Words
March 30, 2010
So, the cover is done. It looks pretty freaking amazing. The guys at Ron and Joe are so compitent, talented and easy to work with I came away from my first experience of cover design and creation with a renewed admiration of the magic of professionalism. Hey, I love professional anything to begin with. But in a sphere as notoriously flaky as the arts, you gotta appreciate those who sacrifice none of their skill and talent to execute a commission with social grace, business acumen, good humor and well, awesome bonhomie.
By the way, I found a new (to me) Canadian young adult humor and sci fi publisher the other day. Thankfully, they live in the 21st Century and accept queries by email, so off it went this morning with synopsis and sample chapters. We'll see how it goes.
In the meantime, I spent the entire weekend studying more about the art of book marketing. I bought an awesome book on the topic a few months ago and finally knuckled down and read it, beginning to end, taking notes the whole way. My original plan was good, but now I've honed that down to what's really appropriate and doable for this lovely little book without wasting time or money on ineffective approaches. With a clear focus now, I'm quite confident I can knock it out of the park.
March 13, 2010
I had the most amazing day yesterday at Highlands, reading from my book. The whole reason for doing this is because no kids have read it - only adults. And what's the point if they don't like it? Well, I was pretty sure it would go over okay, but until I finished reading and got their reaction, I was only giving an educated guess.
Well, they liked it. Eight or ten Grade 7s wanted to read the whole thing. About the same number of Grade 9s. And the Grade 8s - well, only about three or four kids in the class didn't sign up to read it. So if I'd had 30 copies instead of 10, they would have all been gone.
Thank you Highlands school! You guys totally made my day. It was blast reading for you and your warm response just blew me away.
March 11, 2010
I've got my printouts, bound like theses (color cover page behind clear plastic, black back, black tape binding) and I've hired the cover fabulous artists to work their magic. Tomorrow I'm off to Highlands School to read to the grades 7, 8 and 9s to see if any of them will want to beta-test the book.
I gotta tell you, I can't wait. I just wish I was reading the whole dang book to them instead of a couple of chapters. Seriously, I would. I'm pretty much nuts about ready aloud. And to read my own goofy stuff? Even better.
March 9, 2010
Wow, it's March already. Where has the time gone? You may get the impression from my lack of lit updates that my lovely little novel project is dead in the water. And that's completely understandable given that I haven't reported on progress since November. Let me assure you that everything's going along swimmingly.
From August to late January, I suffered from RSI (repetitive strain injury) in my right wrist, a strained left wrist from compensating for it and tendonitis in both my freaking arms. That set my computer time back a pace. The whole thing started with overuse back in August when I went back to work after a month of holidays. At one point I was wearing a black, very Iron Man-looking cuff on my right wrist, a tensor bandage on my left and black velcro bands on both my upper forearms. I looked like some kind of Ninja Turtle wannabe.
Anyhow, over Christmas, I bought myself an ergonomic mouse (MS Laser 6000), which did more in a week for my RSI than five months of physio. Then in February, with things still not 100%, and me going squirrelly with frustration at not being able to carry heavy stuff or spend more than an hour a day on the computer, I found, believe it or not, a software solution called WorkPace. Not to get too deep into it, but the thing totally clinched my recovery.
So, everything peachy now with my little armies (Where do the Latvians keep their little armies? Up their little sleevies.) I'm back at it, full on.
The book has been to my editor and back. I've worked through her massive fixes (which ended up taking months because of my arms.)
I've created a mockup of the book at it's cover, which I'm going to print and use to beta-test it with kids. Yesterday I finished the cover, logo and the formatting and will be picking up my 10 copies from the printer today.
Today or tomorrow, I'll be receiving a quote on the cover image from artists I really like. It's all designed; it's just a matter of them doing an original piece from my mockup.
Nora, the queen of everything organizational, has built me a template business plan, which I've already started executing.
Anyway, things are rolling along merrily. I still don't have a publication date, but that will be coming soon.
