How's your week going?

Listening to: The Most Dangerous Predator: Twilight Original Score - Carter Burwell

Location: Orthanc

Another week draws slowly to a close and I'm absolutely cream crackered. Which wouldn't be so bad if this was the end of the *really* busy week at work, but that's next week so I have the joy of being completely, insanely, don't bother having any breaks busy yet to come. All done in high heels because the smart work trousers were not made for people who are only 5"2 (and you really don't want me to hem things if the hem is meant to last more than one day) so there will be aching feet/ head/ throat from all the talking/projecting against background noise.

Thank god it's only this bad once a year.

I'm off to the North again this afternoon to visit the pater, and apparently we're trogging off to Carlisle tomorrow for a little jolly (but at least I can sleep in the car on the way.) Other than that, I plan to lounge around and do some reading and writing this weekend. I'm lending my dad some C.S. Friedman books, as well as Mark del Franco and Anton Strout (books, not the peeps themselves, obviously) so he'll have something new to read along with the Charlie Stross books I got him for his birthday. And with any luck he'll have some books I haven't read and we can swap.

So, does anyone have anything exciting planned for the weekend?

Update
Project: Unnamed UF
New Words: 5,786
Present Total Word Count: 46,021
Goal: 80,000

(Almost) all the leaves are brown...

The last four days have been nice and relaxing and full of sloth. There, I said it - I was bone idle. My brain was fried so I've spent most of the past four days re-watching Supernatural and reading a couple of Phil Rickman's Merrily Watkins novels (crime with a paranormal/ Deliverance (as in exorcism) twist.) Good stuff, and nothing like the books I'd been reading prior to that, or anything like the book I'm writing so it was a bit of a headspace holiday.

I'm now on Day Five of the holiday and I thought I'd better get some writing done, just to get back into it before I head back to work; but the drain man's just arrived so I'll blog first and write when he's done. (Victorian drains - you've just got to love them. Sigh.) The dogs are bemused, the tap's running in the bath, and a no-doubt fragrant odour is wafting in the hot sun in as welcome a fashion as a bloated rat at a barbeque. Hopefully, most of my neighbours are still at work.

In other news...I've re-visited a flash piece that didn't work too well and I think I've figured out how to make it better (and, by virtue of it being me, longer.) I've sketched out the first page or so and will work on that as a 'down-time' piece to give me a break from the unnamed one - I shall have to think of a working title for the unnamed one at some point; at 40+K it ought to be called something other than Unnamed UF, eh?
In other, other news...it's boiling. Autumn arrived with crisp air and hazy light, the sound of rooks in the trees; and now, the sun's out, the air is muggy and yellow (thunder on the way perhaps?) and the collies are restless - only one walk so far today, so they're feeling fractious. More exercise for me later then. :->

Back to the day job tomorrow which is good, although it does mean that I'll have to leave the house early as the kids are back at school from today so the roads will be clogged with the school run if you hit it wrong. So I need to be on the road for 07:15 at the latest. ::phbbbbt:: And in a couple of weeks the universities crank up to speed to welcome all the new and returning students and we'll all hit the ground running and won't really stop until mid-October when we'll all collapse into jelly-like heaps and gibber quietly in our offices. But it's all good fun, so bring on the circus!

Right. Enough chit-chattery. Time for some work.

I'll leave you with an update of where I got to last:

Project: Unnamed UF
New Words: 2,392 (over 2 sessions)
Present Total Word Count: 40,235
Goal: 80,000 (although, the first draft is likely to be waaaay longer as I'm pretty sure that I started it in completely the wrong place. Nice to know that there are some constants in life.)

[metrics] UF (Day 53/90) - (Bank Holiday Monday)

Project: Unnamed UF
New Words: 4,686 (over 2 sessions)
Present Total Word Count: 37,843
Goal: 80,000

Tilly's undergone testing on her shields and has signed a contract for more training on how to control her power - a new plot element cropped up in writing this, so Tilly's contract specifies that if she can't control her power within a set timeframe then she'll be deemed dangerous and will be dealt with by the Magister who holds her contract.

