Later in the week I will do a full round-up of the RNA conference. After I've figured out how to permanently fix my bed and after I've figured out how much damage I did my mobile broadband dongle by dumping a cup of hi-juice on it. For now, the highlights:
1. Spending time with the lovely and talented ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
madlee276, and catching up on how amazingly well she's doing (can't wait to go stay with her in August!).
2. Meeting loads of new writers at all stages of their careers, which was truly motivational.
3. Catching up with people I met last year, like Kate Johnson and Imogen Howson.
4. Packing away about a year's worth of wine. Still feeling slightly soused, actually.
5. Getting so many freebies! Seriously, my bookcases are now overflowing even more than they were before I left, which is saying something.
6. Being invited to Texas by Jodi Thomas, who is incredibly funny, by the way. I really hope Leanne and I can sort something out so we can go.
It was all over far too quickly, and before I knew it, I was home again. The fish either instantly forgave me for leaving them or didn't notice I was gone; I'm not sure which.
I have to be honest, getting home again was a bit of a let-down since it was straight back to work yesterday. I'm seriously debating right now how much longer I want to go on working in an office and stealing time for writing around that. I have my annual review with the Director next Monday and one of things we're discussing is my "career progression." I feel like it might be rude to tell him I never intended to stay at the Institute this long and that I'm desperately seeking an escape route as we speak. Is there an elegant way to slide "paid sabbatical" into the conversation? I plan to find out.
- Mood:
busy
Anyway, I've seen this on a few people's blogs, but
kazdreamer is encouraging everyone to do it, so here we are.'I wish you were coming with me tonight.' - SILVER KISS (which is rolling along nicely, thanks!)
A fire storm was brewing. - Wonderland (which has stalled because I'm too lazy to work on the much-needed worldbuildling).
She ran through the forest, the metallic tang of blood in her nostrils - Wild (which one day I will finish rewriting because I love it, damn you).
The vampire slunk through the dead leaves and damp earth, a parody of the woman it had been in life - Death for the Born (don't really have any witty comments for this one).
- Mood:
giddy
In actual news, I've been working on the Super Sneaky Secret Side Project tonight. Not added much because my arm is sore, but I'm happy with the progress I have made.
I can't wait for my week off next week when I can really crack on with this and SILVER KISS for a few sweet, uninterrupted days. Just have to slog through a few more work days first...
- Mood:
recumbent
I'm thinking my initial 60k estimate may have been a little conservative as I certainly don't feel like I'm nearly half way through the story. More like a quarter. 2k added last night. Here's the score so far:
Stuff Going Down
1. Ayla found a runaway teen werewolf unconscious in the woods.
2. Naomi made a bad Sudoko metaphor.
Background Stuff
Futurama season 2 and
chaostheory 's thoughts on Richard Nixon.Foodstuffs
Cadbury's chocolate ice cream with Cadbury's chocolate chunks!
- Mood:
hot
I've seen a developing trend for avian shapeshifters, and I've read a couple of books featuring weredolphins, but reptiles seem to be ignored, or relegated to bad guys. Is that because reptiles are inherently creepy? Too cold-blooded and scaly to be suitable hero material?
Well, screw you guys. I'm going to write a story with a weresnake in it! And blackjack! And hookers! No, wait, not the last two.
- Mood:
curious
And we all know Wolf Strap has been getting some pretty good reviews, right?
And we all know I've been working on a novel-length follow-up to Wolf Strap called Silver Kiss, right?
Well, I am thrilled (and a little bit nervous) to announce that SILVER KISS HAS BEEN CONTRACTED BY QUEEREDFICTION! Which means I'm going to have a novel published! A whole, full, genuine novel all by myself etc!
Details are tentative at this point, but we're hoping SILVER KISS (yes, I will henceforth capitalise it all the time, sorry) will be released in early 2010.
This is by far the most exciting thing that has happened to me since I started writing, and I'm over the moon to have the opportunity to do this. So, virtual party at my place! Bring cocktails!
- Mood: jubilant
j_rah has finally got herself a real grown-up job so we're off to toast to her victory with cocktails and Mexican food. Huzzahs! We'll also be toasting to my good news, which I will share as soon as I can. I've recovered from yesterday's mope-fest and I'm looking forward to a peaceful weekend of writing and visiting my grandparents. Can't ask for more than that.ETA: Just stumbled across another review forQueer Wolf here at Collective Fallout. Once again, there's praise for Wolf Strap!:
"“Wolf Strap” pulls you in fast and hard ... Both mystery and horror, this story tells of the struggle between pack and humankind–and of what some men will do to even the playing field with the perceived wolf threat. Clark gives us characters that we can understand in a world that we cannot."
