1,000,001… 1,000,002…

That’s the running total of how much crap I have to get done. O.O November is going to be a busy, busy-bee month, as it seems. Lots of writing stuff/lots of Apex stuff/lots of Orycon-prep to take care of. Don’t get me wrong, I’m loving it all! It’s a ton of fun and I’m REALLY excited about getting to Orycon. But I’d be lying if I said I’m not going to be a teeny, weeny bit glad when it’s all done, successfully accomplished, and I can sleep in without feeling guilty. ^_^

My own writing went really well this last week. I got an average of 500 words done a night, no matter how late I was out. Before bed: 500 words. And they’re not horrible words (I think)! I’ve been really focusing on taking my time and choosing my sentences carefully. So far, at least to my own eyes, it’s paying off. The novel is moving ahead bit by bit (and I’m actually liking what I have), and I think I’ve finally found the voice for it (I hope). This month’s short story (“The Last Prince of the Sea”) is also moving along, paragraph by paragraph, scene by scene. This new technique of composing fiction is pretty grueling, but so far I’m pretty pleased with the results–it’s not that different from the way I write Thief Dilemma, either, but as you know, it does slow me down a lot.

I’m finding one of my biggest challenges when it comes to writing (or anything creative, for that matter) is battling my own tendency to hit a point of boredom that then makes me try to speed up and “just finish”. That’s very, very bad for me, I’ve found. I get really sloppy, really cheap (in terms of imagination), and ultimately, I end up with a snarled, tangled mess that will take more work to clean up than it would have taken me to write it properly in the first place. So I’m trying this later option, now, and keeping my impatient side at bay. Not always easy, but I’m trying.

Going to try to get my writing done for this weekend tonight while Andy takes his second practice MCAT. That way I can focus on Orycon/Apex submissions stuff all day tomorrow. Last weekend I got a lot of work done, so I’m hoping to feel at least that productive this weekend too!

(Here’s hoping…)

 

*PHEW!*

So it’s been a little while since my last post! There’s just so much work to get done. O.O Tons of writing projects on the slate at the moment, which has been domineering most of my “off work” hours, and then there’s a bunch of stuff to get done before Orycon.

Also, I’ve been in the process of setting up my writing space in the apartment. Since we’re not exactly sure when we’re moving again, depending on how the dice fall this spring, it seemed silly to keep postponing something that means a lot to me. So I went for it, and it looks *awesome*! ^_^ I’m so happy with the space. It’s just what I wanted.

Now I’ve got a place to spread out and settle into, rather than just taking over the kitchen table or the sofas. >.O

Writing Stuff:

 

Cat + Ice Cream Bowl = Obsession

Oddly enough, Me + Ice Cream Bowl ALSO = Obsession. I wonder if evolution has something to do with that… Hmm… Will ponder in greater depth later.

Mei is normally a skittish cat, but if ice cream is involved (which we do not voluntarily give her), she will become the most ravenous, courageous, sneaky cat alive. She gets crazier than she does on catnip, which is pretty crazy. I guess it’s good though: it means we put our ice cream bowls in the sink immediately after using them so she can’t get at them. That seems to dissuade her.

Week (haha, “week”–it’s Monday, for goodness sake.) has been fine so far–back to the usual routine of work, Apex, dinner, and writing–but it’s only Day One. The weekend was pretty swamped with lots of things to do. Did get to go rock climbing again on Sunday morning, though I underestimated how hard I’d pushed myself Friday, which made even simple climbs downright impossible! But it was good fun all the same! (We did get our own gear on Friday, though, so now we don’t have to rent harnesses and shoes! ^_^)

Still trying to figure out a better day to post “SLUSH LESSONS” since Sundays are turning out to be much busier than I anticipated… Will ponder in greater depth later.

Writing Stuff:

Making slow but steady progress on the novel. Jonesing for some short fiction writing, but I’m sticking to it for now. I’m much too easily distracted once I start straying from any set path. The writing itself still feels a little like I’m trying to force a car to shift from first to forth gear going thirty mph, but at least the car’s still moving and I can still see through the smoke!

19301 / 100000

 

Getting Back into the Groove

It’s been a busy first week of being twenty-four! Not that anything has particularly changed since I was an old 23, but you know what I mean.

I’ve finally managed to get internet during my lunch break without having to drive 20 minutes to get to Barnes & Noble! Our Clearwire device works if I bring it in to work, so I’ve been plugging into that during my break in order to get loads and loads of Apex-related work done. It’s turning out fabulously. I get more work done because I’m not distracted like I am at home, and when I get home, I don’t have to do any more work. I can take some time to keep my mental sanity and actually get to hang out with the hubby and kitties! Hooray! It’s so nice. I can already feel the stress levels subsiding.