January 23, 2010
Here's a link to DailyHaiku Volume III - which I have a big bunch of pieces in. This volume contains the work of DailyHaiku contributors from Spring 2008 to Spring 2009. A heck of a lot of great work in here, and Nicole and Patrick have done a spectacular job with layout and design.
Buy a copy - site has nice Preview option
November 28, 2009
Quick lit update. My sci-fi book's back from my fabulous editor, Marg, at Scripta Word Services. I have a schpanky idea for turning my gazillions of fairy tales into a series of kids books. I'm almost half way through the contemporization of my first book, and so far, it ain't too shabby. I'm launching the second RAVING Magazine this Wednesday at the Kasbar. And this afternoon, I'm reading from my work in the print edition of Daily Haiku Volume III at the downtown library.
June 22, 2009
I finished editing the first six chapters of this book last week and thought Yeah!, I can now get it into the mail! But no. I realized the title sucked. So the whole of my writing time last week was spent in hardcore research and brain-racking for a title. And finally I have one. It's a variation of a very common phrase that sums up a recurring theme of the book - and thankfully, there is no other book (at least on Amazon.com) with this title.
I still have to give the synopsis a once over, but this week, off it goes...
May 24, 2009
So here's a little update.
My kids sci-fi novel is off to Tor in the States. What with the sad state economy in general and the publishing industry in particular, I don't have especially high hopes. Then why did I send it? you might ask. Well, the plan is, I'm going to see if I can farm it out and in the meantime, start planning to create my publishing company. I'm not really interested in "self-publishing". The book deserves better than that. I love writing and I have had my own company before, so neither of those things present a challenge to me. What does present a huge challenge is the stigma of self-publishing. Yes, me, idiot that I am, and even in the age of Print-on-Demand, yes, I am stuck on the problem of self-publishing's stigma. I would rather start a real company, publishing my own and other people's work than sit, hat in hand, at some dick-ass folding table at a book fair.
Sorry, I'm getting off topic.
The latest on the writing front is that I'm reviving my first novel and preparing it for a 50 page query and synopsis submission. I thought I had it all under control. I'm actually giving it a serious revision and had made it to the 50 page mark. I had the synopsis all ready. I was just writing up the cover letter. Then Bam! I had a couple of major brain storms and really started gutting and suturing the book. It's going quite well, but it's going to delay my submission by a couple of weeks.
Next, I'm planning on doing a chapbook of senryu. I have a freakin boatload of the things and it seems a shame not to get them out into the world. After my experience doing Raving magazine, and my crazed love of art (see my BlahBlah blog), I can't bring myself to do a chapbook without images. A collaboration with an artist is inevitable and (hint, hint) imminent.
March 6, 2009
This is currently an archive of my journal for my two kids scifi novels. Gimme a couple of days to update things and I'll have some new stuff for you. The intention of this page was originally to highlight my own work. But I may turn this page into a lit blog, with info about books in general.
What follows is a blog of the rewrite of the first novel.
December 31, 2007
addendum, 6:00pm
I think I'm done. I went at the book again this afternoon and completed all the edits, some big, most small. I just have to read over a chapter or two and print it out.
What a haul this has been. Nothing like an unclean finish to a large piece: the thing seemed to go on forever. The minute I thought I had it, I'd read it over and turf all my work and have rewrite it. I lost count of how many times I redid the third act. Easy five. And the second act... Holy crap... that was a chore. Major new chapters went into the toilet on a second reading. Even last night I came up to my writing room and made fairly major changes. I was watching Kitchen Nightmares and Gordon Ramsay handed the restaraunt a new clock that said something like, "If it isn't good enough, why is it leaving your kitchen?" I already knew this, but man... it was like a clarion blaring in my ear and I had to answer it .
