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renesears
01 July 2008 @ 12:33 am
end of the month wordcount &tc  
Wordcount for June: 23,427, not counting a few hundred in my notebook which I am too lazy to go count right this second. That gives me a daily average of 780.9, which is 219.1 under my daily goal, so boo hiss me. Days I hit or went over wordcount: 11/30. Days I wrote not at all: 2/30. It helps me to admit that there are some days when no writing is going to happen at all (or very little-- I had 2 days in which I wrote under 100 words, but I wrote those down, even though I felt a little lame) due to matters unavoidable.

Still! There's always July. And, in less than 700 words, my book will reach the 80k mark, which: woo hoo! Ever onward.

And this is my current earworm.

Which is not a bad thing at all.
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Current Mood: sleepy
 
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renesears
25 June 2008 @ 11:32 pm
hodgepodge, wings page 2  
1) Finally! A good wordcount day! I was beginning to wonder, there.

1539 on the book which, no really, I think the end is in sight this time. (Although I am sure I can and will complicate it further for myself.) And 239 on a completely unrelated story, of which I have no idea where's it's going. Also, I'm mostly writing it while the tiny human takes a bath.* He really likes bathtime. He may be the 1st child ever to have "Bath" as his first word, said in tones of great and convincing excitement.

* ETA: let me clarify. Ben read this and was horrified at the thought of my typing merrily away at the computer (not located in the bathroom) while our precious progeny potentially drowned. While the small human splashes about, and throws Bitey the crocodile into the water with a most satisfactory displacement of water, and otherwise occupies himself, I sit on the toilet (lid down) and scribble away with a pen in a notebook. If he says "Ah!" (his favorite syllable), or splashes me, I put the pen down and go play with him. This story might be kind of disjointed, actually.


2) Also, we have a drip in our bathtub. Drip may be a misnomer; what we really have is a torrent.

"Hmmm," said the maintenance guy, "that's really going. What an antique! That's the original fixture." (building dates back to 1920s, I believe) "Wow, I'm gonna have to ask (landlord's name redacted) about that. I'm going to coordinate with the plumber, cause I gotta see this."

I can hear it gushing as I type this. Also, the landlord is finally getting around to locating and sealing the hole the possum came in through. ("I see the problem," says maintenance guy. "They can just crawl up that pipe and walk in like a sidewalk!") Considering that repairs are usually effected with the all the racing speed of molasses in January, this is pretty good for them.

3) Page 2 of the comic ( after the cut )
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renesears
05 June 2008 @ 10:56 pm
Bury me at sea where no murdered ghost can haunt me  
June wordcounts:

1. 832
2. 1236
3. 576
4. 1413

Bedevil and besmirch Word, say I, for it spazzed out as I was trying to save and vanished some words -- a few hundred? I don't know! it hurts! -- into thin air where never I can retrieve them again. I shall try to pull some equivalent out of the air they've vanished into, and then a few more after that. Fie on you, Word. Fie.
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renesears
01 June 2008 @ 12:49 pm
May Wordcount  
Wordount for May: 21,969

Pitiful. Only 709 average words per day. There were mitigating circumstances, of course: trips out of town, husband on vacation, hence, family doing fun things together, etc. etc. Still, didn't meet the goal. I did finish 2 short stories, though. That's a nice feeling.

Anyway, back to the word document. Gotta get June started off right, dontcha know.
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Current Mood: disappointed
 
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renesears
21 May 2008 @ 11:17 pm
finishing stuff is nice  
I had a few slow days on the novel, so I took a break to work on a short story I started some time back, which had been marinating, barely begun, for some time now. I worked on it for the last few days, and the first draft is 5,251 words, 2219 of which were written tonight. Now I need to let it sit for a few days and see if it makes sense or not. It just feels good to finish something, perhaps because I am in the Dreaded Middle of the book. It's also nice to know I can write something under 10,000 words, because I was starting to wonder.

