Tempest is continuing on. I'm trying hard to set aside my first work hour of the day to focus on this moving this story forward. Some days are quiet and my mind is clear(ish) and I get a thousand words. Other days I'm getting in the neighborhood of 600-700. I'm reasonably pleased with those days. Yesterday it was about 300, but I'd had a lot of interruptions: boss guys, customers, phone calls. At the end of the hour, I thought: I should keep going with this because I have so few words.
Did a bit of soul-searching on the concept of things I should do. The main reason I switched from a word count goal to a timed goal was because my time isn't always my own at work (go figure). Some days reaching a WC goal can take all day, and right now I have to divide my time, and not just with work duties. Tempest is a hard story to write; there is no comedy or fluff within its scenes. She is living a nasty life in a nasty place with little hope of relief, and things are still getting worse every time I sit down at the keyboard. (I'm about 1/3 of the way into the story.) If I spent all day every day on this novel, I'd get depressed.
Don't ask where it came from. I'm not a dark person. I don't like dark books. And this isn't dark in the sense of a horror story, but in its hopelessness. Because my life (thank God) is NOT hopeless, I have to struggle to immerse myself in her troubles in order to depict them, and it's not a pretty place. So, all in all, I'm glad I also have other things to think about, and why it's not a bad idea for me to be working on timed goals rather than word count.
Quite a bit of the rest of my time (around the work stuff, which is fairly busy this time of year) I'm spending on the Thinking Sideways classwork. (If you click the link in my previous post now, you'll notice that the brief window for signing up for the class is over for now.)
I can't begin to tell you how much my mind is being stretched with every week's lesson. It is being pushed and pulled and folded and then pulled some more--much like making taffy, perhaps. I'm so logic-oriented that it's amazing I write novels at all. I shouldn't be good at it. (And maybe I'm NOT good at it, but I enjoy it and have written seven of them to date, so there's obviously something in there calling me to the process!)
This week we're talking about plotting and I'm beginning to understand that I've blown off advice I've read prematurely. Holly Lisle talks about writing a Line-for-Scene outline, and I've always thought that I needed more information than that to remember what should go in that scene.
Today I've come to the sad realization that there is a difference between a focused sentence and the...junk...I write in my short paragraph or two. Because I've been writing AROUND the central issue, not being able to figure out ahead of time what the core purpose of the scene is. I can look at my scene and, I believe, tell you that it is important, that it moves the story forward. And I believe that I'm right! But I can't tell you WHY.
So I pulled Tempest back out. I just wrote a new scene this week, after all. It's still fresh in my mind. If I was having trouble figuring out a concise sentence for a vague idea of a scene for my yet-unfleshed-out novel, surely I could do better for the scene I had just written in a novel I know.
Or not.
This is a really really REALLY key concept. I can feel the importance of it. But catching a hold of it is like tackling a greased pig.
I may need something for my headache.
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Haven't been posting much
I guess there are a few reasons. One is that you all don't seem to be answering much!
Life is quite randomly busy. Home is busy because there is a hyper puppy who ALWAYS needs walking and attention, a garden that needs weeding and harvesting, a daughter and son-in-law who are considerably less demanding than the puppy!--but still there. I've been going to Aquafit Tuesday and Thursday evenings as Hanna is teaching. I enjoy it, but it does shoot the whole evening all to pieces. I've got book tours coming up and almost no time to read.
There've been stressy health issues in the extended family, my own recurring back and hip pain, a hubby working too much over time, and an electrical breaker that keeps shutting off in my kitchen.
At work there's been a transient camped out between the store and the building next door (moved on, with aid, this morning), lots to juggle in ordering and freight, and it seems to have been the week for bizarre and random questions.
Writing-wise, I'm slowly getting words on Tempest, teaching a workshop at Forward Motion, and signed up for a six-month paid class offered by author Holly Lisle called How to Think Sideways. Right now it's a challenge to think at all: frontwards, backwards, let alone sideways.
I needs a vacation. How come December is so far away?
Life is quite randomly busy. Home is busy because there is a hyper puppy who ALWAYS needs walking and attention, a garden that needs weeding and harvesting, a daughter and son-in-law who are considerably less demanding than the puppy!--but still there. I've been going to Aquafit Tuesday and Thursday evenings as Hanna is teaching. I enjoy it, but it does shoot the whole evening all to pieces. I've got book tours coming up and almost no time to read.
There've been stressy health issues in the extended family, my own recurring back and hip pain, a hubby working too much over time, and an electrical breaker that keeps shutting off in my kitchen.
At work there's been a transient camped out between the store and the building next door (moved on, with aid, this morning), lots to juggle in ordering and freight, and it seems to have been the week for bizarre and random questions.
Writing-wise, I'm slowly getting words on Tempest, teaching a workshop at Forward Motion, and signed up for a six-month paid class offered by author Holly Lisle called How to Think Sideways. Right now it's a challenge to think at all: frontwards, backwards, let alone sideways.
I needs a vacation. How come December is so far away?
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Tempest clears 5K
Tempest's story is up and running, though not without a couple of false starts. I'm still amazed I'm actually writing with only a couple weeks of worldbuilding and outlining under my belt!
I got about 700 words into the second chapter on Monday but it felt sluggish. I re-read it and couldn't see the problem. There wasn't an over-abundance of backstory or thoughts (two things that can grind a story to a halt in no time, especially in first person narrative), there was tension and the story was moving forward. In the evening I poked at the outline a bit to see what was missing. And the goal for the scene was too vague. I was in the right place, going the right direction (I think I only wound up tweaking half a dozen words), but with a blindfold on.
Tuesday I flew through the rest of that scene and well into the next one before the customers started coming. In the afternoon I basically designed flooring for a renovation and a whole house, so perhaps there is an excuse for not finishing the scene!
It's interesting--I'm not sure where this story came from. It's not a particularly happy tale. Sometimes when I'm working on a novel I can almost see the characters trying to hide from me--they don't want to go through what I've planned for them. With Tempest--definitely my darkest tale yet--it's like she's pushing me to tell it. It's like she knows she has to get through it to get to the happy ending, and just wants to push through.
So I guess I'd best get back to the writing!
I got about 700 words into the second chapter on Monday but it felt sluggish. I re-read it and couldn't see the problem. There wasn't an over-abundance of backstory or thoughts (two things that can grind a story to a halt in no time, especially in first person narrative), there was tension and the story was moving forward. In the evening I poked at the outline a bit to see what was missing. And the goal for the scene was too vague. I was in the right place, going the right direction (I think I only wound up tweaking half a dozen words), but with a blindfold on.