A year for the first book. Two years for the sequel. Then eight and a half months for the first book redux. No wonder I'm taking two naps a day. Fucking hell. It's been a long haul. And do I ever need a rest.
noonish
I finished the reading/editing this morning and got half way through the book doing the little fixes. There's only one real section that needs any substantial amount of work. But I shouldn't have any trouble taking care of everything tomorrow morning. We'll see.
It's getting to the point where there aren't any more surprises for me. I've practically memorized the thing. What's carrying the book for me now is the tone. The way it's told, the crazy-assed anticipation of lunacy, the turns of phrase that, no matter how many times I read them, still kill me off. It's really getting to the point where I can't fix any more faults be cause I can't see them, so I need another set of eyes. It's also amazing that I can still, this far along, find teeny things that need attention, things that have been carried into this seventh (or whatever) draft without me noticing. If I didn't see them till now, well, please hurry up and let that other set of eyes find them. Gah!
December 30, 2007
I started the final draft yesterday. I'm still so burnt out, I decided not to push it, and confine my reading/editing to a third of the book a day. So tomorrow I'll be done reading it. If all goes well, it'll only take an hour or so to make all the corrections, and it'll be done. It's still a bit intense in the middle, but I'm going to leave that as is. There's a reason for it. If an editor thinks it''s a show-stopper, that's a different matter. Anyway, aside from that, so far, so good.
December 18, 2007
Dog-friggin-tired, I couldn't leave it alone today. There was this one little hump, an insidious tonal mogul that kept bugging me. So I took care of it today. I won't know for sure if my work succeeded till I read it over in the next week or so, but the hump is significantly lower now.
I tell you, I get so excited during both the writing and the reading that I completely miss certain things. It's like a blind spot forms in the middle of my field of vision. I want to write what happens. When reading or editing, I want to find out what happens, and I miss things., subtleties that in calmer passages would stand out as obvious stylistic blunders. Anyway,I thought I was tired this morning. Well... now I'm really pooched.
December 17, 2007
I finished the final edits today. But I'm not ready for anyone to read it. I know that the very second anyone else gets their eyes on it, there will be a big blanket of finality thrown over it. So I'm going to let it rest for a few days to give myself a bit of distance on it. Then I'll read it over and see how it is.
December 16, 2007
An intense day of writing. I woke at 6:00 this morning, printed out the book and started reading. I made notes on all the little things that still need fixing, and worked till 11:30. I drove my daughter Caelea out to the country, got back around 1:30/2:00 and didn't stop reading till around six, when I finished the book. It's going to take just a few hours more of (minor) editing, but it's nearly done. This is the first time I've been able to get all the way through without finding something major that needs attention. Wow... What a day. The book is quite the ride. For all it's hilarity, it's like a full bottle of strong drink. Intense? My god... is there something I do that isn't completely balls-to-the-wall? At least it's consistently so, now. Even the sorbets have a wee dram of single malt snuck into them. It's a ride, that's for sure.
December 15, 2007
This morning, I edited the three or four chapters I thought had too much sustained action. I calmed them down a bit, but I really don't think (this morning) that there's much wrong with them. I also added and fixed a ton of other little things, paginated the text and spell-checked it. The last thing to do is print it out and give it a once over. I really think it's about as close as I can get it to done-ness. It'll be good to have another set of eyes on it. Unless I find something I haven't noticed in the zillion drafts I've done, it should be finished, completed, over, in the next week.
December 11, 2007
Finished another draft, got from 18 to 26 yesterday and today to the end. Whew! It's getting better and better. The only part I'm worried about is about three quarters of the way through. It's still too intense. I've got to find a way to calm it the hell down, then it'll be done.
December 9, 2007
Edited the three new chapter in the middle this morning, 15, 16 and 17. I think this is going to work. The next big task is printing out those three chapters and inserting them into the hard copy I have of the rest of the book and getting a better feel for how they fit. Man... am I ever close to finishing this thing...
