Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Sometimes things in life are hard...

Saying that you love and support a person does not mean that you speak for them, or that their actions and feelings represent your own. It does not mean that you believe they are without fault. It does not even mean that you will side with them in every argument. Saying that you love and support a person means that you accept them as they are--faults, shortcomings, and all--and you love them for being human. Forgiveness is love. May we all take a moment to remember the people who accept us for our own faults. Whatever that means to you, Happy Holidays.

Monday, December 22, 2008

And now for something completely different:

Yes, I will be returning to my novel after the first of the year. With any luck, I'll be portable, though I don't want to get my hopes up.

Today's post is about my 2008 New Year's Resolutions. I actually only made one: Read 10,000 pages of reading for pleasure. I am currently about 1,500 pages from my goal, but I don't count books until I'm finished with them, and I'm reading four or five right now. What I've read:

Stardust by Neil Gaiman, 333 pages
In the Best Families by Rex Stout, 256 pages
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, 331 pages
The Sisters Grimm: The Problem Child by Michael Buckley, 292 pages
Atonement by Ian McEwan, 351 pages
Fer-De-Lance by Rex Stout, 285 pages
The City of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers, 456 pages
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale, 383 pages
Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde, 399 pages
Alice, Let's Eat by Calvin Trillin, 182
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, 550 pages
The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde, 373 pages
When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris, 323 pages
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield, 406 pages
Naked by David Sedaris, 291 pages
The Magical Worlds of Harry Potter by David Colbert, 314 pages
The Sisters Grimm: Once Upon a Crime by Michael Buckley, 272 pages
The Color Purple by Alice Walker, 295 pages
Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith, 436 pages
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer, 326 pages
The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson, 268 pages
Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko, 225 pages
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznik, 525 pages
Little Children by Tom Perrotta, 319 pages
Cruddy by Lynda Barry, 305 pages
The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling, 111 pages
Princess Academy by Shannon Hale, 314 pages
Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser, 288 pages
The 13 Clocks by James Thurber, 124 pages

Current page count: 9,333

I will continue to update this post until I reach my goal, or until January 1, whichever comes first.

Friday, December 19, 2008

I have decided that a laptop might be rather useful...

When I begin editing in January, it would be advantageous to make my work more portable. If I spend two or three months locked in the house without sunlight or communication with the world outside, I will go stir crazy.

Monday, December 15, 2008

Starring in... Why the hell am I still awake at 2:17am?

I finished reading a book today, and it was undeniably satisfying. I haven't finished reading a book for almost two months, though I am reading seven or eight concurrently. My New Year's resolution for 2008 was to read 10,000 pages of reading for pleasure, and I am at about 9,000 pages, with about two weeks to go. Can I make it?

The good news is that it gives me something other than my lack of job to focus my attention on for a few weeks.

On a related/unrelated note, I'm tired, and growing more tired by the second. Why did I drink a large coffee three hours ago? Because I'm stupid. That's right. Stupid.

Who needs alcohol when they get this punchy just being an insomniac?

The up side of being unemployed is that when I finally do crash--minutes from now, hours from now--I don't have to be up before four tomorrow afternoon.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Did I mention that WATER FOR ELEPHANTS started as a NaNoWriMo book?

At least, that's the impression I got. I loved that book, so maybe there's hope for mine, after all.

I'm trying really hard not to work on the book this month. I know I need a fresh pair of eyes to really give it the attention it needs. The story is changing so much with each passing day, and I know that I'm going to have to do one complete rewrite just to get everything in the right order, and then another to iron out the prose. And probably a third rewrite to tweak. THEN maybe it will be ready to send off to agents, or publishers, or whoever.

One step at a time.

By the way, lolasangel, you're amazing. I can't believe you've cleared 100,000 words this year. Do you know how cool that is?

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Here's where the real work begins...

I've promised myself that I won't read my book until January, to give me a little distance. But I can research now, right?

I have my handy, dandy list of books to read and movies to watch and facts to research. I've started character sketches and plot arcs... In essence, I'm doing all the pre-noveling work now. Then at least I'll be ready for the rewrite.

I did take one day off...

Monday, December 1, 2008

Welcome, December!

The rough draft of my novel is finished! 68,814 words. 204 pages. 30 days of my life.

Now, I'm making a list of things to research, drawing up character sketches, starting to plan the plot, and getting ready for a rewrite. I'll sit on the story through December, probably, but I'm really excited about digging in after that!

I won NaNoWriMo!