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Sunday, November 22nd, 2009
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12:33 am
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Miledrop
50,025 / 110,000 words (45%)
NaNoCheaMo total: 18,982
Really tough getting momentum going tonight, but finally got some decent words out. Babies being sick means I'm even more sleep-deprived than usual, and exhaustion is the enemy of inspiration. But hey, hopefully tomorrow will be an easier day.
( a short first-drafty excerpt )
current mood:  my feet are cold
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(comment on this)
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Saturday, November 21st, 2009
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12:16 am
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Not sure I've quite got the concept of this whole NaNoWriMo thing, as my total progress for the last week has been -78 words.
They weren't very good words, though, and I'm not especially sorry to see them go.
Two tiny children with the flu means that number is not likely to start going in the right direction again any time soon. )-:
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(2 comments | comment on this)
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Thursday, November 19th, 2009
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3:18 pm - hey!
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According to ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) aliettedb:
I’ve just confirmed this with the SFWA Awards Rule Committee: Interzone and Black Static stories are eligible for the Nebulas, by virtue of their electronic publication through Fictionwise. So any magazine issue that was uploaded to Fictionwise during the nomination period is eligible.
If that's correct, my story Silence and Roses (Interzone 223) is in fact eligible! So, y'know, if you liked it (or any other of the many fine stories in IZ) and you're eligible to nominate stuff, I'm grateful for any consideration you may desire to throw my way. (-:
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(comment on this)
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Sunday, November 15th, 2009
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10:47 pm - another tedious writing report
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Miledrop
47,775 / 110,000 words (43%)
NaNoCheaMo total: 16,729
About 1850 new words today. All new, no revision, kind of a slow slog. I'm not sure how much I'll end up keeping -- the drive to produce words in quantity in order to legitimately beat NaNo this year is at war with the desire to not end up with another very long draft of crap that'll take me years and years to revise into shape again. If I can find somewhere in between those two, I think I'll be happy.
( another excerpt, in all its first-drafty awkwardness. )
[relevant]
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(2 comments | comment on this)
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9:05 pm - for the curious:
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1. I have nothing eligible for a Nebula, so you'll have to wait and nom me for a Hugo instead. (-:
2. I won't be at Arisia, because I couldn't get a hotel room.
2a. This also means Eldest won't be making her first appearance in the art show as she'd hoped.
3. I don't know about Boskone yet.
Also:
4. Discovered that the door of my toaster oven was made of safety glass.
5. Reconfirmed long-held belief that one's feet are the best way to find broken glass.
6. Did not let the babies test #6 themselves, despite immediate opportunity.
Also also:
7. WTF, Oster? The toaster oven was barely over a year old and has been in no way mistreated, so I don't get how the simple act of opening the door should cause it to suddenly turn into an outwards explosion of glass bits all over me, Eldest daughter, and as far as the sprogs in their high chairs.
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(comment on this)
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Saturday, November 14th, 2009
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11:47 pm
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Damn but it's hard switching gears from revision to first-drafting.
Also, doesn't help that when I cleaned off the desk next to my computer to make room for spreading out maps of the current scene-of-the-action, I found a stray copy of a particular book that I seem absolutely incapable of not rereading every time I run across it, even though I've read it dozens of times already.
Bah. Still, I added about 1500 new words tonight.
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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Friday, November 13th, 2009
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11:09 pm
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Miledrop
44,350 / 110,000 words (40%)
Have finished revising all the way to the end of what I'd completed of the first draft, so tomorrow we leap into new word territory. Pretty happy with what I've got so far, and I think I've resolved what was bothering me on the last pass.
First, though: sleep. This was a rough week.
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(comment on this)
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Thursday, November 12th, 2009
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10:42 pm
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Miledrop
38,000 / 110,000 words (35%)
I'm sure this is getting tedious for all my non-writer friends, but hey, what the heck else do I have to talk about? Some spectacular baby-poo today, it was this amazing col-- What? Go back to talking about writing? Okay!
This leaves me only about 7k worth of original first draft left before I hit the edge of the cliff and have to start flapping out new words or fall. Decided to up the credit I'm giving myself to 30% for NaNoCheaMo, since the amount of rewriting is getting more substantial. Again, since I've blatantly declared that I'm cheating, it's not like anyone's gonna cry foul on me at this point anyway (-:
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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Wednesday, November 11th, 2009
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11:24 pm
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Miledrop
27,250 / 110,000 words (25%)
I'm totally remembering now why it is that this book keeps calling me back to work on it. I've revised just over 27k of the original 45k worth of first draft, and I've fixed a few of the things that were starting to throw it off the rails, and I'm really kind of eager to hit the end of the current draft and start adding new words. Soon!
( excerpt )
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(2 comments | comment on this)
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Tuesday, November 10th, 2009
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10:55 pm
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Miledrop
15,773 / 110,000 words (14%)
That's total words revised. I've credited myself 25% (or around 3900 words) of that for NaNoCheaMo, though I actually added a whole (short) chapter new in there. If I can get past the revs into new word territory, I should start picking up speed.
Nobody ever comments when I post excerpts, which only convinces me further that you all secretly hate me, so no excerpt tonight. (-:
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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Monday, November 9th, 2009
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8:26 pm - WTF, LJ?
