j_cheney: (Default)
316/604 pages through the fast read-through. Eyes tired. Cleaned up one of the loose ends. (Had a prop that just faded out of existence.) Got one more waiting to be fixed.

When I hit page 604 last time, I was disappointed. I didn't feel I'd accomplished what I wanted with the book. Reading it through again, though, I feel much better. I'm still enjoying reading it, and I did pretty well hitting the mark after all.

I'll be mailing a big box of candy (mostly M&Ms) to Australia later this morning. American candy, it seems, uses corn starch as a thickening agent rather than wheat gluten (meaning that wheat-intolerant Aussies can't eat their own wheaty M&Ms) I hadn't known that before last summer, but it makes perfect sense given their crops there. One of those things writers need to keep in mind. ::wags finger like schoolmarm::
j_cheney: (Default)
I'm tired of the rainy and cool. I realize that come August/September/October, when it's boiling hot and dry, I'll regret wanting it to go away, but for now I'm heartlily sick of it. Yes, I realize I'm saving money in watering and mowing, but a few of my plants are teetering on the verge of root rot, including two of my new bluebeards. Grrr....

The moles, however, are loving this weather, which makes ground-swimming easy for them.

We bought new maps for our GPS (in prep to go to Wisconsin), but when we started loading them, the computer said the device didn't have enough memory (so we only loaded certain areas). Would have been handy for them to tell us that before we spent the money. ::rolls eyes::

Process note:
I've finished the draft of DitD, and am taking a week or so to do edits. For example, in order to get some character arcs straight, I have a couple of conversations that need to be altered...nost notably one in chapter 2. This change will, however, provoke a cascade of smaller dialog alterations throughout the book....which means a complete read-through. I can do that, and if you were wondering, I will be incoporating the dratted spring rains as I go along. So, fast read-through progress? 58/602....

602/602

May. 8th, 2009 05:08 pm
j_cheney: (Hurry...)
So, I hit page 602/602 on the revison today. I think that means 'done'

The ending needs to be tweaked, and I'm going to spend a few days cleaning up little odds and ends, but after that it's going to the first reader. Finally.

Outta here...

Almost done

May. 7th, 2009 07:15 am
j_cheney: (Sword)
From the Horoscope wars:
You might find that there is an element of fantasy about the day that is causing you to lose track of time and space. Don't bother connecting to reality if you don't have to.

Oh, right....and how is this different from any other day?

I reached 95% of the way through the WIP rewrite last night. I think I'll be finishing today, and will follow up with some cosmetic tweaking for a couple of days after that, then off it goes to the first reader.

Then I'll return to working on short stories and novellas. Yay!!
j_cheney: (Sky)
The sun finally made an appearance this afternoon, after days and days of Seattle-ish weather. Did a touch of yard work, but didn't bother with the dead snake or dead skink. I keep hoping something will come along and eat them. The ground is really soggy out there.

I'm starting this work period at 85% through the WIP. The major changes have been made, so now it's only cosmetic from here to the epilog. Perhaps tomorrow? The WIP has ballooned from 95 to 120K, not too surprising, and I'm hoping the first reader will spot all the boring bits so I can chop about 10K out of that.

Tomorrow is two weeks to Wiscon, and I'm not ready.
j_cheney: (Sleepy)
71% through the re-write. Still hoping to finish by April 30. Will get it done. I will.

Dog woke me up 3 times last night.

I'm trying to get back into reading. I've hardly read anything since January. Yep, January. I feel bad about this.

So yesterday, I spent and hour and a half reading Sensation and Perception, skimming a lot of the technical info on eyeballs. I'm not nearly as interested in Sensation as I am in Perception, it seems.

Later today, I will read some fiction. I will.

WIP

Apr. 11th, 2009 09:12 am
j_cheney: (Weeping)
It's spring on the south side of the mountains. It's more arid to the northern side of the range. It should be raining. I've forgotten to make it rain. Drat.

Now I have something else to fix.
j_cheney: (Bunny)
So, one of the problems with a novel revision is....remembering where you put things. I had to move some info forward, and now I'm in a chapter which has an info-y discussion....and I can't remember which tidbits I moved into earlier spots in the text. Drat. Now I'm gonna have to wear out 300 pages of text with searches and hope that I can arrange not to repeat myself. ::sighs::

So I'm currently going back and forth at the 60% mark, fidgiting over every single line. Ick.

On the gardening front:
All the limestone blocks are moved and in place.
Pinched finger is sore and achy, but usable.

From the garage:
Finally a chance to use that quick dry cement we've had forever (to cement the limestone)
From the back yard:
Will transplant some hostas and ajugas
At the expensve garden store:
Found an oakleaf hydrangea that can go where the 4.5 privets were, plus some anemones and pecan shell mulch.
At the cheap store:
Getting top-soil, a new metal rake (old one is busted), and many wax-leaf begonias.

Oddly, heucheras are pretty much 12.99...no matter where you go.
(I've gone to Lowe's, Ace Hardware, Walmart, TLC...all 12,99)
j_cheney: (Sword)
Page 277/510 on the Devil in the Details revision. Up to 101K now.

I passed through the halfway mark at some point today, but didn't kill anyone.

On track to finish by the end of April.
j_cheney: (NewCross)
Got over the awkward-scene hump, I'm on page 207/510 on DitD. The new scene changes a lot of things from here out, though, so I'm going to have to do extra work on the last 300 pages.

So far I'm still at a 5/5 on reviews on Amazon. I hope that continues to be the case.

Today is cheat day, so pizza tonight. We're thinking Papa John's.

