sometimes i find myself alone at night

 journal, shadow queen  6 Responses »
Sep 162008
 

The proofread is done, long live the proofread.

Technically I shouldn't celebrate quite yet, since my editor hasn't told me there's nothing else I need to look at and please send it all back now, but that stack of tagged and tricksome pages has been systematically slashed through with red pen and denuded of tags, which makes me happy. Not to mention a little giddy.

And very, very conscious that the stories next in line to work on have no outline. I've been revising for so long, it's a little daunting to contemplate going back to writing without knowing what happens next.

In the department of "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means", I discovered a fantastic thesaurus program the other day: TheSage.

Since I'm reaching the end of my input on Shadow Queen, it's probably an appropriate time to post the playlist I used to listen to while writing this novel. Continue reading »

the lies you tell in liverpool will follow you to spain

 journal, shadow queen, writing life  11 Responses »
Aug 172008
 

The proofs for Shadow Queen arrived a couple of days ago. While it's still an unbound slab of A4 sheaves of paper, it now has purty fonts and layout. In other words, this thing is beginning to look suspiciously like one of those critters you find on the shelves in bookstores.

I'm so new at all of this that I had to ask my editor what I was supposed to be doing this time with the stack of pretty paper. Looking for typos and stupidities I introduced while attempting to fix previous stupidities, it turns out. Which is actually pretty good timing, because reading through the first book now will help me notice inconsistencies as I attempt to conjure up a coherent gamma draft of the sequel. Or that's the plan. No plan survives first contact, though.

Also: I am wearing my toe socks today. Toe socks are made of awesome.

i (still) can't think of anything

 journal, shadow bound, writing life  2 Responses »
Aug 092008
 

One of the hardest parts about a revision, I find, is simply starting the dang thing. The whole concept is just too daunting. There are so many things to fix, and in my abortive fledgeling novels said fixes are never just a simple one-line tweak but rather involve complicated novel-length rearrangements and convolutions and the memory capacity of, well… an all-remembering thing.

Yeah, kinda fell over there, didn't I? It happens.

So this afternoon I have done what I should have done days ago: I printed out the novel onto paper and skimmed/read it, noting down a very rough outline. (This would be the sequel to Shadow Queen, for those keeping track.) I don't know why I've avoided the print-it-out trick before now, because it really is the best thing to wrap my head around the plot and where I can insert scenes and where I can delete them, and what I wanted to change and what my beta readers think I need to change… In other words, when I print it out on paper, it's not so daunting any more.

So, note to self, for future revisions (because, hey, I'll forget again, in time for the next revision): Stop hesitating. Smoosh the margins and reduce the font and print two pages to a sheet if you must, but just print it out already. You know you need to.

from here on out it gets tricky

 journal, shadow queen, writing life  2 Responses »
May 232008
 

This week saw me in Sydney for my consult with the surgeon who will be removing the freckle. He will be doing a flap repair procedure which will, when the bandages are removed and the skin has knitted, result in a Z-shaped scar. Yes, that's right: I am going to look like I tangled with Zorro and lost, and am therefore some detestable oppressor of the people.

The surgeon does not share my sense of humour.

I suppose I can forgive him this, if his hands prove steady.

After the consult, it was off to the headquarters of Allen & Unwin to meet a slew of lovely people and to chat about the edits of Bound, which will be landing on my desk soon and need to be sent back only a little bit after soon. Here's hoping there's not too many tricky fixes, eh?

Here's also to hoping a proper title for the manuscript surfaces during the edits!

pterodactyls are the least of my confusion

 away come away, journal  Comments Off
May 062008
 

Home for a week and a half now and at last I'm feeling, sorta kinda, touch wood, that maybe, just maybe, the daily routines and errands are back under some semblance of control. Although I did catch myself reading my stars this morning, which is a sure sign that I'm pining, and hoping the world will miraculously start accommodating me.

The wordcount is not back under control, however. Part of the problem is finding the butt-in-chair time, which has been slippery and tricksome of late, but should become easier now that I've knocked over most of the backlog of errands.

More of the problem is the novel I'm working on, which I love and adore and think is all kinds of interesting1, is not coming together in my head, and buggered if I can work out why. What little writing time I've had has been dedicated to the writerbunny workout, namely: bang head on desk, hope something good/decent/hideous-but-usable falls out.

  1. As you can guess from such a glowing description, I am at the start of this novel. The glow will wear off as the weariness builds alongside the wordcount. It's only natural. [↩]

everybody panic celebrate!

 journal, shadow queen, writing life  1 Response »
Apr 082008
 

It's been a whirlwind couple of days.

