Whoo-ee, it's been a busy few months. I think I've been to... technically three cons since the last update, making five this year, and then, of course, there was NaNoWriMo (during the course of which I wrote 40k on one novel, then ditched it and wrote 50k of Dryden 2.0 in the last 8 days instead, clocking in a couple of 10k+ days, and a grand total of over 90k for the month, which is the most I've ever done in that sort of time frame. Check that awesome graph!).
And then I got a job at Waterstone's. Just a Christmas temp, for now, but of course it's extremely busy already and I am rather enjoying myself getting to be excited about books all day long. I really should stop clapping and cheering when customers who go off on an epic quest to find one specific book return to me at the till waving it triumphantly in the air, though.
In any case, that's what I've been up to and why the blog has vanished a little! I was all set to do a Fantasycon write up (probably still should; I have lots of notes and had a lot of fun) but was in the process of writing a short story (more like novella, and the most wonderful writing experience I've had in years) over the con anyway, and from then on life sort of hasn't stopped.
But! NaNo is over now, and I shall try to do some catch up here (and on my emails, which have been a bit neglected in all the hectic rush; sorry about that, patient people).
Oh, and Hanith is now out and about in very exclusive printed form; the British Fantasy Society journal finally landed at the very end of November, and I am at the moment rather pleased with how he turned out. I only have the one copy myself, so it's being passed around friends who want to see, but it's reassuring and encouraging to have him in print now.
Onwards!
Showing posts with label writing progress. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing progress. Show all posts
Tuesday, 9 December 2014
Wednesday, 28 May 2014
A Pleasant Surprise
Hi there, been a while. A pretty busy while, as it happens. Done lots of proofreading for friends, a lot more running around and helping/cleaning/tidying for friends (and me), and not nearly enough writing. In fact, after some discussion with a couple of folks, I'm halfway through a blogpost about writer's block.
But that'll have to wait another day or two.
Back in February, my very first post on this blog included a short list of stuff I needed to get done. I actually managed all of them. And Hanith, that very first short story I submitted to the British Fantasy Society journal, has now been accepted for publication.
It'll be a while before it makes it into the wild, but I've had a little contact with the folks who run the journal, and they all seem lovely, so I can't imagine it'll go wrong at this point.
So there we go. Step one, achieved. Step two, get another one (or Dryden) out there.
All cool, yeah, nothing to see here. Totally composed and professional, that's me.
But that'll have to wait another day or two.
Back in February, my very first post on this blog included a short list of stuff I needed to get done. I actually managed all of them. And Hanith, that very first short story I submitted to the British Fantasy Society journal, has now been accepted for publication.
It'll be a while before it makes it into the wild, but I've had a little contact with the folks who run the journal, and they all seem lovely, so I can't imagine it'll go wrong at this point.
So there we go. Step one, achieved. Step two, get another one (or Dryden) out there.
All cool, yeah, nothing to see here. Totally composed and professional, that's me.
Thursday, 27 March 2014
Prose in motion
Quiet day after all the Marvel excitement, today. Read all the comics I borrowed, so I can give them back next time. Managed a couple of little bits and pieces around the house, including starting on clearing some space for Dance Central to happen. Soon...
A couple of things are in motion, and indeed in the post, winging their ways to me to remind me that people are amazing sometimes, and exceptionally kind and generous. More on those when they arrive.
Otherwise I generally fell into writing and got stuck all day. The current Hanith short story has more than doubled in length today, and thoroughly distracted me from everyone else. Poor Dryden isn't getting a look in at all at the moment.
What happened there is that I drew up a week plan and assigned one short story idea to each day. When I immediately went, "Damn, I'm looking forward to Friday," that clarified which short story I should obviously be writing next, so out went the plan and in came Hanith. I've even managed to hit the point where I can actually write, where I stop hunting for precisely the right word and put in info-dump filler for now. It's a point where I know what information my characters need to convey but phrasing it in a pretty way is going to take far too long, so they just get on with it and say it.
