The Hardest Chapter Written and #writemotivation update

I almost called this post "How I Survived Hell Week", because it was. Not my worst week ever, but still taxing emotionally for several reasons.  First of all, I was grinding through Chapter 10 of WIP#1 and really not wanting to, plus I had a temp in my office all week.

Chapter 10 sucked because I had to deal with the death of one of my more favorite characters. Yes, I killed him. It was actually what he was wanting. Not in a suicide sense, but in a story sense. He knew his death would better serve the story than his life. I didn't want to do it, but he made me. Now, for those non-writers out there, this might not make a lot of sense, but trust me when I say, it was necessary. I even cried a little when the chapter was done. Partially from grief at killing a character I liked, and partly because it was a hard thing to write and I finished it.

On top of that, I had a temp working in my office. Now to some of you, this may not be a bad thing. To be honest, it usually isn't for me either. In fact, I needed the help. I was so far behind, I couldn't catch up. Not that I was goofing off, but rather my work load has increased exponentially since I started working there 15 years ago. Back then, we had 5 people. Now, we have 2 and we do so much more than the 5 of us did back then. Not sure how we do it, but we do. Anyway, my boss was super nice and brought in a temp. The guy that was helping me was actually really nice. He worked hard, he didn't complain, and he actually picked up on the job pretty quickly. I shouldn't be complaining, but I am. It wasn't his work that bothered me, it was that I had someone else in my office. I've been a solo worker in this office for years. I'm used to doing things my own way without having to worry about someone else getting in the way.

Despite the stress of the week, there were several positives.

1. I am involved in an anthology project started by the very cool, Violeta Nedkova (@LynMidnight on Twitter). It's part of Writer's Worth. Anyway, she's envisioned this really awesome idea. It involves 12 stories, written by 36 authors. 12 to start, 12 to flesh out, and 12 to finish. The hash tag on twitter is #Grim5Next (not sure why, it just sort of took). I was chosen to do one of the 12 starting stories. My beta has been giving me rave reviews and I should be sending it to the amazing Lyn (a.k.a Violeta) soon.
2. Someone was looking for a slush pile reader, I responded, and starting Monday-ish, I get to help read some slush-pile stuff. It should be fun. I'm looking forward to it. The other cool part is that I need to do a e-journal report for class and now I have an e-journal to present! :D
3. I finally figured out what my short-story is going to be for my Creative Writing class. Now, I just need to write it. I also have to do a character write-up as well as a short outline.
4. I attended Planet Comicon. Which, if you live in the KC area, or even the Midwest, it's about the biggest one in the area. This one was gigantic and had some really amazing guests and authors. If you follow me on Twitter, you'll see some of the pictures from it. I'll post more at some point. It was awesome, and exhausting.
5. Got some feedback on chapters 1 & 2 of WIP#1. At least in the first chapter, I used the word "seems" multiple times. Oops. I already go through each chapter remove excessive "that"s, now I have to look out for "seems". Sigh. I also need to provide more descriptions. I have some, but at least one of my betas things I need more. I guess that is why it is called a "draft". Needless to say, I will be doing some revisions later. Other than that, they really liked it.

So, after this week, my brain is kind of fried. I've kept up my writing every day, but sometimes it is harder than others. I kicked butt on my #writemotivation goals. Blew my chapter count out of the water and rooted for all my writer tweeps. As for insidious WIP#2, he kept quiet, but I'm finding that I can switch between multiple writing ideas without any problems. Either I'm going insane (a distinct possibility considering the people I hang out with) or my brain is living up to the challenges I've placed before it.

'Till next time.