Which is really lame but I heard someone say it on the radio. I'm tipping it won't catch on. Because anyone who has a job vaguely finance related knows 30 June means two months of ridiculous busy-ness about to happen. Not much to celebrate. Though I did get a pay rise. So yay.
Not sure where the last 10 days has gone but turns out writing 33 pages in a day means my girls then take a holiday for a week or so. Which is fine, because I've had people reading the darn thing for me but now it's time to knuckle down and revise.
So of course today I have cleaned my house and um, spent lots of money on new blinds - thanks to my pay rise (yes, finally death to hideous vertical blinds that I have hated since buying my house) - cleaned some more and um, done everything but write.
And of course, buying blinds means I have to finally finish painting my window frames. Really, procrastination is simple if you try. But painting comes after book finishing. I hope.
June 30, 2006
June 18, 2006
Done
It's done.
I'm not sure how. Today I wrote over thirty pages. Over 6 thousand words. More than I've ever written in a day. In maybe five hours. Something shook loose and the movie started playing in my head and this sucker is done.
At least, the DLD draft is. I'm sure whatever I wrote today is high on talking heads and there's tweaking and filling in to be done and then critiquing and revising but for now, I'm done.
It feels done. Which is good. Sometimes you finish and it doesn't and you know something not quite right. But this feels done. Only other writers understand the feeling. It's pretty darn good.
Um, brain empty. Sleep now.
I'm not sure how. Today I wrote over thirty pages. Over 6 thousand words. More than I've ever written in a day. In maybe five hours. Something shook loose and the movie started playing in my head and this sucker is done.
At least, the DLD draft is. I'm sure whatever I wrote today is high on talking heads and there's tweaking and filling in to be done and then critiquing and revising but for now, I'm done.
It feels done. Which is good. Sometimes you finish and it doesn't and you know something not quite right. But this feels done. Only other writers understand the feeling. It's pretty darn good.
Um, brain empty. Sleep now.
June 17, 2006
The road goes on and on
Or at least, the book does. So far this week, I've done 40 odd pages and edited still more. And I've got about forty pages to go I think. But it feels like more. Three big scenes. Books for me finish in one of two ways. Either it all pours out in a made burst (and earlier this week, this one felt like it was going to do that) or skirting around in stops and starts and ponderings. This one now feels like it's going to do that. A few more days hopefully. Even if I have to nail my butt to the chair. I know I've written a lot this week, I get a weird cramp in my little finger of my right hand. More glucosamine needed, I guess, cos I'm not stopping.
Not much else to report, due to said lots of writing. Took the orange cat to the vet for his anti-inflammatory shots for his dodgy knees. He always amuses me. He lurves his carrier. Jumps right in every time it appears. Doesn't blink when I shut the door. Everything is rosy. Until the moment I pick it up and head for the car. Then the yelling starts. Something along the lines of "What? You tricked me. Again. I was just getting in the nice box and now you're taking me somewhere. I hate going places. Let me ooooouuuuutttttt!" You'd think he'd remember that the box = going somewhere by now (after all, he's eleven and he's only ever gone to the vet or moved house in the box and those are both right at the bottom of the list of things that the orange cat enjoys. Waayyyy the hell at the bottom. I mean, he ended up on drugs to cope with moving house). Orange cat: high on good looks, low on good brains. But we loves him anyway.
Apart from that little adventure, I'm lacking in news. I have scored Chris Isaak tickets thanks to the lovely VT. Hugh, Chris and Robbie in one year. Yippeee, my inner groupie is very happy.
And, I just read on Anne Bishop's site (not procrastinating at all, nope) that she's planning another Black Jewels book. Double yippee. Only problem, not out until 2008. Wah and pout. But writing books takes a long time, believe me, I know this. And can feel like they're taking even longer. So I will be patient. Of course, it's freakin' mid-June already (I swear it's about 2 weeks since Christmas) so it'll be 2008 before we know it.
Not much else to report, due to said lots of writing. Took the orange cat to the vet for his anti-inflammatory shots for his dodgy knees. He always amuses me. He lurves his carrier. Jumps right in every time it appears. Doesn't blink when I shut the door. Everything is rosy. Until the moment I pick it up and head for the car. Then the yelling starts. Something along the lines of "What? You tricked me. Again. I was just getting in the nice box and now you're taking me somewhere. I hate going places. Let me ooooouuuuutttttt!" You'd think he'd remember that the box = going somewhere by now (after all, he's eleven and he's only ever gone to the vet or moved house in the box and those are both right at the bottom of the list of things that the orange cat enjoys. Waayyyy the hell at the bottom. I mean, he ended up on drugs to cope with moving house). Orange cat: high on good looks, low on good brains. But we loves him anyway.
