I should have gotten way more done.
I am a slow writer, as always, and I wasn't especially focused today--this novel has felt like digging in frosted ground with a plastic shovel from the beginning. I continue to hope that this is a good thing, that I am breaking down writing barriers I never even knew I had to become a better writer. These things don't come easily after all.
And now, a first draft snippet for you loyal readers out there (non-loyal readers, please avert your eyes):
The rusty pump jutted out of the ground at a slight angle, like a stray eye tooth. The ground around it had been trampled into mud by snow and feet and slopped-over buckets of water, but a single gray plank was laid across it from the harder ground of the alley to the front of the pump.
Tater took a step out of the alley towards it and immediately a creature stepped in front of her. She couldn't tell if it was a man, woman or a bear stuffed under the giant buffalo coat standing in front of her. Probably a man, since a bear would be quite noticeable in the city and it was unlikely a woman could be seven feet tall. Its head was covered in a fur cap, however, that looked suspiciously like a lady's. A scarf covered their face and a cap shaded their eyes. It held out a leather-mittened hand to her.
"I'm s-s-sorry," Tater squeaked. "I don't have any money." She looked up at the creature with wide, innocent eyes and then tried to step around it.
Which, of course, was never going to work. The creature put out a hand to stop her, but instead of grabbing her shoulder like she expected, it put its hand firmly but gently on the side of her face and held her there.
Tater froze in shock. It was an oddly unthreatening gesture, but even more frightening by its intimacy. The mitten smelled of old leather, like a sweaty saddle.
She stepped backwards, out of the creature's grasp.
So, basically, he's gonna swing by and pick us up.
11 hours of plane trips are less painful when you get to hang out with your boyfriend AND your brother. I am happy :)
My feet hurt. My knees hurt, my hips hurt...you get the idea. But the worst part is that I am going braindead. I was having trouble remembering what I was doing at work yesterday. Then when I spoke to my brother last night, I couldn't even form full sentances. I called my mom for her birthday and forgot to say Happy Birthday until she prompted me (yes, I owe my mother chocolate for this). I completely forgot about a writing event I had RSVPed to last night and just went home.
Just now, I started to get up to make tea to take to work with me. I still have half a cup of coffee left and I don't leave for work for 2 hours. I can't imagine how I'll make it through today, much less tomorrow, our busiest day of the week.
I have to go cleanse myself at some point in the next hour. Let's hope I don't forget how. I smell like cheese. I'm just going to smell like cheese again at the end of the day, but hot water will feel nice.
On a happier note, I have money again.
Sunday I plan to stay in bed until noon before we have to clean and pack.
Also of note: I already had a tag for cheese before today. Who knew?
We're sorry to say that this manuscript is not right for us, in spite of its evident merit. Unfortunately, we are receiving so many submissions that it is impossible for us to reply more specifically. We thank you for the chance to consider your work.
The Editors
It seems too needlessly encouraging to be a form letter, but who knows. I don't know anyone who has gotten either an acceptance or rejection from them. I was hoping to take a shot at a wider audience with this one. It's the closest I've ever come to writing anything that might cross into literary circles. Maybe I should try Zoetrope next.
April 22: 902
April 23: 1056
April 24: 0 (Excuse du jour: worked 8 hrs at day job)
April 25: 1363
April 26: 548
April 27: 421 (?)
April 28: 692
You can see my wordcount slowed abruptly. That's because on Saturday I brainstormed some ideas with Sara K. and decided to change a bunch of things. I think these things will make it better, but it means being more thoughtful (once again) about how the beginning is laid out. That's why the ? after my count on 4/27--I was going through and tacking on bits and pieces, here and there so I'm not sure what the real count of "new" words was. For me, slower usually equals better. A lot of stuff I wrote on those last couple of thousand word days is pretty fluffy and will probably be cut anyways.
Today I have managed to procrastinate writing for a solid hour while making my flu kit and updated emergency kit list. I believe that when the apolcalypse happens, there is an 80% chance that it will be the superflu, and that it could happen in my lifetime. Thus, I'd like to always stay prepared. Plus, I live in Earthquake Land, so I don't have to be panicked to justify this as being important. A while ago, I finally managed to make us a go-bag and a small stock of emergency food/candles/meds. At the time I was really proud of that, since normally we are the kind of people who would have one box of cereal and a jar of pickles in our pantry. Now, six months later, it looks paltry. It wouldn't feed the two of us for a week. So I must add more long-term foodstuffs to the list too!
