writing

brave knights on valiant panthers

I finished draft 4 of the novel on Monday. I think it’s draft 4, it might be draft 3.5. I immediately found about 8 things that need changing but since that draft is now safely in the hands of three trustworthy beta readers (if they’ve already beta’d it are they gamma readers now?) so I am trying to let it go. I made notes, but I put them aside to work on and I am trying to distract myself with other things.

It is not going so well. But it’s only been a couple days so I should probably chill out about it.

I’m working on the tarot court cards. I have rough sketches for the pages and yesterday I worked on the knights a bit. Here is a sneak preview of the Knight of Wands for those of you who did not already see it via Twitter:

The large stack of paper the sketchbook is sitting on is the aforementioned draft 4-or-possibly-3.5. Happily the boy has taken it away today so it’s no longer taunting me from the coffee table. Am pleased with the knight sketch, need to do at least another one today and hopefully will have sketches for all of them by the weekend. Still not sure what to do with the queens or kings, but will worry about that later.

Other things I am doing to keep myself from over-thinking the novel include reading other novels. I finally finished Palimpsest yesterday and sadly didn’t like it as much as I’d wanted to. It’s gorgeously written, of course, but I didn’t connect with it at all. It hit wrong notes for me, or wasn’t my cup of tea or some other musical or beverage-based metaphor. Everyone else I know seems to love it, so it may just be me and my peculiar tastes.

I’ve pulled out a lot of my creativity books again, to continue ongoing self-analysis of my often tumultuous creative process. And I have more novels in the to-read pile for when I get sick of my own brain.

There is tea and sunshine, and I should probably paint something but not while I’m wearing this shirt.

Also, I have vague aspirations of updating this blog every day in May. Suggestions for content or photos or questions to answer welcome.

By erin, ago

days of tea & editing

I think I don’t post here as much as I likely should because my days are all very similar lately, a blur of tea and reading and writing and wishing it would be warm enough to open the windows.

For instance, today I have mostly been sitting and re-working two sections from the novel, one of which just needed re-arranging and editing and one that was previously non-existent and needs to be cobbled together from notes. The former is done, the latter I am still working on.

This part of editing is weird, futzing with story and character as much as structure and form. I’m making a particular relationship more blatant than it was in previous drafts, but I think it will help. I’m taking other bits out to vague up some stuff. It’s coming together, this draft will be done soon and will be better, stronger, all that fun stuff.

I have a cup of white tea that I think I boiled the water too hot for. It is too cold to open the windows.

This morning I woke up to 770 spam messages on my previous post, all advertisting a creative variety of webcams. For different things, but all of them were both LIVE and FREE.

I am excited about LOST tonight.

I am wearing a BPAL scent called Mag Mell that I got as a bonus frimp (BPAL speak for free imp, samples are imps in BPALland) in my last order. It is light and pretty and smells like amber and ginger and grass which is more springy than today actually feels.

My days seem quiet and repetitive lately. Productive, but repetitive. I’m nearing the end of editing, and I have query letters and synopsises and such to tackle after that which I am not particularly looking forward to. But hopefully the days will be warmer and I’ll be able to open up the windows and maybe that will help.

It’s supposed to be 70 degrees on Friday. I hope that’s not lies.

By erin, ago

early monday morning

I am up absurdly early. Even more absurdly than the timestamp might suggest. The boy leaves for work at 6am and I was vaguely awake then and somewhere in the vague awakeness I figured out the entire plot of my 2008 NaNoWriMo novel.

Seriously, the entire thing. Making just one change tied everything together in a perfect bow and made my recurring themes make so much more sense. I had to get up to write it all down, and even looking at it from the other side of a cup of tea it all makes sense.

I love moments like these, when everything falls into place. There is a shaft of early morning sunshine falling across my computer monitor. I decided to see what Pandora would come up with in a Tori Amos station and it is brilliant.

Of course, I have another novel to finish before I can really go and play in the recently untangled one too much. But it is almost there, with only la few outlined edits and additions to go, and it’s nice to know that I have someplace waiting for me that makes more sense today than it did yesterday.

Photograph taken late yesterday afternoon of the window of an antiques store. A couple more from a chilly but springy afternoon on my Flickr photostream.

By erin, ago

on working and technology

After almost a month of questionable network connectivity and trying everything we could think of to fix it, our Time Capsule (Apple wireless base station/backup device) was declared dead at the Apple Store yesterday. They gave us a new one. The network is now much, much happier and back to being quick like a bunny, and backups are no longer glacial.

