Reviews, Recipes, and Random Slices of Life

01/27/2010, Wednesday, half day at day job
Deleted from Vicesteed, ch. 25

Old chapter wordcount: 5,525
New chapter wordcount: 3,401
Vicesteed Draft 1 wordcount: 207,877
Vicesteed Draft 2 current wordcount: 147,486
Notes: Topiary. What was it with me and the topiary? Srsly.
Reason for deleting scene: She's all about the sneaky in this chapter--except for this scene. And she should be about the sneaky.
Which deleted scene is it anyway?

Valinda dove into the crowd and forced her way to the point where she'd seen the wings. She shoved men and women out of her way using her elbows and knees, cursing the volume of the costume she wore. The stick that the cat-mask was glued to came in handy for poking people below their ribs, though, she'd give it that. One jab and they curled to the side with a confused stare at her.

She left a trail of confusion behind her, but she didn't care. She was so close. When two women ahead of her genteelly extended their hands to each other, she saw a flicker of a white wing behind them. She shoved them aside, forcing them to clutch at each other to keep from toppling over. She ignored th

Other writingy stuff:
* Posted freewriting, writing log, NanoWri
* Processed 3 crits of "Old Woman By The Sea."
* Read LunchWeekly, Critters, Writing-World, and 2 WritersWeekly newsletters.
* Wrote 3 pages longhand on "Ekaterina and the Firebird"

01/25/2010, Monday, half day at day job
* Processed 5 crits of "Old Woman By The Sea." The crits are rather well pouring in now. Think I'll still change the name.
* Posted writing log, freewriting, NanoWri.
* Did the last edits for my "Getting it wrong gracefully" panel notes.
* Redmarked most of Vicesteed ch. 25.

01/23/2010, Saturday, spent most of the day tromping around used-car lot. And napping.

Deleted from Vicesteed, ch. 24

Old chapter wordcount: 5,727
New chapter wordcount: 2,452
Vicesteed Draft 1 wordcount: 207,877
Vicesteed Draft 2 current wordcount: 149,510
Notes: You know that bit in The Princess Bride where he mentions the "old version" had 30 pages of description of people getting dressed? Yeah, it was like that.
Reason for deleting scene: Interpersonal interactions that don't add that much to the story and weaken the ending. Though I'm sad to lose the bit about the hedgehog costume.
Which deleted scene is it anyway?

They were interspersed with the scenic alcoves, but she found she had lost her taste for entertainment. The diorama of Old Earth didn't arouse a flicker of interest in her bosom, the clowns didn't make her laugh, and the miniature zoo only made her sad for the caged animals.

Her father concluded his exchange of pleasantries with Lady Hastings by saying, "As always, m'lady, it has been a delight to speak with you. However, I see an acquaintance on the other side of the dance floor who appears eager to speak with you. May I entrust my daughter to your care?"
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01/21/2010, Thursday, full + overtime at day job - no writing done

01/20/2010, Wednesday, 1/2 day of work
* Posted writing log, freewriting, NanoWri
* Finished redmarking Vicesteed ch. 24
* Checked at Critters to make sure "Old Woman By The Sea" loaded up nicely for critique. It did. Can't wait to start getting crits!*

* Edited to add: And I haven't gotten any yet. Hrm. May need to change the title to make it more intriguing/representative.

It's the holiday season and I've been working full+ time for the day job, so the writing time has been very spotty. Among the things I haven't had time for is posting writing logs, so there's an impressive backlog.

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06/26/2009 - Friday. Parents visiting from out-of-town before they leave for India! No time for writing.
* Read through and answered suggested edits for "Salvaging Scottwell" (Which is now bumped up to the final level! Final answer in a matter of weeks! But seriously--the final editing process means this story's going to be a lot stronger no matter which way it goes.)
* Read Publisher's Lunch newsletter.

06/24/2009 - Wednesday
* Got "The Old Woman By The Sea" set up for editing and duly recorded in my manuscript tracking spreadsheet.
* Cleared out "to edit" folder and tossed old editing notes that were already implemented.
* Processed MinnSpec crits of Vicesteed chs. 29-30(partial).
* Processed Critters crits of Vicesteed ch. 28.
* Read and updated market list from Duotrope, 2 Publishers Lunch, WritersDigest, WritersWeekly, Critters newsletters. (I read fast, and I'm pretty good at getting through writing newsletters, and I find them useful, but I rather boggled today when I discovered I have 24 unread ones in my inbox.)
* Perceiving the foundation of storytelling: http://www.storyispromise.com/wfound.htm (via There Are No Rules' best tweets post at http://blog.writersdigest.com/norules/).
* Posted part 2 of my 4th Street Fantasy Convention notes.

06/23/2009 - Tuesday, no downtime, dr's apt in the a.m. and then I wasted the rest of it.
* Answered Critter volunteering for RFDR.
* Wrote Pt. 1 of my panel notes from 4th Street Fantasy Convention.

