Catching up

I had to sacrifice my writing mornings so far this week to catch up on some work at the Festival office, to make sure I'm ready for my Christmas holidays! Today was a bit of a long work day, but I got lots accomplished. Tonight, Tanya and I managed to get a bunch of Christmas cards signed (better late than never), and now I'm pooped.

I have set aside Wednesday morning for a little reading and writing, which is good. And I plan on carrying on into my holidays!

Delving into the first book of the Series of Unfortunate Events. Quite cool. I plan on setting aside at least an hour tomorrow morning for some reading...

I forgot! More reading!

Hey, forgot to mention, with all my writing I've also been doing a bunch o' readin'.

Finished off Simon Rose's other two books (the clone conspiracy and the sorcerer's box), and polished off the first of the Spiderwick books today (they're quite short - but bloody expensive to buy!!! Like $15 a book! Lucky me I got a few at a second hand store.

Okay, sleep now.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Just when you thought you were done...

Ugh.
The Trials! The Tribulations! The...Tie Fighters??

Okay, I ran out of T-words, but you get the point.

"Finished" the last chapters yesterday (and a bit more fiddling today)...but now I'm not happy. .
It seems too long, too complicated, too wordy, too MUCH! Argh!!

BUT! I believe I do have a solution, which will most likely shave off tons of wordage and a bunch o' chapters, and some of that extra plotty stuff that's gumming up the works. Lots of rewriting up ahead again.

That's the plan anyways.

Although I'm thinking of still handing it over to Anita to see what her initial reactions are (if she has time...and actually with the holidays just around the corner, it might just be more polite to let her read it in the New Year...)

Okay, back at it.

Lots of Christmas cheer to enjoy this week, in any case. Last Saturday was the 3rd annual Brendon and Fran Christmas Party (or as everyone likes to tumble their tongues over: Bran and Frendon). Today is the WAC christmas open house, and then the Prairie Fire christmas dinner for the Board of Directors (at the East India Palace - yumm!). And then tomorrow is the MAC christmas open house. And then Friday I'll be sampling Dim Sum with the Prairie Fire staff, and friends (Anita and Ariel). Fun and yummy week!

I'm still writing and editing!

Whew! What a week so far!

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were all good editing mornings. Today I'm working on chapter 24 (and the manuscript has 26 chapters!).

The is the section where I have to make one of the big decisions (can't really mention it w/o destroying part of the surprise of the story) but suffice it to say now that I'm here I'm having a hard time! I think what I will do is write these next three chapters twice and have two alternate endings. Kinda like what they do in the movies. Then, I'll give both versions to my readers, and get their comments. Kinda cool - especially for the readers, I would think. Maybe I'll add a section of deleted scenes and bloopers, and - no wait...that would be dumb. Heh.

Took the evening off yesterday to play some Heroclix at Maxx Collectibles. Heroclix. My current crack habit. Sigh. But it's so cool and geeky to play and collect. Last night, just for showing up and playing, I got a new map and a free figure! Rampaging Hulk! Very cool.


Okay, back to work. Lots more editing to go...

Oh! I forgot to mention: I finished reading Simon Rose's "The Alchemist's Portrait." Not too bad. More writing info for the ol' brainpan. And now I'm well into his other book, "The Clone Conspiracy" which I am quite enjoying.

Editing, Games, and Meat!

Okay, quick writing update: Thursday and Friday went quite well. Another 5 or so chapters under the belt.

There are several steps during my editing: first I read through the chapter on paper, making changes; then I make those changes on the computer, and a few more. THEN I pull out the old notes from the WWG (that's Wolseley Writing Group from a few years back) when this manuscript was work-shopped out by the group (to death, I might add).

The notes from the group are the most interesting, and painful. Exhilarating when I make the same edits on my own, heartbreaking when I see something that should have been horribly obvious (action before dialogue; screwed up homonomynom like heal for heel; etc). Ugh. Editing is hard. Heh.

I took a break on Thursday and Friday from dusting. I think some of the dust I disturbed was still floating around the room. I had to write with a dust mask for the last two days (no kidding). It worked though - no allergy attack! And today I have no mask on and I'm fine. I think I'll tackle some more dusting tomorrow! Death to Dust Bunnies!!

Friday night saw some old friends drop by for some board gaming: 4th Edition Talisman. Very nice artwork, but basically the same rules as 2nd Edition. Here are some pics from the night, including one of Basil with his puppy.




Ain't he cute? He loves his puppy.

Oh, and here's the 20lbs of deer pepperoni that my Mom and Dad just dropped off for me. Yummy!!!!