Tuesday I flew through the rest of that scene and well into the next one before the customers started coming. In the afternoon I basically designed flooring for a renovation and a whole house, so perhaps there is an excuse for not finishing the scene!
It's interesting--I'm not sure where this story came from. It's not a particularly happy tale. Sometimes when I'm working on a novel I can almost see the characters trying to hide from me--they don't want to go through what I've planned for them. With Tempest--definitely my darkest tale yet--it's like she's pushing me to tell it. It's like she knows she has to get through it to get to the happy ending, and just wants to push through.
So I guess I'd best get back to the writing!
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
The Villain
So the matchmaker novel (that needs a name) is starting to pull together. I've done a few character bios the last few days, playing around with the voices of the major characters in journal format. I've learned some interesting things about them that way, though I'm planning to write the novel in a single third person point-of-view: Kaesa.
However, the villain had me stumped. Not all my stories have a clearcut bad guy, but this one will. But why? Why does he do his evil deeds? What are his history, his motivations, his quirks? I could envision him sitting in an armchair across from me, leaning back, arms crossed, a sardonic grin on his face, waiting for me to figure him out while offering no clues.
Weeks like this, the store gets a really thorough cleaning. I was nearly desperate enough to start a round of price checks. Definitely time to break through Petrek's shell and figure out some things.
He likes power. He doesn't like to gamble, but goes for the sure thing with as little risk as possible. Once we got going (this one I wrote as a Q&A instead of diary) I quickly had over 1K in notes.
The villain ticks.
All I need now is an outline and a little more worldbuilding. I have a rough synopsis, so it should be possible to build an outline out of it. Maybe tomorrow.
Book needs a name. It's driving me crazy.
However, the villain had me stumped. Not all my stories have a clearcut bad guy, but this one will. But why? Why does he do his evil deeds? What are his history, his motivations, his quirks? I could envision him sitting in an armchair across from me, leaning back, arms crossed, a sardonic grin on his face, waiting for me to figure him out while offering no clues.
Weeks like this, the store gets a really thorough cleaning. I was nearly desperate enough to start a round of price checks. Definitely time to break through Petrek's shell and figure out some things.
He likes power. He doesn't like to gamble, but goes for the sure thing with as little risk as possible. Once we got going (this one I wrote as a Q&A instead of diary) I quickly had over 1K in notes.
The villain ticks.
All I need now is an outline and a little more worldbuilding. I have a rough synopsis, so it should be possible to build an outline out of it. Maybe tomorrow.
Book needs a name. It's driving me crazy.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Where to begin?
I'll try to keep this short, but I'm not sure I'll succeed. Regulars to In My Little World may recall that my hubby, a heavy duty mechanic, worked out of town for several years at the mines. He worked four days away, then was home for four days. In January he began a new job here at home at an automotive dealership. We really hoped this change would work out, though it was obvious from the beginning that it wasn't quite perfect. As time went on, the hours began to shrink a bit here and there and we got nervous. Long story short, he began looking for another job. Not finding anything, he contacted the mines near the beginning of April with the intention of returning to The Great Commute.
As with all large companies, this took a bit of time to arrange and this past week saw us still waiting for the final clearances to come through and an actual start date to be assigned.
Last Monday one of my bosses told me about an unadvertised local HDM job opening a friend of his had told him about (when boss had told him my hubby was heading out again). Hubby zipped over to drop off his resume and then we had two phone calls to wait for.
We got the start date for the mines late in the week--hubby was to be there this coming Monday. Thursday the other company phoned for an interview. After a great deal of discussion, hubby agreed to go in Friday morning to talk, with the understanding that everything would have to be perfect AND they would have to offer him the job that day. At 2:30 they phoned to offer him the position...and he took it...and phoned the mines to say something had come up and he would not be returning.
This new job--man, I hate to get my hopes up, but I can't help it. I'm sure there will be a downside or two, there nearly always is. But honestly, to quote Mary Poppins, it's "practically perfect in every way". Good wages, good benefits, good holidays, good pension, 40 hours a week (some overtime, which is okay), a bit of driving as they have two other plants in the area (hubby loves driving). He'll be working 7-3:30 Tuesday to Saturday with the option of taking some Saturdays off. (I, of course, have the world's BEST bosses who don't know yet that I'll be looking for an occasional Monday off now! :P -- but will be fine with it.) He'll be the one-and-only mechanic on site, also responsible for the millwright position (fixed machines as opposed to wheeled ones). Oh, the position is at a small dolomite mine and stucco manufacturing plant that has been in operation for 45 years. Email me if you want the link to their website.
As with many stressful weeks, something else also happened: our water tank died on Monday. Because it is sits in our bathroom (and is natural gas) it requires special venting and had to be ordered in from Vancouver. It took a few days to arrive. Then hubby discovered that though the tank is rated the same (40 gallons) as the old one, the actual size is larger, due, I suppose, to increased insulation. At any rate, it doesn't fit without modifications, some of which have to be done by a metal-worker. I hear that will be done tomorrow, Monday. Meanwhile, I've been showering at the in-laws' place across the yard, heating water in a kettle for doing dishes, and washing clothes in cold water (which I usually do anyway.) I'm sure you noticed up there hubby's new job starts TUESDAY, which means he'll be able to do the tank tomorrow so long as the part gets manufactured as promised.
Meanwhile, many of you know our son and daughter-in-law spent three months in South America and had a great time except for getting their passports and camera stolen. However, they landed back in Vancouver this week and we'll be seeing them in a few days. Jen has landed a good summer job and Joel is still looking, then back to University of Victoria in September.
Our daughter and son-in-law are also in transition. Craig has landed a summer job HERE and they will be staying kinda with us. By that I mean in their grandparents' motorhome here on the farm, and in and out of our house as well. Hanna still hasn't heard back from the job she applied for here.
(In fact, if you're counting people in my family, you'll see that five out of six of us are starting a new job in the next couple weeks or are still looking! I'm the only one keeping my job...)
Still with me?
This weekend I'm going to Couer d'Alene, Idaho, for a workshop with Randy Ingermanson (aka The Snowflake Guy) put on by the Idaho Writers' League. The workshop is Friday evening and all day Saturday, with a consultation with Randy on Sunday. No, he's not an agent or an editor, but he's a multi-published author who teaches writing at a number of large conferences, so I figure it's worth it! I also get to meet a few people that I've only met online before, so that will be fun.
