Round 3

Okay, tertiary line edits are done and three of the lovely ladies at BW Forum are reading through to make sure it scans well (especially important as the end was written first!) I now need to start planning Gloves for Mslexia as that's due on the 14th of September and it has to be posted rather than e-mailed. There are also a couple of shorts/drabbles I want to do for the run up to Christmas (I know, it's only August, but time flies!)

Nearly hometime which is great because I just want a nap - not enough fresh air today. I slept in and have been slightly wrong-footed ever since. Early night tonight, I think. If I'm home in time I'll go and fetch the dogs with the housemate, otherwise it'll have to be a bit of weeding to restore the equilibrium.

Listening to: What Shall We Die For? from PotC3 by Hans Zimmer (not that I like this soundtrack or anything!)

Mood: Tired, but okay

Round 1

Okay, round one of the edits is over. I have managed to edit out 638 words, during lunch, but I still have 332 to go if I'm to get this down to 3K. They say they'll 'consider longer on a work-by-work basis' but I'd rather meet the guidelines if I can, so round two will commence this evening. (I have no doubt there are areas that need paring down!)

Mood: okay, nearly home time.

No music, just the wind whistling round the office windows.

Almost done!

3,970 / 3,000
(132.3%)

Right then! A fair bit of editing needs doing and I need a closing couple of sentences and a title as well, but then it's done. Is it literary? Is it crap? Is it literary crap? Hopefully, not the latter two but I shall ask an impartial reader to have a scan before I embarrass myself by sending off something completely dire!

Sweating with Sven is going well...

I've been working on my sub for Nothing But Red. It's not meant to be more than 3K and I've already written 3,308 so I'm going to have to do some major editing and cutting when I've finished. Although I'm working on the second third of it at the moment, I have written most of the end (I wrote that first thinking it was the beginning!) so I shouldn't be writing masses more that I then have to pare down. The idea's a good one, I think, but I'll need the editing as the execution needs a good polish (or three) and then I'll have to get on and do the Gloves sub for Mslexia as time's a marching on that one too.

Listening to: I see dead people in boats from PotC3 by Hans Zimmer
Mood: Productive
General air of wellbeing: I'm hot, I'm cold, I'm hot...I think I have a cold.

The Sun is Shining!

It's a glorious morning, which makes up nicely for having been up at 02:30 because BB was ill - I had to clean the extension, the dog, and because he'd got on the bed for a cuddle before I realised he'd been poorly I had to then strip the bed and change that as well! Back in bed for 03:30. I will pay for that later, I'm sure.

Writing's going ok - not done more on the novella, but I've been working on a piece for Nothing But Red, and that's going well so far (although it can't be said that I'm whizzing along right now).

Office/building move number two went well although the stock is still being unpacked and interfiled (and we've been told that we need to lose another 100 shelves of stock because it won't all fit! How we're going to achieve this fairly I have no idea, at the moment I'm envisaging piles of books at the ends of each bay of shelving). ***Everything's. Going. So. Welllllll!***

I haven't updated the 'I have read' list in the sidebar since I went on holiday in June, the list is quite large now, hence my putting it off but if I get some free tinkering time this weekend I'll have a stab at updating it. At the moment I'm reading Heart Dance by Robin D. Owens and loving it. Saille T'Willow is a lovely character and it's annoying that I have to wait until lunchtime (or worse, until I get home) to read more. I'm also re-reading my Lois McMaster Bujold SF - I'd forgotten what a great character Miles Vorkosigan is, very humorous wit.

Mood: Quite chipper, actually

Long time, no blog!

Okay! Stressful two weeks. Lots of preparation for two office moves/ building moves - done now, just sorting out where things are going, when crates will be collected etc. Also, BB had his nads off last week so that was traumatic for all concerned and he's still wearing a 'do not lick that' collar so he's not happy!

I am just so tired! And hungry. I've done no writing since my last post, but I'm hoping to get back on the ol' horse now that the worst of the trauma is over (I hope!)
Time for a banana though I think!

Question

Why is it, that when you've got going and you're doing ok, the dogs keep mithering for attention? Then they go and bother the housemate who then mithers that they're bothering her!

phhhhbt!

At least the cat has left me alone so far!

Progress 2

I haven't done as much as I would like but I have worked on the outline and I'm writing more on the main piece now.
I'm trying to do a bare bones outline on each chapter and so far I'm not that far ahead of the actual writing. I've found that trying to plan significantly ahead didn't work. I had to write something to begin with to discover where I was going to outline. Which doesn't make much sense to me, but if it works who am I to complain?
I'll be switching over to long-hand shortly as this is not the most ergonomic of layouts and my arm's hurting now so I shall print what I've got and run with that.

