Thank you so much for your comments on my panicky last post, everyone! I really appreciate it, and feel a million times better.
LOML was taking photographs at a superhero-themed dance party tonight - the crowd consisted of thirteen and fourteen-year-olds. I was assisting. We just got home.
Since the party, I have come to the following conclusions:
1) When the kids were pointing and laughing at me while I was dancing, it was only because I looked so very, very cool.
2) Especially when I knew all the words to 'Hey Mickey' and 'YMCA'.
3) Also especially when I broke out my tried-and-trusted 'lawnmower' and 'smack the pony' dance moves. Those were stares of pure admiration.
4) And they were TOTALLY impressed by my crumping.
5) And my superhero poses.
6) Okay, maybe not.
7) I feel old.
8) Tomorrow I am going to hang out at an old people's home, just to get back some perspective.
Showing posts with label life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label life. Show all posts
Friday, September 26, 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
All done!
The interview is over! I need some coffee.
For those of you who are in New Zealand, I think it will be on TV One's Breakfast tomorrow in Guyon Espiner's political segment, which is usually between 7am and 7.30am (I was nervous and didn't take in much information, but I'm pretty sure it will be on tomorrow). My bit will only be a sound-bite, so I'll be there and gone quicker than you can blink. It should also be available as footage on TVNZ's website later on, and I'll try and post it here when I get it.
It was really bizarre having a camera crew in our living room. I realised afterwards that I was sitting in front of a cushion with a big cat face on it. Now the whole nation will know I'm the crazy cat lady. I can't even remember what I burbled on about ... hopefully it was in English. They also took some shots of me 'working' at the computer, which consisted of me typing random words over and over and frowning occasionally to indicate I was thinking. Television is weird.
For those of you who are in New Zealand, I think it will be on TV One's Breakfast tomorrow in Guyon Espiner's political segment, which is usually between 7am and 7.30am (I was nervous and didn't take in much information, but I'm pretty sure it will be on tomorrow). My bit will only be a sound-bite, so I'll be there and gone quicker than you can blink. It should also be available as footage on TVNZ's website later on, and I'll try and post it here when I get it.
It was really bizarre having a camera crew in our living room. I realised afterwards that I was sitting in front of a cushion with a big cat face on it. Now the whole nation will know I'm the crazy cat lady. I can't even remember what I burbled on about ... hopefully it was in English. They also took some shots of me 'working' at the computer, which consisted of me typing random words over and over and frowning occasionally to indicate I was thinking. Television is weird.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Minutiae
Productive day, for the most part. I wrote about 1,000 words and did some research for a project I've got lined up. Am slightly annoyed, though, because circumstances are conspiring to keep me away from the events I want to attend at the Writers' Festival. There was one at lunchtime today to which I really wanted to go, but something urgent came up and I couldn't.
Oh well, at least I managed to get some work done! And I'm excited about the book launch tonight - as part of the diploma in publishing I did last year, I actually had to put together a marketing plan for this very book. So it will be lovely to see it in the flesh (as it were).
Oh well, at least I managed to get some work done! And I'm excited about the book launch tonight - as part of the diploma in publishing I did last year, I actually had to put together a marketing plan for this very book. So it will be lovely to see it in the flesh (as it were).
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Writing a query letter
I'm home today working on the revisions, with that familiar gremlin sitting on my shoulder saying "This is bollocks, you're a terrible writer." I've grown almost fond of him. Almost. Although this may just be due to Stockholm Syndrome (a psychological condition in which captives sympathise with their kidnappers).
I have some fairly major changes to make, which I'm tackling this morning. I've given myself till Friday to finish this batch of revisions. This afternoon, however, is given over to starting work on that dreaded thing, the Query Letter. The golden ticket that will open the magical doors to that most mystical and elusive of creatures - a literary agent.
Query letters are hard. They have to be concise, compelling and punchy. They have to make the agent want to read your book. They are painful to write.
