.

It…is surprisingly effective. It’s sort of like that mirror trick in art–flip your canvas horizontally and suddenly all of those anatomy mistakes are glaringly obvious where you had overlooked them before–it makes sense in your head but you don’t quite believe it.

Until it works. I throw my hands up and admit it: Reading aloud, on a different medium–it works.

It’s just slow. I’ve spent about an hour a chapter, and I’m only on the third one in the book. Very time consuming, but the effort should prove to be worth it.

Children of Hephaestus 2: Jupiter

Title still pending–and the word count is actually somewhere around 6,000 as of last night. I overestimated on the last post (which has since been corrected). I’m really excited about this one–I’ve already had some discussions with my editor to help keep continuity straight with the first book, and I’ve established my second plot thread.

My goal is to have the bulk of this book written by the time it’s predecessor goes into print, and now that I’m no longer ripping my hair out for the background plot, I think things are going to go much more smoothly.

Author Blog

I’ve decided if I don’t have a tool to share–I’ll share an author’s blog I’ve been reading! :D First up:

Jody Hedlund. I’ve been following Ms. Hedlund on Twitter for a while now, and enjoying her blog quite a bit. She updates regularly and usually has some good, quick advice for the aspiring writer. I also got a chance to read The Preacher’s Bride by her, and it was pretty good. So, check her out if you’ve got a moment. :D