I thought I was working on the last chapter of the book. (Yes, I did say I want to go back in and add a couple of chapters, but they're in the middle of the book. Work with me here.)

Ahem, let me start that again. I thought i was working on the last chapter of the book. Until one of the characters sprung a last plot twist on me. I swear they're doing this to me on purpose. Oh sure, we'll meander around and do what you want us to do in the early part of the book. Now that you're trying to wrap it up for editing/rewrites, now we're going to take over and write the story for you.

*sigh*

I did manage to survive another day of making screen shots and editing the user's manual at work. Got my first set of edits back, so I'm hoping I can put the manual mostly to rest by the middle of next week. Of course, they'll do something to make me re-write a section before this is all over. No code is ever permanently frozen.
Then I can get back to the other systemic documents I need to finish writing/re-writing.

Even with the distractions by my characters, I added another 2087 words to Shadows tonight. I'm about halfway through what's now Chapter 22. Hopefully, I'll finish up soon. If anything else comes up, I'm saving it for the sequel. No more new ideas, you guys!
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Words for Today

2087 / 1000 words. 209%

Progress on SG-1: Shadows of the Heart

74589 / 80000 words. 93%

Words for 2009

66025 / 365000 words. 18%

Things went a little better at work today. Mainly because I got left alone for a lot of it to work, but I'll take my victories where I can get them. I did identify a large bug in the system though as I was trying to take my screen shots, so I got an attaboy for that.

Went out to the mailbox and my signed contract with Fandemonium was there. Huzzah! Took the family out to dinner at one of the local Japanese restaurants and enjoyed some new dishes. Along with various rolls, I tried Toro Tartare, which is basically uncooked tuna in a special sauce with some tempura flakes to give it shape. Very interesting dish. Not necessarily something I'd like to order every time but definitely worth trying. Finished off the meal with a dish of Green Tea ice cream. Nom.

Came home and started working on the last chapter of Shadows. Well, actually, I started working on it this morning. As you may recall, I mentioned two people appeared in the last chapter who hadn't been in the book earlier? Well, I was going over some stuff while getting ready for work and all of a sudden I realized why a couple of sections earlier in the book just didn't seem "right". It was something I was going to go back over in the edits, but although it was O.K., it just felt like there was something I was missing.

Eureka moments are cool.

All of a sudden, I knew why those guys were there. I also knew I needed to add in another chapter and a bridge chapter and two chapters needed X re-written . . . so I was scrambling around, bouncing ideas off of wishweaver and as soon as I got to work, I scribbled all my ideas down so I wouldn't forget them. Then tonight, on Shadows, I decided to go ahead and finish the last chapter before going back to add in the other stuff (I'll just tie it in with the regular re-write) and WOW, some other stuff popped up in a conversation between two characters that ties in so well with the stuff from this morning. I've added that to the notes too.

It's strange. Now that I've reached the end of the story, I now know what the story is I'm trying to tell.

Yes, I had an outline.

Yes, I had a pitch I had to give to the publisher.

None of that has been superseded. What's happened is I now know how to best focus the story to meet the approved plot points.

Writing is a bizarre little business.

I added another 1734 words to Shadows tonight. Might have gotten some more in, but ran into daytonward on Twitter. He was trying to test his new Skype account, so I buzzed him as soon as he'd finished downloading everything. We visited a bit about his Star Trek projects, his other projects, writing in general, our military experiences, especially in basic training (or boot camp for the Marines out there), watching old PBS shows, Doctor Who, Stargate, The Unit, the 4400, and god knows what else.

Two hours later, we decided his Skype system was working. And, the germ of a Star Trek proposal is percolating in the back of my brain. Definitely need to work on the idea and I may have to pigeon-hole kradical at Shore Leave. I'm thinking copious amounts of scotch might help.

It's amazing. Get two writers together and all of a sudden story ideas just appear out of thin air. *grin*
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Words for Today

1753 / 1000 words. 175%

Progress on SG-1: Shadows of the Heart

72502 / 80000 words. 91%

Words for 2009

63938 / 365000 words. 18%

I won't go too far out on a limb, but given May's lack of production, the fact that I've strung three straight days of writing together is encouraging. Looks like things are going to get a little busy at work too, so we'll see how well we can separate out work writing from project writing.

I think this project will start picking up some speed when I can quit looking stuff up. That's the problem with some projects, even when you know what you want to say and you know exactly what it is you are describing, it's the fine details that make or break a project. Yeah, I know, good writing trumps everything, but I'm a historian and getting things wrong, whether it's calling a pole arm by the wrong name or forgetting what level sickbay is on the Enterprise, annoys me.

I feel comfortable with the characters and I feel very confident about the plot. It's those little niggly details that can really add something to a story if they're used right that are slowing me up for the moment. Especially since I'm hoping to use a few of these things later. Sort of a "see, there was a reason for this level of granularity, guys."

Contacted Register.com - still trying to move richardcwhite.com from Register to Sitelutions (my web host). Hopefully, we can get this fixed before I have to pay Register another year's worth of registration fees. Yes, I know my poor web site needs a face lift and I hope to get to that one of these days once I get the other six hundred other things that seem to need dealing with handled.

