Friday, December 23, 2011
Advice from the monastic cell
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/25/books/review/their-noonday-demons-and-ours.html?_r=1&nl=books&emc=booksupdateemb2
Still want to learn how to be a stylite though.
That was way too easy to accidentally unpublish. Republishing!
Monday, December 19, 2011
Editing update
So I am now working on Chapter 5 of editing for the NaNoWriMo 2010 novel, which has the horrific working title of "1950".
I've organized all the scenes through chapter 9.
I'm not quite sure if I have a good sense of what I am doing in this draft yet. It seems very trial and error in a lot of ways. I'd like to be more aware of what I'm doing so, you know, I can do it again. For the other two drafts.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Day 29, 48000 words
Monday, November 28, 2011
day 28, 45090
Now one day behind, but I only have two days left. I keep thinking I have more.
time to write final scene, then the mop up. Let's hope it doesn't go too hard tomorrow.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
day 27, session 2, 42507
Found a bunch of new, really good OSS Training videos as well.
Only 2500 behind now.
day 27, session 1 40932
Over the 40k mark. 3 days left after today--although I admit i am hoping to hit around 3-4k words for the day.
About to leave Istanbul. This is extending a bit more than i thought it would, Which is good--as it also adds a bunch of scenes that were needed previously, fills in some gaps and shortens the scenes that were so hard to write earlier.
Apparently, it's hard to keep writing when you have nothing to say. Who knew?
Music for next story: Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Yes, I've already decided.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
day 26, session 1, 39455
So here's the first set for the day. Now I'm off to run again, which I'm not looking forward to [whenever am I however?]
I really hate running. But it works. Also I want to do it while the weather is nice.
Also, I need to figure out what is going to happen to make Del panicked about Julie which will drive the last quarter of the novel. Right now we're having lots of fun in Istanbul, but it's not going to last forever. He has to get back to France somehow.
Next year
So last night I thought about what I want to do next year (novella series) what genre I'd like to play with next (fantasy) and started brainstorming ideas for it.
I had stayed away from fantasy due to the amount of world-building I thought would be involved, but decided to work on something more character based and fill in the details later [a bit like how I am handling the historic elements in my current book].
Still, as I would not be writing this for another 8 months, that will give me lots of time to brainstorm and create a skeleton.
Friday, November 25, 2011
day 25, session 2 38169
Less than 4k words behind now.
Whole new subplot. Will have to be worked back in, but finally I have another thread for Paris--as well as some interesting parallels for the second book.
I think the shower is dripping and it sounds like crackling and it's been driving me batty for the past fifteen minutes. Otherwise I might have even gotten more done.
Also, note to self: running IS good for ideas. Still doesn't make me like running much though.
day 25, session 1, 37544
Spent the morning doing a loose plot structure for the rest of the story.
Twenty-one scenes mapped out—even if I only write 500 words for each one of them, I'll be on target.
Hoping I'll get another session in today.
Thursday, November 24, 2011
they used to sleep on the beach
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
day 24,i mean day 23, 33930
day 23, 31487 erm I mean day 22.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
French Charcoal box
Old french charcoal box. Great site as well. The journaling classes interest me--what a great idea, to share knowledge like that. Short, sweet, personal to the artist.
edited to add: The above is the site where I found the image linked; but the original site [to give full credit!] is here: Jennifer Price Studio.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Sunday, November 20, 2011
day 20, 26805
Thursday, November 17, 2011
"A novel is a living thing" day 17, 24650
A novel is a living thing and it resists containment within the structures we erect for it. Even worse, the novel has intelligence and it will inevitably turn against its creator. Think of it like the velociraptors in Jurassic Park. The problem is that a good character in a novel will reach a point of maturity where he or she is not necessarily biddable.What always keeps me going at certain points is when I myself no longer am sure what happens next. When the characters start to tell me things. I used to love when this would happen when I was acting, on rare occasions. Like I would feel that sometimes, I would raise them, create them, materialize them, separate from me and the page and even the fusion of me and the page until there was almost this third thing, this ghost, that haunted the both of us. This universal character that existed apart from the two things that had made it flesh. This is what I love most about the drafting process, that almost Dr. Frankenstein feeling of something lifted from disparate parts to a life of its own. Except hopefully without the villagers, small child killing, and especially without the bolts. They just look painful.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
day 16 23341
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
day 15 21592
Sunday, November 13, 2011
day 13, session 1: 16439
Friday, November 11, 2011
day ten, session three, 14405
Thursday, November 10, 2011
day ten, sessions one and two - 12680
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
day nine, 9826
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Things I wish I'd seen earlier.
Friday, November 4, 2011
day four, 5266
Thursday, November 3, 2011
day 3, 3056
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
day one, 1052
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Call Me Fishmeal.: Success, and Farming vs. Mining
There's no one big score, and you're out. There's no hoping for the lottery. There's just what you do every day.
Call Me Fishmeal.: Success, and Farming vs. Mining:
'via Blog this'
Slump!
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Monday, September 5, 2011
Editing and planning....
CampNaNoWriMo
I've started the editing process. I set up a plan which vaguely goes like this:
Prep:
- cut all chapters into scenes
- mark thematic elements
- character lists
- mark point of view
- short research as necessary
Draft 2
- Scene organization
- place scenes in structurs [start with major ones]
- placeholders for insertions
- write missing scenes as go through draft from beginning to end
Draft 3
- Scene arc
- treat scenes as small stories
- review internal scene integrity
- full rewrite, beginning to end
Draft 4
Fact Checking
Draft 5 and onward
Word-level revision
The plan is to get through draft two in September and then three in October. Once that's done I'll have a reading draft to show to some initial readers to see what they think overall. The last two+ drafts could take a year. It's hard to work too much on that in advance.
