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January 31, 2005

gnrrrrarrr

This is Steph. Steph got six hours of sleep last night, because en route to bed chapter 40 leapt up at her and whispered, "Eeeedit meeeee...."

So 40 was edited. That leaves 41 and 42 for tonight. And the epilogue needs a rewrite. I glanced at it before bed, stuck my tongue out at the cheesiness, and then went to burrow under my 'lectric blanket and forty-two cats.

Posted by sdshaver at 12:04 PM | TrackBack

fun for the whole family!

Tooorturing my heroes, just tooorturing my heroes...la de da dum doo de doo...torture torture torture MOUNTAIN DROP....

Three chapters (and a short epilogue) to go! And then I can send it away and kick this book outta my life! HA HA HA HA!

Mister Linguist helped me with my word problem. I made up a new one. Also, a real word that I actually got to use: dromedary.

Printing, and then to bed! YAHOO!

Posted by sdshaver at 02:13 AM | TrackBack

January 30, 2005

drillmasters and staves

Added 1,000 words to Chapter 36 after weapons class this morning. I need to hunt through my medieval books for a better word than "drillmaster".

"Sensei" is too Japanese, and associated with too many bad ninja movies and TV shows for me to use. I'm sure there's a more traditional word. Either that, or I'll just make one up. :)

Weapons class was jo-nage for the most part, with some swordcuts. Might I add, I am clueless when it comes to Jo Taigi and looked like a moron.

And that, friends, is why they gave me that sparkly brown belt in June!

Posted by sdshaver at 11:02 PM | TrackBack

done for tonight

Revisions for 34-35 are done. Printing out 36 and 37 with the intent to do them before bed, and then enter in the adjustments tomorrow. Hopefully I'll also tackle 38-42 and the epilogue and be officially done with revisions.

(Okay, yes, I know: EPILOGUES BAD! EPILOGUES UNPROFESSIONAL! HULK SMAAAASH! but it's a time and story flow thing for me. My story is very meticulously set to cover the time flow as it's told. The Epilogue takes place several months later. It is a "true" epilogue, IMO, and yes -- it's vital to the overall story. Unless an editor tells me it ain't.)

Oi.

Might I add, I snickered over some segments of the book tonight. This is one of the fun parts of revisions. Finding those pockets of humor you forgot about.

So either I'm hySTERical, or I am the only one who gets my humor.

Posted by sdshaver at 01:26 AM | TrackBack

January 29, 2005

much in the way of revising

Chopping my way through Chapter 33 mark-ups. That makes four I've done this evening (30-33), including tweaks to 1 and some rewrites to 42 and the epilogue last night.

Whoo hoo! Julia Ecklar MP3s on iTunes! "Temper of Revenge" is fun to sing when you're dealing with a bloody, uncooperative manuscript.

Posted by sdshaver at 11:33 PM | TrackBack

little pigs

Ah, the danger of opening chapter the first. I ended up rewriting a chunk nestled around pages 4-6. Huge slab of tell where it should have been show.

I am big on stomping on tell stuff.

I won't make the mistake of opening up the earlier stuff again until I'm done editing 31-42. Chapters 1-3 will get extra critical attention then.

I spent 42 minutes on various torture devices fitness machines tonight. They are extremely good for pushing ideas around in one's overclocked cranium.

Posted by sdshaver at 02:53 AM | TrackBack

January 28, 2005

and wonder why

Finished Soldiers Live. The death toll got only slightly better. An excellent send-off for the Black Company. But now I need new fiction to read.

Rewrote the first scene in 31. Another one of those scenes that snuck up on me-oh-my, and it shows.

Whaddya know, hawks don't have totally black eyes. Praise gawd for the intragooglewebnet, without which my manly man hawk god would have had onyx eyes.

What I do next (after the anthology story) is slowly churning in my head. We'll see if it survives the weekend.

I really meant to go to bed early tonight. Damn that scene. How could 964 words take so long?

Posted by sdshaver at 02:02 AM | TrackBack

January 27, 2005

they're dead. ALL DEAD.

I have no excuse for not writing last night other than one powerful margarita (the guys at Mariachi seem to like me) and Soldiers Live.

I told a friend that if he ever, ever, EVER complains about my tendency to kill off characters again, I'm pointing him to Glen Cook, who has roundly spanked me in that department. The last 100 pages have been brutal on his cast, and there's still 100 to go.

