2006-11-07, 07:04 AM — update on the nano situation
Okay, I realize this is the only day this week, possibly this entire month, that I have to get up this early.
And when I think about it, I would be all for a few more mornings like this if it meant I was getting work.
But I'm not, and I only have one day this month that's pre-7:00am. It's amazing, how demoralizing getting up while the sun is still sleeping can be. Especially if you're headed for a day full of teenagers, and spent the night dreaming about wandering around Home Depot and not finding anything right and crying because of that. I hate it when I cry in my dreams. I wake up feeling like the world is a pretty wretched place.
Furthermore, the reason I was crying last night might have been frustrating, but really. How pathetic.
A quick update on the novel progress: it's progressing stupendously well, actually. I'm very pleased. I'm not sure how I feel about the earlier stuff I wrote, but as I got into it things got a lot easier. And then I got into a couple of very intense scenes and things were great.
I'm at a bit of an impasse right now, but that's okay, because I have a day where I won't be doing much writing and something brilliant may come to me to help things along. I know approximately where I want to go; the thing is, the parts in my head and not yet on paper are discrete scenes that will need something tying them together. I might write the scenes and worry about tying them together later.
No I won't, who am I kidding? I don't write that way and I've tried, so I'd know...
Anyway. The teenagers await.
2006-11-01, 11:55 AM — uh-oh spaghetti-o
It's November 1st. This is an important day for two reasons. First is that it's my mother's birthday. Happy birthday Mom!
Second is that it's the start of Nanowrimo for this year.
Bad news: I don't feel like writing.
I don't feel like it at all. There's nothing I feel less like, in fact. Well, except maybe doing my class this afternoon. I really don't feel like that either.
What I do feel like is crawling into bed with a book and alternating between reading and sleeping. Occasionally fishy will bring me something hot to drink. The snotty kleenexes will eventually begin to overflow the garbage pail and take over the room.
But nooooo. I have to be nice to children and sociable with teachers (even if, as I did this morning, I get the feeling they really don't think much of me.) I have to talk about the coolness of soil (which is cool but messy, and my fingers hurt from the cold.) And I have to write about 1500 words tonight to keep on pace.
The other major problem here is that the story I was going to work on just isn't grabbing me anymore. It was last week. It was two weeks ago. A couple of days ago I realized I was in trouble when I read the plot outline again and thought, "wow, that's how I planned to end it? what rot."
Indeed. Ah well. I have tomorrow off. Plenty of time for sleeping, reading, blowing my nose, and writing 3000 words.
2006-10-24, 09:13 AM — i read until i'm sick
One problem I have with reading and writing is that I tend to do both to exhaustion. Reading particularly. I'll pick up a book and read the entirety of it in one sitting, possibly getting up for pee breaks. It's even less likely that I'll eat.
This might be why I have little patience for dense books, that require examination and re-examination as you are reading it. I'm a big fan of Japanese manga, which can be read in one sitting but tends to yield secrets upon the second, third and fourth readings. The last book I read was called "Poison Study" by a new author, Maria V. Snyder and I'll confess I read it in one night (went to bed at 3am) and then re-read it again the next day.
Reading the book was fantastic. The hangover afterwards was not. I get dehydrated and exhausted and gritty-eyed, but I can't seem to put a book down without knowing what happens next. Once I've read it through once, the second time is much easier on me.
I'm about to attempt "Sense and Sensibility" by Jane Austin, just out of curiosity. I've not read anything by her but I did enjoy watching "Mansfield Park" so we'll see. I suspect it might be a little harder slogging than "Poison Study" was. But it's much shorter, so maybe it will balance out.