That seems to be the motto of my life, as of late.
Comparative Politics: Actually not behind in this one
International Security: I've got about 450 pages to read by Wednesday
Cognitive Neuroscience: I haven't even started reading the 6 chapters yet
Russian Literature: I didn't read the last book (250 pgs) and I haven't started reading this one yet (300 pgs)
Russian: Never not behind in this class.
And then, writing. According to my nifty Excel spreadsheet, on the 9th of February, I should be at 220,000 words. Or, in more concrete terms, I should be finishing my second novel today. I'm at 128,688 words. Or, in more concrete terms, I've finished one (at 118,000 words), and I'm 10,000 words into the second.
And of course, there's the fact that the first one of these novels should be getting edited right now, because it's the novel-from-hell and that's all that I ever do with it. Write, edit, re-write, and continue. Except I'm happy with it this re-write, or happier than I've been with any of its gazillion predecessors. I even intended to read it all the way through last night, and make notes to myself about where to start editing. And then I made the mistake of...well, sleeping for 14 hours.
I really want to work on my writing this weekend. But, as listed above, my schoolwork has fallen just as far behind. So, guess it's time for Kate to crack the books.
Friday, February 09, 2007
Thursday, February 08, 2007
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
A Break
Funny that I talk about a break in the middle of midterms. I should actually be doing some last-minute cramming for my comparative politics exam that starts in 40 minutes. But after going to the recitation this morning, I think I know what I'm doing, so instead, I'm going to waste my time productively. Heh.
Anyway, I've not done any writing since Sunday, I think. We're now on Wednesday (Gah! are we really?) and so that's 3 and counting days without writing. Of course, knowing how far behind I was even on Sunday (about 75000 words, I think), I'm getting progressively more and more behind with each day that I decide to put my college education over enjoying myself and writing. (And, for the record, I AM enjoying what I've written of the second novel. Not a fucking clue where it's going, but that's half the fun).
I think that it might be the first genuinely sensible decision I've made in ages.
See, I'm the kind of person that blows off classes on a whim because I'm really in more of a writing mood than a going-to-class mood. I confess that I've done it a couple times already this semester. But when it came to Monday night and I'd realized that I'd not started studying for either of my 2 midterms, nor had I started on the 5 page paper due Tuesday, that it might be a good idea to close down Word for a couple days and try and focus on something that my parents might care a bit more about.
Yeah, it'll put me about 100k words behind. Yeah, that's even less of a fun number to make up between now and the rest of the year. Yeah, that's a FULL NOVEL behind schedule. Yeah.
But I might just pass my midterms if I do it this way.
Anyway, I've not done any writing since Sunday, I think. We're now on Wednesday (Gah! are we really?) and so that's 3 and counting days without writing. Of course, knowing how far behind I was even on Sunday (about 75000 words, I think), I'm getting progressively more and more behind with each day that I decide to put my college education over enjoying myself and writing. (And, for the record, I AM enjoying what I've written of the second novel. Not a fucking clue where it's going, but that's half the fun).
I think that it might be the first genuinely sensible decision I've made in ages.
See, I'm the kind of person that blows off classes on a whim because I'm really in more of a writing mood than a going-to-class mood. I confess that I've done it a couple times already this semester. But when it came to Monday night and I'd realized that I'd not started studying for either of my 2 midterms, nor had I started on the 5 page paper due Tuesday, that it might be a good idea to close down Word for a couple days and try and focus on something that my parents might care a bit more about.
Yeah, it'll put me about 100k words behind. Yeah, that's even less of a fun number to make up between now and the rest of the year. Yeah, that's a FULL NOVEL behind schedule. Yeah.
But I might just pass my midterms if I do it this way.
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Paper from Hell!!!
Well, my paper is due in 3 hours and 20 minutes.
The good news? It's written
The bad news? It's so puke-worthy that I'm almost ashamed to hand it in.
I'm going over it now, after a nice long nap (8 hours worth...oops) and I'm just hoping that I can salvage some of it before 2 comes around. Not to mention that I'm already skipping a class just so that I can rewrite it right now, and I have Russian in an hour, and I really shouldn't skip that (well, I shouldn't be skipping neuroscience either, but that's another story. If I fail THAT midterm, in that class, it's best out of 3 exams, so not too many worries.
