I’ve been pushing to finish A Key, An Egg, An Unfortunate Remark and clocking some serious family time.
Plus, my brain has been incredibly boring lately.
progress
Day camp for daddies
StandardPer my son’s long-standing request, he is in day camp this week. It’s spendy but not too too spendy, and his best buddy is there, so we’re letting him hang out all day with other kids.
Which means that this stay-at-home parent and writer has an opportunity for some extra work time.
It’s also an opportunity to follow interesting blog posts into the comments, or to open lots of interesting articles from links on Twitter, or visiting Facebook for some unknown reason, or reading webcomics, or… The list is nearly endless. Plus I have dinner to make, laundry to fold, and composting to do.
I’ve often said the Internet is a temporal gas: it expands to fill the free time you have. Therefore I’m turning off my internet and starting work (jeez, it’s already past 11 am! I meant to post this an hour ago.)
Going offline
StandardI have an avalanche of emails to go through and lots of online stuff to manage, but I’m going offline for most of today to do some writing. If I owe you an email or a twitter response, I’ll try to get to it later this afternoon.
Time to take some Tylenol and go.
Revisions today, along with a book
StandardI was working on A Key, An Egg, An Unfortunate Remark today, trying to make up for my low productivity yesterday (doctor’s office visit and unfamiliar neighborhood can complicate things). But what do I find when I show up at my local library?
My hold on A Dance With Dragons has come through and the book is right there on the shelf waiting for me. Do I stop revisions so I can start the new book?
What I figure is that I’ll end my work session a little early, as soon as I finish this chapter… no, I forgot I needed to add this character to this scene… hey, this is turning out pretty good, I should make a note to change that other chapter… and now I need to fix the thing with the safe… and why don’t I wrap this part up here.
In the end, I worked until well past my usual writing time, just because I was enjoying it. (The revision is 1/3rd done. I send it to my agent after that.) But! I get to walk home with the book and read it all the way, now that the sun has come out.
Only three weeks to read a thousand pages! I know I won’t be renewing this baby, so time to get cracking.
State of the books/trailer/shorts report
StandardThanks to a comment I received yesterday, I realized that I’ve been putting people off for months now about the status of the books, the trailer, everything. And that’s not fair. So here is a quick rundown of where things stand on the projects I’ve been promising. And since this is long, I’m going to put in a Continue reading
Let’s call this a draft.
StandardYou heard that right. Draft zero of A Key, An Egg, An Unfortunate Remark is finished at 77K words and 43 chapters. Longest chapter: “An Unwelcome Party Guest Catches A Glimpse of Himself” (aka chapter 1) at 2,851 words. Shortest chapter: “Another Little Drive” (almost the end of the book) at 754 words. I suspect that first chapter will be substantially trimmed, leaving “The Recrimination Game” as the longest.
You know, I struggled with this book the way I struggle with all of them, but I had fun with it, too. In fact, when I was outlining it I had a serious crisis of confidence. Life is short: was this one of the books I wanted to have as my life’s work? Really?
Thank Pikachu I got over that. This book turned out to be a lot of fun.
So! I have to give it another read-through before I send it to my agent. I have a judo throw to add to one scene, and I stupidly gave two characters very similar names, then switched them mid-way through. Plus, there are the inevitable word echoes, under-researched locations, and screwed up sentences.
Still. DONE! I’ll be picking up a 22oz of Arrogant Bastard Ale on my way home tonight and I’ll celebrate happily.
Today is my birthday
StandardWell, really it’s my not-birthday (ob repetitive explanation: My wife and I share a Bday, which sucks, so I bumped mine back a month). But that doesn’t matter, right? It’s just a date, and I’m supposed to celebrate the new year.
You don’t have to ask. I’m 46.
Anyway, I was up way, way too early to write, and write I did. After having almost zero idea how I was going to end A Key, An Egg, An Unfortunate Remark yesterday I bumped against the frontier of my synopsis and started brainstorming ideas. Within an hour, I had the end all worked out, and as I was smoothing it out this morning (connecting the plot points clearly, I mean) I had several more good ideas.