Apart from that little adventure, I'm lacking in news. I have scored Chris Isaak tickets thanks to the lovely VT. Hugh, Chris and Robbie in one year. Yippeee, my inner groupie is very happy.
And, I just read on Anne Bishop's site (not procrastinating at all, nope) that she's planning another Black Jewels book. Double yippee. Only problem, not out until 2008. Wah and pout. But writing books takes a long time, believe me, I know this. And can feel like they're taking even longer. So I will be patient. Of course, it's freakin' mid-June already (I swear it's about 2 weeks since Christmas) so it'll be 2008 before we know it.
June 12, 2006
Not bad
Ended up with 12 pages yesterday, another 12 today. Plus assignments done. I'm officially 2/3 of the way through if it turns out as long as my books usually are. Not sure it will though. Still it's nice to be heading downhill with a reasonable idea of the rest of the book. Hopefully another week's hard slog will get me there. This is the part where I turn into a hermit, so to all the friends out there, apologies in advance if I'm awol this week.
On a writing break (a break, I tell you, not procrastinating : ) ) I hopped over to C.E. Murphy's blog. She was talking about how she doesn't see "pictures" in her head. Fascinating. Imagine thinking without pictures. Let alone writing novels. And she does great descriptions.
Now, I don't see my stories like a movie playing in my head like some people do, in fact, a lot of the time, it's like hearing a movie, with a bad picture. I'm good with the dialogue but often have to concentrate hard to get the images, like tuning the focus. Those times, I get the conversations down then go back and replay to watch the action. Other times, it is like a movie, with all five senses. But I can't imagine not having the images at all...that would make things tough.
Just goes to show everyone does this writing thing differently. Hopefully my movies will keep on rolling this week!
On another note, I read The Barbed Rose by Gail Dayton this weekend. Another good Luna, the sequel to the Compass Rose. A very unusual world where polygamy is the norm. A happily polygamous heroine...you don't often see that! I'm firmly in the Luna camp, they do great work. I just wish we got more of them here, they seem to trickle through in dribs and drabs and as usual, well after they come out in the US. Sigh.
This week I'm treating myself to The Perfect Stranger by Anne Gracie (and possibly other goodies lurking in Rendezvous). Anne is a great writer and a great person, and I'm looking forward to heading back into her story world.
On a writing break (a break, I tell you, not procrastinating : ) ) I hopped over to C.E. Murphy's blog. She was talking about how she doesn't see "pictures" in her head. Fascinating. Imagine thinking without pictures. Let alone writing novels. And she does great descriptions.
Now, I don't see my stories like a movie playing in my head like some people do, in fact, a lot of the time, it's like hearing a movie, with a bad picture. I'm good with the dialogue but often have to concentrate hard to get the images, like tuning the focus. Those times, I get the conversations down then go back and replay to watch the action. Other times, it is like a movie, with all five senses. But I can't imagine not having the images at all...that would make things tough.
Just goes to show everyone does this writing thing differently. Hopefully my movies will keep on rolling this week!
On another note, I read The Barbed Rose by Gail Dayton this weekend. Another good Luna, the sequel to the Compass Rose. A very unusual world where polygamy is the norm. A happily polygamous heroine...you don't often see that! I'm firmly in the Luna camp, they do great work. I just wish we got more of them here, they seem to trickle through in dribs and drabs and as usual, well after they come out in the US. Sigh.
This week I'm treating myself to The Perfect Stranger by Anne Gracie (and possibly other goodies lurking in Rendezvous). Anne is a great writer and a great person, and I'm looking forward to heading back into her story world.
June 11, 2006
And now we add rain
It continues to be C.O.L.D here in Melbourne. This afternoon, for variety, we added rain. It's meant to be warmer when it rains. Something about lower clouds holding the heat in (so sue me, I'm not a meterologist). I guess that theory doesn't work when there was no heat to start with. I went outside (pre-rain) to prune some stuff in the garden and my fingers almost froze in about 2 minutes.
Yesterday was grey and foggy all day. Luckily I spent most of it inside at the ballet. Unluckily it was not the greatest Giselle I've ever seen. Not sure why. Giselle is one of those classic ballets that I think could lose the first act. Peasant girl goes made when evil man two times her. Yeah. Yeah. The second can be beautiful when it all comes together but yesterday it just didn't grab me. Maybe the sore back didn't help. The orange and poppy seed cake at lunch was good though.
Still the rain makes today a good day for sitting inside writing. Which I have done. 6 pages or so on the wip, another 4 or so on assignments. As there's nothing on TV tonight, I'll probably keep writing.