I've never been as unready as this to hand a paper in, and I hate the way it feels. I hate the fact that I procrastinated until tonight to do it, and now I've got a piece of crap to hand in.
Much need time management skills, me thinks.
The good news? It's written
The bad news? It's so puke-worthy that I'm almost ashamed to hand it in.
I'm going over it now, after a nice long nap (8 hours worth...oops) and I'm just hoping that I can salvage some of it before 2 comes around. Not to mention that I'm already skipping a class just so that I can rewrite it right now, and I have Russian in an hour, and I really shouldn't skip that (well, I shouldn't be skipping neuroscience either, but that's another story. If I fail THAT midterm, in that class, it's best out of 3 exams, so not too many worries.
I've never been as unready as this to hand a paper in, and I hate the way it feels. I hate the fact that I procrastinated until tonight to do it, and now I've got a piece of crap to hand in.
Much need time management skills, me thinks.
Sunday, February 04, 2007
Comfort Objects
No, this isn't even slightly about writing, not really.
I've got a hell of a week coming up, a paper and two midterms, tuesday, wednesday, thursday. None of which I've started yet, and it's now 10:42. I promised myself I'd get a bunch of things done this weekend. Instead, I think I slept for about 90% of it. It seems these days I can just lie down in bed and I'm right off to sleep. No idea why, and it's getting rather irritating. I'm used to being able to get by on very little sleep.
I've also got a data entry job for $8/hr with my psychology department, 6 hours a week. Boring, but it's better than working in that pizza place like I did last summer.
Then there's all the pressures that are going to hit me in the near future. Getting a room for next year. Declaring a major. Passing all my classes. Finding a summer job. Figuring out what the fuck I want to do with my life, because I don't think that I'll be able to live off my writing straight out of college barring a miracle (and for the record, I don't believe in miracles).
I'm not very good with stress, and I never have been. I'm a perfectionist to the core, and I take on more work than I can handle. It doesn't help that I'm also a procrastinator, because that just makes me put ALL my shit off till the very last second, and then I work myself into a nervous fit. And at that point, the slightest thing anyone says/does can send me into tears. I thrive under pressure, but best not come near me when a deadline is approaching. And I have the hugest fear of rejection in the world. When I applied to colleges, all but one of them that I applied to, I was 99% sure that with my grades, I'd get in. And, surprise surprise, I got into them. I don't date much, because I'm a loner and because I'm afraid that I'll get dumped. I learned about this last semester, it's called avoidant personality disorder. While I don't think I could actually be diagnosed with it (along with at least two other personality disorders I'm not quite clinical in...but no one's perfect, right?), I know that it does put rather a damper on my life.
Anyway, when things get stressful and pressured and I'm just in an all-around shitty/sad/miserable mood, I have one movie that I'll watch over and over again. It's called Love Actually, and it's not like other movies that I tend to watch. But I don't know, for some reason, it restores my faith in humanity (and Hugh Grant is really cute).
I don't eat lots when I'm stressed, I don't go out and do stupid things (fear of rejection, remember), I just sit here and feel vaguely sorry for myself, until I turn on the movie.
And, despite the fact that I have a 5-page paper due on Tuesday, that is exactly what I'm going to do right now.
I've got a hell of a week coming up, a paper and two midterms, tuesday, wednesday, thursday. None of which I've started yet, and it's now 10:42. I promised myself I'd get a bunch of things done this weekend. Instead, I think I slept for about 90% of it. It seems these days I can just lie down in bed and I'm right off to sleep. No idea why, and it's getting rather irritating. I'm used to being able to get by on very little sleep.
I've also got a data entry job for $8/hr with my psychology department, 6 hours a week. Boring, but it's better than working in that pizza place like I did last summer.
Then there's all the pressures that are going to hit me in the near future. Getting a room for next year. Declaring a major. Passing all my classes. Finding a summer job. Figuring out what the fuck I want to do with my life, because I don't think that I'll be able to live off my writing straight out of college barring a miracle (and for the record, I don't believe in miracles).
