Writer Babble

[rolanni]

This afternoon, after gym, I took Sabu (an AlphaSmart Dana) to the blue chair in the living room window and sat down to do Fast Draft. I was joined in this endeavor by Mozart, who tried to figure out how best to /i/n/t/e/r/f/e/r/e assist me in my work. He tried sitting on the back of the chair. He tried sitting on the window sill. He tried curling up in the cat cuddle right next to the chair. He tried sitting on the arm of the chair. At last, he found his position: between me and the right arm rest. This is a big cat and I'm still not sure how he fit, but he did, and promptly fell into the nap of the just. Inundated with sleep rays, I soldiered on, sketching in the shape of the chapter through dialog. When I was done, I brought Sabu back to the desktop, sync'd, opened the file and started layering. Which has consumed the late afternoon and early evening. The chapter's not quite done, but I'm pretty happy with it.

I would really like to have a complete second draft done before we go to SheVaCon, so the story can sit and rest while we're out of context for a week. Don't know if I'm going to make it, since Sunday I'll have to break out of this project and settle into Sword of Orion for awhile.

I'm trying not to worry at this point about the book being too long, though there's a lot of story that remains to be told before we find safe orbit. I figure, if worse comes to worst, I can pull the first 20,000 words. I'd hate to do it, because I think it adds resonance to some of the later action, but the story could survive without it -- and I don't have to make that decision tonight.

There's also a significant Chunk of Stuff down there in the middle that's just ...the wrong shape -- lumpen and thick. It's a fairly self-contained section, and its infelicities are not enough to distort the action that follows, so I've been resisting the urge to go back to cut and shape, preferring to make forward wordage. Still, it does sorta niggle. On the other hand, this whole book is going to have to have at least one -- and probably two -- more thorough passes to bring it up to spec. Argh. Keep your eyes on the page.

In other writing news, the fine folks at Buzzy Multimedia promise us a CD with the rough cut of the first chapter of the Local Custom audiobook RSN. I'm really eager to hear this...
******

Project: Crystal Dragon, Second Draft
New Words: 2336
Total Words: 82,687
Goal: 150,000+/-

Comments

[tltrent.livejournal.com]

Will do. Let us hope the good weather down here holds. :) In the meantime, where's the best place to get your books?

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

The last time we were down to Roanoke -- February 2000, I think it was -- the natives were complaining about how cold it'd been. A couple days before we arrived it had snowed and there was an inch or so still on the ground. The hotel we were in had a nice enclosed garden, and after breakfast we went out for a walk. It was sunny and warm -- maybe 32/35F -- any wind cut off by the walls of the hotel. Got back inside to find the headwaiter of the restaurant staring at us as if we'd taken leave of our senses. "You could freeze, being out there in your shirt sleeves!"

Books... If you have a local SF genre shop, they'd be your best bet, I guess. Otherwise, Barnes and Noble, Walden, Borders, Amazon and all that lot should have them, in varying editions. Walden's more likely to have the Ace mass markets; B&N (around here, at least) tends to carry the Meisha Merlin editions -- hardcover and tradepaper, that would be. Or at the con -- Meisha Merlin will have a table in the dealers room.

[tltrent.livejournal.com]

Hehe...I'm sure they did look at you as though you were insane...We handle heat and humidity down here in the bowl (as we call it), but cold..not so much. Starting to feel a little Spring-y here (some daff stalks are up, I see), so maybe you'll be in luck!

Books are readily available, it seems. Yay. Once I'm well enough to leave the house again, shall go seek them out. Looking forward to meeting you...