06/22/2009 - Monday
* Thanked natrlobsessions for letting me use leave some of her brain-property in the reclaimed-from-defunct-shared-world story and added info to the notes file for "The Old Woman By The Sea" so that I can let her know when it gets published somewhere.
* Posted writing log.
* Posted about Vicesteed being up for critique at Critters, and emailed those who've been kind enough to express interest in critting chapters in the past.

01/17/2009 - Saturday, no work
* Finished 2nd critique for MinnSpec
* Did 1 out of 5 critiques needed to get my manuscript to go through Critters on time. Always catching up on critiques last-minute, I am.
* Updated Critters bio with Aswiebe's Market List and Spec the Halls info.
* Penthius freewriting, "Dinner Plans"
* Posted writing log.

01/18/2009 - Sunday, no work
* Went to MinnSpec writing group meeting, reading our writing and then the writer's workshop. After that I totally blew off work and just drank some wine and read some books.

01/19/2009 - Monday, no work, but there was a husband wandering around the house distracting me.
* Did 2nd-4th of 5 critiques needed to get my manuscript through Critters on time.
* Caught up and commented on the ContinuousCoast boards, and damn was there ever a lot to catch up on. Time sink. Hmm. Can't really afford time sinks. I mean, I already have LJ....

01/20/2009 - Tuesday, no work. Watched inauguration on TV all day, so was less productive.
* Did 5th of 5 critiques needed for Critters. Under the wire! Woo!
* Responded to "Old Woman By The Sea" critiques, agreeing, disagreeing, asking for suggestions. Let the hashing-out begin!

Note: No writing stuff was done on Thursday, because I was busy recovering from New Years' Eve. By which I mean staggering around and groaning.

12/31/2008 - Wednesday, New Years Eve, no work
* penthius freewriting, medium-potential dance trance.
* Posted writing log
* Processed new story statuses for "The Old Woman By The Sea" (waiting for crits), "Salvaging Scottwell" (leveling up), and Tree of Life (writing). Gotta track these things, or they fall through the cracks.
* Made editing changes to Vicesteed, draft 2.
* Updated submission order for "Warmth in the Cold Time"
* Submitted "Warmth in the Cold Time" to Shock Totem and updated various statuses.
* Pre-registered for CONvergence, added to writing expenses spreadsheet. (That's right, tax deductible, bay-bee! Books and movies are too.)
* Read FFWSmallMarkets, FundsforWriters, WritersWeekly newsletters
* Failed my grammar research roll and posted a request for info about tricksy grammatical constructions. Got lots of people going, "Huh, that is an odd one, now that I think about it." Also, an answer!

No, really, I am so ready to be finally finished writing this thing. I've been so close for so long. But holiday stuff + actually having day job hours = not finished yet. Today. Today I will finish it. (Of course, I also said that on Saturday, and I didn't succeed, though I got mighty close.)

"The Old Woman By The Sea" Writing Log

4,802 / 5,000 (96.0%)

New words: 488
Total words: 4,802
Overused word: puzzle
Gratuitous word: soughed
Type of scene: Oh, the insanity!
Challenge(s): Figuring out how to describe everything as falling apart and needing to be put in place and still have it recognizably be the world.
Which line is it anyways?Jigsaw puzzle people walked past her on the street, a gyrating jumble of moods and mannerisms that didn't fit together right.
Researched: Whether bamboo leaves have sharp edges. No luck.
Notes: I mixed it up by writing in a coffee shop, instead of in my study at home, and on a Saturday, when I'd usually be working on edits. But the day job has meant no writing during the week, so I really felt the urge. I hear it's a good thing to mix up one's writing routine occasionally, to keep from getting blocked into a pattern. It was interesting, though I think I did get a little less done than I would have otherwise. OTOH, I also got to see people, and be in a non-job, non-home place, and that was very good.

"The Old Woman By The Sea" Writing Log

2,337 / 4,000 (58.4%)

New words: Embarrassingly few - 226
Total words: 2,337
Overused word: he
Gratuitous word: skewed
Type of scene: transit
Challenge(s): Figuring out what word a culture without shame in nudity would use for it.
Which street performers group is it anyways?The collapsing and unfolding patterns of a group of five female acrobats, bare except for artistic swirls of paint
Researched: Vicinages, personages, public transit, and shops. Working in a shared world requires more of that.
Notes: I really think "bare" carries the right connotations for a person without clothes on. We use bare to describe arms, and skin, and other unweighted things--which we don't use nude or naked for. Still need to find an unfreighted term for nudists. Naturalists? Barists (one could have barist baristas!)? Barers sounds awkward.
Other writingy stuff:
* Read good blog post about the writerly "musts": http://matociquala.livejournal.com/1527862.html
* Posted writing log
* penthius freewriting, a low-potential Philosopher's Stone idea.
* Wrote and sent Aswiebe's Market List newsletter. Cross-posted to journal and LJSpecFicMarkets.
* Read Critters newsletter