Main goal - sell some writing.

( goal post here XD )

The title rhymes, sort of (k and way).

Anyways I reached 25k on my nano novel, and am all excited now. I'm still behind on the word count, but I'm making progress. Plus I'm also happy with the scene I just wrote tonight. While I'll have to edit the extra dialogue out come revision time, there is a nice amount of tension in the scene.

I keep forgetting to post over here, I usually update my word count over at Twitter. Mostly because it's nice to write something more here, which makes it quicker to post just the word counts at twitter.

Anyways, I've fallen a bit behind with nano. This past week has been busy, not giving me as much time to write. I did get some time to myself today, and spent a few hours writing. I ended up with 4094 words today, for a total of 21,472 on my draft (33 pages single spaced). It's not the 25k I should have as of today, but I'm not as far behind as I was before. I was just under 4k while finishing up the last scene for the day, when I decided to add some extra thoughts for the character, so I could get to the 4k (it was my aim for today).

Behind or not, I am really liking how the story is going so far. I made it to the point where my main character has put the pieces in place so she can fall for the red-herring. (Yes, SF mystery). I've also gotten another scene in from the perp's point of view. It's kind of fun writing from his POV, to set the stage for what my MC is going to be in for, and putting up a smoke screen around real clues. I haven't read much science fiction, but I've read lots of mystery novels, so I feel comfortable with the mystery aspects of the novel. (I am planning on reading more SF after getting through this draft. I just finished Ursula Le Guin's Left Hand of Darkness, and have Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land next on my short list).

When it comes to the SF area of the novel, I want to have the reader feel like it's a different setting then our present day Earth, but I don't want it to seam artificial with extra "sciency" sounding words thrown in for the sake of being there because they sound SF. I want to create an environment that supports the story and characters, without distracting from it. I'm hoping future readers (ha) will have a feel for the novel's time and place without it being to in the foreground. I'm aiming for "reader following my MC around the station as she solves the mystery" rather than "oh look, yet another shiny piece of high technology that a random character happens to be using". When reading Le Guin's novel, the characters were interesting, and I kept reading to see what happened to them. There was enough world building so that the actions of the aliens made sense, and I could almost feel the cold of the world they were on. But it didn't detract from the story at all, the action moved forward and the characters could stand on their own.

I got 4,085 words on my draft, and that's even with taking time out from writing to add more to my outline. I still need to work more clues into my outline, but I've gotten the basic story elements flowing pretty well, and characters are starting to assert themselves. Conflict is brewing nicely as well. In the 4k my MC already has had words with two characters, one someone who reports to her, and the other char is another manager. She called him an ass :) Well he kind of is, and said ass character just totally stuck his head in and declared himself as such. It was a "spot" that needed to be filled anyways, that it's a char with an attitude like that is just bonus.

Here's the blurb for my novel, which I posted to nano's site the other day. It's a bit tongue and cheek, but I had fun writing it.
Federated Planetary year 309, our intrepid heroine finds herself on a distant hostile planetoid keeping the mining machinery running. A few malfunctions she can chalk up to machine wear, but when things start breaking more frequently and not on their own she can’t ignore that someone is determined to stop the machines from running. In the confines of the platform, can she find the saboteur before it’s to late?

Anyways, to the outline, I'm really happy with the level of detail I have for the scenes. I have a few sentences or so for each, including the random line of dialogue or two. But it's not so detailed that it feels like the scene is "locked in" so to speak. There is still very much wiggle room to explore what else is going on without getting to lost from where the novel is supposed to end up (I hope at least). There was a time or two today I was like "what now" in the middle of a scene, and a note from my outline got me back into the flow pretty well.

At least it feels that way. And yes, I really should be working on my nano outline, but I'll spend some time with it after dinner. The lack of posting hasn't been for lack of things to post about, I've just gotten bad about keeping this poor thing updated.

Nano:
I guess I'll mention this topic first since I'm procrastination on it. Pretty much I've been working double time on the 2 year novel lessons (yes, I'm using my 2yn for nano), and finished the world building lessons last week, then started on outlining. Let me put this out there before I go to much farther. 1) I'm generally not much of an outliner. 2) I'm a very liner writer, I have to write about event A, so that what happens in A can cause B, and move on from there. That being said, for this year I'm writing a science fiction mystery. This is my first SF novel, and also my first mystery. Luckily the setting is fairly contained, so I won't have to deal with the ins and outs of FTL (faster than light) travel. But there are still lots of new setting details, plus all the mystery on top of that. For the character development I've gotten a very rough set of "road map points" down in my outline - where the main character is at various points in the novel. What she decides to do in the beginning, affects the middle, which affects the end. I've got her major arc down, moving forward in time. Now comes the backwards part thanks to the mystery. I'm planning on figuring out exactly who is the culprit and what clues they leave behind. The reveal is at the end of the book, so I'm there right now, and will be working backwards to plant various clues into my outline. So I'm working forwards and backwards simultaneously. Big yikes here.