Nathan Bransford, a literary agent based in San Francisco, has posted a basic Mads-Libs-type formula for query letters on his always excellent website. It goes like this:
"Dear [Agent name],
I chose to submit to you because of your wonderful taste in [genre], and because you [personalized tidbit about agent].
[protagonist name] is a [description of protagonist] living in [setting]. But when [complicating incident], [protagonist name] must [protagonist's quest] and [verb] [villain] in order to [protagonist's goal].
[title] is a [word count] work of [genre]. I am the author of [author's credits (optional)], and this is my first novel.
Thank you for your time, and I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Best wishes,
[your name]"
So, for example:
Dear Grumpy McShortandfat,
I chose to submit to you because of your wonderful taste in cat crime, and because you have a cat. I think. Or used to.
Furball is a hard-bitten, hard-biting inner city cat cop living in the back alleys of Chicago. But when a well-known mouse crime syndicate kidnaps his burlesque-dancer girlfriend, Furball must go back to his own long-supressed criminal roots and track down the mouse mafia's Big Cheese in order to save his lady and, ultimately, his city.
'Mousetrap' is a 80,000-word work of cat crime fiction. I am the author of several very well-crafted letters to the editor, and this is my first novel.
Thank you for your time, and I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Best wishes,
Catlover O'Restrainingorder.
I will leave you with some pictures of my cat wrapped up in a blanket.
Oh, and don't forget to enter the giveaway if you haven't already! The post is below, or there's a button on the sidebar that will take you directly back to the giveaway page.
I have some fairly major changes to make, which I'm tackling this morning. I've given myself till Friday to finish this batch of revisions. This afternoon, however, is given over to starting work on that dreaded thing, the Query Letter. The golden ticket that will open the magical doors to that most mystical and elusive of creatures - a literary agent.
Query letters are hard. They have to be concise, compelling and punchy. They have to make the agent want to read your book. They are painful to write.
Nathan Bransford, a literary agent based in San Francisco, has posted a basic Mads-Libs-type formula for query letters on his always excellent website. It goes like this:
"Dear [Agent name],
I chose to submit to you because of your wonderful taste in [genre], and because you [personalized tidbit about agent].
[protagonist name] is a [description of protagonist] living in [setting]. But when [complicating incident], [protagonist name] must [protagonist's quest] and [verb] [villain] in order to [protagonist's goal].
[title] is a [word count] work of [genre]. I am the author of [author's credits (optional)], and this is my first novel.
Thank you for your time, and I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Best wishes,
[your name]"
So, for example:
Dear Grumpy McShortandfat,
I chose to submit to you because of your wonderful taste in cat crime, and because you have a cat. I think. Or used to.
Furball is a hard-bitten, hard-biting inner city cat cop living in the back alleys of Chicago. But when a well-known mouse crime syndicate kidnaps his burlesque-dancer girlfriend, Furball must go back to his own long-supressed criminal roots and track down the mouse mafia's Big Cheese in order to save his lady and, ultimately, his city.
'Mousetrap' is a 80,000-word work of cat crime fiction. I am the author of several very well-crafted letters to the editor, and this is my first novel.
Thank you for your time, and I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Best wishes,
Catlover O'Restrainingorder.
I will leave you with some pictures of my cat wrapped up in a blanket.
Oh, and don't forget to enter the giveaway if you haven't already! The post is below, or there's a button on the sidebar that will take you directly back to the giveaway page.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Why my life is like a cupboard
Whenever I look at my lists of New Year's Resolutions (and just plain resolutions) from the past several years, there is a common theme. Be More Organised And Disciplined. And Relax More. The two are a bit contradictory.
I know from what friends have said that I come across as an organised and disciplined person. But inside I don't feel organised and disciplined. I feel like I never really have a handle on life, and my organisation is a way of keeping the inevitable chaos at bay. It's as if my life is a crowded cupboard where the contents are straining against the door, and the slightest touch of the handle will cause them to spring out. I feel like I have to struggle to stay in control of everything, all the time (which is possibly one reason why I have my door-and-appliance-checking compulsions).