I also put up (if you noticed) TWO Slush Lessons, because this last weekend was insane, and I didn’t get a chance to put any up on Sunday. So you get two! And expect the next, as it should be, on Sunday.

Did I mention I ran TWO MILES without stopping this last week? I DID! Don’t give me those incredulous looks. I didn’t “walk fast” or even pause at one mile to catch my breath. No stopping at all! Two whole miles! And I didn’t feel like death at the end! O.O I haven’t done that since high school–no! since JUNIOR high!–when I had a few brief weeks with the high school long-distance team.

I feel so fit. (And shut up, I know there are people who run more! Andy ran eight just Tuesday. I’m still proud of myself! XP)

Writing Stuff:

 

SLUSH LESSONS: Introduction

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been playing around with an odd idea. Some of you may have read the first SLUSH LESSON (9/6/09) about an element of cover letters. Some of you may have even read the original SLUSH LESSON article I wrote for the APEX blog.

Here’s the situation: As an amateur writer myself, I’ve learned a lot just by reading slush. There are times when the lesson is obvious (“Ever heard of capitalization?”), and other times when it’s not (“Oh, crap. I do this, too, don’t I?”). I was chatting with my wonderful mother the other day, and she recommended that I start jotting down some of the things I’ve picked up. It’s all useful information, after all.

I thought about that, and then decided to up it one more: if I was going to benefit from what I was learning, why shouldn’t others? Back before I worked for APEX, I would have loved to know some of this stuff. The editing side of publishing can be so elusive and mysterious, so subjective and intangible from the writer’s side. It really does seem sometimes like you’re shooting in the dark. And when so often rejections come as form letters, it can be hard to even know what K.O.’d a story you thought was great.

So I’m going to attempt to write a continuing number of SLUSH LESSONS. I’ll be keeping them short (no more than 400 words tops, preferably 250), and they’ll be focused on only one issue at a time (when I can manage it). I’d like to write one to two a week–I’ve got a growing list of topics–but it may take me a little while to make it firm. For now, I’ll shoot to post one SLUSH LESSON per week, on Sunday, since all the webcomics usually take Sunday off, and therefore there’s nothing else to mindlessly check the interwebs for! ^_-

And we’ll just see how it goes. I know it’s way too early for this, but if you’re a writer and have a specific question you’d like to know the answer to about submitting, I’d be happy to focus a SLUSH LESSON on answering submission editor questions, provided I have a useful answer. If you do have a question, just post it here in a comment, and I’ll address it as soon as I can. If you’d prefer to use some other method of contact, you can find my email on the “contact” page.

Second SLUSH LESSON will go up this afternoon. ^_^

 

Weekend Blogging: Why It Works

Actually, I have only a vague idea of why I’ve only seemed to be blogging on the weekends lately.

Part of it is indeed the rampant speed of my weekday schedule, which utilizes almost every free moment of my time, which might otherwise be used for blogging. Part of it is because I’ve switched my writing schedule from my lunch breaks to my evenings, and my APEX work from my evenings to my lunch break. It’s made me a lot more productive in both arenas, so much so that I may actually be able to start taking on more APEX work soon! (LE GASP!) I also figured out how to get my internet to work at the local B&N, so I can actually go online and work on that stuff during my break, since my workplace has removed its wifi. T_T

But that means that in the evening, I have a lot more flexibility to do my own writing, and as this past week has shown, that could mean writing from 8-10:30PM, which leaves little time for blogging since I’m usually down for the count by 10 most weekdays. (Note: I am not a morning person. 6:30AM wake-ups make me a grumpy bear.)

Anyway, in short, I’ll see about putting up at least brief posts mid-week, but the longer ones will still likely occur more on the weekends.

So far, this weekend has been a ton of fun, and today seems to be keeping the tradition. Friday, Andy and I hung out with Nate & Sadie and went to the Bridgeport Brewery in the Pearl District of PDX. Much fun was had by all, but man the seasonal Imperial IPA kicked my butt. Tasted great though! ^_^

Then Saturday, after junking out on doughnuts and watching an hour or so of Looney Toons which we’ve gotten from Netflix, Andy and I got him an office chair he’d found on Craigslist for $25, and headed over to B&N to figure out how to get my interwebs to work properly. We did so (Andy’s magic touch=some unknown electromagnetic effect on electronics that make them obey him when they scorn me for doing *the exact same thing*), and I had one of those lovely Pumpkin Spice Lattes. Mmmmm…. Though the extreme caffeine dose (I don’t normally drink coffee) put me in a weird drainage mode all afternoon. I was like a Roomba losing charge even while it sits on its charger!