December 2, 2007
A lot of work this weekend. Yesterday morning, I edited Chapter 16, started 17 and mapped out the rest of the section's plot. This morning, I finished 17. It's a big deal, because now the rewriting of the middle of the book is done, and I've matched the action up to the whole rest of the book. It's now one chapter and a thousand words shorter. My god... I am so close to finishing, it isn't even funny.
November 25, 2007
Finished Chapter 16 this morning. Had to spend yesterday chilling, I was so whipped from the week. Oh, man... is this ever an improvement over the last version. There is a ton of stuff I really like about the previous draft of this scene. A ton. But it took the reader too far out of the main thrust of the story. This version tells the same tale with a different setting, but it requires an entire chapter less to tell it, even though I take my time allowing it unfold. So, one fairly easy edit of the next chapter and on we go to polishing.
November 20, 2007
Finished that Chapter 14 today and wrote 15. All's good so far. Tired as hell. Just glad I'm making progress.
November 19, 2007
I almost woke up at 4:30 this morning (when my stupid dog started barking) to work on my book. This particular section was to be the salvation of the thing. And I blew it. Or rather, I spent too much time trying to make it great and ended up making it ponderous. Anyway, I think I have it now. I've worked out all the plot details and I've started writing it. I've got one chapter just about done and the rest will be coming this week. And oh... man. It's gonna rock.
November 18, 2007
Yikes... I got up to Chapter 17 this morning. A long haul, but I'm getting impatient to have this thing done. And wouldn't you know it, one of he sections doesn't sit well with me. It's like the whole book takes this side rail off to Nowheresville. Sucks. I'm either going to have to insert a little sorbet in there, or consider rewriting the section from scratch. A few things have always bugged me about it, and yes, now I can fix them. But holy god... I started this thing over three years ago and I'd like to finish it in the next decade. (Granted, there was a whole other novel written in there. But still.) Aaarrrrrgh!!!
later
So, I've got a plan. It didn't take long. Maybe half an hour. But I got it. It integrates the crux of the original scene without the massive, derailing lead-up. It solves a minor problem of believability in the preceding section and ups the intensity of the action about 150%, turning it back into the original idea I had without all the foofarah. Now all I gotta do is write it.
November 17, 2007
Finished the last few things on the fourth draft this morning and printed it out. The thing is up to 66,000 words, up from 49,000 in the first version. So weird... pumping up the middle and slimming down the end made it that much bigger. Oh, well... My old writing mentor, Manus Sasonkin, would have shrugged and said, word count means nothing. As long as every word has a purpose.
November 16, 2007
I spent a few hours during the week working on the book. I edited the last chapter early in the week, and then worked on pot hole filling the rest. Today, I switched around a few major events. And now... I'm getting very close to finishing the whole thing. The fourth draft is effectively done. Tomorrow I'll be doing the last few little fixes, then printing it out for the fifth draft. If all goes well, I'll be done in the next couple of weeks. After that, it's on to selling the series.
I tell you, the book cracks me up. For me, it is so not about the foreground plot. It's all about the kid telling it. And what a riot it is. Man... I can't tell you how many times I've made myself laugh out loud writing this thing.
November 11, 2007
Decent writing yesterday morning. It was all one task, all rewriting little sections for continuity.The chapter (25) had been rewritten so many times, I'd assume certain things had been described already, when they were actually yet to come. So, some character things got messed up. Anyway they're fixed now, and I pumped up a few things in the chapter while I was there.
Then this morning I wanted to work after this chapter I edited during the week (26) only to discover I didn't have the current version in front of me. It was at work, and even after a trip there to retrieve it, I still brought home the wrong one. Sucks. It's not such a big deal. I went to town on 27 this morning and made a fair bit of headway.
With all these plot revisions and rewritings, it's going to take longer than I thought it would to finish this thing. But it's going well, and I'll end up with a much better book at the end of it.
November 3, 2007
So, I'm done rewriting the ending. I came up with a much better idea for the climax and ended up with two chapters instead of three. Exactly what the book needs. All I have to do now is a bit of continuity work on about two chapters, and an edit of the last two. And she's done.
