Tuesday Late, with Holiday Cards and such
Dec. 14th, 2004 09:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ksmithAn evening spent writing holiday cards, among other things.
My first pen drives arrived in the mail yesterday. 128MB. I am agog. Didn't even need to install a driver. Came with a lanyard and a free USB extension cable.
Like I said, agog.
UPS also picked up the ex-printer for recycling *and* dropped off the new one. It does look smaller than the ex, which is a good thing. The ex had the bulk and heft of a piece of real office equipment, but when your office is a 9x10 spare bedroom, any space you can save lessens the odds of an attack of claustrophobia.
The weather continues cold here, as in /store away the garden hoses/break out King's electric waterbowl/the ground is frozen/I'm wearing gloves and my hands still hurt/ cold. Highs in the 30s/lows in the teens expected over the next week. Don't know what are the chances for a White Christmas, but I wouldn't mind one. It's more festive that way.
Writing--yes. I had to trim about 5 pages the other day, so while I have gained usable wordage, I lost big on the total count. But we are up to:
Total Words: 27211
including some today at lunch, at which time a scene came together nicely and I finally figured out the reason behind the conflict I need between Jani and another main character. Actually, Jani and two other main characters. Ok, make that *3* other main characters...
And here, a snip I've been working on that will come about 1/3 of the way through the book, assuming I keep it. Everything's malleable at this stage. The POV is Torin Clase, the young hybrid historian from CI, a hidden witness to the unfolding scene.
********************
"We need to have a talk, boyo." Pierce leaned against the doorjamb. "Just you, me, and the good doctor." He reached into his breast pocket and pulled out the familiar silver case.
"Is that an order, Colonel?" Pascal had started maneuvering as soon as Pierce and Shroud entered, edging closer to the open window facing the street. He did so subtly, his hands in his pockets, his step slow and easy.
He's not fooling them. Torin watched Pierce push away from the door and approach Pascal from one side while Shroud circled around and came in from the other. They closed in on Pascal out of sync, Pierce advancing nearer in order to herd him toward Shroud and away from the window.
They came here to hurt him. Torin felt a twitch in his chest, the trip and pound of a skipped heartbeat. He inhaled slowly and deeply, as though the air contained some calming drug. The urge bubbled up to do something stupid, howl like a banshee or push open the door and tumble into the room, falling to the floor in a faked seizure. Anything to shatter the tension. Anything to keep what he knew was going to happen from happening.
Then there was the other part of him, the part he didn’t much like. It spoke in his head, a few simple words. Watch. Record. That's your job.
My first pen drives arrived in the mail yesterday. 128MB. I am agog. Didn't even need to install a driver. Came with a lanyard and a free USB extension cable.
Like I said, agog.
UPS also picked up the ex-printer for recycling *and* dropped off the new one. It does look smaller than the ex, which is a good thing. The ex had the bulk and heft of a piece of real office equipment, but when your office is a 9x10 spare bedroom, any space you can save lessens the odds of an attack of claustrophobia.
The weather continues cold here, as in /store away the garden hoses/break out King's electric waterbowl/the ground is frozen/I'm wearing gloves and my hands still hurt/ cold. Highs in the 30s/lows in the teens expected over the next week. Don't know what are the chances for a White Christmas, but I wouldn't mind one. It's more festive that way.
Writing--yes. I had to trim about 5 pages the other day, so while I have gained usable wordage, I lost big on the total count. But we are up to:
Total Words: 27211
including some today at lunch, at which time a scene came together nicely and I finally figured out the reason behind the conflict I need between Jani and another main character. Actually, Jani and two other main characters. Ok, make that *3* other main characters...
And here, a snip I've been working on that will come about 1/3 of the way through the book, assuming I keep it. Everything's malleable at this stage. The POV is Torin Clase, the young hybrid historian from CI, a hidden witness to the unfolding scene.
********************
"We need to have a talk, boyo." Pierce leaned against the doorjamb. "Just you, me, and the good doctor." He reached into his breast pocket and pulled out the familiar silver case.
"Is that an order, Colonel?" Pascal had started maneuvering as soon as Pierce and Shroud entered, edging closer to the open window facing the street. He did so subtly, his hands in his pockets, his step slow and easy.
He's not fooling them. Torin watched Pierce push away from the door and approach Pascal from one side while Shroud circled around and came in from the other. They closed in on Pascal out of sync, Pierce advancing nearer in order to herd him toward Shroud and away from the window.
They came here to hurt him. Torin felt a twitch in his chest, the trip and pound of a skipped heartbeat. He inhaled slowly and deeply, as though the air contained some calming drug. The urge bubbled up to do something stupid, howl like a banshee or push open the door and tumble into the room, falling to the floor in a faked seizure. Anything to shatter the tension. Anything to keep what he knew was going to happen from happening.
Then there was the other part of him, the part he didn’t much like. It spoke in his head, a few simple words. Watch. Record. That's your job.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
snip
Date: 2004-12-15 12:36 pm (UTC)Re: snip
Date: 2004-12-15 05:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-15 02:39 pm (UTC)Cutting five pages, well, that's impressive--sometimes the hardest thing is to cut, after you spent all that time writing pages and pages worth of stuff, but as long as it makes the novel better, it's gotta be done!
Intriguing excerpt. What kind of word count are you aiming for? 100-120K?
no subject
Date: 2004-12-15 05:14 pm (UTC)Yes, probably--I've never heard them called that before. I'm familiar with finger drives, thumb drives, flash memory.
What kind of word count are you aiming for? 100-120K?
Judging from the word count of the last few books, more like 140-150K. IOW, I have a ways to go, and I need to pick up the pace.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-15 06:14 pm (UTC)Yeah, 150K, you are barely 1/20th! Hope you don't have a very strict deadline! Good luck with the pace...
no subject
Date: 2004-12-16 01:36 am (UTC)No, that's close to 1/5. 27211/150,000.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-16 03:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-16 03:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-17 02:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-16 05:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-16 03:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-17 02:47 am (UTC)