Also fired off a few e-mails to Archon. I'm hoping to get a small hall table to promote the two new books while I'm there. I like Archon, but I like having a table rather than just wandering around a con. Must be all those years doing comic conventions. I find if you have a table and a half-way decent display, it's a great opportunity to meet new people, pitch your work and meet interesting people. Of course, there's always a few who take a "Hi, how's it going?" as an invitation to hang around your table for hours at a shot, but that's the risks you take by being out in public.

I got started on Chapter Two of SotH tonight, adding 1284 words. Like I said, a tad under what I had hoped for, but after May, I'll take it.

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Words for Today

1284 / 1000 words. 128%

Progress on Project: "SotH"

2347 / 100000 words. 2%

Words for 2008

155076 / 366000 words. 42%

Wow.

At least I almost redeemed myself this weekend. I set out with the greatest of intents to get some major writing done this weekend to get myself back on track. As you can guess from the title of this post, it didn't quite happen.

I did get 2542 words written on Harbinger on Saturday, but that was mostly transcribing what I'd put together over a few lunches during the week. I took the computer with me to go out and write on Chronicles twice on Saturday, but both times, things came up and nothing actually got done. I think I wrote a whole three paragraphs on Saturday and didn't bother trying to count them toward the weekend total. I just managed to stay ahead of my yearly goal.

Today was wishweaver's and my anniversary. Yep, she's put up with me for seventeen years so far and believe me, I appreciate it. We took the daughter-unit out for lunch today and then I went shopping while Wish worked on her mid-term some more. I picked up a wedding present for kradical and terri_osborne, as well as picking up a couple of things for Wish. (Yeah, I know, you're supposed to shop ahead of time, but it took a while to get Wish to give me a hint what she might be interested in. I'm telling you, this girl is hard to shop for. *sigh* Well, outside of getting her iTunes gift cards, that is.)

We went out for dinner tonight to our favorite Japanese steakhouse and had a nice conversation with the couple who were sitting next to us at the hibachi grill. Yeah, we splurged a bit, but the meal was nice and it was good to just relax and not worry about school, house or work for a bit. She liked her presents (huzzah!), so I guess she'll keep me around for another year. *wink*

Came home and started work on the sekrit project. I'm a little nervous about getting started without the contract, but I'm going to take the editor at her word until events prove me wrong. The first chapter is kind of short, (1063 words), but there was a great stopping place and it feels like adding any more is simply just padding. I'd rather save the words for the end of the book since I usually run over my word count anyway on the first draft.

I would say, "Hey, Glen Cook gets away with two page chapters in his latest book", but then again, he's Glen Cook and I'm not.

Well, in for a penny, in for a pound. The sekrit project is officially kicked off as of tonight.
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Words for Yesterday

2542 / 1000 words. 254% done!

Words for Today

1063 / 1000 words. 106% done!

Progress on Harbinger of Darkness

7697 / 120000 words. 6% done!

Progress on Unnamed Project:(SotH)

1063 / 100000 words. 1% done!

Words for 2008

153792 / 366000 words. 42%

The month of May started out so well and has turned into a flaming wreck when it comes to getting new writing on the page. Although, I do have a small excuse for last night, since I wound up missing work today with a sore, swollen throat and just general blah feeling.

Still, I'm aggravated that I've squandered my word count cushion. I've gone from being over 10K words ahead to barely being over 1500 words ahead. If I don't re-motivate myself, I see serious issues with making my goal. Although, once I get started on the "sekrit" project, I'm going to have a deadline. Maybe that'll be the boost I need to get going again. Lord knows, it can't hurt.

On the good side, though, I did pass 150,000 words for the year tonight. That is a bit of a milestone, so I'll build on that.

I'll post a belated review of Balticon later. Just not tonight. Lots of distractions tonight, but I did manage to hammer out 1632 words tonight on Childhood's Tears.

And now, bed.
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Words for Today

1623 / 1000 words. 162%

Progress on Childhood's Tears

42975 / 90000 words. 48%

Words for 2008

150187 / 366000 words. 41%

When I got into work this morning, I was informed that I was being transferred to one of my projects full time instead of splitting my time across two of them. Now, some people might have taken it the wrong way, but I think this is much better for all concerned. The project I'm on now is good at giving me specific deadlines and not worrying about things as long as I hit those deadlines. Plus, the manager I'm supporting is good at giving me very specific feedback to what he wants and doesn't want.

The other project, while interesting, was depending on me being more "self-motivating", which would be really cool if I was one of the developers or if I had been with the project from the beginning. However, as the tech writer, I have to work with the SMEs to develop the papers and I sorta need to know when they expect me to have them done. Otherwise, projects with no deadlines tend to slip so I can meet projects with clear deadlines. We were just a bad fit and while I'm pleased about the work I did for them, I can't say I'm heartbroken that "they don't have any work for me in the foreseeable future".

So, hopefully, with only having to answer to one manager, my stress level will go down and I can get back into the "I want to write when I get home" mode again.

And, in honor of this, I did write another 1000+ words on Harbinger of Darkness on my lunch break. I just didn't get a chance to type it in at home, so I can't officially count it on my word production for the day. I did, however, add 1616 words to Childhood's Tears tonight. I know I need to get started on the sekrit project soon, but after nights like this, it's going to be hard to put this one away to concentrate on the one that hopefully has real money attached to it.

