leahbobet | Entries tagged with --30--

June 9, 2013 Progress Notes:

On Roadstead Farm

Words today: 1568.
Words total: 96,268.
Reason for stopping: I believe that is a draft.

More in the morning. Done, done, done. :)

Current Mood: exuberant
Current Music: Cold Specks -- The Mark

September 16-17, 2012 Progress Notes:

"On Living Authors"

Words today: 500.
Words total: 500.
Reason for stopping: Draft.

Motivational Threat of the Day: From P.: "If you do not write 500 words, Alan Rickman will walk into the coffeeshop, flip a lemon into your tea, and drink it right in front of you." (Citation.)

Darling du Jour:

But please:
creep down the steps, like we all did
when we were new; when our nets cast out
imperfectly and brought in weeds and
clouds, and in the slime and softness sometimes,
waiting, were our words; trailing like maps
into the night, beyond our fingers, to the sea.
Mean Things: Many.

Research Roundup: N/A.
Books in progress: Rae Carson, Crown of Embers

Written half yesterday, half today; half on my living room couch in a haze of disconnection and strangeness, and half in the sunshine at a front table in Via Mercanti, with a coffee next to me, on a crisp and beautiful September afternoon.

I don't know where this poem came from. It's eerie and heartfelt and something I never even knew I was thinking, and possibly an imposition on someone's privacy. And a little bit, to be honest, frightening: P. came over yesterday afternoon to find me full down the well of my own head, brokenly trying to explain that I don't understand how I'll ever be able to know a thing about the rest of the world if I still can't understand what goes on in my own head.

I will see what other people think.

Current Mood: surprised
Current Location: Via Mercanti
Current Music: Italian pop stuff

July 10, 2012 Progress Notes:

"Fear of Falling"

Words today: 100.
Words total: 100.
Reason for stopping: Draft.

Books in progress: Gemma Files, A Tree of Bones

A short poem, and lightning-fast, unlike all the stuff I've been slowly chewing at for the last two weeks (and yes, I have been chewing at things; just not in quantities sufficient or with satisfaction sufficient to post metrics about it). It's not speculative, so that lets out the usual markets. I'll have to figure out what to do with it when I'm back from Readercon.

Which is a nice segue into: I am going to Readercon! Here is my con schedule! And after that, on the 18th, I am reading at KGB! One week of authoring in the Americas!

Anyone heading out to either? Do I see you there?

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Music: N/A

June 21, 2012 Progress Notes:

"Wild Card"

Words today: 1700.
Words total: 12,900.
Reason for stopping: Draft.

Books in progress: Ross Macdonald, The Goodbye Look.

And draft. I had to stay home from an event I really wanted to be at to do it, but it's done, and done well in time. So I'll chalk this up as a Work comes first sort of thing, and roll right into the next project once dinner's made.

Phew.

Current Mood: busy
Current Music: N/A

September 4, 2011 Progress Notes:

"Finding Shelter in Volatile Times"

Words today: 125, over the last week or so.
Words total: 125.
Reason for stopping: Draft.

Books in progress: Sean Dixon, The Many Revenges of Kip Flynn.
The glamour: Instead of the beach today, poetry and essays and houseboundness. It was raining, and histamine's been playing chicken with me all weekend anyways, so no go was the better part of valour.

Another Shakespearean sonnet, my second (ever), and occasional verse besides. The title was the headline for a financial news article I saw in the Star about a week back. I figured it was too good to be wasted on that; it belongs to a book of poetry.

It is drafty, and I can see the trick of using the stresses and metre to counterbalance the sing-songiness of the structure but can't always grab it whole, and it is not saying even close to the whole of what I want it to say. But the sestet, the volta? It sings.

I think I will put it away for a bit. But if you are one of the poets what knows and are willing to take a look, it would be much appreciated.

Current Mood: sleepy
Current Music: none

August 27, 2011 Progress Notes:

"Always Winter"

Words today: 300.
Words total: 1450.
Reason for stopping: Draft.