While working on the short story, tentatively titled "Dead Letter Dave," I came to the conclusion that the reason I was getting sort of low word counts on the book was that I am now in Uncharted Territories. I had a (very) vague idea of where I wanted to go with this book, and I have reached what I thought would be the end, and it's not. More stuff needs to happen for there to be a satisfactory resolution. Some stuff I have an idea about, and some I really don't. This book just sort of happened because I wanted to find out what happened before the book I initially intended to write.* I only had a character or three, a need to know what made one of them the guy he is later on, and a vague starting point and a vague ending point. I thought I might write a little short story** to explain Brennig to myself a little better. Well, 50,000+ words in, I am definitely getting to know him a little better, and hopefully learning something about this whole writing thing. I can definitely see that I'll need to do some major revisions.*** But! Soldier onward, maintain the forward momentum, etc. etc.

But it's nice to take a short story break, too.



*I might just do an outline for that one.

**A hollow laughing.

***Is it odd to look forward to those?
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renesears
14 May 2008 @ 11:03 pm
back in my groove  
I took a few days' break from writing, out of necessity; I went out of town for my cousin's engagement party, and maybe wrote 400 words while I was there. Writing was sacrificed to drinking and partying. And it was fun!

While I was out of town, my husband read The Grey Man, and made my day by telling me he only intended to start it, but ended up reading it in one fell swoop and being late for his next thing. Made. My. Day. (Maybe my week!) I will be interested to see how people react to it who haven't had me blabbing about my characters and world for a few months now.

Monday, I revised The Grey Man, now it's v1.1, Tuesday I wrote 558 words, and today I am over 1,000 and not done yet. So! Good stuff.

Fun typos today:

they exchanged a formal kill

and

moostones

A moostone ring would be awesome.
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renesears
05 May 2008 @ 11:04 pm
drive by wordcount  
May 1: 1028

May 2: 511

May 3: 977

May 4:  1021, plus broke the whole ridiculous thing into chapters.  Note to self: In the future, just write in chapters, 'k?  I can see a world of going back and fixing things for v2.0.  But I'm not thinking about that yet, see?  Forward ahoy, and all that.

Today: pissing about, mostly.  But I cleaned the apartment.  Yay for me!  I hate housework with a fiery passion, but the mess was getting irritating even to me.  I do like a clean house.  I just don't like achieving it. 
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renesears
30 April 2008 @ 11:28 pm
April Wordcount  

Today, I wrote 1674 words, which brings me more or less to the end of the first draft of a short story called "The Grey Man."  Woot!  I need to tweak the ending a little, because right now it just sort of stops, all abrupt-like, but I don't know that a marvelous ending is going to fall from the sky tonight.  I think I need to let it simmer for a little while, so I can figure out what it's trying to be about, besides a look at a character I like from other folks' point of views (I can tell I just read A Hero for Our Time), and "these events that happened to these people."

So, my total for April: 34,023.  That makes me full of happy, because, while I didn't actually meet my wordcount every day, on average, I did.  My goal is 1000 words a day right now.  I have it written on an index card and taped next to my computer.  It helps me focus.  My average for April is 1134.1 words a day.  This calls for a yay, and probably a glass of wine.

I saw a panel at OmegaCon, at which Mike Resnick said something to the effect that he didn't have a daily word goal because that meant he would force himself to write, and they would be crappy words.  I found this interesting.  For me, however, not being a Hugo winner, and in fact being a novice writer, the daily word goal is very helpful.  I'm still getting my feet wet.  Also, I think it will be interesting, when I get to the edit phase of the novel, to see if I can tell which portions were written while the words were flowing, and which were forced out.  We shall see.

My goal for May: beat the April wordcount.  Mwah hah hah.
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renesears
29 April 2008 @ 01:45 pm
drive by wordcounts in lieu of a real post  

 

Tu April 22, 484

Wd April 23, 0 - got to' up with my SIL instead of writing. Good times.

Th April 24, 1035

Fr April 25, 1433

Sa April 26, 2078

Su April 27, 369 - I like it when random numbers make a sequence.  It makes me happy.

