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A writing weblog designed to keep myself honest and to monitor my progress.
For January
Start rewrite of Exile's Daughter Monthly word count: 1739 Last month: N/A In Progress "The Brigand" Untitled Appalachian story Editing The Exile's Daughter "Midsummer" Upcoming False Light Untitled Harper novel Sequel to Exile's Daughter Mainstream 'decade' novel In Circulation "Sic Transit Gloria" (a.k.a. "One Song Before I Go") "An Eye for an Eye" Pending Publication Nothing Published "Rhythm of the Tides" "At the Ocean's Edge" Shelved The Host "All the Lonely People" Girls Who Wear Glasses* The Sword in the Mound* "Heaven's Orphans"* * - unfinished draft In the Trunk "The Girl Behind the Counter" "Computer Dating" "The Weird Sisters" Dream Pod 9 Publications "Starlight, Starbright" Harvest of Thorns Revanche Adrift on the River of Dream Liberation Web journal Till Human Voices Wake Us Other links Write Club Shakespeare's Minions Web Rats Blog Archives Other writers I read Julie Mer Elizabeth Bear  |
Wednesday, February 04, 2004
La Vie Boheme has officially moved to http://writing.selkie.net. Please update your bookmarks and such. :) 
Monday, January 19, 2004
Too many irons, not enough fire
I'm beginning to think I have too many things going on right now. I wind up each morning, settling down to work and not knowing what to work on. Of course, I think when it really comes down to it, what I'm doing is avoiding working on a rewrite that has me overwhelmed and feeling a little stalled. One would think, that being conscious of that, I'd be able to get around the block. One would think that, but one would be wrong. Grar.
Thursday, January 15, 2004
After a lot of consideration, I trunked "The Weird Sisters". I hate doing that, especially when it's a story I really like and am proud of, but there was just too much similarity between it and the opening of Pratchett's Wyrd Sisters for me to be comfortable about submitting it. It bugs me a little that I only have two stories out circulating at the moment, but I just don't think in terms of short stories so much. Conventional wisdom says that short stories are the only way to get your foot in the door, but are they really? Is there no other path? Looks like I may find out, unless my unconscious spits a few more ideas my way. Research for False Light is going swimmingly. My notebook and notecards are filling up with ideas, and the picture is starting to form in my head. I'm working by instinct a lot lately, instead of by a sense of obligation. There's a little voice in the back of my head that tells me I should be focusing a lot more on rewriting Exile's Daughter, but for now I'm trusting wherever my brain wants to focus. This makes me feel a little bit undisciplined and guilty, but I'm trying to ignore that. I'm not sure which approach is better: to rein my mind in and try to make it follow a specific track, or let it roam where it wants, as long as something is getting accomplished. I dunno, but for now, I'm letting it roam.
Saturday, January 10, 2004
Fastest. Rejection. Ever.
I got a six-hour rejection from the story I sent out yesterday morning, essentially informing me that I may have unintentionally plagiarized from a very well known humorous fantasy author (the exact wording was that my story was "very similar in tone and content" to the opening of a book). How embarrassing! I'm resisting the urge to email the editor back and make sure she understands that I never read said author, so I couldn't possibly have done such a thing on purpose. :P In other news, I'm doing pretty well with my "five days a week" resolution so far.
Friday, January 09, 2004
Get me, I'm working here!
Another story out the door this morning, leaving me with just "Midsummer", always "Midsummer". This story is starting to feel like an albatross around my neck. I went to the library yesterday and checked out several books about the end of the world--most specifically, comets and their potential to destroy the world. Real research for a book. I'm frightened by this concept. However, once I started thinking about the story again, it's like floodgates opened. Ideas and characters are tumbling over one another in their haste to make themselves known to me. It's a little weird, but fun. False Light (False Dawn, maybe?) is looking like it's going to be my next big project.
Thursday, January 08, 2004
Two down...
I managed to get two stories back out into circulation: "Sic Transit Gloria" and "An Eye for an Eye"--the two I feel are my strongest right now. Two more, and I'll have met one goal for this month. Go me! I feel the tickle of another novel at the back of my brain. It's not that I know specifically what I want to write, I just know that I'm starting to crave the process of writing something really big. Part of me insists that I should finish the Exile's Daughter rewrite first. We'll see. It might be time to dig out my notes for False Light again--the world and story have been occurring to me periodically at random moments. I think it might be planning an ambush.
Monday, January 05, 2004
2003 in review, goals for 2004
In 2003 I submitted six different stories a total of 23 times, and received a total of 23 rejections. On the whole, however, the rejections have gotten a little more encouraging, so that's a good thing. I wrote a novel, finished four short stories (2 from scratch, 2 finishes from 2002 starts), and rewrote the hell out of a lot of things. My word count total for the year was 127,567--not too shabby when you consider that I didn't write word one in March, April, or May. Now... looking ahead to 2004: I want to finish the unfinished short story I'm working on currently ("The Brigand"), and write three new stories from scratch. I want to start sending query letters to agents about The Exile's Daughter, which will mean finishing the rewrite. I want to write another novel, and do something with The Host, whether it's rewrite from square one or steal bits for a short story. I want to do something writing-related five days a week, whether it's actual writing or market research or editing, or... something. And damn it, I know this one's partly out of my control, but I want to get published again this year.
Monday, December 15, 2003
Decisions, decisions...
It's not that I'm not working. It's that there's really no way to write about how I'm working. I feel like The Exile's Daughter is a cadaver I'm dissecting, bit by bit, to try and find out the cause of death. The only trick is, once I find all the causes, then I have to go back and heal the causes, put the body back together, and resuscitate it. I keep working with the assumption that once I've written a few more novels, the editing process won't be quite so involved--but I could be wrong. One thing I DO want to do differently next time, however, is to actually FOCUS on worldbuilding more before writing so much of the draft. Now I'm faced with a handful of arbitrary decisions within the text and a very very very rough sketch of a world, and I need to fill in the blanks in such a way so that the handful of decisions still fit. The hardest part is finally making the hard and firm "yes this is the way the world is" decisions that I put off the first time around. I'm kind of appalled at myself that I managed to write an entire novel about faeries without much of an idea of how they interact with the human world as a whole.