I'm not very good with stress, and I never have been. I'm a perfectionist to the core, and I take on more work than I can handle. It doesn't help that I'm also a procrastinator, because that just makes me put ALL my shit off till the very last second, and then I work myself into a nervous fit. And at that point, the slightest thing anyone says/does can send me into tears. I thrive under pressure, but best not come near me when a deadline is approaching. And I have the hugest fear of rejection in the world. When I applied to colleges, all but one of them that I applied to, I was 99% sure that with my grades, I'd get in. And, surprise surprise, I got into them. I don't date much, because I'm a loner and because I'm afraid that I'll get dumped. I learned about this last semester, it's called avoidant personality disorder. While I don't think I could actually be diagnosed with it (along with at least two other personality disorders I'm not quite clinical in...but no one's perfect, right?), I know that it does put rather a damper on my life.
Anyway, when things get stressful and pressured and I'm just in an all-around shitty/sad/miserable mood, I have one movie that I'll watch over and over again. It's called Love Actually, and it's not like other movies that I tend to watch. But I don't know, for some reason, it restores my faith in humanity (and Hugh Grant is really cute).
I don't eat lots when I'm stressed, I don't go out and do stupid things (fear of rejection, remember), I just sit here and feel vaguely sorry for myself, until I turn on the movie.
And, despite the fact that I have a 5-page paper due on Tuesday, that is exactly what I'm going to do right now.
Thursday, February 01, 2007
1 down, 19 to go!
Well, as of five minutes ago, I just finished the first of my WriYe novels. It clocked in at 135,202 words, but as some of it was written before January started, I'm only at a total yearly word count of a bit over 118,000. Still impressive, I suppose. Except for the fact that I'm supposed to be at something like 180,000 words and should have made this post regarding the finishing of the first one about eleven days ago. Ah well, at least it GOT finished, and I haven't given up hope yet. There's still time for me to catch up. Plenty of time. And as I'm not nearly as serious (or as emotionally committed) to any of the rest of them, maybe they'll go a bit faster as I don't feel as though every word is right for the story.
Coming up with an ending for this one was hard. I knew where I wanted it to end, but I couldn't quite get it there. So that's going to mean some revising later on.
The next story should be fun. It's about a loser who can't wait for the apocalypse because he thinks that when the apocalypse comes, that's when all of his special "talents" (like...erm...drug dealing) will make him an awesome leader. Only he's terribly, terribly wrong. Like I said, fun stuff (*grin*)
Coming up with an ending for this one was hard. I knew where I wanted it to end, but I couldn't quite get it there. So that's going to mean some revising later on.
The next story should be fun. It's about a loser who can't wait for the apocalypse because he thinks that when the apocalypse comes, that's when all of his special "talents" (like...erm...drug dealing) will make him an awesome leader. Only he's terribly, terribly wrong. Like I said, fun stuff (*grin*)
Monday, January 29, 2007
Ah Well
So I just got the response from my snail-mail query from a while back. Form rejection.
Ah well.
However, I am not to be daunted. Tomorrow, I shall be sending out my next rejection...I mean...my next submission (heh)
I even have some imaginary logic to this next one. However, I am only going to share that logic if it proves out to be right. No need to look like an ass by claiming I know what I'm doing right now, after all.
Ah well.
However, I am not to be daunted. Tomorrow, I shall be sending out my next rejection...I mean...my next submission (heh)
I even have some imaginary logic to this next one. However, I am only going to share that logic if it proves out to be right. No need to look like an ass by claiming I know what I'm doing right now, after all.
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Nanowriye Update
Well, as of this instant, I am 51,978 words behind where I should be. This is a big number. It is a very badly big number. However, I have worked out that if I write 7000 words/day from now on, then I'll catch up on March 12th. If I write 8000 words/day, then I'll catch up on February 14th.
However, what I think this illustrates to me is that once I stick to schedule, I really do need to stick to it. If I fall behind my schedule, then I slowly, slowly, lose morale, and that makes it even harder to get the requisite desire to catch up to where I should be. It's maddening, but I really do need to keep up with my writing, because I really do want to come out of this with some stuff that can be reworked in coming years to be viable send-out-to-agent novels.
Still heard nothing back on the query. Then again, we're not at 2 weeks yet. This past Friday, when I was sitting in my dorm room much of the day (I don't have Friday classes), I think I checked my mail 5 times, each time telling myself that I hadn't hit the 2-week mark yet and that I was being stupid. I also had a dream the other night, a very strange one. I dreamed that I dreamed that I dreamed that I got a positive response and told my mother about it.
