Winnipeg Jets?!?!

Ha, bloody brilliant! It's official - Winnipeg has an NHL hockey team once again! Not that I live close enough to go see any games there anymore... but exciting nonetheless. I was devastated when the Jets left. Especially since I was too young to have really appreciated them like I should have... I think I was ten or something. Heh.

Also very excited to find out that Rammstein is planning another North American tour for next year, after their success with the last tour. I'm totally going to go see them again. The concert in Edmonton a couple weeks ago was probably the best stage show I've ever seen, and definitely one of my top five concerts of all time. Ticket prices weren't even that bad.

You may also notice that I've added a countdown widget for Lisa Desrochers' ORIGINAL SIN, the next book in her Personal Demons series. It's there partly for a contest on her blog to win an ARC copy. I would pretty much kill a man for that (maybe...) so adding a countdown was no problem. Also, I keep a nice little file on my MacBook dedicated to counting down for book releases, and this kinda just falls in line with that. Maybe I should go check and see if the Canadian release date is earlier. Sometimes it is. Love that.

Other than that... I didn't get much re-writing done last night, but I made up for it tonight. Resolved a few minor problems and fixed up a few bigger issues, and I feel good about all of them. Good way to end the night.

To search, or not to search?

Another solid day of editing in the bag. Not ten hours like yesterday, simply because the garden was calling to me. After a week of rain the yard really needed my help! Tomatoes planted, strawberry patch weeded, vegetable garden turned and enriched with a bit of fresh compost nutrient, and the grass cut once again.

So now, at the end of the evening, I'm looking for something to kill the weekend. My first thought is, hey, I'll just go check out some recommended reads, find a great new author I haven't read yet. Problem: as I've mentioned before, I have a bit of an addiction to reading. Like, can't put the book down. Ever. I'll read until four in the morning and then try to get to the office for eight. I'll put the rest of my life - including my own writing! - on hold. Even the cat will feel neglected.

Maybe I shouldn't search for something new to read.

Maybe I should just re-read an old favourite. Or watch a movie.

You'll know what I decide to do: If I've found a great new book or series, you won't see a post from me here until I've finished reading!

Feeling Like a Rollercoaster

A couple days ago I mentioned that I was working on rewriting Deyl and Cal's interaction from the point where there meet, all the way to the end of the book. And yes, I'm really happy with the way it's developed. Only, I looked through my list of 'changes still to make' and I despaired of finishing by the end of May.

One solid 10 hour day of editing later, I'm feeling much more optimistic!

Today I made it all the way through and finished the major edits to the end of chapter twenty. I also faced down a weapons / technology problem I'd been mulling over - with much frustration - for months now. And I came up with the perfect solution, one that answered and fulfilled every issue surrounding the problem. It means going back and making two smaller changes earlier in the book, but I'm not worried about those. Instead, I'm thrilled that I've created a solution and I'm excited to spend the next few days implementing it!

Based on today's success I took another, closer look at my editing schedule and that list of problems / changes. I'm feeling like another two, maybe three weeks and I can have I HAD TO FALL all wrapped up. Awesome.

Personal Demons, Personal Laziness

Posting this from my iPhone. Why? Good question. Well, the truth is I'm just finishing a second e-book read of Lisa Desrochers' PERSONAL DEMONS and I'm quite comfy. Don't want to head downstairs for the laptop.

And even though I'm a firm believer that sleep-is-for-the-weak, I'll be hitting some ZZZs right away. I'll be back tomorrow to fill you in on the changes in Deyl's world and my usual progress update for the re-write of I HAD TO FALL.

Oh, and for you Americans out there, happy long weekend Friday!!

Editing. Slowly.

At some point in my schedule I'd hoped to have this final round of editing done by the end of May. Well, today is the twenty-sixth and I can say with absolute certainty that that is not going to happen.

The editing has been, overall, really great. The issues I've brought up have been important and I think the changes I've implemented so far have improved the story significantly. It's just taken a lot longer then I anticipated.

Today, for example, I finally started working in the relationship changes between Deyl and Cal. I've spent the last few weeks considering the problems with the connection between them in the back of my mind. Yesterday and today I took all those thoughts and considerations, compared it to how the relationship works in the current manuscript, and wrote out a text document that clearly outlined how their new relationship should develop - from when they meet in chapter fifteen to when they part in chapter twenty-five. I managed to implement most of the resulting changes in chapter fifteen today, but that still leaves seven chapters where Cal and Deyl are together that will need to be tweaked, at the very least, if not totally re-written.

And that's just Cal & Deyl. Plenty of other changes still to come.

