Lizard thinking

Printed out a final draft - I'll be reading it tonight and tomorrow for last minute corrections - and went ahead with the cover. Since this is the last of four books, I intended that all cover fonts and pictures match.

Oh... the horror!!! For previous books, I used a different computer, with an art package and fonts. Of course, when I tried to start the damn thing, it pouted, crossed its arms and said 'Nup'. After trying everything, I had to admit defeat.

My own damn fault. I changed to the laptop for convenience and because the desktop was making whiney-ass noises. Now, it won't go at all. I think I killed it; killed it stone-motherless-dead.

I set the desktop aside and did some pouting of my own.

Now, it's hot and humid here, tropical even; just moving around produces sweat - and a lizard.

Lizard?? Yes. A Blue Tongue, in fact. The garden has about five that sneak out of the garage to ambush snails and slugs (although, I don't suppose snails would rear in surprise and make a dash for the tomatoes - funny image though).

Because it's hot, I opened the front door - but not the security screen - and the back door - which doesn't have a security screen - to allow a sea breeze to pass through.

While pouting at the tragedy of a dead computer, I heard a rustle and glanced down. I looked at the Blue Tongue, and it looked at me. Then it made a dash for the couch. Those things are fast.

It took half an hour to remove the beastie back into the garden, but the sudden change in thought processes did the job.

I remembered the handy-dandy font software I bought... mmm... years ago. Sixteen hundred fonts to choose from and import. Oh, frabjous day, calloo-callay!!

Cover's done.

All I need do, is a final run through and the book should be posted on Scribd by the midnight deadline.

Music to edit by

I'm putting in the edits on Spring's Reign. By the weekend, it will be posted and I can turn my attention to something else.

As I put the edits in, I'm listening to some 'old' music. I went through my cd collection - which desperately needs organising - and plucked out stuff I haven't heard in ages.

Ah... not the hippest but these are what I've run through the player:

Shawn Colvin: Steady On
Shawn Colvin: A Few Little Repairs
Aqua: Aquarius
Alan Parsons Project: Turn of a Friendly Card
Fleetwood Mac: Tango in the Night
Mike Oldfield: Voyager
Mike Oldfield: Amarok
The Corrs: Forgiven, not Forgotten
Robbie Williams: Sing When You're Winning

and more modern ones:
Lily Allen: It's Not Me, It's You (The neighbours are probably fed up by now.)
Kelly Clarkson: All I Ever Wanted
Michael Buble: ALL OF THEM!!!

They're getting a bit of a flogging, but I find it relaxing and I can concentrate. So, back to it or I'll miss the deadline.

'sup?

Finally, the rain has ceased for the time being. This morning dawned sunny, right before a sea mist rolled in, a sure indicator of a hot and humid day.

We've had more than twice the monthly average for rainfall and eight days of the stuff out of nine. Everything has that dampness about it that reminds me of England. I'm just about to get someone from Seattle to send me the t-shirt: In Seattle, you don't tan, you rust. Coz, I'm feelin' ya.

I can categorically say: "I am over Summer." I want the coolth of Winter, the bitey mornings and cheek-nipping breezes. I want the scent of burning leaves and mown grass. I want the sun to rise later and set earlier... okay, it's doing that now, but I want it to be obvious. I guess I'll have to be patient.

Edits are on track for Friday - barring any unforeseen screw ups.

Oh, and as for the Super Bowl I watched. Can you say, Cha-ching-ing-ing! Who dat?

Fantasy in Death

I love a good locked door mystery and J.D. Robb's Fantasy in Death delivers.

Long time friends Bart, Cill, Var and Benny are on the verge of releasing a state-of-art holo-game. Bart tests the game in the isolation and secured holo-room of his locked apartment and is killed. There are no clues. No weapon, no evidence of an intruder, no witnesses, nothing.

This is the crime super-cop, Lt. Eve Dallas, investigates with a little help from husband, Roarke. His input is more as a consultant and assists Feeney off screen. Eve struggles to understand e-tech, as always, but it is because she doesn't understand the environment that she can think of the unusual solution. I had my own suspects, but didn't truly settle on one until late in the book. Canny readers will pick up on the pivotal moment.

Fans of J.D. Robb will be excused for thinking this book is familiar with a particular scenario in the first of the series, Naked in Death, I know it rang a bell with me - but when you consider the two-year time frame, it's not such a leap.

I would have given the book five stars, except for the laziness of the copy-editor. This English version has unfortunate carriage returns in the middle of sentences, words that need spaces in between and comma issues. There are also problems with 'voice'. At one stage, I couldn't tell who was speaking, Roarke or Eve. Roarke doesn't have the speech patterns from previous books and the concept of 'friendship' is a bit belaboured.

Overall - if you can ignore the copy-edit problems - the story is a great read and fans will be satisfied.

Rain, rain, and more bloody rain

The last twenty four hours we've had buckets of rain, 100mm in twelve hours. Not much sleep since I had to check the back drains at midnight, 3.00 and again at 6.00.

The house is set on flat ground, with the rainwater run off coming through the backyard since builders behind us changed the natural watercourse some years ago. It's been eight or nine years since so much rain fell in a short time.

October I was out checking the drains, but the rain eased mid-evening.

The humidity is still high and we have a severe weather warning for the rest of the day. Sigh.

I'm hoping my beans and brussel sprouts survive - I only planted them at lunchtime yesterday, before the bucketing. The veggie patch is looking waterlogged.

On the editing front, I have about three chapters to do in this draft. I'll set it aside for a day or so and let it simmer... Okay, fine I have J.D. Robb's Fantasy in Death waiting. From all reports, it's an absolute cracker. Work first, then play. Which means, weather warning or not, I need to get back to the editing so I can have my reward.

AFK

Wallowing

Nah, no work today. It's raining, a day for lazing on the couch and watching DVDs.

So: Terminator Salvation - DVD has an impurity, so I watched maybe half and it froze. No amount of cleaning or change of player would get it going again.

Four Brothers, with Mark Wahlberg. Not bad, but why do script writers have to televise who's going to die? I mean Star Trek has the red shirts, war movies have 'I'm short', or 'let me show you a picture of my girlfriend'?

The Italian Job, I love this movie, so slick and polished and so damned clever. It made me think about other scenarios I could use in writing.

Ice Age 3: Age of the Dinosaurs, What's not to like about animated comedies for kids? I'm gonna get me a copy.

A day off from outside influences, or from my own work is great and I'm trying not to feel guilty. I have the manuscript separated into chapters next me, I probably should have put it somewhere else; but it's ready for tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I think I'll watch Appleseed - the CGI version. I need some more wallow time.

Missing the Plot

Finally finished the ..th draft of Spring's Reign. Now I can break it down into chapters and sort out the plot line I missed - this is what happens when you don't plan a novel; you get to do more work after you've written the first draft.

How do you miss a plot line? I mean, really? A plot line? Left out? It's actually easy. You get so caught up in the now of the story, in the information to progress the story, you sometimes forget to put in a break; something to interrupt the flow and shake the characters out of their... well, not comfortable situation, but to present the information in a different way, a more active way.

And when you're writing romance, a way to throw the characters closer together. And the missing plot line will do just that.

The draft reads fine as it is now, but in that reading, I felt there was something missing; now I know what it is. Action doesn't have to be biffo, it can be verbal; for my characters, however, travelling thousands of miles together in close confinement, something outside that atmosphere has to happen. And so it will.

Hopefully, it won't affect the direction of the manuscript; that would be... bad.

At this stage, I've added nearly thirty pages, or about ten thousand words. With the added plot line, the word count might lift by another ten to twenty thousand, bringing the book to between 90-100,000. A nice size for the final in the series.

Aussie Day

Whoo-hoo! Australia Day! So I worked on the manuscript this morning and then big sis turned up with Lamington cupcakes, home made bread, Dijon mustard and franks for hot dogs. Not exactly Aussie fare (she picked up a pork pie for the maternal influencer - her being British and all) but we were actually sitting down to watch a replay of the American Football match between Indianapolis and New York.

Sadly, we were going for the Jets.

I did get to watch the Vikings/Saints match live yesterday, and wow, what a game! Might have to watch the reply of that one on Saturday.

Yes, I know it's Australia's day, but we had the lamoes and I did watch the cricket. And this is a multicultural country full of wonder cuisines and cultures that blend well with our own and make this country... great. So the Italian Pasta tonight with the American Football today isn't odd, just all part of the scenery.

I'm not one for the beach or the sun given the basal cell carcinoma removal from under my eye a couple of years ago - the sun is not my friend any more. The best I can do is watch vicariously via the teev. To wit, the above picture of the Great Sydney Ferry Race. Buckets of small boats and tall ships on the Harbour to watch.

It matters not who wins, but the sheer enjoyment of being on the water.

Now, I'm back at the desk, beavering away. I've spotted at least one plot that's missing and I'll have to go back and put it in once I'm done with this draft. It will make the book larger, but by the end of this draft, it will have more pages than the other three. There'll be other stuff I've missed, too, and the notes are growing.

I have to get back to it. Tonight, there will be fireworks and bubbly and I fully expect to become 'tired and emotional' since the parent doesn't drink much...

What? I can't let a bottle of bubbly go to waste, now can I?

Bad torrent

Jeez, I'm a lazy snot, but in my defence, I have been a wee bit busy to update the blog.