Ie, first draft. Though it's surprising how much of that kind of blunt, straight-to-the-point dialogue ends up staying, actually. Often it just works, and you don't need the prettification you think you do. People are blunt sometimes, especially when they're tired or stressed or angry or in pain, which characters in the middle of a medieval fantasy adventure usually are...
A couple of things are in motion, and indeed in the post, winging their ways to me to remind me that people are amazing sometimes, and exceptionally kind and generous. More on those when they arrive.
Otherwise I generally fell into writing and got stuck all day. The current Hanith short story has more than doubled in length today, and thoroughly distracted me from everyone else. Poor Dryden isn't getting a look in at all at the moment.
What happened there is that I drew up a week plan and assigned one short story idea to each day. When I immediately went, "Damn, I'm looking forward to Friday," that clarified which short story I should obviously be writing next, so out went the plan and in came Hanith. I've even managed to hit the point where I can actually write, where I stop hunting for precisely the right word and put in info-dump filler for now. It's a point where I know what information my characters need to convey but phrasing it in a pretty way is going to take far too long, so they just get on with it and say it.
Ie, first draft. Though it's surprising how much of that kind of blunt, straight-to-the-point dialogue ends up staying, actually. Often it just works, and you don't need the prettification you think you do. People are blunt sometimes, especially when they're tired or stressed or angry or in pain, which characters in the middle of a medieval fantasy adventure usually are...
Saturday, 15 March 2014
I submit
Today's positives are small in number but pretty large in scope.
Smaller of the two: I finally got most of the kitchen cleaned, and all the dishes done. There is something undeniably soothing about cleaning stuff. It's simple, it's easy, you don't really have to engage your brain at all, you can clearly see the progress you've made, and when it's done it's done.
Practically the exact opposite of writing, then.
But today's bigger, better, happier thing is that I got Tick Tock edited and sent off. I fired the finished first draft at two of my NaNo chatroom group last night (Claire is one of these two, naturally), and they both did a superb quick turnaround and got back to me with a torrent of lovely happy praise and a bare handful of tweaks, which is always immensely gratifying and terrible for my ego.
I probably spent almost as long on the query/submission email as I did on fixing the story itself, and scraped in for the submission deadline... which isn't actually as hard-and-fast as I've been saying, to be honest. The submission call was actually for the next two volumes of Steampunk anthologies in the series, and March 15th was the cutoff date for stories to be considered for both, rather than just Volume Four. So even if my first draft hadn't been finished by yesterday, or had needed much more extensive edits, I could have submitted anyway. BUT, I made it my goal to submit in time for both, and with a lot of help from my wonderful, wonderful NaNo crowd and patient housemates, I have done so.
So, even if the story doesn't get accepted (I can only wait and see - I'm swinging wildly between confidence and cheerful pessimism) I did what I set out to do. I'd prefer to do it with a little more time in hand next time, but I can't quite seem to shake the habit of running things right up to the wire.
That being said, I did finish the actual story the day before the deadline, even knowing that I had a safety net of extra time waiting beyond it. And I was months ahead of schedule with Hanith. Perhaps I'm not doing as badly there as I think.
And now I can finally start on my Lavender and the Random Acolyte story.
Smaller of the two: I finally got most of the kitchen cleaned, and all the dishes done. There is something undeniably soothing about cleaning stuff. It's simple, it's easy, you don't really have to engage your brain at all, you can clearly see the progress you've made, and when it's done it's done.
Practically the exact opposite of writing, then.
But today's bigger, better, happier thing is that I got Tick Tock edited and sent off. I fired the finished first draft at two of my NaNo chatroom group last night (Claire is one of these two, naturally), and they both did a superb quick turnaround and got back to me with a torrent of lovely happy praise and a bare handful of tweaks, which is always immensely gratifying and terrible for my ego.
I probably spent almost as long on the query/submission email as I did on fixing the story itself, and scraped in for the submission deadline... which isn't actually as hard-and-fast as I've been saying, to be honest. The submission call was actually for the next two volumes of Steampunk anthologies in the series, and March 15th was the cutoff date for stories to be considered for both, rather than just Volume Four. So even if my first draft hadn't been finished by yesterday, or had needed much more extensive edits, I could have submitted anyway. BUT, I made it my goal to submit in time for both, and with a lot of help from my wonderful, wonderful NaNo crowd and patient housemates, I have done so.
