So Kyle and I went and saw The Fourth Kind last night, lured in by promises of Actual Case Studies and Shocking Footage. Turned out there was a lot of convenient static and malfunctioning video tape, but it was still a perfectly serviceable alien abduction film. Certainly more serviceable than The McPherson Tape, which just made me go LOL and WTF? And Milla Jovovich is always good value for money. But we did have to immediately come home and debunk the film by researching Dr Abigail Tyler and Nome, Alaska, where the film was set. (Ha, I should totally live there!) We couldn't find much about Tyler, so we settled instead for debating why aliens always come to Earth naked, and whether or not we were actually some kind of research project gone wrong for a superior alien race, and every time their boss rings to see how it's going, they're all "no, it's fine, it's fine, they haven't discussed nuclear bombs yet."
Anyway.
Yes, I finished the revisions on Wild. Huzzah! Now I need to write a synopsis, which I'm putting off because I hate writing them, and Wild has already killed my brain several times in the past three years, so I need a break. Instead I'm building up an awesome list of guest bloggers and giveaway material for December. Just as productive, and involving far less hair-pulling.
Anyway.
Yes, I finished the revisions on Wild. Huzzah! Now I need to write a synopsis, which I'm putting off because I hate writing them, and Wild has already killed my brain several times in the past three years, so I need a break. Instead I'm building up an awesome list of guest bloggers and giveaway material for December. Just as productive, and involving far less hair-pulling.
- Mood:
chipper
So it's that time of year again, with everyone gearing up for Nanowrimo and getting excited about pub meets and write-ins and so forth. Everyone on El Jay is asking what we're all going to be working on, and I'm just gurning because I can't do it. I want to, every year I really want to do Nano, but I can't. It's not the word count at all. I can easily knock out 2 -3k in a couple of hours if I put my mind to it. But I can't do it consistently every day because of my bloody arm.
I've been having twinges ever since the weather turned colder, and am back to using Work Rave for rest breaks at work, which is always a bad sign. I'm also back doing all the nerve gliding exercises the physiotherapist showed me back in March. Sigh. I wish I could used voice recognition, but I hate it. I just HATE it. And I know loads of writers who swear by it, but I cannot for the life of me get my head round it. Maybe it's just that Vista has crap voice rec? Anyway, I hate it with the hatred of a thousand burning suns.
So I'm not even going to attempt Nano this year, after two years of Fail. I'm going to do
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small}
picowrimo instead. Last time I did it, in 2006, I wrote a 5k short story that got published in Midnight Times ezine. This year I'm planning a slightly more ambitious target than 5k. I just can't decide what.Edits for AFTERLIFE are due in on November 15th, but until I see what needs to be done, I can't judge how much time they'll take me. I have an idea for a short story (maybe 10 - 15k) for one of QueeredFiction's upcoming anthologies that I would love to write. I'd also like to get cracking on the sequel to AFTERLIFE (not set on a title yet, but Blood Legacy is the one I keep coming back to. Sounds very generically "sexy vampire" though).
In any case, as soon as I've decided I shall hop along to the
picowrimo community and announce my target, thus creating the necessary peer pressure to make sure I actually do it. And now the inevitable: Who's doing Nano? What are you working on?- Mood: recumbent
- Music:Some Japanese stuff. I have no idea what
Yesterday was a total write-off for me. I struggled through my usual bout of Sunday night insomnia, then had to get up stupidly early to open up at work, only to discover three other members of staff were already in and had opened up. I was unimpressed. The day was busy and stressful and I was wound up to breaking point by the time I got home.
So rather than do battle with SILVER KISS again, I ate pizza leftovers and watched old episodes of Catchphrase and The Cube (the gameshow, not the film. I HATE that film with a bitter, burning hatred. Actually I hate the gameshow too. Oooh, the contestant has to bounce a ball into a tube! It's a simple task, but now YOU'RE IN A PERSPEX BOX IT'S SUDDENLY MUCH HARDER! Idiots! And don't get me started on Catchphrase. None of the catchphrases were actually catchphrases, unless "ceaser salad" is a catchphrase rather than a meal. I don't know. At least that was from the 90s. The Cube has no excuse).
Anyway. I did that, had a relatively early night, and feel much better for it. Woke up this morning ready to get to work again, and buzzing with ideas for promo for AFTERLIFE. I'm anticipating that doing promo on my budget will be pretty tough, but I've got a couple of tricks up my sleeve to make a go of it. More on that as it develops, but if you like the sound of hot jazz, cold cocktails, and dead men, stay tuned...