At any rate, this will free me up for:
NaNoWriMo 2011
Generally, I've been what in NaNo they call a pantser—that is, I do everything by the seat of my pants. This year I want to try to write from an outline. Generally this kills it for me, but I am hoping it won't tank my November draft entirely. Also, one of the characters in my draft from last year—well, his backstory kind of took over into its own story, and I'd like to run with it.
Friday, September 2, 2011
Site updates
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
day 31, 2114
Off tomorrow most likely, and apparently I don't work Fridays (or at least in the summer?) but editing will start this weekend at the latest.
This time, I didn't cry. But I feel satisfied.
I also don't feel anywhere near as drained as the last time.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Sunday, August 28, 2011
day 28, session 3, 2015
a lot easier with a problem and a 1k word count.
edited to add: current total 41263.
3k words per day while working? mwah ha ha ha.
Yeah it'll be interesting to see if I can pull this one off.
day 28, session 2, 2151
Currently I have the next 4,000 words roughly plotted. That will take me to the last quarter of the story and the end.
Since I plan to edit this in September, I really need it finished.
day 28, session 1, 2048
I did end up writing a couple hundred words in the off time. I did sit most days. That is good.
When I first started exercising again, I used to bribe myself with the sauna: Okay, you have to go to the gym, but you don't have to exercise. You can just sit in the sauna. Once exercise became habit, I no longer need the bribe.
I need to figure out a writing bribe. The important thing is to work on it daily; the unimportant thing, for most of the time at least, is getting 2k words written. Eventually, you will just feel unmoored if you don't.
At least, that's what one hopes.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
day 23, 1343
Didn't help that the scene ended early as well.
Still. They're on the Atlantic. That has to be good right? They're on their way! ten days to Trieste!
Monday, August 22, 2011
day 22, 1800
Who knew Trieste was so interesting?
It's still writing a lot faster. I just need more info on the steamship - so much on third class and first, so little on second class passage.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
day 21, 2179
When I started this story, I somehow wanted to end it in the Himalayas. Even thought I felt it was kind of absurd.
Well they spent far too much time in Brooklyn, but at least I should get them to Istanbul soon enough. Maybe they'll make it all the way to Nepal. Who knows?
Saturday, August 20, 2011
day 20, part one, 1692
Need a break now though. Not getting more behind, but could use another makeup session before sleep.
Kinda wanting to go to Egan's though. It's a beautiful night for the deck.
Friday, August 19, 2011
day 19, 2499
Not sure what my next direction is. Need to sleep on it, before I continue with the new chapter. Have a vague idea.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
day 18, 1771
As in: 1750 words in about 45 minutes.
Weird.
Now I'm worried I'll get sick of it.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Monday, August 15, 2011
day 15, 1673
Would have liked a couple hundred more words today, but this is fine. Probably should try to catch up before I skip another day [or have another light day].
Saturday, August 13, 2011
day 13 part one: 1417
Probably will have to do session two by hand, won't write up til after midnight, but just in case i get more done....
Mmm, theremin.
music: Godspeed you black emperor!
Thursday, August 11, 2011
day 11, 739
I was really excited about what i was going to write tonight - there was a great start, i really wanted to see where the story went. But I was drained. Tired. Just not up to it. I didn't want to sit down at all, I wanted to curl up and read, or watch something stupid on netflix.
But writers write. That's what you do. You write. There are no mental health days.
And sure, I may have not really written the scene - this should have been another 1k words, at least, but the last 250 was really just a bullet list of the sequence of events more than anything resembling story.
But I wrote.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
day 9, 1743
edited to add: now only 1100 down. Was a bit over 2k down on Friday, so not bad.
Monday, August 8, 2011
Day 8, 1777
Now if I could just work on that pesky self-editing problem.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Day 7, 1866 words
I like the plot whisperer stuff but I find it too intricate for the first draft--I just want enough that leaves it open-ended, but gives me somewhere to go to find the next scene.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
day 6, part the second: 817
also, it's going a bit more smoothly.
edited to add:
music: Devotchka, Charlotte Mittnacht
day 6, part the first: 1243
Thursday, August 4, 2011
day 4: 1727
It's fun but as usual, I have no idea where it will lead.
Having fun with really overblown prose.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
day 3: 1867
longhand is slow. Slower than I remembered even.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
day 1: 1833 words; day 2: 562 words
- I wrote even though I was busy and wasn't home til late;
- I wrote in longhand on the train. Gave me a good sense of how much I can do handwritten.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Camp Nanowrimo
CampNaNoWriMo August, here I come.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
day 12, 32 pages
Should be at 40 pages today.
since my goal is to just become more fluent (no pun intended) with dialogue, the whole thing appears to be an exercise in nonsense.
which suits me just fine.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Day 10, 26 pages
I'm having fun writing this, but I have to admit that I don't really know what it's about. That, and it's more than a little bit ridiculous.
But it's fun so far.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Script Frenzy - 5 pages
I just wrote 5 pages of dialogue about the fact that I don't know what to write.
Finally got a setting. Maybe some characters.
Had fun.