Of course, I could have done all that this afternoon.
April 16, 2009: 867
April 17, 2009: 1022
April 20, 2009: 1003
April 21, 2009: 926
You can see I took myself a nice long weekend in there. What can I say, my brother was here. Today I'm only up to 300 or so, but I don't have to go to work, so I have time. But my point is that these wordcounts are fairly high (for me) and remarkably steady.
Also, I have a new job. Not entirely sure how I feel about it quite yet, but, well, it'll be different. And it sort of fell into my lap with no struggling or anxiety on my part, which is a bonus. I despise looking for a job.
Plus, Jill Scott.
PLUS, awesome music that is enough on its own to bring joy into your heart.
What Happens in Vegas, on the other hand, looked like a crappy farce comedy, full of badly done physical humor. But last night The Boy and I felt like watching a brainless romantic comedy. Instead, what we got was a rather clever romantic comedy. I'm not saying it's great cinema. You have to kind of suspend your disbelief, like you're watching an 80s movie, actually, where judges can order people to do anything. But I laughed out loud a lot--I think the director did a great job in making even very simple moments more funny than just the dialogue allowed for.
For example, when the two main characters have a falling out, the guy's buddy comes up to ask for the girl's phone number. Instead of just saying, "Dude, can I get her number?", the guy asks, then gets out his cell phone, pushes a few buttons (we all know he's going into "New Contact") and then says, "Okay, I'm ready."
That's FUNNY.
It would probably take me until Memorial Day to get around to sending it out anyways, so I should probably just hold my horses until then. I think it would be a pretty good fit for WT, as it's one of the oddest little stories I've ever written.
Hooray!
And also...Iowa? California, hang your head low. Very, very low.
If any of you are thinking of doing a summer writing workshop this year, the deadline for Odyssey is rapidly approaching. I LOVED my time there, and learned crazy amounts of stuff:
ODYSSEY WRITING WORKSHOP
ANNOUNCES SUMMER 2009 SESSION
Odyssey class time is split between workshopping sessions and lectures. An advanced, comprehensive curriculum covers the elements of fiction writing in depth. Students learn the tools and techniques necessary to strengthen their writing.
other's work. Prospective students, aged eighteen and up, apply from all over the world. The early admission application deadline is JANUARY 31st, and the regular admission deadline is APRIL 8th.
Meet Our 2009 Writer-in-Residence
Odyssey's 2009 writer-in-residence is Carrie Vaughn, New York Times bestselling author and Odyssey 1998 graduate. Carrie is the author of the phenomenally popular "Kitty" novels, about a werewolf who hosts a talk radio show. The first novel, Kitty and the Midnight Hour has over a hundred thousand copies in print. Books five and six of the series, Dead Man's Hand and Kitty Raises Hell, will appear in 2009. Carrie's short stories have appeared in Realms of Fantasy, Weird Tales, George R. R. Martin's Wild Cards series, and other anthologies. She has a Master's degree in English Literature from the
Odyssey is pleased to welcome its 2009 guest lecturers: bestselling author Jeffrey A. Carver; award-winning authors Melissa Scott, Patricia Bray, and Jack Ketchum, and Editor-in-Chief of the Ace and Roc science fiction/fantasy imprints, Ginjer Buchanan.
Other Odyssey Resources and Services
The Odyssey website www.odysseyworkshop.org offers free podcasts, writing and publishing tips, a class syllabus, and more information about how to apply. An overview of the Odyssey Critique Service is also available on the website at http://www.sff.net/odyssey/crit.html. This service provides authors with professional-level feedback on their writing, done with the thoroughness and depth for which Odyssey is known.
Those interested in applying to the workshop should visit the website, phone/fax (603) 673-6234, or e-mail jcavelos@sff.net.
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odysseyworkshop . Even if you aren't interested in attending the workshop, they publish great interviews and writing tips over there.But that means it's fun random picture time! Yay kids! Our first batch is from 2005--these are photos my uncle took of the farm in Northern Wisconsin where I grew up and where my parents still live.
( Click for Camp 20 farm pics ).
I'm a little baffled as to where to send this next. It's somewhat light-hearted, quirky fantasy. Despite that, the people who have like it most were Clarkesworld. It's the closest I've ever come to selling anything to them. Now I sort of wish I had held off until I had this new and improved version, but you just never know.
I could try F&SF, but I'd really like to send Fratham there next, and I think it has a better chance.
So I guess I'm trolling for anthologies at this point. Any suggestions?