So, even if the story doesn't get accepted (I can only wait and see - I'm swinging wildly between confidence and cheerful pessimism) I did what I set out to do. I'd prefer to do it with a little more time in hand next time, but I can't quite seem to shake the habit of running things right up to the wire.
That being said, I did finish the actual story the day before the deadline, even knowing that I had a safety net of extra time waiting beyond it. And I was months ahead of schedule with Hanith. Perhaps I'm not doing as badly there as I think.
And now I can finally start on my Lavender and the Random Acolyte story.
Friday, 14 March 2014
Stop the clocks
Smaller achievements/shiny things of the day: have been sent second "Lavender and the Random Acolyte" story from my wonderful group (read and enjoyed), used up the last of the leftover pork by successfully following another recipe from my friend's mother (it involved dumplings, and I wasn't the only one who ate it, and there is none left, so I'm counting that as a triumph even if the pork did get a bit burnt).
Big shiny thing of the day: I finally finished Tick Tock. Heavens above, that story has taken it out of me.
Tick Tock started life aeons ago, intended for a Steampunk Horror anthology, but I was well and truly stuck in my rut back then and couldn't even start writing it. I told the basic idea to my friend Sarah, though, with much hand-waving and sarcastic asides (from me, I should say) and she liked it. She liked it so much that every time from then on that I mentioned an attempt at writing any short story, she'd demand, "Is it Tick Tock?"
She kept it alive in the back of my head, and eventually I stumbled across a submissions call for "Lesbian Steampunk", and thought I'd try again.
From the dates on the Open Office document, it would appear it's taken me almost two weeks to write it, start to finish. From the dates on the doc for Hanith, that one was about two weeks too, from start to submission. Hanith was 4500 words. Tick Tock is 8500. No wonder I feel absolutely shattered.
Strange to think that 75 thousand words in just over twice that time was nowhere near as difficult.
Short stories seem much harder to do. You need a clearer focus, one central idea on which to hang the trappings of a story, rather than the multiple interweaving subplots and grand concepts and sheer waffle you can explore in a novel, let alone NaNoWriMo when it's all about the word count, baby. I lost track of my central idea a couple of times while writing Tick Tock (which is partly why it's currently 8500 words, including a couple of scenes where I did the NaNo trick of Keep writing and you'll find your way back onto plot somehow). This doesn't really surprise me, given that it started out as a horror story concept and has since morphed a couple of times and completely changed its ending at least twice in the process. So tomorrow I should be editing and trimming and tidying and maybe, maybe, if I'm lucky and it's not as flabby and unfocused as I fear, I'll be able to make the submission deadline. I shall, therefore, go to bed now and save the thoughts on short stories for a different blog post, when I am actually awake.
Also I should clean the kitchen. My pots and pans are stacking up.
It's a big success for me, though, and I am proud of finishing it, whatever happens from here.
Big shiny thing of the day: I finally finished Tick Tock. Heavens above, that story has taken it out of me.
Tick Tock started life aeons ago, intended for a Steampunk Horror anthology, but I was well and truly stuck in my rut back then and couldn't even start writing it. I told the basic idea to my friend Sarah, though, with much hand-waving and sarcastic asides (from me, I should say) and she liked it. She liked it so much that every time from then on that I mentioned an attempt at writing any short story, she'd demand, "Is it Tick Tock?"
She kept it alive in the back of my head, and eventually I stumbled across a submissions call for "Lesbian Steampunk", and thought I'd try again.
From the dates on the Open Office document, it would appear it's taken me almost two weeks to write it, start to finish. From the dates on the doc for Hanith, that one was about two weeks too, from start to submission. Hanith was 4500 words. Tick Tock is 8500. No wonder I feel absolutely shattered.
Strange to think that 75 thousand words in just over twice that time was nowhere near as difficult.