In non-work/non-writing talk, I enjoyed going to see Prince Caspian with the family and dzeytoun. I enjoyed the story and some of the symbolism behind the various events. wishweaver and I have been discussing some of the different themes we saw in the movie and even if it's not "haute-cuisine" as far as movies go, if you're still talking about it a couple of days later, it's done it's job in my opinion.

Also, Daughter-unit is still geeking on her new computer and the manga drawing software she got, so we're counting this as "Mom and Dad did good." *grin*
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Words for Today

1616 / 1000 words. 162%

Progress on Childhood's Tears

41343 / 90000 words. 46%

Words for 2008

145772 / 366000 words. 40%

Wow, with the two major projects put to bed, I was happy to go back to work today. I didn't exactly skip up the sidewalk to the building, but I will admit to whistling the tune to Willie and the Poorboys from CCR as I walked from the parking lot.

Now, yes, I do have other projects at work, but none of them seem to be quite as dire as the one's I just discharged and hopefully, we'll stay ahead of the game this time (provided people give me deadlines before they're crisis deadlines).

wishweaver has been drawn over to the dark side . . . yes, we caught it when Nicktoons began rerunning Avatar, so we've been spending every day from 7-8pm watching back-to-back episodes of the show. I know it's not "anime", but it's probably the most grown-up cartoon I've seen produced by an American team in forever. It feels anime-ish because it's plot driven not episodic like most cartoons and the characters have depth. No one is completely good and no one is completely evil. OK, well, maybe Azula's completely evil, but then she's a psychopathic witch with serious daddy issues.

Worked on Childhood's Tears again tonight, adding 1511 words to the story. I know I'm going to have to make a decision here soon as the editor with the sekrit project told me I could go ahead and start writing on it while we're waiting for the contract to come back from the licensor. The editor told me they're notoriously slow, but she's almost never had them reject a story she passed on to them.

So, I have to decide, which of my current writing projects do I push to the side to work on the sekrit project? To be honest, I"m thinking I'm going to drive on (bad pun there) with the military SF story Steel on Target and set Childhood's Tears and Chronicles of the Sea Dragon to the side. I really enjoy writing fantasy, but I think, given my military background as well as my experience in the 3rd ACR, this might be the strongest of the three. Plus, I'll need to set some time aside to work on Shattered Mirror and my college proposal, Black Satin Nights, which will need editing/rewriting between now and January.

So, I will keep working on my current schedule until Balticon and starting in June, I'll shift my schedule to Sekrit Project on Sat/Sun/Mon/Tues, Steel on Target on Wed/Thurs, and Fridays will either be down days to recharge/read/play some PS2 or else work on Shattered Mirror when it's my turn to write.

I hate to leave Rowena and Asheera in the lurch, but there's only so much time and a whole lot of writing to do. I may see if I can slip in a little work on them during my lunch hours, but they'll just have to be patient with me.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Words for Today

1511 / 1000 words. 151%

Progress on Childhood's Tears

39727 / 90000 words. 44%

Words for 2008

138182 / 366000 words. 38%

After talking to the professor yesterday, I decided I'd take a quick stab at writing something non-genre. Something a bit more historical, featuring man's struggle with himself, others and being put into a position where decisions were limited and life-threatening.

And damned if it isn't starting to sound like a Bogey movie or three. I've set the story in Monaco in 1941, when it was under the control of Vichy France. wishweaver read through the first eight pages this evening and before she reached page three, she was already humming "As Time Goes By". Still, there are worse things to compare a novel against than Casablanca or a good Hemingway short story or even a good Hitchcock movie (although it did take place a few years after the war).

I did get on a bit of roll though, knocking out 3,162 words or the first ten pages. This one is going to be accounted for a tad differently, since I have to submit 50 pages, not X amount of words. I don't have a hard or fast schedule for this one outside of the fact I have to have it done by January, 2009. I expect it'll be a few thousand here, a few thousand there, although I do need to allow for editing time to polish it up.

What can I say? I'm a sucker for the classics.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Words for Today

3162 / 1000 words. 316%

Progress on Black Satin Nights

10 / 50 pages. 20%

Words for 2008

111874 / 366000 words. 31%

Short post.

I got back onto the writing treadmill tonight, figuring I better get what I can done on my other stories until I hear something from the licensor regarding the other project. 1028 words later, I'm ready to wrap up for the evening. I finished Chapter Seven and started Chapter Eight for Childhood's Tears and made my final entry for March in the book.

I started out strong, almost 10K words ahead of schedule before I hit the "Ides of March". I made up some of it in the second sprint, but the lack of writing this weekend cut into that cushion and it appears I didn't make much ground over where I was at the end of February.

There'll be more about that when I post my March metrics.

Still, I'm pushing forward, even nights I don't feel like writing (like tonight) and as long as I see the word count meter moving to the right, I'm still pleased with myself. My writing goals were not designed for a sprint, so as long as I'm ahead of pace, I'm still good for the long haul.