Still feels like hard work though. Having a tired day. Which has nothing to do with the fact I got sucked into watching movies on TV last night. Movies which I own on video or DVD so I could've gotten up and fast forwarded to the bits I was waiting for. But no. Stubborn brain would not do that. So latish to bed. And latish up. Which some days is fine but others, like today, feel like I didn't sleep much at all. And I thought I slept pretty well last night. I need to get the routine happening better. Having a week off always throws me out. I'm such a night owl but I have to be up early during the week if I'm going to exercise before work and that means turning the light out at a reasonable hour. Which I'm not so good at. On the weekends I slip into night-owl mode far too quickly. Not like my brother who likes to stay up until 3am, but 12, 12.30 ish. I'm probably better at doing 11.30 and sleeping until 8.30. That routine would suit me just fine if there wasn't the small matter of the day job. But if I let myself switch on weekends, it makes the weeks hard. Even when it's not 3 degrees in the morning.
So back to routine it is, despite tomorrow being a holiday. Including the exercise. I just did some. I'd been avoiding all day. When I finally got on the elliptical, the time flew by but it's taken me all day to get there. Gah. Tomorrow will be a better day, I hope. I'm heading into last quarter/third of the book which usually picks up speed for me. We'll see.
More pages tonight after dinner wakes me up. But first meditation and a quick grocery trip. I think I've committed the dreaded sin of running out of cat food. And that doesn't make for peaceful nights : )
Yesterday was grey and foggy all day. Luckily I spent most of it inside at the ballet. Unluckily it was not the greatest Giselle I've ever seen. Not sure why. Giselle is one of those classic ballets that I think could lose the first act. Peasant girl goes made when evil man two times her. Yeah. Yeah. The second can be beautiful when it all comes together but yesterday it just didn't grab me. Maybe the sore back didn't help. The orange and poppy seed cake at lunch was good though.
Still the rain makes today a good day for sitting inside writing. Which I have done. 6 pages or so on the wip, another 4 or so on assignments. As there's nothing on TV tonight, I'll probably keep writing.
Still feels like hard work though. Having a tired day. Which has nothing to do with the fact I got sucked into watching movies on TV last night. Movies which I own on video or DVD so I could've gotten up and fast forwarded to the bits I was waiting for. But no. Stubborn brain would not do that. So latish to bed. And latish up. Which some days is fine but others, like today, feel like I didn't sleep much at all. And I thought I slept pretty well last night. I need to get the routine happening better. Having a week off always throws me out. I'm such a night owl but I have to be up early during the week if I'm going to exercise before work and that means turning the light out at a reasonable hour. Which I'm not so good at. On the weekends I slip into night-owl mode far too quickly. Not like my brother who likes to stay up until 3am, but 12, 12.30 ish. I'm probably better at doing 11.30 and sleeping until 8.30. That routine would suit me just fine if there wasn't the small matter of the day job. But if I let myself switch on weekends, it makes the weeks hard. Even when it's not 3 degrees in the morning.
So back to routine it is, despite tomorrow being a holiday. Including the exercise. I just did some. I'd been avoiding all day. When I finally got on the elliptical, the time flew by but it's taken me all day to get there. Gah. Tomorrow will be a better day, I hope. I'm heading into last quarter/third of the book which usually picks up speed for me. We'll see.
More pages tonight after dinner wakes me up. But first meditation and a quick grocery trip. I think I've committed the dreaded sin of running out of cat food. And that doesn't make for peaceful nights : )
June 09, 2006
The hard part
First a note to Winter. Over it already. Start raining and warm up. Seriously. I'm not a 4 degrees, time to rise and shine kind of gal. I'm a 4 degrees, must hibernate under the doona kind. So it's been a fun week.
I've mostly finished revising the book and now have to write through to the end. I know what should happen. I kind of know how. But this is the part where the muse kind of freezes and resists the actual work. I know I just need to sit down and write but my chair feels like an ejector seat. Every few minutes I get antsy or distracted or find my self suddenly doing housework. Grrrr.
Doesn't help that I think my back is out a bit. Which gives me stomach aches. I went to the chiro on Wednesday and something hasn't quite stuck. But he was closed today. And it's a long weekend. So three days of potential sore back for me. Hopefully some walking will ease it up. If not, it will be mucho of the painkillers and zantac for me this weekend. Cos this butt is staying in the chair. Except for the ballet bit. And the checking out the photos taken by the lovely Jo bit and...hmmm, is that more procrastinating I see?
I will finish the damn book. If only because there's quite a few authors I love with new releases in the next two months and I want to read them with a guilt-free conscience. Oh right, I have to finish that other book too. Damn. Anyone got a cloning machine?
I've mostly finished revising the book and now have to write through to the end. I know what should happen. I kind of know how. But this is the part where the muse kind of freezes and resists the actual work. I know I just need to sit down and write but my chair feels like an ejector seat. Every few minutes I get antsy or distracted or find my self suddenly doing housework. Grrrr.