I think this query letter thing is really starting to mess with my head.
However, what I think this illustrates to me is that once I stick to schedule, I really do need to stick to it. If I fall behind my schedule, then I slowly, slowly, lose morale, and that makes it even harder to get the requisite desire to catch up to where I should be. It's maddening, but I really do need to keep up with my writing, because I really do want to come out of this with some stuff that can be reworked in coming years to be viable send-out-to-agent novels.
Still heard nothing back on the query. Then again, we're not at 2 weeks yet. This past Friday, when I was sitting in my dorm room much of the day (I don't have Friday classes), I think I checked my mail 5 times, each time telling myself that I hadn't hit the 2-week mark yet and that I was being stupid. I also had a dream the other night, a very strange one. I dreamed that I dreamed that I dreamed that I got a positive response and told my mother about it.
I think this query letter thing is really starting to mess with my head.
Thursday, January 11, 2007
the waiting game
I did something the other day that I've never done before. I don't regret it, I don't think it was a mistake...I'm just anxious as hell.
That's right. I sent in a query via snail-mail. I did the e-query thing last summer (uniform rejections). Some of them were quite speedy, the others took a little time. But there was somehow something less daunting about them. I don't know exactly why; maybe it's because an email is somehow inherently less daunting than that envelope waiting in the mailbox.
Anyway, I did it on Tuesday, and I have 2-3 weeks to wait, so I should find out before the end of the month. My expectations are not terribly high, but I can't give up hope. I know that when I see my shiny SASE sitting in my mailbox, I'll just leave it on my desk, unopened, for at least an hour or two, dreading what it might contain and hoping - hoping so much - that my fears will be put to rest.
Of course, there's the fear that I a) addressed the envelope wrong b) did something else stupid to make myself look like a moron c) am laughed at for being said moron....but at least I'll not know about these things, I'll just get a nice form-rejection (which I'm used to). I can pretend that it's for a simple and non-stupid reason, like....my writing sux.
If I were religious, I'd pray. As I'm not, I'll just cross fingers and toes (though they'll likely be quite cramped from staying like that for 2-3 weeks + the 2-3 weeks if (miraculously) I get asked to send chapters + the however long if (even more miraculously) I get asked to send the whole thing).
But I'm excited too. How could I not be? This feels somehow more real than the e-mail queries...stealing the manila envelopes from parent's house before coming back to school, buying stamps and #10 envelopes, printing all that stuff out on my printer, actually posting it...made me feel like a big-grown-up writer! (lol)
Oh, and as for nanowriye...yeah. 24,000 words out of about 50,000 that I should be at now (I think).
Oh dear.
That's right. I sent in a query via snail-mail. I did the e-query thing last summer (uniform rejections). Some of them were quite speedy, the others took a little time. But there was somehow something less daunting about them. I don't know exactly why; maybe it's because an email is somehow inherently less daunting than that envelope waiting in the mailbox.
Anyway, I did it on Tuesday, and I have 2-3 weeks to wait, so I should find out before the end of the month. My expectations are not terribly high, but I can't give up hope. I know that when I see my shiny SASE sitting in my mailbox, I'll just leave it on my desk, unopened, for at least an hour or two, dreading what it might contain and hoping - hoping so much - that my fears will be put to rest.
Of course, there's the fear that I a) addressed the envelope wrong b) did something else stupid to make myself look like a moron c) am laughed at for being said moron....but at least I'll not know about these things, I'll just get a nice form-rejection (which I'm used to). I can pretend that it's for a simple and non-stupid reason, like....my writing sux.
If I were religious, I'd pray. As I'm not, I'll just cross fingers and toes (though they'll likely be quite cramped from staying like that for 2-3 weeks + the 2-3 weeks if (miraculously) I get asked to send chapters + the however long if (even more miraculously) I get asked to send the whole thing).
But I'm excited too. How could I not be? This feels somehow more real than the e-mail queries...stealing the manila envelopes from parent's house before coming back to school, buying stamps and #10 envelopes, printing all that stuff out on my printer, actually posting it...made me feel like a big-grown-up writer! (lol)
Oh, and as for nanowriye...yeah. 24,000 words out of about 50,000 that I should be at now (I think).
Oh dear.
Monday, January 08, 2007
*Dies*
Got the book today.