I think this need I have for everything to be organised and under control stems in part from growing up in Zimbabwe. My mum has this too. We lived in such chaos there, and everything seemed to impermanent - I was aware that our 'normal' lives could crumble at any moment. There was craziness happening all around us. Everything was so unpredictable. I almost used to crave boredom. I envied people the luxury of being bored. I couldn't be bored, because I didn't feel safe enough to (if that makes sense). When you are painfully aware that 'anything can happen to anyone, at any time' (to quote Arundhati Roy), you can't be complacent.
We tried to combat this feeling by taking charge of the things we had some power over. Like cleaning the house. Performing our little rituals for safety at night (locking the doors and windows, bolting the doors and windows, locking the rape gate, setting the burglar alarm). Hoarding groceries that we might not have been able to get the following week, like sugar and bread. Hoarding petrol. It was an endless battle to keep on top of it all, as much as we could. We were piling up little sandbags of organisation and security against the flood that we knew was coming, sooner or later.
This has carried over into our lives in New Zealand. For a while, when we first arrived here, I felt nervous and jumpy all the time. It was leftover adrenaline from Zimbabwe, which had no concrete thing to focus on. Over time, this faded. But I still have a need to organise, file, hoard, obsessively prepare. I don't ever feel like I'm doing enough.
I don't think I'll ever shake some of my old habits, like: clutching my handbag tightly when I walk in public; locking the car doors while I'm driving; getting jumpy and nervous when my petrol tank is less than half-full; obsessively checking the house doors are locked; feeling nervous going out at night, even when it's to a friend's house in a safe neighbourhood.
I still want to be as organised and disciplined as I possibly can, but I don't want to feel guilty about it when I let things slide a little. I want to be content with some chaos in my life, because it's not possible to be completely in control of everything all the time, and trying to achieve the impossible is only going to make me feel discouraged.
And I still want to learn to relax.
Working on it.
I know from what friends have said that I come across as an organised and disciplined person. But inside I don't feel organised and disciplined. I feel like I never really have a handle on life, and my organisation is a way of keeping the inevitable chaos at bay. It's as if my life is a crowded cupboard where the contents are straining against the door, and the slightest touch of the handle will cause them to spring out. I feel like I have to struggle to stay in control of everything, all the time (which is possibly one reason why I have my door-and-appliance-checking compulsions).
I think this need I have for everything to be organised and under control stems in part from growing up in Zimbabwe. My mum has this too. We lived in such chaos there, and everything seemed to impermanent - I was aware that our 'normal' lives could crumble at any moment. There was craziness happening all around us. Everything was so unpredictable. I almost used to crave boredom. I envied people the luxury of being bored. I couldn't be bored, because I didn't feel safe enough to (if that makes sense). When you are painfully aware that 'anything can happen to anyone, at any time' (to quote Arundhati Roy), you can't be complacent.
We tried to combat this feeling by taking charge of the things we had some power over. Like cleaning the house. Performing our little rituals for safety at night (locking the doors and windows, bolting the doors and windows, locking the rape gate, setting the burglar alarm). Hoarding groceries that we might not have been able to get the following week, like sugar and bread. Hoarding petrol. It was an endless battle to keep on top of it all, as much as we could. We were piling up little sandbags of organisation and security against the flood that we knew was coming, sooner or later.
This has carried over into our lives in New Zealand. For a while, when we first arrived here, I felt nervous and jumpy all the time. It was leftover adrenaline from Zimbabwe, which had no concrete thing to focus on. Over time, this faded. But I still have a need to organise, file, hoard, obsessively prepare. I don't ever feel like I'm doing enough.
I don't think I'll ever shake some of my old habits, like: clutching my handbag tightly when I walk in public; locking the car doors while I'm driving; getting jumpy and nervous when my petrol tank is less than half-full; obsessively checking the house doors are locked; feeling nervous going out at night, even when it's to a friend's house in a safe neighbourhood.
I still want to be as organised and disciplined as I possibly can, but I don't want to feel guilty about it when I let things slide a little. I want to be content with some chaos in my life, because it's not possible to be completely in control of everything all the time, and trying to achieve the impossible is only going to make me feel discouraged.
