Posts Tagged ‘Words Words Words’

[Scotch Challenge] – That Pesky Novel

In retrospect, this challenge was a stupid thing to do.

…

I think, given a normal month, this wouldn’t have been quite as dire. As it was, I was trying to churn out 2000 words a day while buying a house, moving, unpacking my life, spending three days at a con, Thanksgiving and working working working.

The writing itself has swung wildly from inspiration to sludge to outright falling on my face. I think there’s some good stuff in here, but I’m not letting another person see this till I give it another rewrite … and I’m taking at least a month break from the damn thing.

…

Anyway, that said, I’m pretty sure I’m not buying Rob, Bill and Eden scotch this month.

I have about two scenes left before “THE END” (and some loose ends here and there.) Somewhere in the next 2000 to 6000 words I think I can reasonably call this a book. (In related news, I’m all moved and the house is starting to come together.)

I wont be able to say for sure that it’s done-done (done done done) till I get those words done (done done done done,) but I’ll let you know in the next few days.

… and more importantly, Rob, Bill, Eden, baring some sort of sabotage, I intend to deny you your scotch in the next two days.

*evil laugh … which disintegrates into coughing … and snoring*

[Scotch Challenge] – Halfway

Orycon was cool. Maybe I’ll write a separate post about that, but right now I’m stressing about how much writing I did at the con. (hint: none.)

Whew. I have somewhere around 30K done on the book (it’s hard to say perfectly, because I still have to transcribe some of the stuff I dictated.) I’m probably about halfway through.

This is all a bit dire, since I only have 15 days left, and one of them is Thanksgiving, and another is me closing on my house and moving, and then there’s all the working in between.

I think I’ve started dreaming about scotch.

In the dream, Rob Ziegler and Bill Shunn point at $1000 bottles of scotch and moths fly out of my wallet. In another one, Eden Robins tells me to just relax and not work so hard … no wait, that was in real life. Damn you, Eden Robins.

I beginning to see a very real possibility of … not being awesome.

Anyway, I’m sitting in a cafe right now, so I’m going to stop writing this and write on my novel instead.

*weakly* onward.

[Scotch Challenge] – Check in three

Whew.

Long couple of days there. The novel is … well, it’s acting slightly novel-like. I’ve put on another 7000 or so words. Mostly by bopping around from middle to end to start to middle, etc etc etc.

I got a big chunk done dictating into my phone while driving to and from Portland. That worked so well, I’m thinking about doing it some more even when I’m not driving. Maybe I should try jogging and writing?

Anyway, Orycon is in a few days, so … expect a lull in the writing … and more running around cons.

Onward.

[Scotch Challenge] – First check in

Of course I got sick on the very first day of my challenge.

Actually, much of the 31st and the 1st were a total bust. But I did get about 500 words on each. (I also tried to do design work in bed, but only got a little done.)

Mostly I watched old movies and read my friend Rob’s book, which is awesome and you should buy.

But today went better. Nina suggested I just write on whatever scene most excited me and not worry about writing in order. Doing that, I got out about 3000 words on four different scenes. Pasting this stuff together will take some work, but my productivity is WAY up.

Eden, Rob, Bill, mark my words, you will receive no scotch.

An Update:

Yeah, It’s been awhile and I’d promised regular updates about the novel and stuff, so …

A CHECK-IN!

Me!The novel’s going well. It’s still not done (and probably won’t be done in time for the highly esteemed writing workshop I’m attending in June.) A few weeks ago I was really stressing about being behind on the book, but the coordinator, Bradley said that it wasn’t uncommon for folks to bring incomplete work. So … whew.

But, I’m extremely happy with it. It’s easily the best novel I’ve written so far. Not that it hasn’t had its challenges; I had to break up the original outline and the story’s gone in a different direction than I’d originally thought. Most importantly, it’s moving much faster than I’d plotted for, and … well, a faster moving book sounds a lot better anyway.

My initial readers have been incredibly helpful with the first fifty pages. I’ve rewritten based on their notes and sent the first fifty pages to secondary readers and the workshop. Last week I received everyone else’s first 50. Which means:

  1. I have 110,000 words of other people’s fiction to read … and soon!
  2. I’m having that same feeling I had when I first went to Clarion. “How Did I Get in Here?” Everyone’s stuff is so good and it makes mine look … well, not so good. I’m overwhelmed with all the talent in Wellspring. Whew.

….

I’ve also been rewriting tons of short stories from my to-be-rewritten folder and sending them out. I’m back up to thirteen stories in the mail, which … I know generally people think is pretty good. It’s low for how many I used to keep in the mail, but I’m working my way up again.

My brain has been an idea machine lately. To keep myself focused, I’ve basically been just jotting the ideas down for later and going back to the novel. It’s important to me to find a balance between the novel and shorter work. I didn’t like the feeling of spending all of 2009 with the novel swallowing my life while not producing anything else. I feel confident that I’m doing a better job now.

Other aspects of my life

My moving date kept getting pushed back, but I have a truck and a date and people helping. I and all my stuff will be in Portland on Saturday, May 14th. I’m still geeked about my new space and the people and Portland and and and … *squee*

My money-work life is also going well. I feel blessed that my work is challenging, interesting and creative without sucking up so much of my brain that I don’t have space for writing, art and music. I’ll be commuting from Portland to Eugene twice a week, basically spending half my time in Eugene and half in Portland. The train ride feels like a perfect time for writing and reflection.

Other details I’m geeked about: Biking around Portland, joining a gym near my house, maybe joining the Independent Publishing Resource Center and learning how to letterpress. (!!!) And I’m looking forward to connecting with more Portland writers.

I have some exciting news about my work at Shimmer Magazine, but I’ll save that for the next post. I’ve also been thinking about reposting my shimmer writing articles here when I get around to it.

Hmmm … I guess that’s everything lately …

Hmmm … But, once again I’d like to use this blog to keep a fire under my butt. So, I’m committing to a new blog post sometime in the next week and I plan to have another five stories in the mail and at least another 5000 words done on the novel by then. See you later this week.

Onward!