Wednesday, December 10, 2003
Good god
A month without an update! Jeez. Yeah, I officially spent a lot of time slacking last month. I found myself getting so discouraged by the short story submission process that I gave myself permission to take a break, so I am. Per my original intentions, I did start the editing process with The Exile's Daughter this month. It's going well. I'm learning a lot, and I'm analyzing the hell out of what I spent four months writing. The good news is, I like it, and the flaws are repairable. The bad news is, the flaws are repairable, which means I have some work ahead of me. ;) Unless inspiration comes and hits me between the eyes with a hammer, I'm thinking short stories are on hold this month, as well as any other new projects.
Monday, November 10, 2003
Un-Derailed
Slowly but surely trying to get back into the groove I had while writing The Exile's Daughter. Which means work from 9-12, then a break, then possibly more work in the afternoon. It's slow going, as I'm once again proving highly talented at finding things to do that look like work but really aren't. But, I got about another 700 words on "The Brigand", my swashbuckly short story, and I think I finally made it to the meat of the story. I can already tell how very flaw-ridden it is, but I just want to get the story OUT. Can polish later. This is my mantra. Write now, fix later.
Thursday, November 06, 2003
NaNoNotSoMuch
NaNoWriMo is officially over for me this year. The novel wasn't working, the process of writing at breakneck speed wasn't working, in short, I wasn't working. I learned so many valuable lessons from NaNo 2001, but I think I'm done with the concept now. I've learned that I can write a novel without that outside goading, and in fact, it turns out a lot better that way. Instead, I'm focusing on a couple of short stories, one of which may wind up as a larger work (i.e., the story formerly known as "Alabaster Stones"). I forgot for a little while how to write for fun, with no goal in mind other than to enjoy writing and tell a story. So that's what I'm doing now. Part of my brain insists that I've failed somehow, but with one novel already written this year, it's pretty easy to shut that part of my brain up.
Friday, October 31, 2003
At the starting gate...
NaNoWriMo starts in a little over two hours. I'm planning on staying up and making at least a token start to the novel. I'm seriously going by the seat of my pants on this one. I'm hoping after writing a few thousand words I might be able to come up with an outline. We'll see. I don't want a repeat of The Host where I felt lost in my own novel. I'm sure I'll post after I've done some writing tonight.
Sunday, October 26, 2003
I know, I know, things were quiet last week. I spent a good bit of time poking at "Alabaster Stones"--which is probably not going to be the title of that particular story, as it's taking a left turn away from what I thought it was going to be. It's also threatening to turn itself into a novel. Yeah, another one. However, I think I can get a short story out of it and put the novel idea for it on the back burner. It's a novel I'm not old enough or experienced enough to write yet, anyway. Got a few more rejections over the past week, including two in one day, and a one-day rejection from NFG (damn, they're fast). "Midsummer" came remarkably close to being published. The rewrite was done at the editor's request, but it still wasn't quite what they wanted. Also, I was extremely encouraged by the last rejection on "An Eye for an Eye", which was actually handwritten and basically said they didn't have room for it right now. Gotta keep telling myself that. I'm making progress. The rejections ARE starting to get more encouraging, starting to get something beyond just a form. NaNoWriMo starts on Saturday. Do I have an outline yet? Well of course not. I may shelve the short story until December and spend this week planning Girls Who Wear Glasses. We'll see. I'm definitely feeling ready to dive back into a novel. This can only be a good sign.
Friday, October 17, 2003
FINALLY
I did a rewrite of "Midsummer" that finally, finally makes me happy. I've loved this story ever since I finished it, but it was always wrong. I think I finally got it right. We'll see. Made some changes on the sidebar, moved some things around. I'm feeling raring to go now.
Thursday, October 16, 2003
Progress!
Well, my NaNoWriMo novel has a working title and some character names now. The title is taken from poetry, of course! Girls Who Wear Glasses, a la Dorothy Parker's famous observation that "Men seldom make passes / At girls who wear glasses." My character names I'm keeping to myself for now, because those are even more subject to change than the title at this point.
Wednesday, October 15, 2003
Feeling of accomplishment
I printed out the first draft of The Exile's Daughter today. Then spent an hour punching holes so that it'd fit into a three-ring binder. It's a lovely, enormous thing to see. Heavy, weighted with more than just the mass of 338 sheets of paper plus a binder. It's holding a lot of hope, too. I held up and showed my mom and said, "Well, here's my summer." And part of the fall. She's got it now; she wanted to read it before I start the editing process December 1st. I'm just glad to have it printed. I felt like everything I'd done finally was tangible. Of course, I haven't written a word since Sunday. That's going to change tomorrow. I have a story percolating, then there's the outline for my NaNoWriMo novel, which needs a title and characters and all sorts of goodness. Lots to do before November 1st.
Sunday, October 12, 2003
The 15th? The 15th did I say? HA!
After blasting out the end of Chapter 17 this morning, I went on to write all of Chapter 18 in a long marathon day of writing. 4500 words later, the first draft of The Exile's Daughter is FINISHED! I love the way the ends came together and tied themselves up at the end. I love the way it ends. I think for once I've managed to write something that doesn't have a totally wimpy and weak ending. I think I may have something here. Tomorrow, I am SO taking tomorrow off. And to think it all started with me just wanting to write a combat scene. That was June 6th. By July 7th, I knew I had a novel. And today, October 12th, that novel is complete. I don't think anything feels as sweet as that.
Saturday, October 11, 2003
*whimper*
One more scene to go in Chapter 17. Then Chapter 18. Then I get to write that have come to be the two sweetest words in the English language as far as I'm concerned: "The End". Still on track to finish by the 15th.
Wednesday, October 08, 2003
90K!