And I still want to learn to relax.
Working on it.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Lists and such
Right, LOML's back, and I feel like I can relax and get stuck into my work again. Here's the plan:
1) Finish secret-project-that-I-don't-want-to-jinx by Friday. And email my advisor asking if I can start approaching publishers before the novel has been officially marked for the MFA.
2) Next week, finish the final revisions of the novel. LOML gave me a couple of great points to think about after his reading - I'm lucky to be married to someone who is a very good unofficial editor/proofreader. And I still haven't addressed the last points my advisor made. So that will keep me busy for the whole week. Also, I need to hand in aforesaid secret project by that Friday.
3) In the first week of September, I'm going to seriously tackle the supplementary essay.
And then I will be DONE with the Masters, and I will have a big party and get very drunk. No, actually I'll save the big party for when I get a publisher.
(Maybe we could have two parties?)
1) Finish secret-project-that-I-don't-want-to-jinx by Friday. And email my advisor asking if I can start approaching publishers before the novel has been officially marked for the MFA.
2) Next week, finish the final revisions of the novel. LOML gave me a couple of great points to think about after his reading - I'm lucky to be married to someone who is a very good unofficial editor/proofreader. And I still haven't addressed the last points my advisor made. So that will keep me busy for the whole week. Also, I need to hand in aforesaid secret project by that Friday.
3) In the first week of September, I'm going to seriously tackle the supplementary essay.
And then I will be DONE with the Masters, and I will have a big party and get very drunk. No, actually I'll save the big party for when I get a publisher.
(Maybe we could have two parties?)
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Statistics
Sick cats - 1
Trips to the after-hours emergency vet last night at midnight - 1
Puddles of cat urine in the car - 2
People before us in the queue at the emergency vet - 1
Minutes spent waiting for the emergency vet - 45
Cats with a urine infection - 1
Catheters inserted into cat - 1
Yawns - 1,000,000
Worries about cat - 1,000,000
Cats kept at the vet's overnight - 1
Hours of sleep last night - 4
Cats picked up from the vet's this morning - 1
Vet's bill - ouch, but ...
Healthy and happy cats - 1
(Interesting outfits Andrea is wearing - 0)
Trips to the after-hours emergency vet last night at midnight - 1
Puddles of cat urine in the car - 2
People before us in the queue at the emergency vet - 1
Minutes spent waiting for the emergency vet - 45
Cats with a urine infection - 1
Catheters inserted into cat - 1
Yawns - 1,000,000
Worries about cat - 1,000,000
Cats kept at the vet's overnight - 1
Hours of sleep last night - 4
Cats picked up from the vet's this morning - 1
Vet's bill - ouch, but ...
Healthy and happy cats - 1
(Interesting outfits Andrea is wearing - 0)
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Slightly tarnished gold
Hello everyone! Sorry for disappearing over the weekend. It has been a strange couple of days, for various reasons that I'll talk about later (once they've sifted through my brain a little more).
I have been following two things this weekend: the Olympics, and the power-sharing talks between Mugabe and the opposition leader, Tsvangirai. While I'm thrilled that new Zealand is doing so well in the Olympics, it touches my heart more to see Kirsty Coventry winning gold for Zimbabwe in the swimming. I went to school with her - she was a couple of years older than me. I wonder how it must feel, representing such a beautiful country that is in such a terrible way at the moment? Bittersweet, I should think. That's how I feel, anyway.
Hopefully the power-sharing talks will come to something. Sadly, cynicism has been proved right so many times before.
I have been following two things this weekend: the Olympics, and the power-sharing talks between Mugabe and the opposition leader, Tsvangirai. While I'm thrilled that new Zealand is doing so well in the Olympics, it touches my heart more to see Kirsty Coventry winning gold for Zimbabwe in the swimming. I went to school with her - she was a couple of years older than me. I wonder how it must feel, representing such a beautiful country that is in such a terrible way at the moment? Bittersweet, I should think. That's how I feel, anyway.
