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That Novel Progress Thing

Tonight I cut two scenes. They were DULL, and things are much more interesting if I don’t blurt the obvious and/or the stereotypical at you. I made two scenes more ambiguous and precise at the same time. Then I moved a scene from chapter six into chapter four that should result in wonderful misunderstandings.

Chapter 3 is now ready for my chapter readers. Tomorrow I leave the college at 11 for my writing session (11-2 out writing tomorrow). I intend to do the first modified version of trolls versus dwarfs (the moved chapter six scene), as well as spiff up the troll/godmother council of war, with already suggested clarifications from Yolanda.

In chapter 5, there will be four revised scenes which should be easy to fix. So, while chapter 4 will not be ready until Wednesday, chapter 5 may well be ready tomorrow. It would be nice if I could get the next three chapters ready for reading before I go off to Springfield. That would mean I was halfway finished with the novel, draft 2. I would accept that as progress to be happy about.

There’s a lot of emotional tension and clarifications to be done to chapters six, seven, and eight, the chapters that need the most work, especially given the modifications in chapters four and five. I don’t want to ignore the emotional angles, but I don’t want to get bogged down in them either.

There’s that big battle sequence for chapter nine too. Which needs to be streeetttched…

Oh well. Those are problems mostly for April.

At least I’m not Earbrassing, as I was Friday. I was really down because my rough draft is so crappy. At times like these, I’ve got to remember Professor Boston’s fertilizer analogy.

Time for vegetation.

Catherine

Reflections: Incubate, Health Debate, Educate

My confession: I was not a virtuous writer this weekend. Bryon and I had date day Saturday. And yesterday, the errands had stacked up. So I didn’t do it.

I’m guessing that it’s because the brain needed a little time to process some ideas. Like how to hide some information from all of you that you don’t need to know up front, and how to create better misunderstandings.

Tonight we go home and we begin the great draft struggle again.

***

I’m trying to pull my thoughts together on the health care bill that passed yesterday. I’m progressive, and I believe it’s a move in the right direction. The most interesting conversation I’ve had today is with my tai chi instructor, who is a Green, who feels betrayed by the whole bill. He is especially aggravated by Kucinich casting a yes vote.

Whereas, philosophically, I’m more at the foot in door stage. There’s a lot left to be done, but yes, the foot is in the door. I think the most interesting implication is this: if you wanted to leave your work to create, theoretically you could.

Given that in 10 years, I’ll be eligible for a chunk of retirement change I don’t want to lose, I’ll probably not leave my work. If this had been 10 years ago, it might have changed the direction of my life.

It’s good to FINALLY give people options.

***

There is the other reason I didn’t write this weekend–conference prep. I am now ready to do my academic thing at the Midwest Institute for Intercultural and International Education in Springfield, Il this weekend. Which might be why I’m quiet on those days. My partner in crime and I drive down Thursday and drive back Saturday. It’s my last year on the board. Next year, I intend to begin attending TESOL instead. Go figure. That’s my job.

Class planning time? I say yes!

Catherine

Slice, but not Viking Slice

If you type Scandinavia and swords into a search engine, you get…Vikings! No surprise there.

Honestly, though, I could use some weapons references for Norway (Scandinavia in general is also fine) from the 12th to 17th centuries, to see if anything is particularly interesting.

If you know of any books of this type, weigh in. I’m not afraid of this kind of research. You should see all the reading I did on wrestling for Hulk Hercules.

At any rate, if you’ve got good suggestions, I’m listening. Or if you know good people I can contact, let me know too.

Cath

Norwegian Fjord Horse

More seemingly random research:

The Norwegian Fjord Horse a la Wikipedia.

Fast facts

Small horse that can carry a human (certainly can carry a Frost elf!)
All horses are dun (tan or gold) with darker markings
Work horse as well as riding horse–very versatile
Very gentle–good with children
Often used in therapeutic schools
Genetically pure because of selective breeding

Pictures of Norwegians Fjords

Brok
Sky View Henry
Yenna
FG Luna

That’s a Wrap

The (very, very) rough draft is finished. And yet, I do not feel that dancingly happy feeling of accomplishment, as there is much more writing to do. A lot of the writing feels superficial at the moment, sketchy. However, the first draft is done.

What happens next? I’ve solicited some folks to read the thing a chapter or two at a time for feedback. My goal is for me to have the second draft tweaked with feedback by the end of April. In May and June, I’ll be taking some time off from writing to create in another medium (time to do a little serious sewing!).

In June/July, I’ll get the manuscript out to some full draft readers, with the hopes of getting it around over the summer and getting it off by August. Yes, that *is* a full six months after I’d hoped. I think it’s okay to break a self-imposed deadline. An industry one is another matter.

Well, gotta go. The little battery sign on the computer has turned red.

Catherine

Yet Again, Troll Progress

Brain is all wrung out. I am determined to do my handout for a conference today, so that’s probably all the writing I get. The sad thing is that while I promised you snippets, there is nothing worthy of you this week. Instead, you get these progress reports. Twitterites do get one-liners, but snippets just aren’t coming.

Here’s where we’re at. The first two chapters are in good shape. The third and fourth chapters are more uneven. There are three brand new scenes in there that haven’t had time to cure, otherwise I think the writing is pretty solid. Likewise, chapter five is mostly solid, but has two brand new scenes, and one extensively revised scene. Those three are tomorrow’s work.

Chapter six is a real mix. There are four very solid scenes, two scenes that are in need of extensive revision, and two raw scenes, which are really just notes and have yet to be composed. In chapters seven through ten, there are 10 revision scenes and 10 raw scenes.

I’d love to have chapter five done and chapter six waiting for revision by the end of tomorrow. That’s essentially the end of my life as a full-time writer for the foreseeable future. Then we’ll be back to trying to write as we can, with planned time on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

I am currently the proud writer of 38.8K. I have no worries about this book falling in the right zone for a YA draft. That took a while.

Once I have the basic draft finished, I’ll do a detail/deep revision, and as each chapter goes through that, I’ll begin to solicit some reading comments.

It’s nice to have road map, still, but creating the fabric of reality is hard on the brain.

Does this writing process sound familiar to you, or alien to you? I’m curious about how you guys put it together.

Catherine