I had to ask myself this morning if I was afraid of finishing this thing. Did that have anything to do with my constant rewriting of the ending? It was valid question, because there have been many mornings, between waking and writing, when I'm pretty much fit to be tied. I can't stand having ANY impediment between me and succeeding. And every little mundane task other than peeing, breakfast and tea-making drives me around the bend.
But that ain't a symptom of reluctance or fear of finishing. It's just impatience. The rewriting thing is what it is. Nothing's stopped me from working before - whether it's starting, middling or ending a book. So my fear, I reassured myself, is unfounded. I am going to be happy when this is done, ONLY when it's done to the best of my ability. Period.
October 27, 2007
Finished the 3rd draft this week. Yeah, I know I don't usually write during the week, but what the hay. I was so crazed about making up for the time I lost during my illness that I couldn't stop myself. And now the draft is done.
One great thing about blasting through it in such a short time is getting a bird's-eye view of the whole thing. And guess what? The ending is still not up to snuff. So I'm pitching a couple of chapters and rewriting it again - for like... the fifth time. But I don't care. I'm not taking any chances. If people don't like the first book, they won't read the second or third. So there's no question about what to do. And yeah, the problem was overkill on the action - again.
October 20, 2007
I was sick for nearly four weeks and couldn't do anything but sleep on weekends, let alone write. But now I'm back at it - fuelled by this crazed frustration t not being able to do anything for so long. This morning, in prep for the third draft, I made a list of minor things that needed fixing and took care of a handful of them. Tomorrow I'll be able to do the rest and maybe start from the beginning again.
One little thing killed me this morning, this little twisting of a conversation to make it a bit more complex and a thousand times more emotional. Gotta love those little tweaks.
September 16, 2007
Done the second draft. I spent the morning editing what I wrote yesterday, adding a bit to it, and then did the final chapter. I still might fart around with various minor things before I start from the beginning again, we'll see. But this, by itself is a landmark.
September 15, 2007
Finally! I've written that second last chapter. I've had it plotted for weeks and was just waiting for a chance to write it. Now all I have to do is edit the last chapter a bit and this second redux draft will be done. Halle-freakin-lujah. The first book's gone from 49,000 words to 62,000 . That's about 50 more pages in standard novel format. I've cut the ending down and bulked up the middle. There are still a bunch of things I want to do as far a characterization goes. But I've finally got a finished shape to the book. And its been a long time coming.
September 8, 2007
Just finished Chapter 25. One more big edit of a chapter to go before I can call the shape of this dang book complete. Then it's only finessing before its done. Last weekend I only had two writing days. One was spent plotting. The other rewriting Chapter 24. Now, all I need is one more good day of writing to finish this draft.
September 1, 2007
Great... I think I've lost count of how many times I've rewritten the ending to this book. Three major times, for sure. And now I'm going to do it again. I've been bugged about the length of the ending for some time now. It's just too long. So the other day, at work, during a ten minute coffee break, I started scribbling an outline for a shorter ending. This morning I spent my entire writing time elaborating on that idea. And I think I've finally got it. Right now there's at least five chapters in the climax. I don't want any more than three. It just drags the book down. So tomorrow, the second day of this long weekend, I'm going to give this new outline a whirl.
August 18, 2007
Lots of editing later, I've finished Chapter 26. It was a long haul because it was a first draft. But I think it's good. There's lots of little sparkling moments in there, regardless of the fact that it's 99.9% action. It''ll only get better in itself and more integrated with the rest in subsequent drafts.
August 12, 2007
Chapters 23-25 done. I had to split 24 into two for length. So far, so good.
August 11, 2007
Two chapters down this morning, 21 and 22.
August 6, 2007
Did Chapter 19 yesterday, went over it again today to make it pop and then did Chapter 20. It's going good.
