You know, I keep saying I’m going to blog more, but I don’t. Job hunting is taking up more time than I expected–especially as I’ve been getting, on average, an interview per week.
And, even more than that, I have obsessively writing on my historical romance novel, The Flames of Prague. I mean writing like I’m the last week of NaNo and I’m behind by several thousand words. This is a very good thing, as I had planned on releasing it the end of this year, but had only half of it done and was just not inspired to work on it.
It kinds of sucks to have to wait for inspiration, but when I get, boy, I get it.
I set myself a goal of writing 1,000 words a day, but I’ve been regularly clocking in at 3,000 words. Yesterday I wrote over 4,000 words, and I wasn’t even home all day. (I had an interview in Chattanooga yesterday morning, then drove 2 hours back home; I didn’t get back until about 1:30 in the afternoon).
And not only have I been writing a lot, I’ve been doing a fair amount of research, too. Mostly that consists of looking over my desk at my husband and asking, “What sort of job title would Petr have? He manages Jakub’s estate and is second in rank only after Jakub.” And, “Is peacock a white-meat or a red-meat bird?”
But I also look things up online and in our rather impressive personal library of medieval studies. Talhoffer’s classic 15th century book of fighting styles is next to my computer because I had to consult it regarding the proper technique for fighting with war hammers on poles. (No doubt a hands-on demonstration will later be needed.)
This past weekend I was online, digging through European coinage, trying to determine if the Prague groshen had any smaller denominations (yes, peniz–12 to the gros). This lead to a discussion between my husband and me as to the value of it compared to the English pound. (In practice, it was the equivalent of a shilling. In actual exchange rates, it seemed to be worth about 57 pennies–or four shillings, sixpence, and thruppence–or a half-crown, two shillings, and thruppence–or just 0£/2s/17d. ) Earlier today I combed through lists of medieval names and started organizing my historical notes/bibliography section.
I made covers for my next two books in the Acceptance Trilogy last week (those will go on display as soon as I go somewhere with high speed internet and upload the updates to my website); now if I could only get the cover for Flames to come out the way I want it to….
(BTW: This is my 500th post! And May of this year will mark my third year.)
500 posts – Wow, congratulations! I am impressed with how well you are utilizing your time. Best of luck with your job search!
I have been doing pretty well with my system of 15 minutes on and 15 minutes off. I work (usually cleaning house, but putting in applications can count, too) for 15 minutes, then spend 15 on the internet and/or writing my book. I’ve slacked off on that this week, though; I haven’t done much housecleaning. I’ve just been too obsessed with my book. But I’m closing in on that minimum word count. About 5,000 more to go!
Congratulations on your 500th post! Great that you’re burning to write: Flames of Prague sounds great. I loved reading Acceptance so look forward to reading it when it’s finished.
Thanks. I’m really pleased with the way “Flames” is turning out. It’s a romance, so, yeah, there’s a lot more time spent sighing and making eyes and a whole lot less killing (although we have a few beatings and blood), but I like my characters. Jakub is chivalrous–to the point it’s unusual, even in his day and time–and a very straight-forward man. When something needs to be done, he does it. He has very clear-cut ideas on right and wrong. And he doesn’t like B.S.; he avoids court because he doesn’t like playing games. He is fair to his tenants and doesn’t display or exercise his power just because he can.
Yay! For your 500th post! That’s a lot of writing all by itself, considering it also includes thirty episodes of Vampire Lawyer and a lot of researched articles. Glad to hear you are making lots of headway with your historic romance too. And, by the way, is peacock red or white meat?
From what I gather, it has dark meat (but not red meat, like a duck), kind of like the dark meat of a turkey. It is supposed to be closest in taste to a pheasant and dry and lacking fat like a wild turkey. Apparently turkeys replaced peacocks on European tables.