Hopefully the power-sharing talks will come to something. Sadly, cynicism has been proved right so many times before.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Conundrums and the like
Bah! I am not at my most productive and dynamic these days. I'm waiting for LOML to come back before I make the final changes to the book - he took a copy with him to the States, so he may have some thoughts that could improve it. I have made a start on the supplementary essay that I need to hand in to the marking panel with the novel. The blog has been invaluable! I recorded a lot of the process here, so I can go back through the archives and pick out important points for the essay.
I told someone the other day that I was about ready to submit the novel for marking. Their response was, "Great! So after that are you going to get a job?"
I can understand why that's a natural question, but at the same time it really bothers me. As if writing this book is something that will end when I hand it in, a blip in my career. Which it isn't. Once the book has been handed in for the MFA, my next goal is to find a publisher. I am ... tentatively confident. And once I do get a publisher, I really need to step up work on my next book. I have one on the go that I plan to finish over Nanowrimo, but my next major project is one that requires a lot of research.
Anyway, my response to this question is usually, "I already have a job." At the moment, I'm a full-time writer. But I do need to earn some money.
LOML has been really wonderful supporting me this year - it was he who suggested giving up my part-time job at the bookstore so that I could fully concentrate on the book - but I can't (and don't want to) be completely financially dependent on him for long. I want to contribute. Inevitably it is going to be a while before this book pays me anything (and the royalties from the book I published in Zimbabwe are so infinitesimal that they can be completely discounted), so I need to earn money somehow. I don't want to work as a journalist again, and there are no major publishing companies based in Christchurch. I don't want to work in retail again, either, it's just too depressing.
My freelance work has never been my sole source of income - it has always been a sideline that brings in a little extra money. I think, though, that once I've finished with the book and am starting to look for a publisher, I'm going to expand my little company. Set up a proper website. Do some advertising. After all, that's what I'm officially qualified as - a writer and editor.
Forgive my ramblings, this post was a bit stream-of-consciousness ... I'm trying to work through some of the tangles in my head.
I told someone the other day that I was about ready to submit the novel for marking. Their response was, "Great! So after that are you going to get a job?"
I can understand why that's a natural question, but at the same time it really bothers me. As if writing this book is something that will end when I hand it in, a blip in my career. Which it isn't. Once the book has been handed in for the MFA, my next goal is to find a publisher. I am ... tentatively confident. And once I do get a publisher, I really need to step up work on my next book. I have one on the go that I plan to finish over Nanowrimo, but my next major project is one that requires a lot of research.
Anyway, my response to this question is usually, "I already have a job." At the moment, I'm a full-time writer. But I do need to earn some money.
LOML has been really wonderful supporting me this year - it was he who suggested giving up my part-time job at the bookstore so that I could fully concentrate on the book - but I can't (and don't want to) be completely financially dependent on him for long. I want to contribute. Inevitably it is going to be a while before this book pays me anything (and the royalties from the book I published in Zimbabwe are so infinitesimal that they can be completely discounted), so I need to earn money somehow. I don't want to work as a journalist again, and there are no major publishing companies based in Christchurch. I don't want to work in retail again, either, it's just too depressing.
My freelance work has never been my sole source of income - it has always been a sideline that brings in a little extra money. I think, though, that once I've finished with the book and am starting to look for a publisher, I'm going to expand my little company. Set up a proper website. Do some advertising. After all, that's what I'm officially qualified as - a writer and editor.
Forgive my ramblings, this post was a bit stream-of-consciousness ... I'm trying to work through some of the tangles in my head.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Yellow makes me happy
It has been a tough couple of days. Not due to anything external, because everything is good, really, but just in my own head. My obsessive-compulsive tendencies have got worse since LOML left. I was working really hard to overcome them, so it's depressing to slide back into old habits. I have a ritual of checking appliances and doors before bed and before I leave the house that I can repeat up to ten times. It's getting to the point where it's actually having an impact on the way I live - making me late for appointments or making me stay up way too late.