It's still messy, but I can see which things can be tightened and smoothed in revisions so it's not all bad. I'm likely to finish considerably over the word count I'm aiming for but, again, we'll see how things pan out once the revision process has been done.

All in all I'm quite pleased at the progress I've made and have to point the finger at word wars for the assistance.

[metrics] UF - (Day 41/90)

Project: Unnamed UF
New words: 1,495
Present Total Word Count: 25,603
Goal: 80,000

The rogue scenes have been done and we're back onto the scheduled scenes, so the pace (of writing) has picked up a bit.

The PC chum #1 and I bought in February has finally been paid for; after pay day I have to transfer my portion of the holiday money and then I can start saving again. (Yay! Savings! What are those again?) I think people will be subjected to a lot of handmade presents between now and January. Knitting/ cross-stitch/ quilting extravaganza here I come! I think I may have to timetable my weekends. ::sigh::
Anyway, I'm off to the soggy north this afternoon to Newcastle to visit the pater. I'm still undecided as to whether I should risk the A1 (loooooong delays at Gateshead becuase of roadworks) or head up the A19, upon which I have never travelled. The magical mystery tour. Hmmm. Choices.
Ah, the glamour. Can you see it shine?

[metrics] UF - (Day 39/90)

I've started to slow down in the word wars; I'm writing a couple of scenes that I hadn't planned for in the original outline so I'm picking my way through the dialogue rather than blasting ahead. I knew, going in, that there wouldn't be a clean first draft when I was done, so I'm not overly disappointed, but there will be a significant revision process in my future! Not least because I'd planned the first section (of around 10 scenes) to be between 80 and 100 pages; I am on scene seven (one of the new ones) and I'm 84 pages in, so I'm aware that during the revision process there will be the taking out of 'stuff' as well as the putting in. C'est la vie. But, slow though the progress may be, it is still progress and therefore correctable.

I'm glad that I outlined as I'm notoriously messy without one, and I do allow for deviation/ additions to the plan, but those extra scenes were a surprise I should--perhaps--have anticipated. Not that it would have been a surprise then. Anyway. On to the metrics!

Project: Unnamed UF
New words: 1,495
Present Total Word Count: 25,603
Goal: 80,000

Reason for stopping: Had to get back to day jobbery

Things accomplished in fiction: The second new scene added - again, very slowly.

Things accomplished in real life: Day jobbery - More work on presentations. More e-mail. Publications. Fiddling with e-book lists and web pages.
Non-day-jobbery - More Supernatural. Dogs out for a walk. Watched chum #1 argue with water company that directly outside our house is a Section 24 sewer--which means it's public-- and therefore their responsibility to sort out. (Never give in! Never surrender!) Read some of the new issue of Black Static.

Currently reading: C.L.Wilson's King of Sword & Sky

Bookmark is stuck in: Testament of Youth - Vera Brittain (I'm working on it, but it's slow going)

Staring at me from the sofa: NF book on Georgette Heyer's Regency world

[metrics] UF - Day 38 (Monday)

Project: Unnamed UF
New words: 2,542 (this is not all from the same day, but I'm not doing separate posts for it)
Present Total Word Count: 24,108 (up to chapter six)
Goal: 80,000

Reason for stopping: Had to get back to day jobbery

Things accomplished in fiction: The very slow writing of a scene I hadn't planned at all. Not quite at the gouging each word out with a blunt spoon, but it was getting there.

Things accomplished in real life: Day jobbery - More work on presentations. More e-mail. Meetings with colleagues. Non-day-jobbery - Watched more of season four of Supernatural (I'm catching up). Unpacked a delivery from Tesco (yay! we have cous cous! and soup!)

Currently reading: C.L.Wilson's Tairen Soul series (book four is out later this year)

Bookmark is stuck in: Testament of Youth - Vera Brittain (I'm working on it, but it's slow going)

24108 / 80000

[metrics] UF

Location: Orthanc
Listening to: Bella's Lullaby - Carter Burwell
------------------------------------------------

Project: Unnamed UF
New words: 1,416
Present Total Word Count: 21,566
Goal: 80,000


Things accomplished in fiction: Caleb's finally giving Tilly the information she wanted and I'm trying to avoid info-dumpage at this point.

