I did a lot of tidying and cleaning today, which has helped since the cats are determined to shed everywhere at the moment. Particularly in my face, whilst purring. This is adorable, but did actually get past the antihistamines and start to cause breathing issues earlier, so the sweeping up and binning of large amounts of cat fur is not entirely altruistic or just for appearances...
Other than that I was split between writing more Hanith (hurrah, Hanith and his healthy, healthy relationship. It makes such a nice change from Dryden) and reading Honour's Knight by Rachel Bach.
Basically, I want to go to bed now so that it's tomorrow and I'll have the time and energy to write a proper squeeful review of it. In summary: FUN. (Also packs emotional punch. But still. FUN.)
Oh, and I've been trying to drink more, in an effort to eat less, stay better hydrated, be a little healthier etc etc etc. I really don't know how people manage to drink the supposed recommended 8-cups-a-day allowance, never mind folks who go for the weird calculations where it ends up saying 12 cups or more as a daily dose. I'm only just keeping up with my self-imposed lower limit of about 6 cups. And I feel sloshy. I'm used to getting by on two or three...
Anyway. Progress is maintained. Not bad.
(Also, my friend Sarah is absolutely amazing at reading my stuff and pointing out the very simple, very twisted, very perfect thing that I should clearly have written in and somehow managed to miss. It's amazing. Every single time, she reads through, and comes back with, "Ooh, and then this?" and I am left sitting here going, "How did I not think of that? Yes ma'am, writing it this instant!" She just did it again to Tick Tock, and now clearly I have lots of revisions and a possible sequel or epilogue to do when it gets rejected and I want to submit it somewhere new.)
Showing posts with label Tick Tock. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tick Tock. Show all posts
Saturday, 29 March 2014
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.
Thursday, 13 March 2014
Day 5
Today was mostly writing. Tick Tock increased by about 3000 words, though still isn't finished and I can feel my confidence wavering drastically.
I did, however, go round to my friend Claire's place, said hello to Insatiable Glor, her home-made eight foot giant squid (check it out) and successfully followed through on book/DVD swapping of Gospel of Loki for Hackers. We then spent the evening writing, in chat room with others from the NaNoWriMo group, and that was as hilarious as usual.
Claire, by the way, has finished and posted that challenge short story I mentioned: read it here.
Oh, and although I did manage to cut myself whilst cooking (sigh), my incredible regenerative powers kicked in and I didn't even get any blood on the food...
I did, however, go round to my friend Claire's place, said hello to Insatiable Glor, her home-made eight foot giant squid (check it out) and successfully followed through on book/DVD swapping of Gospel of Loki for Hackers. We then spent the evening writing, in chat room with others from the NaNoWriMo group, and that was as hilarious as usual.
Claire, by the way, has finished and posted that challenge short story I mentioned: read it here.
Oh, and although I did manage to cut myself whilst cooking (sigh), my incredible regenerative powers kicked in and I didn't even get any blood on the food...
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.
Tuesday, 11 March 2014
Today's good stuff includes chocolate, doughnuts, and longbows
I think last night I actually managed to get enough sleep for once. I can't remember when I last woke up feeling actually refreshed. Mind you, since I generally can't remember what I did 24 hours previously, these days, that's not really saying all that much.
Still, today I managed to get not one, but two birthday cards sent off on time, which makes a change. But hey, my Gran turns 89 tomorrow... There's nothing terrifying about that, honest.
I also managed to get out and about (on time, again) and help friends get to doctor's appointment and get a couple of other chores done, as well as delivering the recipe card. It's always nice to hang out with them, and H paid me well in doughnuts and dinner and Son of Rambow (which had us both laughing out loud more than once).
Also I tried a bar of Galaxy Honeycomb chocolate, since it was on offer. Can pretty safely say I much prefer Cadbury's, for some reason. I think Galaxy is somehow slightly more sickly-sweet. So there's that. Not to worry, I still have most of a ridiculous stockpile of excessively cheap post-Christmas sale chocolate. I think I still have eight bars of the "Snowy Delight" vanilla cream filled bars... I'm not going to be in need any time soon.
Oh, and yesterday I emailed the local archery group, to ask if they could accommodate wooden longbow, since all the photos on their website tended towards modern recurves and telescopes to check their shots (pah!) and today I got the response: yes, we have others and would love to have you, come along! So I must retrieve my longbow and arrows and kit from Carlisle and see what I can do. The good weather and outdoor season is starting, too, so I'd be able to shoot at 40 yards, which was always my distance. It's been too long.
Meanwhile, Tick Tock progresses, though still too slowly. Scenes are less treacle-pit and more sidetracked by unexpected character interaction and exterior distraction, today. I think tomorrow I'll have to dedicate much of the day to it, though the kitchen needs doing too. Ah, housework, steadfast and unfailing whenever I need an excuse to procrastinate. What would I do without it?
"Get more writing done" is probably an overly optimistic answer there.
