Long Day Ahead

I've got a meeting in the Beav town.  It's going to eat my whole day.  The kids will be heading off for some last minute vacationing for a couple of days, so I'll come back to a house full of pissed-off critters.

I made some progress on one of the sequel novels last night, finished up a chapter.  The characters are just now realizing how deep in they've gotten and they're all scared, except Gutter, who's annoyed.  Lark's done the equivalent of eloping with a high school sweetheart as far as Gutter is concerned and he's going to try to salvage the situation.  Salvage for Gutter will equal big problems for Lark, and he'll have to choose between double crossing Gutter or betraying his master.  Yay conflict!

Big Writing Day At Last!

I had a big writing day yesterday. 

I combed through Mayhem, touching up a few things before I progressed in the plot.  This is the dreaded first novel, but it had something in it that caught Donald Maass' attention enough that he asked me if I had anything else, back in the day before I knew about stewing time.  I sent him Beggar Smith, a barely-polished rough draft that I thought was all that.  Not so much it turns out.    Although Beggar has some stuff going for it, it's rough writing and has several confusing areas that desperately need tidying.  Anyway, I try to write forward, not back, but Mayhem has stuck with me and I'm working on a complete from-scratch rewrite.  

Signet got quite a few words as well.  When I was sick I hand wrote--it was too uncomfortable to sit in my kneeling chair in the chilly office and I don't have my own laptop (yet.)  I had about 2000 words written is all, which transcribed into 1500 (I edit when I transcribe) of setting up a quick little duel.  After the duel I got Mark back to his room where he got to have a bad moment with Winsome.  It's hard not to rush to the next scene in Signet.  I have lots of plans and I want to get to them and, even more, I want to discover what curve balls my brain will throw when I get there.  One reason I'm not big on outlines is because so many surprises crop up.  I guess I'd call myself a crisis jumper.  I know what the next crisis will be, I just don't know how the character will cope with it or how the bad guys will counter, which affects everything that follows.  I do have some general ideas about plot further into the novel so I'm not completely at sea, like who's the bad guy, and who's the secret bad guy, and who ends up actually being a good guy, but a worse threat than the real bad guy.  How that plot resolves will lead to the third and final (ahem, unless I decide to write another) nameless (possibly Rapier) novel in the series, where Mark will have to stand toe to toe against his idol and mentor, the wicked and irrepressible Gutter.  Yeah, I'm eager to get to that novel but there's enough going on in Signet that I'm not tempted to 'skip to the good part.'

That's an eight or so hour day (well, maybe more like twelve.  I was up pretty late last night.)  It's been a long time since I've had a full day (with interruptions for meals and a few chores) of writing.  It feels good.  I look forward to lots more full-time writing work days ahead.  I might even get something accomplished!

A Gardening Day

I've got dirt around my wrists.  You know what that means.

I've had my gardening gloves on.

After what seems like forever we had some actual sunshine around here.  The dry (if cloudy) weather preceding it helped drain the sludge (aka garden soil) so that today it was workable.  I planted my quaking grass, holy mole peppers, anchusa, and love lies bleeding seedlings.  I also managed to transplant my pampas grass starts into gallon containers.  

I'm still a dizzy muffin but I'm feeling much, much better today.  Just in time to go to work tomorrow.  Ugh.  Went to the doctor and the doctor said, no more monkeys--actually, she looked confident that the treatment I'm signed up for will work.  So, come July, I'll have to suffer for another week and then voila!  Things should get better.  Not instantly, but over the course of the following months.

I wrote a weird story (probably too weird to be publishable) and worked some on Signet while I reclined on the couch last night.  I know, I know, again with the rewarding being sick thing.  But it felt good to play in the Masks universe again without (shudder) having to edit the manuscript.  I much prefer first draft writing over editing, at least for now.  Maybe I'll change my mind after the master's course.

Speaking of rewards for being infirm, apparently we get punished for getting better.  Not only do I get to go back to work (um, yay?) but the girl is out of her cast and is now in a brace, which means she gets to do all the non-fun parts of PE, like running, again.  Well, I enjoy running but I suspect, gauging by her expression yesterday, that she was less than thrilled.  She prefers team sports, which will be off limits until that brace is off.

I've had my rest and some water.  Time to go plant a few more things.  Tomorrow's forecast--covered by store ceiling followed by cloudy skies.  

!!!!!

I booked our sailing trip!  I'm so excited I can hardly contain myself.  Yes!! Yes yes yes!!