PS - I (by which I mean Steve, my web designer) am making some changes over at my website. There's now a separate section for the Wolf City books, so you can stay up to date on covers, reviews, releases, etc. Should you so wish. Which you do. I hope.
- Mood: optimistic
Anyway. I need something more powerful, and I've got it. But I don't know if it will still be powerful just dropped into the existing scene. I think it needs it's own scene. And the more I try to figure out where chronologically that scene should be, the more frustrated I get that I didn't just write it in the first time around. So I'm quitting for the night and watching Almost Famous instead.
- Mood:
creative
So:
1. Write up October's horoscopes for the Cambridge Explorer. That's something I don't really pimp round here that often. Are people interested in my adventures with Tarot cards and astrology, or is it best left unpimped?
2. Edit two more chapters of SILVER KISS. I've set myself a goal this week of two chapters a night, and so far have been doing three (apart from last night when the lure of the catfish proved too strong to resist).
3. Go over the first chapter of Night and Chaos for submission to my writers' group. I haven't touched it for almost a year, so I'm sure it's a horrendous mess, and I'd like it to be just a little bit less so before it gets
4. Spy on the fish.
- Mood: peaceful
For the curious, I'm the one being eaten. By life.
Last week was an incredibly unproductive week writing-wise. I managed a grand total of 2k on SILVER KISS, most of which was done last night under the influence of peanut M&Ms. I'm pretty please with how the story is progressing, but it needs to progress faster! So this week, I am totally laying the smackdown. No socialising, no showerig, no eating. Just hardcore, graphic, extreme-close-up, unadulterated, writing. No, okay, I will shower and eat.
Although, of course, Watchmen is out on DVD this week, and
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
chaostheory and I have been planning our glorious viewing of the director's cut for months now. I was very amused to see a review of the DVD in a men's mag this weekend that cautioned that "this film does have a naked blue man in it." Like Dr Manhattan's penis might somehow threaten the moral integrity of the male viewer.Oh, and also, Ethereal Tales' July issue is out now. Featuring me! So if you'd like to read a story about dying angels and warehouse fires, go grab a copy. Go now!
- Mood:
blah
chaostheory was with me and we punned about Cthulhu a lot, and it was okay.Anyway. I'm off to my parents' this weekend. Feels like ages since I was last there. We're going to a barbeque with my grandparents tomorrow, and I plan to spend Sunday working on SILVER KISS. Real life completely hijacked me this week, and I've done no work since Monday, when I managed a paltry 500 words on the Super Sneaky Secret Side Project. So yeah, I am not productive at the moment. But hopefully Sunday can change that, provided I can muster the energy to put fingers to keyboard.
- Mood:
drained
This was not the afternoon I envisioned.
Still, it's the Girton Write-In tonight, so I will be somewhat productive for a few hours. Can't decide whether to work on Silver Kiss or a Sneaky Secret Side Project. Hmm...
- Mood: sleepy
I guess if everyone rejects it, I can add in the new subplot and start over, but if everyone rejects it, is there any point? And I've learned from the epic mess of an ongoing rewrite that is Wild that adding in new subplots drives me mad. Grr. This is why I need to be working part-time. If I had more writing time, messy rewrites wouldn't annoy me so much because I wouldn't feel like I was cramming everything in around my damnable day job. I'd feel like I was cramming the day job in around my writing. Which would be much nicer.
- Mood:
irritated
The gouramis are kind of put out, but it's not all about them...
( Fish! )
In other news, it's been a slow weekend writing-wise. I didn't spend much time at the Strawberry Fair in the end, but I still haven't managed to get much done because I was too busy catching up with Becky and fish shopping. I've done about a thousand words so far today, and want to get another thousand done before I go to bed. I should have been filling in application forms for jobs, but that can wait til tomorrow. My aim is get the first three chapters done and send them to James for his thoughts.
So here's proof that I am actually working on Silver Kiss:
( Snikt! )
- Mood: happy
I'm not sure how long it will actually be at this point - it might wind up as a novella rather than a novel. It depends how much plot I can cram in.
I would have done more, but the Girton write-in fell apart last night when Becks found a road map from the 1930s and we spent the next hour looking for rude place names. You're never too old to laugh at the word "cock."