The one with my name on it.
I keep staring at it, like it's some real accomplishment.
If nothing else, it's incentive.
But I'm not thinking about incentive right. I'm thinking about how incredible it looks sitting here on my desk...something that I wrote that looks like a book.
*dies*
The one with my name on it.
I keep staring at it, like it's some real accomplishment.
If nothing else, it's incentive.
But I'm not thinking about incentive right. I'm thinking about how incredible it looks sitting here on my desk...something that I wrote that looks like a book.
*dies*
End of Week 1
Where I am: 25,518
Where I should be: 40,000 (as of Jan 8)
Damn.
Incidentally, classes start tomorrow, and I'm sitting up at 1:43 in the morning, because I'm on an awful sleep schedule and so I'm sure that I'll miss at least one of my two classes tomorrow.
What a wonderful start for the new semester!
Where I should be: 40,000 (as of Jan 8)
Damn.
Incidentally, classes start tomorrow, and I'm sitting up at 1:43 in the morning, because I'm on an awful sleep schedule and so I'm sure that I'll miss at least one of my two classes tomorrow.
What a wonderful start for the new semester!
Saturday, January 06, 2007
Halfway through Week 1
Well, I'm only 11k words behind now.
That sounds so awful, I just want to curl up in a ball.
But I wrote 7k words today. That's good.
In order to get back on track, I skipped the part of the story that was giving me absolute hell and moved on to a bit that I thought would be easier to write. And it was. With me being so far behind, I really need easy writing right now.
I'm really hoping to catch up this weekend. Classes start on Monday, and I'd like to be caught up so that I'm not stressing myself about writing as well as new classes. Of course, if I do a NaNoWriDay next weekend, that could solve the problem once and for all.
I'm become a more regular reader of Miss Snark's blog (see link at side) and it just keeps planting this nagging little thought in my head that I should try to get published. And yes, I need a written, edited, GOOD story before I can do that. But fuck, I've been working on this stupid fucking story for six years.
I get this feeling every once in a while, usually accompanied by the feeling that I'm just not good enough and that I'll never get published, ever.
Then I tell myself that I'm not yet twenty. And I tell myself that I've submitted to about ten agents, total. And so I tell myself I'm being an idiot.
The thing is, though, that I can't not write. So even if I never, ever get published, I don't really think I'll ever stop writing.
That sounds so awful, I just want to curl up in a ball.
But I wrote 7k words today. That's good.
In order to get back on track, I skipped the part of the story that was giving me absolute hell and moved on to a bit that I thought would be easier to write. And it was. With me being so far behind, I really need easy writing right now.
I'm really hoping to catch up this weekend. Classes start on Monday, and I'd like to be caught up so that I'm not stressing myself about writing as well as new classes. Of course, if I do a NaNoWriDay next weekend, that could solve the problem once and for all.
I'm become a more regular reader of Miss Snark's blog (see link at side) and it just keeps planting this nagging little thought in my head that I should try to get published. And yes, I need a written, edited, GOOD story before I can do that. But fuck, I've been working on this stupid fucking story for six years.
I get this feeling every once in a while, usually accompanied by the feeling that I'm just not good enough and that I'll never get published, ever.
Then I tell myself that I'm not yet twenty. And I tell myself that I've submitted to about ten agents, total. And so I tell myself I'm being an idiot.
The thing is, though, that I can't not write. So even if I never, ever get published, I don't really think I'll ever stop writing.
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Are we surprised?
So, we're at 6:44 p.m. of day 2 of nanowriye 2007.
How many words has Kate written?
0.
That's right. Not a one.
And yet I'm sitting here writing a blog entry rather than writing.
Can I convince myself to write? I hope so. I'm going in with my dad tomorrow to work, and so I'm probably not going to get much writing done.
Fuuuuuuuuuuuck.
I don't need to be behind quite this early!!
How many words has Kate written?
0.
That's right. Not a one.
And yet I'm sitting here writing a blog entry rather than writing.
Can I convince myself to write? I hope so. I'm going in with my dad tomorrow to work, and so I'm probably not going to get much writing done.
Fuuuuuuuuuuuck.
I don't need to be behind quite this early!!
Monday, January 01, 2007
And it has begun!
Well, it's half-past ten on the first day of the new year, and I've yet to write a single word. I will, though, once I'm done writing this post. Honest.
