Short Day

[rolanni]

Had some stuff to do today, so a short word day.  Tomorrow, first thing! to Skowhegan and the yearly eye exam.  I expect I’m going to come out of that with a prescription for new glasses, but!  We shall see.

Has anyone here used a Virtual Assistant, and if so, how has that worked out for you?  Me, I’m still trying to figure out how to outsource doing the dishes.  Or the bookkeeping.  Or, hey!  The filing.

Progress on Ghost Ship:

71,300 words/100,000 OR 71.3% complete

OR, if we take Steve’s estimate as More Realistic

71,300 words/125,000 OR 57.04% complete

. . .I’m not sure I can bear only being 57% done, after having written damn’ near 26,000 words in two weeks, so I think I’m just gonna run with the 100,000 word Mental Health Plan for the time being.

Originally published at Sharon Lee, Writer. You can comment here or there.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Look at it this way....

If you actually windup needing Steve's estimate and continue with the MHP, you will have a nice looking percentage at the end! 125%!!! Everyone likes more than 100%.

Susan in Orlando

after having written damn’ near 26,000 words in two weeks

[(Anonymous)]

So you've already written the overage, right? Many kudos to you.

When I'm shopping for books and one has grabbed my interest, I'm always willing to pay a little more for a longer book. It seems fair and right. I'm hoping that all your extra effort is suitably rewarded when it comes compensation time.

Barb in Bandon

Re: after having written damn’ near 26,000 words in two weeks

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Um. . .

Publishers charge more for longer books, which is, as you mention, only fair and right, because -- more paper, more words to be typeset and copy edited. . .

"Compensation time. . ." You're speaking, perhaps, of royalties?

Royalties, if any, for this book will start arriving, maybe, in 2013. Assuming a 2011 pub date, which is an Assumption Made by the Author; I don't think we have a firm pub date from the publisher, which is also fair and right, because I'm still writing the book, right? And also assuming that it sells like a sonofagun first thing out of the box, which is not the way the smart money bets.

So, the thrill of a couple cents (if so much -- not in the mood to do Imaginary Arithmetic at this hour) extra in royalties for a longer book isn't at this stage much of a carrot. Actually, compensation is right out of the picture at the moment. What I'm focused on is trying to write the best damn' book I'm capable of writing right now.

Without, yanno, killing myself.

Or missing the deadline.

Again.

Re: after having written damn’ near 26,000 words in two weeks

[(Anonymous)]

Ya, I was looking for the buried pony and missed the point entirely. I want you to not be "killing myself" either. Barb

[msagara.livejournal.com]

Don't you love the "more realistic" estimates? I get them all the time. Sometimes I really, really appreciate them, too. Sometimes.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I really, really appreciate them, too.

...and then there's the, "Wait! I did all this work, and the percent completed is less than when I started?"

*sticks head back in sand*

[keristor.livejournal.com]

Hmm, you could do it on a sliding scale. Like 1000 words per day, for instance. So tomorrow you'd take the percentage out of 101k, the next day out of 102k, etc., so as long as you then write at least 713 words per day then your percentage won't drop, it just won't rise as fast. (Or if you wanted to do it slower, say 50 days, you'd only have to write 356.5 words per day to stay even, but that half word might get confusing.)

I could write an app. for that (call it iMovingTarget) but Apple wouldn't like it, you'd have to run it from the command line, which in their case they have not got. It'd run fine on Linux and other Unix systems though...

Bribe?

[claire774.livejournal.com]

I love the gal who says folks will pay more for a larger book. Don't know if you remember the mental health of one of your big fans, Anne McCaffrey. She says that she reads your books when she's depressed. That's what I do too. So....what would be a good bribe for your mental health? Large chocolate cake? Dinner for two at your favorite restaurant? Alternatively dinner for two at home with candlelight and flowers, best china and glassware? Trip to that lighthouse that's for sale? Just name your price for 125,000 words. These suggestions for Steve. For me it would probably be the adoption of another cat. It's very hard to have too many cats. Believe me I know. My neighbor has something like 25 at her home all set up for cats with walkways up along the ceiling and such. Beautiful house. Immaculately clean. I have seen only photos since me allergic to cats. She also fosters for my employer, large animal shelter in UT. luckily for us our county counts dogs, allowed around 16 out in the county. Only 2 in town. Ridiculous. The county doesn't count cats. Anyway, name your price.....Where you have to work so hard we get to live in that world for however long which is worth a lot. Good luck. Claire and Gus and the rest of the naughty furry Gang.

New glasses?

[(Anonymous)]

You can get a real deal on glasses here http://www.zennioptical.com/home.php
Clark Howard (consumer advocate) recommends them. http://clarkhoward.com/liveweb/shownotes/2007/06/27/12362/
Sue H

[drammar.livejournal.com]

I am a Virtual Assistant -- among other things.

For most of my clients that means a few hours a week sending invoices or putting together workshop materials. For others, it gets way more complex.

Outsourcing the filing is tough -- unless you have a hands-on Virtual Assistant. And if I could figure out a way to outsource my own dishes I'd do it!

But day-to-day bookkeeping isn't that hard, provided that you have such tools as on-line banking, fax machines, and a common accounting software.

If you like, feel free to check out my web page:
http://writeforyouvirtualassistants.com/

connect the dots

[(Anonymous)]

I recently reread Balance of Trade and noticed the appearance of Uncle and family. Just curious if the Ven Deelin and Jethri are going to show up in Ghost Ship.

Uncle

[(Anonymous)]

Didn't Uncle first appear in Crystal Soldier? And Dosty or whatever her name is, one of the pod who developed self-awareness and whom Cantra and Jela took to the Uncle? And again in Crystal Dragon? That struck me from the time Theo met the Uncle and his female assistant. Are they clones of clones of clones of the original, or made practically immortal by the fancy auto-doc?

Hopefully, all will be made clear in Ghost Ship and other stories of interest. It must be fun to make all these different people and places into a coherent overall background. Do you have a lot of this in your head, or is it bit by bit, and some pure luck?

If this is a closely guarded secret, please tell me to butt out. Otherwise, I'd love to know.

One of your older admirers,

Joan C

Online glasses site reviews

[(Anonymous)]

I'm not going to post a direct link, but if you Google "glassy eyes" your first result should be a blog & forum site with reviews of multiple vendors & sometimes discount codes for same. Expect to be well under 50 for single-vision, a bit more for fancier or tints.
Alan / fencepost (googleable)