My mother once told me I analyse stuff to death - then analyse why it died. Which is pretty much true. In the interests of upholding the vice, I'm being nagged by the success of Winter's Heart over on the Scribd page.

And yeah, I've mentioned it before and it's still nagging. The book has enjoyed a recent spike in readings and I'm at a loss to work out why, since the prequel and sequel aren't doing much at all.

There's a big gap, however, in reading and downloads, so all I can do is speculate that peeps are reading all or a part on-line and not keeping a copy.

I also know that the books are listed on other torrent sites (places with fast downloads) - along with other author's works that I doubt they know about.

This is going to be a major problem for the publishing industry. For free works, no big; for just released in the book store, yeah, it's big. I imagine some of the people are either typing or scanning in books to post free, and I did see a Nora Roberts book freely available less than a week after it came out in the stores.

Add to that an argument I saw last year on Amazon where a poster was offering a book - can't remember whose - free to anyone who e-mailed him. His position was that, since he'd paid for it, he could do whatever he wanted with it. Others rightly said he was infringing copyright. The poster resentfully stuck to his position, ignoring the suggestion that if books were constantly being bought and offered free, there was no financial incentive for authors to continue writing. Eventually, the poster disappeared - no doubt to a torrent site.

How does an author protect their work in this age of electronic sophistication? How much money would it take to shut down the torrent networks?

One suggestion could be to halt traditional book publishing and encode e-books with a limited use security code. If people want an actual book, print-on-demand companies could print up the book, say, a year after the e-book came out - like the hardback/paperback system.

The downside would be the death of bookstores; they'd have to move from the traditional market to an ordering market - and how successful would that be?

As a new writer who hopes to be published one day, the future actually looks more bleak and scary than ever. I can post a book to Scribd or any of the other e-book sites, have six thousand reads, and not make a red cent for it. If I put it up for sale, the future will be six thousand reads and still not make much money because it's listed for free somewhere else.

I think, for now, I'll ignore what's going on and keep trying for the sensual feel of my first traditionally published book in my hands. It's a dream.

Timing and research

I'm into the second draft. Joy. And it's all about timing. The timeline. Oh, and maps, roads, rivers, cuisine, hotels - a right little tourist guide to Brazil. sigh It seemed like a good idea at the time...

Fortunately, there aren't too many Post-It notes scattering the manuscript. I figure they'll come in the next draft when I break down the chapters.

I also figure I have two, maybe three, weeks before peeps start asking me where the book is - but no pressure.

I must be doing something right, though, because it seems like every time I turn the teev on, there's something about the Amazon. I've learned an awful lot of stuff - some I knew already, but a lot of it new - like the Amazon being the size of Australia! Survivorman and Bushcraft with Ray Meares have been invaluable, as has Wikipedia and other research sites. (I'm currently feeling too lazy to put it links.)

GoogleEarth is terrific. I can see where the jungle is and the roads and rivers that carve through the territory. It's an impressive place and while I'd like to say it's on my Bucket List... it's not. I'm not a fan of hot, humid places that have icky things like massive social spider webs. Squicks me out on a major scale - even writing about it gave me the heebie-jeebies - and I still have to do a little bit more research on them. (Insert shudder here.)

So... if all goes well, Spring's Reign will be up on Scribd by the 13th February. I still have some real life issues to deal with that may get in the way, but I'm working towards the date as a goal. Following that, then I'll get to the rest of the promised works.

It's good to be busy; now I need to insert some Brazilian cuisine into the book.

Wisdom of ages

Here it is, the middle of January, and the overnight temperature dropped to a few degrees above zero.

Plenty of family time this past weekend, like the weekend before. We live less than a hundred metres from the beach so in Summer, peeps come for the sun. More rellos are popping up this weekend too.

Plus I've been busily editing... it's all go...

But, I've been watching a program called Elders. The introduction says it all:

"We live in a society that worships youth. On television, in magazines, in advertisements and on billboards, what sells and what is sold to us is youth. But in some cultures it is the elders of the community who are valued and whose wisdom is sought. In this series we are going to seek out six prominent elders of our tribe, each over the age of 65 to see what life has taught them. Welcome to the elders."

We've heard from Alan Alda, Sir David Attenborough and Bob Hawke (didn't watch that one - I don't like him at all).

Last night, Andrew Denton spoke with the incomparable Helen Thomas. What a fascinating woman.

A lot of people outside of the U.S. probably don't know who she is, but would probably remember the old lady, hunched over, in the front row of White House Press Briefings, grilling whoever is at the podium.

It's sometimes magical to watch. Helen will ask the same question, in ten different ways; and be given the same answer... in ten different ways. What is astonishing is the respect and accord given to Ms Thomas. I've never heard a speaker treat her with impatience or condescension - even as some commentators do.

At age 89, she's still working, still as wily as a fox and still asking the awkward questions. Ms Thomas is a journalists journalist - and age has not wearied her. What she says in the interview is sometimes pointed:

ANDREW DENTON: The old saying that that power corrupts absolute power corrupts absolutely. Do you believe that’s true?

HELEN THOMAS: Yeah. I think it can. I’ve seen people men go into the Oval Office with some trepidation. In a couple of days they think they’re President and they think that’s all powerful and people worship at their shrine and every wish is a command, no yeah I think very corrupting.

ANDREW DENTON: Who have you seen most changed by that office?

HELEN THOMAS: This man. I think he thinks he’s President and he’s led us into a very b-big quagmire morass.

It was an excellent interview and I wanted to hear more. Half an hour isn't nearly long enough to listen to all the fascinating things that happen in our eminent seniors' lives. Maybe if more young people paid attention to the older generations, things would be much more happier, if not livelier.

So next week, we get to hear from Dame Elisabeth Murdoch. Rupie's mum. He's 78; Elisabeth is 100. Should be interesting.

A great idea!

So where do ideas come from? What makes one thought more special than another? How do authors take that one blip and turn it into a best seller?

Short answer: dunno.

Long answer: every author has a different way of going about the craft of generating ideas. There are ideas everywhere - and I should point out here and now that there is no copyright on ideas - from a sleeper's dreams to the overheard conversation to watching a bird take flight to the shopping mall, anything can generate the first kernel of a story.

That well of 'what if' never runs dry because we are surrounded by stimulus all the time.

It's true that writing is ten percent inspiration and ninety percent perspiration. Writing is hard work. Sitting for hours at a time, focusing on 'what happens next', is no easy task. The imagination is running off in particular directions - sometimes to a point you didn't expect, sometimes into a brick wall and sometimes it just works.

Writers are observers as much as participants in the world, we just view it a little bit differently. We look for motives, we look for action, for romance, for tragedy and redemption. We hear conversations from imaginary people, demands from villains who aren't there, confessions, plots, plans from thin air. We see fantastic landscapes, architecture, vehicles, weapons. We feel the pain of betrayal, the joy of discovery, the exhaustion of escape and passion of that first kiss; and all of it based in real life and all of it twisted and shaped and bent to our will into something new and lasting.

But no-one can write the story but the individual author. Writers can have the same idea, but the story will be different: C.S. Forester - Alexander Kent - David Weber; all stories based on Nelson, all different. Stephanie Meyer - Maggie Shayne - Charlaine Harris; all stories about vampires and all different. J.R.R Tolkien - Terry Brooks - Robert Jordan; all epic fantasy and all different.

In each case, the authors had similar ideas but wrote individual stories. And while cynics profess that there is 'nothing new under the sun', I propose they are wrong. Each idea is developed differently and into a new creation.

As for turning an idea into a best seller, well, it's timing, it's work and it's sheer, bloody-minded luck. It's up to the author.

Write something; write it now. Take the idea from the conversation you overheard in the post office, newsagent, bus, train or wherever and turn it into something lasting. No one has to see it, but it would be a shame for that idea to be lost. Who knows? That piece of work might be the next Big Thing.

Really, Reilly?

I've been busy over the past week with family issues and family visits; one was fun - the other, was not.

Anyway, in between the worrying and the entertainment I've been reading one of Australia's favourite writers, Matthew Reilly. I've read Ice Station, Area 7, Temple and now I'm up to Contest. His latest book, The Five Greatest Warriors made it to the top of the 2009 bestseller list. That is, it was the top seller for 2009, out selling the likes of Bryce Courtney, Tim Winton and Di Morrissey.

Contest is Reilly's first book to write, but it will be the last one I read.

Reilly's books are roller-coasters of action and adventure, of quests and rescue, of derring-do and fantastical stunts - in fact, I kept hearing the James Bond theme while reading.

It's the inconsistencies that pissed me off. Using Methadone instead of Morphine, a Maghook with amazing capabilities, anatomy that doesn't seem affected by gravity, conversations that no-one but Superman could hear and give a reply, plus more villains tossed in than you can shake a whippy stick at.

But he does the right thing in having cliff-hangers at the end of chapters, characters that seem larger than life, atypical villains, resolutions that are, like, wow! The Abrahams tank falling from the airplane was just gobsmacking. In a lot of places you can see which movie they came from, for example.

These books are terrific for the young adult - if you move passed the bad language - but for those who've read Tom Clancy, Robert Ludlum, Wilbur Smith, or other adventure books, the plot problems leap out and should have been fixed.

I know Elroy said, "I just cut out the boring bits" when he writes, but sometimes, those boring bits serve a purpose if only to get the author to think about whether something is possible or not.