I think I'm most impressed by Tobo's character development. And this book reaffirms for me how much fun it can be to write in a first person voice. The Sahra from Murgen's accountings is a completely different creature than the Sahra in Sleepy and Croaker's stories. The same is true with other characters: Narayan Singh, Booboo (who I can't help but think of as "Booboo-Kitty-Fuck"), etc....

That's got to be fun to write.

Which has got Kitsu talking. Maybe I'll try writing two books at once after SoS (which is looking more like SotDI now) is done.

But I'll outline the fuckers.

Oh, yes.

Posted by sdshaver at 02:31 PM | TrackBack

January 26, 2005

ache

Had a nasty headache last night (nausea, pounding brain, disorientation) and thus, no edits. Tonight should be better.

Posted by sdshaver at 10:31 AM | TrackBack

January 24, 2005

sexy sexiness

Chapter 29 revisions entered. "Teh sexxx seen" is officially first drafted and done with.

Gonna go upstairs and edit a couple more chapters, as well as eat a little clam chowder as I have not yet had dinner.

Posted by sdshaver at 11:55 PM | TrackBack

revisions

Then again, maybe I'll just do five chapters.

Yes. I like five. I also like looking down and seeing a big pile of discarded white pages at my feet. TAKE THAT, REVISIONS.

Posted by sdshaver at 02:37 AM | TrackBack

January 23, 2005

renaming and revising

Going to enter in six chapters' worth of revisions before bed. I hope.

I've been fishing for a new name for the book, since I think the next one will actually be more about the Sword than this one is. So far, the best I can come up with is something that sounds far too close to a Raymond Feist novel. So, more thinking is needed, but I'm closing in on it.

Writewritewritewritewrite....

Posted by sdshaver at 11:24 PM | TrackBack

ch. 28 and 29

Some minor revisions to 28 and 29, printed out major changes to 29 for hardcopy revisions tomorrow.

29 is two pages over my personal 10-page rule (that no chapter exceed 10 pages), but I can't find a satisfactory spot to amputate, so it's staying the way it is. It is, after all, teh sex scene (or as close as I come to one) and so...and so....

The book was very begrudging tonight. Tres obnoxious.

New word: Postern.

Also, I got to use "trepidation" in a sentence.

Posted by sdshaver at 04:19 AM | TrackBack

January 22, 2005

upgrade complete

Done with upgrades. Off to eat and work on the book.

And because I am the world's most boring person -- I present my current playlist under the cut.

Total files: 22
Total size: 165 MB
Total length: 2 hours 33 minutes and 57 seconds
Average length: 06:59

Posted by sdshaver at 03:48 PM | TrackBack

upgrading

Like a fool, I am upgrading to Movable Type.

Please keep your seatbelts fastened and your arms, legs, and tentacles inside the blog at all times....

Posted by sdshaver at 01:50 PM

it's not...

It's not that I think it's a GOOD drawing, but I was getting sick of looking at Erim's surly mug.

So for now, Lelia is on the homepage. It was a two minute sketch. Hence the...erm...sketchiness.

Posted by sdshaver at 12:28 PM

January 21, 2005

how to drive your cats insane

Step One: Record yourself singing "The Highwayman" (the Phil Ochs version, of course).

Step Two: Play it back.

They go crazy when I sing. Apparently, they go completely nuckin' futs when me-not-me sings folk music.

Minor updates. The recording equipment was out because I wanted to record the two songs I wrote before I forgot the melodies.

Maybe I'll record my version of "The Dark is Rising" poem. I've only been singing it since I was, oh, TWELVE.

Posted by sdshaver at 01:26 AM

January 20, 2005

rhymin' and stealin'

I wrote music for the book tonight. I used "Across the Universe" as a springboard. This must be Lelia's influence. The little minx.

Space heaters are marvelous things. They enable my chilly bones to come here to the basement and whittle down the laundry list again. This weekend is looking good.

It wasn't looking so good this morning when I opened my mail and found a court order charging me with failure to register a vehicle, but a quick call to the county revealed that it was meant for the previous owner of my domicile, and not the present one.

The adrenaline of potential incarceration is quite choice, and more effective than any Starbucks quad mocha espresso. I don't recommend it for everyone, but if ever you need to wake up quick, might I suggest contacting the circuit court of the city of Shrewsbury?