August 4, 2007
Chapter 17 spiffed up and Chapter 18 done. I can't believe this is the beginning of the fifth month of working on this book. Oh, well... two years per book isn't so bad, considering I'm not working on them full time.
July 29, 2007
Working on a few things this morning, Chapters 15, 16 and 17 primarily. The studs and drywall of this redux version of the book are up and I think of this draft as the taping and plastering phase. Worked through some critical scenes today and happily, I think the whole thing's going to work pretty well.
July 28, 2007
I've been working on tidbits the last couple of days. Tying things together, fixing inconsistencies, fleshing out scenes. It's going really well. I've started on the second draft now and already, things that I was worried about are either, a) better than I thought and don't need that much work, or b) need only a little "plussing" (as Pixar calls it) to make them pop. I'm currently working around the half way point of the book and all's well. Completely cracked myself up today over a simple four line exchange between the main characters. Even when kids have the best intentions, they can still muck things up with delivery. It was one of those, laugh-so-hard-you-can't-continue scenes. And then afterward, like an acid flashback, just the thought of it slayed me.
July 26, 2007
I finished the first draft of the redux version yesterday, having rewritten the middle and end - pretty much half of the book. The thing now stands at four chapters longer than the original version.
Now begins the editing of this version. There are a few things I need to do that will end up shortening the book as a whole. But I'm serious glad this phase is complete. It's been quite a journey bringing it up to speed with the second book.
July 15, 2007
The day before yesterday I spent the morning plotting a new ending. Yesterday was a write-off because of the heat and a real late night Friday (picking up my sweetie at midnight from her two week canoe trip). But the plotting went so well I wasn't worried and this morning I wrote Chapter 25. It's pretty good for a first go at it, but I'll spiff it up over the next few drafts to get the timing right - 'cause its a bit longer than I want.
July 12, 2007
Did Chapter 24 this morning. It was way too long to begin with and I started out adding to it, then chopped a bit off just to speed things up. Hard going with it. (Especially since it was freakin hot out today!) At one point it was really tough to distinguish the chaotic action from the deliberately chaotic narration. Was it too much? Not enough? In the end I think I was pretty merciless with it. The other thing that was tough was having the words and actions engraved in my brain for two years and wanting to get my July 12, 2007 self between every syllable just so it seemed fresh again. That was harsh. The end point is, Make it Really Good. But at many a juncture I didn't know if I was only hitting the bullseye of, Make It Seem Really Good This Morning. Gack. I've only a few chapters to go, and they are all going under the microscope and scalpel in the next few days. The shape of the book is really coming along, though. It's now got more meat on its bones, and guaranteed, when you finish reading it, knowing there's a kick-ass sequel, reaching the end will be reason to squirm with excitement. I can't friggin wait to get this thing out there. 'Cause hey, I ain't just writing it for me.
July 10, 2007
Up to Chapter 23. It took a bunch of work - three chapters this morning - but man... I gotta say, this book rocks the house! I ditched a bunch of the needless details and zapped right to the point. I'm so happy with this book right now, I'm jumping for joy. I just have a few chapters to go before the end, and should be done this first redux draft by the end of the week. Holy god... Am I ever happy with it so far.
July 9, 2007
Upped the emotional ante this morning by putting my 'hook' idea into effect. I backtracked and spent a huge chunk of time figuring out how to do it and ended up changing events in three different chapters. The book is really working now. I can't wait to give it a read through to see how it all builds. Tomorrow it's back on track for me and on to Chapter 21.
July 8, 2007
Spent the day in the sun yesterday and woke up, early as usual, but groggy as hell. Still, I got my butt in the chair by 8:00. Revised the ending of Chapter 19 and did Chapter 20 today. And after I was done, I finally got the character hook that I'm going to use throughout the book. Hallelujah! I'm making serious progress!
July 7, 2007
Chapter 19 done. Got the new stuff integrated with the old stuff. Act III is now underway.