As escapist fiction, they're a sugar rush - if you ignore the impossibilities - but if you like your work with more realism, give them a miss, or give them to the teenagers of the family - it's virtually guarranteed they will love them.

Boobs to Noobs

It's that time of year when the Darwin Awards are announced.

The Darwin Awards "Honors those who improve the species... by accidentally removing themselves from it!"

Two winners this year, both Belgian and both burglars who used too much dynamite to blow up a safe. They did, in fact, demolish the building, too.

With sixteen nominees, 2009 proved to be a year of monumental stupidity. Fortunately, these people have evacuated the gene pool on their own.

* * *

The Macquarie Dictionary has opened voting on the 'word of the year 2009'.

Words like 'noob', 'hypermile', 'cocooning', 'slacktivism', 'climate change denier', 'tweet' are all in the running for word of the year.

The inaugural winners in 2006 are:

General Interest: affluenza
Colloquialism: muffin top
Specialist terms: administrivia
The Political Scene: plausible deniability
Eating and Drinking: ethical eating
Fashion: ubersexual
Travel: envirotourism
Technology: cyberstalking
The Environment: water trading
Sport: blood doping
Health: norovirus

From 2007, the People's Choices:

Business: infomania
Carbon Terms: carbon footprint
Colloquialisms: floordrobe
Eating and Drinking: tart fuel
The Environment: food mile
Fashion: arse antlers
General Interest: password fatigue
Health: incidental exercise
Media: fauxtography
Music: nerdcore
Online: cyber cheating
Politics: Great Firewall of China
Social Scene: slummy mummy
Specialist Terms: facial mapping
Sport: cyberathlete
Technology: bloatware

And 2008:

Entertainment: car crash TV
Business: toxic debt
Colloquial: bromance
Communications: textaholic
Ecology: ecocentrism
Environment: guerilla gardener
Fashion: scene kid
Eating and Drinking: guerilla dining
General Interest: nomophobia
Genetics: divorce gene
Health: baby brain
Internet: lolcat
Law: lawfare
Politics: climate porn
Social Interest: helicopter parenting
Specialist: audiation
Sport: chicken-wing tackle
Technology: uberveillance
Tourism: flashpacker

I know English is a dynamic language, forever changing within generations, but are these words from previous year still with us, hanging around like a toxic debt or have they vanished like the debate on climate change?

And so...

...the time off I set for myself comes to an end - and it's been great. There's still plenty of American Football to see yet, but I shall endeavour to drag myself away and get back to work.

Tomorrow, I will return to manuscripts and red pens, attempting to beat the aforementioned works into submission and some sort of readability.

The thing about writing and editing is that it's initially a solitary event - and that is the key to all writing. You really do have to do the work. No one else can write it nor should they do the first edits. You know what you want to write. And in the editing process, clearing up any vagueness or misunderstandings is what the editing process is for.

A bug-bear of mine is authors justifying what they've written. If a reader doesn't understand something, it should have been explained in the writing, not after it's published. If you do it right in the first place, you don't need to justify anything.

A particular writer - who shall remain nameless - is forever justifying the work, explaining the deviations, and when the questions continue, condemns readers and critics for not understanding. A failing of epic proportions.

And having said that, I have no doubt that the above will come back to bite me. But then, I'm not writing a series that should have died years ago.

I can only hope my trilogies don't suffer the same way. I'd like to think not since I write all three in one go. I've probably said enough...

Oh... look... there's football on the teev...

The World

The last time I saw a ship this large in the Bay was the Royal Australian Navy's flagship, HMAS Melbourne - which was an aircraft carrier.

The World stopped off along the coast on its way to Sydney for New Year's Eve, and if you look really closely, or squint, you might even see Matt Damon; yes, that Matt Damon - or someone who apparently is the dead spit of the American actor. Shop owners in Bateman's Bay, further down the coast, aren't entirely sure because we rarely get international megastars, or if we do, the locals have doubts. I mean, really? A movie star? Here?

We just don't get stars here. Elsewhere has much more to offer the discerning traveller. This virtually assures well-known faces of anonymity. Okay, we have an internationally renowned marine park, a national park, white sand beaches, blue waters, not much population, various water sports, spectacular views, museums... um, right, we do have attractions, but don't tell anyone; privacy is also one of our attractions.

I'd be interested to know of any star sightings in our own little part of the world. People here will probably have the same attitude as down south in the fish and chippery:

"Hey, anyone tell you, you look like Matt Damon?"

Enigmatic smile.

"You must get told that a lot. You want salt on those chips?"

A New Day

Happy New Year to all. 2009 was a hell of a year and I'm glad it's over.

Time to plan for new stuff - not resolutions, who sticks to them?

Anyway. Last night it was like a war zone here. Fireworks went off from all directions, like gunshots, with machine-gun intensity, with the deep boom of mortars and around the Bay, like the distant sound of artillery. There were shouts and whoops and cheers and ambulance sirens and people clutching bottles wandering the streets uncaring of any vehicle that might be on the road. Clouds of smoke, the scent of gunpowder and swirling blue lights of police.

Nope, I don't live in the city, but in the country. Jervis Bay and the towns, um villages really, is a tourist mecca come holiday times but especially for the week between Christmas and New Year. The hot sun, the clear waters of the sea, the pristine, blindingly white sand... all attract city-folk to the area.

We are bursting at the seams with people!

Locals, however, either leave or stock up on supplies and stay home. We roll our eyes at the tourist antics - the lobster-red sunburns, the lack of car indicator use, the packs of teenagers wandering around searching for something to do, cyclists without helmets or shirts, drivers busy on the phone...

But in a week, most will have returned home, satisfied with the holiday by the sea and thankful they're back surrounded by the trappings of civilisation lacking in the country. How do I know this? A certain amount of tourists are less than circumspect in their public comments and conversations.

We locals will sigh with relief and await the influx of the more polite grey travellers; the retirees touring the country in caravans and motorhomes.

In the end, this time of the year is an enormous boost to the local economy. We're a beach community and those beaches are jammed with people enjoying the sea.

I know there are a lot of sharks out there, but we have have hourly air patrols, so our visitors should be safe; I'm staying out of the water and out of the way. I'm staying in to watch College Football.

Posted

Yes, I've been busily beavering away and finally, finally have posted a short story on the Scribd page. And weirdly enough, I posted eighteen minutes ago and Bleak Town has had nine reads already. Maybe there's a glitch in the counting or something...

Anyway, it's there; a little late, like nearly a week, but with Christmas stuff and football and then cricket and having some 'quiet' time with the family in Canberra - hah! - taking the wrong thumb drive with me and oh, so many other excuses I could come up with, it didn't get done. Bad Jaye, no chocolate for you!

Now I can get on with editing a coupla novels for the end of January or February, I haven't decide which. Then, it's choosing a book to edit carefully for sending out; you know, to an agent. But that's for next week.

I'm going to listen to Lily Allen, a favourite prezzo I got - she's so ba-ad!

Christmas excess

I hope everyone had an excellent Christmas. I did.

It bucketed with rain, on both Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Canberra needed the rain and it's been years since it is rained on the Big Day.

I have two new books to read: Dean Koontz's Reckless and Stieg Larsson's The Girl Who Kicked a Hornet's Nest. I can read them while listening to Lily Allen.

I had planned to work on a short story to post for Christmas, but... as luck would have it, I took the wrong thumb drives - no stories on either, or on the laptop hard drive. So, it will have to wait for later this week.

This year, I drank too much and ate too much - to the extent that I felt like Geraldine Grainger in The Vicar of Dibley Christmas Special. If you don't know it, the vicar has to eat three full Christmas lunches, much to her regret - and mine.

Thankfully, it only happens once a year and it was great to have a Christmas away.

I'll hunt up the story I have in mind and post it. Now, it's time for a nap - way too much good cheer...

Christmas...

Here I am in heat-soaked Canberra for Christmas. We haven't been away from home for the season in a decade or more, peeps come to us - might have something to do with living next to the beach and the lovely onshore breeze to cool the day down.

Today, hopefully while most people are out doing their final mad dash for Christmas presents, seafood and Christmas cheer, I shall be watching 'Avatar'. In 3D. In the air conditioned theatre. A yes, a right wallowing.

So. Time to collect the niece and wander off to Borders and then the movies. WOOT!

I wish everyone a happy and safe Christmas tomorrow. And look, really, when it comes to the usual fights between rellos? How important is it? Life or death? Move on, let it go... Until Boxing Day, then hammer them!

Summer fare

There are certain times of the year when writing or editing are virtually impossible. When visitors come, big birthdays, Easter and... Christmas.

I have decided I cannot catch up on my reading pile, edit, do housework and everything associated with Christmas all at the same time; so I'm not going to try.

The tree is up, the prezzos bought, wrapped and the delivery near completed, hypocras made and distributed. I also whipped up a batch of Chocolate Crackles. For the first time. Like Vegemite, Australians grow up with Chocolate Crackles, they're an icon of home for those living and working overseas.

They're made with Rice Bubbles, cocoa (or melted chocolate), coconut and Copha. Only in Australia can you get Copha - it is made from hydrogenated coconut oil, 100% fat. Not so good.

