Secret of the wood is holding a solid score with nice vote totals in the contest at Lit, and at last look, it was holding #6 on the monthly rating board at SOL as well.

Worked on SOTM a little tonight, but I think I still need a bit of time before I knuckle down.  I may try starting Ch. 06 of Lowborn, to see if that wakes me up.  I’ve been tinkering with Amber and some other things as well, but nothing is really singing to at me at the moment.  Once I can find one that will, the rest will usually follow.

I had a hard fight getting Secret ready for the contest in time, and it took a lot out of me.  This cold is still kicking my behind too, so I’ve been taking a little break.

I just put Secret in the queue at SOL, by the way.  It will probably come out with the morning crop of stories.  If you’re an SOL reader, feel free to pop over to Lit and vote for it there in the contest, though.  No need to sign up, just read and vote ( once!  No ballot box stuffing *laugh* )

Every vote counts, because trolls abound on Lit even more than they do on SOL due to no need for a login to vote.

I’m off tomorrow, so I’m hoping to get some extra sleep, and then wake up to see if I can get some writing done.  The next scene of SOTM has been brewing in my head, so that’s probably where I’ll start.

Still feel like hell, but I’m pushing onward.  Just installed a new version of Wordperfect, and it’s making my life much easier.  The version I was using was programed for XP, and it was slow as hell on Win 7.  The new version runs faster than the old version did on the system it was designed for.

Struggling with Amber.  The scene is flowing, but it almost feels like it’s too long.  This is one of the main scenes that the whole story concept was built around, but I think I’m going to have to find a way to compress it some.  It’s going to be as long or longer than the whole rest of the story, and that makes it feel as if it’s dragging.

Have the beginning of another story in my third pen name going, just because I needed a little something to break out with.  It’s still lowest priority on my list, but I needed the change of pace, and that tale provided it.

Second draft review for Secret of the Wood should be back sometime this weekend.  As long as there aren’t any major problems, it should be off for final editing with Roust shortly thereafter, and ready to go into the contest shortly after the opening bell on the 28th.

Working on SOTM 17 in the other window right now on the new, faster WP.  Let’s see how much I can get done before the night’s over 🙂