Nip and Tuck
I’ve had a busy week, both at work and in my personal life. Work has been… well… there’s a reason they call it “work.” In my personal life, I’ve been taking a breather from writing. I still have editing to do on Nereids (along with a bit of writing), but I haven’t been in the mood to do it. I’ve had too many other distractions, from the new MacBook to any of a dozen other things. That’s how I work, though. Writing is sometimes a distraction from other things.
Last night, all the kids and grandkids were over. We have family night the first Saturday of every month. It used to be family game night, where we’d play games like Cranium, Apples to Apples, or something similar. But with babies and toddlers, we don’t do much game-playing anymore. Mostly, I get a chance to cook for a large group, and we end up playing with the kids and trying to have a conversation or watch something on TV. You know, veg time.
Last night, I cooked shrimp. My father went down to his local shrimp guy and bought jumbo shrimp, 20-22ct beasties. Then he overnighted a styrofoam cooler with the shrimp packed in ice. So, I have my very own source of fresh seafood, fresh from the Gulf. Nice, huh?
Anyway, my father is a bit of an overkill artist. When I called and asked him to send shrimp, I asked for 6-8lbs. After all, I was feeding 10 adults (some of the girls don’t eat seafood, along with my lovely wife, alas). The general rule is 1/2-lb of meat per person. So, 6-8lbs would give me some extra. My father sent 12lbs! As I said, a bit of an overkill artist.
I spent most of yesterday afternoon shelling and cooking. To occupy myself while I shelled—a monotonous task, at best—I put on my iPod and listened to the last part of one book (Isaac Asimov’s Foundation, a fantastic re-read) and the first part of the next book (J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, another fantastic re-read).
A side-note on Harry Potter: I’ve never actually read the books. I own all of them, in hardback, but I haven’t opened even one of them. Instead, I listened to them on my iPod. The HP books were some of the first I downloaded (after my Patrick O’Brian Master and Commander books, that is).
The British version of Harry Potter is read by a guy called Stephen Fry, who has a great voice (although he sounds perennially stuffed-up). He has really good pace and timing, and he nails Hagrid’s voice. He’s also the guy who read the version of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy that I listened to, and I downloaded the book specifically because he was the reader.
The American version is read by Jim Dale. Dale has a different voice for every character, and he’s really talented, although his Harry voice is kind of annoying, and his Hermione voice makes me want to pimp-slap someone. Yeah, it’s really that annoying and whiny. But he’s spot-on with Professor McGonagall’s Scottish accent, and he does other characters just as well. One downside: he reads Voldemort as “Voldemor” (like the French would pronounce it). I like Fry’s sturdy “Voldemort” much better.
Anyway, I’ve listened to all six HP books read by Stephen Fry, so now I’m listening to them read by Jim Dale. I like things about each, and I dislike things about each. On balance, I prefer the British version and Fry’s reading. Besides, I like the British culture (which has been changed in the American version). Call me crazy, but I like hearing “trainers” instead of “sneakers,” or “jumper” instead of “sweater.”
Funny side-note to the side-note: it took me a couple of days to realize that the British “revision” was the same as the American “studying.” I’d never heard the word used like that, and it has a very different connotation in American English.
But I digress…
I listened to my books, and I shelled and shelled and shelled. Two hours later, I had 12lbs of shelled shrimp. (I decided not to devein them, since that would’ve been even more work.) It also took about two hours to cook them, since I didn’t have a pot big enough to cook 12-freakin’-lbs of shrimp. I cooked them in four batches, although most of the time was waiting for the water to boil.
Everything turned out great, and all the kids enjoyed the shrimp. We also cooked corn on the cob (natch), cornbread muffins, coleslaw, and chicken tenders for the kids and non-seafood folks.
So, what does this have to do with editing and writing? Well, I was in a writing mood last night after everyone left. Why did I need to tell you about the shrimp, Harry Potter, Jim Dale’s French “Voldemort,” and more? I dunno. Just a glimpse at my life, I guess. And maybe to help you all understand why I don’t just crank out chapter after chapter of Summer Camp.
Anyway, back to writing. Two of my reality checkers came back with similar comments about a scene in Chapter 12 that needed expanding. I thought about it, and about how to expand it. Last night, I put my thoughts on paper (so to speak). I added about 700 words to an already large chapter, although I did excise 200 words somewhere else, addressing another reality comment.