It's used as the solidifying agent in Chocolate Crackles, but... I didn't have any and couldn't be bothered going up the street to get some. Surfing the 'net provided a solution: melted chocolate with butter with added caster sugar. It all worked so beautifully...

But next time, I think I'll use unsalted butter.

* * *

So Summer here brings out buzzing bush flies, whining mosquitoes, creaking cicadas and oblivious tourists sizzling under the sun. The flies, no problem. The cicadas, not much you can do about their noise. The tourists, well, nothing I can say will deter them from deep frying themselves. But... I've just encountered a near indestructible mosquito.

They make 'em tough these days. Twice I slapped that sucker between my hands and twice it looked at me as if to say, "Is that the best you can do?" And continued to dive bomb. I even smacked it when it landed. It snickered contemptuously and took off. I thought that, if nothing else, the shock wave of slapping a mozzy would kill the bugger. A hard hand and soft target usually does the trick - maybe I had around the other way.

It's dead now. Smeared on a rolled up newspaper. All twisted out of shape.

I expect the Mafia mozzies to call any time now for revenge: Probably Long-Nose Mo and Legs Malone.

Cool Yule

I was going to write a post on what's happening - or not happening - over in Copenhagen... but I decided it makes me too angry to write a cohesive and reasoned blog.

So, instead, a friend sent me this:

Once again, I was disqualified from my neighborhoods "Best Decorated House" contest due to my bad attitude!

Just a small problem

Ah, research.

Writers who plot do the research first, before putting pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard. Definitely an advantage.

Me, I do it after; I'm so easily distracted, it delays the actual writing process because there's so much interesting stuff out there. Sure, it can mean re-writes, but re-writes are a part of producing a book - it's a matter of degree.

So I discovered Brazil is much bigger than I thought. Or should I say, that getting around the countryside is much more difficult than I expected and there are more airports than I expected.

I'll have to be more creative in explaining stuff that I assumed was right from brief readings. For a while there - after the read through and thinking about Brazilian transport - I thought I'd have to virtually delete eighty percent of the novel. Fortunately, I slept on the problem and it's not as bad as I feared.

And what is this near overwhelming problem with transport? The choices of vehicle to get from a major city to a minor one up the Amazon river. By car and ferry, it can take a week or more. But flying? Meh. Nowhere near long enough for a relationship to develop.

More thought is needed...

Adding words

Added about two thousand words today. I'm looking at Spring's Reign as a 0th draft and I'm working to turn it into the first draft.

I'm making notations for more research, inserting skipped words - bummer, Hal, the word count could have been larger - and correcting the spelling as I go. Not so much the grammar; I've deliberately messed some of it up for personality and context, and no-one speaks perfectly these days (unless you're a Shakespearean actor, that is).

I have a plan to finish the 0th draft by the end of December and let it rest for a week or so, then get to the first and second drafts. Maybe even a third draft (which will really be a fourth).

And during the 'away' time, I'll be looking at Hunted and the 0th draft for that. I'm going to have to change things, take out a... particular aspect because it's too similar to something else I wrote.

Time to get back to it.

Oh, one last thing to mutter about. Two words: bloody Cowboys!

Who Dat?

Every year, we have the Santa Ride and every year, more Santas turn up. Over two hundred this time. Because of environmental concerns, the reindeer have to stay at home - can you imagine two thousand plus reindeer and their...er... emissions on the street?

Nope. Santas leave them at home but collect donations for worthy causes on their way to the local pub. There, the Santas can slake the thirst of a four kilometre ride and chat about Santary things. In particular, which Santa is going to which country to drop off the loot.

And you thought Santa lived at the north pole...

The backyard

I'm back at the desk and keyboard, sorting out both computers and the external drive in anticipation of lots of editing.

Outside the sliding door is a juvenile Kookaburra, all fluffy feathers and curious gleam in its eyes. I think it's having problems though. It came flying in a picked up a skink. No worries there, but for the last ten minutes, the little lizard has been dropping between the kookaburra's beak, the bird's eyes firmly focused on it.

The kookaburra managed to choke it down, but is now standing up straight with it's beak wide swallowing hard. Makes me want to step out and say, "That's what you get for swallowing your food whole".

I like our native wildlife - well, it's not as if there's any other sort - but the kookaburras only turned up after I put in the veggie patch.

This all started a few years ago when a friend of mine gave me a Blue-Tongue lizard to look after, because her dog kept going for it. I set it free in the back yard. Sometime later, we noticed the slugs and snails were disappearing. Then I saw four blue tongues in the back yard and an abundance of skinks.

Following the efforts of the gardener we hired, I figured it was time for a veggie patch and duly planted it with my own brewed up compost. No snails, no slugs, and few bugs thanks to the blue-tongues and the skinks. Now, the kookaburras have arrived to keep the population of skinks down.

A nice ecosystem. The zucchinis are great, as are the snow peas. Lots of green tomatoes waiting to ripen under the summer sun and the apple cucumbers and butternut pumpkins have flowers.

And not a chemical to be seen anywhere. Ah, nature. Gotta love it.

You want it... when?

I'm feeling more than a little beleaguered. It's as if the fates let me put everything on hold for November, and then dumped everything into December.

Housework, Christmas shopping, research for work, a meeting 280k away, car service, grocery shopping... the list goes on.

So far, I've managed to print out the first manuscript for editing but not had time to start the actual process.

Yeah, okay, I was stuffing around for the first week, reading books, catching up on movies and the weekend newspapers; you know, real life thingies.

But I'm hopefully for the weekend, I've just got to, well, wrap prezzos, do housework, do some research for the Museum, the NFL, college football...

Tis the season

Editing is underway... kind of.

I don't know whether you know this but... it's not long to Christmas. I've been running around searching for prezzos - big family - and I've made this year's batch of hypocras (spiced wine) in both white and red. Hypocras allegedly gets its name from Hippocrates and various versions have been around since. Romans drank it. It was King Henry VIII's favourite beverage, although he had gold leaf mixed into his. At the time, it was thought gold leaf helped digestion (and his main meal took two hours).

I love the stuff. Various grape types give hypocras a different flavour, so there's no standard taste.

Anyway. Today, I'm off to Canberra for a meeting tomorrow. I can indulge in some shopping in Da Big Smoke, too. I won't be back until Wednesday night and that means, first edits will have to wait for Thursday. True to form, lots of ideas are arriving to improve the book and I don't have time to put them in.

Now, I have to go pack...

Rizzoli

I'm not a squealie fan girl, but I've followed Tess Gerritsen since her days at Harlequin writing romance.

Gerritsen isn't a romance writer. Not anymore. If you've read The Surgeon and the books that follow, you'll know it's all about murder; gruesome, wicked murder. I love all the books, probably because happy endings aren't necessarily guaranteed. And the intricacies of the medical side of it (Gerritsen's a doctor) which reads much better than Cornwell's Scarpetta.

Now, the Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles series is about to make it to the TV screen. Wheee! The pilot Rizzoli is being made by TNT.

Angie Harmon (Women's Murder Club, Law & Order)is Jane Rizzoli;
Sasha Alexander (NCIS) is Maura Isles;
Bruce McGill (Wolf Lake) is Vincent Korsak;
Lorraine Bracco (The Sopranos) is Rizzoli's mother, Angela; and
Billy Burke (Twilight, 24, Wonderland) is Gabriel Dean.

The cast sounds great and I hope they do justice to the books. Fingers crossed.

More WriMos?

So... you haven't had enough of abusing the keyboard? Suffering from NaNoWriMo hangover? Don't want to let go yet? Do you want more?

Here it is:

National Novel Finishing Month - your goal is to finish the novel, write the extra 30,000 words during December.

And coming up:

National Novel Editing Month - March 2010. Your goal is to commit to 50 hours of editing.

The Southern Cross Novel Challenge - June 2010. A NaNoWriMo for the southern hemisphere. Fifty thousand words goal.

Write a Damn Novel in June - A NaNoWriMo for the middle of the year. Write a novel.

July Novel Writing Month - A NaNoWriMo for July. Fifty thousand words goal.

August Novel Writing Month - A NaNoWriMo for August. Write a novel.

September Novel Writing Month Set a word-count goal and edit, write, or edit and write throughout the month of September

Want something with more intensity? Try the Book in a Week challenge. Yep, write your book in seven days. Begins on the Monday of the first full week of each month, lasts one week.

Phew. It looks like Nano has taken off in a big way. Me, I'll think about June, but nothing else. Writing six books a year would take the shine off, and the editing would be brutal.

Then again... the challenges, people, the challenges!

The End

After what's turned out to be a brutal month's writing, it's mostly done. Mostly??

Yeah. First drafts are done and starting tomorrow, I'm taking some time off. Then the edits start. First up will be Spring's Reign, the fourth in the Seasons of Change series, and Hunted, sequel to Huntress, currently on Scribd as freebies.

After that, the third Huntress, which I'm having problems with an appropriate title.

Rider... needs a lot of work; a lot of work if it's to see the light of day.

All I can say, it TGIO and I'll never do this to myself evah again.

And now, to sleep; perchance to dream...

Tag and bag

In honour of all those who laboured through the month, I thought I'd put a few of the tag lines used for inspiration:

Editing your manuscript is the revenge your characters get on you for thinking you’re running their lives.