Things accomplished in real life: Finished a powerpoint presentation for work; started planning a tour & presentation; dealt with e-mails &c.
- Took Bear on a training walk, as he's still willful, which knackered us both; tested some more home made Welsh cakes (Chum #1 did a good job, but I'll have to test a few more to make *absolutely* certain.) :oP
- Cleared part of the patio so that the sewerage chappy can get to the drain today. Oh, yes. Hot, muggy weather and the Victorian drains are playing up. Lovely.

Anyway. Progress.

21566 / 80000

[metrics] UF

I've finally cracked the first 25% (although I can already spot the broken bits that will need extra attention ::sigh::) but progress is good, and anything that's on the page should be fixable, technically. Or at the very least illustrate what not to do next time around.

Project: Unnamed UF
New words: 1,786
Present Total Word Count: 20,150
Goal: 80,000

20150 / 80000

Things accomplished in fiction: Got Tilly home safe and sound, although not as freaked as she should be, and stopped at the point where Caleb's explaining what's going on and why the foliage went crazy.

Things accomplished in real life: Almost finished a powerpoint presentation for work, answered some phone enquiries, dealt with work e-mail. Took the dogs out for ball-on-a-rope chucking (although collie #1 isn't allowed off the lead until Friday), went to bed having not seen the Perseid meteor shower. Hopefully next year I'll either not be as tired, or it will be at the weekend.

[metrics] UF

All is joy! Collie #1 had her stitches out yesterday (2 cysts removed and a spaying) and the vetinry is pleased with the way everything's healing. Histology on the cysts came back clear as well - they were just fatty lumps so she's had the all clear. Much relief in our household, although she's still sulking because even though the cone of misery has now been removed, she still has to wear the sock of humiliation (to stop her from scratching the patch of skin where the vet shaved all the fur off) and she has to go for walks on the lead until Friday-ish. So she's not as Eeyore-ish as before, but she hasn't achieved full collie perkiness yet either.

In other news, the un-named one is galloping apace. I admit ::hangs head:: that I did no writing at the weekend. The sun came out y'see, and there was this giant brolly in the garden that completely covered the sun lounger so that I could be in the sun and not in the sun, and well, there went the weekend really. (Although I did labour over spaghetti bolognese at one point.) I also read the Accidental Sorcerer by K.E. Mills (aka Karen Miller) and enjoyed that to the point that I didn't want to do anything else until I'd finished it. So I didn't. Basically it was a weekend of sloth. It was good sloth. Even the cat thought so - she sat on the other chair. However, even though I did bog all at the weekend, I did lots yesterday and some today...

Project: Unnamed UF
New words: 3,869
Present Total Word Count: 18,364
Goal: 80,000

18364 / 80000

[metrics] UF

Location: Orthanc
Listening to: Preparation: Shackleton - Adrian Johnston
Mood: Accomplished

Project: Unnamed UF
New words: 1,239
Present Total Word Count: 14,495
Goal: 80,000

I managed to get the boys' ritual planned out yesterday - I'd left that as a gap in the MS while I thought about it, but now I'm reasonably happy with what I have. (As a first draft, anyway.) I'm aiming to crack 20k by the end of the weekend and as I have the house to myself until about 16:30hrs tomorrow, I should be able to manage that. (Interspersed with dog walking and familial visitations and the like.)

In other news, we have been quite frugal and healthy of late. Wednesday we had tuna pasta bake for tea, and there was enough left to take to work on Thursday. Thursday I made prawn risotto, and again there was enough to bring in to work today (add some pickled chilis to it for a little kick - lovely!) And tonight it is sausage and bean chowder. All cheap, cheerful, and healthy (apart from the cheese on the tuna pasta bake - but there wasn't a lot of that, I swear.) :-P

14495 / 80000

The trouble with meeces

The squeaking, furry, oh my god hide from the cat/ dog behind the bookcase kind.
Normally, our cat will start to torment and consume the little rodents during the autumn; occasionally releasing one into captivity in the house for us to race round in an attempt to capture it before it hides in the walls and breeds. The second year in this house we had an infestation of mice. It was like living in Lovecraft's The Rats in the Walls. Seriously. >.<

Sunday night she lost one in the back room and we couldnt' get it. An hour later, Baby Bear wandered in and gently deposited something on the living room carpet, then stood back and stared at us as if to say What do I do now?
Yes. He'd found the mouse; gently picked it up and carried it in for us to deal with. (I deposited it back into the wild.)