The Hugo noms are up, making me sad that I'm not going to be able to vote. “26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss” by Kij Johnson (Asimov’s Jul 2008) is on the short story list and as much as I like the other noms, I do hope Kij finishes the night with that award in her hands. ;o)

Admitedly, I don't have a lot of knowledge about the other categories, and I haven't read any of the nominated novels (oops!).

But then there's the Campbell Award for Best New Writer. An awful lot of people are eligible for this every year (many of whom don't even realize it), far more than show up on the official 'eligibles' page. However, I don't think that they could have picked better nominees. It's going to be tough, particularly with the split between short-story people and novelists. I'm pulling for [livejournal.com profile] aliettedb or [livejournal.com profile] wistling to win. ::fingers crossed::
j_cheney: (Hurry...)
I've been mostly gone for the last few days, on the road and only managing to slip in an occasional comment. I'll catch up with people as time allows....

Spent time with family down in Texas. They need rain, of course....but there is this.

They're always a nice thing to see, although I'll have to go back later to catch the bloom.

Got only a little work done, but I think I'm ready to redo the end of the outline for DitD, got the last of it worked out in my head.

WOTF has contacted us, and apparently they want to officially 'release' the book on Friday the 13th, L. Ron Hubbard's birthday. I had the opportunity to send birthday wishes in, but it looks like I missed their deadline....

Trying to catch up today.

Received in Mail: Midnight Never Come by [livejournal.com profile] swan_tower (We'll see when I ever get time to read that!), plus coffee, and Nebula ballot.
j_cheney: (Bunny)
Did about two and a half hours of yardwork. Crowbars are surprisingly useful grardening tools.

Got my new Dark Lords* in the mail today. They look all pale and wimpy.

Re-organized office a bit. Tired, and entering the stupid "I'll never sell anything again" phase of my writer's cycle. Meh.

Rewrite proceeding, just over 1/3 of the way through. Plot bunny, as always, supplying information for something I'm not working on.
____________________________

*Geraniums. Dark Lord Geraniums. They're really called that.

Fencing

Feb. 24th, 2009 01:59 pm
j_cheney: (Sword)
The fence guys are finally here.

I can't watch. It's painful. They're tromping over my irises, through the larkspur. Ouch! I can't watch.

A friend has started a new e-zine Heroic Fantasy Quarterly. All I can say is more power to them!

I'm on page 78/470 of the DitD revision. There aren't going to be too many changes up front. Mostly small dialog changes, and some continuity stuff. About page 350, it's gonna go beserk.

I can't watch....
j_cheney: (NewCross)
No Oscars last night. Made cookies and watched Nature.

I was extremely perturbed when the invading pack of wolves (the Slews?) killed the local coyote male (they caught the chase and the death on film). Normally, that sort of thing doesn't bother me, but I was seriously pulling for the coyote. When the Slews had a series of misfortunes that reduced their numbers and broke up the pack, I told [livejournal.com profile] displacedtexan, "That's what they get for killing the coyote." Fortunately the coyote's mate had three healthy pups and the other pack (The Druids) came back and retook the valley. (Yay! Justice!)

Today? Fence guys. Mailing. Work on DitD rewrite.

Horoscope 1 says...
A project that you're rather excited about could require some intense work alone today, dear Libra. You...need to concentrate in order to get the best possible results. Nonetheless, at the end of the day you're likely to be quite happy with what you've accomplished. Go to it!

Horoscope 2 says...
Professionally speaking, you are going through a period of reflection, which might cause you to withdraw into yourself somewhat. ...it could well be that you decide to keep your office door shut today. Your projects are at a critical stage right now, and you are only too aware that rigor and patience are now needed. It would be sensible to explain this to your colleagues or bosses, since your inactivity might seem like laziness to the uninitiated.

Actually rather apt, today. So I am working, folks, and I'm gonna go offline for most of the day....I am NOT being lazy. There, I explained.
j_cheney: (Sword)
I'm trying to have discipline in certain areas, although the miserable cold hasn't helped. So far so good, though.

Things I'm working on for the next month:

These aren't so much 'goals' as what I'm planning to work on...

Dreaming Death
I'm going through my mss scene by scene (planned at 1 chapter a day) and making certain that each scene has enough setting detail. This is a weak point for me that writing short stories has not helped much. I'm not naturally big on setting, and often in my own reading, I skim through setting sections.

The problem here stems from the fact that one of the POV characters is blind. That is not the real challenge, BTW--I've sold blind characters before. The challenge is that I tend to forget that in the scenes with the other POVs....and waste a chance to put in lovely visual details. That's what I'm looking out for. (Also, I found a typo in the first 32 pages. Eep! As many times as this mss has beeen combed, I should have caught every one.)

Ah, well. I'm hoping that in the next novel, I'll remember to write each scene with lots of setting. That way I don't have to do it later (it's almost always a 'second draft' thing for me).

Iron Shoes
I'm working on the re-write of Iron Shoes as well, one section at a time. I'm through section 1 (which had the most massive changes) and will start 2 today.

Devil in the Details
I'm hoping to have both of the above done by the end of the month so that I can start on Feb 2 on the rewrite of DitD. So right now, I'm thinking about DitD. Like with most finished rough drafts, I'm thinking about the story arcs and how to make them 'land' properly. One of the things that I had trouble with is that Kirien's original motivation is lost, replaced by another....which leaves something to be desired in the 'reader satisfaction' area.

Today while I was in the shower, I finally figured out the connection between the two motivations, which should allow me to restructure some of the plot details nicely. Woo Hoo!
(OK, it doesn't sound big, but it makes the difference between a weak plot and a solid one.)

Anything else?
No, not really. If the plot bunny throws something my way, I'll bite, but right now these should keep me busy.

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j_cheney: (Default)
J. Kathleen Cheney

August 2023

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