“This is going to be the worst day of your life. I'm bringing nunchuks." H. Freeman

“The ability to speak does not make you intelligent." - Qui-Gon Jinn, the Phantom Menace

"To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. So do it." - Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

“Sometimes it's better to light a flamethrower than to curse the darkness..."

When in doubt, have a man come through the door with a gun in his hand. - Raymond Chandler

"...it is well known that a vital ingredient of success is not knowing that what you're attempting can't be done." - Terry Pratchett

You fail only if you stop writing - Ray Bradbury

Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia. ~E.L. Doctorow

A synonym is a word you use when you can't spell the other one. ~Baltasar Gracián

My mind is a library of useless information and imaginings, except in the month of November.

And my favourite:

One wordcount to rule them all
One website to find them
One month to bring them all
And in NaNoWriMo bind them
-- SynapticJam

Genius. Sheer genius!

So, for all those who have tagged and bagged words this months, the accolades belong to you. Well, done... writers.

Two Days left

So I'm putting in the long ones for the weekend - the last weekend of Nano.

I know some parts of this last work are trash and will be tossed, but I think the basis is sound. I think I'm going to do some shuddering when I get around to reading and editing it.

Two days to go. Two whole days of writing and I'm done.

Next year, I'm going back to writing a trilogy in the same genre. This massive word count takes too much out of me and the writing suffers as a result - and that means extra work come editing time.

Come Tuesday, I'm sleeping in.

Problem

I don't know how I do it, but I've managed to back my characters into a corner. I have to decided which one to sacrifice, if I can't think of something brilliant to get them all out.

I've done this before... ah, well, actually the character did exactly what his personality required of him, with less than perfect results. But I left the scene in because, damn it, it fit.

Three days left. Three days and I can play with my new toy - the 1TB external hard drive. And catch up on my TBR pile; and the DVDs I've missed. Oh, boy.

But first, I have to solve this conundrum.

Nanolyser

So I've been up bright and early, slogging through this book, tossing in a few action scenes here and there. As expected, the writing picked up - I mean, it's not as if I've been sleeping, with plots and dialogue and characters.

I still don't think it's worth much, but it is something to edit... eventually.

An interesting and useful procrastination item, or post analysis is the Nanolyser which gives a breakdown of your Nano work, including history, a bar graph with where you're meant to be in your word count, versus actual word count and a pie chart showing which days you're most productive.

You'll need your Nano id number, but I think it's an excellent and useful bit of information.

If I'm lucky, I should finish this book by Saturday - if, of course, I don't have a scathingly brilliant idea that makes it longer.

Struggling

The last book isn't going well. Nope, not at all. Yesterday's effort, while I hit the goal, was full of craptacular nonsense. Really bad. Conversations that went nowhere, not a bit of action, full of 'looks' and 'said' and aarggghhh! cardboard characters who said exactly what a cardboard, stereotypical character would say.

Not even introducing a new character worked. Although the garden provided a nice word count boost.

I know why this is such a bag of sloppy shite.

When I started Nano, I thought three books, three different genres. As challenges go, not bad. It's hard, I discovered, to shift genres without a break, but I think it worked. Once was enough, so rather than going with the book I thought of, I went with a sequel and powered through that one, with some... angsty written somewhere in the middle that will be cut.

But I did the three books as promised and found I had a week left. Since I set this month aside for writing, it seems too good an opportunity to waste.

My subconscious and imagination has played fair, working feverishly to get everything done - they did not expect to be thrown another one. And they're protesting. Nothing works to shift them. Exercise, mucking about in the veggie patch (O.o got zucchinis and snow peas!), just sitting and staring into space. I think my creative well is almost dry and now I have to wrestle with book or not finish it and declare myself done.

Okay, it's not entirely a bag of sloppy shite - there are some nice firm nuggets in there as well.

Maybe a good kidnapping and torture of a character and a heroic rescue are in order.

Ongoing...

Not surprisingly, I'm suffering from a bit of eye strain. I'm probably spending a little too much time in front of the computer.

There's a little under a week to go and today, I passed my word count for last year. Joy.

The fourth book is becoming a right bugger to write. I think my brain has had enough and it - the book that is - has parallels with one I read years ago. A similar premise, but with different occupations, perspectives and, I think, ending. Yeah, I know how this one ends, it's getting there that's proving difficult.

I think I'll go and rest my eyes for eight hours or so.

Tempters

I'm looking at my rewards for finishing Nano. I'm done with the 50k, but it's a month of writing for me. But there's the TBR pile, singing like a siren.

I've done enough, just... open the first page of Holly Lisle's Talyn. Limit yourself to the first chapter of J.D. Robb's Kindred in Death. A short story in David Weber's Worlds of Weber won't take long. Matthew Reilly's Hell Island is only 120 pages. You know, Vicki Pettersson's The Touch of Twilight looks good, and it's the third in the series, just give yourself a taste...

Then there's the one tera-byte external hard drive, sitting in it's box, sitting there, waiting, like an early Christmas present... you know you need to backup the laptop and desktop computers, be a shame to lose all your hard work.

And the DVDs... come on, the first book you wrote was set in Brazil and you've got that new Discovery Channel program on just that area. Look at it as research...

All good reasons to stop. Right now. Exit Word and Excel, disconnect from the 'net and shut down the computer. Lie on the couch and just... relax.

It's a struggle, writing ever single day for thirty days, and even at this stage, there's plenty of time for people to finish the 50k.

But I won't be stopping, not yet, because I want to see how this book ends; today, I'll finish the third book and get on with the one I left dangling because I could not change genres at that time.

Sigh why do we do this Nano thing again?

Confrontation

So the big-ass spider is still there this morning.

I know it's smug, I can see the damned smile from across the room. It is dripping in smug.

Yeah, come on, human, just you try coming near me.

"But... I need to go outside."

Not caring. This wall is MINE. Go find your own, and let me remind you: I have eight legs; I can run faster than you. And I jump. Can you?

"Whoa! Don't run at me! Jeez! Look, I just want to go out and check the veggie patch from last night's storm, check the weather station. Why don't you go hide behind the picture frame, hmm? I'll just nip out, make sure the zucchinis are okay and..."

What? Sneak up behind me with a rolled up newspaper? Spray me with stuff that won't kill me, but will piss me off? I don't think so.

"I could always go out the front door and around the side of the house. That way, I won't bother you, and you won't be bothered by me."

Why don't you do that. Oh, and say hello to one of my brothers. He's sitting on the bonnet of your car...

Spidey!!!

The heat is nasty. Add the humidity of the sea and woe.

Smug I was informing a sister of the onshore breeze that kept the temperature down - until sunset that is, and the breeze went away.

Today will be hotter, much hotter and this morning, ain't much of a breeze.

Writing will be nervous: there's a bloody great Huntsman on the wall behind me. How big and how worrisome is a Huntsman?



These are not small spideys. Think of a drinks' coaster, yeah, that's about right. Just to make me happy, I know they run and they jump. They are, to no-one's surprise, hunters, who go after smaller spiders and beetles and other insects.

Good things to have around during Summer, but they make me shudder. I so wish I had eyes in the back of my head... you know, just in case it... Nope, did not need that image.

An orange sneeze

I had to take a bit of a break this morning. The white jasmine is blooming in the neighbour's yard. Not much, but enough to make me sneeze.

Why the break? Promise you won't laugh? Really? Okay. I was, um, chewing on carrot and tried not sneeze with a mouthful. Weren't pretty, I can tell you that much, and I shan't go into the gruesome details, either. I'll leave it to your imagination.

So. Lesson learned: do not try to stop a sneeze with carrots in your gob.

Starting the second part of the third book tomorrow and it's all still flowing nicely.

Once more into the breach...

That was a good day's writing. Sure, it was twelve hours long, but hey, I got a significant amount done and the shoulders only ache a little bit!

Okay, a lot, but it was fun!

And not even the fender-bender a couple of doors down couldn't distract me... for long.

Now that I've cleared up a number of loose ends, the real work begins. But tomorrow, yeah, tomorrow.

From End to Beginning

Well... that was interesting! An ending I didn't see and a rather large body count I didn't predict. Ah, well, that's what the characters signed up for!

Hunted is done and I've started a third, this one set in Australia, where the future slams into the present with unexpected consequences for one unfortunate Aussie bloke in the Outback.

I've done enough damage, I think, for one day; hopefully, no bodies on the ground tomorrow.

Nearing the end of book two

I've had to readjust the total for the book, Hunted. There's a lot happening, but the first draft will not make the 100k mark.

When writing during Nano, I can only make a guesstimate of what the final total will be. The first book, Huntress was result of the first Nano I ever did, and came in at 117k because I wanted to write every day. My assumption being, the second book should be as large.

Well... it ain't gonna be that large. I'm happily writing toward solving the last mission which might take another 20k - or not; that's the thing about Nano and free writing. You never know where a books going to end.

Oops...

Man, I'm tellin' ya, eyeballs are starting to hang here.

And I think I did a very bad thing to my protagonist and I'm not even halfway with this book.

Well, I guess it's the old 'and then...?' question to get them out it and save the world - if they can.

I'll give them until the morning to think about it.

Moving on

So, I'm working long hours to get this done.

What? You thought it was easy? That I sat down and bam, instant 10k? Well... now that I... no... no. Ten thousand words is about ten hours work. Add in the breaks, the looking after of the aged parent breaks, meal breaks, bathroom breaks and it expands.