Short stories seem much harder to do. You need a clearer focus, one central idea on which to hang the trappings of a story, rather than the multiple interweaving subplots and grand concepts and sheer waffle you can explore in a novel, let alone NaNoWriMo when it's all about the word count, baby. I lost track of my central idea a couple of times while writing Tick Tock (which is partly why it's currently 8500 words, including a couple of scenes where I did the NaNo trick of Keep writing and you'll find your way back onto plot somehow). This doesn't really surprise me, given that it started out as a horror story concept and has since morphed a couple of times and completely changed its ending at least twice in the process. So tomorrow I should be editing and trimming and tidying and maybe, maybe, if I'm lucky and it's not as flabby and unfocused as I fear, I'll be able to make the submission deadline. I shall, therefore, go to bed now and save the thoughts on short stories for a different blog post, when I am actually awake.
Also I should clean the kitchen. My pots and pans are stacking up.
It's a big success for me, though, and I am proud of finishing it, whatever happens from here.
Wednesday, 12 March 2014
Barbecue sauce makes everything better
Today started surprisingly well, with actual breakfast at a reasonable time. I haven't had cereal since... er... December, perhaps? So that made a nice change. I even managed to break the solemn Rice Krispie rituals and eat from something other than a wide, flat bowl, and use an implement other than the one particular spoon I always favour. Heresy and blasphemy.
I spent most of the day progressing Tick Tock - it's now cleared 4500 words and is gearing up properly. (Gearing, get it? Steampunk, clockwork, see? Ah, such a card.) Did a lot of random research on Victoriana and clockwork terminology for a few tiny little details, and hope I might be able to get it to hang together now, too. Started to hit the sweet spot of Write Now, Edit Later, where things actually get done. But I absolutely must get to The End tomorrow if I want any feedback from anyone before submission deadline. And boy, will it need editing.
In the gaps in between writing sprints, while my brain cooled down, I managed to catch up on How I Met Your Mother (I am going to miss that show a lot when it finishes), and admire the ingenuity and wonderful playfulness of Cardboard Box Office - seriously, check that one out. It's utterly glorious how creative and fun they're being. Every time I look at it I want to do better, to put more fun into the world. Who knew cardboard boxes could be so inspirational?
Other things I managed to do: use some of the leftover pork from the roast to make really exceedingly nice barbecue pork sandwiches for dinner, sort through lots of photos of some of my old cosplays and find that actually they're mostly quite good fun (I may do a photo post soon), and talk to friends I don't see often enough via Skype.
Not bad, all round.
I spent most of the day progressing Tick Tock - it's now cleared 4500 words and is gearing up properly. (Gearing, get it? Steampunk, clockwork, see? Ah, such a card.) Did a lot of random research on Victoriana and clockwork terminology for a few tiny little details, and hope I might be able to get it to hang together now, too. Started to hit the sweet spot of Write Now, Edit Later, where things actually get done. But I absolutely must get to The End tomorrow if I want any feedback from anyone before submission deadline. And boy, will it need editing.
In the gaps in between writing sprints, while my brain cooled down, I managed to catch up on How I Met Your Mother (I am going to miss that show a lot when it finishes), and admire the ingenuity and wonderful playfulness of Cardboard Box Office - seriously, check that one out. It's utterly glorious how creative and fun they're being. Every time I look at it I want to do better, to put more fun into the world. Who knew cardboard boxes could be so inspirational?
Other things I managed to do: use some of the leftover pork from the roast to make really exceedingly nice barbecue pork sandwiches for dinner, sort through lots of photos of some of my old cosplays and find that actually they're mostly quite good fun (I may do a photo post soon), and talk to friends I don't see often enough via Skype.
Not bad, all round.
Monday, 10 March 2014
Short stories abound
So certain members of my NaNoWriMo group have got into the habit of meeting up in an online chatroom every now and then for impromptu writing sessions. It's good fun, and definitely helps get stuff done. It also leads to extremely random conversations, tangents, and typos.
One such accident of fortuitous timing led to the phrase "Lavender and the Random Acolyte" popping up, which naturally we all agreed was clearly a short story title. So we're all writing one.