Golly, it's just one milestone after another these days. The next big milestone you're going to hear about (aside from hitting the last chapter, that's not a huge milestone) will be when I finish! I managed to write at another breakneck pace this morning, partly because I wanted to reach 90,000 today (damn that odometer rolling) and partly because I doubt I'll be doing much writing this afternoon. So excited. So very excited. One interesting note, a part of the final outcome keeps shifting back and forth in my head. I can see two ways to go, and I'm not sure which one will work the best. Of course, if I go with the new idea that occurred to me last night, I'll have all sorts of rope with which to hang my characters for the sequel. That could be fun. Yes, fun. Writing is all sorts of fun again. Dare I say it? I think I'm starting to coast. (She says, jinxing herself horribly.)
Tuesday, October 07, 2003
Whew
I can't tell if I'm galloping out of control or just maintaining a steady run. In either case, Chapter 16 is finished--didn't hurt that it was considerably shorter than the average chapter. Two more to go. At this rate, I might well finish the first draft this week, leaving me three weeks to NaNoWriMo, three weeks to rest, recuperate, and outline the next novel.
Momentum
Wrote a scene and a half this morning, and stopped only because I didn't want to miss "The West Wing" again. I'm already itching to get back to it after lunch. This can only be a good sign. The retreat really got me fired up again for finishing this. I had been a little burnt out, I think. "Midsummer" came back again, and I sent it out again. Yay for me. It's getting close to retirement, I think, but I'll try a few more places.
Sunday, October 05, 2003
Home again, home again
I needed this weekend. It really couldn't have come at a better time, from a writing standpoint and from a personal standpoint. I had a marvelous time, and I wrote nearly 6,000 words. I feel ready to wrap this thing up. Due to some restructuring (again--for the last time, maybe?), I once again have 18 chapters. I finished up Chapter 15 this weekend, leaving me with three to go, again. I feel capable though. My goal is to have this finished by the 15th. I think it's a reachable goal. Also planning to sign up for NaNoWriMo--again. I have a new novel idea for it, a departure from all the upcoming works I've got listed. Once I've got a working title, I'll be sure to post all about it. This one's another mainstream idea--nay, even chick-lit. It should be interesting to write. Something light and fluffy after all the serious epic stuff going on in Exile.
Thursday, October 02, 2003
80K and Writer's Retreat
God. It took me over two weeks to get the last 10,000 words of manuscript out. If I keep slowing down like this, I'll never finish. :P I'm really hoping to be over this rough patch soon. Like, before I finish the novel even. Still, 80,000 words. Whoa. That's pretty cool. I had a few moments of "I hate everything about this stupid novel" this morning, but they seem to have passed with little scarring. That said, I'm so ready to be gone for the weekend, off to write and laugh and eat and write and maybe sleep a little, all on the shores of a lovely lake in a lovely little house. I'm taking a camera, Julie's taking down the quotes--prepare for lots of incriminating evidence. I'm sure I'll post all about it Sunday or Monday.
Wednesday, October 01, 2003
I hate October
Moderately disappointing day today. The weather is really beating down my motivation. All I want to do is stay curled under blankets and watch TV or read. Fortunately, this weekend is the Minions writer's retreat, and I will be forced (through gentle and mocking peer pressure) to write my ass off. I'm also thinking I can get a little more done tonight after the "Angel" season premiere (yay, Spike!). In not-so-disappointing news, I sent off "One Song Before I Go" to the Zoetrope All-Story Short Fiction Contest. Winners announced December 1st. Keep your fingers crossed.
Tuesday, September 30, 2003
Finally finished Chapter 14 of The Exile's Daughter, hereafter known as The Chapter That Kicked Lisa's Ass. Chapters 15, 16, and 17 left to go. I'm looking at another 50-60 pages, if I hold true to form, 15,000-18,000 words or so. That'll put my final word count around 95,000. God help me, I'm already seeing the flaws that need to be fixed. I have a feeling editing and rewriting is going to be a painful, arduous process--but I am NOT THINKING ABOUT THAT NOW. If I start freaking about rewrites now, I'll never finish the first draft.
Friday, September 26, 2003
Closer still...
So I revamped the outline for the final chapters of The Exile's Daughter, and cut one. Now I have roughly three full chapters left to write, and two scenes in this current chapter. The end is so close I'm afraid I'm going to start galloping, which is my customary reaction to seeing the end of a piece. Please, no galloping. I think the outline will help that tendency a lot. We'll see.
Thursday, September 25, 2003
It's 10 am...
I haven't started work on Exile yet this morning, but I did get two stories back out into submission, "Midsummer" (yes, you read that right) and "The Weird Sisters, 2003". Did a lot of soul searching, helped along by the Minions last night, and shelved "Girl Behind the Counter" for now. I'm starting to accept that some things I've written, no matter how well-written, or how much I enjoyed writing them, just either aren't pro-quality or aren't publishable--and that's perfectly fine. I need to stop worrying about how many stories I have in circulation, and just make sure I have the good ones out there. That said, why is "Midsummer" back out? Because I love it, for one thing. I'm trying one more 'respected' market, and if that falls through, then I'm going to go to non-paying markets. Because I want someone to read it, to enjoy it. I've done as much damage to it as I can. Rewriting isn't going to improve it at this point. I have learned so much over the past two years. I think my writing has improved in leaps and bounds. The stories I've got going around now, with the exception of "One Song Before I Go", "Weird Sisters", and "An Eye for an Eye" are all nearly two years old. It may be time to let them go and respect them for what they are: stories that taught me about writing.
Wednesday, September 24, 2003
75K
Another milestone today, 75,000 words. I can't help but wonder now if I'm going to go over 100,000 or not. We'll see, and very shortly too.
Tuesday, September 23, 2003
Back on track
I got back to work on The Exile's Daughter today after a two day break--unplanned. The rejection on Sunday shook me up pretty bad, but I responded by sitting down Sunday afternoon and writing what is arguably the best short story I've ever written. I'm letting it mellow for a little bit before I start sending it out. It's mainstream fiction, so that means I have a whole new batch of market research to do for it. The fall Minions retreat has been planned for the first weekend of October. Frighteningly enough, that may be the weekend I finish the first draft of this beast. There will be much rejoicing, believe me. In other news, I made myself cry while writing today. I think that means the scene worked.