But it's about focus. The concentration on the story, the not getting your butt out of the chair until you've reached that hour's goal.

If you want to write, then write. If you want to be an author, you need much more. You need to accept that you are an author, that this is what you do, regardless of any comments about getting a real job or the stroking of hands over your arm because someone wants your same luck in finishing a book.

And I have no doubt that, as the month progresses, I'll become even more grumpy!!

Tomorrow, I get to beat up a few characters. Gotta happen, they're just plain mean to my protag. I'm just sayin'...

Unintended consequences

Changing genres has been a little bit more difficult than I expected and so I had a tough day yesterday. I had to refer back to a book I wrote for Nano in 2003 and catch up.

While my word count was slow, the... mind set was still with me and today, a scathingly brilliant idea popped up. Whether there's a solution I'll have to wait and see what my subconscious comes up with, but it's always good to be aware of The Law of Unintended Consequences.

Remember when writing: you cannot give your protagonists something good or excellent without a downside.

Mine is potentially catastrophic unless I find an answer - and that is the crux of an ongoing and accidental story arc.

Cool!

One down

Woot! I finally fished.... make that finished the book. (Say, isn't that a Freudian Slip you're wearing?)

It took a little longer in time and words to write the last word - which, if inquiring minds want to know - is: Marine. So that kind of fits with the fish...

Anyway. The book ended up being a little over 70k, without the added burden of descriptions. When I come to edit this piece, things like what the scenery and the people look like (except for the main players), and inserting information I've made a note of, is going to add another ten to fifteen K. A nice fat size to end the series with.

Lorenzo keeps pouring me the red wine in celebration. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. He's a romantic kind of guy, so he likes Spring's Reign. It's got enough biffo and stunning revelations to keep him satisfied. Me, too.

So, onto the second book, Hunted. Serial killer Excalibur Jones is back, making mischief for Hunter Cambria Petersen and leaving a trail of bodies for her to follow. But who, now, is the Hunter and who is the Hunted when their competing goals imperil a planet?

Dunno, I'm only writing the damn thing...

Nearly...

I'm just short of the 70k mark and the end of the first book - should have the denouement written in very short order.

And then... and THEN... I get to start on the next one. New story, new genre, new length.

I can't help but ask myself why I keep doing this to myself - then I read them a month or so a later and remember what fun it was to write.

This day is finally over and I'm off to sleep, perchance to dream...

Nano Update

Wow! I didn't see that coming!

The book took a surprising turn - yes, even for me - and it's absolutely perfect.

All the clues were there from the previous books, and in trying to wrap all the plot points, this one came out of the blue. It's right for the book, for the characters, and just a little bit... okay, a lot brutal.

I guess this twist has been simmering away in the back of my mind for three years, since I wrote the first three books for Nano. But, wow, I am such a bad person for putting my characters through this.

I wonder how it will end? Time to find out...

Nearly there

The late nights are starting to catch up on me. I'm not usually a night owl, but I wanted to get as close to the fifty k as possible. Then it's on to finishing the book.

Now, I'm one thousand words short. Which seems like a good place to start tomorrow... if my fingers are still working. They're currently protesting.

Wan tan xamlep? They're sjust pissy at me for all the extra work and I don't blame them.

anyeway...'slate, need sleeop and I'm fed up with correcting all the types... typos.

Oh, before I forget:

Weird Nano: Every day I've been writing this book, I've been struck by deja vu. And since I don't plot and free write, having that happen is weird in my estimation. Go figure...

Out of control

My characters went out of control yesterday and it wasn't pretty. I'll probably have to delete about four thousand words.

It's my damned fault. For two days I've been writing conversations to make sure I don't forget the information. And while verbal confrontation is considered action, it wasn't biffo or boinking (both are excellent word count lifters for Nano, just fyi).

Well, tired as I was last night, the protagonists decided to test my limits and went wa-ay overboard.

People who plot have more control, I think, than organics like me. Plotters know exactly what's going to happen, when and with whom. I don't. I've got the characters, I've got the scene and I'm just being dragged along for the ride.

Okay, I know what's up when I'm writing in the morning, but as the day goes on, scenarios change, scenes change and the characters move on towards the book's solution. However, sometimes they want a 'candy' scene. A scene that's a reward for hard work.

They got it and when I edit, they're gonna lose it. Why? It's not time - the fun thing about being a writer is that you get to torture the characters, and that's what I'm going to do.

Another 10k today? Hmmm... let's see what the characters think.

Progress

Hmm... lots of writing done, but it needs edits, and, I suspect, a chart to keep track of everything that's happened during the first three books.

Basically, I think it's going fine, but man, there's a lot of info-dumping going on. All the hints from the previous books have come home to roost and need further explanation. A lot of explanation - so a three-day trip across Brazil for the two main characters has turned into a gab-fest, so I don't forget the important stuff later.

And there's no action. At least, not yet. Somehow, I'm going to have to find a workable device to keep readers reading - and it may make the book bigger than I want.

Still, that's what Nano is all about - getting the stuff down; and that's what editing is all about - taking stuff out and turning the work into something coherent.

I'll be working towards another 10k day tomorrow but I doubt I'll make it. Already the fingers are getting tangled up and I have to go back and correct. Just because I can't stand spelling mistakes that are underlined in red. I've already turned off the grammar thingy, but the spelling one has to stay.

Tomorrow, I'm posting an extract on the Nano board. Yippee.

Off and typing

Well, then. Nano has commenced.

I got to it at about six-thirty this morning after tossing and turning for most of the night.

For me, I'm like a kid on Christmas Eve. I can't wait to see what happens, so at sunrise, I was up with tea in hand - coffee comes later - and put fingers to keyboard.

I'm happy with my progress, I know I suck at the first three chapters, but I don't care; Nano isn't about perfection, it's about quantity. The quality comes later during editing - at least I hope it does.

Anyway, I'm wasting finger energy typing this and lunch time is nearly over. Onward then, to 'kill' a few characters... as you do...

Well, finally!

So I made my self-imposed deadline with about twenty minutes to spare for posting a book on 30 October.

Autumn's Fall is now posted on Scribd. I had a few problems with the upload, but it's there now, all nice and cozy and free. And since it's nearing midnight, it's time to tuck li'l ole me into bed.

Tomorrow is housework day, and then... and then... posts will become rare as I battle for the Aussie Nano word count crown.

Fortunately, I'll have Lorenzo hanging around; everyone should have a Lorenzo for inspiration.

Closer

Only a few days to go to Nano and the nerves are tightening. I'm finding the ideas, the dialogue, the scenes are beginning to flow. I also have the twist for the first book. All stuffed into my head, waiting to emerge.

I don't have any music selected because it won't matter - I rarely hear it. In fact, it's the silence of the music ending that breaks my concentration.

I also have a book coming out on Scribd tomorrow. With Winter's Heart doing so well, I'm hoping Autumn's Fall will be equally as popular. I mean the numbers aren't best seller levels, far, far-in-a-distant-galaxy from it, but to me the statistics are surprising - good, but surprising.

I think I'll call it 'writer's anxiety syndrome', or WAS. I'm not the first to suffer, I'm guessing every single author who's put some work out there gets it. I expect it to pass by December 1.

All I need do is relax and choose a reward for finishing... Leave the panic until first thing Sunday morning.

New in town

This is post number 900. Who knew a whole lotta nuthin' could take so many posts?

Anyway, Australia's own Macquarie Dictionary is releasing it's fifth edition this week and the latest edition has added another 5,000 words.

New words include: acid shock, baby bump, toxic debt, celeblog, bioenthanol, flashpacker.

The English language is constantly evolving, usually via the culture of the younger generation. Twitter, texting and other communications devices all conspire to abbreviate the language and find euphemisms for legitimate words. Fortunately, text words haven't made it... yet. Maybe another dictionary can be created for the likes of WTF, LOL, ROFL, L8, WYSIWYG.

I guess the most interesting evolution of the language is that it's predicated on social and cultural changes. The most talked about issue is climate change and words encompassing theories are more prevalent in modern language than ever before. Whether you agree with Climate Change or not, it has had an impact on language.

So too has the so-called Global Financial Crisis and America's arm wrestle over health issues. Toxic debt, death panels, golden parachutes, Ponzi, sub-prime, may not be new words, but they've come to international attention.

But the evolution has a down side: raise your hands if you understand Chaucer or Shakespeare, without study notes? Or appreciate Dickensian language as moralistically beguiling? How about Bronte or Austen? Who of the younger generation appreciate the subtleness of the prose? These authors represented the culture and language of the time. Occasionally difficult to comprehend, but magic once deciphered.

What will future generations think of our language. What will the 22nd century teenager think of his/her 21st century counterparts? Will English be recognisable? It makes an interesting premise for book, don't you think?

On track

Woo hoo! I finally finished the edits on Autumn's Fall last night, so I get a day off!

This also means I'm on schedule. I need to do a final read through on Wednesday and Thursday, post on Friday, then do some research, make some notes and I'll be ready for Sunday's Nano start.

Oh, wait... there's that other stuff, what's it called? Right. Real life. I'll need to do some housework, get in some food in that I can toss together quickly - note to self: get chocolate, popcorn and coffee. (Better get some healthy nibblies too, nuts, carrots, celery...)

In the meantime, I get to watch the 'merican football guilt free and wallow in some DVDs that I've missed over the past few months.