The good thing about this is that it has inspired me to update the old spreadsheet and get some submissions moving. I finished tweaking both "Tornado Juice" and the Jewish old man story. The latter, in particular, I still think is a pretty flippin' great story.
So for "fun", I sent my Jewish old man story to the New Yorker first. Hey, it's magical realism, technically. If I ever have a shot at cracking a literary market, this is it (the story, I mean, not this particular market). They have an 8 week turnaround. I'll let you know how it goes.
I sent "Tornado Juice" to Fantasy Magazine. Their turnaround, if they hold to it, is a beautiful 72 hours. Maybe it wouldn't take me three years to get each story published if all zines could do this? Eh?
Now I should rewrite "A Bidding, a Binding." It needs to be ripped apart, but there's some good creepy stuff there.
I'm working on a necklace now. It's harder than I would have expected to make something that looks nice and elegant, instead of something I would have made out of pop-beads when I was 6. Things don't always balance properly.
That said, I have a feeling that if I had to watch it again right now, on a regular TV, I would get a bit bored. But the 3D worked so well, and the animation is just off the charts. Definitely a theater movie.
WonderCon: I know now why I've never been before. It's just not really my thing. It's too big, too comic-heavy. I enjoyed my one day though. The costumes are fun to look at. I saw Luke and Leia in all their middle-aged glory. The highlight for me was hearing Michael Chabon interviewed. I was not a fan of Kavalier and Klay, however, he's very fun to listen to, and I have wanted to read the Yiddish Policeman's Union ever since ReaderCon. I should get on that.
The two other highlights were seeing the trailer for the new Star Trek (I got chills! And I'm not even a fan!) and seeing the trailer for "9". Both movies had discussions with the actors afterwards--the actor who plays Siler from Heroes was fun, and of course, Elijah Wood who is the voice of 9 was adorable (How do you like that, Jeanne?)
The novel: it moves slowly
Lately I have become mildly obsessed with Numb3rs. I think David Krumhotlz is just adorable, and of course I love Rob Morrow. I was raised on Northern Exposure. It's a pretty easy show to just drop in on, enjoy professor-types spewing out equations, and then continue on with your life. Plus, they use smart vocabulary. I think it is partially filling the hole caused by the gap between seasons of Sons of Anarchy. Also, it balances the mindless idiocy of American Idol, which I continue to watch, against my own best judgment.
Tracking my million words of crap.
grahamfielding added his own crap lineup over on his blog, so I thought I'd see where I was at:
One completed novel 92,560 (plus AT LEAST 10,000 handwritten stuff I tossed)
3 partial novels 42,750; 37376; 4000
19 Short stories currently on my computer at an average of 5000 each = 95000
screenplays 12413; 7762; 6000
1 sold short story 3000
At least 7 short stories over the years that I lost on the last 2 laptops = 35000
3 beginnings of novels from when I was a teenager ~ 60000 (that's a low estimate)
Handwritten stuff - I'm going to tack on 10,000 words for that. I do a lot of longhand that never makes it to the computer.
Total so far: 415,861
I'm not as far into my million words of crap as I had expected. None of this is counting revisions, stuff I cut from stories entirely, "notes" and character outlines for stories, or anything written before 1994 (when my family got a computer). I'd guess that would add another 20,000 or more.
Another way to look at this is something Malcolm Gladwell talks about in "Outliers." I don't think this is his statistic, but he mentions that it takes someone 10,000 hours to be an expert at something. If you wrote 1 hour a day, every single day, that would take you over 27 years to become an expert. Yikes. Let's say I've done about that for the past 5 years. In the ten years before that, I did about half that time. That means I've got ten years down. Let's say Odyssey skimmed a whole year more off. I've got 16 more to go.
I was all encourage by my nearly half a million words of crap. Now I'm discouraged by the 16 more years it's going to take me to reach excellence. I'm going to have to get serious about doubling up my writing time. If I did that, it would take 8 more years and I'd be 36 years old...seems about right, actually. Oh well.
ETA: ericreynolds pointed out to me that the story I've sold isn't crap (and not just because he published it--anything I sell should be deemed not-crap). So I'm removing that amount. Man, if I manage to sell any of those other stories my count is going to go DOWN faster than it goes UP.
The only thing I would do differently is to go ahead and make a double batch. By the time we were finished picking at the warm bits and eating some afterwards, there was very little left. It would have been pretty much the same amount of work too.
Still on cheese kick--will upload my first cheddar pics soon!
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