And then I'm off to Victoria for a week with my kids. The benefit to KEEPING my job? Paid vacation! So there's one week of it.
As with all large companies, this took a bit of time to arrange and this past week saw us still waiting for the final clearances to come through and an actual start date to be assigned.
Last Monday one of my bosses told me about an unadvertised local HDM job opening a friend of his had told him about (when boss had told him my hubby was heading out again). Hubby zipped over to drop off his resume and then we had two phone calls to wait for.
We got the start date for the mines late in the week--hubby was to be there this coming Monday. Thursday the other company phoned for an interview. After a great deal of discussion, hubby agreed to go in Friday morning to talk, with the understanding that everything would have to be perfect AND they would have to offer him the job that day. At 2:30 they phoned to offer him the position...and he took it...and phoned the mines to say something had come up and he would not be returning.
This new job--man, I hate to get my hopes up, but I can't help it. I'm sure there will be a downside or two, there nearly always is. But honestly, to quote Mary Poppins, it's "practically perfect in every way". Good wages, good benefits, good holidays, good pension, 40 hours a week (some overtime, which is okay), a bit of driving as they have two other plants in the area (hubby loves driving). He'll be working 7-3:30 Tuesday to Saturday with the option of taking some Saturdays off. (I, of course, have the world's BEST bosses who don't know yet that I'll be looking for an occasional Monday off now! :P -- but will be fine with it.) He'll be the one-and-only mechanic on site, also responsible for the millwright position (fixed machines as opposed to wheeled ones). Oh, the position is at a small dolomite mine and stucco manufacturing plant that has been in operation for 45 years. Email me if you want the link to their website.
As with many stressful weeks, something else also happened: our water tank died on Monday. Because it is sits in our bathroom (and is natural gas) it requires special venting and had to be ordered in from Vancouver. It took a few days to arrive. Then hubby discovered that though the tank is rated the same (40 gallons) as the old one, the actual size is larger, due, I suppose, to increased insulation. At any rate, it doesn't fit without modifications, some of which have to be done by a metal-worker. I hear that will be done tomorrow, Monday. Meanwhile, I've been showering at the in-laws' place across the yard, heating water in a kettle for doing dishes, and washing clothes in cold water (which I usually do anyway.) I'm sure you noticed up there hubby's new job starts TUESDAY, which means he'll be able to do the tank tomorrow so long as the part gets manufactured as promised.
Meanwhile, many of you know our son and daughter-in-law spent three months in South America and had a great time except for getting their passports and camera stolen. However, they landed back in Vancouver this week and we'll be seeing them in a few days. Jen has landed a good summer job and Joel is still looking, then back to University of Victoria in September.
Our daughter and son-in-law are also in transition. Craig has landed a summer job HERE and they will be staying kinda with us. By that I mean in their grandparents' motorhome here on the farm, and in and out of our house as well. Hanna still hasn't heard back from the job she applied for here.
(In fact, if you're counting people in my family, you'll see that five out of six of us are starting a new job in the next couple weeks or are still looking! I'm the only one keeping my job...)
Still with me?
This weekend I'm going to Couer d'Alene, Idaho, for a workshop with Randy Ingermanson (aka The Snowflake Guy) put on by the Idaho Writers' League. The workshop is Friday evening and all day Saturday, with a consultation with Randy on Sunday. No, he's not an agent or an editor, but he's a multi-published author who teaches writing at a number of large conferences, so I figure it's worth it! I also get to meet a few people that I've only met online before, so that will be fun.
And then I'm off to Victoria for a week with my kids. The benefit to KEEPING my job? Paid vacation! So there's one week of it.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Busy busy
In my little world at work, things generally slow right down at this time of year. Folks usually have other kinds of shopping on their brains other than flooring. At least that's how it was in 2001 and for a couple years thereafter. There'd be full days in December when no one came in and the phone didn't ring.
Not so in 2007. Yesterday was the only quiet day this week (Yay! I edited almost 3500 words of Quest to be Queen bringing my total in the complete column up to about 47K!). Today was flat-out busy. Had a sales rep, but even without him I had almost non-stop customers in the morning, quotes to write, product to order, freight to arrange, etc.
I've got one more week of work before two weeks off for the holidays. My boss guys have always booked off their kids' school Christmas vacation. Most of our customers don't really want us in their houses over the holidays anyway--with the likely exception of the new houses that no one is living in yet, but they're waiting. Oh, well, The guys haven't had any time off since LAST Christmas either, with the exception of a couple of extra long weekends. I'm thinking we all deserve it.
I'd really hoped to have Quest off to the critters before shutting down for the holidays, but that no longer looks remotely possible. I'm about 2/3 done the edits, and even though on a good day I can do nearly 5k, a whole week of good days wouldn't see me to The End. And of course, if I'm pushing that hard, it increases the odds that I'm not noticing sentences that don't quite work.
Must say that after the heavy themes in Marks of Repentance, it's fun to be playing with fairy tales, nursery rhymes, and silly songs. The segment I concluded today touches on: the princess and the pea, old MacDonald had a farm, a needle in the haystack, spinning straw into gold, sleeping beauty, and the dairy fairies. Never heard of dairy fairies? Well, then, maybe there's a few things I invented and tossed in the mix just for entertainment.
Not so in 2007. Yesterday was the only quiet day this week (Yay! I edited almost 3500 words of Quest to be Queen bringing my total in the complete column up to about 47K!). Today was flat-out busy. Had a sales rep, but even without him I had almost non-stop customers in the morning, quotes to write, product to order, freight to arrange, etc.
I've got one more week of work before two weeks off for the holidays. My boss guys have always booked off their kids' school Christmas vacation. Most of our customers don't really want us in their houses over the holidays anyway--with the likely exception of the new houses that no one is living in yet, but they're waiting. Oh, well, The guys haven't had any time off since LAST Christmas either, with the exception of a couple of extra long weekends. I'm thinking we all deserve it.
I'd really hoped to have Quest off to the critters before shutting down for the holidays, but that no longer looks remotely possible. I'm about 2/3 done the edits, and even though on a good day I can do nearly 5k, a whole week of good days wouldn't see me to The End. And of course, if I'm pushing that hard, it increases the odds that I'm not noticing sentences that don't quite work.
Must say that after the heavy themes in Marks of Repentance, it's fun to be playing with fairy tales, nursery rhymes, and silly songs. The segment I concluded today touches on: the princess and the pea, old MacDonald had a farm, a needle in the haystack, spinning straw into gold, sleeping beauty, and the dairy fairies. Never heard of dairy fairies? Well, then, maybe there's a few things I invented and tossed in the mix just for entertainment.