Speaking of Nano if anyone is interested in snippets let me know. I may post some, probably F-locked so I don't have rough draft stuff floating about to much.

Windows 7 (of 9 ha):
Next topic on the docket, my computer has a shiny new operating system. Hubby ordered copies for us last week, and they arrived Friday. I spent Friday and Saturday going through my files to delete out stuff I didn't need, and he installed it on Saturday. I had been using Vista for awhile, I didn't go right from XP to 7. The interface of 7 isn't as big a change as it was from XP to Vista. 7 still has the handy little "linked file path", where you can click on any part of a path in Windows Explorer, and some of the general visuals are there. What's new is the "icon" on the task bar instead of more of a longer tab. It's handy how they are grouped, and in the task bar preview, anything grouped will show up next to each other complete with a little x in it's corner to close it out. Vista did have a preview for task bar stuff as well.

Unsleeping is also faster than Vista. Well, Vista called it hibernate, but at any rate my computer comes back up faster than it used to with Vista. It does take a little longer to boot from a full shutdown, but not horribly so. Oh, and when there are updates you are no longer forced to do them to sleep like you were with Vista. In vista the button to hibernate would switch to "update and shutdown" when there were updates. Now granted it's good to upgrade your computer on a regular basis, and that was a handy reminder. But there would be times I'd want to just hibernate and have to shut down instead.

The DPI is also changed as well. For the same screen resolution in 7, things will look bigger and take up more space than the same resolution in Vista or XP. I may bump up my 1152x864 to one of the 12's at some point.

On of my favorite changes is MS Paint, the default program that comes with windows. Vista had made it default to a jpg file type, and every time I used it I had to make sure to switch to png to keep my image from being over compressed. There were a few times I forgot and my pixel art got ruined. In addition to defaulting to png, the 7 version of Paint also has some new brushes. It has an oil paint brush, marker, and a few other fun things. You can also use the shape tool and move the shape around before it's automatically part of the image. Pretty sweet.

The house:
We are still settling into our new home. It's exciting to be home owners now, even though it comes with more responsibilities. There are lots of boxes still waiting to be unpacked, but the majority of the stuff we use on a regular basis is out. This weekend I'll probably unbox more of my computer related stuff, so my writing area is neat for Nano. We've spent a lot of time in the yard, particularly the front, so that isn't as overgrown. Now with the weather turning colder, it'll be a good time to focus on the inside.

Well, I've fallen behind with my 2 year novel lessons, though I guess that was to be expected with moving. We were house hunting from Feb to May, then there were those few months from putting in an offer until we were able to close (3 months is pretty standard around here). But we've now moved into our own house, and while there are still tons of boxes the kitchen is mostly set and my computer is wired up and has an internet connection. It's so great to be able to type on my own keyboard again, I was getting a bit annoyed with Qwerty.

That being said I'm aiming to be caught up soon. I figure I can finish the rest of the worldbuilding and outlining lessons before November. Then once November starts I can do the writing lessons. Between November and December I'd like to catch back up to where I should be. There will still be more writing into 2010, before the editing phase starts. The class is set up to do a lesson a week, and the lessons don't take to long, so it isn't hard to do a few a week.

http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/3171253

Participant badges are up.

Ya, short enough to almost be a tweet.

Ya, it's going around so I thought I'd share. Going through my writing files and papers, it's high time to organize. Yikes.

Novels
Alternate Romance: (I decided to start this earlier in time for the revision)
First draft opener - Jake stared straight through the windshield, trying his best to see the road through the driving rain.
Revision opening - Jake stood next to Sylvia in his own living room, arms crossed over his chest. Why the hell had she spent that much?

Magical Fantasy first draft (which needs a bunch of world building - nano 08): In the time before time, magic and the people were one.

Nano 06 (still first draft, started with the MC's so-so novel): Elwin smirked and stared down and the movement on the wall below her.