Mo April 28, 4024 <-- most prolific writing day to date, I think.  Woot!

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renesears
22 April 2008 @ 03:25 pm
drive-by wordcounts  
Th April 17: 1036

Fr April 18: 1092

Sa April 19: none!  We had relatives in town & went out to dinner.  The Tiny Human stayed up 'til 10:30 or 11.  Don't make a habit of it, little guy.

Su April 20:  781

Mo April 21: 798
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renesears
17 April 2008 @ 02:18 pm
Paddling  

April 14: a mere 585 words

April 15: 1169 words

yesterday: a kind of rockin' 2369 words, woo hoo


For a day or two there, I felt that I was on a calm stretch of river, with a destination an unknown distance ahead.  I was paddling like hell, but not getting very far very fast.   I had to trust that this stretch of the river was the right one, the one I was meant to be on.*  I had to trust that it would get me where I needed to go.

Last night I hit the rapids.  I went very very fast, just sliding over the water and really only using my oars to steer.  I'm pretty sure that the fact that there are rapids at all mean I'm going the right way. 





*It might not be.  I might end up cutting or rewriting a lot of that particular stretch.  Just a feeling.

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renesears
14 April 2008 @ 11:43 pm
Best typo today  
"scarcastically"




also, Saturday garnered me 1002 words, while Sunday was a delightful 1553.  Either I've hit a part of the story that I like a lot, or something clicked, or... I don't know.  Everything seemed to gel.  Of course, today I've mostly screwed around, but there you go.  What I have gotten done has been fun. 
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renesears
12 April 2008 @ 10:54 am
wordcounts and suchlike  
Wordcount for Wednesday: 1396 on Donagh's story

 Wordcount for Thursday: negligible.  I took a reading day.

Yesterday, on the other hand, I got 1109 on my ghost story, and 1190 on Brenin's story, which will soon pass the 30,000 point.  I am just now hitting a really exciting part, and wow, it is fun.  If the Small Human falls asleep in the next 15 minutes*, I may get quite a few more.  But from the sounds coming from his room (the door opening and shutting ((he can reach the doorknob from his crib)) and talking ((a de de de gh gh ba ba-- awesome))) I don't think that's going to happen. 



*I get most of my writing done during naptime.+


+LJ's spellcheck suggests that "naptime" could be replaced with napalm, Neptune, epitome, optima, nepotism, and septum, among other things.  Also, nap-time.
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renesears
08 April 2008 @ 05:08 pm
Weddings and Wordcount  
 Despite the tornado warning, we made it to the airport in plenty of time to get through security.  We had a great time at the wedding.  It was in this really neat old house with lots of beautiful rooms and many exciting nooks and crannies.  Really gorgeous if one likes that kind of thing, and I do.

Alas for my general level of grace, the dance floor was a beautiful green slick marble.  Dancing + wine + high heels + clumsy + marble floor = bad.  I slipped, caught myself with my right hand, stood up, de-shoed, and recommenced dancing.  By the time we got back to the hotel, my hand was painful and swollen, and it was far worse the next day.  

Sunday morning we had brunch with the relatives, (delightful! And there was coffee!  Thank god!) and then hopped back on a plane to come home.  I brought a notebook, but wasn't really able to hold a pen very well, so I settled back to enjoy the guy next to me reading the NYTimes without folding it in half and therefore very much in my personal space.  I think he was farsighted, because he held it at arms' length against the seats in front of both of us, thereby pushing his arm into mine.  Random stranger, please don't touch me.

Anyway.

I did get some writing done on the trip, probably around 1500 words.  I can focus much better when I don't have internet access, e.g. in the hotel room where they'll charge you for it.

Yesterday, I got 1231 words, and right now I have 1007 for the day, with a possibility of more later.  My thumb is only today de-swelling enough to bruise, but it doesn't bother me to type, for whatever reason.   I'm grateful.

