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August 31, 2005

chapter 2 (remix)

Steph's rule for writing fantasy: when the story seems bogged down, ADD FANTASY.

I feel better now. Actually, I very much so like the three pages I hammered out this morning, they further establish the world and they further the story and they don't waste space, which was a problem with the previous version. I think I will continue to try and do these early morning sessions as long as work and my brain let me.

Speaking of work -- was informed yesterday that we will be heading into crunch time again next week. I should be weeping quietly, but I'm not.

It is what it is. Life goes on.

Damn, I suddenly want carbonara.

Posted by sdshaver at 08:18 AM | Comments (0)

August 30, 2005

minor changes

Minor changes, mostly re-reading and re-acquainting. There's something I need to convey in chapter two, and I'm not getting it right. I spent an hour revising one paragraph. Bad sign.

Will tackle it again tomorrow.

Posted by sdshaver at 02:53 AM | Comments (0)

August 29, 2005

dammit

The overtime disrupted me too much. I spent most of this weekend either doing housework or watching TV or exercising. I spent none of it writing.

To give you an idea of the hours I worked last week: On Wednesday I got into work at 4 PM. I went home at 7 AM (yes -- a. m.) and got up again at 10:30 AM (yes again -- a. m. -- for a grand total of 3 hours of sleep) and stayed at work until 6 PM.

It's shitty, and it plays tricks with your head. It has also completely fucked my sleeping schedule. ARRRGH.

Anyway.

I'm going to try and write. I need to set the pattern again. And I need to start now.

Posted by sdshaver at 10:44 PM | Comments (0)

August 24, 2005

chapter 2 (gloss)

Wrote a very, very small amount, but already the story is compacting more. As much as I liked showing Miari's human side, I think I can still establish it without taking five pages to do so.

But my wrists hurt from being in my subarctic office all day, and though it is always a balmy 70 degrees in Casa del Gatos, it doesn't take away twelve hours of programmer's ache, just the ague.

Also? PBW linked me. And I even got put under the Nirvana song. Lurvely.

I am trying not to go homicidal over the fact that I haven't written with any regularity in the last three weeks. I'm trying to treat it as a forced vacation. I have a lot of practice at repurposing the shitty timing of my life so that it does not make me crazy; there are things I have no control over and I accept that.

But though all that lovey-dovey acceptance and avoidance crap has served me well, even I reach a breaking point eventually.

I just keep telling myself: Friday, I write.

Posted by sdshaver at 03:51 AM | Comments (0)

August 23, 2005

gimme

Rumor has it that I get my life back on Friday.

Rumor has it.

Can't wait. My brain has been turning over parts and pieces of this and that, and I am looking forward to ripping out whole storylines in Winter. (Hrrrrmmmm....)

Posted by sdshaver at 03:08 PM | Comments (0)

August 19, 2005

chapter one - more revised

Cut at least 1500 words off chapter one. It's down to 8.5 pages ss/Courier. That's a good thing.

Going to bed now. Planning to get myself back to bed at 1 AM starting Monday. Too hard right now. My week is soooo out of whack.

Posted by sdshaver at 03:00 AM | Comments (0)

August 18, 2005

sanity break

As I said, I'm going to have to dump about 20k words on the current writes. I'm starting that from chapter one, which needed a better opening anyway.

Killed about two pages of a storyline that wasn't really fitting right, and some other unnecessary blather. I'll untangle the rest as I go along with the book.

So far, so good, but now I need to go to work. Blah.

At least my fridge is clean.

Posted by sdshaver at 04:21 PM | Comments (0)

betwixt the twain

Power came back yesterday afternoon. Hallelujah.

Yeah, I'm still here, but due to commitments my hands are tangled and my loyalties are strained. I'm caught between two evils, it seems. Either I go crazy because I'm not productive writing-wise, or I go crazy because my productivity is hamstrung.

Also, hamstrung looks funny when you type it out at 3 AM.

Hurr hurr. Hamstrung sandwich.