Shorts
Plant Romance (first draft yet unfinished): Sandra stood in her office glancing down at what had been one aloe plant she had brought into her office.

Yet unnamed SF: Once humanity could no longer survive in the open practices accepted for centuries suddenly became treason, funny how that worked.

Short set in a world I'm building for 2yn, their history still set in the future: Hania Mirela had always wanted to go into space, to see what was out there, beyond the confines of Earth.

The other night I made yet another necklace, using flower beads from my mom and some pretty matte green seed beads I picked up Friday.

Click for bigger.



And yes, that's me modeling it, taken with my cell phone. Unlike my previous phone, this one doesn't show the camera view when the phone is closed. But I used a mirror to see what the camera saw, so no phone in picture.

Catherynne M. Valente, author of the two Orphan's Tails books and Palimpsest is releasing a novel on her website, posting a chapter each Monday. The first chapter is up on her site, and I'll be reading it soon. As the blurb reads on her site, the novel is powered by donations. The whole content will be on the site, nothing is locked up for subscribers only, people simply pay (donate) what they think it's worth.

Click here to check the novel out - The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making.

(Yes short post, I want to get this up before my computer freezes again and or Fire fox crashes)

David's post about clowns got me thinking about fear as an emotion. Some things can be pretty obvious as a fear, things which pose a threat to us in some way. Things like big wild animals (when someone is out around them), come to the top my mind, though I'm sure there are other examples that fit this. Other fears can be more personal, feared for different reasons for those who fear that specific thing, and not feared at all by others. Like the post about clowns, some people fear them, others don't. And those who don't fear them don't always see how clowns can be frightening.

Some fears can be irrational, or at least fearing something more then what the average person would. Take the wild animals example. Someone could fear grizzly bears to an extent they didn't want to leave their house, even though they live in an area where the likelihood of running into one is relatively low. Now if someone was out in the woods in an area where the bears are more likely to be present, the fear response would match more. In that case fear is helpful, to help us survive in specific situations.

When it comes to writing, and we put our characters into different situations some readers will share the character's fear, while others won't. And in other cases, some readers may feel some fear about the character's situation when the author hadn't intended it. I guess it's one (of many) things to think about while writing, especially if it's a case where you want your reader to pick up on the fear. With one of my novels I'm planning there is a strong mystery element, which will bring some suspense and danger to the main character through the course of the story. While I'm writing my character in the more suspenseful scenes I'll have to go through her thought process, and also think about the various scene elements that may or may not convey the suspense and fear to the reader. Of course engaging them with the character will be helpful, failing to do so and they won't care either way what happens to her, no matter how much fear is played with.

Twelve, that's the number of folders in my novels folder. Each novel gets it's own folder, though the magical fantasy trilogy might share - not sure as I'm only working on book 1. There are a few Nano folders, which my first few years didn't amount to much except writing practice.

But ya, I need to update my website as some of these novels aren't listed there, and some statuses are old. Though I guess it show's that I've made progress since my last website update.



I was doing some more thinking today for my magical fantasy novel today. I didn't really write much down except for random scribble notes in the margin of some paper. But I have a bit of a focus on what areas of worldbuilding will help for the moment to get more inside my character's head at the start of the novel. Things like society law and order, general taboos and such. Like people who decide they don't want to play along with the "inherit your family trade and work your butt off" bit end up as outcasts. I am also planning or reading through the worldbuilding section of my year 1 book from the 2 year novel class.

Speaking of 2 year novel, I'm still behind in the character section, but I did do a bunch of lessons over Memorial day weekend. Last weekend was shot with me not feeling so great (eye, ear and sinus infection). I'll have to make sure to do a lesson tomorrow before heading off to see Star Trek. Half day Fridays are nice in the summer, even if it means working extra the rest of the week.

Hubby had other stuff going on today, which gives me some internet time over lunch today (working at the same place we usually eat lunch together). I picked up a salad at the campus cafe, not just a pre-made one, but a salad bar salad. Lots of toppings, including chicken, bacon, onions, broccoli, raisons, tomatoes, sunflower seeds, and a creamy dressing. And ya, I'm only trying to increase my veggies, I'm not calorie counting.

