a nice saturday
Apr. 10th, 2004 05:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ksmithWell, maybe only semi-accomplished at this point. Still a few more things to do.
Sank the doggy septic tank today. Still need to add enzymes and water and get it digesting, which will have to wait until nights creep above 40F--that's the temp below which the enzyme is inactivated. But the hole was dug, and I bought a small garden spade and an even smaller shovel to fill out the garden tool collection.
Grocery-shopped. Bought books. Bought ink for the all-in-one. Celebrated with a California Pizza Kitchen 5-cheese and tomato pizza and a glass of merlot.
Now I think I will try to write a bit. The start of Jani 5 was bothering me because I felt it was pretty dead. Too slow, with too much infodump. Then, last night the thought hit that instead of starting the book with a Jani pov chapter, I should start with a secondary POV. This is a new character, an idomeni who intends to cause a great deal of trouble. But that trouble leads to Jani, whom the idomeni is thinking about, so it will be a good way to shove in some info about Jani while setting the stage for what comes later and adding a sense of menace to the whole thing. Then the slower Jani chapters that follow will seem more calm-before-the-storm rather than when-will-this-story-get-started.
Beginnings are always the most difficult for me.
Sank the doggy septic tank today. Still need to add enzymes and water and get it digesting, which will have to wait until nights creep above 40F--that's the temp below which the enzyme is inactivated. But the hole was dug, and I bought a small garden spade and an even smaller shovel to fill out the garden tool collection.
Grocery-shopped. Bought books. Bought ink for the all-in-one. Celebrated with a California Pizza Kitchen 5-cheese and tomato pizza and a glass of merlot.
Now I think I will try to write a bit. The start of Jani 5 was bothering me because I felt it was pretty dead. Too slow, with too much infodump. Then, last night the thought hit that instead of starting the book with a Jani pov chapter, I should start with a secondary POV. This is a new character, an idomeni who intends to cause a great deal of trouble. But that trouble leads to Jani, whom the idomeni is thinking about, so it will be a good way to shove in some info about Jani while setting the stage for what comes later and adding a sense of menace to the whole thing. Then the slower Jani chapters that follow will seem more calm-before-the-storm rather than when-will-this-story-get-started.
Beginnings are always the most difficult for me.
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Re: Congratulations!
Date: 2004-04-10 11:17 pm (UTC)Are you under contract deadline, or self-imposed?
Re: Congratulations!
Date: 2004-04-11 06:59 am (UTC)My contractual deadline for this book is past. This contract was signed back when I thought I could manage a book a year, and before I hit the major stumbling block with CI. So even though editor has told me to take all the time I need, I guess there's always a chance that the plug could be pulled if I don;t deliver this year.
Editor is not being uncommonly generous with her timelines. My dad passed away in December, and I've been battling through that, on top of the usual professional worries/doubts/concerns and more immediate-to-me worries/doubts/concerns. I'm a member of Novelists Inc, and this month's newsletter has a great article about trying to write...or dealing with not being able to write...after losing someone close. I hate to see anyone else go through this, but it's a relief to know I'm not alone.
Re: Congratulations!
Date: 2004-04-11 01:47 pm (UTC)Keep on keepin' on. We're rooting for you - and Jani.
Re: Congratulations!
Date: 2004-04-11 05:23 pm (UTC)>I hadn't realized your loss was so recent. It's impressive that you're getting on with so many things at >once, so soon. Self-awareness probably has a lot to do with it- recognizing your grief and its effects. I >didn't do so well with that one.
In some ways, I had no choice. I needed to get back to work (they did allow me to pretty much stay home for dad's final month). Figure out finances. Get house repairs taken care of.
The urge to change careers is a carryover from before Dad got sick, as is my edginess concerning the writing game. I have been warned, however, to not make any major decisions for six months to a year because even though I may think I'm thinking clearly, odds are that I'm not.
We'll see. I don't think I can wait that long for some of the things I want to do.
>Keep on keepin' on. We're rooting for you - and Jani.
Thanks.
Re: Congratulations!
Date: 2004-04-11 05:39 pm (UTC)Nothing else got through.
I think the six-month rule is a good idea - when circumstances permit. If they don't - I found the decisions I made in that period were deeply in accord with my nature - more so than usual. "Iddish," you could say. It was as if my superego went on the vacation the rest of me needed. Not bad, not wrong - just a little extreme.
Later I heard very similar stories from male friends who'd been through the experience - that the loss of their fathers engendered something like a need to demonstrate independence, boldness, vitality. I don't know what issues typically come up for women.
I think, if eggs need breaking, you break 'em, six months or no. And cleaning up the glop just becomes part of the recovery process.
FWIW.