An Incomplete Goal, and Other Stuff...

I haven't completed my goal I set last week of getting the fight scene written down in "The Shepherdess Princess," but both sides are preparing for battle!  I also was able to add everything I had in a "splice file" (scenes written for the story to incorporate later) into the last few pages I've been working on.  Some of the additions need to be edited still, but two-thirds of what I added already flows with the rest of the novel.  I am now starting on the tenth chapter, and have 78 pages.  I ended up with a total of 67 pages from a starting point of 76 pages at one point during the editing process, so I hope that gives my readers some grasp of how much I added to the manuscript and I'm far from being done.  The fight scene kicks off the second half of the novel from my point of view.  I hope to have 20 chapters before it's final edit, and sent in for publication.

I've been antsy a little today too because I find out sometime before August 1st if I'm a finalist for the Ruth Lilly Poetry Fellowship.  I was talking to a friend the other day about what we would both do if we both got chosen for $15,000.

• We both said we'd take a trip to NOLA (New Orleans) for inspiration.  We decided she could have the cemetery, and I'd take the French Quarter.
• I'd buy several copies of my published books to distribute to the local bookstores.
• Buy a new laptop, stock up on printer ink, and upgrade my Microsoft Word program.
• Have a book signing/poetry reading somewhere in the community, and
• Rent a cabin in the woods for a week for a writer's retreat with any author friends that might want to tag along.  :)

I just got a letter in the mail today from World Poetry Movement telling me they want to publish one of my poems in a new volume of "Stars in Our Hearts."  I made it to the semi-finalist round again, and should be automatically added as a finalist.  The last time they told me that the semi-finals was as far as I got, so I'm not getting my hopes up this time.

I can't believe within a week my blog has gone up 100 more views.  On July 2nd, I was marking the blog having 1500 views on my Facebook page and I come online this morning to see that I am now at 1600 and still going!  Do people really enjoy reading my ramblings, or do I have a captive audience out there?  :)  Either way, keep on reading and enjoy your day!