Thursday, December 06, 2007
Over half done Quest edit
So, the 10-12 inches of snow turned into 6-8 inches of slush. Our driveway is still bad (yay for 4 wheel drive) but the main roads are bare, though temperatures hover at the black ice stage. Whew. Survived that storm. My cold is *nearly* gone. I hate the lingeringness...
So. Quest to be Queen. I wrote this novel during Nano '04 and this is the first I've looked at it since. I have to say I didn't take it all that seriously at the time. Here's the blurb:
I mean, what's to take serious about something this spoofy and silly? But I'm having great fun editing the thing up and I'll see what my pack of critters has to say about it. I've rammed through 42K of it in the past three weeks or so and with any luck can email it out just before Christmas break. Though this seems to be the week of salesmen at work, and they do cut into my time. (sob)
So. Quest to be Queen. I wrote this novel during Nano '04 and this is the first I've looked at it since. I have to say I didn't take it all that seriously at the time. Here's the blurb:
Teagren is convinced that High Prince Cecil desires her to be his bride, for he has bestowed upon her the Kiss of Promise. However, the King invokes the traditional Quest and a young woman from each of the seven lands of Dhaneira is chosen to participate. Each has one magical kit bag which includes one magical gift to aid them on the journey. Cecil may choose his bride from the contestants who return to Zabetha within a year and a day with a Token from each land. Teagren thinks the Quest is just a formality. Of course she will return on time...and of course Cecil will choose her.
She hasn't counted on Kosse, the bespelled prince who requires a kiss to wake him...and she can't get the token from underneath his body with him asleep. She hasn't counted on Esdras, the young hero-in-training. She hasn't counted on the vegetarian dragon named George, the needle in the haystack, or the frog who has been turned into a prince. She especially has not counted on the magical gifts of the other contestants.
Will Teagren get what she wants...or will she want what she gets?
I mean, what's to take serious about something this spoofy and silly? But I'm having great fun editing the thing up and I'll see what my pack of critters has to say about it. I've rammed through 42K of it in the past three weeks or so and with any luck can email it out just before Christmas break. Though this seems to be the week of salesmen at work, and they do cut into my time. (sob)
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Gathering threads
After a busy Thanksgiving weekend I'm back at work today with all the crazy people who want their floors replaced yesterday. Or by next week at the latest. Right.
I'm done the read-through of the 88K or so that Marks of Repentance is in this current draft and have begun making a list of the threads that need to be drawn tighter. Some of the scenes between here and the end will still work with minor modifications. Others will need to be totally rewritten. I'm beginning to get the feel for what needs doing, and I didn't drop any threads at all to this point, though I did weave one in a little tighter during this read-through. If the customers would now only give me a little more time to focus down on the story, I should be only a few days from the end. Which means that I hope to be done in October!
I've also got first drafts of query letter and synopsis completed and know I have a lot of work to do on those. A little scary to be contemplating that step.
I'm done the read-through of the 88K or so that Marks of Repentance is in this current draft and have begun making a list of the threads that need to be drawn tighter. Some of the scenes between here and the end will still work with minor modifications. Others will need to be totally rewritten. I'm beginning to get the feel for what needs doing, and I didn't drop any threads at all to this point, though I did weave one in a little tighter during this read-through. If the customers would now only give me a little more time to focus down on the story, I should be only a few days from the end. Which means that I hope to be done in October!
I've also got first drafts of query letter and synopsis completed and know I have a lot of work to do on those. A little scary to be contemplating that step.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
I am *such* an optimist!
I believe I said that this week the words would be flying by. Anyone see them? What plane did they catch? Cause only about 3K settled down here, which is a far cry from the 10-15 I was hoping for.
And really, I only procrastinated one day of the four away. There have been a lot of customers all week (all month--all summer--all year) and then today it's been busy as Boss Dude figured out (remembered) that I'll be away for a week and no one will be in the office at all. So I spent a lot of time today trying to find the right threads to tie off. As far as I now know, all the catastrophes are under control.
Potential customers at the flooring shop are not that impressed with my new favorite words. They are *November* and *ish*. (Okay, *ish* is always in my vocabulary, but still, when combined with *November*, it has a whole 'nother ring to it.) Yeah, I'm busy scaring away potential clients who cannot believe our wait list is that long. But hey, it's boom town time here. Some lady told me the other day that the guys should get their butts in gear. I told her that the guys are over 50 and that their butts are as in gear as they're going to be. **rolls eyes
So check back next week, I'll have a bit of a review about the book Legend of the Firefish plus a discussion about omniscient pov with its author, George Bryan Polivka. Posting that from my daughter's house as we get her and her hubby packed up and moved closer to home!
And really, I only procrastinated one day of the four away. There have been a lot of customers all week (all month--all summer--all year) and then today it's been busy as Boss Dude figured out (remembered) that I'll be away for a week and no one will be in the office at all. So I spent a lot of time today trying to find the right threads to tie off. As far as I now know, all the catastrophes are under control.
Potential customers at the flooring shop are not that impressed with my new favorite words. They are *November* and *ish*. (Okay, *ish* is always in my vocabulary, but still, when combined with *November*, it has a whole 'nother ring to it.) Yeah, I'm busy scaring away potential clients who cannot believe our wait list is that long. But hey, it's boom town time here. Some lady told me the other day that the guys should get their butts in gear. I told her that the guys are over 50 and that their butts are as in gear as they're going to be. **rolls eyes
So check back next week, I'll have a bit of a review about the book Legend of the Firefish plus a discussion about omniscient pov with its author, George Bryan Polivka. Posting that from my daughter's house as we get her and her hubby packed up and moved closer to home!
Friday, July 06, 2007
Maybe you already knew this...
Something about me that you probably figured out if you've hung out here long: when the writing is going well I post about it a lot. When it isn't--I just don't post. Unless there's a special tour going on or something!
So, just to 'fess up. Life seems to be complicated. (No *duh* eh?) When I started working at the flooring shop six years ago, I'd have entire days with no interruptions but a phone call or two, or a brief visit from a client. The economy in BC is totally booming right now, and in our little town alone we've had more housing starts this year alone than we probably had in all of the 1980s AND 90s. Even though my shop is owned and operated by two guys, two guys can still only do what two guys can do, no matter how many houses are being built. And the two guys used to be younger, too, if you know what I mean.