Maybe the end of June? Sigh. At least I feel confident that the final manuscript will be much better for all this work...

Rachel Hawkins kept me up all night.

I have a problem. An addiction, you might call it. It derails my life, to the point where friends and family worry about my sanity and health.

Reading.

Or more accurately, obsessive-compulsive-reading. Goes like this: Monday was a Canadian holiday, which was nice. Around ten pm I finished a long day of rewriting (working out the kinks in Deyl's relationship with another main character) and was itching for a good read. This is when I discovered something wonderful...

E-books are released at midnight on book release day. Midnight EST. I'm out here in Calgary in MST, so not long after ten I was actually able to purchase the e-book of Kim Harrison's SOMETHING DEADLY THIS WAY COMES, instead of waiting until after work on Tuesday. So, I started reading at ten, stayed up til about two or three am reading it, caught a few zzz's and finished reading it in the morning, before I had to be at work at noon.

Well, that was fine. Still got enough sleep.

Unfortunately, I found myself on a reading binge. I searched around for some new titles and read a couple sample chapters of Rachel Hawkins' HEX HALL, a YA urban fantasy. I absolutely fell in love with Sophie's sarcastic humour and literally could not put it down. This is my addition. I started reading Tuesday evening and didn't put the e-book down until around three am, when I finished it. And then I had to get up and go to work for eight. Yikes.

And then I laughed about how I have a problem... and proceeded to spend all evening today finishing the second Hex Hall novel, DEMONGLASS.

Sigh. Hopefully that's enough of a reading binge for now and I'll get back to re-writing tomorrow!

Keeping Promises

Hey, wow. So yesterday I flippantly promised I'd quit playing with Scrivener and get chapter twelve and thirteen done. Not that anyone actually reads my blog, but I guess making promises helps keep me on task, because I did finish twelve and thirteen today.

Well... maybe it wasn't the promise.

It was blissfully sunny and warm this morning, so I loaded up on java, grabbed the mac and the cat, and headed out to work on the re-write outside. Worked for hours. Easy to do, given the circumstances. Twelve and thirteen needed work in a few different areas. Both chapters have fight sequences that, honestly, I'd just written lazily the first time around. I went back and rewrote those sections, giving the action more tension and detail. There was also some magical inconsistency to deal with and some timeline issues.

And then I got sidelined by a potential change for chapter twenty-two. I've been considering two really major changes that would involve revising much of the ending. The idea I had today involved one of those ideas, adding a new minor character into twenty-two. She (pretty sure it'll be a she) would also have to be written into twenty-three and -four, but I don't think that will be a problem. What really sidelined me about this possible new character is how she can tie into book two - and book three, if I make it that far...

Finally, I'm going to add an excerpt from I Had to Fall to the Writing page tonight. Not sure what it'll be. If anyone's out there, feel free to share your thoughts :P

Ta-da!

Squeeeeee! This is my first post on my brand-spanking-new MacBook Air!! I feel like I've been waiting for this for years!

Oh, wait. I have been.

It really is awesome though. I don't know what else to say. I was running a six-year-old iBook G4 up to this point, so pretty much anything would be better, faster and smoother. I've got all my old files transferred over and installed all the software I wanted. I didn't take much music, since I keep my music library on the MacMini and just share the library. Brought over my favourites though, for travel purposes: Rammstein, Iced Earth, We Are The Fallen, She Wants Revenge, Foo Fighters, The Fray and Nine Inch Nails. Plus a few writing-specific playlists that I never leave home without :D

The other #squee item is that I've installed the trial version of Scrivener and spent that last three hours playing around with it. I gotta say... love it. I really don't care which program I use for composition, but Scrivener's organization of my timelines, comments, notes, character and scene sketches, etc. is absolutely wonderful.

I'll stop playing tomorrow morning though and buckle down on editing chapters twelve and thirteen. Promise.

Less than 24 hours...

I'm going out after work tomorrow to buy my new MacBook Air! This poor iBook is seeing it's last days. Well, sort of. I'm going to recycle it to my dad, who's running an even older computer. And they've changed the forecast (again) for the long weekend, giving us mostly sunny skies. Things are definitely looking up!

I finished re-writing chapter ten today, and got started on twelve and thirteen. Those will be hefty changes, so it might take a few days to finish them up. Plus, I'll be spending another good chunk of time setting up my new Mac and checking out Scrivener, which I think I'll go ahead and buy as well...

Itchy.