Darling du Jour: Four crowned figures, their faces in shadow, bent with war and loss and adult grief; bent with a knowledge of dying.

Mean Things: Failure. Haunted housery. Tainting clean innocent things with pesky adult perspective.
Research Roundup: N/A.

Books in progress: Erin Bow, Plain Kate.
The glamour: I woke up this morning with some rather involved plans, and found myself in desperate need of quiet. So I cancelled most of them, and have turned off all social media for the day, and washed my towels and bought milk and tea, and tidied my bedroom, and wrote words. Most of the other things seem to have gone fine without my input.

Ugly and a bit sutured-together near the end, but it's a draft. Drafts can suck. Second drafts are for sucking less, and that's why we have 'em.

Noodling a bit at some occasional verse tonight too, and we'll see if anything comes of that. But for now, I did promise myself film entertainment and knitting if I finished this tonight. Time to get to that very important commitment.

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Music: VNV Nation -- Legion (Anachron)

June 8, 2011 Progress Notes:

"The Small Dark Movie of Your Life"

Words today: 4650.
Words total: 14,350.
Reason for stopping: Draft.

Books in progress: Timothy Taylor, The Blue Light Project.
The glamour: None. It has been all drafting today, quite literally.

And we're done.

Shadow Unit types, you are going to like this. Except the bit where you really, really won't.

Oof.

Current Mood: tired
Current Music: Broken Social Scene -- Sweetest Kill

I have finished the line edits that were in the inbox, and which my editor wanted me to go through. Or 99% finished them: there are two things I have to go back in and deal with, and I will do it tomorrow, because right now my brain hurts and I have been sitting in this desk chair for the better part of three days, which is bad for your knees. But I have gone through to the end of the draft, and will have this book back home not only on time, but early.

I am filled with a terrible and all-conusming urge to cook and cook and cook. High-flying trapeze stunt-cooking. Dim sum and red onion marmalade and pickled daikon and duck stock and home-dried organic apple rings. I want to go to the farmer's market, fill my little granny cart up with fresh vegetables, and make art.

I will have to go to work and stuff first. But after that? I'll be in my ~~bunk~~ kitchen. And there will be pictures.

Current Mood: calm
Current Music: The Arcade Fire -- Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)

The edit letter is dead. Long live the edit letter.

Okay, it's mostly dead. I have to go do one more pass, check things for soundness and consistency; basically rap on the new parts to make sure they integrate well with the old parts, and that I didn't change things midstream and take them out of true, and hit a couple of points I just threw up my hands on and went bah, later. But the vast weight and substance of it is dead. Ahead of schedule, no less.

Weekend goal: achieved. And now I'm going to go make some borscht.

Current Mood: wiktory
Current Music: Gregory and the Hawk -- Boats and Birds

July 21, 2010 Progress Notes:

"The Closet Monster"

Words today: 1350.
Words total: 14,900.
Reason for stopping: Draft! And right on wordcount target.

Books in progress: Evelyn Waugh, Vile Bodies; Nick Hornby, Juliet, Naked.
The glamour: We have a farm share! All the way until November! I picked up the first batch today on the way home from work: rainbow chard, green beans, heritage bell peppers, new potatoes, salad greens. Many leafy greens will sauteed for great justice (and dinner) tomorrow night. Probably with sesame oil and a bit of chopped garlic.

Today was not working out so well until I scored the farm share, which then led me to think things about salmon and white wine mustard sauce and brown rice, and then I suddenly had this wonderful dinner on my plate and it was sunny and lovely outside, not too hot or muggy, and I was full of nice food and had all evening to kill. So I went to Aroma and wrote until I ran out of battery, for alas, they have good coffee and croissants, but their plugs do not work. And then I came home with a few hundred words to go, changed into pajamas, and finished this draft. So in sum, I'm already living up to my use-name of Writes-In-Coffeeshops again, but the coffeeshops in this neighbourhood are much more plentiful, and definitely nicer to hang out in besides.