That doesn't stop people from coming into the shop, though. My role is to figure out if their job fits into our timeline (currently booking October-December), and if they are people we actually want to work for. My guys have a very good rep and lots of folks are willing to wait for us, but we have to make choices because we simply can't take on every job. Folks say, "Well, they should hire help." I'm here to tell you that anyone who knows anything about laying floors (or anything else in the construction business) in all of Western Canada is already working, and they don't have time to take on an apprentice.
So there are now lots of days where I sit down at my desk and am back up again in five or ten or thirty minutes. There are writing tasks I can do with that many interruptions, but revising doesn't seem to be one of them. I don't want to do a slap-dash job of this revision; I want to think through each scene and fix it correctly, keeping in mind what came before and what comes after. All this is hard to hold in place with dozens of interruptions a day, many of them lengthy as folks consider samples.
Most working people who write don't write at work. They write after hours. I've been staring at my *after hours* trying to figure out how to wrap my brain around them. For starters, I am way fresher in the morning than evening, but I'm already trying to establish a solid habit of exercising before work every day, so I'm already getting up an hour earlier than I used to. Depriving myself of yet another hour of sleep does not sound appealing. (To say nothing of the fact that my bedroom doesn't really cool off enough to sleep comfortably until 4 am.) I truly cannot think late in the day. It's like wading through muck. And with the house and the garden and the farm...
So the job of revising Marks of Repentance that I started in January (horrors) is still only one third done. I really want it done by the time the contest winners are announced in September *just in case*. Either way, though, I want it ready to send out. It's time I kicked something out the door. Obviously I need a new plan for completing the work. I just don't know what the plan is!
I've started critiquing a novel for Maripat that I also want to have done by the end of summer, because then I've promised a crit to Fiorinda. I mean, if SHE can revise with four small kids including twins under a year old, what is holding ME back? :P
And meanwhile, my brain is atrophying from lack of creative work. Finally I just decided to start writing what is likely the least marketable of my ideas--flying completely without a net--into my Palm Tungsten E2 in the first half hour of my work day, just whatever gets done. I'm writing Connect the Dot in first person present tense just for the hang of it, to remind myself it's just for fun. I've only done that for the last two days and it's feeling good.
So, just to 'fess up. Life seems to be complicated. (No *duh* eh?) When I started working at the flooring shop six years ago, I'd have entire days with no interruptions but a phone call or two, or a brief visit from a client. The economy in BC is totally booming right now, and in our little town alone we've had more housing starts this year alone than we probably had in all of the 1980s AND 90s. Even though my shop is owned and operated by two guys, two guys can still only do what two guys can do, no matter how many houses are being built. And the two guys used to be younger, too, if you know what I mean.
That doesn't stop people from coming into the shop, though. My role is to figure out if their job fits into our timeline (currently booking October-December), and if they are people we actually want to work for. My guys have a very good rep and lots of folks are willing to wait for us, but we have to make choices because we simply can't take on every job. Folks say, "Well, they should hire help." I'm here to tell you that anyone who knows anything about laying floors (or anything else in the construction business) in all of Western Canada is already working, and they don't have time to take on an apprentice.
So there are now lots of days where I sit down at my desk and am back up again in five or ten or thirty minutes. There are writing tasks I can do with that many interruptions, but revising doesn't seem to be one of them. I don't want to do a slap-dash job of this revision; I want to think through each scene and fix it correctly, keeping in mind what came before and what comes after. All this is hard to hold in place with dozens of interruptions a day, many of them lengthy as folks consider samples.
Most working people who write don't write at work. They write after hours. I've been staring at my *after hours* trying to figure out how to wrap my brain around them. For starters, I am way fresher in the morning than evening, but I'm already trying to establish a solid habit of exercising before work every day, so I'm already getting up an hour earlier than I used to. Depriving myself of yet another hour of sleep does not sound appealing. (To say nothing of the fact that my bedroom doesn't really cool off enough to sleep comfortably until 4 am.) I truly cannot think late in the day. It's like wading through muck. And with the house and the garden and the farm...
So the job of revising Marks of Repentance that I started in January (horrors) is still only one third done. I really want it done by the time the contest winners are announced in September *just in case*. Either way, though, I want it ready to send out. It's time I kicked something out the door. Obviously I need a new plan for completing the work. I just don't know what the plan is!
I've started critiquing a novel for Maripat that I also want to have done by the end of summer, because then I've promised a crit to Fiorinda. I mean, if SHE can revise with four small kids including twins under a year old, what is holding ME back? :P
And meanwhile, my brain is atrophying from lack of creative work. Finally I just decided to start writing what is likely the least marketable of my ideas--flying completely without a net--into my Palm Tungsten E2 in the first half hour of my work day, just whatever gets done. I'm writing Connect the Dot in first person present tense just for the hang of it, to remind myself it's just for fun. I've only done that for the last two days and it's feeling good.
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
new machines
Our lovely combination fax and answering machine died at work. All of you people who live in cities may laugh now. THIS town doesn't have such a thing in stock. Now, we may not be a large business, but we do get some faxes every day, so it seemed important to deal with our lack post haste. As in, not wait for the perfect model to be ordered and come in next week some time.
It's fairly easy, right? You buy a fax machine AND an answering machine. Very simple. Except. The fax machine directions say that the answering machine gets plugged into IT. The answering machine directions say that the fax machine gets plugged into IT. Okay, pick one. Wrong one. Wait, there IS NO right one. Honest. For the answering machine to pick up at all, it has to come in on the second ring. Just TRY to get to a phone on the second ring if you're not hovering over it, waiting for it to ring. I think my solution is to unplug the answering machine when I'm in the store. It's a nuisance, but I think it will work. Then I have four rings to get to the phone before the fax kicks in, and THAT I think I can do.
Any idea how many hours setting up two new machines takes? How about programming in something like forty phone/fax numbers? Yes, there went the day. Somewhere in the back of my head, the plot/outline problem for *Shann* is percolating, but I haven't had the time to devote to it today, to come up with a concrete solution. But, still...working at work? Right. That's what they pay me the big bucks for.
It's fairly easy, right? You buy a fax machine AND an answering machine. Very simple. Except. The fax machine directions say that the answering machine gets plugged into IT. The answering machine directions say that the fax machine gets plugged into IT. Okay, pick one. Wrong one. Wait, there IS NO right one. Honest. For the answering machine to pick up at all, it has to come in on the second ring. Just TRY to get to a phone on the second ring if you're not hovering over it, waiting for it to ring. I think my solution is to unplug the answering machine when I'm in the store. It's a nuisance, but I think it will work. Then I have four rings to get to the phone before the fax kicks in, and THAT I think I can do.