One foot in front of the other, one word in front of the other. Long distance running and writing have a lot more in common than you'd think. *grin*
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Words for Today

1028 / 1000 words. 103%

Progress on Childhood's Tears

29050 / 90000 words. 32%

Words for 2008

94455 / 366000 words. 26%

Didn't get any writing done this weekend, well nothing on paper anyway.

My collaborator, April and her husband, Mark, came up this weekend, which was a darn good excuse to pull the house together on Friday. Unfortunately, that took more time than I thought it would, but it was time well spent. They came up on Saturday and we went to Elicott City to go shopping. Old Elicott City has a ton of antique stores and specialty shops, which makes it a fun place to windowshop.

One thing in particular I'm wanting to do is set up our new office downstairs in an oriental theme. The interior designer we worked with suggested it when he picked out the paint scheme; said it would be a relaxing motif for working/writing. We only hit a few of the antique stores (we started with the largest one and since Mark had never been there, we spent a couple of hours just there checking out all the various rooms (it's an antique mall over four stories). We did find a nice set of four Japanese screen prints and the dealer gave us a great deal since we bought the set. We're going to have to go back again, though, since we didn't find any other furniture that would compliment what we're already going to be moving into the room.

They had to go back early (unexpected commitments meant they had to be home for Sunday morning), so April and I only had about a half-hour to work on the story. We were working on one of the themes of the book when a plot twist occurred to us . . . one that will affect both sides of the on-going war as well as our main characters. It was such a revelation and it came about from a poem she's writing that the antagonists have regarding the situation. She read her current draft of the poem and *bam*, the answer to one of the questions I still had about the story was right there.

Man, I love "eureka" moments.

I was going to try and write yesterday evening, but we had a friend drop over for a visit. We had a good time and wow, was service fast at dinner, but by the time we wrapped up, I was ready to call it a night.

*bad writer, bad writer*

So . . .

to get to the subject of the title of this blog . . .

I thought I'd check my e-mail this morning before heading to work and there was a letter from the editor for the project I submitted to a while ago. She likes the proposal and needs a bio to submit with it to the licensor. Now, it'll be up to them, but if they like it, I'll be getting a contract soon (at which time, I'll stop being so coy and let you know what I'm doing for real). The manuscript will be due sometime in early 2009, (which sounds like a long time and I intend to be done well before then).

OK, I'm guardedly excited right now.

OH, hell, I'm ecstatic right night, but I'm trying to not get too carried away until I actually sign the contract.

But, I'll be grinning all day.

I wonder, do authors with many books under their belt still get goofy grins whenever they hear one of their projects has been accepted?

I went out this afternoon and took the computer with me to the Atlanta Bread Company. Bought a bowl of soup and a large tea and found a place to plug the computer in and settled in for an afternoon of writing. Wound up staying there for two and a half hours working on Chronicles of the Sea Dragon. Got a long way into Chapter Eighteen and added 2569 words to the story. Snagged a drink for wishweaver and a big slice of cheesecake for the daughter-unit on the way out (which they both enjoyed). I was hoping Wish could join me at the ABC, but she's working on a mid-term and she has a term paper due in a few weeks, so she needed to stick around the house to work on the desktop. *sigh* Maybe next time.

Decided to relax a bit afterward, watched some TV with the two ladies of the house and then started working on Chapter Eight of Shattered Mirror. It's going to be interesting, because I've started Chapter Eight well before April has finished Chapter Seven, so I may be describing some things that she hadn't planned on doing in her chapter, but we'll negotiate that out next Tuesday on our usual Skype session. There's a good chance April and her husband will be visiting with us next weekend to help celebrate Wish's birthday. We're wanting to swing through Elicott City, which has a lot of antique/second-hand stores to pick up a few things (or at least look at them) for the new office downstairs and the library as well as getting a chance to work on Shattered Mirror face-to-face.

Still, even knowing I may have to revise what I wrote tonight, I still added 1116 words to that story also. So, all in all, it was a heck of a writing day.

Plus, the expanded proposal for the sekrit project is out the door. Now, all I can do is wait.

Unfortunately, I have to go to work tomorrow. *bleah*
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Words for Today

3675 / 1000 words. 368%

Progress on CSD: Dragon Couchant

76594 / 100000 words. 77%

Progress on Shattered Mirror

1116 / 1000 words. 112%

Words for 2008

68802 / 366000 words. 19%

Let's see, I spent eight hours today editing three documents, to include one that's taken me three hours just to attempt to fix the formatting errors another office introduced into a seventy-two page document. So, what do I do when I get home tonight?

Take a quick nap and then start editing my sekrit project outline, of course.

So, three hours later and a lot of red marks all over the pages, I've finished typing in all the edits I could think of and ran my initial spelling and grammar checks on the proposal. I think I'm ready for wishweaver to apply the Red Pen of Doom(pat.pend.) so she can catch all the niggily little things that I missed. Hopefully, after getting her edits back, I'll be ready to fire this off to the editor. It's still a little light, but I think 3792 words is close enough and I did go back in and add in another subplot just for fun.

Needless to say, I'm pretty much brain-dead right now. Yeah, I realize I only got to 540 new words rather than the thousand I had been hoping for, but the fact that I'm still coherent is probably fragile at best.