July 6, 2007
Trying to beat the heat. It was 30-something yesterday and this morning, it's going to be warm again, so there's not much chance of working past 9:00am. Got all my ducks in a row for Chapter 19 this morning and rewrote the ending of 18.
On a side note, I remember reading - decades ago - Mario Puzo recommending a young writer learn the trade by watching tons of movies. That was music to my ears - being a movie nut since I was like, four, when my brother would bring me to weekly double features at the Sahara. Well, I've seen a handful of movies lately that have all taught me what NOT to do. Spiderman 3, Shrek 3, Pirates of the Caribbean 3 and Transformers. Man... what a sad commentary on summer cinema those disasters are. I was really looking forward to Transformers beating this losing streak. Too bad it was another exercise in CGI bloat and lack of fundamental story-telling dynamics. The only movie worth seeing this summer, so far, is Ratatouille. And all I gotta say about that one is, freaking magic. Brad Bird can do no wrong . Iron Giant, The Incredibles, and now this??? My god... give that guy a Lifetime Achievement Award right now!
July 5, 2007
Chapter 18 is finito. The middle section is done! And I've now built the bridge between the new mid-section and the old third act. Man... this is a huge deal... fitting this huge piece in the middle of the puzzle. I've added new four chapters and it doesn't feel like I've harmed the main thread of the book at all. In fact, what I've done is added a real second act to it, so that the third seems... well... worth it.
July 1, 2007
First day of my holidays yesterday and I spent the whole thing sleeping. Man... was I ever burnt from the last two weeks of insanity at work. Like, sixty high-priority things all at once. And I raced... and raced... for freaking days on end. But this morning I was in some kind of decent shape to write. And write I did. One of the core scenes in this redux version of the first book. Chapter 16. Done, baby. And am I ever happy its behind me. I was looking forward to writing this for many a week. And I finally had the privilege this morning.
June 24, 2007
Got another chapter down this morning. Chapter 15. Still working on the middle section, and because it's so slow going, I can't wait for July, when I'll have every day for a whole month to write. I'll finish this first redux draft for sure. So far... so good. This morning I got to illuminate something merely implied in the initial book.
June 17, 2007
Hard going the last couple of writing sessions - entirely because it wasn't writing, it was all planning. Just like in tiling, redoing middle sections are incredibly tough because you've got to match it front and back. I needed to lower the action quotient while still ramping the story up, and not losing the thread anywhere. Yesterday was just friggin torture. Three hours of scenario invention and comparision. Finally I went with something dead simple and wrote it this morning. I think went pretty well. It's a bit long, but hey, I don't care. It's done and I can now move on with the rest of it. Whew!
June 9, 2007
Wrote a long Chapter 13 this morning. After the Book 1 redux planning, I realized how unbelievable the first version of the chapter was. But even the redux version would have to perform a bunch of magic to work, because it posed as many problems as it solved. Every character had a very specific role to play, where each word, every pause and every bit of timing had to be perfect. Thankfully that worked out, but I hadn't gotten to the end of the chapter yet, event-wise and it was friggin boiling in my office by then. Should I go on? Push my way through? Or wait till early tomorrow when it'd be cool up here.
I decided to push on. And am I ever glad I did. What happened was a bit of an emotional breakthrough. Something I did not expect for this chapter. And man... did it ever end on a high note for me. It's done - sixty times better than I had planned.
June 2, 2007
A bunch of good writing this morning. Finished Chapter 12 and wrote about half of 13. Ended on a completely goofy note and chuckled my way through lunch afterward. It's going well, and I now have a really decent plan for both the middle and end. I think both parts are going to work spectacularly and bring the whole thing up to snuff with the second one, without losing any of the original idea. But right now, that gladdest part for me is that my faith is restored in this story and the process of me making it really good. Without that, it was a quick road to grumping around, lost, hating everything about everything. Thank god that's behind me.