Therefore, shiny thing number one today: I got to read the first of these, from our glorious leader Claire (blogging over here). And blimey, it was good. Made me laugh a lot and want more stories with her main character. It may turn up on said blog soon, in which case I will gleefully link to it. I'm looking forward to the others now (and to getting round to mine, as soon as I'm done with Tick Tock of course).
Shiny thing number two: thanks to friends yesterday I have managed to circumvent the slight issue of my laptop no longer having a working disc drive, and have finally got my copies of the two different Avengers Assemble soundtracks onto my laptop and ipod. Whoot. Must do the same with Thor and Thor 2, and then I can have Loki music whenever I so choose. (Because everything is Loki.)
Shiny(ish) thing number three: I attempted to make something approaching a roast dinner today, since I had a big joint of pork lying around. It went pretty well. Too much salt on the carrots and potatoes, but they were soft and perfect aside from that small problem, and it has meant I am now more hydrated than I have been in months... Also, Daisy (she of Migraine Memoirs) tried the crackling from the pork joint and declared it so good it may just be my hidden talent. Shame I don't like crackling, really.
Other random assorted shiny: it was sunny again, which I always enjoy (I like being warm), I remembered to collect the recipe card I promised to pick up for a friend, and I got the kitchen briefly clean before I started on the roast.
Ah well. All that and I still managed to break 3k with Tick Tock too. Progress is still slow, but getting there.
One such accident of fortuitous timing led to the phrase "Lavender and the Random Acolyte" popping up, which naturally we all agreed was clearly a short story title. So we're all writing one.
Therefore, shiny thing number one today: I got to read the first of these, from our glorious leader Claire (blogging over here). And blimey, it was good. Made me laugh a lot and want more stories with her main character. It may turn up on said blog soon, in which case I will gleefully link to it. I'm looking forward to the others now (and to getting round to mine, as soon as I'm done with Tick Tock of course).
Shiny thing number two: thanks to friends yesterday I have managed to circumvent the slight issue of my laptop no longer having a working disc drive, and have finally got my copies of the two different Avengers Assemble soundtracks onto my laptop and ipod. Whoot. Must do the same with Thor and Thor 2, and then I can have Loki music whenever I so choose. (Because everything is Loki.)
Shiny(ish) thing number three: I attempted to make something approaching a roast dinner today, since I had a big joint of pork lying around. It went pretty well. Too much salt on the carrots and potatoes, but they were soft and perfect aside from that small problem, and it has meant I am now more hydrated than I have been in months... Also, Daisy (she of Migraine Memoirs) tried the crackling from the pork joint and declared it so good it may just be my hidden talent. Shame I don't like crackling, really.
Other random assorted shiny: it was sunny again, which I always enjoy (I like being warm), I remembered to collect the recipe card I promised to pick up for a friend, and I got the kitchen briefly clean before I started on the roast.
Ah well. All that and I still managed to break 3k with Tick Tock too. Progress is still slow, but getting there.
Monday, 10 February 2014
Never enough hours in the day
About a year ago Dryden informed me I'd be writing a novel about him.
He just turned up one day, nameless and superior and amused by his
current situation, in media res, and left me to work out the rest for
myself. I wrote a few of the scenes that laid out his character best,
but 2013 was a fairly tumultuous year for me, and I simply didn't have
the time or concentration to actually write the full thing for quite
some months.
Then November came along. I've been a fan of National Novel Writing Month for years, and actually managed to make the 50-thousand-words-in-30-days requirement to win in both 2011 and 2012, though both those projects were abandoned promptly on the 1st December, eternally unfinished. For 2013, I decided I'd up the ante, and aim for 75 thousand words in 30 days. 75k, I hoped, would be enough to actually get through Dryden's plot, from beginning to end, to put down one last full stop and declare the thing finished.
Finished is a magic word. One I haven't had much opportunity to use. I get distracted by other things, lose confidence in whatever it is I'm writing, and generally sigh and give up and go back to writing all the random little bits and pieces that never go anywhere, or try to get a proper job again.
