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| Okay, it might not seem like much, certainly not in comparison to a lot of other writers, but it's been nearly two months since I had one, and under the circumstances, I'm well-chuffed to have finally had another. I hope to have two more in the next two days. Which should get me to the end of chapter 14 and, with luck, into 15. I know that with the situation at work being what it is (no letup in August), I can't keep this up. But at least I'm getting done what I can get done now. Plus it's been a gorgeous weekend so far, and those are few and far enough between in this neck of the woods. LOL! - Mood:accomplished
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| Work is giving me a little breathing space. Only because a few books due at the end of July have slid back into August. Which means next month's workload keeps getting worse, because the end-of-August deadlines can't slip, so the work is just compressing into a different shape. Sigh.
Still, fewer words composed at work means that there's a little more capacity in my head for the REAL book. Hence, I got a few hundred words more done tonight. And more importantly, got over a hump that's been stalling me for the past week. Now that that problem is behind me, I think I can move on more easily, because there's some fun stuff just ahead. Well, 'fun' if you're not my main character, as those of you who've read my books can attest. Bwahahaha!
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| I haven't actually been out of the house for anything much beyond work, grocery shopping, and Sunday night role-playing since I got back from New Mexico in mid-May. Oh, and those visits to the dentist for the root canal. Part of it is being a home-body, but part of it is also the price of petrol. Well, today is the first nice day we've had in well over a week, and even after spending an hour or so out in the back garden making a (small) dent in the weeds and filling up the entire garden waste bin with them, I still wanted more. I just really didn't feel like hanging out HERE. So I packed up my notebook and pen and my new AlphaSmart (well, new to me, bought on eBay), and went to Alderley Edge (old pix from Oct 2000). And I wrote nearly 800 words, which about doubles the total I've written in the past 6 weeks (not counting the day job, of course). I REALLY need to get out more. I'm trying to limit my driving, but there are still lovely places to go without having to go far. For example, Alderley Edge is only 10 miles from my house. And getting out really does refresh the ol' brain for creativity.   - Mood:refreshed
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| Sazed Maze is my fighter in the D&D game I've been playing. The GameMaster (GM) is also an artist, and she started drawing cartoons of the campaign. Ain't this absolutely adorable? You should see the full party portrait! (And in case you're wondering, yes, I nicked the name 'Sazed' from Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy. Great name that I obviously can't nick for a character in one of my books, so might as well use it for a D&D character, right?)
Despite his small stature, Sazed has earned the nickname 'Minotaur Bane' due once to some incredibly well-timed (or 'lucky' if you prefer) natural-20 rolls and the other time due to some well-thought-out magic spells from the party's spellcaster when there was actually time to prepare. Yes, my friends, Sazed, 17 years old, 5'6" tall, and 125 pounds, has slain two...count 'em, two!...minotaurs! | |
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| I spent the first part of May in New Mexico attending Kindling Words West, a children's writers retreat. The retreat was at Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, where the scenery was SPECTACULAR! Unfortunately, my ankle started acting up and I could hardly walk from my room to the dining hall three times a day, much less get in the hiking for which I'd lugged my hiking boots all the way from the UK. Still, here's the view from the chair right outside the door to my room:   Not exactly hard on the eyes or the spirit while trying to write, eh? A funny thing that happened to my book that week was that the setting kept getting drier and drier as I wrote more and more! Here are a few more scenic shots I got from Ghost Ranch. I would love to go back some time when I can actually hike.     I stayed a few extra days in Santa Fe, both before and after the retreat. Here are a couple of shots I took when walking around the historic part of the city. (Irises growing in a garden.)  (The cool-looking shape of the back of one of the art museums.)  I thought this was hysterical....notice the sign in the middle of this particular small market square.  (In case you can't read it, it says 'Scotland Scarves'.) But one of the very best things of an all-around fantastic trip was getting to spend time with Sharon Caballero, my high school journalism teacher, from whom I learned things I use every single day in my writing. (Unfortunately, we forgot to ask someone to take our picture together untill it was too late and we had to just get one with me holding the camera at arm's length. Sigh.)  | |
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| I know it's been awhile since I've posted anything. Things have gone pretty nuts at work (covering two other writers' work on top of my regular stuff), leaving me too tired to do much of anything but sleep once I get home. In the past six to seven weeks, I've written and published over 370 pages of new material, plus put another 2,000 pages through production. For those who don't have a point of comparison, you'll just have to take my word for it: this is a massive amount of work, as much as a lot of tech writers might do in a year. Anyway, despite not having the energy to make much progress on the current WIP, I did manage to get the first 12 chapters polished up and sent to my agent. This included rewriting a few important chunks because I made some changes to the underpinnings of the story. The workload on the job seems to be settling into something ever so slightly more reasonable (something tells me I should NOT have said that), and though I'll still be mad-busy until mid-September, I hope to have enough energy left over to still get at least a little work done on the book. Not to mention posting some pix from my vacation in early May and a weekend in Cornwall in June. - Mood:exhausted
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| So, having less excuse than most, I finally got my sh*t together to start riding my bike to work. Yes, I'll admit that exorbitant petrol prices are one factor, but needing to get into better shape and lose weight are even more to the point.
I took clothes to work and made sure I had everything I need for cleaning up there. Needed some new black shoes (the ones I've been wearing are 15 years old and finally beginning to break down), so bought some.
And rode the three and a half miles to work yesterday.
And home again.
And, damn, but I'm sore.
You see how bad of shape I'm in? To be worn out and *sore* after a 3.5-mile commute? It's shameful!
Still, you have to start somewhere. It's gorgeous out again today (rare enough in Manchester, England, trust me), so even though my, um, rear end hurts from not being used to a bike saddle, I'll be out there on the road again in just a few minutes.
Getting back into shape seriously sux! - Mood:sore
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| The French Canadian editions of The DragonSpawn Cycle have started being released. Here's the cover of book 1, which is similar in flavour to the American cover, but subtly different:  Book 2 appears to have been released in May, but I haven't found the cover yet. I'm looking forward to receiving copies of the French editions, even though, being pathetically monolingual, I can't read 'em. In other news, the progress on Unnamed WIP is: - Mood:pleased
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| And now the progress stands thus: - Mood:accomplished
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| Thanks to ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) karenmiller , I've found this nifty progress meter. I'm going to try to use it for whatever project I'm currently working on. Which, right now, is my adult fantasy whose title shall, for now, remain nameless for Very Good Reason, which I'm not telling. Bwahahaha. To keep things simple, this is the progress of the typed-up manuscript and doesn't include handwritten words that haven't been typed up yet. Like, at this moment in time, I've got over 3,000 handwritten words yet to add to the manuscript. Shall I get it done this weekend? That is the question. I'm more interested in getting the current chapter written. We shall see. | |
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