Hitting a Writing Milestone

So far in my "writing career" I haven't gotten very far. I love to write. I make up stories here and there and usually quit writing the story because I get discouraged. But last night I hit the 39K word count. I am less than 1000 words away from hitting 40,000 words, which is roughly half a book. And not just a story that has a bunch of words, but words that I am pretty darn proud of.

I got some feedback on my first page and it just got me excited to write again. I just wish my excitement lasted longer periods of time. I've got to figure out a way to keep the momentum going. I feel like I have a better idea of what needs to be improved. I know a couple scenes that I am definitely am going to have to completely re-do, a few that I'll need to improve the quality of writing on, and I have some ideas to give the novel more quality about it.

Besides writing, I am also working on losing weight. In a year's time I have lost 27 pounds. Sadly, I still have about 25-30 more pounds to go, but now I know I can do it.

Also, having a few little kids around the house with school out makes it a little less scheduled around here. Oh, and not to mention that I am trying my hand at gardening.

So a little about gardening: I grew up in a house with 1/2 acre. We had a huge garden. Pretty much any vegetable or fruit you can think of that grows around here -- we grew it. I helped planting, picking weeds, and harvesting. So you would think I would have this green thumb. Nope.

I don't like bugs, I don't like sitting on the ground pulling weeds, and I forget to water my plants. My kids love the idea of gardening and I do also to an extent. So, we are attempting to grow: 1 corn stalk, 2 tomato plants, 1 strawberry plant, 2 pumpkin plants, and 1 watermelon plant. Last year my attempt at carrots and 3 tomato plants yielded 9 small tomatos and no carrots. Basically anything I can harvest will probably be an improvement this year. Maybe someday I will get this gardening stuff all figured out.

UPDATE: I hit 40K. 40,365 to be exact. WAHOO!!!

Summer Vacation

As for the writing: Still a no show. I've been thinking about it, but just not into right now.

We are going to be heading on our first camping trip of the summer. The kids are excited and I'm getting excited. It's hard to get excited about it when you know that you need to clean out your car trunk, gather all the camping supplies, make a list of everything you need, pack your stuff, double check the stuff your kids pack, pack the food, hope everything fits, etc. But we are only camping about 10 miles away from home, so if we forget anything, we'll just run home and get it.

My brother-in-law is borrowing our Tahoe (SUV) for a relay race. So we are packing for our family of 5 (and dog) with just my Impala. We will all probably have bags on our laps and be packed like sardines in the car. Luckily, like I said, it will only be a 10 mile ride.

When the little one takes a nap, I'm heading outside to clean out the car and pack the few things that I can get packed now.

However, I am getting excited at the thought of having things done and ready for camping. No internet, no video games, but I will have my Kindle. Reading while camping is one of the nice relaxing things.