And here's a picture I didn't take: Walking along Bloor on the way home, laptop in my tote bag and the patios full of people, just breathing in all the chatter and the sweet green-grass summer evening smell and the bit of woodsmoke that always comes off the pizza oven at Hey Lucy and makes you feel like you're up north at overnight camp; a twentysomething guy on a bike went barrelling down the street, sitting up straight, arms out, balancing like a unicyclist, with the biggest, happiest shit-eating grin on his face in the history of ever.

I started laughing in the middle of the sidewalk and nearly walked into a bench.

Good save, day. We pulled that one out of the gutter real nice. Go team. *g*

Goodnight. :)

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Music: Broken Social Scene -- Almost Crimes

May 13, 2010 Progress Notes:

"Stay"

Words today: -300.
Words total: 8300. Yahtzee!
Reason for stopping: Draft.

Books in progress: Ian Tregillis, Bitter Seeds.
The glamour: Getting rid of some stuff via Freecycle, but that's actually it. The last stretch of this revision was not supposed to take all day. Oops.

Today it is raining, and having gotten this in before my assigned deadline (and under maximum wordcount, le woot), I would sort of like to take a nap. Instead I will solace myself with pierogies and TV and a cup of tea, and try to knock a few more things off the list this evening.

This has been a boring update. Sorry, I revised all day.

Current Mood: sleepy
Current Music: none

March 21, 2010 Progress Notes:

"Stay"

Words today: 1550.
Words total: 9450.
Reason for stopping: Draft, dammit.

Darling du Jour: His mouth was stained red. Some of it was thin and some thick, drying; it'd all stain. Her hand stung, burned on three flat points on the ridge of each long finger; some of it was hers.

Mean Things: A serious risk; actually, a damned stupid risk. The way kindness cuts. And of course, wendigoes.
Research Roundup: N/A.

Books in progress: Gemma Files, A Book of Tongues.
The glamour: Copious! Brunch this morning with

ksumnersmith and

ginny_t, which was plentiful, copious, and nom nom nom nom. Really, people: french toast with caramelized raisins and cinnamon, and shaved roast beef, and pain au chocolat, and chicken and sage breakfast sausages, and an omelette station, and cheese and fruit and Thai beef salad and couscous and crab salad and shrimp and poached salmon and eggs and and and and. And after that there was Crafternoon Tea with

ginny_t and

shiroiko, which involved homemade scones and a lot of sitting around knitting/crocheting and shooting the shit.

I'll take ten more of those, please.

Finished. Done. Finito. Suck it, story.

The ending's drafty, and I'm not sure I hit my emotional note right, but fuckit, I'll fix it on the second draft once the first readers have had their say.

This is so way too long. I'm going to need to throw it to some of the People What Know, to find out if it can be cut or if I just need to suck it up and write the anthology it was supposed to go to a new story.

But yes. I win.

Going to bed. *g*

Laptop Debt Kill:

10500 / 17000 words. 62% done!

Current Mood: content
Current Music: Anais Mitchell -- Wait for Me

I have finished the revision (that was in the icebox, and which you were probably saving for breakfast).

What does this mean for you? Well, apart from getting yet another insight into the fact that the publishing process is nothing if not slightly repetitive, I may actually have interesting things to say about the world and said writing process by the end of this week. I know I was boring for a month. I'm sorry. There was this revision and this dayjob and things and I got very, very tired for a while there and could not come out to play.

I did start taking notes on yet another inappropriately-timed novel idea that will really have to wait its damn turn. Yes, I am writing a reply to -- of all things -- Darkman.

Go figure.

So what've you been up to?

Current Mood: tired
Current Music: none

The revision has landed.

Now I have about a week to do my consistency pass, salt in a few more details on certain points that perhaps got slightly short shrift while my attention was on other points, and to let the whole thing cool. And then I can go to Worldcon with a clean soul.

Phew.

