Totally, utterly derailed by the whirlwind preparations for a parental visit. Cleaning took most of the week as did rearranging furniture to make way for a gift of a new-to-us dining room set (gifted to us by aforementioned parental units). I might be premature and totally wrong about the derailment. Perhaps once the ‘rents are gone and the kitchen faucet is replaced, I’ll have time to make up my word count. Perhaps. We’ll see.
Here I am, five days into Camp NaNoWriMo and I’ve written less than 300 words. Yup, that’s right. Less than 300. I just can’t write at home anymore. There’s too much housework and responsibility swirling around me, pressing down. Cats walking across my desk and making themselves at home on my mouse pad. Dogs whining for no apparent reason and children lying on the sofa with headphones on, ignoring the dogs. Not to mention that my desk chair’s hydraulics are…
I decided to do the Camp NaNoWriMo July session, even though I previously tried (and bombed) in April. I’ve found in past years that July isn’t quite as busy for the family as the rest of the summer seems to be. So, I picked up the novel, dusted it off, and went back to the beginning. I had a good start, but pretty soon lagged behind on my word count. There’s still so much world building to do! I’ve been…
Uh … yeah. I’ve done some more fiddling with the plot, removing the entire inn sequence—though the inn itself may return in a later chapter. Some of the characters have had their functions and family relationships reworked and I’ve rewritten what is sort of a prologue, even though I understand that many agents don’t like prologues at all. I just feel it’s really important to the plot for this information to come out at the beginning, especially as it’s so…
When NaNoWriMo 2012 came around, I asked what story I should focus on, the alternate history X-Men meets Harry Potter meets Girl Genius (most of which was finished) or the fantasy world with everything from mages to werewolves to dragons to vampires and everything but the kitchen sink. Both of the stories contained a cast of characters I had worked with in more than one venue, starting with a modern day tale that just didn’t work. However, I took the…
Part of last night’s conversation was in response to Boy #2’s suggestion that we watch The Scarlet Pimpernel (Anthony Andrews, Jane Seymour, and Ian McKellan, 1982). We finally bought a DVD version of this because our taped-from-my-parents’-TV VHS copy died. Hubby led off the discussion on “fictional gentlemen adventurers with secret identities”, with an eye to finding out if there was one older than Sir Percy Blakeney. I mean, the Baroness D’Orczy wrote The Scarlet Pimpernel back in 1903. There…
Within just a day, I’ve had the pleasure of hauling out my Thunderbirds knowledge (with all the attendant books and other paraphernalia) to help a couple of fellow fanfic writers and personal friends. It was certainly fun, especially all the stuff about Alan Tracy’s educational background. Add to this my posting the first chapter of one of my short stories (Burning Muses) at AO3 and uploading a new post to my RP, and I’m full of Thunderbirds at the moment….
Yes, I made it to 50K (total of 50,257 actually) on my NaNoNovel, Wight Knights. No, as usual I didn’t actually finish the thing. I will admit to doing some cut and paste from my 2010 novel, Tales of the Spruce Moose, so yes, I cheated a little. Much of what I cut and pasted needed editing anyway to fit my current storyline, which has morphed somewhat from last year’s series of short stories. Some of what I counted (about…
Been working on coding things for my personal fiction site. I’ve finished and posted Mosaic – though that will be updated when the muse strikes – and I’m working on The White Winds. There’s still lots to do, but I’m almost halfway through the chapter formatting. I’ve managed to get it down to a routine. Open the .txt files, put in the chapter coding snippet for each chapter. Scroll down and add the back and forward buttons snippet. Tweak them…
The Girl got her beginner’s permit today. She needed it by tomorrow for Driver’s Ed, so when she got home from school, we boogied on up to the Dept. of Motor Vehicles so she could take the "Knowledge Test". I’d already printed out the necessary forms and had filled in (with typing where possible) the information. Before we left, we double-checked all the identification she had to bring with her: Social Security card, birth certificate, and proof of residency (in…