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Sometime over the weekend my password reverted to what it was like three years ago. Just now when I went to preview a post, it showed it as posting to the account I used to have before this one (like three years ago.)
Did LJ have a server ooops? Anyone else seeing weirdness?
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(2 comments | comment on this)
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8:25 pm
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Sunday, November 8th, 2009
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10:08 pm - a note
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I was deeply disappointed to discover that the Throgs Neck Bridge does not, in fact, look like the sort of structure that should have a troll under it. Though by the time I got across and paid the toll, I did in fact feel somewhat robbed.
(ETA: link to pic of bridge at night.)
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(4 comments | comment on this)
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Saturday, November 7th, 2009
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10:10 pm - NaNoCheaMo
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So I decided that I was going to work on Miledrop this month. Before this my first draft was around 45k, and I've gone through and revised about 10k of that, with a fair bit of work. A wordcount isn't going to accurately represent the new work because I've also been tightening things up as I go. I decided that the effort & new work probably equaled about 25%, so I credited myself about 2300 words for NaNo. Sure I could be further, but then, I'm also on a road trip with lots of social obligations and two 18month old babies.
Yeah, I know real NaNo is new words only, but I'm cheating, so there. Still, I think 25% seems fair, especially since at that rate it'll take me to new words before I'm done with my 50k. Anyone else who is doing the same sorta thing have an algorithm for determing NaNo progress they'd care to share?
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(comment on this)
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Sunday, November 1st, 2009
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11:03 pm - NaNoHuhMo?
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Yeah, not exactly getting anywhere yet. My rockin' first day wordcount? 40.
I think I'm still VERY burnt out after my monumental push with the novel revision, and I'm just not sure what to work on next. I could start something new-new, but do I want to have another half-finished project at the end of the month? I think not. I could try to tie off the ends of some shorts I've got in progress, or jump back into Arcx, which would be the sensible choice, or Miledrop which is calling me more but isn't maybe the best choice from a marketing standpoint.
Lacking direction, I went nowhere. Now, I'm gonna go to bed, and worry about it tomorrow.
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(3 comments | comment on this)
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12:10 am - 10 minutes behind in NaNo, and random
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Microsoft Word spell-check doesn't recognize the word "shitballs".
Just had the following conversation:
13-Yo-Daughter: [comes running into office] "I know what I want for Christmas! I know what I want for Christmas!"
Me: "Yeah?"
13-Yo-Daughter: "An MRI machine!"
Finished writing a synopsis, and it kinda doesn't suck. Yay! Now I need to write a "writer's bio", and I'm not exactly sure what that should be. Consider this a second plea for guidance from my writer friends...
I haven't had sweet tarts in a really long time. I like 'em. Also: pixy stixs? No good when they get wet. )-:
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(6 comments | comment on this)
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Saturday, October 31st, 2009
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12:57 am
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We have achieved body-of-penguin portion of costume. The head? Not so much. Gonna try something w/ the beak in the am and whether or not it works will dictate wildly different strategies for the rest. Eh, I got plenty of time, right? I must say I'm not especially happy with the body, but given the time and material constraints, it'll do. And Eldest thinks it's wonderful.
Anyone have any advice to give, or examples to point me at, on what constitutes a decent writer's bio of the sort I'd include as part of a query package?
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(2 comments | comment on this)
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Thursday, October 29th, 2009
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9:26 pm - buh buh buh buh
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Well. I have just done a complete revision of my novel in hopes of improving its changes of enticing an agent, including removing an entire POV character and reassigning her plot points to another. Not small potatoes. Also, I think it's much better and the ending has more emotional impact.
And, it didn't get longer. With me, that's a big thing. In fact I trimmed almost 6k out of it, which is kinda dinky in terms of just how freakin' big the thing is, but hey, 6k less is 6k less.
I'm gonna sit on it for a bit and go work on a costume for Eldest, and then, if I don't have any urgent tinkering calling my name, move on to one of my less favorite chores in writing: the Dread Synopsis.
If I'm very, very good, I may just be able to get this in the mail while it's still October.
current mood:  really very tired now
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(4 comments | comment on this)
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Saturday, October 24th, 2009
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9:13 pm
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Yes, I know, I'm nattering on about writing again. I've kinda been working on this as non-stop as it gets with a day job and three kids.
I've almost finished removing an entire POV character from the Way Too Long Novel, reducing it by 4500 words so far (not as major a reduction as I'd hoped for, but at least the number is moving in the right direction), and reassigning the critical plot points from that character to another POV character who honestly didn't quite have enough to do first time around.
This has certain challenges.
1) There are places in the book where POV1 and POV2 are off on completely different planets doing stuff that needs to happen simultaneously.
2) POV1 is a pacifist, Earth-Mother-worshiping scientist who has led a very sheltered life until now. Whereas POV2 is a grizzled space freighter captain who is really, really fond of kicking people's asses.
Luckily for POV2, right now, my frustration level with this damned novel is such that it's very easy to get into the head of "kick everyone's asses".
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(2 comments | comment on this)
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3:01 pm - PSA
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I count FIVE friends between LJ and FB who have had their computers suddenly up on die on them in the last 48 hours. Take that as a hint, because I surely am, and back up your data.
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(6 comments | comment on this)
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