Following the lead of my mentor, friend, and exemplar, Tami Moore, this is a weekly article to document progress in meeting my writing goals as described here. I use an Excel spreadsheet to track all my work by category (blog post, copyediting work, creative writing) and item. So all I need to do is add up the “words” column and I’m good to go. This article will be counted, minus the first 150 words. However, it will be counted in the following week’s total. All other blog posts and creative writing count full credit. Copyediting for other writers is counted at ten percent of the starting word count for the document; style sheets for that copyediting will count twenty-five percent. Editing my own work, if and when I get to that point, will count fifty percent of the starting word count.

Attentive readers will notice I changed the subject this week, from “Weekly Word Count” to “Weekly Wrap-Up,” which is considerably more descriptive of what actually goes on in this column. Besides a summary of the progress I made in putting words on pages over the preceding week, I’ve taken to discussing topics that don’t quite demand a full blog article. And let’s be honest: “Weekly Word Count” isn’t likely to draw in hordes of readers each week, now is it?

How Did I Do?

My weekly goal is 2,000 words. This week, my total is only 1,781 words. Disappointing, but no excuses. I simply wasn’t motivated to write this week. I suspect the excitement (if that’s the right word) of starting on my bathroom renovation was a distraction (especially on Thursday, when I spent a good part of the day prepping). Still, it’s not like there wasn’t time on Monday or Tuesday.

• Weekly Word Count: March 5 – Blog post, 389 words
• Feather Path, Chapter 9 – Copyediting, 264 words
• Introspection on Writing – Blog post, 1128 words

Feather Path

I know I’ve mentioned Feather Path and its author, Iris Harper, many times in this blog. But I don’t believe I’ve really talked about them much. It’s past time to rectify that oversight.

I met Iris back in November, during NaNoWriMo, in the Saucy Wenches chat room set up by Breana. We quickly became friends, and when I started getting interested in copyediting, Iris asked if I’d like to edit her Feather Path series. Of course I said yes, and since then, we’ve developed an excellent writer-editor relationship. Iris doesn’t accept every suggestion I make, but where we’ve differed, we usually discuss the problem I’m seeing. As far as I can recall, the solutions Iris subsequently developed were considerably better than my suggestions.

But what is Feather Path? It’s a burgeoning fantasy novel, set more or less in the present, but one of the main locations of the book (so far) is Hell. Yes, it’s a fantasy of the underworld, but it’s an underworld unlike anything you’ve ever read before. One might argue there are elements of Milton’s Paradise Lost, Dante’s Inferno, and Piers Anthony’s Incarnations of Immortality series, but they are superficial and coincidental, at best. Iris’s Hell is very, very different from any of those. Furthermore, her account of the Fall is undeniably unique and quite thought-provoking (if you want to have your thoughts provoked; my recommendation is to simply read for the enjoyment!).

Briefly, the protagonist, Kaiyu, is a catlike demon. She’s a hunter, and she has been given an assignment to kill a particular angel. I have a suspicion who that angel may be, but if I’m right, it’s a huge spoiler. (And if I’m wrong, why should I set myself up to be pilloried in the future? *grin*) As the story progresses, we begin to see that Kaiyu’s assignment is not so cut and dried as it first seemed. In fact, there may be a conflict brewing in the underworld that may rival the Fall in significance—but right now, that’s just a guess on my part.

I will say, however, that Chapter 9, “The Pits,” has the most startling, most intriguing, and most jaw-dropping plot twist yet in a novel that is brimming with twists and intrigue. Iris’s style is clear, evocative, and enveloping. She publishes a chapter about every two weeks, but I’m constantly nagging her to “write faster!” If you give Feather Path a read, you’ll be doing the same.

Bathroom Remodel

On Tuesday, we got word that the new sink I ordered for my bathroom was in at Lowe’s. In a few hours, I’ll be meeting Mrs. Kestrel there to pick up the sink, vanity, and toilet. I’ll also be buying paint and possibly some accessories.

Yesterday, I spent much of the day prepping the bathroom: I removed the toilet, took down towel bars and hooks, removed the large mirror (36″ W x 30″ H, and heavy), removed the medicine cabinet (which I was going to repaint, but now I’m leaning toward replacing), and removed the old sink. Today, I’ll get the vanity out, then start spackling and sanding before painting, which I hope will happen Saturday.

The toilet is almost 40 years old, and when I turned off the water supply and then flushed it, the bowl filled from the tank water. I couldn’t flush it again, since there was no water in the tank, so I had to bail it out by hand. When the bowl didn’t empty on the first flush, I checked a couple DIY sites to be sure I was “doing it right” (I was). What struck me, though, was in the couple videos I watched, there was about three feet of clearance on either side of the toilet, so undoing connections and removing nuts was a simple task. Hah! In my bathroom, there is a gap of about 8 inches on one side of the toilet, and 10 inches on the other.

The vanity was no different: There are vertical pieces in the front of the vanity that preclude getting more than an arm under the sink. Believe me when I say I’m no longer built for some of the contortions I had to go through to disconnect water lines and remove the P-trap (which broke, incidentally: a sign that it was definitely time for this renovation). As soon as I post this article, I’ll be going in to finish removing the vanity. Oh, joy.

I should mention that I’m trying to be careful: There is a Habitat for Humanity recycle center in town, and we want to donate what we’re removing. While the pieces are old, they’re in reasonably good shape, so if someone can use them, we want to provide that opportunity. However, there was certainly a temptation once or twice yesterday to simply take my 5-lb sledge hammer to everything.

World of Warcraft

Finally, just a few words on WoW. Last week, WoW bloggers around the world started up a couple new guilds for the blogging community. Called “Single Abstract Noun” and located on Argent Dawn (Alliance-US and Horde-EU), the guilds are growing large. I created a Night Elf rogue, Kestrelator, on the US side. If you are a blogger, or if you read blogs, you’re very welcome to join. This article by Miss Medicina contains a lot more info, including the very few rules.

To cut to the chase, if you’re interested in interacting with some of your favorite bloggers (or some of your best readers!), roll a character, log in, and type “/join singleabstractnoun” to get an invitation.

Weekly Wrap-Up: March 12 is a post from: Kestrel's Aerie