Lunch chatter aside, I'd been wanting to update here for awhile. Earlier this week I was thinking about my fantasy novel, and how the main character is traveling around with no particular place in mind, or specific "quest" if you will. If anything its more of a journey of self discovery (she left home and has to figure out where to go/what to do). Because of lack of destination, the story line is sort of boring. More world building will help, to highlight the various locals she visits, but I'm going to have to work with the conflict more. The novel isn't meant to be a quest style fantasy, I'm fine with that. Some conflicts in fiction are more inner character driven as opposed to external. What I have to do is concentrate on all the various facets of her personality, and how they interact with her situation at various points. Her culture is very work related, when she leaves home, she also leaves her occupation behind (temporarily at least, permanently possible), so her leaving takes away what she would see as her purpose. I'll have to set up the conflict early on with how she's dealing with this, and also have it drive her physical journey through the different towns/cities in the country to the south. And of course to there is plenty of opportunity for conflict with cultural differences as she travels.

I can't believe it's June already. This month over at FM there is the science fiction dare, and also the Dvorak challenge/marathon. I'm pretty happy with my typing speed over all, but I might join in the Dvorak fun and concentrate on the not so common keys. I keep getting < and > mixed up while typing (though I did a bit with Qwerty to).

Ya, my upper sinuses are bothering me today, the right side specifically. I took a 12 hour decongestant this morning, which lasted only part of the morning. But I've been meaning to update about stuff here anyways, and don't want to dwell on the throbbing pain (a dull throb not anything sharp).

House news: We had the inspection done last week Monday, and that went well. Lots of little things to take care of, but nothing more then we'd expect from a house built in the 1950s. We signed off on the inspection and the process continues. In my excitement I started a garden blog to update as things garden wise progress. Right now I'm mostly blogging about random ideas I like and such.

Last weekend was the Lilac festival (the second weekend of it). Mom P (Hubby) and I went on Saturday, getting to enjoy the food, flowers, and crafts. And I took 144 pictures, most of them flower related. Mom and I did find the poet's garden though, which was nice. I took a close up of the plaque, which has a bit of history about the garden.





When I do get to design the garden at our house, it'll be nice to have a winding path through it, and a bench or two.

For all the cat people out there:

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Thought that would be fun to share. Hubby and I are going to look at a house early this afternoon, then do some quick shopping - especially taking cans back.

Well, I'd told myself no more new novel drafts until I made it through an edit pass of at least one. But with me being a bit lax (read: lazy) over the past two months with my writing, a first draft might be the thing I need. Plus to it's March Madness over at FM so I figured why not this afternoon. Writing 1k a day for the rest of the month along with others who are furiously writing sounds like fun. Plus to I can use an idea I already have in my ideas notebook. It's the Wizards of Time and Space on, about the all female acting group back from September.

What's one more first draft novel sitting on my hard drive? It'll be in good company with the other 3, the most recent having been finished this past January.

Oh noes an adverb.

So I've been working on this on and off for a few days now, probably about 3 hours or so if I add up the actual work times. And a note to self that Painter doesn't like it when Hoyle card games resizes my monitor. (I have the card games set to full screen). Whenever I finish playing cards I have to drag the pallets and such back to their original locations in Painter.

This is very much a work in progress, she still needs lips, hair, background, and more shading. And eyebrows. But I thought it might be fun to post what I have so far, it has been awhile since I posted anything artsy. I'm using the acrylics for this one - I feel more comfortable with opaque media. The watercolors and colored pencils are fun, but I end up getting places of to dark a color.


So, I have about 17 days left in the trial, and am debating if the program is worth the $400 price tag. It is pretty powerful, plus it has pressure sensitive brushes if I ever get a graphics tablet. It is cheaper the Photoshop. But that's still a bunch more monies then I have handy right now. Though I could buy less beads over the next few months. I spent a bit much online for beads last week, but the bulk of the order was for a few gifts.

Linking to a wonderfully worded post about the sorts of representation in fiction for different sorts of people. She focuses mainly on people of color, but touches on other areas as well.

http://yuki-onna.livejournal.com/450101.html

(thumnail)

Speed "paint" (virtual colored pencils and chalk)

I decided to try out Corel's Painter 11 today, and downloaded their free trial. I did a quick image simply to try out some of the different brushes, and it works pretty well. The selection of media types is amazing, both the types of media and the brushes within each medium. Though if they had salt for the watercolors that would be great, but they at least have sponges, and water droplets. You can even watch the colors shift a bit while the paint dries (the water color more so then the oil).

My test image: (Click for bigger - the pink/purple/blue is the water color, and the gold is oil and the black is charcoal).