Sunday, April 29, 2012

Updates and Machina Mortis News

Morning everyone! Clear skies today - perfect to take out the air balloon!

After a week of nothing less than chaotic, it's good to have the weekend here with sunshine and moments of relaxation. Hubby and I spent all day Saturday together. We enjoyed a glass of wine down by the riverfront, grilled steaks for dinner, and sipped apple spiced hooch in front of the firepit. A wonderful way to let go of the brain numbing week I'd had.

All last week I was in test mode. I had a test Tuesday, two tests on Thursday (back to back), and a test on Friday. I don't think there should ever be more than one test in a week, you know - the sanity thing? I barely had time for anything except homework and studying. But no tests this week, so it should be a more balanced week for hitting my goals.

The goals I'd set for round two:
1) Polish my steampunk novel so it is ready to send to an agent. At this time the first 40 pages are deep-edited and polished. It's another ten pages from last week, and all I had time to do.

2) Complete rough draft of steampunk WIP#2. I managed 3500 words - so I'm happy.

3) Blog at least 3 times a week. This is a long term goal. I'm looking at around the second week of May to start this.

4) Exercise 3 - 4 times a week. Once again I worked out all 5 days :)

5) Submit steampunk short story. I didn't get a chance to check over format and final read through thanks to all the studying for tests. This is on the agenda to complete this week.

6) Read 30 minutes daily. Yes! I finished North of Beautiful, Divergent, Blood Rights, and I'm starting on Retribution Falls today.

The novel edits are coming along and I'm continuing to write no less than 500 words a day. I'm okay with where I'm at because there wasn't much I could do about it last week. I plan to rev up that word count this week.

I did receive some very good news! My steampunk horror story Clockwork Carousel will be included in the Machina Mortis anthology :) I'm super excited! Here's a peek at the awesome cover:


What do you think?

I hope everyone else is doing well with their goals! I'll be stopping by other blogs this week to send cheers and cyber incentives :)

Need help to stay motivated? Crave encouragement? If so, join ROW80. All the info is at that link.

And to end my post I'm leaving you with some steampunkery goodness:

Seriously cool iPhone station that functions as a night light, charging station and audio station. For more about this cool invention, click Here




And from Dr. Grymm's Laboratories - nautilus goggles!

Dr. Grymm has a ton of fantastic inventions - be sure to stop by his Laboratory to ooh and ahh!
Thanks so much for stopping by!

Marie

7 comments:

  1. I'm with you, never more than one test per week, but you made it through nicely it seems. Fantastic job staying up with things this week and taking the time to hang out with your hubby. My wife and I got to do that last night, see The Raven (which is awesome) and go out for drinks afterward - all good things.

    Congrats on being included in the Machina Mortis anthology, what an incredible accomplishment! Have a super week, Marie :)

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  2. Thanks Gene! I'm so glad you enjoyed The Raven - I absolutely want to see this movie. I think John Cusack was a perfect choice for the role. I'm hoping to see it next weekend.

    I hope we both have a little more calm to our week!

    Appreciate you stopping by :)

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  3. well done on great week - tests and your own writing - congrats at the publication and lots of smiles and good wishes for coming week:)

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  4. Whoo-hoo! That's great that your story with be added to the anthology. Congrats :) I hope next week gets easier.

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  5. Thank you Alberta :) Very much appreciated!

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  6. Thanks so much Ryan :) It was a much needed boost after a week of tests! We both deserve a great upcoming week!

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  7. Be sure to let us know when the anthology comes out! Very eager to read the collection! :)

    Andi-Roo /// @theworld4realz
    http://www.theworld4realz.com/
    theworldforrealz@gmail.com

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