Bleah.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Words for Today

540 / 1000 words. 54%

Progress on tie-in outline/proposal

3792 / 4000 words. 95%

Words for 2008

63535 / 366000 words. 17%

The editor I pitched the sekrit tie-in project to wanted me to give her about a 4000 word outline to further refine what I had pitched earlier. Well, you might think that would be easy given my proclivity to overwrite anything and the fact that I had already written a 2295 word initial draft before editing the hell out of it down to a one-page pitch.

Unfortunately, you would be wrong.

I've spent about three hours working on this thing tonight and I've only added 957 words to it as well as probably pruning about 500 words from the original draft. See, that draft wasn't meant to see the light of day. It was more for me to save "good lines of dialog" that I had thought of when I was working on it as well as ramblings. I tightened the heck out of it when I cut it down to one page, so now I'm going back and forth between the initial draft and the one page draft to ensure I don't forget something as well as finding ways to expand the sub-plots that I've introduced going back to my sample first page.

Still how to expand it without boring the editor with details she may or may not need at this point. See, I was thinking a five to six page outline was probably too much, but now I've got nine pages and still am roughly 800 words short of what the editor was asking for. How far is too far down in the weeds to show I have a good handle on the story? How short of 4000 words can I be without annoying the editor? Because I need to add in one more paragraph that'll tie up one of my sub-plots that was barely mentioned in the pitch and then I think I'm about done and I don't foresee writing an 800 word paragraph. *Yikes!*

But those are questions to consider tomorrow. I'm done for this evening.
________________________________________________________________________________________________

Words for Today

957 / 1000 words. 96%

Progress on SMTI pitch

3252 / 4000 words. 81%

Words for 2008

62995 / 366000 words. 17%

Just a quick post before I head out the door to work . . .

Editor liked my pitch for sekrit tie-in project.

Asked to see more detailed outline.

Nerves are officially on overdrive.

Sent editor a note asking for clarification on one point.

Will attempt to concentrate at work instead of daydreaming about project.

Film at 11

*grin*

Submitted my one page pitch and two pages of writing samples for sekrit tie-in novel #1.

Received read receipt that the editor has at least opened the e-mail.

Now, the fingernail chewing begins in earnest.

Nah.

Actually, I have to get a short story out the door to F&SF and get back to work on my regular novels.

Well, as you've probably noted, (all six of you who read this journal), I've been absent. There was a legitimate reason. Actually several, now that I think about it and all equally valid, at least to me.

I had a writing opportunity drop into my lap on Tuesday. It was a very short notice thing and both wishweaver and I had to think long and hard before I agreed to it. Basically, one of my lj friends needed me to pick up an assignment for him that he was running out of time to accomplish. It looked like it would be a lot of fun, but the rub was, I had to finish the book by March 15.

( Writing Death Race 2007 )

However, the good thing that came out of this, and why I've been off line the last couple of nights is, for the first time in a very long time, I just sat and read for pleasure.

Yep, let me point that out again. I read two books just because I could.

See, over the past three or so years, I've probably read less than a dozen fiction books. The rest of the stuff I've read has been either writing work-related (Star Trek SCE books, the latest Star Trek novels or anthologies), hoping to get writing work-related (media tie-in books for lines I'd like to write for) or else non-fiction books for my original stuff (Japanese History, pirates, medieval fighting styles, Celtic legends, etc.)

But just reading for fun is hard to do. In fact, terri_osborne was working on an idea for a story to pitch and I recommended Gordon R. Dickson's Wolf and Iron as something she might enjoy reading. She brought up the point that she just didn't have time to read for fun any more and I had to start thinking about how long had it been since I'd just read. Heck, I think I have 35 novels on my "to be read" pile . . . good books, highly recommended to me, but I just don't take the time to read them.

Well, that's going to stop. I'm going to try and dedicate a little time, either when I first get home to de-stress or else right before bed, but there will be some reading whenever possible. I want to get back into the joy of why I'm writing. I'm a writer because I was a reader.

No, change that. I am a reader. And I'll get back into the habit again.

After all, it's just like riding a bike, eh?

OH, and I did get some writing done tonight. Added 1207 words to Steel on Target and now I think I'm going to go to bed at a reasonable hour for once. Well, reasonable for me.

With a book *grin*
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Words for Today

1207 / 1000 words. 121%

Progress on Steel on Target

23324 / 90000 words. 26%

Words for 2008

55135 / 366000 words. 15%

. . .is done.

I need to give it a little rest and then review it against the original. I'm a little worried. Somehow cutting it down from four pages to one, I feel like I've cut some of the quirky, unique stuff about the story. I'm a little more used to having at least two pages to write a proposal, but if they want one page, then they're getting one page.

So, I did get some writing done last night (which will be totaled up with Monday's work). Tonight, I decided to concentrate on the proposal and one page comes to 647 words.

Now to let it marinade a bit.

On a different note, we saw The Spiderwick Chronicles today. We really enjoyed the movie and I have to say, there are a number of movies they're advertising that look really interesting (Speed Racer, Indiana Jones and Horton Hears a Who). Kung Fu Panda? Well, the jury's still out there. *grin*
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Words for Today

647 / 1000 words. 65%

Words on Proposal

647 / 647 words. 100%

Words for 2008

53277 / 366000 words. 15%

Of course, it's not in presentable shape. It's got way too much information to dump on an editor and it's still rough. There's going to be a lot of chopping and trimming and refining and all the other stuff that goes into making a final draft.

