But still making progress.
I read the opening to Jane last night. She says it’s smooth.
We’re going to do a little of that every night until I get into the new stuff. But this is feeling so much better…I don’t know when in the last year I’ve felt this good about what I’m doing. I always say I’m a technician, and I can do anything I have to do—but right now I’m feeling really positive and starting to drop stitches in the real world, while I think about where I’m working in the other one.
That’s a good thing. Sitting watching the fountain this morning, brushing Ysabel, my morning routine, I was having no trouble concentrating on the book…and that’s not been the case for months.
The cold weather is coming. We’re due for 35 for a low this week, for several nights ahead, and today was the first fog of the fall.
Congratulations. I look forward to seeing the book!
Weather is turning cold here, too. We’ll be below freezing a few times this week. Unfortunately, my furnace died beyond resurrection. This is looking like a very long winter!
Me? I’m just doing my NaNoWriMo planning and hoping for the best. I intend to write and have fun and have more things to sell on Smashwords eventually. My main NaNo book for this year is an urban fantasy called The Wrath of Bunny Hopper. The outline has been fun so far, but I need to get it done!
Oh, and here is a recent and amusing picture of Buffy:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zettepics/6236539506/in/photostream
Life can’t be bad if you have cats to entertain you.
Great picture, Zette! Our new little kitty, Mao Tse-Tung also is an energetic kitten followed by sound sleep. He seems to protest that he’s “not tired: just resting a moment” and then I catch him sprawled asleep. Best was a couple weeks ago when he was stretched out along back of the sofa pressed up against the goldfish tank there, viewing TV while getting his breath. I caught his head, eyes shut, slowly sliding down the glass into oblivion!
Ah, it’s so good to get back on track. I’m getting there too, in my life, which means I’m not reading every moment I’m not at my job or sleeping. All this reading was not really a good thing, because it was real escape reading, not really focused, no real thinking as part of it – not any Cherryh books – and a lot of things that should have been done were not. The arrival of autumn usually feels good to me, more energy, more to look at, more reasons to walk; it’s finally here in central Illinois. May your mind have fun, your focus on your book and your live stay calm and in order.
Even southern Arizona is “starting” to cool down at night. Lows in the low 50s are such a blessing after highs in the 80s and 90s. The trees on the mountains outside town are starting to turn colors. My cyborg knee (total knee replacement on 3 Oct) is getting better, but going to work is still out of the question. Pepper puppy (see my avatar) has been a joy and delight while I’ve been home. He is a pound puppy with Border Collie and Irish Setter mix. Smart but not too smart (read distractable in a good way), loving (his name should have been Boozer as he can’t hold his licker) but protective.
OMG, Border Collie and Irish Setter. I can imagine a very live wire. A random particle.
Isn’t it great when you’re in the groove!
that’s an interesting mixture, ready4more … very pretty dog by the looks ….
an internet friend of mine who works in airport security rescued two kittens abandoned at the airport in a cardboard box about a month ago. one is the image of Jane’s Shu at the same age, the other a pretty tabby who had to have several toes amputated due to getting caught in sliding doors while they were trying to catch him 🙁 … now they are starting to get up to mischief while she is out … 🙂
first almost frosts here this week with a short-lived high pressure episode, but we will be back to cloudier, windier conditions tomorrow .. waiting to light my woodstove ..
Sounds good! I’m fascinated, reading about work in progress like this :).
My attempts at writing are all over the map lately. I think I’m finally maturing some there, and thoughts in that regard have been, “Well, duh, if I know that for editing, why am I just figuring it out in fiction writing?” I keep getting ideas for other things, which tends to pause current writing. That’s been very frustrating, because I have two stories I want to get done. Completing a short story would be a step up. (I know it’s not just my crazy, unstructured, crowded and distressed life, it’s also my writing habits and general personality getting in the way. I must find ways to improve this.) And then along came another, very short, story. That one has made it through a completed rough draft, but…I am not quite satisfied with it. It needs a rewrite, another draft or two, badly. It’s been sitting over the weekend, but so far, I’m not sure what to do with the thing. I am of a mind to try rewriting from scratch and then combining what works, if possible, editing the two into a whole. My editorial voice tells me the story is OK, but it needs structural changes to make more sense to the reader, and the bigger point is, the two characters need work for the story to suit me. Even so, I’m happy that I feel I’ve made progress. Maybe it’ll grow into a short story during the next draft or two. Meanwhile, the other two stories are sitting there neglected. One has a big problem: I can’t figure out who and what the “problem character” quite is. He’s either an immigrant with a couple of physical conditions; or he’s a creature from an alternate reality that intersects with ours; or he’s an alien. My editor’s brain says, if that’s bugging me, try writing out all three enough to see which works for me, and go from there. But so far, it’s just sitting. The relationship with the two protagonists is good. A few other things depend on the third character’s backstory. And…it needs a middle and an ending. But I am mostly happy with the beginning so far. Other story ideas or drafts are just sitting there. No doubt the characters want me to get a move on with it. I seem to get a scene or a few chapters, with a set of characters, but have trouble working out the rest of the story, an ending and how they get from beginning (or the originating scene) to middle to end. Why I seem to do OK with editing, but keep having trouble, when I really *want* to write, I am not sure. After one or two current stories are ready, I want to take a step back and give some more time to a couple of older story ideas. I know there are things brewing, but when I want to write, I don’t have the chance, and when I sit down to write, the ideas…hide…because I’m tired, stressed, etc. Really going to have to force that habit of writing some every day. Enough about me. It’ll work or it won’t.
Very, very glad that both of you are getting back to your happier, more productive selves, instead of all the angst and troubles of earlier in the year. I really hope that stuff is behind you for a long while. I hope I can get a handle on my junk and get things going…or that life (and any friends) would give me a break and help instead of hinder or do nothing. Way too much stasis and static of my own, without life or others adding to it. But…that will have to work out somehow. Friends keep saying it will. I keep being nervous and anxious.
Best of results with the current book!