Sunday, September 21, 2003
Another rejection this morning in my email ("The Girl Behind the Counter"). This is the first time a rejection has caused me to not write. I managed to set up my scene order for the next chapter of The Exile's Daughter (five chapters left, whee!), but that's it. I just didn't have the heart to dive into the chapter. It's not self-doubt, exactly. I'm getting a clearer picture of what my strengths and weaknesses are, I'm just still at that stage of not knowing how to fix them. Or if I can consciously fix them. Grar.
Friday, September 19, 2003
"The Weird Sisters, 2003" came back with a basic form rejection. I think tonight I'll look at it again with my nifty new editor eyes and see what I make of it. Not sure where it should go next. Hm.
Whew
No, you're not seeing things. There was a four thousand word jump between yesterday and today. I didn't work on Exile this morning because I needed to do a rewrite on "The Girl Behind the Counter". I spent a couple of hours last night, re-reading and making note of changes, using a lot of things I picked up from Self-Editing for Fiction Writers. Then today I rewrote the entire thing from scratch. In some places I was just retyping in (although even then I was making some subtle adjustments as I went), but there are two or three scenes that were either completely new or were utterly rewritten. I feel like I just ran a 100 yard dash. It was a mad extended sprint, and I'm exhilirated. I'm curious to see what the Minions will make of it. I think I'm taking the rest of the day off.
Thursday, September 18, 2003
Grar.
Shoulder still hurts. Getting tired. I've had three mornings in a row where all I've managed is about 500 words, and I keep telling myself to quit stressing about it. It'll get easier again. I just need to keep laying down one word after another and I'll get my second (or third or fourth at this point) wind. If I stop now, it'll be that much harder to start up again. It just irritates me because I'm at what should be a really exciting part of the book, and I can't focus nearly as well as I'd like.
Wednesday, September 17, 2003
Game called on account of internet
*sigh* I did close to 500 words this morning, but was completely distracted by various aspects of a new online project I'm involved in. This afternoon I'm going to go to the library and get away from the evil internet. Plus, there's Write Club tonight, which is always a good thing. I'm thinking tonight I may try and finish up the re-drafting of "Girl Behind the Counter", then give it a re-editing thanks to the interesting tips I've been picking up in A Fiction Writer's Guide to Self-Editing. Then send it to the Minions and see what they think. That almost sounds like a plan. Yikes.
Tuesday, September 16, 2003
Game called on account of injury
I dunno what I did, but my shoulder hurts like a son of a bitch this morning, so I'm knocking off early this morning. This afternoon I'm still planning to hit the library, we'll see if writing in a slightly different position is a little more bearable.
Monday, September 15, 2003
So I took a three-day weekend from writing. This wasn't entirely intentional, but it wasn't entirely a bad thing, either. I attacked things this morning, and wrote a couple of scenes that I really found pretty exciting. This is the neat thing about writing a novel. I'm finding that I'm having the same excitement about writing the scenes leading up to a climax as I would if I were reading the same scenes in someone else's book. Yeah, I said 'a' climax, because there's at least two. My September 30th deadline may not come to pass. We'll see. If I miss it, however, I shouldn't miss it by much. Not unless I'm wildly off about how much time it's going to take me to wrap up the rest of the story. Going to cross the 70K word mark this afternoon, barring catastrophe, officially making this the longest thing I've ever written. Heck, I think it already is. I think The Host topped out at about 63K. Very excited about this now. Excited to have a draft finished.
Thursday, September 11, 2003
Winding down
Weirdly, I have the sensation that The Exile's Daughter is winding down. It's not, not really. I mean, I still have at least five or six chapters to write, and those are the big climactic ones. But there's a realization that I'm honestly close to finishing it. It's an amazing feeling. I can already feel myself starting to detach from it in a way, getting ready to say goodbye maybe, starting to think about what projects might be next. While I seriously question the wisdom of diving into another novel right away, those are the only ideas I have simmering on the back burner. So what's next? I don't know for sure. I know I want to follow Stephen King's advice in On Writing and let the manuscript sit for a while before starting to edit. I'll hand the first draft out to several folks with strict instructions not to give me critiques for at least six weeks or so. After that, we'll see. I never really finished editing The Host, so this is new territory for me. Another reason to avoid starting a new novel. I'm not sure I want to wait three or four months to start editing this one--and I sure as hell don't want to try editing one novel while writing another one. I'll bet that way madness lies. Second draft, third one? Whenever, when it's ready, I'm going to quit farting around and start seriously looking for an agent. I said I was going to do it with The Host, but didn't, largely because I didn't think it was good enough. I think this one is good enough. Plus, I have considerably fewer distractions to keep me from successfully editing Exile, I think. One thing I can tell you for sure: my next big project WILL NOT be the sequel. I need something in between. I just don't know what.
Wednesday, September 10, 2003
It's a little scary how much more I'm getting done in the mornings now that I've stopped checking my email every ten minutes. It's even scarier what I had to do to make myself stop: every morning when I sit down to write, I have to unplug from the network completely and physically move my network adapter to the other side of the room. Otherwise I kept plugging it back in. But if I have to actually get up and go get it... well, that's too much work. It's amazing what we have to do break bad habits, eh? I'd fallen into the trap of popping open Outlook or IE every time I had a momentary blockage. Stopping that has nearly doubled my productivity, I think. Not a bad trade off.
Tuesday, September 09, 2003
On the path
I seem to have wandered temporarily out of that dense patch of woods in which I spent most of the past two weeks. Instead of having a path laid out in front of me, leaving me free to go merrily skipping through the forest with my little basket of goodies, stopping here and there to pick flowers, I've been forced to grab a machete and start hacking through the undergrowth until I found a way to go. Now I'm back on the path, basket in hand. Of course, now in addition to the goodies in the basket is the machete. I decided it was wise to keep it around, in case I run into another patch of undergrowth. Translation: I'm back to a section of the plot I have pretty well thought out. Writing scenes feels more like filling in the blanks than pulling teeth. Filling in the blanks creatively, of course. More like mad-libs than those stupid SAT verbal questions. Also, in case you missed it on the sidebar, I have a sequel in mind for The Exile's Daughter. I kinda fibbed. It isn't precisely untitled, but the title of the sequel might give away a little too much about the current book at the moment, so I'm keeping it to myself.