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Music: The Arcade Fire -- Neighbourhood #4 (7 Kettles)

Above is a good child, and a dutiful. It calls me on my birthday, wears a jacket when it goes outside, and on its last trip home, it brought a nice literary agent with it.

That is to say, I am ~~pleased~~ ~~dorking out~~ ~~self-satisfied like a cat~~ excited to say that I've accepted an offer of representation from Caitlin Blasdell at Liza Dawson Associates. I am so looking forward to this.

My agent, I show you her!

Current Mood: enthralled
Current Music: Gordon Lightfoot -- Sundown

Two years, twenty-three days.

Done now.

Current Mood: peaceful
Current Music: Gregory and the Hawk -- Boats and Birds

February 8, 2009 Progress Notes:

"Sugar"

Words today: 2450.
Words total: 33,000.
Reason for stopping: Draft. Thank god.

Books in progress: Robert Graves, The Long Week-end; Sean Stewart, Clouds End.
The glamour: I have been working on this pretty much since I got up today. There is no glamour, but there is done.

Gonna go ice my hand now. 'Scuse me. :p

Current Mood: triumphant
Current Music: Peter Mulvey -- On the Way Up

January 7, 2009 Progress Notes:

"Parable of the Shower" (aka the Shower Angel story)

Words today: 600.
Words total: 3600.
Reason for stopping: Draft.

Books in progress: Sean Stewart, Clouds End; Robert Graves, The Long Week-end.
The glamour: Dayjob for great justice. Also, I made risotto.

I am fairly convinced this is an Unsaleable Monstrosity (illustrations to come). It took me six months to finish that last little bit mostly because I am convinced this has little to no literary merit. But I put it on the workshop anyway.

And that's the first draft of 2009. :p

Current Mood: bored
Current Music: none

Worth every minute of the six years it took.

Current Mood: proud
Current Music: none

(This song's for you.)

October 30, 2008 Progress Notes:

Above

Pages today: 24.
Pages total: 264/264.

264 / 264
(100.0%)

Reason for stopping: Draft.

Munchies: Glenlivet and toast. Even when I can probably afford it, I can't bring myself to buy a $125 bottle of scotch.
Books in progress: Geoff Ryman, The Child Garden.
The glamour: I can has paycheque. Paycheque-having is a soothing thing.

I really botched the climax. Like, really. Ripped it down to the foundation and started again, and I think I've rebuilt it without the flinch that was making everything warp and go weird and contradict itself.

If not, I have people to tell me so. And I'll just do it again until I get it right.

For the meantime, at least, Above is now off my desk. Since it's been on my desk for a year and a half, this is a bit weird to say the least. I have some pretty firm deadlines on what needs doing next. Hopefully I start on that this weekend.

Piles and stacks of reviews, some of them two weeks old:

Writing Every Day seems to like "Bears".

calico_reaction is, alas, less than keen on "Bell, Book, and Candle".

Whereas Free SF Reader seems to like it okay.

The Fix doesn't think "Kimberley Ann Duray Is Not Afraid" is one of my best, but the reviewer does namecheck me as "a great up-and-coming writer", so that's pretty cool.

And there are several comments about "Furnace Room Lullaby" up on Pseudopod, but they're mostly about the sound effects and balance.

Current Mood: quiet
Current Music: Tom McRae -- For the Restless

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Drowning Nor Waving

This girl's life among the electrical lights

Entries tagged with --30--

Thud: On Roadstead Farm

Poetry.

Poem. Readercon! KGB!

Bam.

Fourteen lines that took a week.

And what will happen? Will I dream?

I thought you were the sweetest kill.

I need the darkness; someone please cut the lights.

Draft.

I think it's almost time.

Another one bites the dust.

Wait for me. I'm coming with you.

State of the Monkey

Phew.

Better than blue hair.

The tags say it all.

Thud: Sugar

Thud: Shower Angel Story

Convocation Night

You raised me like a bruise. I'm bleeding still.