Later, Kaku and his girlfriend came over for pizza and a movie (HOT FUZZ, why not?!). The pizza turned out pretty good and we all had a great time chatting and eating and hanging out. It was lovely!

Today, I’m thinking about trying to repot our sickly Ficus, get some APEX work taken care of, maybe do a little painting, and then later get some writing done. See below for more info on writing.

Writing Stuff:

 

A Productive Weekend

It feels like it’s been a productive weekend, though I’m not sure it’s more than a feeling. I did get a lot of writing done yesterday (as of this instant, about +3k on “DARK MATTER: or, HOW I FINISHED THE NEVERENDING NOVEL”), and had fun watching Dexter with Kaku and his fam!

We started cleaning up the rat-nest today, too, since the living room, et. al, were starting to get unlivable. What with Andy’s finals and my work trip this last week, we just kind of let things go. But it’s looking a little better now; Boomba has scooted around the carpet and made it all clean, which in and of itself is a huge improvement. The kitchen is still a wreck, and we haven’t done grocery shopping yet… hmm… Gotta eat cheap this week. I need to balance the budget too… Boy, is that something I’m not looking forward to! XD

 

*_*

I am insane.

>END POST<

 

I’ll have a Weekend, please: shaken, not stirred

I’m so tired. It’s been a long week, and thank goodness it’s Friday tomorrow, because if it turned out to be another Wednesday that felt like a Friday, I’d just… I don’t know what I’d do, but it’d involve a lot of whining and foot-stamping, and maybe a little rolling on the floor.

Let’s do a MADCAP-RE-CAP!

Friday, Sept. 11th, 5:30PM–Downtown at PDX Grill happy hour for Andy’s birthday palooza with Kaku and the Spangler-Babbits Co. Had a Lavendar Cosmo (<3) and then a White Cosmo (also <3), and then we ate the beef satay and spicy fries; there was much rejoicing.

Friday, Sept. 11, 8:30PM–Over on NE 13th and Flanders. Lost. Propositioned by pot-head; we declined. Got back in the car to meet Spangler-Babbits Co. at the Rogue Brewery on NW 13th and Flanders.

Friday, Sept. 11, 10:30PM–After a CANNON of free beer (chocolate stout + Hazelnut ale = the “Snickers”), a free t-shirt, a free pint of Dead-Guy Ale, and a LOT of laughter, plus bathroom signs that didn’t make any sense (you guess while buzzed and need to go: Barley vs. Hops), drove home (safely) and went immediately to bed.

Saturday, Sept. 12, 5:00PM–Kaku’s parents’ place for BBQ. There was much chatting, much laughing, much delicious salmon and steak, much cheesecake, and a good time had by all!

Saturday, Sept. 12, 10:00PM–Kaku’s apartment for a viewing of Ironman with his awesome surround sound system. There was much giggling, much exploding, much heckling, and a good time was had by all!

Sunday, Sept. 13–I don’t actually remember what I did on the 13th. Took it easy and relaxed, caught up on Apex stuff, while Andy studied. Packed for Monday’s work trip up to Bellevue, WA.

Monday, Sept. 14th, 7:30AM–Went to work as usual, but with an extra bag for overnight stuff. Andy started finals.

Monday, Sept. 14th, 8:30PM–In Bellevue, WA, after a 4 hour drive on I-5. Listened to half of H.G. Wells’ THE INVISIBLE MAN. Checked in at the Silver Cloud Inn, went to get sushi with bosses. There was Japanese beer, and a good time was had by all!

Tuesday, Sept. 15th, 7:15AM–Checked out of the Silver Cloud and went to the Hyatt for the convention! Got to meet a lot of people face-to-face for the first time in person, and it was a lot of fun! Shoes hurt like a b@#$! though…

Tuesday, Sept. 15th, 9:30PM–Arrived back home in Portland. Went promptly to bed.

Then the week started up as usual, though Wednesday felt like Friday, and I still need to feel like I actually slept. >.< Have been keeping up well with Apex submissions, though, now that I’ve switched to managing them during my lunch break. Now I just need to make sure I keep on top of the free-time writing.

Writing Stuff:

 

CHECK.

“Sidrie’s Last Battle” is in finished rough-draft form.

…it still needs so much work. >.O

Also, since I probably won’t get a chance to post tomorrow: HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANDY! ^_^