Yay!
- Mood: chipper
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 knew buying that documentary would pay off!
- Mood: excited
19701 / 60000 words. 33% done!
I did an epic 3600 words today on Silver Kiss, curled up in my parents' conservatory. It was ... um ... my gift to my dad. For Father's Day. He really appreciated my efforts. My arm is killing me now, but I'm too happy with my progress to really care. Stuff is Going Down in the werewolf world. Crazy Stuff. Werewolf Stuff. And Ayla doesn't like it.
I picked up Pride and Prejudice and Zombies at the train station on Friday, and I have to say I'm disappointed so far. Jane Austen's parts are still marvellous, charming, and funny. Seth Grahame-Smith's parts are just ... I don't know. Wrong. I don't know how you can mix zombies with Jane Austen and have it go wrong, because in theory there's nothing bad about it. But they just fall flat. I feel like it wasn't done with any love for the original or real understanding of what makes Pride and Prejudice so great to begin with, but just as a novelty money-spinner.
Anyway. We're back into workshop season at work from tomorrow - three back-to-back workshops, which are just going to wipe everyone out, so I don't expect to be very productive writing-wise, although I shall try and crack something out where I can. And, oooh! Then it will nearly be time for this year's RNA conference. Woo! I'll be going along as a published author this year! ^_^
- Mood: content
- Music:Paradise by the Dashboard Light - Meatloaf
1. I'm done with the emo thing today. I had some brilliant news yesterday that I will share asap, and that lifted me right out of my "woe is me" mood.
2. I'm off to my parents this weekend for an internet-free few days of hardcore writing on Silver Kiss. I've done a lot this week, had two very productive write-ins, and I'm determined to do a lot more before the week's over.
Which ties into my next point:
3. OMG, I woke up at 4am this morning in agony. FLAMING, SEARING AGONY. I must have fallen asleep on my bad arm. It was cramped, I had the worst pins and needles ever, I couldn't move my fingers, and from my shoulder to my elbow, everything was numb. I had a complete freak-out and leapt out of bed waving my arm around like a maniac to try and get the feeling back. But it kept going numb despite my proactive methods. I spent a good ten minutes just massaging it and stretching and eventually reduced my panic from "OMG, AM I GOING TO HAVE TO AMPUTATE IT?!" to "this is pretty damn uncomfortable."
So yeah, not great. I have overdone it this week and I've been slack at using my voice recognition, because me yelling at my laptop doesn't make for a happy, productive atmosphere for the other writers at the write-ins.
I had a most productive Girton Write-In last night and added a hefty 3k to Silver Kiss. And my arm isn't even too sore this morning, which only adds to my smug sense of satisfaction.
I'm at that stage in the writing process where the more I write, the more I want to write. I've got to grips with most of the world-building - Pack laws and rituals, how the werewolves have integrated with the humans, all the fun stuff. Now it's time to bring on the Issues! Which Ayla has lots of! Apparently I can't write a werewolf story that doesn't have Issues. Lizzie, the heroine from Wild was addicted to heroin and accidentally killed her boyfriend (... but I've said too much ...). Christian, the werewolf in the Scarlett novels, is an irrepresible playboy with too much money and not enough morals.
So far Ayla hasn't taken any drugs, killed any of her loved ones, or slept around yet but hey, it's early days.
ETA: Squid can hear! Just further proof that they will one day be our masters. And I for one welcome our cephalopod overlords.
- Mood: pleased
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
I am so writing something for this. Pirates! Come on!
- Mood:
bouncy
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
Unusual Appetites
Born and Dead in Brooklyn
The Lady in the Fog
Painless
Mercury Bones
Scream if You Know What I Did Last Friday 13th
Mirror, Mirror
1770
And since I'm here pimping myself, this is probably as good a time as any to remind you all that Queer Wolf is released in paperback on June 7th - just a few short days away!
- Mood: chipper
That's chapter one done and chapter two started. I'm now going to curl up with a book and wait for ice cream to happen to me.
- Mood: pleased
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
preyforhuntress 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