That’s all recorded, and at this point it’s a race to the end of the draft. I’ve already made today’s long-goal; hopefully I’ll be able to do another thousand words or so before I go home.
There will be no cake tonight. I don’t like it, and neither does anyone else in the family. We’ll be having melon-free fruit salad, instead, which is the tradition for my bday. What other efforts will be made on my behalf I do not know. I just hope I get a nap.
Anyway, I get a little more time to goof around online, then it’s back to the word mines. Have a great Friday and Happy Canada Day, you wonderful Canadians.
Boy yesterday’s post seemed cranky, didn’t it?
StandardI didn’t think I was being all cranky, but it geez.
Anyway, I’m not online much because of the book-writing. Both yesterday and today were big days for me. Doing 2.5K words is a modest goal for many writers, but for me it’s nearly unthinkable. Hitting that mark two days in a row, with extra time to revise an old short story? That’s practically a breakthrough. I may have transformed myself into a totally different person. I’d better oversleep tomorrow and waste the whole day on Twitter or my wife and son might not recognize me.
Anyway, it’s not even one o’clock, and I’m done for the day. ::thumbs up::
No real post today
StandardI’ve been more scarce that usual lately, I know. I spending that time writing, so hopefully people are okay with it.
The post I would have written here is actually up on the Suvudu.com site. It’s about the Harry Potter movies, and it’s very very serious. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be showing up on the main Suvudu site, and I’m not going to sit here trying to figure out how it works when I could be working.
As for me, post-vacation leg pain has dropped to the usual levels and I’m planning a couple of nice long walks today. Unfortunately, it’s cloudy and 54 degrees outside. Fucking Seattle.
“They’re so funny. They use the subjunctive when they ought to use the nupative.”
StandardLet’s make this a quick list of items of interest, okay?
First of all: Hey New Yorkers! I’m going to be in New York City next week, visiting Manhattan with my wife and son. Yes, I’m also going to meet up with my agent (first time face to face) and my editor (not first time). And others, too, if things go well.
Publishing people! Who use the subjunctive correctly! And who probably also know how to use the nupative, even though that doesn’t even exist, except in last night’s dream about condescending NY grammar fundamentalists. (See subject header)
Anyway, I’m also planning to attend the KGB Fantastic Fiction Reading Series on June 15th. I don’t know either of the authors who’ll be reading there, but that just makes it more exciting.
Are you in New York? I’d like to meet there, and maybe do something after. I look like this. If you see me there, don’t hesitate to introduce yourself.
Second: I mentioned this on Twitter last week, but haven’t here; Twenty Palaces, the prequel to Child of Fire, is 100% done! Well, unless Del Rey buys it and my editor has notes. And except for the copy edits. And galleys. And another polish, if I want to give it one, (and I always do).
Still: One. Hundred. Percent. Done. I’m back at work on A Key, An Egg, An Unfortunate Remark (aka: The Auntie Mame Files). I like this book, although I suspect it’s going to be a stand alone. We’ll see.
Third: On the advice of a friend, I’ve started polishing up some old short stories to self-publish them. I mean, why not? Several have been published before and several will need substantial rewriting, but it will be nice to have something new to put out into the world.
Fourth: Look what came in the mail over the weekend?
It had this in it:
I’m going to assume he meant “this book,” to mean “the book for Harry Connolly.” Seems obvious, right?
I sorta expect a significant proportion of this text to be right out of his LiveJournal, but with luck I’ll pick up some extra tips for writing short work for small checks, rather than doing these months-long projects on spec, which sucks.
Fourth: Is it completely ridiculous for me to record all the Bookscan numbers I get from Amazon.com into a spreadsheet? I mean, I can’t even keep my characters’ names straight, but I’m fastidious about this?
Fifth: I still have a lot to do before I head to NY. Good thing I finished those Dungeon Quest books (by Joe Daly). Now that the hilarity is over, I can get some shit done.