Jobsworth
I suppose that I should probably have managed to get more done over these last few days, but I’m satisfied nevertheless. The plot outline for Muse-that-was is now complete; 83 notecards (or rather Impress slides, but let’s not quibble) worth of stuff, which I shall proceed to sort through on Sunday, are the final result. [...]
Slacking
Okay, I confess, I’ve not been much with the writing lately. Not because of lack of time – I’ve had plenty – more because of a lack of motivation. I’m sick of the sight of the novel formerly known as Muse. I’ve spent most of November working on writing an outline of the current plot [...]
For the sake of argument, morning ends at 1:30pm, okay?
333 / 333 (100.0%) Done. And now onto other things.
Twenty
313 / 333 (94.0%) I’m procrastinating, but I think I’m allowed to procrastinate just a little. I have but twenty pages of manuscript left before the first pass edits are done on the project-formerly-known-as-Muse (let’s just call it The Novel and have done with it; I haven’t got a damn clue what title I’m actually [...]
When the muse doesn’t come, sing
The muse is, rather ironically, ignoring me tonight. Not in the sense that I’m suffering from what I’ve rather tediously referred to in the past as writer’s block; more accurately in the sense that I can’t seem to find any real desire to work on the Muse manuscript this evening. It’s probably because I got [...]
Clicking along on bright rails
252 / 333 (75.7%) Just eighty-one pages to go. Well, probably. I can’t remember whether or not, somewhere in those eighty-one pages, I’ve written a message in caps to myself, telling me that I need to fill a bit in. In fact, I’ve just come across one such note at the end of page 252, [...]
One of the good bits
222 / 333 (66.7%) After last night, when I did no editing whatsoever because I was, to put it mildly, in a blue funk, tonight came as a pleasant surprise. Tonight I got to edit one of the really good bits, one of those bits that doesn’t need a lot of editing because it’s almost [...]
The Glue
15 / 333 (4.5%) Someone has poured glue into my head. Whoever they are, I wish they hadn’t, but it’s here to stay for a while and it does not, let me tell you, make life any easier. Editing is out for the time being. I managed to get through two pages of Muse before [...]
Back to the beginning
11 / 333 (3.3%) Oh well. At least I’ve started, which is something. The editing was more brutal than the last time, I think. I was more willing to cut the bits that made it wordy, and better still the bits that made it boring. I’m still afraid that I’m going to cut out a [...]
94
94 pages done, 239 pages to go. Bien. I have the nagging feeling, though, that I’m missing something. It’s almost as if, footling around with the words as I am, I’m not seeing the big picture of plot and story and character. I know there are sections – huge great wodges, in fact – of [...]
T -9 Minutes and Holding
Well, the muse seems to have deserted me today, so it’s back to editing the Muse manuscript instead. I got through a chapter of edits last night – the dramatic bits were okay; it was the bits in between that needed refining – and I’m now at 77 out of 333 pages edited. You can [...]
Not dead, but not quite alive
Well hello! What do you mean ‘who the hell are you?’ It’s me! Um… yeah. Been away a while haven’t I? Not quite a month, but it’s getting on for being that long. Oh well, we can but press on, can we not? Consider this an apology, then, for my extended absence from the blogosphere. [...]
Goosebumps
"Aha!" I hear you all cry, "An update at last!" Well, yes. And yes, I’m going to stick my usual excuse in, which is "Busy, very busy." Also, I’ve developed a stinker of a head cold, which has left my sinuses filled with something not unakin to that white, fish-smelling glue that they give you [...]
A Bit of a Rest
I’m taking a semi day off today. That is to say that I’ve been programming for eleven days straight and so, apart from a little work on Das Projekt, today is mine. I thank you. I really need get back to that editing thing that I used to be doing. I think you can probably [...]
Getting back on the wagon
I slept later today than I meant to. For some reason, be it age or a lack of practise, staying up until past two in the morning doesn’t sit well with me any more, and it left me feeling drained, hence the going back to sleep when I should be getting up and working mojo [...]
Use the force, Fred
Just a quickie before I get on with – horror of horrors – some editing (yes, that sort of editing). I’ve been listening to the First Test between Englad and Sri Lanka for the last few days of course. I’m disappointed that we couldn’t get them out – or at least get some of them [...]
Time and Tide
Too much going on and too little time to write about it, even though I was supposed to be on holiday this last week. So to summarise, we have bullet points: Redundancy, probably. But a month’s paid redundancy notice, so that’s okay Looks like I might have some work in the short term but… …It [...]
So it begins
And so it begins. To the left, observe the first draft of Muse – or whatever it ends up being called – in all its double-spaced single-sided glory. I managed all of ten pages today – the first chapter – though it felt slightly strange, as though they weren’t my words at all and it [...]