Anyway, on the good side of things, I found a pair of yellow high heels today. As my sister and I walked into the shoe shop, I told her, "I've been looking for yellow heels for ages, but I don't think I'm going to find any." And five minutes later, in the Last Pairs section, we find a pair of yellow heels that were exactly what I had pictured, and on sale. The universe obviously heard me!
(Not to be picky, but it would be nice if the universe had made them just a smidgen wider across the toes. But hey, I'm not going to complain. Much.)
Edited to add: the compulsive door-checking and so on is a hang-over from life in Zimbabwe, where we lived in houses that resembled prisons, and were constantly at risk. Logically, I know that it is much safer here. Unfortunately, though, my emotions refuse to listen to logic! Silly things.
Anyway, on the good side of things, I found a pair of yellow high heels today. As my sister and I walked into the shoe shop, I told her, "I've been looking for yellow heels for ages, but I don't think I'm going to find any." And five minutes later, in the Last Pairs section, we find a pair of yellow heels that were exactly what I had pictured, and on sale. The universe obviously heard me!
(Not to be picky, but it would be nice if the universe had made them just a smidgen wider across the toes. But hey, I'm not going to complain. Much.)
Edited to add: the compulsive door-checking and so on is a hang-over from life in Zimbabwe, where we lived in houses that resembled prisons, and were constantly at risk. Logically, I know that it is much safer here. Unfortunately, though, my emotions refuse to listen to logic! Silly things.
Friday, August 8, 2008
Snow!
It snowed overnight, and I woke up to a sparkly white world. Which quickly disintegrated into slush, sadly, just as I got my camera out. How sad.
I am exhausted this morning. I find it hard to sleep while LOML's away at the best of times, but last night one of our neighbours was having a party that seemed to start at about 1am and go till dawn. Actually, this in itself wasn't too disturbing - they were laughing and talking and occasionally shouting something, but I could have slept through it. What was REALLY irritating was the man hanging out of his window yelling "Shut up! I'm going to call the cops!" every twenty minutes. He had a very loud voice. And, of course, when he yelled, they yelled back. So I am a little bleary-eyed and caffeine-hungry today.
I do, however, have grand plans to clean out my wardrobe today and get everything ready for the fashion swap tomorrow.
I am exhausted this morning. I find it hard to sleep while LOML's away at the best of times, but last night one of our neighbours was having a party that seemed to start at about 1am and go till dawn. Actually, this in itself wasn't too disturbing - they were laughing and talking and occasionally shouting something, but I could have slept through it. What was REALLY irritating was the man hanging out of his window yelling "Shut up! I'm going to call the cops!" every twenty minutes. He had a very loud voice. And, of course, when he yelled, they yelled back. So I am a little bleary-eyed and caffeine-hungry today.
I do, however, have grand plans to clean out my wardrobe today and get everything ready for the fashion swap tomorrow.
Friday, August 1, 2008
Thank you!
Sorry for the lack of updates today - I've been spending some time with my soon-to-be-stateside husband enjoying the unaccustomed sunshine!
I just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone reading this blog. I really appreciate your kind comments and support while I'm working on my book. Writing is a lonely process, and I spend a lot of time on my own staring at a screen. Having friends in the blogosphere makes it a lot easier, and I've really enjoyed getting to know you all through your comments and through your own blogs. Thank you also to those people who read and don't leave comments - it's nice just knowing you're there :). If you ever feel like dropping a comment and saying hi, I'd love to meet you (metaphorically speaking, of course).
So, thanks! And I hope you're all having a lovely weekend.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Monday morning ...
I'm hoping to get a really good day's work done. I have to, if I'm to finish the second draft and send it off on Friday.
I'm being a hermit this week, to some extent - I'm not good at multi-tasking. I get overwhelmed very quickly if I have a big long list of things to do. I wish I wasn't like that, but I am. If I'm going to write, I need hours of uninterrupted time. I know this is a luxury, but luckily it's one I have at the moment.