Last night, she brought in a tiny field mouse which Chum #1 managed to trap under one of the dog's dinner bowls. Again, it made it back outside. If she's doing this now, god only knows what she's going to be bringing in during the autumn/ winter months. Capybara's?

[metrics] UF progress

Word wars rock! I feel very accomplished.

Project: Unnamed UF
New words: 1,143
Present Total Word Count: 13,256
Goal: 80,000

Brice: got the ritual he wanted and his friend 'officially' on his side
Caleb: gave up some blood and had a moment
Tilly: Her boredom is about to come to an abrupt end
Things that got beat up today: Nothing yet, but it's coming.

Random sampling of text:
“You know,” Brice said slowly, “in the old days the allegiance ceremony was done in a more traditional way.”
Caleb smirked. “In the dark, you mean?”
“Very funny.” Brice mock frowned, curling his lip to expose his teeth. “Actually, I was referring to the fact that the blood exchange wasn’t done with a chalice.” He looked at Caleb, unable to hide his hopeful expression. “It was a direct exchange. Some people still believe that any alliances forged in that way are stronger.”

13256 / 80000

[metrics] UF

Had another word war yesterday evening and managed to jiggle out another 2K or so and I'm into chapter four so we're ticking along nicely.

Project: Unnamed UF (I have no idea what this is going to be called - Tilly's Tribulations?)
New words: 2,706
Present Total Word Count: 12,113
Goal: 80,000

12113 / 80000

Is it the weekend yet?

Location: Orthanc2

Mood: Exhausted

Collie #1 had successful surgery yesterday to remove a couple of cysts and, while she was under, to be spayed. The operation went well although she was groggy and cold when I got her home, so we did the pack thing and snuggled on the sofa with her under a blanket. Collies 2 & 3 rallied round as well, so that was good.

Today I am exhausted from not having slept well. She wouldn't go to sleep without knowing I was there so I dozed with either a leg or an arm out of the bed that she could lean on (part of it was that she had the 'do not lick your wounds' plastic cone of misery on her head). Once she was sure I wasn't going anywhere she went to sleep. If she's the same tonight I'm just going to get my sleeping bag out and sleep on the floor - it's times like these I wish I'd hung on to my futon.

She's much more chipper today; the vet said to keep her quiet so the grandparents will have their work cut out for them - keeping a border collie quiet once she's feeling better is no easy task.

So, today is a day of brain-deadiness through lack of sleep and a cold (no oinking yet!) I can hardly wait to go home so that I can lie down. But at least the pre-/post-operative worries are over.

Jollification over. Reporting for duty.

Mood: Tired
Where: Orthanc

Holiday over - back to the grindstone. (The updating of publications...oh, the glamour)
I had a nice relaxing time off; read a lot, wrote a bit, went and saw Harry Potter (not bad, but it lacked the zoom zoom pace of Order of the Phoenix - bit of a filler, I think.)

Fiona Glass has been doing posts on people's desks up on her blog. Mine went up on Friday and you can take a look at it here.

meta_writer are starting a new series of Back to Basics (of writing) posts today, and these will run until the 28th of July, so go along and check them out/ comment.

The as yet untitled YA urban fantasy is jogging along (although, as ever, it's started in the wrong place, but that's what revisions are for, eh?)



I'm aiming for a first draft finish date of 7th October. We shall see.

Two things...

Location: Orthanc
Music: Mountain Crossing - Shackleton OST
Mood: Pleased


First, Lynn Viehl - author of the Stardoc and Darkyn series, will be running her Left Behind & Loving It week of virtual workshops. These are taking place at the same time as the Romance Divas workshops and RWA's National Conference. There are some great workshops in her line-up, so go check out the post!