There was the visit to a dermatologist about a suspicious freckle: I'm scheduled for a biopsy on my return1, and probably surgery to remove said freckle when the biopsy results come back. If the concept weren't so terrifying, the freckle in question would be quite cute: it's a perfect love-heart shape.

There has been yet more shopping, but today should see the last of it: spending money for the trip. I am now the proud owner of monopoly US money!

Today also brought some good news in the form of cover art. Not that I actually have cover art, but my editor is gathering information to brief the artist, and I can't tell you how utterly thrilled I am at who's been commissioned. I'm not sure I'm allowed to spill the beans on that front, and maybe it's better to keep it a surprise until there's actual art, which I will doubtless adore and pet and call George.

Also, I can't remember if I blogged this already or not, but word on the publication date is now January 2009, which means my book should be on the shelves in time for Christmas shopping.

It's such a bizarre concept I think I'll run away to the Himalayas for a fortnight to contemplate it!

  1. the fact that the dermatologist is happy to wait 3 weeks to biopsy the freckle is a huge relief — I was beginning to imagine trekking through Bhutan with black eyes and a bandaged face from an immediate excision [↩]

those who can count, and those who can't

 journal, novels, shadow bound, writing life  2 Responses »
Feb 072008
 

Somewhere along the way, I forgot how to count.

This is largely a problem because revising 4,000 words a day between now and Feb 14 will not, no matter what my spreadsheet tells me, result in an extra 60,000 words revised by Feb 14.

Looks like the novel won't be finished in a week, as I've been blindly and desperately telling myself. If it was a dream of a revision, I might be able to get through 10,000 words a day and finish it in a week. Unfortunately for my head and the state of my fingernails, this is a complete bear of a revision, and some days I'm lucky to crawl forward by only 700 words, and even then I'm still leaving notes for myself to come back and fix later. Blerk.

I think I'll aim for Feb 28 instead — and hope that this time I'm counting proper.

a random assortment

 journal, novels, shadow queen  9 Responses »
Jan 302008
 

» The name Mudpuddle has now been adopted by immediate and extended family.

» I will be in Melbourne this coming weekend. Melbourne! Me! There will be attending of Rufus Wainwright concerts and a trip to the zoo. Anyone down that way wishing to catch up with me (which will be from late Saturday afternoon until Monday afternoon), please fling me an email and I'll give you my mobile number. I'll be checking my emails right up until Saturday morning, but internet access while in Melbourne will be sporadic to non-existent.

» News from A&U: the first golem book (which is still lacking a title, but shall henceforth, for the sake of not typing out "the first golem novel" all the time, be known for now as Bound) is scheduled for April 2009.

» The second golem book (which I am still in the process of breaking) will, for similar reasons, be known for now as Pledged.

» Both these titles are subject to change. In fact, they're almost guaranteed to change. But in the meantime, I will glory in typing only a single word in reference to the monsters :mrgreen:

» For various entirely dull reasons, I am currently debating the name under which I should publish these books. So! A poll!

[poll=5]

Vote! (You know you want to. Go on — how am I ever to make such a momentous decision on my lonesome?)

ETA: I'm not sure the poll plugin is working :( You can still vote "manually" in comments

one, two, three and I'm safe

 journal, novels, shadow bound  Comments Off
Jan 202008
 

Bitch Ask, and ye shall receive. The clouds haven't cleared, but it's stopped raining. Briefly, anyway. The cicadas are taking advantage of the break to shriek at each other throughout the valley, and the bloodsuckers are having a field day. I am most definitely not stepping foot out of doors without shoes, because all this rain will probably have washed those wandering male funnel webs uncomfortably close to the house.

Revisions on the second golem novel continue apace. Things looked rocky at the start there, where it took me hours to fix a paragraph, but now that I'm in to the meat of the story I've found, to my utter and endless surprise (because writers is nuts), that the prose isn't quite as abysmal as I'd feared. No doubt my beta readers will all remember this post and gleefully point me back to it when they send me their comments, which will be peppered with "This sentence? Makes no sense." Me, I'm just happy to be past the panic attack caused by accepting money for an incomplete novel.

I've gone back to the writing routine which worked for me during the first novel, back in the days when my only thought was of actually finishing a novel and I hadn't even considered the idea of submitting it for publication. Back then I worked five days straight, and took a break from wordcount on the sixth day. I still worked on that sixth day: mostly it was research, or a chance to let the plot catch up with my head. Not having to churn out words made the day feel like a weekend, though. Right now, I enter the sixth day with grand plans of writing anyway… but I don't. Taking a break is important, too. It really shouldn't be a surprise to me, I suppose, that the process I found useful on my first novel might actually be my natural process. Go figure, eh?

Also? I love my new icon.

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