- Mood:
awake
It's now with
sanguinepen and laburton for their thoughts. I kind of planned on working on something else for the rest of the day, like the languishing Wonderland or Silver Kiss, but honestly, my head feels like it's just full of cotton wool. I blame hayfever. The house is full of dust and grass from yesterday and it's making me feel unbelievably ill. Curse you, Spring!- Mood: blah
- Music:The Antipop - Primus
How are you all? What have you been up to?
I can tell what I've been up to: hanging with Pip watching 80s movies and spending too much money (I should never go shopping with Pip, she's just a bad influence). Yesterday my parents and I attacked the back garden and it is now tamed and safe. I can get to the shed without the aid of a machete and a tent, which is nice. Except I never have any reason to go to the shed. I also spring-cleaned the house on Saturday, so everything is shiny and lemony-fresh.
I haven't much writing yet this weekend. That's what this afternoon is for - finishing the draft of Moths. It currently looks like this:
I keep underestimating how long it's going to be (originally I planned about 5k), but since the word limit is 10k, I don't think I'm in danger of going over. After that I might get cracking on Silver Kiss, which has been burning me up ever since a certain housemate texted me the magic words "werewolf fight club" on Friday night.
- Mood: mellow
- Music:That's What You Get - Paramore
1 Mai Tai
1 Key West Cooler
3 Cosmopolitans
1 Woo Woo
1 Baileys ice cream smoothie (with bonus mint-chocolate flavour!)
I also squeezed a cranberry juice in there somewhere, but it wasn't mixed with anything alcoholic so it doesn't count.
So today I'm just ravenous and am strongly considering heading to the Co-op for nachos. But since I just ate a fishfinger sandwich, I'm holding off for now.
I started work on that Brand New Idea that was burning a hole in my head, and have about 1k on it so far, which is not very impressive really. The problem is, I had another Brand New Idea yesterday based on a short story I started but never finished last year, one which involves my first love - shapeshifters. So, hmm, yeah, feeling torn on which is actually the better idea. Until I decide (if I do) I may just have to go for those nachos after all.
- Mood:
lazy
They often go awry, apparently? I don't remember the rest of the quote, I just remember being forced to read the book and hating it (except for Slim, who was six kinds of awesome). Anyway, the point is, my "let's Superman this weekend and write like Cthulhu is watching" plan has taken a backstep. My parents made me an offer I couldn't refuse. Food, a comfortable mattress, new clothes, and a hot bath,
So I'm at my parents, having enjoyed all of the above and having done no writing yesterday. I am planning to do some today, but Holly is currently trying to climb onto my head, which hampers the process somewhat. I'm a bit torn on what to work on though... The Scarlett novel is moving along nicely, although I can already tell the opening the chapters will need some serious revision somewhere down the line. But Wonderland is also calling, and so is that random futuristic-ish werewolf novel with the illiterate assassin as the main character idea too (Lone Wolf). I had a dream the other night that really got me thinking more about that idea. I don't want to start yet because there's a lot of world-building to be done first.
For example, my original idea was that my main character, Aisling, would one of the last werewolves in her world thanks to a war between humans and wolves. The wolves would have been wiped out with some kind of engineered disease, or something. A bit vague on that still. Then I thought I'd prefer a nuclear winter scenario, but I don't know how that could work so that werewolves were worse affected than humans. Then I did some research in Agent Orange because I liked the idea of a ruined world with very few green spaces left, but had the same issue as the nuclear winter scenario. Then I just gave up for a while because I started Wonderland, and one novel set in the aftermath of a war between humanity and a supernatural race of your choice is probably enough.
But now? I really want to start on Lone Wolf. Aisling is starting to come alive in my head, as are the secondary characters. If I can just get the world set up right, I'll be there. So what's better? Nuclear winter, Agent Orange, or a laboratory-created disease of an unknown nature?
- Mood:
thoughtful
I know!
All I do is complain about my dayjob. That's because it stops me getting more work done on Wonderland because my arm can't take a full day at work and an evening of writing. AND it stops me getting started on the rewrite of
chaostheory . (Yeah, Catching Fire is out as a title because I don't want to step on Suzanne Collins' toes. Because clearly my unwritten novel is major competition for the sequel to The Hunger Games.)On the plus side, I now have Chocolate Cherry coloured hair and I'm going to see Watchmen tonight. Who watches the Watchmen? I do!