Still, today I managed to get not one, but two birthday cards sent off on time, which makes a change. But hey, my Gran turns 89 tomorrow... There's nothing terrifying about that, honest.
I also managed to get out and about (on time, again) and help friends get to doctor's appointment and get a couple of other chores done, as well as delivering the recipe card. It's always nice to hang out with them, and H paid me well in doughnuts and dinner and Son of Rambow (which had us both laughing out loud more than once).
Also I tried a bar of Galaxy Honeycomb chocolate, since it was on offer. Can pretty safely say I much prefer Cadbury's, for some reason. I think Galaxy is somehow slightly more sickly-sweet. So there's that. Not to worry, I still have most of a ridiculous stockpile of excessively cheap post-Christmas sale chocolate. I think I still have eight bars of the "Snowy Delight" vanilla cream filled bars... I'm not going to be in need any time soon.
Oh, and yesterday I emailed the local archery group, to ask if they could accommodate wooden longbow, since all the photos on their website tended towards modern recurves and telescopes to check their shots (pah!) and today I got the response: yes, we have others and would love to have you, come along! So I must retrieve my longbow and arrows and kit from Carlisle and see what I can do. The good weather and outdoor season is starting, too, so I'd be able to shoot at 40 yards, which was always my distance. It's been too long.
Meanwhile, Tick Tock progresses, though still too slowly. Scenes are less treacle-pit and more sidetracked by unexpected character interaction and exterior distraction, today. I think tomorrow I'll have to dedicate much of the day to it, though the kitchen needs doing too. Ah, housework, steadfast and unfailing whenever I need an excuse to procrastinate. What would I do without it?
"Get more writing done" is probably an overly optimistic answer there.
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.
Sunday, 9 March 2014
40 days of blogging
So in a (probably vain) vague attempt to cheer myself up and stay there, I have decided to... well, accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, et cetera. So I'm starting Lent, a little late, and for the next forty days I'm going to try to find good, happy, fun things in each day, and blog about them to drive the point home to myself. I won't be tweeting every single blog post, so as to spam you as little as possible, but for those of you following the blog itself, I apologise in advance. Also, I will appreciate any nudges or any shiny pretty things you feel like sharing with me to give me more material. If I run out of happy, I'll just have to expand on my snippet of squee about The Gospel of Loki, and do a full post review.
Right, then. Good things about today: it was sunny, I was (most unusually) on time to go places with friends, and one of the places in question was a Vintage Fair in town. The cosplayer in me tends to take over at places like that, and I start eying up anything that looks familiar, or a little bit steampunk. Most Vintage stuff tends to aim for '50s at the moment, though, so I thought I'd be restrained. And then we walked in and I suddenly remembered I'm going to a couple of weddings this year (starting with my uncle's in May) and I've... ahem... grown out of most of my usual smart attire. Suffice it to say I found a cute little dress for an extremely reasonable price, and am pretty sure I'll be able to get into it even if I go wild in the post-Easter chocolate sales. Remind me, and I'll try to get a picture sorted, steampunk boots and all (because I can't get too girly, now, can I?).
I also got my hands on three new snazzy sci-fi books, too, thanks to awesome friends and wonderful author giveaways. I came home with: Honour's Knight by Rachel Bach (sequel to Fortune's Pawn, which I've been itching to read since I finished the first, naturally); Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie (which I'm intrigued to read due to the interesting reviews I've seen around so far); and City of Angels by Todd McCaffrey (whose technological worldbuilding is generally top notch). So I'm keen to get on with those and will be trying to do a review post for each of them soon.
First, though, I really must finish poor old Tick Tock. If I could just get out of the treacle pits of dragging, difficult scenes and into the flow again... With all those lovely book carrots dangling ahead of me, and that March 15 deadline stick lurking behind, I'm sure I can manage to wrestle one little short story into shape, right?
Oh, and I made a full batch of perfect pancakes, too. Because if you're going to start Lent late, you have to fit pancakes in somewhere.
Right, then. Good things about today: it was sunny, I was (most unusually) on time to go places with friends, and one of the places in question was a Vintage Fair in town. The cosplayer in me tends to take over at places like that, and I start eying up anything that looks familiar, or a little bit steampunk. Most Vintage stuff tends to aim for '50s at the moment, though, so I thought I'd be restrained. And then we walked in and I suddenly remembered I'm going to a couple of weddings this year (starting with my uncle's in May) and I've... ahem... grown out of most of my usual smart attire. Suffice it to say I found a cute little dress for an extremely reasonable price, and am pretty sure I'll be able to get into it even if I go wild in the post-Easter chocolate sales. Remind me, and I'll try to get a picture sorted, steampunk boots and all (because I can't get too girly, now, can I?).
I also got my hands on three new snazzy sci-fi books, too, thanks to awesome friends and wonderful author giveaways. I came home with: Honour's Knight by Rachel Bach (sequel to Fortune's Pawn, which I've been itching to read since I finished the first, naturally); Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie (which I'm intrigued to read due to the interesting reviews I've seen around so far); and City of Angels by Todd McCaffrey (whose technological worldbuilding is generally top notch). So I'm keen to get on with those and will be trying to do a review post for each of them soon.