Secondly, (and probably only of interest to me) I'm nearly on holiday! Yay! Just had a succesful school visit at work which went really well and was a good way to round off the week, so I'm feeling nicely upbeat. All I need now is about 18 hours of sleep and I should be right. I'm not going anywhere as chum #1 can't take time off in the summer due to being a children's librarian, but that's okay. I'll just lounge around the house until the dogs plague me into taking them for (another) walk.
I have writing and editing to do and no need to get up at 05:30 for work so I'm hoping it will be a lovely combination of relaxing and productive.

Romance Divas: Not Going to Conference Conference

So, you can't go to the RWA conference this year? Well, don't fret for long. Romance Divas is hosting their annual NGTCC (Not Going To Conference Conference) and it's going to be fun-filled. Already they've got great guest spots lined up, including: Josh Lanyon, Rowan Mcbride, Jet Mykles and Shayla Kersten, Carrie Jones, Marley Gibson, Linnea Sinclair, Patti O'Shea, Ona Russel, Steve Hockingsmith, Joey W. Hill and Sasha White.

There will be workshops for just about every genre, from Young Adult to Erotic to Historical. Plus, a workshop on Deep POV, one on going from e-publishing to NY, and a Q&A on how avoid and deal with burnout. And there's bound to be a few surprises, too. icon_wink.gif

The NGTCC kicks off July 14th and runs until July 18th. If you're not already a member of Romance Divas, all you have to do is go to the website and register! Best of all--it's FREE!

Oh, yeah...

White rabbits.

E-books: fair price or overinflated?

J.A. Konrath had an interesting post last month on the cost of e-books, delving into issues with DRM and publishers seeming inability to move (in a timely fashion) with new and emerging technologies.

The rules of supply and demand don't work in a digital world, because the supply is unlimited. You don't fight piracy with weapons. You fight piracy with cost and convenience.

Personally, I don't - and won't - buy e-books that cost the same (or near enough) to the hardback price. An author whose work I love had a new book out in hardback last year. I had all the others in paperback and couldn't really justfy the hardback expense, especially as hbks are less portable so I thought I'd get the e-book version to read there and then, and get the paperback when it came out a year later. Well. The e-book cost exactly the same as the hardback so needless to say, I waited the year until the paperback came out. I could have got the hardback secondhand for less, but I wanted it new - nice shiny book for me/ money for the author = win. But, if only the cost of the e-book version had been the same as (or less than) the cost of the mass market paperback, I would have willingly paid for both versions. EpicFail.
E-publishers get the model right, but (it appears to me) that print publishers are missing an opportunity.

Weekend jollification

Listening to: Infinite White - Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Mood: Cream-crackered

Visited the paterfamilias this weekend up in not-so-sunny Newcastle; they got all the rain my allotment needs. ::grrrr::
Had a nice time, though. Went to Borders as per usual and actually found some books to buy (in the last few months visits to Borders stores generally have been disappointing stock-wise.) They are still engaged in epic Locus-fail, mind. February's issue is still on the shelf with no sign of anything more recent. I may have to give in and subscribe. ::sighs dramatically::
Along with the books I bought, Dad lent me some of his so I have now added to the Tower of To-Be-Read: Acacia, and The Accidental Sorcerer. (Actually, it's quite fortunate that the TBR books are not, actually, in a single tower. Otherwise someone would come home one day and find me with my feet sticking out from under a mass of books - a bit like the Wicked Witch.

I also managed to get a DVD of Brazil by Terry Gilliam - I love this film. Taped it off the tv aeons ago and when the tape died never got round to getting a copy, but as I was wandering round the shop there it was. Right at short-person height. And cheap! So I caved, and at some point this week will indulge in dystopic wierdness with glee.

Also, despite being on a visitation, I managed to get some work done on worldbuilding over the weekend as well as fitting in time for a swim, so actually it was all rather productive. That doesn't happen often!

Currently reading: Testament of Youth - Vera Brittain
Editing: Sokoll's Hawks
Other: YAUF worldbuilding