Not Exactly a NaNoWriMo

I had planned, way back at the beginning of 2013, to do NaNo again. I've done it before (as recorded elsewhere on this blog), and I find it really useful. According to my original time-table, of course, I was supposed to be done with this revision already, but I'm not unhappy with where I am.

The rewrite is chugging along nicely. There have been missteps and wobbles, and a recurrent fear that I will run out of Plot, but so far I've recovered from those and kept going. Most importantly, I'm having fun writing this story. Given where I was, say, six months ago, this is monumental. I wonder if one of the worst things that happens when we don't write is that we start to fear the process.

So I won't be doing an official NaNo this month, but I intend to keep up my current schedule. If I do that, I will hit the 2/3 mark by the end of November, and be on track to finish this draft for New Years.

In addition, I've started preparing a submission package on Fury's Flight for Angry Robot's open door period.  I'm being productive, I feel good, and I'm happy with what I'm doing; there really isn't anything more a writer can ask of the universe.

The Prometheus Tapestry

41,027/100,000

Modest Dreams

I am a child of the 80s, and I grew up on "Cathy" cartoons and the dawning certainty that "having it all" only worked for those wealthy enough to pay other people to do the gross parts. I don't have many illusions these days, but I do have this stubborn dream of being one of those people who have their shit together.

Definitions of this state are no doubt wildly individual. I think sometimes I would settle for getting through a week without realizing that I've forgotten a birthday, missed some important school communique, or fretted about future finances. Perhaps even that is unrealistic.

At least Byron is behaving well (for my purposes). I was pondering last night on the fact that I don't remember when I decided to use him in this book. It spent so long on the back burner, and I didn't take good notes of my early process.

The Prometheus Tapestry

32,645/100,000

Sometimes it is not so easy

After gliding through several chapters with gleeful ease, I have entered a swampy mire. The territory I just crossed so blithely seems fraught with the dullest of dangers, and the way beyond it is suddenly unclear. I suspect the cold virus is a contributing factor, as are the needs of the day job, but my wordcount has slowed dangerously. 

That said, to ask the question is often to answer it. I note with satisfaction that I am quicker than I used to be at identifying problems in the work. If I feel like something is wrong, I know that I can trust that feeling, and that I will find a way around it.

The Prometheus Tapestry

31,141/100,000

Things You Will Never See on This Blog

• How to "do" social media
• The word "branding" unaccompanied by a vulgar epithet
• YA, NA, MG, or the rest of the marketing alphabet soup

 This post prompted by too much time on Twitter.

The Prometheus Tapestry

29,246/100,000

Checkpoint!

Been a busy week here. Mr. This went off to Viable Paradise, and my mother came out from Pennsylvania for the duration to help out. We managed to keep busy without running ourselves ragged--buying her a new tablet, going to the kids' appointments, hitting all of our favorite bookstores in Cambridge, doing the usual chores. And I got some writing done!

The Prometheus Tapestry

27,259/100,000

I am throwing out enormous swathes of the last draft. I know there are places where this one still needs polishing, but I'm happy with the first act, and excited about the next part.

I expect exasperation from the week to come. I'll have a lot of work to catch up on when I go back, and we're moving offices a week from tomorrow. We shall see if I manage to maintain momentum. 

A Funny Kind of Vacation

Dave has gone off to Viable Paradise, which he reports is going well so far. My mother is here to help with the kids, and we're having a fine time of it. I even managed to get some writing done this morning. Chapter 6 still has some work to be done stitching and revising pre-existing material, but once I've finished that, Act 1 of the book will be complete. That ought to take me to right about 25k words.

I think I've figured out a way to add life to the mid-book, which was looking a bit too straightforward. One of the nice things about gaining experience in writing is that I have come to have greater confidence in my ability to solve problems. I might not know the entire path, but I am certain that I will know the way by the time I get there. 

Of course, the more of this I write, the more certain I am that it is fundamentally too weird for anyone else to ever want to read it, but that bridge is a long, long way off. 

The Prometheus Tapestry

22,697/100,000

Old Stomping Grounds

I could really just dispense with saying "busy weekend" ever again. Weekends are always busy, and they probably will be from here on until the last of the kids can drive herself around, at which point I will find things to fill them up out of sheer habit. Saturdays have the farmer's market for a few more weeks, eldest's dance class, errands to run and cleaning to do. Sunday mornings are lately for bread baking, watching Agents of SHIELD (giving it a B so far), writing and/or critiquing.

The afternoon on this particular rain-drenched Sunday was occupied by a trip to Worcester and the Higgins Armory Museum, soon to close for lack of funds. We haven't been back to Worcester much since moving. I never really did bond with the place, and I don't have any emotions about the Higgins closing beyond a rueful shrug. The visit was pleasant. I took some pictures of things that might come in handy for the novel, but mostly shepherded the kids around the play area. The enormous vinyl building blocks, from which endless castles could be constructed for summary destruction, were a big draw.

I feel like I should say something profound here about cities and identity, given that Worcester's main identity has always seemed to be "that city with an identity problem." It continues to muddle along with much change, at least not much visible from a car window.

I've been slightly battered of late by ideas for things I can put into this book. I only hope to do a halfway competent job of it.

The Prometheus Tapestry

13,044/100,000

First mile marker

Someone keeps clicking the Cool button, so I guess someone is reading this.

It's been a good week for writing. After a long period that felt like I was hammering rocks into slightly smaller rocks, the characters seem to have clicked for me. I've made some choices that I needed to make in terms of the magic system and imagery. I've hit the 10k mark and then some, with 88 days left before the end of the year.

I'm doing any number of things with this book that worry me a bit. It's the first book I've ever written with a single POV straight through. That POV is one that doesn't have much in common with my personal life experience. There is a fairly large and diverse cast to juggle and to do justice to. There is the matter of introducing and reinforcing that system and that imagery in ways that register as significant (and hopefully interesting) without planting a flag and yelling, "Hey, look over here! SYMBOLISM!"

But challenges are good for us, right? I've also been doing some critting, which is always useful to me (and hopefully to them) as I turn a sharper eye on my own output.

The Prometheus Tapestry

11,000/100,000