Plans for this evening: write more; read Plan B by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller; have a bath with candles, incense and relaxing music - possible Ludovico Einaudi and chill. (And maybe come back online to visit some of my WG's)

On iTunes: Church of Glass from Oscar & Lucinda

Mood: Shiny

Progress

Okay! 6% - not bad (not as good as some others - Lauren Dane I bow down before your productivity!) but not bad. I did an out-of-sequence scene earlier and have finally started at the beginning! I will work on this some more tonight and see how much more I can do.

Sven says...sweat more!

Didn't get off to a good start - only 1,000 words but, I was away at the weekend and there wasn't much opportunity to write.

This week it's just the EDJ and I'm not going anywhere this weekend apart from taking the dogs out!

Signed up!

Okay, I've just signed up and have had a quick estimate of how long 'x' number of pages should take me (worked out using Donna Caubarreaux's Writing Goal's Workbook available via her web page)

Initial piece is 30K novella.

12pt Courier (at 250 words per page)
4 pages per day = 30 days to complete = 1000 words per day
5 pages per day = 24 days to complete = 1250 words per day
6 pages per day = 20 days to complete = 1500 words per day

12pt Times New Roman (at 285 words per page)
4 pages per day = 26.25 days to complete = 1140 words per day
5 pages per day = 21 days to complete = 1425 words per day
6 pages per day = 17.5 days to complete = 1710 words per day

When you look at the numbers, they don't actually seem that great/ challenging. When you're sitting in front of a computer or have notebook in hand getting those words (and good ones at that) can be extremely frustrating!

On NaNo: Blush Response from Bladerunner
Temp in office: 22˚ C

Mood: Oh my God, what have I let myself in for?

Some helpful images for the coming 70-odd days!

Seventy Days of Sweat...

...with Alison Kent.

Sign up now (closing date is Friday the 13th July) for Alison Kent's Seventy Days of Sweat - a multi-author commitment to write between 4 and 6 pages a day (depending on the length of your book/ novellas) reporting back on Alison's blog at regular intervals to let all the participants know how you're getting on.



The challenge started on Sunday the 8th of July and runs until Thursday September the 20th - 75 days, but that's so that those who are attending RWA don't have to write then.



So far, 213 people have signed up - who's next?



I'm still thinking about it - I'm usually a coward about putting my commitment out there, but I am thinking seriously about it. If only because - with so many other people looking on, commenting and participating - lack of commitment would become blindingly obvious

Edited to add: What the hell - I'm going to do it. I want to get this novella done.

**In other news, I have paggered my back (again - this time it's the prolapsed disc) which has resulted in shoulder/arm pain on one side and an investment in paracetamol and super-strength anti-inflammatories. The worst part is being unable to sleep well at night because there is no comfortable position - only one less painful than any of the others. Hours to get to sleep and then I keep waking up so by the time I have to get up for work it's autopilot. I wouldn't mind if I could put the 'not able to get to sleep' period to good use, but I'm so knackered that I can't even think straight. (Okay, whinging over - time to think shiny, happy thoughts!)

On Nano: Snow White Queen by Evanescence
Temp in office: 24.3˚C

Mood: Tired, and not feeling shiny right now.

I'm baaaack!

Yes indeed - the holidays are over. No more leave for me until the 1st of September, but I may not be able to actually take any leave until the end of October/beginning of November. The perils of working in an academic environment!

The holiday was great - absolutely gorgeous farmhouse (I slept in a four-poster bed!). BB loved the garden, which was huge and fully enclosed (although he barked at the cows in the next field) and I had some great walks along the coast.

I didn't write anything (not even a postcard) and on the one hand I feel bad about it, but on the other hand I read 20 books in 9 days and slept a lot. All in all I feel much better, even though I've spent the better part of today catching up on all of the e-mails that arrived in my absence and planning what I'm going to be attacking in the next couple of weeks at work. (Publications, publications, publications. And moving libraries. Yay!)

Still going through all of the feeds on my Bloglines index, so there may be something of more interest to post than "what I did on my holiday" (but knowing me, I wouldn't count on it and you've probably already come across it yourselves anyway by now!)

Side note 1: Many thanks to the wonderful Anya Bast - I won a copy of Witch Fire by participating in the comments on The Bradford Bunch blog that she contributes to. I can't wait to read it!

Side note 2: The latest issue of Mytholog is now out. Free reads, so check it out!

Countdown

Okay! One and a half days until I'm on holiday and surgically separated from the Internet.
Oh. My. God.
I can cope. I can!

Just tidying up my workspace in case I get moved to my new office while I'm away. I have (now irrelevant) paperwork going back to 2001 - the recyclers are going to love me!) I will leave the windowledge until I get back, no point in overdoing it!

I'm really looking forward to the holiday. I'm going to do some writing, but I'm also going to take the opportunity to catch up on some trilogies I haven't read yet. Ah, books.

