Another Thanksgiving has passed and the great tradition of Friday shopping continues. I remember 21 years ago when my girlfriend's grandmother was heading out at 4am to go to Ames to see what deals awaited. Fast forward to the present and many people are waking up, jumping online, and seeing what deals await online. 

In the spirit of Black Friday, many of my books are free through the weekend on Kindle. Feel free to take a look and download one, two, three, or all that are available. 

For my fellow writers or those who are about to undertake some writing, I wanted to share my recent play list for Seli. I often find when I write that some songs motivate me more than others. Granted, I tend to jam out sometimes and lose my focus, so I have added the staples that bring me back to reality and to the scenes I am about to write.

Enjoy the list below and may you all have a fun extended holiday weekend.

(The list is in no particular order. I actually use YouTube when I'm writing)

The Psychedelic Furs - Love Your Way
Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence
The Cure - Just Like Heaven
The Cure - Pictures of You
Go West - King of Wishful Thinking
Taylor Swift - The Last Time
Taylor Swift - Can’t Stop Loving You 
Alice DJ - Better off Alone
New Radicals - You Get What You Give
Alanis Morissette - Ablaze
Warren G - Regulate
Fine Young Cannibals - She Drives Me Crazy
Mazzy Star - Fade Into You
Chainsmokers - Something Like This (done by the Color Music Choir)
Capital Cities - Safe and Sound
Madonna - Crazy for You
Surf Mesa - I love you baby
Kygo and Whitney Houston - Higher Love
Nico and Vinz - Am I Wrong
And when I really had to focus: 
Paul Collier - Various Pieces
Piano Music from Best Romantic Classical  WavesDVDcom: Relax Music & Nature Sounds Videos

Welcome to Thanksgiving in 2020 where many of us will be spending time at home, alone. When I write alone I mean likely in a small family gathering as opposed to what many of us are used to during this start to holiday season. 

2020 has been a weird year for sure. Between it being an election year, a divisive climate in general, and then a pandemic that has worn all of us down, it's been a LONG year. 

Instead of dwelling on all of these things, I will simply wish all of you a good day tomorrow. If you are looking for anything new to read, I have a promotion running through the weekend for free Kindle copies of many of my books. 

For non-readers or people not in the mood to read, get started on those holiday movies. I know I bought a few today. Love Actually is on the books for tonight. 

Happy Turkey Time or in my case Shepherd's Pie :) 

I crossed the 50,000 word marker today during my afternoon writing session. I wasn't sure if I was actually going to make it today because there was a difficult scene this morning that was extra emotional. This happens occasionally in the writing process. Characters take the author in different directions and the next thing you know, for better of worse the highs and lows of a character's journey can be taxing even to the creator of the piece. 

Overall though it was a productive week. At school I had parent conferences on Tuesday and Thursday which made me have to be extra creative with finding adequate time to write. My weekday writing time is typically after my afternoon workout and dinner. I have tried to set aside 90 minutes a day. Originally it was 60 minutes, but I found that I needed to give myself more time because I am editing as I go through the writing process. Some days I have to go back and read over the previous day's work. Or I have to pull out the other books in the Luza series to make sure I'm staying true to the world, the characters, and what they can and cannot do.

Again the writing process is going well. I think a first draft will be finished by next weekend. Enjoy your Thanksgiving and be safe!

The writing process never ceases to amaze me. I typically start off slow and then as the characters come alive, everything speeds up. That has been true again with the latest book. As I write this quick update I'm around 34,000 words. I'm pretty confident that either next Saturday or Sunday I'll be over 50,000 words which in itself will meet the NaNoWriMo challenge. 

I'm not sure how long this book will be but I think the first draft will end up somewhere around 60,000 words, maybe 65000. Usually at this stage of the book I can see the progression of the story. I certainly know where the characters are going. It appears this book will lead into another. Maybe if all goes well, a third book too which would meet my goal of a 7 book Luza series. 

More to come next week. 
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As many are already aware I am in the middle of the National Novel Writing Month challenge. If you want the latest update on that feel free to watch the video below.
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