Here's the plan for the week:
Okay, back to work. Oh, and the photo shoot yesterday was so much fun! I'll post some of the shots later.
I'm being a hermit this week, to some extent - I'm not good at multi-tasking. I get overwhelmed very quickly if I have a big long list of things to do. I wish I wasn't like that, but I am. If I'm going to write, I need hours of uninterrupted time. I know this is a luxury, but luckily it's one I have at the moment.
Here's the plan for the week:
Monday - this may be a little crazy, but I'm aiming to finish all the editing today. There are 64 pages left to do, and it will mean working very hard, but ... I think it's doable. We'll see. Dream big, and all that. I'm not going to do any rewrites today, but I'm going to flag the places where I see rewrites or additions are necessary. Which brings me neatly on to tomorrow's work ...
Tuesday - rewrites and additions.
Wednesday - rewrites and additions.
Thursday - check the second draft against my and my advisor's notes on the original manuscript, to make sure I've addressed everything.
Friday - final read-through, and send!
Okay, back to work. Oh, and the photo shoot yesterday was so much fun! I'll post some of the shots later.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Revision stats
Phew! A hard day, work-wise. I am very affected by the weather - took me a while to realise that, as in Zimbabwe we didn't really have weather. Not like we have here - four seasons in one day. Once we moved to New Zealand, I noticed that my mood (never the most stable at the best of times), rose and fell with the temperature and the cloud-cover. Now that I am aware of my seasonal mood-swings, I can work around them, and sometimes shrug them off. Today was like that - I felt a bit crap because it was wet and gloomy and icky outside, but I tried to put that aside and get my work done anyway. Mostly succeeded.
Here's where I stand at the moment:
Word count: 111,000. And that's with some rewrites and additions. Yay! It shouldn't be too hard to get it below 110,000 by the end.
Pages revised and edited: 154 of 232 (A4, single-spaced pages, that is). Which leads me neatly onto ...
... Chapters revised: Twenty-one. There are thirty-three in total. Which puts me seven-elevenths of the way through. That's nice and confusing.
I solved a couple of plot problems today as well - I haven't finished the necessary rewrites, but I've made a start and I know what I need to do. Half the battle. I still have a lot of work to do if I'm going to finish by next Friday. Luckily, I work best to a pressing deadline. The coffee machine and I are just going to have to continue on our symbiotic path.
For now, I'm going to have some away-from-screen time.
Here's where I stand at the moment:
Word count: 111,000. And that's with some rewrites and additions. Yay! It shouldn't be too hard to get it below 110,000 by the end.
Pages revised and edited: 154 of 232 (A4, single-spaced pages, that is). Which leads me neatly onto ...
... Chapters revised: Twenty-one. There are thirty-three in total. Which puts me seven-elevenths of the way through. That's nice and confusing.
I solved a couple of plot problems today as well - I haven't finished the necessary rewrites, but I've made a start and I know what I need to do. Half the battle. I still have a lot of work to do if I'm going to finish by next Friday. Luckily, I work best to a pressing deadline. The coffee machine and I are just going to have to continue on our symbiotic path.
For now, I'm going to have some away-from-screen time.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
New Fortnight's Resolutions
It's the start of a new week, and I am filled with determination and good intentions (and coffee). I feel the need for some discipline (that word brings back memories of the Discipline Mistress - seriously, that was her title - at the Convent high school I attended for a couple of years in Zim. She looked like a man, with a big, square jaw like a superhero. Anyway). Since I am a creature that loves setting goals and having timeframes for things, I have decided that I am going to do the following in the next two weeks:
So, off I go.
1) Finish revising the book
2) Follow Daphne from dlittlegarden's excellent example, and practise Style Without Consumption (SWoC). I buy a lot of clothes, and I buy them frequently. For the next two weeks, I am not going to buy any luxuries. I know two weeks doesn't seem that long, but I think I'm going to find it quite difficult. If I'm still going strong by August, I might try and extend it further.
3) Eat healthily and exercise every day. Winter and recent laziness has made me a bit more ... erm ... 'cuddly' than usual, and I could do with a bit of toning up.