Tonight I added 680 words to bring in the first draft at 2295 words. Not quite the "one page proposal" they're looking for. *grin* Still, you can't edit a piece of blank paper, so by having the first draft done, now I can play editor (which I do professionally . . . just not with fiction). Then again, I edit technical documents for the government. Can you think of anything more fictional than that? *grin*

Tomorrow night, I'll be at Farpoint visiting with my friends and Saturday I'll be joining kradical and others for the Quality of Leadership panel. Sunday, I'll be going to see The Spiderwick Chronicles and Monday, I'm going to try and get in as much writing as I can. So, the word meter may not be moving quite as much as they have been earlier, but we'll try to pick up steam again next week.

So, all I have to do is survive work tomorrow and then it's convention time!
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Words for Today

680 / 1000 words. 68%

Progress on Proposal

680 / 680 words. 100%

Words for 2008

52143 / 366000 words. 14%

Well, there are deadlines and then there are deadlines.

I got back to work today to find out we have a new release coming out on Tuesday. So, that means I have to write the release notes AND update the user's manual between now and then. The other project needs me to update their internal web site and wiki as soon as possible and then start working on updating their training documents and slides.

Well, I didn't want to be bored.

I also worked on the tie-in proposal tonight. As I figured, my initial pass on the story is well over what I need, but I've always thought it's easier to edit down than pad out. I added another 1076 words to version one of the proposal, but I'm almost done. I've just reached the climactic scene, so I need to write it and the wrap up tomorrow, before I start editing. I'm really enjoying the story as it's coming together. I just have to hope the editor does also.
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Words for Today

1076 / 1000 words. 108%

Progress on proposal

1076 / 1076 words. 100%

Words for 2008

51463 / 366000 words. 14%

Since I stayed home today, I took advantage of the situation by doing my research for the tie-in project. Some of my original ideas I had to frag and others popped into my mind while I was reading some of the episode transcripts.

Sometimes, that's the joy of tie-in work. A show that only has been on the air for a few seasons doesn't have a lot of back story and you have a little more freedom when it comes time to develop stories and either "fill in the blanks" between stories or project out beyond where the story is now. However, when dealing with a long-running franchise, like say Star Trek, then there are a ton of things that have to be considered when developing the storyline . . . and I don't mean just what's been on screen. Series like Star Trek or Battletech have tons of novels and anthologies out there also that have to be considered. Trying to find an original take on the subject can be a tricky thing.

But when it works, it's a wonderful thing to watch come together.

So, tonight I sat down and started putting together my proposal. I know the initial proposal is going to be way long, but it's giving me the opportunity to work out all the kinks in my mind. Then it's a matter of trimming away the fat and presenting a nice clean proposal to the editor. I think I'm getting better at this proposal thing . . . the last four I've submitted have gotten to the second level and I'm two for four there. With a little bit of luck, I'll be three for five. *grin*

So, there were words tonight, 539 to be exact. Not quite the thousand I was hoping for today, but writing pitches is a tad more labor intensive than writing dialog and scenes. And, hey, words is words. *grin*

*** Personal note: Just went over 50,000 words for 2008. Already passed the halfway point to reach the total number of words written in 2007. Huzzah! ***
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Words for Today

539 / 1000 words. 54%

Other Projects

539 / 539 words. 100%

Words for 2008

50387 / 366000 words. 14%

I made it into work today, but I'm not sure if I'm still not quite right from what bothered me on Saturday or if the breakfast I had at the cafeteria this morning fought back, but either way, I had to leave work early. I wandered home, put up the footstool on the couch, grabbed the nearest blanket and dropped off. Five hours later, my family woke me up when they got home. wishweaver recommended I go see the doctor tomorrow, but I'm thinking if this bug will just pass through, I'll be o.k.

I'll decide whether or not I'm going to work when I wake up. Right now, I would say it's 49/51, leaning toward staying at home tomorrow also. I hate to burn the sick leave, but at least I have it. I was feeling a little better this evening, so I accompanied Wish to the local Giant to pick up a few things, which may have been a mistake. I felt O.K. when we left, but I was really worn out by the time we got home, and that's not like me. I think I've been sick more days this past January/February than I had been the past two years.

Dunno. I'll see what happens tomorrow morning.

Still, I managed to get some writing done. I added 1409 words to Childhood's Tears as well as working out some more plot points to my tie-in pitch. Also there's a really cool thread going on at Absolute Write in the Writing Novels forum called "Brutalize the Plot-in-a-Line". People are posting the heart of thier current WIP in one sentence and then others on the board are critiquing it. There have been some very good discussions going on about what makes a good tag line, how to boil your story down into one line and what it might mean if you can't do that. (You don't have enough story or else you have too much story for one book are two options.) I've gotten some good feedback about my one-liner for CSD:Dragon Couchant and I'm definitely taking them to heart.

However, it's late and my body is trying to get angry with me again, so I'm off to bed.
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Words for Today

1409 / 1000 words. 141%

Progress on Childhood's Tears

18389 / 90000 words. 20%

Words for 2008

49848 / 366000 words. 14%

I'm not quite sure what's going on with me these days. Maybe I'm over-extending myself during the weekdays, but I really crashed this weekend.