*hugs internet*

Seriously, I’m a geek when it comes to my internet access. I get twitchy when I can’t check my e-mail. My Google Reader is my new best friend. Having to wait five minutes for a page to load makes me crazy. Sure, I like to unplug completely once in awhile but I don’t like having to do it involuntarily and when I have stuff to do.

These past few weeks of lousy connectivity (not completely lost, just intermittent and slow, which was almost more annoying because it was teasing me) made me realize how web-based a lot of what I do can be.

Sure, I can write and paint without the internet. I can paint without a computer at all, but I prefer typing to longhand writing. But I can’t manage anything in my Etsy store without an internet connection. Thus the sale on originals got extended longer than I’d intended, but that’s alright.

And I wonder, sometimes, if I’d be as inclined as I am to push forward with trying to get my novel published if it weren’t for the incredible presence of the publishing industry online.

There are countless informative blogs by literary agents and editors out there. I follow a handful of agents on Twitter, even. There are forums and websites and it’s all so accessible that I’ve learned buckets of stuff about an industry I had no clue about just about a year ago.

(Really. I had a vague concept of publishers and agents and whatnot but I didn’t even know what a query letter was.)

Because of all that easily accessible information I now have ideas and plans and I feel like I know what I’m doing. It doesn’t feel as daunting as it once did. The process of getting from manuscript to bookshelf seems challenging but not mystifying anymore.

I think the point of this post is that I love the internet and I’m glad my little network of computers is happy again because it makes me more productive, even though my job doesn’t seem all that technical.

By erin, ago

knitting & tea & editing

I am not much of a knitter. I like the actual rhythm of knitting, I love pretty yarn. But I don’t absorb patterns well, so anything that requires a chart is usually too much for me.

Also, I’m a slow knitter. I’ve been working on the same scarf for the boy for about a year. In my defense, it is 1×1 rib on size 5 needles. It’s gorgeous, but it is taking forever.

But I do finish things occasionally, and a couple weeks ago I knit myself another Calorimetry. I did one a couple years ago in this green Noro yarn that I had sitting around, but I never wear it since it doesn’t match anything. So this one I did in this grey/pink Malabrigo called Pinot.

It’s marvelous and it keeps my hair out of my face. I’m not one for full hats anyway (my hair is problematic, even at this length) so it is a good alternative headwarmer considering the never-ending winter wonderland. It’s sunny today, at least.

Back to the boy’s scarf again, knitting-wise. Someday it will be finished. Really.

In other news, I have e-mails to catch up on but my gmail is being cranky. I shall blame the full moon. I have Yorkshire Gold tea that I found at Whole Foods over the weekend and did a little happy dance in the tea aisle. I don’t know if they had it before, I’d looked a few months ago and didn’t find it, and this time it was hidden behind cinnamon sticks or some such. And I ordered a new tea mug, because I realized I didn’t have a special mug for, well, not for anything in particular other than tea, I just thought it would be nice to have something handmade. I’ll post pictures when I get it.

Editing today, and should be finished with my general editing within a couple of hours. I’ve been going through section by section doing minor edits and taking notes for major changes, and I’m on the last sections now. I have three that need overhauling and outlines for three or four additional ones. After that I think it should be done. It’s been sort of tedious but I think I’m making it better and stronger (and longer) than it was. But I’ll be glad when it’s finished and I can work on something else.

By erin, ago

the circus is coming

Etsy tells me that “circus chic” is an up & coming trend.

Maybe I should hurry on up finishing my circus-themed novel, then. Not that it’s a traditional circus, but it probably would fall under the circus chic umbrella. Especially if it is a black & white striped umbrella.

It is so close to ready it is driving me vaguely crazy. I even know what I need to do to get it there, I have a list of notes and edits, it’s just a matter of taking that map in hand and pushing through to the end. I haven’t been in a good headspace for it for a few weeks but I’m feeling better about it, and I am sitting with my notes and my Scrivener documents and I know I can get there.

It’s so much bigger than a painting. I still have trouble switching from artist brain to writer brain while still letting one influence the other, and I think the main disconnect is that I can see the entire canvas at once when I look at it. Looking at a 300 page manuscript is different, it makes it harder to see which sections are underpainted, which are overpainted and which are just fine the way they are.

But I’m getting there, even though it’s been a very long road. Perhaps I should buy some circus chic items on Etsy to keep myself in the circus mood. Or maybe I need popcorn.

By erin, ago