Posts Tagged ‘writing challenge’

[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.

The Scotch Challenge

I blame Rob Ziegler.

The first thing you should know is that I normally don’t drink much.

And yet, I was at World Fantasy Convention, standing in the … uh, some party … maybe Tor‘s? I dunno, I was a little drunk.

Anyway, Rob was hard-timing me about the YA novel I was supposed to finish months ago and I was thinking about NaNoWriMo and I (reportedly, I was a little drunk) said, “If I don’t finish this book by December 1st, I’ll buy you something.”

Somehow, something became a bottle of Lagavulin.

Apparently I agreed, since I later found an email to myself, “i owe rob one bottle of lagavulin if i don’t finsh stupid book by dec.”

Lagavulin, in case you’re not classy, turns out to be EIGHTY DOLLAR SCOTCH WHISKEY.

If I were smart, I would’ve told Rob that drunk email contracts aren’t binding and it wasn’t fair anyway because I thought Lagavulin was some sort of fruity wine.

Instead, I complained to Bill Shunn the next morning (perfectly sober) and Bill took ruthless advantage of my hangover. “Oh, well, you can by me a bottle of Ardbeg Uigeadail if you fail.”

And I (perfectly sober) said, “Fine, I’ll do that, Bill Shunn!”

I’m pretty sure he smirked.

.

I’ve been informed that Ardbeg Uigeadail is not in fact cheap drinking chocolate but is ALSO AN EIGHTY DOLLAR BOTTLE OF SCOTCH.

The details are fuzzy, but sometime in the next hour I offered Eden Robins a bottle of A’bunadh ($72)

This was the point where I realized I had a problem and needed help. Interventions were staged before I could offer Bradley Beaulieu a bottle of Old Pulteney.

Still, I find myself encumbered with at least $250 worth of alcohol bets.

But, screw it. I’ll just finish the book, right? We’re talking about 45,000 to 60,000 words in the next month. That’s basically NaNoWriMo anyway. Peice of cake.

Of course I’ll be whining about this all month. Updates to follow.

Oh, I’ve also suggested to Rob, Bill and Eden that if I DO succeed in finishing this book in the next month, maybe the three of them should buy me some really good wine.

Novelburns final update

It’s done. The book’s not in perfect shape, matter of fact it’s pretty sickly. But i’ve let go of this draft and sent it off to some initial readers.

Which means ….

I can shave off these ridiculous sideburns!

Here’s a recap for those who missed the progression:
Sideburns day 01sideburns_day_02sideburns_day_03sideburns_day_04sideburns_day_05wolvie

Then i dyed them purple.

slimeybleacheddyedsopurple

And now, with the novel off to the readers, i SHAVE THEM OFF!

grrrrshavefuzz

OMG!

OMG!

Hmmm … what should i do with this novelburns fuzz? Maybe i’ll threaten to mail it to someone who’s behind on their wordcount?

Suggestions?

#$10novel – day 25 – Holy $#@%!!

I can only say…

I RULE!

95,110 words, the last two are THE and END.

Is it perfect? No. But it has some good stuff in it, i think. I’m going to quickly and obsessively look over the scenes (throw a good ten or twelve of them away probably) for a day or two and then send the whole mess to initial readers.

Valerie, E.J., thanks for the motivation! You don’t get the $10 each, but E.J. gets Charles Darwin and Valerie gets an Asian guy with an afro!
CharlesDarwinyoung-asian-male_~PH114_012

Thank you all. It’s been a hard process, i couldn’t have done it without you.

Check in tomorrow for a novelburns update. New exciting surprises coming!

ten_dollar_day_25

#$10novel – day 25 – FINAL DAY!

ten_dollar_bill_thumb
Like the climactic final scene in the action thriller, i have to satisfactorily end my novel and write at least 3000 words doing it.

Wait.

Which action thriller is that?

I mean it’s like a show down between me and Valerie and E.J. I have my laptop and they have … wait … where is this metaphor going?

FINAL DAY! Valerie Polichar and Eugene Fischer (DOUBLE DAY!)

I need to hit 95,000 words and THE END. Otherwise, i owe them each $10.

[Imagine that whistling music from “The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly”]

Let’s see what happens…