First draft done! (Finally!!)

First draft of Sokoll's Hawks is done, coming in at 13,212 words (as opposed to the 6,000 I was originally aiming for). So that's off to sit in a drawer while I:
~ plan another short
~ take 3's Company out of the drawer for revisions
~ look over Model of Perfection ready to continue with chapter 4

I worked from home today due to excessive ice on the road outside and had a very productive day there, and now I've had a productive evening too! All iz joyful.

Progress XXXVIII

Can I just say that I absolutely love the OST for Doctor Who Season Four? A lot of the music is brilliant, but my favourite piece out of the whole album has to be The Greatest Story Never Told. Unfortunately, for maximum impact it should be played at ear wobbling volume.

Strangely, this is another piece of music where I can envisage being on the prow of a sailing ship as it moves at high speed through the waves. It will also do very well for the car, although with the dogs in the back it will not be played loudly as their hearing is much better (and more sensitive) than mine. The Voyage of the Damned Suite is also excellent, and I spent a lot longer listening to the album lst night than I ought to have done. (But, lunchtime tomorrow and I'm on my hols for 2 weeks (!!!!!2 weeks!!!!!!) so I can cope with a bit of tiredness.

Things on the job-sheet

1. Continue working on Model of Perfection (2 chs / 12,051 words in so far)
2. Revise 3's Company - reworking the beginning to take into account the new setup
3. Finish rough draft of the military short & revise
4. Start new outline on Rapunze
5. Plan / write something for the Realms of Fantasy Halloween 2009 issue {this one's tentative}
6. Outline some other pieces i.e. 1-2 lines per scene (F &SF shorts) {This is for when I get bogged down in any of the above, need a break and don't want to read / sleep / watch a DVD / take the dogs for a walk / or cook} (Hey, it could happen.)


Current Research

Georgian London

1. Maps
2. Buildings
3. Social / Political History
4. Clothing
5. Transportation / distances / times
6. Crime & punishment (including the other kind of transportation)

Model of Perfection
Total words: 12,051
New words yesterday: 2, 143
Marcus: Got Penelope to relax. But then she ran off.
Penelope: Not sure a lady would have relaxed that much. Ran off after eating most of the sandwiches.
Trouble: On its way.


Listening to: Voyage of the Damned Suite: Murray Gold
Mood: Sick. I has lergy. {It's because I'm going on holiday-it's punishment} ::mopes::

Hey, I can see the weekend from here!

Well, I am back at work after a week off...and it isn't raining! I had to stay at work an extra half hour yesterday because I'd left my umbrella and coat in the car and it decided to thunder with torrential rain just as I was about to log off. New term is only 19 days away so I'm gearing up for that and trying to maintain a facsimile of wakefulness to do other stuff during breaks and home time. I think I will be pinning most of my productive hopes* on the weekends at the moment; I'm still trying to get back into the habit of getting up at 5am to get the dogs out before I get ready for work.

What am I up to?

Contraband - paused while I figure (yet again) where I'm going wrong. I'm pretty sure I'm starting it in the wrong place, but I'll be damned if I can figure out the right place at the moment. I really want to write this story (which is possibly part of the problem - I may just be trying too hard to force it where I think it wants to go)

3's Company - due for second edits/revisions in the next couple of weeks

Model of Perfection - paused while I get a short story (6k) off the ground. This is going to be longer than I thought, so I'll be aiming for 40k rather than 20k and see how that goes

Untitled short (6k) - research done, need to get a map to make sure I get place names correct and then I'll be ready to dive in



*And if the 'war' on the WiFi network (don't laugh - that's what the tech on the other end of the phone said "there's a war on your network") doesn't get sorted out at least I won't be able to pizzle the time away on the interwebs.

Idea

A new story idea came to me last night (while watching Medical Investigations over dinner bizarrely enough) The investigators were searching for pathogens in the ocean that could be causing an illness in humans and seals, and I thought 'how would you deal with that, if it was actually in the ocean? What if it spread around the world (and you had no other world to escape to)? How would you combat it without killing everything else? What would it be like if you didn't care if everything else (in the water) died and you ended up with a dead ocean? What could happen after that?' Basically it moved on from there. I've got some notes to get down and flesh out, see where they take me; and I have a picture in my head of what it will look like. I'll work on that while I'm on holiday (1 1/2 days to go!) and see what happens. I'll also have to do some scientific research on oceans & specifically how the loss of plankton etc. would affect things.