Doesn't help that I think my back is out a bit. Which gives me stomach aches. I went to the chiro on Wednesday and something hasn't quite stuck. But he was closed today. And it's a long weekend. So three days of potential sore back for me. Hopefully some walking will ease it up. If not, it will be mucho of the painkillers and zantac for me this weekend. Cos this butt is staying in the chair. Except for the ballet bit. And the checking out the photos taken by the lovely Jo bit and...hmmm, is that more procrastinating I see?
I will finish the damn book. If only because there's quite a few authors I love with new releases in the next two months and I want to read them with a guilt-free conscience. Oh right, I have to finish that other book too. Damn. Anyone got a cloning machine?
June 04, 2006
oh what a beautiful morning
Sorry for the Oklahoma, I saw Hugh last night in X3. Good stuff. And Chris and Robbie are coming to town....mmmmm.
To steal an exercise from Barbara Samuel....
Today in Melbourne it's a beautiful, crisp, sunny winter morning. The sky is a brilliant blue that would fool you into thinking it's summer if you couldn't feel the chill. The sort of day we don't get many of once winter settles into its stride.
It looks warm but the air is cool enough to make my hands and face feel slightly numb as I walk, despite the fact I'm sweating under my raspberry pink parka vest. Everything smells clean, faintly icy.
At the vet's, there's a fearless tiny black kitten who is firmly focused on stalking and killing her toy ball, leaping and bounding like a miniature panther, only pausing when she leaps into her water bowl and gets her paws wet. She doesn't even blink when dogs who must be twenty times her size decide to bark and snarl at her. She's got her eyes on the prize. She's my new role model. She reminds me of a black cat I used to own. I'd love to take her home with me but I think the votes of the grey and orange inhabitants of my house would be firmly negative.
Walking back, parrots and magpies chase each other through the gum trees and every thing is bright and sparkling. The grass is still wet with dew and gleams in the sun. In summer the way I walk is lined with gardens full of roses and other flowers to stop and sniff. There aren't many things blooming at the moment - odd patches of colour from the camellias and lavender and daisies and native flowering plants - and some trees still hanging on to the last of the autumn reds and oranges. But all the plants look lush and green - contented somehow as if they are taking a well-deserved rest to curl their toes into the earth and wait for spring. Everyone out walking is smiling. It's that kind of day. I wonder what else it will bring?
I have a lot to do today. Last day of my week off. I've had a great week, writing and shopping and lunching with writer friends. I've worked hard. But I've played too. The sort of week that confirms that I really do want to do this. This life suits me. Suits my rhythms. So I need to be like the black kitten. Fearless in pursuit of a goal. Dreams make life richer, brighter. Make every day seem sparkly like today. So why not chase them?
Happy pouncing!
To steal an exercise from Barbara Samuel....
Today in Melbourne it's a beautiful, crisp, sunny winter morning. The sky is a brilliant blue that would fool you into thinking it's summer if you couldn't feel the chill. The sort of day we don't get many of once winter settles into its stride.
It looks warm but the air is cool enough to make my hands and face feel slightly numb as I walk, despite the fact I'm sweating under my raspberry pink parka vest. Everything smells clean, faintly icy.
At the vet's, there's a fearless tiny black kitten who is firmly focused on stalking and killing her toy ball, leaping and bounding like a miniature panther, only pausing when she leaps into her water bowl and gets her paws wet. She doesn't even blink when dogs who must be twenty times her size decide to bark and snarl at her. She's got her eyes on the prize. She's my new role model. She reminds me of a black cat I used to own. I'd love to take her home with me but I think the votes of the grey and orange inhabitants of my house would be firmly negative.
Walking back, parrots and magpies chase each other through the gum trees and every thing is bright and sparkling. The grass is still wet with dew and gleams in the sun. In summer the way I walk is lined with gardens full of roses and other flowers to stop and sniff. There aren't many things blooming at the moment - odd patches of colour from the camellias and lavender and daisies and native flowering plants - and some trees still hanging on to the last of the autumn reds and oranges. But all the plants look lush and green - contented somehow as if they are taking a well-deserved rest to curl their toes into the earth and wait for spring. Everyone out walking is smiling. It's that kind of day. I wonder what else it will bring?
I have a lot to do today. Last day of my week off. I've had a great week, writing and shopping and lunching with writer friends. I've worked hard. But I've played too. The sort of week that confirms that I really do want to do this. This life suits me. Suits my rhythms. So I need to be like the black kitten. Fearless in pursuit of a goal. Dreams make life richer, brighter. Make every day seem sparkly like today. So why not chase them?
Happy pouncing!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)