Now, Friday night, I intentionally did not write. I took off from work early to enjoy the beautiful day, got wishweaver and went and did "stuff". Just "stuff", got the oil changed in my old truck, visited the bank, hit the local Costco and picked up some really good Teriyaki Chicken Fillets that we had for dinner and then threw on a new (to me) video game (Xenogenesis 1). Yes, I can tell it's a little older and the voices don't match up with the mouth movements very well, (sorta gave me an old Hong Kong movie vibe), but the story looks interesting and if I can get past this current section, I think the game may be pretty fun. (lots of back story and set-up to get through at first.)

Saturday was another thing all together. It was a day of nothing quite going right and for some reason, I was tired and cranky. We did stuff though. Went to the local mall so the daughter-unit could get some new clothes, looked at a few things for wishweaver and took in the local video store so I could get some ideas what I wanted to pick up with the next paycheck. However, while I was waiting for them on a bench, I started falling asleep. I hadn't been up that late Friday evening, so I couldn't explain it. But, by the time we got home, I was really tired. I walked in, sat down on the couch and fell asleep at 3:45. I didn't wake up until 11:45 and then went back to sleep at 1:30 and slept in until 10 this morning.

I don't know if I had a bug or what, but I certainly felt better this morning than I had all day Saturday. Sigh. So, today was spent folding laundry, watching Emergency with Wish or working on Chronicles of the Sea Dragon. It was a relaxing day but still pretty productive. I typed 3098 words today to make up for the lack of production on Friday and Saturday.

I need to finish working on my next blog entry for Writer Beware's blog. I'm working on doing something on tie-in writng/work for hire and discussing the pros and cons of this particular writing model. I'm going to try and bounce a few ideas off of some of my other tie-in writers to get their takes on the article before I post it.

Speaking of tie-in writing, I think I have a pretty good grasp on what I want to write now. It's just a matter of finishing up my research and trying to tie everything up into a neat little one-page proposal. Which of course, is my bane, being naturally long-winded. *grin*

But, I need to get a load out of the dryer and get it upstairs before I go to bed. Night, LJ.
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Words for Today

3098 / 1000 words. 310%

Progress on CSD: Dragon Couchant

69592 / 100000 words. 70%

Words for 2008

48439 / 366000 words. 13%

I have to admit, this is a very strange circumstance I find myself in.

I received an invitation to pitch for a media tie-in series that would be a great deal of fun. Well, at work today, I was talking with the other SF junkies in the office and as I was talking to them, I came up with the opening to the story. So, on my lunch break I roughed it out and then rewrote it tonight at home and had a couple of friends of mine who're big SF fans read it (it's only 500 words), and they liked it. Heck, even wishweaver liked it.

So now, I have the pitch, but no plot. I know exactly how I want the story to open . . . if I just knew what the story was. OK, I have some ideas . . . but nothing has congealed quite yet. I need to review a few more episodes to be certain I have all my facts straight and then I need to check the existing novels out there to ensure I'm not using some elements that have already been done to death. I figure I'll try to work up a half dozen plot paragraphs and see if two or three interest me enough to actually pitch them.

But, by God, I know what the first two pages of the story look like. *grin*

Backwards much, White?

Talked with April this evening, but between family illnesses and weirdness at work, she didn't get much of a chance to work on Shattered Mirror this past week. We spent most our Skype session reviewing SF/F on television and how when I was younger, SF was more action-adventure with some drama or comedy mixed in. Now, too many of the SF shows are trying to be edgy dramas . . . but that could be because shows get pulled so quickly these days, they never get the chance to build an audience. If ST:TNG was debuting these days, it probably would have been canceled given its first season. It didn't really hit its stride until mid-season two (IMHO). These days, it would have been canceled after eight episodes and another "Dancing with the Stars" clone would have replaced it. *bleah*

I think in some ways, animated shows (whether American or Japanese) aren't embarrassed that they're genre shows. They don't have to be "everything for everyone" or else "high drama". Action-Adventure isn't a dirty word in the animated world. Live SF/F on the small screen seems to take itself way too seriously these days.

*mutter, mutter*

Oh, I did get some writing done, btw. As I mentioned, the opening to the pitch came in at 508 words and then I added 1333 words to Childhood's Tears tonight. This story is driving me crazy. Yes, I had an outline, for all the good its doing me. Still, I know where I'm going and what I'm going to do when I get there, it's just taking a detour getting there on me.

Sorta like my pitch/plot.

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Words for Today

1841 / 1000 words. 184%

Progress on Childhood's Tears

16980 / 90000 words. 19%

Other related writing

508 / 508 words. 100%

Words for 2008

42865 / 366000 words. 12% done!

Well, it's a good kind of problem, I guess.

I guess I was on more of a roll on Chronicles last night than I thought. Tonight was supposed to be dedicated to Childhood's Tears, but without even thinking, I opened up Chronicles and by the time I realized I'd screwed up the schedule, it was a tad too late.

Now, I'm pretty happy with where I reached tonight and the word count was pretty good (although I do admit a certain amount of distraction made the writing take longer than I had hoped). I'll just have to try and write a little more tomorrow on CT to make up for it.