- Mood: cranky
... Lurks the black-hearted, alienated soul of a sixteen year old emo kid. This will come as no surprise to anyone who knows me. I spent a lot of time earlier this year dealing with my many and varied issues, but I realised recently I haven't actually overcome many of them. I'm still constantly punishing myself for what I "should" be doing but aren't. I'm still berating myself for not living up to other people's standards - standards, I should add, that I have created out of thin air and exist entirely in my own imagination. To some extent, I've managed to sap the joy out of the things I love by setting all these goals for myself and then failing to achieve them. Writing being the biggest one. Every time I open my laptop and try to work on something I get this huge sense of "why bother?" and pack it in again.
Something has to give, and usually it's me. I'm determined that this time it won't be. I had planned to spend the Christmas holidays finishing the first draft of Death for the Born, but now I think I'm just going to do nothing instead. I mean, I'll still do stuff. I'm critiquing (and loving it, I might add,![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
goth_huntress) and I'm not boycotting writing entirely, but I think I need to relax and stop beating myself up over how much I'm doing, and just write what I feel like. I'm going to read lots and recharge, and eat chocolate and generally loaf around my parents' house like a total slob. I'm going to get my hair dyed. I'm going to actually put into practice some of the stuff I learned this year and take some of the pressure off myself. I want to enjoy next year. I want to send a novel to my agent that she thinks will sell, and that means I need to be loving what I'm doing. At the moment it's just a chore and that's no way to go about anything.
Except chores, I suppose.
Anyway, I do solemnly swear this is my last emo, soul-wrenching, angst-ridden livejournal entry of 2008. In 2009 I'm going to be totally candyfloss.
- Mood: cranky
Seriously though, I went back to the doctor yesterday about my RSI because, frankly, when you struggle to lift a pot of coffee
This all means I'm not officially doing Nano, but I have set myself some reasonably achievable goals for November which I can probably do without crippling myself. 1) Finish a short story to submit to a gay werewolf anthology at the end of the month and 2) Finish the first draft of Death for the Born. I reckon that's about 30 - 40k anyway. Then I'm going to take December off entirely and do no writing whatsoever, and start the new version of Fire and Moonlight in the New Year.
- Mood:
sore
Finish Wild redraft by end of August. - I actually think I can do this. I'm about 20k from the end and there'll be less stuff to add into the final section then there was in the beginning and middle sections.
Finish first draft of Death to the Born. - I haven't set an exact time for this, but ideally I'd like to have it completed by the end of October, which again, is perfectly possible.
Finish first draft of Sekrit Project that I'm Sekritly working on. - In theory, shouldn't take long coz it's a novella.
Take another look at Fire and Moonlight. - My Scarlett books are the whole reason I write and I want them to sell, because I have too many awesome characters and ideas for this series. I think realistically that means making a few changes here and there. Nothing major, just ramping up the darkity darkness.
Write first draft of the full-length Theo Kane novel. - Theo is the main character from a short story I had published a while back, and I have some more awesome ideas for a novel starring her. Must be done. Soon.
Now, here are all the reasons I won't be able to stick to this schedule:
The Sims - They keep having babies and it's a lot of work to stop the Sims Child Protection Agency taking them away.
The Fish Babies - Similar to above, but replace "Sims Child Protection Agency" with "bullying bigger fish" and "taking them away" with "eating them."
Lost - I'm halfway through season three, and every time Pip says "shall we watch one more episode?" I totally cave and say yes, because I'm fascinated by Locke.
Work - I'm not actively looking for a new job at the moment because my boss is doing a hell of a lot to keep me happy right now, probably in light of all the other members of staff who are leaving. They're giving me a minion next summer! I might have to stick around just for that! But yeah, after seven hours of staring at a computer at work, I don't want to sit at my laptop at home.
So really, the only goal I'm confident about meeting anytime soon is finishing Wild. And then I'll probably decide it sucks and start rewriting it again.
- Mood: tired
1. We're not going to start rewriting Fire and Moonlight ... yet. That's for after Wild.
2. We're not going to start writing cosy mysteries for Mum ... yet.
3. We're not going to start writing short stories about the trials of being a superhero's secretary ... yet.
4. We're not going to carry on with Death for the Born until after Wild.
5. We're definitely not going to start writing that weird idea with the island and the gods and the girl who can shapeshift. Yet.
Love,
Nome
- Mood: hot