First, though, I really must finish poor old Tick Tock. If I could just get out of the treacle pits of dragging, difficult scenes and into the flow again... With all those lovely book carrots dangling ahead of me, and that March 15 deadline stick lurking behind, I'm sure I can manage to wrestle one little short story into shape, right?
Oh, and I made a full batch of perfect pancakes, too. Because if you're going to start Lent late, you have to fit pancakes in somewhere.
Thursday, 6 March 2014
Inching forwards
Current writing status:
1 short story submitted, awaiting a response (Hanith)
1 short story in progress to be submitted by March 15 (Tick Tock)
Feedback trickling in for Dryden
Plotting/signing up to April's Camp NaNoWriMo for Dryden's sequel
It's a lot of hard work to remind myself that all those points up there actually count as progress. They do, honest. Really. But I get very frustrated with the inching part of inching forwards. Especially when Dryden was mostly finished in current form within the space of 30 days. The fact that three entire months, a quarter of a year, three times the length of time it took to write the thing in the first place, have now passed since then and I'm not really any further on at all grates like you wouldn't believe. Finishing the sucker was the big hurdle, supposedly. But the longer it takes, the less confident I feel in it. There's a very good reason I submitted Hanith ASAP - given enough time, I will learn to hate everything about something I've written and never let it see the light of day again.
I'd point you to all my unfinished fanfiction if I thought you needed proof, but that could be embarrassing for us all.
Anyway. Frustration. Dissatisfaction. Cabin fever. Et cetera.
Good stuff has been happening too, though. Mostly Loki-related. Because Loki is fun, in all forms.
Re: Marvel Loki, I have acquired the big display stand for Thor 2 DVDs from my nearest supermarket, so I have Anthony Hopkins or Tom Hiddleston squinting at me wherever I stand in my bedroom. It's very pretty and frees up my bookcase for actual books, so that's a win. Also, Loki-centric Marvel comics are most amusing.
Re: non-Marvel Loki, I was given a copy of Joanne Harris's The Gospel of Loki at the last local NaNoWriMo meetup. Read it the next day. I am simultaneously giddily in love and slightly worried that my infrequent ESP (Extra-Sensory Plagiarism) has struck again, because at the current time Dryden himself is very, very Loki-esque. Ah well, at least he's in good company.
I'd do a proper review of Gospel of Loki except that there are already dozens out there that all say exactly what I would: exceedingly good fun, delightfully narrated, pleasingly interweaving the classic myths with new material, and rounding off a lightly-explained magic system with consistent rules (which is hard work with old myths!). So yes. I enjoyed that a lot.
It's the little things that help, when the big things are trapped in limbo.
1 short story submitted, awaiting a response (Hanith)
1 short story in progress to be submitted by March 15 (Tick Tock)
Feedback trickling in for Dryden
Plotting/signing up to April's Camp NaNoWriMo for Dryden's sequel
It's a lot of hard work to remind myself that all those points up there actually count as progress. They do, honest. Really. But I get very frustrated with the inching part of inching forwards. Especially when Dryden was mostly finished in current form within the space of 30 days. The fact that three entire months, a quarter of a year, three times the length of time it took to write the thing in the first place, have now passed since then and I'm not really any further on at all grates like you wouldn't believe. Finishing the sucker was the big hurdle, supposedly. But the longer it takes, the less confident I feel in it. There's a very good reason I submitted Hanith ASAP - given enough time, I will learn to hate everything about something I've written and never let it see the light of day again.
I'd point you to all my unfinished fanfiction if I thought you needed proof, but that could be embarrassing for us all.
Anyway. Frustration. Dissatisfaction. Cabin fever. Et cetera.
Good stuff has been happening too, though. Mostly Loki-related. Because Loki is fun, in all forms.
Re: Marvel Loki, I have acquired the big display stand for Thor 2 DVDs from my nearest supermarket, so I have Anthony Hopkins or Tom Hiddleston squinting at me wherever I stand in my bedroom. It's very pretty and frees up my bookcase for actual books, so that's a win. Also, Loki-centric Marvel comics are most amusing.
Re: non-Marvel Loki, I was given a copy of Joanne Harris's The Gospel of Loki at the last local NaNoWriMo meetup. Read it the next day. I am simultaneously giddily in love and slightly worried that my infrequent ESP (Extra-Sensory Plagiarism) has struck again, because at the current time Dryden himself is very, very Loki-esque. Ah well, at least he's in good company.
I'd do a proper review of Gospel of Loki except that there are already dozens out there that all say exactly what I would: exceedingly good fun, delightfully narrated, pleasingly interweaving the classic myths with new material, and rounding off a lightly-explained magic system with consistent rules (which is hard work with old myths!). So yes. I enjoyed that a lot.
It's the little things that help, when the big things are trapped in limbo.
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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