First week back.

Classes have started for MSSU, where I teach part time.  I have my classes starting in about half an hour, so I’ll keep this somewhat brief.

Daniel is having more difficulty than Kathryn in getting used to the routines and expectations of school.  He’s had some bad behavior days where he came home with word from his teacher.  He’s a hyper, adorable, talkative little boy, and has trouble listening, sitting still, staying quiet, and following directions.  Pretty normal–he’s six, and he’s not had preschool.  But it has been nerve-wracking, and has kept me distracted this week.

Kathryn managed to catch something her first day of preschool, and started showing symptoms on Sunday night.  She’s better, now, but I managed to catch it from her, and I’m still trying to fight it off.

Even with all that, I’ve gotten several more chapters written–word count is up to 74,000–and only have five more to go.  I’m estimating this book will end up around 90,000 words, or around the length of The Godshead.

As for the stuff I actually have written…well, my cover artist is a bit preoccupied in preparing for her wedding in a few months.  I haven’t gotten the cover art delivered yet.  I’m hoping to get that soon, though.

We’ll see, and we’ll see what the final day of class for the week sends home with the kids, and what the weekend brings.

Damn. Damn, damn, damn.

Well.  This past week was disappointing.  I got started wrong twice on two different chapters, and had to delete and rewrite, because I got stuck at 500 words, and they wouldn’t unblock.  So, instead of getting a chapter a day, I managed a chapter every two or three days.  I’ve gotten the book up to chapter 22, and 61,000 words, out of a planned 31 chapters.  So, about 4/5 of the way done. 

I’ve also been distracted by getting things ready to start the school year: Daniel is starting Kindergarten (today’s his first day), and Kathryn is starting preschool (tomorrow), and they needed clothes, supplies, stuff labeled, and organized.  Parents must supply the classrooms, which I don’t begrudge, since it’s a small, private, Christian school.  We’ll also need to supply snacks twice a month for Daniel, and a week out of the semester for Kathryn’s class.  Which, again, I don’t begrudge, considering.

Were it public schools demanding this on top of the shoddy education, apathetic teachers, and all of it taken from us at gunpoint (which it is anyway), I’d have a different attitude about the demanded hand sanitizer, paper towels, kleenex, etc., ad nauseum. 

Andrew, my husband, is starting back to class as of Monday (as am I), and we’ve been getting him ready, too.  Unfortunately, I’ve been too busy with everything else to get my class sites ready.  So, that is the plan for today: I need to get my sites built.  I need to load up my Course Policy Statement, my schedule of classes for the semester, and the textbook, and I need to create the discussion board threads for the semester, and create the assignment links.  Oh, and get the grade book all set up.

After that, I’ll be able to get back to writing.  But, for right now, I am about five chapters behind where I wanted to be.  Five days of lost productivity on the book.  Hopefully, I’ll be able to get caught up during the first couple of weeks’ office hours (two per day on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday), before the first papers are due to come in.

Really coming along well…

So, the last time I posted, I had 25,000 words done on Fire and Forge.  As of last night (not quite a week and a half later), that had increased to 50,300.  I’ve gotten eighteen of a planned 31 chapters done, so I’m fairly happy.

I’m thinking the vampire story will be what comes up next.  The character is beginning to agitate a bit…

Got more writing to do.  Will update in another week (or so).