No? Well, suit yourself.

Posted by sdshaver at 12:58 AM

January 19, 2005

cold and water

My hell is a cold, watery place. I hate being cold. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it. Being wet and cold and achey? EVEN WORSE.

I adjusted the location of the area heater, donned an extra sweater, dropped a cat in my lap, and my world is a much happier place now. I was able to type without shaking like a newborn colt.

Lights addressed. Magic more aptly explained. Sleep now.

(Put the baby to bed already!)

Posted by sdshaver at 02:01 AM

January 18, 2005

driving miss stephanie

On the drive into work, a light went on in my head. YAY LIGHTS.

Nothing to do with the lights, but: I'm dragging this out too long. It's time to finish and put the baby to bed.

Man, I'm whiny.

Posted by sdshaver at 02:00 PM

REVISIONS

Okay. I was lazy this weekend. I'm terribly sorry. Please forgive me. I'm so lazy.

Once again found an old, old version of the book and goddamn -- that was a good story. Never will be, now. sigh. I keep reminding my doubtful self that if those versions from four years ago were decent enough, then this version must be good. Nevermind that I want to rewrite the whole thing from scratch. A year from now I'd go back and reread my old work and be kicking myself. Kick kick kick.

I'm fricking freezing down here in my basement and I have to go to bed. I did some minor revisions tonight, got through part of 28 before I realized a better way to deal with something and came down here to write it. It is now written. A heating blanket and Glen Cook novel await me upstairs. To bed I go.

P.S. - After watching the entire first season of Dead Like Me, I can't imagine anyone but Mandy Patinkin as Vadjo (a minor character in my dumb story). That is all.

P.P.S. - They canceled Dead Like Me. I am very sad.

P.P.P.S. - Mandy Patinkin apparently played Satan on Touched By an Angel. This affixes him even further as Vadjo in my mind.

Posted by sdshaver at 01:01 AM

January 16, 2005

worldbuilding

Sat around tonight and asked myself a lot of questions about my world, and what the magic in it means. Wrote down notes and came up with something that is at the very least "interesting".

("Interesting" not always being "good".)

This is nothing new, it's just me trying to show more cards to the reader. Part of it is spurred by the need to answer questions about the world and why things have happened the way they have. And there's also that guiding voice from my past telling me that if I'm going to build a world, I better build it with plenty of room to move around in. (And she's right.) (And I am.)

Anyway. My hands are freezing. Night.

Posted by sdshaver at 01:11 AM

January 13, 2005

revisions - more flooding

My basement is again damp due to last night's deluge. I'm getting a handle on this whole cleaning up business, though, so I should have it vacuumed out in short order tonight and get another chapter edited.

Bloodied up two chapters last night. Going to wait until Saturday to enter the changes.

Lelia, the character for the short story, is chatty.

Damn chatty.

Posted by sdshaver at 11:40 AM

January 12, 2005

unnamed anthology story

Wrote three pages in the unnamed anthology story. It's a nice break from Myr & Co., since the main character in this one is a relatively well-adjusted girl, albeit selfish and somewhat shallow. I pinned down a reoccuring theme that's either amusing or stupid.

We'll see.

Its current incarnation is also in the first person. Aru? Aru....

Posted by sdshaver at 01:47 AM

January 11, 2005

tweak

Minor tweaks dug out during my drive into work and night at the dojo. I always seem to come up with ideas during those two activities. I partially rewrote one of the final scenes, and have a couple lines to add to an earlier scene, and a couple more to add to a later one.

Bed!

Posted by sdshaver at 01:16 AM

January 10, 2005

hard copy revisions - ch. 24

Bloodied up chapter 24 last night. Worried about trivial things. Got to bed before 1 AM, which is quite an accomplishment for me.

I found some very old stories this morning. Things from 1998, 1999. The original 23-page story that started Myr's story (called "Tell Me a Story"). Things were very different in her world, six years ago (she was the younger sibling, her mother was still alive, she had a grandfather, a voice, and she was much more girly).

Also, a Sword and Sorceress submission called "The Breath of Her Wings" that failed...and for good reason -- a 5300 word genre story should not have seven active characters. I can see how I could retrofit it for Myr's world if I ever bother (and I might, if the book sells).

Posted by sdshaver at 10:35 AM

January 09, 2005

revisions....