Hello Lorenzo!

This time next week, I shall be busy scribbling away for Nano. This past week I've had trouble sleeping for all the ideas, dialogue, possible scenes and conclusions... Bring it on, please!

We've had a staff change around here, too:

Sven and Oleg have decided to move in together, damn them. Apparently, while my back was turned (for a massage, you understand) they were eyeing each other off and giving each other another sort of massage. If you know what I mean, and I think you do!

But all is not lost. Lorenzo turned up. Who? That was my very question!

As you can imagine, he's a broad-shouldered, narrow-hipped, dusky-skinned Italian, well-muscled with dark wavy hair, a patrician nose, dark eyes and long, sweeping lashes and a mouth... sigh He also has some interesting scars, but won't tell me about them. Instead, he says he's 'an international man of mystery', his words, not mine, but he smiles secretively when he says that.

He wears a white shirt, open to the waist to display some smooth flesh, but no gold chains. "Cara, chains are too easy to grab." Man, what a voice; like rich coffee, low, seductive and only for my ears. He wears black pants, not tight at all, though with a butt like that... Um... all the better to run, I understand, but I'm guessing he goes commando. He's just the sort.

So, why has this tasty little knee-trembler come to visit?

He's my new source of inspiration. He figured that Sven and Oleg did their job in getting rid of the internal critic and were a little bored. So he made them an offer and decided to take their place.

Whenever I get stuck on a scene or a dialogue, Lorenzo will tell me a relevant story or scenario to help me get past the block. He's so good to me...

I wonder what else he can do for me? Oops, did I say that out loud? My bad.

Anyway... he's moving in for November and he says he brought the equipment to 'keep the discipline going'. Mmm... whatever do you mean, Lorenzo?

Another Challenge

Well then. Is this the ultimate challenge for golfers?

The Nullarbor Links opened yesterday. What's so special about this golf course? Here are some stats:

First hole: Ceduna, South Australia.
Last hole: Kalgoorlie, Western Australia.
Distance: 1365 KILOMETRES
Time allowed: 5 Days.
Par: 72
Green fees: $50

The Nullarbor Plain is flat, dry and the name comes from the Latin for 'no trees'. Twelve hundred kilometres of empty desert and a straight road. Sure, there are small towns along the way but they're few and far between.

For some, it's an adventure to drive the distant - boring, but an adventure. Now, travellers can stop off and play a hole or two to ease the long journey.

But somehow, I don't think we'll be seeing Tiger playing a round any time soon...

* * *

I picked some plants yesterday and this weekend I'm sticking 'em in the ground. The plan is that in a few weeks, we'll be munching on tomatoes, snow peas and zucchinis. The apple cucumbers weren't in yet, so they'll go in next week.

If this works, I'll be out in the garden more often - as long as the spiders stay away... not a fan of spiders, nope, I am most certainly not a fan of spiders.

Back up, back up, back up...

Since my computer went on the fritz some time ago, I've been near obsessive about backing up my work. The loss of seventeen or so manuscripts is the stuff of nightmares, so I back it all up - at every stage of development on different media.

I shall never be in danger of losing the work again. Except for one, annoying problem.

I've been happily editing away, when it struck me that I was editing the wrong version. Yep. The hard copy didn't match the on-screen text. Cue the hair yanking. I checked the file date and it seemed accurate, but obviously it didn't match.

So I had to hunt down the correct version: four thumb drives, a few disks and a check of the desktop (I've been working with the laptop), I finally found it. I had no idea I had so many copies of the work, not just in one folder in each location, but two, under different names.

I'll have to do something about that. It's fine to have one or two back ups, but a dozen seems just a wee bit too obsessive. I'll fix it after Nano.

For now, it's back to the work. Ten days until Nano, nine days for the book. But no pressure...

On hold

Dear Sir/Madam,

I know I must be important to you because you've called me twice: once during dinner and once while I was caring for my mother. Do you know how hard it was to track down every damn pea that got tossed in the air because the ringing startled me? As for Mother, well, she never lets a call go unanswered no matter what... predicament she might be in.

The only reason I dashed to the telephone to answer was that maybe, just maybe, I'd won Lotto and someone was calling to let me know. Oh, the visions of what I could do with 25 million dollars.

So I answered your urgent call, "Hello?" There was a click, as if I was being put through to someone equally as important and I cleared my throat, ready to squeal like a fan-girl. Only... I heard muzak. YOU PUT ME ON F***ING HOLD!!!

How many ways can I put this? Um... No. YOU called ME; YOU do NOT put me on HOLD! YOU explain what the hell you want, or I'm hanging up!

Now, I understand you're probably busy people, with numerous calls going through at the same time, but please understand: my time is valuable, to me and I'll not be hanging around watching my dinner cool or my mother... um, let's not go there and say we did... for an important person such as yourself to get back to me. I don't give a rat's bladder that you're busy, you do not treat me - or anyone - with such contempt and expect a pleasant conversation.

And if you ringing to say I've won another damn free mobile phone, let me reiterate: I DON'T NEED ONE! Especially if it's a part of a special package of only $50 a month for a two year contract. That's not free.

I'm just sayin'. Now, if you'd like to leave me your number... I'll get back to you.

regards,

JP.

Stats

I find statistics a curious thing. They're easily manipulated for a positive spin, can be fudged for the same result, can be dissected to the nth degree. It's all about number crunching and sadly, my maths skills are woeful - tragic since my Dad taught university level maths; I missed out on that one at the gene bank.

Authors are supposed to love numbers: books sold, revenue, where they are on the lists, how many written, etc. For me, it's about 'reads' over on Scribd. I've had a lot of activity in the past month, over a thousand reads; cue the happy dance. But I'm not entirely sure why.

Winter's Heart was posted on 3 October and scored some excellent numbers, but the first in the series, Summer's Rule appears to have tanked: WH - 677, SR - 185. I don't get that. SR has been out for two months, WI for one, logic dictates the first should have more than the second. I don't know why SR sank, no-one's written to say 'this sucks'. Okay, I have some thoughts but I'm not sayin'.

The other works were boosted by WI, with an extra 400 reads spread across the books. The monthly average is at 63 per day, which I'm not only happy about, but hope it continues.

With Nano less than two weeks away, I'd better get a wriggle on and finish Autumn's Fall; I'll be interested in the numbers when I post it.

(Now see? While writing this post, the average went up to 67. Gotta love statistics.)

Timed distractions

Two weeks to go until Nano. It seems far away, two weeks, and yet it's only 14 days. I mean it's 336 hours which is plenty of time to do other stuff.

The closer 1 November gets, the higher my stress levels until I don't get much sleep on 31 October, for all the description, the characters, the dialogue, etc., running through my head.

I used to stress out about whether the story would be strong enough, or even long enough, whether I had enough characters and plot, wonder what the end would be. That still holds true of any new work, but this year I'm doing two sequels and newbie. The latter still being an amorphous, 20 second film clip in my head containing an argument, an accident and burning resentment. I don't know how much of it will get written given the second sequel has to be more than 100k.

To keep from worrying about it all, I need distractions. Something other than writing to keep my active mind busy, and my subconscious mind working on the story lines.

So, I've been up the family tree again. The thing about this type of research is the hurry up and wait; wait for the documents to come online. Of course, I have enough rellos to be going on with. If I hit a dead end with one, there are a dozen or more to look up.

I'm also planning a veggie patch. Being botanically-challenged, I need to start from scratch... like what the seasonal vegetables are and when I should put them in. Oh, and whether I like them or not; no point in growing stuff you hate. We're moving into Summer and I'm sure there are buckets of stuff I could grow. The compost is nearly ready for me to spread largesse, and gardening, I believe, is an excellent de-stressor.

Now, I shall sneak off and do some research... got to have research...

Challenge yourself

Starting edits today. This manuscript is full of green and orange stickies, plus at least one completely re-written page.

Why the different colours? Well, for no other reason than that colour was the closest.

Some authors colour code, for example, blue for dialogue, green for description, red for characters, etc.; I don't.

With Nano coming up, I've read a few posts over on the board from newbies who growing increasingly panic-stricken over what to write, how to write it, whether they should outline and plot, or not, how do they know it will be a complete story. The answer is scary: you don't until you try it out. But remember: there is no right way of writing, only your way.

That's what makes Nano so useful. It's great for writing exercises. For me, the first year was whether I could do it - yes; the second year, how much I could write: 164040; year three, to write in a totally different genre - finished, but not impressed; year four, can I write a trilogy - yep; year five, start during a particular time in history without using passive sentences - yes-um, mostly; and last year, write a trilogy and keep the word count crown - yes, to both.

This year's challenge is to write three books in three different genres and attempt to keep the crown (the Aussie one, that is. I shan't go off on a rant about the cheaterz.)

The thing is, whether you're a newbie or an experienced hack like me, is to challenge yourself. Don't be worrying about anyone else. It's your 50,000 words, your work and in the end, your success or failure.

Discipline, focus and imagination will see you through it. Oh, and lots of coffee and chocolate - can't do without coffee and chocolate - or your beverage and snackage of choice, but coffee and chocolate...

Jungle fever

I've been running around the internet searching for the Amazon. Plenty of stuff out there and a lot of it is pro-green environmentalist stuff. I have no problem with it, though it does get tiresome. The Amazon is an important part of the world, 'lungs of the planet' if you will.