Any idea how many hours setting up two new machines takes? How about programming in something like forty phone/fax numbers? Yes, there went the day. Somewhere in the back of my head, the plot/outline problem for *Shann* is percolating, but I haven't had the time to devote to it today, to come up with a concrete solution. But, still...working at work? Right. That's what they pay me the big bucks for.
Friday, April 15, 2005
Excuses
I've not been so good at keeping up the blog this week, have I. Hmm. Do you guys need excuses or is it okay? You know what excuses are, don't you? An excuse is the skin of reason, stuffed with a lie.
It's been a fairly intense week in *Marks of Repentance* land. The story has grown 8K and now sits at over 38. In this 8K, things have gotten pretty intense, both emotionally and physically. I called a halt early this afternoon when I found a good stopping spot, where I can leave the story for a couple of days over the weekend. I really hate being in the middle of a scene when I can't write for a couple of days.
Things continue to HOP at work. I started writing this blog entry over an hour ago. I guess it's good; I know I won't be laid off from lack of work any time soon! But we just keep getting behinder.
The good news is that half our kids are coming home this weekend. We haven't seen our daughter and son-in-law since November, so I'm really looking forward to spending some time together. They expect to be in really late tonight. The other half of our kids (son and daughter-in-law) live twice as far away and we haven't seen them since September. They're in the middle of college finals right now, but we still don't expect to see them until the end of June. We hope it will work out, anyway.
It's been a fairly intense week in *Marks of Repentance* land. The story has grown 8K and now sits at over 38. In this 8K, things have gotten pretty intense, both emotionally and physically. I called a halt early this afternoon when I found a good stopping spot, where I can leave the story for a couple of days over the weekend. I really hate being in the middle of a scene when I can't write for a couple of days.
Things continue to HOP at work. I started writing this blog entry over an hour ago. I guess it's good; I know I won't be laid off from lack of work any time soon! But we just keep getting behinder.
The good news is that half our kids are coming home this weekend. We haven't seen our daughter and son-in-law since November, so I'm really looking forward to spending some time together. They expect to be in really late tonight. The other half of our kids (son and daughter-in-law) live twice as far away and we haven't seen them since September. They're in the middle of college finals right now, but we still don't expect to see them until the end of June. We hope it will work out, anyway.
Saturday, April 09, 2005
In case you were worried
I finished the detour chapter and things are pretty much back on track, albeit far richer for the coming-to-life the characters have recently displayed. Shann and Taafa are back in each other's company, relationship somewhat bruised. That's as it should be. You can't let things get too easy for them this early in the book (30K), or what's left to write about?
Yesterday at work it took me awhile to get into writing mode, my sub-conscious seemed to need a bit more time to deal with the character problems. I had a good writing blitz just after lunch, and then the customers started rolling in. It was quite an Untypical Friday afternoon. I wound up closing the file and emailing it home, unfinished. I couldn't leave off in the middle of that emotional scene, however, so I finished it up last night and this morning.f
The rest of today I have been domestic queen again, baking bread, canning dry beans, cleaning my house (and HOW that needed doing...), then some yard work which my elbow does not thank me for. However, if I don't do it, it won't get done, so I'll keep poking at it a bit at a time. Hubby had to work today, which makes something like 60 hours this week. He has to work tomorrow too :( but hopes he is nearing the end of this blitz. I know he is about out of energy. So I'll keep doing what I can of the yard and farm work to take some of the load off of him. When you run out of energy cells, they're gone.
Yesterday at work it took me awhile to get into writing mode, my sub-conscious seemed to need a bit more time to deal with the character problems. I had a good writing blitz just after lunch, and then the customers started rolling in. It was quite an Untypical Friday afternoon. I wound up closing the file and emailing it home, unfinished. I couldn't leave off in the middle of that emotional scene, however, so I finished it up last night and this morning.f
The rest of today I have been domestic queen again, baking bread, canning dry beans, cleaning my house (and HOW that needed doing...), then some yard work which my elbow does not thank me for. However, if I don't do it, it won't get done, so I'll keep poking at it a bit at a time. Hubby had to work today, which makes something like 60 hours this week. He has to work tomorrow too :( but hopes he is nearing the end of this blitz. I know he is about out of energy. So I'll keep doing what I can of the yard and farm work to take some of the load off of him. When you run out of energy cells, they're gone.
Friday, March 25, 2005
AND...we're off :)
After completing the store pricing yesterday, which I see I forgot to mention then, I was able to get a good start to *Marks of Repentance* today.
I wrote online today, mostly with Mar when we both had time, and pulled Shann's story from zero words to 3902. I am SO tired...but it feels good. That first chapter is always tough, even though you know you can--you will--you MUST--revise it later. There's just so much that has to go in, and yet the last thing you need is an info-dump. Anyway, if it isn't written, it can't be revised. So at least I'm free of THAT problem, as the story is well under way by now.
Jim got a good start on building four drawers for the kitchen cabinets today. You don't even want to know how a person functions in a kitchen for YEARS without drawers at all. Okay, I did install a couple of wimpy wire basket ones we got for free a few years ago, but they hardly count. We do need a few more supplies we can pick up in the morning, and then he's back to the sawing and gluing and other fun stuff, and I'll see if there are more words in me wanting to come out.
I wrote online today, mostly with Mar when we both had time, and pulled Shann's story from zero words to 3902. I am SO tired...but it feels good. That first chapter is always tough, even though you know you can--you will--you MUST--revise it later. There's just so much that has to go in, and yet the last thing you need is an info-dump. Anyway, if it isn't written, it can't be revised. So at least I'm free of THAT problem, as the story is well under way by now.
Jim got a good start on building four drawers for the kitchen cabinets today. You don't even want to know how a person functions in a kitchen for YEARS without drawers at all. Okay, I did install a couple of wimpy wire basket ones we got for free a few years ago, but they hardly count. We do need a few more supplies we can pick up in the morning, and then he's back to the sawing and gluing and other fun stuff, and I'll see if there are more words in me wanting to come out.