I will not get behind on the very first day of NaNoWriYe. I refuse.
I will not get behind on the very first day of NaNoWriYe. I refuse.
Sunday, December 31, 2006
New Year
Well, we've got about 5 hours to go before the New Year. Unlike nano, though, I won't be starting at midnight. First of all, I'll likely be drunk (and writing drunk is not a good proposition for me), and second, I promised my sister that I'd watch the south park movie with her at midnight (or 1, I forget which). It's a tradition, so I can hardly abandon it.
Tomorrow's also a family day, and I'm supposed to be meeting with my best friend and possibly spending the night, so I foresee getting behind on the very first day. I'm sure that'll be a splendid predictor of the rest of the year.
Anyway, Happy New Year to everyone.
Tomorrow's also a family day, and I'm supposed to be meeting with my best friend and possibly spending the night, so I foresee getting behind on the very first day. I'm sure that'll be a splendid predictor of the rest of the year.
Anyway, Happy New Year to everyone.
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Argh...the ideas! the ideas!
So I just finished watching a show on Nostradamus on the history channel (my favorite channel...yeah, I'm a dork).
And then I came downstairs and now I'm looking through the quatrains of his predictions, and it occurred to me what great story-starters they'd be. I mean, really, they would be.
And I'd do it, too. Just get a random number generator to pick one of the 942, and off you go.
If only I weren't doing nanowriye.
I'm still tempted though.
Reeeeeeeeally tempted.
(and I'm adding the linky to the side, in case I lose it)
And then I came downstairs and now I'm looking through the quatrains of his predictions, and it occurred to me what great story-starters they'd be. I mean, really, they would be.
And I'd do it, too. Just get a random number generator to pick one of the 942, and off you go.
If only I weren't doing nanowriye.
I'm still tempted though.
Reeeeeeeeally tempted.
(and I'm adding the linky to the side, in case I lose it)
Friday, December 29, 2006
Frustration
So, the original plan was to write the approx 120k word draft of a mortal god before New Years and then set out on the 20 novels of the 2007 year.
Plans suck.
I'm soo bad at them.
So I was sitting there yesterday with 20k words. I think to myself that if there's 100k to go, I might as well make that Book 1 of the new year. That means not touching it until January 1 and then going on my already-decided 5k daily pace. Shouldn't be a biggie, 'specially as I've hardly touched it since coming home for Christmas.
Now, of course, that I've made this decision, what's the only thing I want to do? That's right: write the damn thing. Stupid writing.
I also have 6 other story ideas that I'm hoping last out 100k words. I'll also need to think of a few more, or I'll run out pretty quickly.
And it's 3 something in the morning. I should be in bed. Not worrying about writing, not worrying about my stupid semester grades, not posting on the blog. In bed. Sleeping.
Plans suck.
I'm soo bad at them.
So I was sitting there yesterday with 20k words. I think to myself that if there's 100k to go, I might as well make that Book 1 of the new year. That means not touching it until January 1 and then going on my already-decided 5k daily pace. Shouldn't be a biggie, 'specially as I've hardly touched it since coming home for Christmas.
Now, of course, that I've made this decision, what's the only thing I want to do? That's right: write the damn thing. Stupid writing.
I also have 6 other story ideas that I'm hoping last out 100k words. I'll also need to think of a few more, or I'll run out pretty quickly.
And it's 3 something in the morning. I should be in bed. Not worrying about writing, not worrying about my stupid semester grades, not posting on the blog. In bed. Sleeping.
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Epiphany!
So I was forcing myself to write last night, just because I'm of the firm belief that if I sit there thinking about how much I don't want to write that nothing will ever get written. I don't personally happen to believe in writer's block - I think that you can write through it and revise later. (as long as the writer's block isn't happening in the editing stage, of course). Anyway, I was writing away, and thinking to myself about the comments that Miss Snark made (that Russian bad guys are way too cliche) and so I thought that maybe I should change it.
Basic rundown - Russian guy is the kinda good/kinda bad guy, and I've got an American guy that's supposed to be his counterpart, who's supposed to be a good-ish guy.
So I've decided, on a spur of the moment, to switch those roles around, and now the Americans are the kinda good/kinda bad, and the Russian is the counterpart.
