Here’s the scoop… Two weeks of leave from my job. Final polish of the final draft. Agent query. The house is as clean as it ever is, lately. I’ve got coffee, tea, sticky notes in five colours, my favourite hoodie, Patti Smith on repeat, my trusty laptop (even if the “L” key has been half-eaten by a cat). If I can’t get this done and dusted, I have no right to call myself a professional writer. What I’ve done before this point: shared Draft 2 with my writing group, and used their input to re-draft the first 45,000 words. What I still have to do: unfuck the last 35,000 words. Write the pitch. Figure out which agents will like it, and query them. Why I suck: this could have been done a year ago. Why I rock: it is getting done now. What else I can do if I finish ahead of schedule: 2 stories to fix and send out; 1 story to finish and find someone to critique; writerly business such as registering for Readercon and buying plane tickets; and if all those things get done, I’ll be so chuffed that I’ll grab my pretentious cane and swan around […]
In which the bell tolls
It actually does. Not for me, I assume. It’s somewhere up the block, and it’s probably one of those knife-sharpening people, rare these days but still to be found on occasion here in Little Portugal. Sunday morning, cloudy. Wasps in the rose briars and butterflies in the tall grass. Neighbours strolling to the laundromat. Silence in my part of town. My friends, it is a good day to write. […]
In which I am in metaphorical boot camp
It’s not as sweaty as Real Boot Camp. Also, no tear gas, which makes it a hell of a lot less boot-campy. (Yes, that is the voice of experience speaking.) However, it is a relatively short time period to get myself into fighting form, and therefore it merits the comparison. I’m always telling myself that I think with my feet (or with my fists, depending on how angry I am…) and so at some point in winter, I decided I’d kick off the summer season with two charity races: a 5k running relay and a 25k mountainbike race. Because of the wet, snowy spring, training commenced a bit late, and then I had to throw a few business trips into the mix, and so I’m here in mid May, feeling like a bear just rolled out of the cave, lumbering around trying to get my blood flowing. Also, all of my short stories are turning into novels. I just had two really nice rejections in which editors encouraged me to send more stuff, and I have no stuff to send. Fortunately, there’s a cure… it’s not an accident that I’m in two writing groups. The common thread of all of […]
Enduro: night lap
Progress: one new scene, four chapters of revision Pretty things: elderflower presse; Hermes scarves; I think it has a title! Horrible things: a froth of saliva; violence against doctors; terrible lies Soundtrack: Elias, Two Hours Traffic, Luke Doucet Sustenance: dark coffee laced with rum, the rest of the salted chocolate Fetishes: tonight I made use of my writing hat, my special rock, my grizzly bear coffee mug, AND my favourite t-shirt with the antlers on it. Next step: another new scene. I don’t actually think I am done yet, despite the hour. It’s a rare night that I can stay up working right into the small hours, and I don’t intend to waste this one. […]
Enduro
My husband is riding a 3-day, 235k mountain bike race this weekend. To prepare for it, he’s ridden several 6-hour days and one 24-hour relay race in addition to his regular riding and workout program. He and the other racers have a team to transport their belongings, cook their breakfasts and dinners, and give them massages at the end of the day. His nutrition consists of a staggering array of bars, protein mixes and electrolyte tabs. I’m trying to finish Draft 2 of the Not-a-werewolf book, which is now back to being untitled. To prepare for it… well, I suppose I wrote Draft 1, and my million words of suck, and a bunch of other stuff that didn’t suck as much. My support team this weekend consists of two cats, the guy who brought my organic food box, and the internets. My nutrition consists of leftover lasagna, arugula salad, coffee, and salted chocolate (ie, much better than the final round of Draft 1, during which I mainly forgot to eat and ended up with a really awful gutshot kind of feeling.) I am ready for this. I am. I am ready to have it out of my brain, because it […]