I'm doing my duty and spending (some) of our economic stimulus thingy.  It's a sacrifice, but someone's got to do it.  And what better cause than for The Lady Washington, official ship of our fine state, and her beautiful companion the Hawaiian Chieftain?  Looks like they offer summer camps.  Can we get another stimulus check?  I know just where to spend it.

Check out Gray's Harbor Historical Seaport and be amazed.  

I may have to save up money for the family camp.  I just can't imagine a better summer vacation.  Er, camp, you know, learning opportunity.  It'll be hard work and all.  Really.  I'm sure we'd all have a terrible time, exploring islands, taking the helm (!!) of the Lady Washington and such.  I can't believe people would pay good money (where's my wallet?) to do such a thing.

But I'm getting way, way ahead of myself.  This is all for research for Signet anyway.  Ho hum, boring.

!!!!!!!

Cannons and Subs

I've shipped yet another story to Writers of the Future.  Wish me luck.  I know some people have mixed feelings about this contest because of the sponsors.  Not me.  It's judged by writers and all about writing.  Religion, philosophy, what have you, doesn't enter into it, something that's clear to me based on the judges and the past winners.  The story is what matters here.  If someone feels differently I'd like to hear from you.  Not to exclude those of you who agree.  You're welcome to chime in as well.

In other, potentially exciting news, the family is going to try to book tickets onto a tall ship for a three hour 'battle' in which real cannons will fire--just without the cannonballs in them.  Hey, maybe I can write it off as a business expense (my ticket, anyway) for research for Signet, the sequel to Masks.  What's this?  Of course there's got to be a sea battle in Signet.  You can't have gorgeous sailing vessels in a book without a sea battle (or at least a good storm.)  That's definitely a rifle over the mantle kind of situation.  (The quote, to which I can't find an attribution even with the power of Google, is approx: if there's a rifle over the mantle in Act 1, it had better go off by Act 3.)  Rather than focus on the maneuvers, I'll of course get all visceral with how it smells, how it feels, and how it looks to be in a pitched broadside battle with another sailing vessel.  Woot!  Keep your fingers crossed.  We'll try to book tickets on the ship for June 3.  I'll bring ear plugs but I'll try not to wear them so I can get the full blast.

Writing Stew

After a week during which I seemed to accomplish nothing of real worth, I think I've finally got my feet under me (we'll see if that holds up.)  I'm hoping I can get quite a bit of writing done over the next week, mostly on Signet if I have any say about it.  I've got some things to fix up on my website, but that will have to wait until I can progress my plot.  Signet has been on the back burner way too long.  I want stew, not mush.  The time hasn't been wasted, at least.  I now have a handle on the next big player Lark will meet.  He's intimidated, but what he really should do is run far, far away while he still can even if it means fighting his way past Gutter.  He won't know that until it's too late.  

I love it when that happens. 

Fire, Snow, and Book

I love the woodstove.  It keeps the house really toasty while saving us a heap of money.  We'll save even more if we go cut ourselves instead of buying it from our wonderful neighbor (who sold it to us for less than he could have gotten for it on the open market.)  Rory will enjoy chopping it up, too.  Funny how he loathes hauling water but really enjoys splitting rounds.  Anyway, despite all the niceties associated with having a woodstove (heated blanket at bedtime or warm your back or hands, anyone?) there are disadvantages.  One of them is that when there's no one to tend it for a long time, say if it's a weekend and we all have it off so everyone sleeps in, then the fire dies and the temperature inside the house noticeably drops.  Waking up to a 60F degree house in the morning isn't that bad, but it's definitely not comfortable in pjs and bare feet.  At least the floor is warm downstairs.  Having the woodstove going for so long, and having carpet, has allowed the cement floor downstairs to retain heat and it holds it pretty well.  That's in the environs of the woodstove only.  In my office the tile floor is toe-curling cold, and I'm not talking the good toe curling either.  

The kids had a snow day off today so they spent the day horsing around and I spent the day cleaning and working on my website (aka horsing around.)  I found out that my print options include saving documents as .pdf and that iPhoto can import .pdfs, so now I'm officially in business as far as graphics on the website.  All the novels listed on the Writing page have updated, cleaner graphics.  While I was at it I added Signet to the list.  

Speaking of Signet, I'm about 15,000 words in and having fun.  I like having Gutter around.  As in Masks, I'm not sure exactly what's going to happen.  Some people write out detailed outlines or build large diagrams to develop political or mystery novels.  I may end up doing that, but for now I'm free climbing, keeping myself open to those unexpected twists and turns.  I'm hoping there will be some good ones.  In Masks I got away with having a pretty simple problem.  In Signet, it's going to be a hydra, and Lark will have no idea where the heart is until it's too late.  That's just where he ought to be--up to his neck in teeth.