May 26, 2007
Huge progress. I was pretty bummed about the sad, ineffective writing I'd done last weekend. It just didn't knock my socks off. And if I can't be enthused about it, who else could?
Thankfully I had a brainstorm mid-week and scribbled it out, pending integration and elaboration during this morning's writing session. And holy god... does it ever work. I've done three things.
1. When the action went sideways in the second book and I had to rewrite the whole ending, the problem was too much mayhem, too early - just like the first book. Ironically, the technique I used to fix up the second book I've now used to fix up the first.
2. I've built on a major concept from the second book in the first one. In the second, something unexpected happens that is built entirely on the quirks of one character. The quirks were defined in the first, but never reached this level of... I guess you'd say, manifestation. I've now incorporated a unique "manifestation" in the first book.
3. I've turned the first book from 1/2 lead-up and 1/2 mayhem into, three equal parts (8 chapters each) of beginning middle and end. I didn't really clue into this till this morning. But now I know I've nailed the formula.
And three freakin cheers! Am I ever happy with the way this book will turn out.
May 21, 2007
Chapter 16 done. It's the biggie for this section - in more ways than one. The climax of a series of events, but also, it's turned out twice as long as I wanted. Oh, well... subsequent drafts will take care of it.
A good long weekend's work. I'm happy I got this far. I still think the book might be in for some serious rearranging. Who knows... I'll see how it plays out.
May 20, 2007
Wrote Chapter 15 this morning. It's the best of the new stuff, so far. But I can feel myself being incompletely committed to what I'm scribbling in this section. I think I'm going end up rearranging a couple of major events so it all falls together better. Anyway... however it's going, it's going. And that in itself is hugely satisfying.
May 13, 2007
Every line this morning was as hard as pulling out one of my own teeth. Gah! Nothing was easy. I quickly discovered that what I wrote yesterday was completely different that what I'd plotted. No biggie, since it was a plotting problem rather than a writing problem. But then this morning, the plot of the next three chapters I'd planned looked just lame as a three legged skink. It took a while to figure out what I was going to do instead, so I only got a page done. But that was the tooth-pulling page.
What fun. It's still going pretty well. But it's a long way to go to the climax of this scene, let alone the end of the book. I've still got about nine chapters to write, pretty much from scratch.
May 12, 2007
Last weekend I finally got the plot for the ending into some kind of workable shape. And this morning I started re-writing from Chapter 13. That's where everything started to get out of hand. I've got a new big chunk for the middle that's going to take a few weeks to write. Then the whole ending. No matter which way you look at it, I've got half a book to write from scratch.
April 26, 2007
Been working on re-plotting the middle and end of the first book. I haven't put any of it into effect yet, but think I've got the middle nailed and the end... well, let's just say, today I stripped the thing down to it's six or eight essentials and built it back up in a completely different way. I now have an ending that is as bizarre as the rest of the major events in the book. How I'll eventually implement the idea is still up in the air - but it could be anything from off-the-charts to just plain cool. Now I'm moving from anxious and impatient to relieved and excited. As usual, I promised myself I wouldn't leave it alone till it blew me away. And it's getting there.
April 15, 2007
Started reading the first book this morning. Yup, I'm considering the sequel done and have started work on the first one again, to bring it up to snuff. Got up to Chapter 11, making notes.
Man... different world. Simpler, much faster moving in some respects. But it's what I want. My main character is younger than in the second book and it's his first stab at telling his story. I like that that's reflected in his writing. I also like that it's not a "big" story like the second book. It's a good intro - not a huge investment - for the reader.
April 14, 2007
Big-time crash last weekend after I finished the book. Man... was I ever tired. It wasn't just a physical crash either: emotionally I was wandering around completely lost, a servant whose long-time master just told him his services were no longer required and left him alone in the house to pack.
Fixed a couple minor things for the sake of clarity this morning. There may be one more thing I work on tomorrow. I'll see what I think of it when I read it over.
- Second Book -
- First Book -