...are over, according to my laundry list.

I'm printing chap. 24-30 as we speak. My printer is slow and cranky, but it's better than nothing, and I can't do these sort of edits on a computer screen.

Not that I can complain too much about my printer, really. I cannot write long hand -- my fingers cramp up, and I can never write as fast as the story wants to come along. There was a time sixteen years ago when my only writing device was a glorified Brother electric typewriter that claimed to be a word processor (HA HA HA -- funny!). And after that, a dot matrix that cost way too much and did horrible things to my stories if the ribbon wasn't fresh....

Thinking back on it, I was blessed with parents who helped out their writing daughter by buying her these things when she asked for them. Blessed, I say.

After this, I'll go back and do final edit on the whole -- which is me sitting in a basement and reading my book aloud in the voices of my characters. It's a nice way to catch my occasional Spoonerisms, word-blurrings (example: "muscles dancing" unintentionally becoming "muscling dancing"), or mis-inflections.

Providing that my basement does not flood again, I should have a finished, readable manuscript by next week-ish. Two months behind schedule, but at least I'm not 30!

Posted by sdshaver at 07:14 PM

January 07, 2005

revisions - lake basement

Lake Basement continues to recede. There will be another mighty sucking tomorrow night, I'm sure. Gallon count so far: 42.

Most of the revisions tonight were changes to names and capitalizations. Little tweaks. Need to check my laundry list and see where I am. At some point I looked up and realized all the plot holes had been dealt with, all the new scenes written and vetted. Either I'm delusional, or I really am at the end this time.

I was so annoyed and bummed about my uber-wet basement that I rewarded myself with some wholesome cooking. Shiitake-crimini fajitas on whole wheat tortillas with low-fat sharp cheddar and homemade guacamole. Vegetarian, nearly vegan. Good, clean cookin'.

For dessert, I decided to make Alton Brown's honey cake, though I added chocolate chips to it and compensated for lack of honey by adding about 1/8th of a cup of maple syrup. The chocolate sank to the bottom, creating a two-layer effect, and the maple syrup is undetectable. It's like a spongey, low-fat pound cake with the taste of honey and oranges. I like it.

Cooking neep neep neep.

Posted by sdshaver at 04:02 AM

January 06, 2005

slosh

The war with my basement is coming to an end. Things are still damp down there, but I elevated all the computer equipment ages ago for just this reason.

I vacuumed approximately 32 gallons of water from my basement last night. I'm assuming I'll pull another 16 tonight. Snow has started. The ground is freezing. Should be the end of my troubles for a little while.

All that means: No revisions done. By the end of my night I was just too tired, though I did start reading the second-to-last Black Company.

I think, though, that rain and flooding is going to be a major part of the next book. Maybe. Depends on if the first book sells. I'd love to "commit trilogy", but after my last attempt to do so crashed and burned so spectacularly I admit to being gunshy.

Then again, I am what I am. As much as I want to write about Binder or Kitsu, I'll probably end up writing about Myr anyway just to see where she's going.

Posted by sdshaver at 12:14 PM

January 05, 2005

revisions - coming to a close

Major story revisions are coming to a close. I'm going to be doing another (yes, another) print-out and revise by hand this weekend. I think. I could almost give the book to friends, except I'm sure there are story discrepancies from the major changes I've made, and I don't want to confuse them as to why it is Ishna's robes are vermillion in one chapter, and black in the next.

I'm at a stage right now where I'm really happy with the story. I hammered out most of the bugs. I hope.

I also like the shape of the Valdemar story and can't wait to start it. It'll be a challenge, but it'll be fun. The Concordance is pretty damn good, though I'm not sure it answers all the questions I have. Still, reading through it reminds me of why I love that world so much.

My basement is wet. That sucks. Also, it's 2 AM and I have been writing and editing for four hours. Need to go to sleep. Night.

Posted by sdshaver at 02:20 AM

January 02, 2005

illness

I got sick as of Thursday, tried to fight it off on Friday and half of Saturday, realized I was being stupid Saturday night, and stayed in bed most of today.

Then I got up and wrote a new scene that was on the laundry list, and did some light revising.

And now I'm feeling weird again, so I'm going to go eat a sweet potato (roasted, thank you) and look at the list of crap I need to do around the house.

Posted by sdshaver at 04:52 PM