I also have an invite to pitch for a new tie-in line. Time to borrow a few DVDs from a friend and get to researching. I have a pretty good idea what I want to pitch, but I want to do a little more research to ensure I have back-story continuity as well as a good pitch. I'm excited to get this opportunity but I'm not holding my breath. There are some other darn good writers pitching for the same property and if I lose out, I know I'm losing out to some people I'd enjoy reading.

Time to call it a night though. Keep your fingers crossed, LJ-land.

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Words for tonight

1103 / 1000 words. 110%

Progress on CSD: Dragon Couchant

67597 / 100000 words. 68%

Words for 2008

41024 / 366000 words. 11%

Well, I heard from Abbadon Press tonight. It seems they've already assigned the character I was hoping to write about to another author.

*sigh*

I guess I should have put my pitch together faster. Damn this having to work stuff. *wry grin*

However, the editor I was working with was very complimentary about my work and wants me to submit something the next time they have an open call for pitches.

So, what's next?

1) Keep an eye on the Abbadon web site and see what they have coming up next.

2) Rework Childhood's Tears and submit it as my own work (since outside of the world, it is mostly mine anyway).

3) Keep plugging away on other projects and opportunities.

Onward and Upward!

1030 EST

Package sent off to the U.K. publisher (who will be named once I hear yea or nay).

1031 EST

Nerves shot to hell.

1241 EST

Finally calmed down enough to post about it.

1242 EST

Time to forget about it and start working on next problem. (yeah right)

*grin*

Well, the chapter breakdowns are done and we're ready to ship this off to the publisher.

Except for one small problem.

I forgot to mail the final chapter revisions to myself from work today.

(insert sound of head slamming down on the desk repeatedly)

So . . .

I have just mailed the final revision of the chapters to myself AT work. As soon as the morning reports and other housecleaning is done in the morning, I'll be downloading the chapter breakdowns, creating an e-mail at work, attaching the breakdowns and the chapter there and then mailing it to the U.K. before 1200.

Grumbledifritz. Rassenfrassen sassenfratz.

Still, it's in the can. I can now get back to working on Chapter Six of Shattered Mirror so I can have it done by the time April and I get together next (I hope).

Well, the weekend draws to a close with a finality of a prison door slamming behind me. However, I did get quite a bit accomplished. The 1500 word sample chapter is done as are the chapter breakdowns. Both have been edited a few times, things added, things deleted, things rearranged.

Still it's not quite ready yet.

I have tomorrow and Tuesday to make final cuts and decisions because it needs to go out before I go to bed on Tuesday. (It's due at the end of the month, but since we're four hours behind the U.K., I'd rather send it out Tuesday night than try to remember to mail it by 1300 on Wednesday. I always figure it's the end of "their" working day not the end of "ours" for deadlines.)

I'm pretty happy with what I have, but I want to sleep on it tonight and then give it a good scrubbing later. Yes, I'm nervous about this. I really have invested a lot of sweat and thought into making this a damn good story and I'm hoping this catches the publisher's eye. I'm thinking this could be my "bridge" between doing media tie-in work and original work since it'll mostly be my writing (even if it is work-for-hire).

Yes, I know good writing trumps good credits, but I'm thinking, a little of both can't hurt.

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I didn't get much done on Saturday though, sigh. First, I took the daughter-unit to vision therapy, then we grabbed lunch en route to see Mike the Color Guy as wishweaver dubbed him in her blog entry. Then I had to run home to pick up various and sundry items to match paint chips against and then run back down to Beltsville. We snagged dinner early on the way back. It was probably a good thing also, since I started feeling poorly at dinner and took about a four-hour nap when we got home, effectively wiping out the rest of the evening.

Bleah.

However, we have picked out carpet and paint and the progress on the house continues apace. They're supposed to install the new deep sink next to the washer/dryer and then prep things for the new water heater we need. Once that's done, they'll finish off the storage area and then we wait for the inspectors to examine everything so far and then push on.

At least the electrician is almost done downstairs. All the recessed lights are in and it's darn bright down there just using 40 watt bulbs. Can't wait to see how it goes with the new lighting on the main floor.

Oh well. Time for bed. Have to been in at work AT 0700 tomorrow and Tuesday. Ick.

Spent today making the first series of edits to the chapter breakdowns. I think they're still too long, but I'm going to keep this set as the rough outline for the book. I think with some more judicious cuts and some more tightening, I can knock another 500 words out of the current breakdown (now sitting at 3,300+ words).

Still, the publisher wants one or two paragraphs per chapter, so I don't want to get it too sparse either.

Gah!

Tomorrow, I will start the first chapter (or the first 1500 words of the first chapter. As it stands, I'm proposing 20 chapters and an epilogue. That means each chapter will average 4,300 words. There's no way to write the entire first chapter for this book in only 1500 words, but I can write the first scene in 1500 words.

(rubs hands together) I love it when a plan comes together.

Now, where did I leave the "Red Pen of Doom"?

Chapter breakdowns done.

Time to write the sample chapter and start editing the heck out of both of them.

OK. Not the time to write anything.

Time for bed. Write tomorrow. Edit tomorrow.

Night, Live Journal.