Friday, September 05, 2003
I said I'd post 'em, so here they are...
My epigraphs for The Exile's Daughter, for now. Two and three are subject to change. Part One (Chapters 1-6) Come away, O human child! To the waters and the wild With a faery, hand in hand, For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.Part Two (Chapters 7-11)--"The Stolen Child", W.B. Yeats Empty your heart of its mortal dream.Part Three (Chapters 12-?)--"The Hosting of the Sidhe", W.B. Yeats Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity.Not sure about the last two, as I've said. The first though, the first is practically carved in stone, particularly since the novel started out as a story with the title "A World More Full of Weeping". Dunno. The second one is reeeeeally starting to grow on me. Maybe for the last two, I'll mix in some other poets. Eliot's always a frontrunner.--"The Second Coming", W.B. Yeats
You knew I'd work Yeats in there somewhere...
On a whim, I divided the book up into three sections, each about six or seven chapters. Each section now has an epigraph taken from something of Yeats. The first one is perfect, I think the second one too, and not so sure about the third. I like the idea though, and am keeping my mind open about which quotations to use where. I'll post them later, cause I've got an appointment at one and have to run. Overall, excellent morning writing, almost 1500 words in one sitting. Haven't done that in a while.
Thursday, September 04, 2003
"Computer Dating"
Six day turnaround on "Computer Dating". Repackaged it to send off tomorrow morning to Analog. The problem is, I'm really not sure it's that good of a story. I like the basic idea, but the execution seems kinda naive to me now. But I don't feel like changing it right now, because changing it would mean a complete rewrite--and I'm not THAT in love with the idea. So it goes out, because hey, I might be wrong about its worth. I'll probably finish the edits on "Girl Behind the Counter" and get it sent back out by Monday. That one, at least, I'm still pleased with.
Trying again...
Write Club was a good thing last night, for several reasons. I needed a little boost of encouragement, for one, and Write Club is always excellent for that whether or not we actually manage to write. Sunday afternoon I had a brainstorm about "The Girl Behind the Counter", which I've always thought was a good story, no matter how many rejections it got. (Yeah, I'm the same way about "Midsummer".) I realized that my glee at discovering Harper-the-town as a setting when I wrote that story made it full of setting-related stuff that really had nothing to do with the story itself. While you can get away with that in a novel (to some extent), in a story, not so much. So last night while I was waiting for Julie and Mer to get there, I went through the story with my fabled pink pen of editing (it's less harsh than red!) and cut mercilessly. When I did the cuts on the Word doc, I discovered that I cut about 3000 words from a 7400 word story. I haven't reread it yet, but I have a feeling it's going to be MUCH better, especially in terms of pacing. Plus, since it's about a stumped writer, I think I neatly managed to excise all of the "oh woe is me, an unappreciated writer" stuff--which I didn't consciously put in as my own point of view, but it was definitely coming across that way. I also have yet another novel idea brewing, which also occurred to me last night. I have a hunch that Sword in the Mound is dead, and The Host, while not precisely dead, may continue in its zombie-like half-life indefinitely, having served its purpose well (got those first novel-writing jitters out of the way). That still leaves The Exile's Daughter, which is alive and growing in leaps and bounds, False Light, which still pokes through my subconscious on a regular basis, the Harper novel, wherein I will expand "Midsummer" and "Girl Behind the Counter" to my heart's content, along with some other ideas I've had for the town, and now this new one. The new one... dare I say it... isn't genre at all. It's straight, mainstream fiction. The scope of it makes me gasp a little. It takes place over four or five decades, and will track one woman's personal development using US culture and society as both a mirror and a backdrop. I think I might be a little young to write this one yet. I adore the idea though. For now, I should quit musing over future novels and get back to work writing the current one.
Tuesday, September 02, 2003
What the hell.
Why not? I submitted "The Weird Sisters, 2003" off to Strange Horizons. I was pretty happy with how it turned out, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to get it out the door while I still like it. Go me.
Slight change
I made a slight change to the sidebar, largely because I wanted to include a current page count as well. The page count is mostly there for my benefit. My Word doc got corrupted last week, including adding several pages of gibberish. If I'd been paying attention to my page count, I would have noticed it sooner, so... I'm keeping up with it now. Lucky you, you get to watch!
Sunday, August 31, 2003
Flash, ah-ah!
I've had a fragment stuck in my head since Write Club on Wednesday, and I finally sat down and extracted it this afternoon. The end result was a little 500 word bit of flash fiction currently titled "The Weird Sisters, 2003". I like the story, but I'm going to sit on it for a day or two before I look at revising.
Friday, August 29, 2003
Today
Have I written anything yet today? No. Have I been lazy? No. So far this morning I've been printing and packaging up submissions again, since everything came back from Glimmer Train with pretty much the same note on each. So, "Computer Dating" goes off to Fantasy and Science Fiction so JJA can reject it (although hope springs eternal than someday I'll get a rejection from Gordon Van Gelder instead), and "An Eye for an Eye" goes off to Cemetery Dance--I admit I have some high hopes on this one. You know you're getting the hang of this writing thing when you can rank the type of rejections you're getting. And hey, I had a handwritten note on my last F&SF rejection, so who knows!
Thursday, August 28, 2003
Quiet, but good
I'm having an awesome week in terms of writing, but there's not much to say about it other than that. The work is happening, I'm getting into another major plot point--so things have definitely picked up. At just over a thousand words today, this is the slowest day I've had all week. I blame an afternoon attack of the sleepies because I was up about an hour too late last night. Don't forget, kiddies, sleep is a valuable thing!
Tuesday, August 26, 2003
Wow.
Two insanely productive days in a row. If I make it three, I just might have to reward myself somehow. Bake cookies, or something. 2200 words yesterday, 2000 today. Go me.