I finished (cue gasps!) Dryden's first draft at 74k on the 30th of November, wrote another 1k to make it past both my targets for the month, and put it aside to start editing soon (and went off to start buying Christmas presents).
Things have been a bit busy since then. I've not just had Christmas and New Year, but been up and down the country fairly non-stop (it feels like it, at least). And there's a lot coming up too:
If I get Dryden edited in time and think it would help, there's this at the end of February. (Though it costs to enter, and that's an inhibiting factor for me right now.) (EDIT: Yeah, that didn't happen. Dryden isn't ready and I had too much on to get it there.)
I must, absolutely must, find the time to do my final proofreading/copy-editing exam and send it back to the sfep approved group who did my training course last March, within the one year deadline from said course date. (Though this requires my brain to be functioning at full capacity.) (EDIT: Did it, managed it, with a day or two to spare. Now I never have to think of it again.)
If I find time to write that steampunk short story I've had in my head for a long time now, there's this anthology (or two) which it fits nicely, to which I need to submit ideally by March 15th. (EDIT: Yup, managed that, just waiting to hear now.)
If I find time to finish up that other LGBT fantasy short story, there's also this rather nice edition of the BFS journal which I need to get to before May 5th. (EDIT: Of course, I went and worked on that one first, and finished a first draft of the thing just shy of the 5k upper limit at about half past midnight on what's now the 15th Feb. Oh well. It's all progress, I suppose. And I think it's quite cute. EDIT AGAIN: And it's submitted now, late on the 25th Feb, so we'll see what happens.)
Oh, and I'm currently ill, for the first time in about 18 months. Yay!
So here we go. Busy, busy, and a blog to boot. Wish me luck.
Then November came along. I've been a fan of National Novel Writing Month for years, and actually managed to make the 50-thousand-words-in-30-days requirement to win in both 2011 and 2012, though both those projects were abandoned promptly on the 1st December, eternally unfinished. For 2013, I decided I'd up the ante, and aim for 75 thousand words in 30 days. 75k, I hoped, would be enough to actually get through Dryden's plot, from beginning to end, to put down one last full stop and declare the thing finished.
Finished is a magic word. One I haven't had much opportunity to use. I get distracted by other things, lose confidence in whatever it is I'm writing, and generally sigh and give up and go back to writing all the random little bits and pieces that never go anywhere, or try to get a proper job again.
I finished (cue gasps!) Dryden's first draft at 74k on the 30th of November, wrote another 1k to make it past both my targets for the month, and put it aside to start editing soon (and went off to start buying Christmas presents).
Things have been a bit busy since then. I've not just had Christmas and New Year, but been up and down the country fairly non-stop (it feels like it, at least). And there's a lot coming up too:
If I get Dryden edited in time and think it would help, there's this at the end of February. (Though it costs to enter, and that's an inhibiting factor for me right now.) (EDIT: Yeah, that didn't happen. Dryden isn't ready and I had too much on to get it there.)
I must, absolutely must, find the time to do my final proofreading/copy-editing exam and send it back to the sfep approved group who did my training course last March, within the one year deadline from said course date. (Though this requires my brain to be functioning at full capacity.) (EDIT: Did it, managed it, with a day or two to spare. Now I never have to think of it again.)
If I find time to write that steampunk short story I've had in my head for a long time now, there's this anthology (or two) which it fits nicely, to which I need to submit ideally by March 15th. (EDIT: Yup, managed that, just waiting to hear now.)
If I find time to finish up that other LGBT fantasy short story, there's also this rather nice edition of the BFS journal which I need to get to before May 5th. (EDIT: Of course, I went and worked on that one first, and finished a first draft of the thing just shy of the 5k upper limit at about half past midnight on what's now the 15th Feb. Oh well. It's all progress, I suppose. And I think it's quite cute. EDIT AGAIN: And it's submitted now, late on the 25th Feb, so we'll see what happens.)
Oh, and I'm currently ill, for the first time in about 18 months. Yay!
So here we go. Busy, busy, and a blog to boot. Wish me luck.
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