Back on the chain gang…
Well, my last prediction was accurate: I didn’t have much time to write on July 4th. Unfortunately, I haven’t had much time since then, either. Like most everyone after the long holiday weekend, I spent several days playing catch-up at work.
We also had an addition to the family—our oldest daughter gave birth on July 5th, to a beautiful baby girl. So we had lots of family things to do last week and over the weekend. For those of you who don’t know, I have four step-children (three girls and a boy). And even though I’m a fairly young guy, I have five grandchildren, all under 2½. They’re fun, but I’m also glad that we can send them home after we babysit.
Anyway, the long and the short of it, I haven’t had much free time in the past week. I did get lots of little things done, but nothing major. My honey-do list is still as long as my arm. My own To Do list is about as long—now takes up two Post-It notes. But I digress…
I had a chance to do some writing this afternoon. I’d written a transition scene—the one “significant” bit of writing I’ve done since last Monday—but I thought I’d end up deleting it. I needed to cover the same time frame in 70 words, instead of the 700 I’d written.
But when I started re-reading and editing the transition scene, I decided to keep it. It’s a pretty good scene, and it adds depth to the characters (which was the ultimate reason to keep it). Although, after ~110,000 words and 11+ chapters, if the characters aren’t fleshed out by now, they never will be.
So I kept the scene, tightened it, and moved on to a new scene. The new scene came together, but it turned out longer than I thought. It was supposed to be a “scene setting” scene, to paint the picture of the location and to set the stage for what happens next. As it turned out, it’s a lot deeper, filled with a PoV character’s thoughts. This is a good thing.
(Side note: I write scenes with a general outline in mind—I know where things begin, what “high points” I want to hit, and where the scene should end up. But once I start writing, I’m “in the moment,” and inside the characters’ heads. Sometimes things take turns I don’t expect. Once I re-read my writing, however, it usually works. I guess it’s years and years of role-playing experience, coupled with a pretty good imagination. Whatever the reason, my scenes are very organic, and grow from the characters, not necessarily from the outline. Sure, I use the outline for the bones of a scene, but the flesh and blood of a scene are infused with life of their own.)
(Side note 2: I started writing this post around 4 PM. But work reared its ugly head and I had to fight a fire. Right now I’m not so happy with Adobe InDesign and the piss-poor Apple “help” available on their laughable “Support” page. I’ve gotten better “help” from the back of a cereal box! Now, don’t get me wrong, I love the Mac, especially OS X. It’s beautiful. It’s also intuitive, with one major caveat… it’s very intuitive once you understand how to do something in the first place! Apple’s dumbed-down one-percenter “How To” information can be boiled down to “just do it.” But if you don’t understand how to “just do it” in the first place, you’re fucked. And I say this as an extremely intuitive 20-plus-year computer user. But anyway, it’s now 11 PM, and I’m back to the blog. So, shift gears with me.)
I haven’t edited the scene yet, but I don’t think I’ll have time tonight. I just sat down at my computer, and I don’t really feel like doing anything more than finishing my blog post. Once again, this illustrates why I don’t post chapters/stories as fast as most readers would like. I have a life. Most of you know this, but I think the blog is a good way to show that… in spades. I must’ve been on crack when I wrote SC-B1 and posted it in 3½ months. WTF? Yeah, I amazed even myself. (Actually, I think I was high on the reader feedback. Now, I’m a bit more focused and a bit less starry-eyed. Sad, but true.)
Anyway, I managed a healthy 1,500 words this afternoon, along with some decent editing/tightening. I just got Ch5 back from my editor, and I need to make some revisions to Ch11, so I can send it out to my reality team. They’re real life savers, dealing with me and my sometimes erratic scheduling. (Thanks, gang!)
So that’s where I am. No major life revelations (except the new baby!). I still have lots of things to catch up on from this afternoon/evening, though, so I’m going to sign off. Maybe I’ll try to clear some of my 3-week e-mail backlog… Maybe.
Then again, maybe not. I’m tired.
More tomorrow… or the next day.
- Nick
Comments
One Response to “Back on the chain gang…”
Leave a Reply
Aww. Congrats, Grandpa! Congratulate Grandma for us, as well.