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
WORK
Occasionally at work I actually WORK. I know this comes as a shock to some of my faithful readers, but it's true. In return for paying me, sometimes I need to do some pricing maintenance for my guys. Today I worked my way through almost all of the pricing guide of our major supplier. It's entiredly possible I'll be able to finish the other sections tomorrow; it's almost only ceramic tile left to double check, and I think one of the companies hasn't had an increase in recent memory. I did discover that I must have missed the commercial carpets last time I did this, though; there were some significant changes in that area. It's not an area that gets a lot of traffic, which is why no one noticed. I'll be glad when I have this out of my hair again, and can turn guilt-free to Mark of Repentance.
I've been playing out the opening scene for the book in my mind, trying to discover the way to lead into the story that provides both a glimpse of the world and a solid introduction to the conflict right at the beginning.
Here's the opening line of *Black* by Ted Dekker: "It all started one day earlier with a single silenced bullet out of nowhere." That leaves a couple of questions that beg an answer, doesn't it? There's certainly conflict. As an opening line, it is savorable. I'm on a hunt for my own opening line. Silenced guns aren't a big thing in my fantasy world, and there certainly isn't one going off right at the beginning. Or in the middle or the end, for that matter. Instead, I have a man alone with a ritually scarred face demanding to a foreign king that the king surrender. And then he walks away. And doesn't get killed. Lots to fit into that scene, for sure. And I hope it will beg many questions that my readers will want to find answers for.
At least it gives me something to think about besides price checks!
I've been playing out the opening scene for the book in my mind, trying to discover the way to lead into the story that provides both a glimpse of the world and a solid introduction to the conflict right at the beginning.
Here's the opening line of *Black* by Ted Dekker: "It all started one day earlier with a single silenced bullet out of nowhere." That leaves a couple of questions that beg an answer, doesn't it? There's certainly conflict. As an opening line, it is savorable. I'm on a hunt for my own opening line. Silenced guns aren't a big thing in my fantasy world, and there certainly isn't one going off right at the beginning. Or in the middle or the end, for that matter. Instead, I have a man alone with a ritually scarred face demanding to a foreign king that the king surrender. And then he walks away. And doesn't get killed. Lots to fit into that scene, for sure. And I hope it will beg many questions that my readers will want to find answers for.
At least it gives me something to think about besides price checks!
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
A different day
You know, a lot of days are just like any other day. Oh, they have minor variations to be sure, but within well-defined parameters. Today is not being one of them.
I went to Curves this morning. It was still a bad idea. I still had to skip about four of the machines, and use two of them one handed, which they're NOT designed for. And YES my elbow is sorer than it was earlier. This is driving me crazy. How can a person injure an elbow and not even know about it? How can an elbow feel this much better and still hurt this much? Like, I feel stupid going to the doctor NOW, but...what's wrong with it? (Throwing hay bales every night after work isn't helping either, guaranteed, but Jim hurt his back on the weekend, so we're gimping it out together.)
Anyway, back to the story. I'm at Curves, sitting on the bench and putting my street shoes back on, and I glance out the window to see the hugest plume of black smoke. Something is quite obviously on fire, and not that far away. Traffic looks normal, though. I glance at the clock and see that I have time to spare to walk *the long way around* to work.
A seniors' 4-storey strata apartment building is on fire, right next to the nursing home. I know two of the people who live in the strata, one of my bosses' mothers-in-law, and a fellow whose flooring we've recently re-done. I know the mom is currently in hospital from a bad fall, which seems suddenly to be a good thing. And the old fellow I know comes across the street looking like he's seen a ghost. His is a ground floor apartment, and he says at the very best the place will be flooded with water damage. That didn't look true for quite awhile, though. Why does it take so very long for the fire department to get hoses going when they're right there already?
After awhile I decided that I really ought to go to work, that eventually somebody might want in the store, so I cut through the alley and...met my bosses. They'd seen the smoke from where they were working across town and thought it looked close to the store, so had come to investigate. So I walked back over to the fire with them while they talked to the people that they knew. Anyway, I got to work kinda late in the end.
So far today I have finished reading Holly's *Vincalis the Agitator*, which makes me want to re-read the Secret Texts trilogy to pick up on the foreshadowing type stuff in it. It's been a couple of years since I read them.
I actually have gotten a start on the pricing guides for the store, but I'm not too big on re-arranging the samples and stuff; my elbow hurts. Soon I'm going to have pain on the right side from favoring the left.
At noon I drove past the strata (or at least close enough to see). The fire is out. The building is still standing, but has no roof and looks plenty warped. Everyone who lived in the building is accounted for. The nursing home was evacuated to the rec center eight or nine blocks away; I imagine they're back home by now, unless there is water damage on the side of the building nearest the strata.
I went to Curves this morning. It was still a bad idea. I still had to skip about four of the machines, and use two of them one handed, which they're NOT designed for. And YES my elbow is sorer than it was earlier. This is driving me crazy. How can a person injure an elbow and not even know about it? How can an elbow feel this much better and still hurt this much? Like, I feel stupid going to the doctor NOW, but...what's wrong with it? (Throwing hay bales every night after work isn't helping either, guaranteed, but Jim hurt his back on the weekend, so we're gimping it out together.)
Anyway, back to the story. I'm at Curves, sitting on the bench and putting my street shoes back on, and I glance out the window to see the hugest plume of black smoke. Something is quite obviously on fire, and not that far away. Traffic looks normal, though. I glance at the clock and see that I have time to spare to walk *the long way around* to work.
A seniors' 4-storey strata apartment building is on fire, right next to the nursing home. I know two of the people who live in the strata, one of my bosses' mothers-in-law, and a fellow whose flooring we've recently re-done. I know the mom is currently in hospital from a bad fall, which seems suddenly to be a good thing. And the old fellow I know comes across the street looking like he's seen a ghost. His is a ground floor apartment, and he says at the very best the place will be flooded with water damage. That didn't look true for quite awhile, though. Why does it take so very long for the fire department to get hoses going when they're right there already?
After awhile I decided that I really ought to go to work, that eventually somebody might want in the store, so I cut through the alley and...met my bosses. They'd seen the smoke from where they were working across town and thought it looked close to the store, so had come to investigate. So I walked back over to the fire with them while they talked to the people that they knew. Anyway, I got to work kinda late in the end.
So far today I have finished reading Holly's *Vincalis the Agitator*, which makes me want to re-read the Secret Texts trilogy to pick up on the foreshadowing type stuff in it. It's been a couple of years since I read them.
I actually have gotten a start on the pricing guides for the store, but I'm not too big on re-arranging the samples and stuff; my elbow hurts. Soon I'm going to have pain on the right side from favoring the left.