Monday, August 25, 2003
Out of the house
I'd forgotten how nice it is to get out of the house to write. I spent the afternoon writing in a bookstore cafe, and got more done in two hours than I've managed in any three here at home lately. I'll have to keep this in mind. I decided to take the weekend off from writing, and I think it was one of the best things I could have done. Writing everyday is an admirable goal, and I'm definitely not giving up on that notion, but it's good to get away--to purposely get away, not miss writing through accident or laziness or whatever--every once in a while. I'm eager to see what happens tomorrow, if getting out of the house will continue to be a productive thing.
Friday, August 22, 2003
Closing in on 50,000
In the next day or so I'll cross the 50K word mark on The Exile's Daughter. It's a nice feeling, almost better than NaNoWriMo, because it hasn't felt frantic--largely because it's taken most of two months to do it instead of one. I've slowed down a lot compared to last month. I'm not sure what to think about that. I'm trying not to mind, because well, I'm still working consistently, and the story is moving along, just at a slightly slower pace. I haven't had as many exhilirated "wow, I wrote a LOT" days as I had before, and I have to admit, I kind of miss that. Still, an average of about 5,000-6,000 words a week is nothing to sneeze at, and I deserve to get kicked for thinking otherwise.
Thursday, August 21, 2003
Vocal characters
I think I've successfully conveyed, here and elsewhere, how much I enjoy writing dialogue, especially when it's crisp and snappy, but also when it's really revealing stuff. I've noticed, in this novel particularly, characters seem to give speeches and have monologues quite a bit. I'm not sure if it's good or bad, but they're usually tremendous fun to write. Today had a monologue that just made me beam for hours afterwards. I love that feeling. Love it love it love it. It's what makes me keep fighting.
Tuesday, August 19, 2003
Whew
Today was good. Today was more like the early part of the month. Crossing fingers that I'm back on track. Go me!
Monday, August 18, 2003
Slow and steady
Trying to get back into my usual routine today. I was partly successful. Which is better than last week, which was barely successful. Managed about 1100 words today, and the good news, people are talking to me again. Tomorrow should go much more smoothly than today. I was despairing of my much-vaunted newly-discovered self-discipline this morning. The afternoon was better.
Saturday, August 16, 2003
Stupid blackout!
Well, obviously, I didn't do much of anything on Thursday or Friday because of the power situation here in the northeastern corner of the country. My schedule is completely off. Next week is going to be a real struggle to get back into writing regularly and in real amounts, not bits here and there. :P This morning has been pokey, because I've mostly been doing housekeeping work--getting submissions ready and such. I ended up chopping about 10 percent of "Computer Dating". The tech wasn't so much the problem (although I really do still need to clean a bit of that up) as the writing. I'd forgotten, I started writing that story two years ago! It's not horrid, but I really have improved as a writer since then. Most of the chopping I did came from my tendency to overexplain and weigh down dialogue with lots of extraneous crap. I think it improved the story quite a bit. Once I get the technical aspects straight (I so should not write science fiction), I'm optimistic about it. It hasn't gone to F&SF yet, so that's where it's off to next, once I'm happy with it. Also did a little bit of cleanup work on "An Eye for an Eye", which also came back from Glimmer Train last night. However, since I just wrote that last summer, there didn't seem to be nearly as much to clean up. After a little bit of actual (gasp!) market research, that one will be going out to Cemetery Dance once I buy some envelopes. And finally, on a whim, I signed up for the Virtual Studio at Zoetrope Studios. While they seem to be geared towards filmmakers, there is a section for short story writers. It's the usual thing, you critique stories and in turn have yours critiqued. I submitted "Midsummer", mostly because I'm curious to see what non-genre readers think of it. I read a couple of the stories there, and was impressed. There's definitely spec-fic tinge to several of them, but some of them were fairly literary in their approach. This looks promising. Okay, I've put off starting Chapter 9 of The Exile's Daughter long enough. Back to work!
Wednesday, August 13, 2003
Submissions
Well, "Computer Dating" came back from Glimmer Train last night with just a note attached that said it wasn't right for the magazine. I kinda knew that. I'm so bad about doing magazine submissions. I sort of send them out willynilly sometimes. I really like the story, but I know my tech knowledge is weak in a couple of places in it. I should really take the time to fix it before I send it back out, but I hate taking time away from The Exile's Daughter to work on it. Also still debating if I should send "Midsummer" out somewhere again or not. In other news, I was up a little too late last night and my brain is foggy. Grar.
Tuesday, August 12, 2003
Holy cow!
Well, I successfully managed to dodge the Sims this afternoon, resulting in another 1600 words this afternoon. Yes, you read that right. I managed almost 3400 words today without even breaking a sweat. I keep rechecking my word count because that can't be right. It was too easy. The secret, of course, is that I got to another section of the story that I was really eager to write, so I blasted through it. I think it came out well, but I think it's going to mean getting rid of the prelude I originally tacked on at the beginning. Later. I'll get rid of it later. I am so psyched. I've gone from being three days behind my 1500 words a day schedule to just being two days behind. Piece of cake. I can catch up. However, taking another look at my outline to see how many chapters I've projected are left, and going by the lengths of my chapters so far, this is going to be 90,000-100,000 words. I never would've believed that I'd write something so long! You know what that means? It means I'm right about at the halfway point. Heaven help me. Half done. Woot!
Whoops...
Well, I managed to cross the 40K line today instead of yesterday. Yesterday afternoon I was hit by an attack of the Sims, and never quite managed to get back to writing yesterday afternoon. This has resulted in a new rule in my house about Sim-playing: not until after 7pm. I swear that game's a black hole, not even light can escape it. Still, an excellent morning of 1700 words. I'm still feeling very geared up as well, so I think after lunch I'll dive back in and see how much more I can do.
Monday, August 11, 2003
Goal for today
I'd like to hit 40,000 words on The Exile's Daughter by the end of the day. That's another 1700 words. I think I can do it, if I push a little. We'll see what happens after lunch.