Also, I'm now 26,000-ish words into Brenin's story and haven't quite figured out how I need to structure this bad boy.  I'm kinda planning on winging it and coming back later.  Is that bad?
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renesears
04 April 2008 @ 02:18 pm
Tornado  
 We have tornado warnings in the area.  Sirens screeching and such.  I hope it passes by the time we're supposed to board our plane to D.C.

Wordcount for April 3: 1288.  It took me a while to get into it, but then I hit a sweet spot.  Stuff I threw in just for kicks thirty pages ago is actually turning out to relate to the main story.   I have no idea how that works, but it does.  Neat-o cool, y'all.
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renesears
03 April 2008 @ 10:28 pm
Corneal abrasion, etc.  

Things:


1. Mild Corneal Abrasion this morning.  OW.  I have drops, but it still hurts.  Probably wouldn't hurt so much if I could stop rubbing it.


2. Yesterday was a cascade of doing things:

   2a.  18 month check up for the Tiny Human.  All systems go.  Alas, dr. recommends going from two naps to one.  We shall adjust.

   2b. 2832 words.  Yippee skippee.

   2c. Cleaned the kitchen.  I hate to do it, but I'm so pleased when it's done.


3. Today has been an exercise in faffing about.   But I've finally gotten around to reading episode 1 of Shadow Unit, and wow.  That's good stuff.

4.  I made a good dinner.  Chicken thighs, seared polenta, salad, all in a sauce that was good.  I don't usually do sauces, but this one kind of rocked.

5.  Could NOT remember the word for polenta just now.  I finally googled "italian grits."  Also, I got carded a bit earlier and couldn't remember how old I was.  My birthday was three months ago, so I should be adjusted by now.  I was afraid I was taking too long trying to subtract 1975 from 2008, also accounting for Dec. birthdate, so I just said "1975" when she asked me how old I was and handed her my license.  I was afraid that would look suspicious, but I have wine, so I guess it worked.

6.  I found my list of books read in March, and I plan on reviewing them, but tonight is not the night.

7.  We're going to a cousin's wedding in D.C. tomorrow.  Yee, followed by haw.  Cousins' weddings are always fun.

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renesears
01 April 2008 @ 10:28 am
March words, old things  
Wordcount for March: 24,878.  I fell short of my 1000 words a day goal, but that's still more words than I've ever written in a month before, so I am pleased.

I also found a project that I abandoned midstream 9 years ago, and it is not the festering pile of crap I remembered, so I think I'm going to finish it.  It's nice when something you personally made exceeds your last remembrance of it, although not looking at it for a couple of years may have helped.  It's a panel a day kind of thing, and there are a few panels that are in dire need of redrawing, but for the nonce, they stay the way they are.

I also want to start a shiny new panel a day thing, but this time I am planning out a vague idea of where it's going so I don't get derailed.  That was certainly part of why I stopped the old one, which was more of a draw whatever occurs to me kind of thing.  It actually holds together okay, in retrospect.  Thanks, brain, for working that one out for me.

And now, to write stuff. 
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renesears
27 March 2008 @ 11:04 pm
(no subject)  
 I am trying to get better about posting my notes here, but until I get used to it, it'll be hard to remember. So here're my March numbers, since I've been so bad at remembering:

18,701 words as of yesterday. That is definitely under my goal, but that gives me room to improve in April, right? Right? And actually, it's nice to look at that and think, holy crap, that's a lot of words for one month, even if it's not as many as I wanted.

Today: 1052 words on the novella thingie whatever and 418 on a short story. Whee! This week has been much better, wordwise, than last week, but old friends and family both blew into town unannounced last week, so that was worthh missing a little writing time.

Now, I am tired and there may well be wine.
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renesears
19 March 2008 @ 10:46 am
(no subject)  
 March so far: 12,410.  Under my daily goal, by a lot, but I did lose some days to Omega Con, and to weekends. I'll have to see if I can step it up some.
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renesears
27 February 2008 @ 10:40 pm
(no subject)  
 Feb 25: 1071
Feb. 26: 1297
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