I’ll have to read the chapter one more time, especially in conjunction with Chapter 11. They’re the payoff for 10 chapters of build-up and character development. I think they work well, but I need to make sure.
I also need to get back to the work-a-day part of writing: editing. I have to edit Chapter 6 to send to my editor so I can send it along to RC for style editing. And then I need to do the same thing with Ch7, Ch8, Ch9, etc. Work, work, work.
On a separate note, yesterday I received the illustration for Nereids, Chapter 4. A little history: my one condition for publishing Nereids with Ruthie’s Club was that I have my choice of artists. All of the RC artists are good, but I have my favorites. I wanted to work with Tzratzk (here’s a sample of his art). His Chapter 4 illustration practically defines why I wanted him to illustrate my story. It’s fantastic! I gave him pretty scanty notes and trusted his instincts. Boy, did he come through. Anyway, you’ll have to check out Ruthie’s Club to see it.
Well, that’s probably enough for now. I need to get ready for my normal Sunday routine (the topic of another post entirely).
- Nick
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5 Responses to “Nip and Tuck”
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Hey good sir!
Just wanted to say good luck and can’t wait to see what you come up with. I’m one of your faceless (Well I suppose I actually have a face, you just haven’t seen it), adoring fans who can’t wait
Good luck with getting things going again. I peeked in Aug 2nd since that was my birthday and was looking forward to something new. Alas, no such luck. Nonetheless, despite some of the pretty unfriendly comments I’ve seen a few people post, it appears most of your appreciative readers (myself included) can’t wait to see what you come up with.
Ironically enough, my wife and I are having a new house built as we speak and I’d much rather have them build it right and take as long as it needs than just rush it together so I can read something that looks nice but isn’t as good as it should have been if the architect had just taken the time he should have in the beginning.
Now I won’t even get into the slight irony of comparing your stories to a building/architect at work but I definitely can’t wait
Be well!
Steven
You know…I knew there was a reason I liked you besides SC of course
I love meeting fellow adult HP fans. Your comments on Fry vs Dale are dead on. I got into HP around book 4 and listened to the Dale version of book 5 first. Then my mom went to London and got me all 5 books on audio by Fry and he is amazing. If I remember correctly, the one thing I liked better about Dale was his rendition of “Weasley is the King” in book 5. I think I know what I will do to occupy my time while waiting for Book 4…back to Harry Potter 
And you have me craving shrimp!
Hmmm. I never have been able to listen to Audio books. They simply don’t read the same way I do. I still prefer to read off a properly printed page, although in some cases I’ll make an exception and read off the screen!
HP is fun, in much the same way as Terry Pratchett’s brilliant ‘Discworld’ books. There’s definitely stuff for adults in both.
I’ve played ‘Cranium’ many times, but I’d not heard of ‘Apples to Apples’ before - looks like fun! But you can keep all the shrimp you want, Nick - I really can’t stand seafood. I’ll take the chicken…
Master & Commander, the only ones I have yet to read are the final two. Well one is the unfinished novel he was working on when he passed away. What a great series.
Good luck on book 4, really can’t wait to read it.
(when I was a kid we had a seafood connection like what you describe…….man do I miss having a tenty cubic foot freezer filled with gulf shrimp.)
I must agree with Steve vis à vis audiobooks: I’ve never understood why I should have someone (even an actor of such Olympian powers as Fry) nail one or two of the voices when I can read it at my own pace and nail all of them…I appreciate that it allows your hands to be free, but reading a good book is like making love to a fine woman - all your attention is needed, good sir, and if your hands are free you aren’t trying. (^_^)
I must of course permit an exception - were it possible to procure tapes of Frank Miller doing his graphic novels somehow, I would buy them all. At once. Many copies. As many as my bank account would permit.
(Of course, that would most likely become ludicrous pretty quickly- “Ok, uh, now Batman’s smirking - closeup by the way - and he looks kinda beat up - and there’s a really cool effect for his tattered cowl - this is all in light grey with a mauve background and a black circle outlining the head - and then he says, uh, ‘You don’t get it, boy…this isn’t a mudhole…it’s an operating table. And I’m the surgeon.’ Right, next panel…”)
Thanks for the glimpse into “Stay-At-Home Scipio”, the famed author’s mild-mannered alter ego…(”Bitten by a radioactive writing bug at an early age…with Updates of Alarming Alacrity, and his Crushingly Cogent Characterization…he now writes for Truth, Fiction, And The Incredible Sex as - SCIPIO!”)