Of course, that's no doubt cliche in it's own way, but it felt really right to do it. I only thought about it for a few minutes before I began to change the names and places, and I wrote 4k words today. I know that I'm going to have to rewrite everything I've written because it's both clunky and strange now that I've switched the setting from Moscow to Washington. But I'm not going to stop the flow now by going back to rewrite, and instead I'm just going to plunge on ahead and see what it looks like at the end. The only issue is that nanowriye starts in just a few days, and I'd really rather have this finished, as I want my nanowriye novels to be completely separate from this project. But we'll see how that goes.
I'm just glad that I've had this epiphany, and that I have a whole new direction to go in. (Even if it does mean I have to do research on Canada to make my plot work. Argh, research!)
(Christmas in about 40 minutes!)
Basic rundown - Russian guy is the kinda good/kinda bad guy, and I've got an American guy that's supposed to be his counterpart, who's supposed to be a good-ish guy.
So I've decided, on a spur of the moment, to switch those roles around, and now the Americans are the kinda good/kinda bad, and the Russian is the counterpart.
Of course, that's no doubt cliche in it's own way, but it felt really right to do it. I only thought about it for a few minutes before I began to change the names and places, and I wrote 4k words today. I know that I'm going to have to rewrite everything I've written because it's both clunky and strange now that I've switched the setting from Moscow to Washington. But I'm not going to stop the flow now by going back to rewrite, and instead I'm just going to plunge on ahead and see what it looks like at the end. The only issue is that nanowriye starts in just a few days, and I'd really rather have this finished, as I want my nanowriye novels to be completely separate from this project. But we'll see how that goes.
I'm just glad that I've had this epiphany, and that I have a whole new direction to go in. (Even if it does mean I have to do research on Canada to make my plot work. Argh, research!)
(Christmas in about 40 minutes!)
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Season's Greetings!
Well, it's nearly Christmas Eve, and I'm sitting at home on the dial-up connection (though we're getting high-speed on the 27th, I think).
I've rewritten an outline for a mortal god and I'm 2500 words into it so far, but I can't quite motivate myself to write any more. I think I'll write some more tonight, but I'm having one of my spells where I'm convinced that I'll never be a published author. Unfortunately, these spells can last months, and so I'm hoping that with nanowriye starting in a week, I can work myself out of it.
I'm hoping to finish this draft by New Year's, but I realize how unlikely it is. Maybe it'll just sit docilely on my hard drive until the end of the year (if the stupid f%$king laptop lasts that long) and then I can work on it again.
I haven't quite given up the dream of being published before I graduate, but it's looking more and more unrealistic as time goes on.
In any case, happy holidays to all!
I've rewritten an outline for a mortal god and I'm 2500 words into it so far, but I can't quite motivate myself to write any more. I think I'll write some more tonight, but I'm having one of my spells where I'm convinced that I'll never be a published author. Unfortunately, these spells can last months, and so I'm hoping that with nanowriye starting in a week, I can work myself out of it.
I'm hoping to finish this draft by New Year's, but I realize how unlikely it is. Maybe it'll just sit docilely on my hard drive until the end of the year (if the stupid f%$king laptop lasts that long) and then I can work on it again.
I haven't quite given up the dream of being published before I graduate, but it's looking more and more unrealistic as time goes on.
In any case, happy holidays to all!
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Squee!
Okay, I'm uber-excited. Why? See, lulu.com does a promotional deal for nanowrimo winners, and you can get one free copy of your book. It doesn't even have to made visible to the public, so it's not giving up first rights. What it means is that in a few weeks, I'll have a book delivered to me, that has my name on it as the author.
Yeah, I know it's not quite the real thing. It's not gone through the hell of revision and all that (in fact, it's not been edited at all. Then again, it's just a copy for me to put on my desk and squee at all day...which I definitely will), but it's going to give me incentive to push for getting it done for real, getting it really, honestly, truly published.
Best. Christmas. Present. Ever.
*squee*
Yeah, I know it's not quite the real thing. It's not gone through the hell of revision and all that (in fact, it's not been edited at all. Then again, it's just a copy for me to put on my desk and squee at all day...which I definitely will), but it's going to give me incentive to push for getting it done for real, getting it really, honestly, truly published.
Best. Christmas. Present. Ever.
*squee*
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
