[morse code] have no time. wrote an email like this today. no caps even. makes me want to vomit. new living condition. new job. both suck ass. both equal less writing/editing/slush bomb time. worried about slush bomb. may not be there on time, if at all. may hold on to for a bit longer. hope to have stable internet connection soon. [/morse code]

Finished my draft and all my edits for my slush bomb MS. I'm nervous about it. I joined the slush bomb somewhat late, so I had to rush a little to finish and edit in time. I keep thinking it's too short, or the underlying theme is too subtle, or- or- or.

Overall, however, I have to say that I'm satisfied. It's sci-fi, a genre I read and am familiar with, but rarely write. So it's different than what I usually write. And the characters and style are different as well. That in itself is an accomplishment.

Oh, almost forgot. Tomorrow I start editing on Novel 1. I've waited more than long enough.

Allow me to begin by stating that I rarely, if ever, eat at restaurants. But I did today. Not my choice. Just something I had to do.

Let's complicate matters further. I recently decided (a handful of days ago) to become a vegetarian. I probably wouldn't have said anything at all about it if it weren’t for this night.

So. A few days vegetarian. Still transitioning. It takes time. And now I have to go out to a restaurant. And everything was meat. I mean everything. And I'm sitting there holding this menu and trying to think of any possible exit.

Option A: the cop-out. Just order something with meat and suck it up. Complication: I honestly don't want it. Even if my primary reason for switching was removed from the equation, I just don't crave meat at all.

Option B: fake ailment. Complication: I'm almost never sick and when I am I usually don't let on. It would have been tremendously obvious.

Option C: order something semi-satisfying that will get me through the evening.

I went with option C eventually, but that is not the point of this story.

I'm sitting there, mentally riffling through these options as fast as my brain can process them, and one of the people I'm with leans over and very loudly tries to tell me what I SHOULD eat.

This was a problem for two reasons: one, what she was suggesting was not appealing at all. And two, she was quite loud no matter what I said or did to make her stop.

Furthermore, it was a major problem because not everyone at that table knew I had recently switched to a vegetarian eating style. And frankly, I don’t think they need to know. It’s the right choice for me, but I’m not going to make other people change because I have. All I ask in return is that what I decide to eat or not eat be my business and no one else’s. But that situation does not seem likely to last. And all because I went out to eat for the first and last time in many many months.

And that is my one very compelling reason to never eat out. Bon apetite.

It's been a while since I've graced LJ with yet another fast-paced, action(and hyphen)-packed update, so what the hell? No time like the present and all that.

Novel is still sitting around. I can't wait to start the editing. There's a good reason why I'm waiting as long as I am. I swear there is. (At least that's what I tell myself).

In the meantime, have written another short story and shipped it off to be rejected. Frantically working on short story that needs to be done and mailed by August 18. I loved the idea. Now I'm sort of apathetic about the whole thing. But I will finish on time I think. I managed to get out about 1000 words today despite wasting hours researching vegans and watching youtube videos.

To keep myself busy while Novel 1 is "sitting," I've started two new projects. Both are still in the idea/ outlining stage, but I foresee beginning writing on at least one of them while Novel 1 is still, as they say, "sitting."

One remains in the fantasy genre, but switches the setting out into a watery environment. The new setting and cultures are fun. It's a lot lighter than Novel 1, which makes the planning easier. For now, I've named it SWON, just for the sake of keeping track of it. We'll see how it develops. I might just throw it out. The planning is at least something to keep me busy.

The second is one that I've had in my head for a long time. I don't want to go into details, which is a good sign (in my case). It's a lot more literary than Novel 1 and SWON, which is fun for me. I don't think I could stand to stay in one genre for my whole life. It has a proper title, but I'll just call it Novel 2 for now.

Well, that's all. Going stir crazy. Dreaming of Novel 1. Making new projects that will never get finished for sheer volume of ideas. Writing a lot of short fiction and even submitting some.

Day:

Replaying scenes, cooking up the next book, conceptualizing new characters/ dilemmas/ plot twists

Night:

Replaying scenes, random character appearances in otherwise ordinary dreams

Conclusion:

August 14 (beginning of first draft editing) is impossibly far away

Time.

Hey Zoose Aych I have a lot of it. I don't know what to do with it all. Sure, I have my normal daily activities to keep me busy. Things that have to get done. But even while going to the dentist or the bank or wherever, I was usually scribbling on napkins.

I've started some short stories and looked for some markets for completed ones. That's a good project to keep me busy. I've also started reading The Dark Tower: Wolves of the Calla by Stephen King. Very good book. What an amazing writer. Though some of the illustrations inside of the book are disappointing. But that doesn't really matter.

Well, I'm off to twiddle my thumbs.

I've finally finished.

It took me about 3 years to plan and under a month to write, but I've finally finished the rough draft. Just under 105,000 words. There's still a lot of work ahead, but for the time being I'm going to try to relax and refresh my mind.

I'm oddly calm right now. I always imagined that when I finally typed that last punctuation mark whistles would start blasting, balloons dropping from the ceiling of the room where I do most of my writing. The song on my RealPlayer changed just as I finished, but that's just about the most mystical part of it. My mind is more focused on the work still ahead than my minor victory.

I'm going to take a break from writing for a couple days. In fact, I'm going to take a break from everything. I fully intend to gain a couple pounds, play hours of video games and watch far too much television. Then I might tentatively start looking at some short stories. But I want to put some distance between myself and this story for now. I don't think I'll start editing until at least August, though it will be tempting to start right away. There's a lot left to do, but it's still amazing to have 105,000 solid, visible words down on paper (well, down in Word, but you know what I mean).

Last word: am
Last punctuation mark: quotation mark
Total time from first word to last: 29 days 5 hours 41 minutes

current level of rage: ...

I've hit the 100,000 word mark.



That is all.

It's true. It is. I've got 90k. I can almost taste that precious 100k. I'm going to push myself to be done by the end of the week so that I can start editing by... August or so. We'll see how that works out. But for now, I'm just happy to have gotten so far. I didn't even realize how stressful it can be until I took break yesterday by going out to dinner and almost couldn't bear to leave. I love writing, but 100k in a month would wear anyone out.




In other news:

I read an article yesterday about a mid-list author. It was startling to say the least. Here's the link:

http://dir.salon.com/story/books/feature/2004/03/22/midlist/index.html

In the article, this anonymous mid-list author tells her story. She explains her first big advance and how her writing career has gone downhill from there.

The terrifying thing, in my eyes, is not the money really. It's the fact that she says that every book she publishes might be the last one the industry publishes from her. She survives book to book, never sure if she'll get the chance to write the next one.

This made me think twice about my disgust with authors like Nora Roberts. Sure, her plots aren't strikingly original, but she's found a way to get published. Moreover, she's found a way to continue getting published. Even if I don't like her books, her longevity in the business is commendable in and of itself.

Which reminds me of a book I did like. Harry Potter.

I'm speaking specifically of the first one here. I haven’t read them all. They got a little dull.

Anyway, I caught a snatch of the movie on television yesterday. I'd forgotten what it was like to read that book the first time. Sure J.K. Rowling is ridiculously wealthy from her writing and all, but there's probably a good reason for that. The reality she created is one the reader can almost be a part of. No matter how old you are, you read that book and can't help but think, "I could have been born into this world." Attending school at Hogwarts rather than Smalltown High seems just barely possible. It's truly amazing.