Liaden Universe

Support Steve Miller and Sharon Lee by reading their work in progress - Fledgling - set in the Liaden universe. It's a side book that takes place parallel to the main action in the book (not yet written) that is to come after I Dare. You can also listen to each chapter via podcast, the links are on the Fledgling page. So far, they're up to chapter 19, which was loaded on the 18th of June.

Read, enjoy!

On this day...

in 1815, the Battle of Waterloo was fought.

I read a fair number of novels set in and around this time period and it's not unusual for any given character to refer to the 'war' or for a hero to be scarred by his experiences on the Peninsula. Even if you don't read any of the accounts written by eyewitnesses of the time the cold, hard statistics are enough to provide a rough (and horrific) idea of what it may have been like.
According to the British Battles website:

The British, Belgians, Dutch and Germans lost 15,000 casualties or 1 in 4 engaged. The Prussians lost 7,000. The casualties of the French army are estimated at 25,000 dead and wounded, 8,000 prisoners and 220 guns lost.

This may not seem many in light of modern warfare's capability for destruction, but for one day's fighting when your main weapons are cannon, rifles and swords (and horses!) it's quite a sobering achievement.

It's raining, it's pouring...

It is, in fact, wazzing it down. Fully accompanied by thunder and lightning and flickering fluorescents. Hopefully the power won't go off as I've only got another 27 minutes to go. Driving home is going to be sooooo interesting as every nutter and his uncle decides that driving rain, standing water and the perils of aquaplaning are no reason to avoid driving at 95 miles an hour. Sigh, sigh.

One more week and I am on holiday! yay! But, on holiday I have no computer so any writing I do will have to be done by hand and then typed up when I get back. Oh noes!! How easily we are lured by the joy of tech.

The shifter novella is taking shape, although I need to get more speed on.

Music: none

Weather: Biblical


Dream of the Day: One day I will have a laptop of my very own.

Samhain & Kensington get hitched.

Jane, over at dearauthor.com, has learned that Samhain and Kensington are set to create a new imprint - this to be announced at BEA sometime today. The new imprint will consist of 1-2 releases a month, both available in trade and mass market paperback editions.

Click here for the full post.

Even with only 1-2 releases a month, it will be interesting to see whether this makes a significant difference in the number of Samhain books available in stores. I'm presuming that Samhain will also continue to release titles in print, apart from the new imprint, so perhaps we'll see more titles (some/ any Samhain titles) in UK bookshops? (Apart from Murder One in London which is already very good about having print titles from Samhain, Ellora's Cave, New Concepts and others). My local Waterstones (formerly Ottakers) is small but also appalling in its range of stock; my local independent tried to be too like them in order to hold onto the market and now is just as bad and we won't mention WH Smiths at all. Grrrrr. (Borders - please don't go!)

*_________________________________________________*

Listening to: Drink Up Me Hearties from PotC3

Temp in office: 23.1˚C

Mood: Tired and cranky

Aaar, matey!

Well, I've seen Pirates of the Caribbean 3 and I love it! Will definitely be going to watch it again. Not only is there (lots of) Captain Jack Sparrow, but Chow Yun Fat is playing Sao Feng! Haven't seen him in anything since Crouching Tiger so it was good. (Puts me in mind to watch all of the Hong Kong movies with CYF that I bought years ago - so long ago they were only available in VHS not DVD format. Thankfully, they were subtitled rather than dubbed. I hate dubbed films. )
Anway, I digress. Although I did/do love PotC3, I have to say that I love the soundtrack more (by Hans Zimmer). Gorgeous, sweeping music that makes me want to have a sailing ship of my own and stand at the wheel whilst sailing east of the sun and west of the moon!

I am in fact listening to it right now - and we loves it, we do. Ahem. The theme melody that runs through the previous two soundtracks is present again, but there are some new variations that really get your heart racing especially in the tracks: At Wit's End, Up is Down, and Drink Up Me Hearties. The (brief) first track Hoist the Colours is quite emotive (and horribly addictive in the sense that it's short enough and rhythmic enough to get stuck in your head for days! It's been three days and I've still got the words running through my head!)

Listening to: Singapore from PotC3

Mood: Quite chirpy, thank you!

Have you got that Friday feeling?

I haven't... yet.

Partly because BB keeps waking me up, wanting to go outside at ohGodo'clock in the morning - so much so that I had to shut him downstairs at 0430 this morning because I just had to sleep, and it was the third time he'd woken me up. B was never like that as a puppy, maybe it's a boy thing?

The other reason for my lack of Friday Wootness! is that I'm working tomorrow until 13:00hrs. Erk! But, I am off for the Bank Holiday and not back at work until Thursday - yay!

I've decided I'm going to have a stab at the Cat Shifter novella for Samhain so I will hopfully get a good run on in those few days. I'll outline this weekend and then go from there.

baby!