At noon I drove past the strata (or at least close enough to see). The fire is out. The building is still standing, but has no roof and looks plenty warped. Everyone who lived in the building is accounted for. The nursing home was evacuated to the rec center eight or nine blocks away; I imagine they're back home by now, unless there is water damage on the side of the building nearest the strata.
Monday, March 21, 2005
Outlining
It seems about as hard to gear DOWN from writing as it does to gear UP. I did a fair bit of store work today, I guess, but I couldn't stay away from my story. Shann has become *Mark of Repentance* -- we'll see how long that lasts for a working title. I also tweaked the outline some more. Now it's at 62 scenes and is tighter in a couple of spots that needed it. (Not that I can remember yet what brainwave I had after lights out the other night.) More attention to pacing will doubtless still be a good thing. I've also updated the WIP link on the sidebar in case you're interested.
Tuesday, March 15, 2005
As promised...
Mick Silva is hosting this month's celebration at his blog My Writers Group. There are quite a few links to various blogs, folks discussing aspects of Christian writing. Check it out if you're interested.
Another decent writing day on the home front, another 1300-plus words to finish a difficult, draining chapter. Somehow, I still think that I have three left to write, which is strange. It's what I thought after the last one... Still, at some point it has to be true, doesn't it?
I spent a couple of hours today actually earning my keep at work. When things cave in, they often do so in a big way. Three separate suppliers' orders got screwed up this week, how ya figure that? We'll see tomorrow if the dust has all settled. Some of it my guys will have to pay for, but one of the suppliers will have to kick in a fair chunk for shipping.
Last night after I went to bed (way too late...) and was nearly asleep, I thought of some plot twists for *Shann*. Being too far gone to reach for the lamp, notebook, and pen, I told myself that this was so obvious I couldn't possibly forget it, because it will naturally arise out of the story. Jeepers, I hope so. Can't for the life of me figure out what part of the story, though. Or what it was. Or what was so ground-breaking at one a.m. Or...
Another decent writing day on the home front, another 1300-plus words to finish a difficult, draining chapter. Somehow, I still think that I have three left to write, which is strange. It's what I thought after the last one... Still, at some point it has to be true, doesn't it?
I spent a couple of hours today actually earning my keep at work. When things cave in, they often do so in a big way. Three separate suppliers' orders got screwed up this week, how ya figure that? We'll see tomorrow if the dust has all settled. Some of it my guys will have to pay for, but one of the suppliers will have to kick in a fair chunk for shipping.
Last night after I went to bed (way too late...) and was nearly asleep, I thought of some plot twists for *Shann*. Being too far gone to reach for the lamp, notebook, and pen, I told myself that this was so obvious I couldn't possibly forget it, because it will naturally arise out of the story. Jeepers, I hope so. Can't for the life of me figure out what part of the story, though. Or what it was. Or what was so ground-breaking at one a.m. Or...
Sunday, March 13, 2005
Calves on Saturday morning
Of course Jim was away for the day on Saturday, when I discovered that two of the cows were in labor. Should be no big deal, I figure. I grab the digital camera. The farthest along is Molly. It will be her second calf.
Here the front hooves are just starting to show
The calf being birthed.
And it wasn't a big deal, until after the first birth, when the OTHER cow in labor decided how nice it was that she'd already given birth but didn't remember. She wouldn't let Molly anywhere near her own calf, and Molly, being new to this whole procedure, backed off. Not so me.
All was well until the old auntie biddy came snooping around
I put down the camera and spent twenty minutes duking it out with the old cow. We circled around that baby dozens of times, me punching her on the side of the nose every time she leaned down to lick the calf. Finally I got her circling farther from the calf, allowing Molly back in there. With a LOT of help from God (yes, He DOES care about stuff like this), I managed to get the older cow clear down to the other end of the pasture and somehow locked up into the calving pen BY MYSELF (except...remember God?). That's probably an eighth of a mile. I have NEVER been good at moving cows. But like the Visa credit card commercial says, I was everywhere she wanted to be. When I got back, this is what I saw:
Mom and baby doing well.
The old cow gave birth about an hour later.
We are now at thirteen calves, and about ready to go tag the two babies and turn them loose with the other moms and babies. They're well bonded with each other by now.
Here the front hooves are just starting to show
The calf being birthed.
And it wasn't a big deal, until after the first birth, when the OTHER cow in labor decided how nice it was that she'd already given birth but didn't remember. She wouldn't let Molly anywhere near her own calf, and Molly, being new to this whole procedure, backed off. Not so me.
All was well until the old auntie biddy came snooping around
I put down the camera and spent twenty minutes duking it out with the old cow. We circled around that baby dozens of times, me punching her on the side of the nose every time she leaned down to lick the calf. Finally I got her circling farther from the calf, allowing Molly back in there. With a LOT of help from God (yes, He DOES care about stuff like this), I managed to get the older cow clear down to the other end of the pasture and somehow locked up into the calving pen BY MYSELF (except...remember God?). That's probably an eighth of a mile. I have NEVER been good at moving cows. But like the Visa credit card commercial says, I was everywhere she wanted to be. When I got back, this is what I saw:
Mom and baby doing well.
The old cow gave birth about an hour later.
We are now at thirteen calves, and about ready to go tag the two babies and turn them loose with the other moms and babies. They're well bonded with each other by now.
Friday, March 11, 2005
Winding up the Work Week
Between yesterday and today, *False Perceptions* has grown by just over 3K. It's feeling good, emotional and tense. I've remapped my way to the finish line, which is just three chapters away now (I think, unless I find a new map). The map was good; it outlined what needed to happen to get to my HEA ending. The same stuff is still happening; just we're cutting the technical bits and sticking closer to the characters than the plot. I think it's working. Obviously I can't totally dispense with the technical bits, but I think this approach is working better. It's about the characters, and they have some huge stuff to resolve -- the stuff that the plot keeps hucking at them. I'm way happier than I ever thought I would be writing this book. I wonder if there's places *back there* where I got balled up last time that needed this approach as well?
Still frantically busy at work. My boss is starting to mumble about locking the store doors for a week so that there will be no new stuff to deal with for awhile. Three new lookers today, and one gal who ordered her lino in October is ready (!) for installation next week. Good luck, lady. It just ain't ahappenin'.
Still frantically busy at work. My boss is starting to mumble about locking the store doors for a week so that there will be no new stuff to deal with for awhile. Three new lookers today, and one gal who ordered her lino in October is ready (!) for installation next week. Good luck, lady. It just ain't ahappenin'.
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