Posted by sdshaver at 02:39 AM | Comments (0)

August 16, 2005

in the dark

Still no power. We're heading into night four of total darkness at Casa del Gatos.

Good thing I don't make a living doing this, or I'd be pretty much screwed at this point.

That, or writing from a motel on a laptop.

Hmmmmm.

Posted by sdshaver at 05:33 PM | Comments (0)

August 14, 2005

villainous

Driving home, I was pondering how to break up the linear-ness of the story. My villain whispered the answer in my ear.

Bing! went the light in my head. Even though it was 2 AM and I was dead-dog tired, I decided that when I got home, I would spend an hour writing.

And then I drove up to my house and noticed something...odd.

The lights may have been going on in my head, but they weren't on in my house. The powergrid was shot due to storms. I might as well be in Amish country, because I ain't getting power back until 2 AM tomorrow. *

Suffice to say it sucks, and my villain is laughing at me. The need to do something I can't corresponds far too neatly with the conundrum he plans to dump on Myr. Very ironic, Mr. Meanie.

(* Savvy readers may now be wondering how I'm posting this without power. Answer: buttered cats and a Swarovski crystal-studded wind-powered beanie.)

Posted by sdshaver at 09:56 PM | Comments (0)

August 12, 2005

schedule

The next two weeks I'm not going to bother forcing the writing. The last time I tried I wound up frustrated and upset, and there's no point when I have no looming deadlines.

The fact that I now have to contemplate chopping down Winter is helping this decision. It's way over 100k words, in danger of getting into the same range as SoS, and as much as my hands want to write big books, this was not supposed to be one of them.

So goodbye, Rodsere subplot. Goodbye, Colin and Grasha. Goodbye, long Chapter 2. I think I know how I can condense your themes into one scene, which I think overall will be better and more "believable" anyway.

I'll probably need to find another chunk to kill or condense. I feel like I've got a big chunk of metal, and it needs to be sharpened now.

After the crunch ends, I want to put myself on a more rigid writing schedule, which I'm also working out. I'm thinking that I'll write M-W-F nights, and leave T-Th for aikido or webwork. Sa-Su will be wildcard days. Still want to go to bed at 1 AM. Still want to get up between 8 and 9 AM.

And exercise. I'm exercising again. That'll be M-T-W-Th-F, because I have got to get in shape if I want to pull these hours for the next five years or so.

Sorry, yes, this is a long and mostly unedited entry. Usually I try to keep these compact, but it's helping me sort out where I'm going from here, and that's good.

Posted by sdshaver at 04:11 PM | Comments (0)

August 09, 2005

suck

It appears we're heading back into overtime. Which will kill my writing schedule.

Suck.

I'll come back later when I figure out how I'm going to cope with this.

Posted by sdshaver at 02:59 PM | Comments (0)

August 03, 2005

off

The site will be quiescent for the rest of the week.

Expect a delirious explosion of manic blogging starting Sunday night/Monday morning, providing I have not been buried under something heavy.

Until then, keep your dreams close, and don't expect any email from me.

Posted by sdshaver at 12:18 AM | Comments (0)

August 02, 2005

nada. zero. zip.

Not a bit of writing done. I had other engagements that I had no choice but to attend to.

But I did get the attendance cards printed (all 50 of 'em) and I did write the necessary email, and as much as I want to wade between my characters right now and throw them a curve ball, it's just gonna. have. to. wait.

I'm bad at waiting, too.

I think I'll take a notebook with me to Chicago to keep my head from imploding.

Posted by sdshaver at 12:36 AM | Comments (0)

August 01, 2005

chapter 24, grind

Three hours. Three hours I was out in my yard, in the last day of July, trying to wrangle my lawn and garden.

Hard to be enthusiastic about writing when you're on the way to heatstroke. I got a page or two, and then went to bed. At eleven P.M. I've been up since seven-ish.

And no, I still haven't written those emails or printed out the new attendance cards. And I'm leaving Wednesday morning.

Arrrrgh.

Posted by sdshaver at 08:52 AM | Comments (0)