Sunday, August 10, 2003
Lazy Sunday
Well, lazy weekend, really. I took yesterday completely off, but managed about 1700 words today. I figured out that I'm about three days behind my "1500 words a day" projection. Considering the horrific week I had last week, that's really not so bad. I'm just dealing with a little touch of frustration, because I feel like I could be pushing myself harder than I am. I mean, on the one hand, that's silly. I'm getting myself into a regular writing schedule, and I'm doing it almost every day, for at least three hours a day. I guess I feel like I could be doing MORE with that three hours, or that I have more than three hours to spare, given my uniquely open schedule at the moment. Before you all comment and smack me upside the head: I know. I know I'm probably expecting too much of myself. There're just days when five pages a day doesn't seem like a lot of output. On days like that, I end up taking too far of a step back and look at the wall I'm building, then look at the brick in my hand and get discouraged. Labor Day is looming. I really want the first draft finished by then. I have to start accepting that it may not happen, that September 30th may be a much more realistic goal, if only because this is going to run longer than the 60,000-70,000 words I'd originally envisioned. And in the long run, it's better to take longer to turn out a good quality first draft than to spend the extra time ripping my hair out over a crappy first draft. If only I could continually remain convinced of that fact...
Friday, August 08, 2003
Woot!
1500 words this morning, BAM! I'm baaaack! I'm not being cocky, really. Things just came clearer to me, and my brain was much less foggy this morning. It feels good to write again. I'm about 3000 words behind my schedule, but I can deal with that. I'm just glad to have all my characters talking to me again.
Thursday, August 07, 2003
Slow week
Grar. Tuesday and Wednesday were rough. I spent a lot of time staring aimlessly at the computer screen. I felt pretty stuck. Write Club last night was an enormous help in getting me unstuck, but today has still be kind of slow going. I'm hoping this afternoon will kick off a little faster. It's like I hit the middle of the story and just got mired in little details, details that I couldn't figure out and didn't want to gloss over. But, after a pep talk with Mer and the prudent purchase of a map of Philadelphia, I feel a little less unstuck. I swear, I think the map purchase was more symbolic than anything else. I mean, I'm really using Philadelphia more as a basis for the setting than the actual setting, but having something concrete to look at gave me a sense of security. Still at an average of about 1,000 words a day, but hoping to improve that to 1,500 before the month's out.
Monday, August 04, 2003
Presents for ME?!
The Plot Fairy visited me this morning with all sorts of goodies. She sprinkled my outline with lots of scene and conflict ideas, but unfortunately most of them had to do with the final act of the novel. The act I'm diving into right now is still pretty skeletal, but it's getting better. My characters are starting to tell me exactly what's important to them and what they want to do, which in some ways, makes plotting much much easier. I very much like the world that I've created here, but I'm finding that I need to fill in a few more basic details. However, the more I think about it, answering some of those questions (like, how does Jack's merry little band survive?) can provide a lot of scenes for the act I'm about to start working on. I seem to alternate between two states of mind when writing this. For lack of anything better to call them, they're the intuitive state and the construction state. The intuitive state is when the characters take off and I write and write and don't seem to have anything to do with what's actually going on the page, like I'm transcribing. The construction state seems to happen most often when I'm outlining or when I'm plotting out a scene, where it's much more conscious. I'm deliberately weighing bricks of plot and dialogue in my hands, trying to figure out which ones to use, arranging and rearranging them to see how things fit together. I always hated that part before. I'm finding that I'm actually really enjoying it (most of the time) on this project. I have this vision of my plot in my mind like a great big net. Right now, the space between the weave is kinda loose in places, the holes are big enough for things to slip through. When I have a day like today, where the pieces all start to click into place, I envision that net drawing up, the weave getting pulled tighter and tighter by an unseen hand. I don't know that The Exile's Daughter will ever be woven tight enough to be waterproof, but I'm thinking that even at this point, it's already starting to hold a little water.
Sunday, August 03, 2003
Aha. Writing this afternoon was much smoother. I don't know if it was the caffeine, or just that I'd had a small nap or what, but I managed to get through most of a new scene I'd been sort of dreading. All things considered, I'm still feeling wonderfully optimistic about this whole project. :)
Zzzzz...
After a very drowsy morning, I managed just under 900 words this morning, most of it finishing up Margaret's story about what happened to Jack's father. Knocking off a little bit before noon today because, heck, it's Sunday. I'm sure I'll jump back in to writing this afternoon, anyway.
Saturday, August 02, 2003
Famous last words...
That minor character is stepping up to at least supporting character, I think. She's going to tell Alex everything she needs to know about the history of Jack's little group, including what happened to Jack's father. In the meantime, she's amusing me greatly. Another 1,000 words this afternoon, putting me right back on track for my 1,500 words a day. Woohoo!
Milestones
The faerie research paid off today, if only to get an amusing anecdote about a minor character. Of course, she's minor NOW, but who knows what she'll be fifty pages from now. Speaking of pages, I crossed two big milestones today: 30,000 words and 100 pages (I average about 300 words a page). In my mind, I have the storyline divided up into thirds. I've also just crossed into the second third of the novel. I don't know yet if my 'thirds' will actually be equal in size at all, but it's nice to have some sort of concrete reference point for where I am. I didn't get to post yesterday since my site was down. Yesterday was pretty interesting. A nifty subplot or two revealed themselves, and I made myself cry while writing one scene--it was all very sad for one of the characters. Word count has been down a little bit this week, but I'm thinking I'll regain some ground this afternoon. Heck, I've already regained some ground. And speaking of milestones, yesterday was the two year anniversary for this journal. I can't believe it's been that long! Looking back through the archives, I was a little sad to see that I was still working on some of the same stories back then as I'm struggling with now. Yikes.
Thursday, July 31, 2003
Enh
Not a great morning in terms of word count, only about 300, and all of that outline. BUT, had some serious character breakthroughs, and as a result, the plot shifted a little bit if a way I hadn't foreseen. This is a very good thing. I'm off to the library to get some books on faeries for research, and then back to dive back in this afternoon, make up some of what I didn't write this morning.