So, off I go.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Be brave
Inspired by Leah's post on the always-inspiring Creative Every Day, I've decided to start doing Jessie's Be Brave Project. It is based on the famous quote by Eleanor Roosevelt - "Do one thing every day that scares you." Just one thing.
The rules are:
I tend to get tied up in knots about 'doing more', and feel guilty for not living up to what I think I 'should' be doing. This can be paralysing. If you focus on all the things you aren't doing, you forget to celebrate the things you do. Everyone has at least one challenge, big or small every day - I think this project is a way of acknowledging that challenge, and then acknowledging your victory over it.
I have struggled with depression and panic attacks for a long time. I don't really talk about it that often, because I do try and focus on the positive, but lately I have felt myself slipping into that paralysed, anxious state again where everything feels so overwhelming that I just want to stay indoors and hibernate. It's especially easy to do when the weather is cold and uninviting outside, and I have a job that requires me to spend a lot of time working on my own. Doing one thing every day that scares me is a way to break out of that feeling of helplessness and fear.
Anyway, I am going to take up this challenge for one month, and see how it goes! Today's One Thing is, of course, running the author's talk at university. Wish me luck. And if anyone would like to join me in this project, I'd love your company!
The rules are:
1) (most important:) MAKE YOUR OWN RULES.
2) Do this for yourself.
3) Make a commitment for the length of time that best suites YOUR needs - one day, one month, one year, one moment...it's all up to you, and you alone. ;)
4) The "brave" or "scary" things that you choose to do can be as big or little as you want them to be. Sometimes it's the little things that can be the most scary!
5) (not to quote Nike, but...) Just do it.
6) Be on your own schedule. You don't need to make a commitment until YOU are ready.
7) This is your unique journey - make it whatever you want it to be.
I tend to get tied up in knots about 'doing more', and feel guilty for not living up to what I think I 'should' be doing. This can be paralysing. If you focus on all the things you aren't doing, you forget to celebrate the things you do. Everyone has at least one challenge, big or small every day - I think this project is a way of acknowledging that challenge, and then acknowledging your victory over it.
I have struggled with depression and panic attacks for a long time. I don't really talk about it that often, because I do try and focus on the positive, but lately I have felt myself slipping into that paralysed, anxious state again where everything feels so overwhelming that I just want to stay indoors and hibernate. It's especially easy to do when the weather is cold and uninviting outside, and I have a job that requires me to spend a lot of time working on my own. Doing one thing every day that scares me is a way to break out of that feeling of helplessness and fear.
Anyway, I am going to take up this challenge for one month, and see how it goes! Today's One Thing is, of course, running the author's talk at university. Wish me luck. And if anyone would like to join me in this project, I'd love your company!
Sigh
I want to go on holiday! These pictures are from our trip to Daydream Island last year. I have hugely itchy feet at the moment, in the metaphorical travelling sense rather than the literal sense (thank goodness). I need heat! Light! I want to be somewhere new.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Strange, disorganised post
Strange, disorganised morning. LOML has a cold, and so slept in, which meant I slept in too as he usually wakes me up. This has thrown my careful routine somewhat out of kilter. Am slightly worried because LOML getting a cold usually means I get a cold, by sheer virtue of proximity, and I would rather not get sick. To this end, I am drinking orange juice and chewing Vitamin C tablets.
On the brighter side, I have passed the 112,000 words mark on my book (heading downwards). I would love to cut it down to under 110,000.
On the brighter side, I have passed the 112,000 words mark on my book (heading downwards). I would love to cut it down to under 110,000.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Morning shift
I rolled out of bed early this morning to set up and look after our club table at university and try to recruit some new members (it took four cups of coffee. To get up, that is, not to recruit new members).
You can tell, can't you? It is EARLY. I got better as the caffeine started to kick in, but I felt very bleary-eyed for the first hour.
You can tell, can't you? It is EARLY. I got better as the caffeine started to kick in, but I felt very bleary-eyed for the first hour.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