Constant de-forestation by foreign and domestic corporations for farmland, for wood pulp, have decimated the jungle in the name of profits, and this is an important part of my upcoming book for Nano.

What a lot of the sites do not address are the poverty-stricken populations who have no choice but to sell off their land or allow for these corporations to come in and give them jobs - for most, it's a matter of survival.

And it is singularly unhelpful for 'wealthy' people (tourists, environmentalists, foreign politicians) to lecture the local community on the evils of deforestation, when they don't live there and have yet to come up with a viable solution to bring them out of poverty.

I do believe deforestation should desist, that foreign companies have no right to rape the natural resources of another country for its' own profit. I also believe the governments ruling the Amazon should punish their corrupt officials and find an appropriate alternative, to protect what's left of the Amazon basin, even re-plant vegetation. Discussions with those who live within the jungle and on the edges would be a good start. But I'm not there, I don't live there and I cannot understand the situation the local communities find themselves in.

On the environmental issue, I was interested in the report that Al Gore refused to debate the issue of polar bears. Al says they're endangered, the Irishman claims the population is increasing. If Al is so assured of his position on climate change, why did he have the Irish documentary maker's microphone turned off and say 'this is not a debate'?

I'm not a climate change sceptic, I'm a 'man-made' climate change sceptic; that is, I don't believe climate change is caused by the Industrial Revolution. Climate change is Mother Nature all on her own - I think scientist should stop trying to find the proof that fits the theory, and try finding the theory that fits the proof.

I'll continue to recycle, to compost, to turn lights/appliances off when not it use - purely because it makes sense to reduce energy costs, to return organics to the garden and to reduce the landfill.

It all looks good for the veggie patch I'm putting in and for the Nano book. Both will take patience.

Mooch

I'm having a mooch day. No writing (except for this, of course), no editing, just mooching.

It's raining, again. For the eighth day in a row. Yesterday, following work, I got down on my hands and knees and cleaned out the frelling street drain. Chockers, it was, of leaves, sticks, gravel and earthworms. Pulled a gor'amed muscle, too.

So, today, it's mooch day. My TBR pile is getting out of control. Time to cut it down by one or two.

* * *

Oh, a little rant:

Okay, under what criteria does President Obama deserve the Nobel Peace Prize? Where are the long-term examples of peace-making?

"for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples" Nobel cites, and yet, he's done nothing to stop North Korea or Iran from their aims at gaining nuclear technology. Empty rhetoric and lecturing the rest of the world as if we're naughty children doesn't count in my book. Let's not forget the inaction on Afghanistan, the failure to support Iranian protesters, the ill-informed judgement on Honduras, the arm-twisting on 'global stimulus initiatives', lecturing Israel, the naive flitting off to Copenhagen, the acting like a popstar in foreign countries and apologising for America's past indiscretions.

Was there no-one with more visible impact? Morgan Tsvangerai for trying to rebuild his country with peaceful reconciliation in Zimbabwe for example? Doctors sans Frontiers?

Is this a popularist vote? He's been President for eight months and I've seen nothing to warrant this kind of award. If anything, he's reduced America's global influence. You don't get a peace prize for continuing conflicts, you get it for ending them.

Weeks to go

There's something strangely satisfying about scribbling red all over a manuscript and slapping sticky notes on half the pages.

Autumn's Fall doesn't lie flat any more, it's got green or orange Post-Its bulging out of it and I'm rather pleased about that. It makes for a better story if I've picked up most, if not all, the plot problems.

I have to let it sit now. Not because I want to, but for another reason: NaNo.

You see, I'm writing the final Season book during Nano, but also the sequel to Huntress. I wrote Huntress for the 2003 Nano, edited it last year and posted it to Scribd. But I need to re-read to get back into the mind set.

As you can imagine, there's a serious conflict here. I could finish the Season book and plunge into Nano for the fourth, but I'd have to take time out to read Huntress for the sequel, thus loosing writing time. Or, I could let the current book sit, read Huntress for informational familiarity, do the Season edits, then leap into NaNo. That sounds like the preferred option here.

I'm starting to wonder why I thought it was a good idea to write number four. Oh, right, that's how many seasons there are.

I have a myriad of thoughts wandering around about the three books I plan to write. All are in different genres, so they shouldn't cross-pollinate - weird if they did.

Now, all I have to do is calmly wait three weeks for the first of November...

Distractions

I don't know why I bother to monitor weather reports. Today is supposed to be worse than yesterday, storms, gale force wind, heavy rain, hail... yet here I sit looking out an absolutely gorgeous still, but chilly, morning with nary a cloud in the powder-blue sky. sigh Maybe it's going to be a 'Melbourne' day - four seasons in twenty-four hours.

So. I'm editing and researching at the same time: American prisons, muscle anatomy, fire-arms, genetics, Asian culture, time zones... and that's the first thirty-odd pages.

I'm the kind of person who is easily distracted by information. I'll be looking up one thing and bam! an hour later I'm reading stuff that has nothing to do with the original question. The encyclopedia is my best friend, and my worst enemy.

There I am, reading up on relative and subjective time and the next thing, I'm reading stuff on the Woollamai Pine. Or searching for prison locations and I find cool stuff on the forests of Romania. What's up with that?

It's a wide and interesting world. Who knows what I'll find as I research the Amazon rain forests. Art? Mechanics? Politics?

Time to get to it; a deadline awaits.

Wet Stuff

It's been raining. Did I mention that? Raining. A lot.

We usually get maybe... 60mm (average) during a normal October, much less during El Nino. (Aussies take note of La Nina/El Nino because rain is not an ongoing event here. We might get weeks without a drop, then a light drizzle, then weeks without a drop.

When the road guttering went in, the nice engineer put in two drains out the front of our house because we suffer from down flow flooding. That is, when they built the houses beside and behind us, the idiots diverted the natural drainage channel from the street behind the construction site straight through our back yard!

Cue the year we had well over 120 mm of rain in two hours. Cue major flood incident through the house.

Anyway. Rain. New drains. Not working! Sure, we've had just under 100mm since Saturday. See? It's been raining. Today, it bucketed; as in I decided to go downstairs and check the drains. Out the back, the household drain had stopped emptying. A right little heart starter, because there's only me. During the Great Flood, I had family here to help.

Fortunately, the teeming skies eased and the broad yard broom is a wonderful thing for sweeping water around the side of the house. Once I was happy with the draining water, I went into the street.

And lo, both drains were overflowing. No suction there, nup, nuh uh, zip. Water rushed by the drains and continued down the street.

So, since the household drain wasn't functioning too well, it meant only one thing: flooding in the back room. Yuh huh. Not too much, but wet just the same.

I've been busy cleaning up. It's amazing how much energy being pissed off provides.

And, oh, look, more heavy, dark clouds, ready to squat over the house and dump their load.

Now I know how an ant feels when an elephant lifts its tail above them...

DST

No one mentioned Daylight Savings. Nope. Of course, I wasn't watching any of the news channels either.

I've been so busy focusing on other things, I didn't give it thought. I mean, Summer? It's bucketing with rain and cool. Who's thinking of Summer time? Not me. I'm not done with Winter or Spring yet.

Now my early rising - around six thirty-ish - isn't so early, and I'm lying awake at night until the standard time kicks in. It takes me a while to change over.

Once upon a time, Daylight Savings didn't start until the end of October, which, granted, made getting up to start Nano early a little difficult. But no one asked me if I'd like DST extended. It used to be November to March. Now it's October to April. I don't need Summer to be that long - I'm a cold weather kid.

There's only been one other time when I've missed the changeover - when my sister and I landed in Los Angeles. The pilot didn't mention anything about it and S. and I wandered through the day oblivious, like in a time warp. Everyone was an hour ahead of us. Weird. There's got to be a story in that somewhere...

Anyway. This morning is NFL and I'm off to watch it - then, work.

Freebies

Umm... yeah, so I wasn't quite with it yesterday - too much David Tennant, I suspect, so I forgot to post the damned title!

The book is Winter's Heart, the sequel to Summer's Rule which is also available as a free e-book.

Autumn's Fall, the third book, is scheduled for 30/31 October with the final book to be written during Nano. No posting date yet, but probably sometime in January.

From there, well, I've got a number of other titles I need to get off my computer and I'm still deciding which to edit and post.

Work, work, work... Since Nano is closing in, I'd better get to it.

Up, down and posted

So Thursday, the temp peaks at about 34 degrees Celsius (93 degrees Fahrenheit). Today, the temp didn't rise above 12 C (or 53 F). I think the buckets of rain contributed...

A good day to settle down, curl up and watch the Dr Who Season Four marathon on UK TV. Cor... that David Tennant's a hottie!

Anyway, I've worked hard this week to get the book done but it's now posted with all the other works (okay, five other pieces).

I now have a month to get the third book done before Nano, but I think I'll take a couple of days off first. If I can. I've already got a prologue in mind - I think I'll just go write it down, then a have a day off...

A little frantic

Still working hard on the edits, but in between visits with family. Gotta love school holidays...

I dunno, what is it about the deadlines I'm setting that seem so unachievable? Family don't leave until lunchtime tomorrow and then work at the museum for the afternoon.

Saturday, I'm guessing. I have about sixty pages to go, so Saturday for Winter's Heart... but don't quote me.