Wednesday, July 30, 2003
Easy as pie
This morning was like rolling down a hill. It's funny, dialogue comes so much more easily for me than action. When my characters speak, it's like I'm just there transcribing what's going on. When they're actually doing something, it fumble for the right words to describe it. I guess that's not so weird, really. We all talk every day, but how many of us narrate exactly what we're doing to an unseen audience? Barring those of us who are film-noir characters, of course.
Tuesday, July 29, 2003
Another 2,000 word day!
Wow. I feel like I'm flying. I mean, when I'm doing the actual process, I don't. I feel like molasses. But when I look back at the end of the day, I feel completely exhilirated. Got most of the way through the big combat scene today. I think it's clear, but I don't know how exciting it is to read. As I keep saying though, that's what the second draft is for. Right now I just want to get the blocking done, so to speak, to figure out who's where and when and why and what happens. It felt really really good to cross the 29,000 word mark on the 29th. Despite the several days off I've taken this month, and the several really crappy writing days, I'm averaging over a 1,000 words a day. Yay! At this rate, I really might have a first draft by Labor Day.
Finally... fight!
I finally wrapped up all the lead-in this morning for my big combat scene, which I'm a tad nervous about writing, but it's a nervous excitement. After all, a desire to try my hand at writing combat is what got me into this particular mess. That was one on one combat though, and this is mass combat, with lots of things going on at once. We'll see how things go after lunch. Oh, I also had a character realization about Weylin that amused me. I described him to Julie and Mer "sort of Aragorn-ish, if Aragorn had much of a sense of humor at all." There are a few other major differences there too, but I won't go into those here, so as not to spoil the plot for some of you who'll be reading this later.
Monday, July 28, 2003
*flop*
Another 800 or so words, making this a 2,000 word day. Some of that was outline work, filling in details and getting them out of my head before I could work on starting the new scene. It's funny, some days the words come and they're all crystal clear and others they feel muddy and blah and when you finish you try and remember exactly what you said and can't. That's how this afternoon was. Interestingly enough, that feeling isn't always indicative of the writing being bad. Sometimes it is, but sometimes it's just that maybe I'm writing more directly from my unconscious or something. Unfortunately, I have a hunch today was not one of those days. I keep telling myself, that's what second drafts are for.
Progress once again
Back on the horse today, go me. I managed 1200 words this morning, with plans to write again after lunch. Apparently the brain dump I did yesterday really helped, because I was able to wrap up my exposition pretty painlessly. I don't know how well it's done, but it's done. Polishing it and making it something worth reading I'll leave for the second draft. The important thing is that now I know what's going on in my own world here. I went on a library ransacking last night, wandering through my local library's online catalogue and requesting a bunch of folklore and mythology books from other libraries, since the local one doesn't have much of a selection at all. It may be a case of too little too late, but it'll be entertaining reading anyway.
Sunday, July 27, 2003
Bump in the road
After not writing at all yesterday, today was a difficult day. As Mer has been prone to doing lately, I found myself resisting the urge to sing out "Exposition!" while I started today's scene. Alex, having heard some unpleasant rumors about her parents, is asking Weylin for the truth of the matter--or at least, part of the matter. What I realized today is that I haven't thought things through a lot, in terms of the faerie society that I've set up. I know some of how things are, but not why. So most of what I've done today has been to try and untangle all of my thoughts on the subject. Which has resulted in a brain dump straight into my world-building Word doc. ;) I also realized that I need more encyclopedic-type books on fairy folklore. I miss my copy of A Field Guide to the Little People. It was cheesy, but it had some useful stuff in it. My biggest fear right now is that my fae will look and feel and sound like they stepped straight from one of White Wolf's Changeling books. Or worse, that it'll seem like I tried too hard to make them UNlike White Wolf's changelings. Grar. Not thinking about that one too hard. Managed about 500 words today. Back on the horse tomorrow. Gods, I hate exposition.
Friday, July 25, 2003
New title, whee!
The new working title for the novel is The Exile's Daughter. There's some debate still whether the "The" will stay or not, but for now it's there. I like it. I'm also dangerously in love with Jack. Someone please tell me that other writers do this too. He's an absolute delight to write about, almost more so than Alex, the protagonist and title character. It's like, when I know he's about to show up in a scene, I get all excited about writing it. It's a little unsettling.
Thursday, July 24, 2003
Plugging right along...
Another 1,500 words today. It's an eminently reachable goal for me for a day. Some days I can manage more, but 1,500 is always a challenge, but not so much of one that I want to rip my hair out (usually). I may have a new title. The one I've got in mind has gotten a favorable response so far. If I still like it tomorrow, I'll make it official.
Wednesday, July 23, 2003
Woohoo!
After another slow start this morning (I'm noticing a trend here--I think I just start slow), today was an exhilirating day of writing. Not so much for the morning's word count (1396) but because of how things took off and twisted on me. What was supposed to be a lightly bantering conversation where one character asks for help from another character started out that way but morphed into an all out fight, even turning physical at one point. It was one of those scenes where I had to keep typing because I didn't know what was going to happen yet. I had to write it to see. :) It also served to bring out some nasty family secrets that had been hidden from some key people until now. You know, I wasn't going to write this afternoon, but I may have to, just to see what's going to happen next... :)
Tuesday, July 22, 2003
Afternoon writing a success
I had the same problems this afternoon in getting a jumpstart as I had this morning, but once I got going, things weren't so bad. The scenes for the rest of the chapter are slowly but surely starting to gel together in my head, and one of the characters, who was seeming sort of limp, is getting crisper--although damned if I understand what his motivations are yet. All in all, this was the most productive day I've had all month: 2500 words, with all but about 200 of that directly on the manuscript itself.
Not an entirely horrid morning...
Well, after a serious case of the blahs this morning, I managed to do fairly well. I'm going to try for another couple of hours this afternoon while I'm doing my laundry, see if I can't crack the 20,000 mark, at least for the month if not on the actual manuscript, which at this particular moment stands at just under 18,000 words. I'm rapidly approaching the point where my map goes hazy and uncer |