Model of Perfection got paused briefly as the day job has been insanely busy and brain-draining with finishing off phase 2 of a project. Now we just need to hand it off so that the rest of the work can be incorporated into everyone's normal day job activities and roles.There'll still be some steering from us, but we can devolve a fair amount of the work to relevant people. Term starts in another month so when I get back from my leave I'll have a few last minute things to finish - presentations and the like. And then we'll be ready to rock for at least 3 weeks of utter madness and hectic (possibly even frenetic) activity, before things slow to a more manageable level. Yay.

Now I have a stabbing pain in my head when I cough - yay, lergy. So I'm going home to lie down. My life. It is full of speshul exzitement.

Progress...ongoing

Okay, I'm now 42% of the way through Model of Perfection (8,461 words, if you're interested) and everything's ticking along nicely. (So far - plenty of time for things to go horribly wrong).
I am really looking forward to my holiday (2 more weeks to go, YES!) it's only for a week, but as the H.E. term starts mid-September it'll be nice to have some time to prepare for the mental and physical horror that comprise the induction weeks. Oh, yeah. I'll take zombies any day. I'll need to make sure I get some flat shoes beforehand, though. I did all of induction in high heels last year because my flats had died...never again. My feet were killing me at the end of the day. I like the heels because most 14 year olds are taller than me, so the 18 year olds certainly are. Maybe I should get some goth platforms to raise me up? Hmmm. There's a thought (and, unfortunately an image to go with it. No, no. Out damned vision.)
Anyway, back to work - chug, chug, chug.

How's your day going? Productive, unproductive, frustrating or fantastic?

Listening to: Going Under - Evanescence

It's hot! Damn hot!

Well, it's another day in paradise. NOT!
It's insanely muggy (and it seems to have worsened in the last half hour or so). There was a rumble of thunder this morning, but all attempts at stormy weather have ceased and we just have mugg instead. I have a headache of muggness. Not happy.

Also, my chair in office no.2 is not comfy and my tailbone keeps locking, so every time I stand up I walk like Long John Silver for the first couple of minutes. ::pouts::

Model of Perfection is jogging along. Not as quickly as I'd like, but it's forward motion so not to be sniffed at. It's at 4,459 / 20,000 words which is around 22% so it's getting there. I've fleshed out the later sections of the outline, so I've a better idea of what will happen when, I just need a block of time to sit down and crack on. I should get some tonight when I go home (checks watch: 1 hour to go!) and on Friday. Saturday I've got the house to myself, but may go over to m'mother's and use her laptop instead as she has an incredibly comfy office chair and a bigger garden for the dogs to play in. Choices, choices.

Still dreaming about Contraband. I will crack that sucker on the head. I refuse to let it beat me. It's going to sit to one side for a while until I decide where the beginning really is, and then I shal attack it. Again.

3's Company is to one side and is due for its 2nd revision in August. I'm on holiday the week of the UK Bank Holiday so I may leave it till then - I'll see how I go on the other projects first. I know I won't be able to get anything done when I'm at my dad's except a little long-hand writing when I go up to bed, so I can strike 4 days off (with possibly a 5th for travelling - depends on the traffic) but I'll have the rest of the week to go through it. 37K shouldn't take too long, eh?

Interesting posts I've read today:

David de Beer's looking at flat-fee vs. by-the-word payment for shorts, and is looking for feedback

Orson Scott Card gives matociquala a headache

Apex Digest Online are looking for a slush wrangler and an editor

And, Stacia Kane is up to part nine in her 'Be a sex-writing strumpet' writing series

Also, don't forget to check out Paperback Writer's site for the Left Behind and Loving It series of workshops. Not only includes her own workshops, but also links to posts/ workshops offered by other people on a huge range of topics.

Where has all the time gone?

It doesn't seem that long ago that I was planning out my weekend, and now another week has gone by (pretty much in a blur) and another weekend is almost here. (Driving up to see my Dad tomorrow lunchtime so that will be nice)

Work has started on Model of Perfection, although I am (naturally) altering the outline as I go along to try and increase the heat level a bit earlier. I don't know if it will work, but I've built in enough editing/ revision time that I can change it to the earlier outline scenario if it doesn't feel right.

I've been putting down some thoughts on the m/m military short I'm thinking of doing - how it's going to kick off and then progress. I'll get MoP out of the way first and then start work on that.

I had joined the Forward Motion July/ August Dare, but if I don't pull my socks up I won't be reaching the target word count of 62K for the two months. Spent too much time sleeping when I got home!

To do list - high priority
Continue with Model of Perfection (needs 16k by the end of the weekend)
Think/ plan more of military short
Plan more of paranormal novella

Research to read
Lascivious Bodies : a sexual history of the eighteenth century by Julie Peakman
Notes on Spetsnaz