WIPpet Wednesday and ROW 80 Update

This past week has been a good writing week, so far I've:

• Finished my chapter for Collaborating Chaos. 
• I was actually a few words short on the chapter. The minimum is 2500, and I think I came in at 2460. I probably could have added some to it here and there, but the others agreed that the chapter was fine the way it was, and it was added to the website on Sunday. You can read it here.
• I finished and posted the next chapter in one of my fanfics. 
• Sadly the other one may not be done until August unfortunately. 
• I worked on TUO
• A lot of Chapter 7 is already written. In the second draft (or that may be third... I've lost count) it was actually a much later chapter. All I'm doing is going through and editing out the parts that no longer fit in with this version of the story. I'm also adding some dialogue here and there (which is turning out to be far more cryptic than I was expecting). It feels a bit like cheating since there's very little writing actually going on. 
• I also worked on The Descendants
• Chapter 1 has been a bit of a plague in my side. One beta reader said it was fine. Another said I spent too much time going over accounting details and falling into the 'As you know, Bob' trap (More details on this type of info dump can be found here and here). She also suggested I start off in an action scene, like a party that's supposed to happen in the next chapter, but I was worried that doing that would result in another infodump. Plus not every story starts off in the middle, sometimes you have to build up to what's happening. I think I finally found a perfect balance. 

Getting the etsy store started is proving to be a little harder. I had to clean up one more picture, and then I thought I would be done. However, I read somewhere online that you should have more than one product available in your store when you launch, and they should be related to each other. Since the first product was going to be a Turkish or Belly Dance bodice, I think I'll also offer cowrie falls and belly dance belts. They're both pretty easy to make, and I already have a few floating around our home so I can take pictures of them for examples. Finding them to take said pictures however is proving to be another matter. In addition to that I've also come up with an idea for paper fans that I can sell as well! When I told my husband though, he suggested that I do it, but include them as a thank you gift for everyone who orders. I don't know how I feel about that. I may include fans in the orders, but not the fancy ones I want to make. We'll see. 

And now for the WIPpet!

KL Schwengel shared a post today that explains where WIPpet Wednesday all began. Basically the rules are that you mush share a piece of what you are currently working on (or a new project that you create for WIPpet Wednesday) that is somehow related to the date. So since today is 7/24/2013 you can share 24 words/lines/paragraphs from page seven or chapter seven. Or seven paragraphs from whatever chapter you want. Or you can add all the numbers in the date up, or add some of the numbers up and subtract others or... anything really. People get really creative with Math when it comes to WIPpet Wednesday posts!

Today I'm going to share 6 paragraphs from chapter 7 of TUO (2+4=6) Mattie is speaking with someone, but I'm going to be cruel and I won't say who:

“No! Of course not.” Mattie said quickly, lest she anger him again. “It’s just, we’re very close, sir. Very close. I don’t know why they wouldn’t tell me something like that.”

“Because I asked them not to. They’ve proven to be quite good at helping me keep my secrets.” He smiled. He stepped around her, still studying her, like one might do to an insect under a magnifying glass. “Don’t be too upset with them; they seem to have a fair share of their own secrets that they refuse to tell even me.”

She nodded, unsure of what to say next.

Apparently done with his inspection, he came to stand in front of her. “Do you have any secrets?”

She shook her head. “No, sir. Not that I can remember.”

“Mm.” He stepped close, and leaned down so his lips were next to her ear. “Can you keep one?” Goosebumps broke over her skin for the second time that evening and her heart seemed to pound even louder than before. However, this time it was not out of fear, but out because of a completely different emotion that was terrifying in and of itself.

Be sure to wander over here to check out more ROW 80 updates, and check out this link for more WIPpet Wednesday posts!