Well, please disregard yesterdays post, I guess. It's true, my hard drive has failed. But my new computer won't arrive until Friday (at the earliest) so I got the morning off work. Spent some of that time reviewing the major changes I want / need to make to I Had to Fall. Right now I'm mulling over the fight and conversation between two characters, right at the point where they first meet, in chapters twelve and thirteen. It doesn't flow the way I want it to, and the dialogue doesn't achieve the information I want to present. It needs work. But before I can get to those changes, I need to go back a bit further and makes some conversational tweaks to chapter ten. Nothing too major - I know what needs to be said, and even have some rough dialogue ready - but if I don't set it up now it might screw with the changes further along.

So, if tomorrow's schedule goes as well as today's did, I should have chapter ten pretty much in the bag and ready to move onto the changes needed in twelve and thirteen. Excellent.

Not so excellent: got about a hundred mosquito bites while mowing the grass yesterday. Mosquitos in Calgary. Who knew.

Oh! And countdown to my new macbook air has been revised... I'm thinking I'll go buy it a couple days before my birthday (impatient, I know) so I can have it for the whole weekend. Which means: only 2 days to go!!!!!

Down Time

I'm in the midst of a bit of a writing break. I spent the weekend in Edmonton checking out Rammstein and Into Eternity, both awesome shows by the way. Then I returned to work on Monday (in case you aren't aware, I loathe Mondays) only to have my computer not turn on.

Just heard back from IT today. Hard drive is shot.

So, I'll pretty much be living at the office for the next couple of days, trying to recover what work I can and run damage control on my client work. In the midst of oil-show season.

I'm just going to keep looking forward to the weekend and hope fervently for three uninterrupted days of relaxing and writing. That's all I want in life. Seriously.

Frustration!

Blogger ate my last post. And, it also ate a whole new page I had created! Arg.

Off to Edmonton for the weekend. No work, all play.

Over n out!

To work, or not to work?

That is the question. The rewrite of chapter twenty-one kicked my ass tonight, taking twice as long as I expected. That puts me a bit behind the schedule I'd set. I'll have a few hours to work tomorrow night, but it won't be enough to get to the end of the book...

I'm heading to Edmonton at noon on Friday, to see Rammstein in concert. Then I'm staying there to hang out with friends and see Into Eternity play Saturday night. I don't want to leave the rewrite for two days if I only have one or two chapters left.

So, do I go uber-nerd and bring my laptop with me up to Edmonton? Work on it on the drive there or back, at the hotel? Hahaha... crap.

JuSt a biT cHaoTic

I'm a digital person. I really am. I never carry cash, my iPhone may as well be embedded in my forearm, I spend all day at work on a computer and then all evening on my laptop.

I like to think that being digital keeps me more organized. But right now, not so much. I just closed off my writing files for the night. I had 7 text files of notes open, 2 Pages documents (the draft and the synopsis), the thesaurus, the calendar, 4 Firefox tabs to Wikipedia articles, and 2 Numbers files. Wow. I manage to keep track of everything I need, but still. A bit on the ridiculously-chaotic side.

Because of said chaos, I'm excited to try Scrivener, once I get my new mac. It looks like just the thing I need to help organize this digital mess. I wonder what other authors do? Kim Harrison has blogged about it, but I think I'll go on a little Tweet campaign and ask around. Might get some interesting answers.

Coundown to Macbook Air: 12 days!!

PS. Funny thing: I still do my taxes long-hand on paper. Sure, I telefile it once it's done. But there is still a bit of paper in my life... once a year :P

Is it possible to survive without sleep?

Not needing to sleep is one of the strange fae-factors of my main character, Deyl Parker. What I want to know, is it possible for me too?

Because that would be nice.

So many great books to read, so little time in the day. I got back into my usual routine today, as hoped, but that only leaves about an hour or two a day for reading. Simply not enough! Last week, I finished Divergent by Veronica Roth in 12 hours (yay for flying, airports and long drives!) which was f'n awesome. Loved the premise. Sort of The Giver meets The Last Airbender. 

I also finished Wings, Spells and Illusions by Aprilynne Pike, nearly in one sitting. It was at the point where I was falling asleep, eyesight blurry from reading off my iPhone, but simply refused to put it down. So good, I'm re-reading again at a less-manic pace.

So, the question that always haunts me afterwards: how long do I have to wait for the next book in those series?!?

Too Long.

Yeah, About That.

So I've been gone for a while. Things got crazy at work, and then I got into a series of books I couldn't put down, and then there was a death in the family that pulled me out of town for most of last week.

Anyway, I'm back again. I'm feeling really... haywire. Because of all that stuff, I feel like my life has fallen off the tracks. I really enjoy spontaneity—from time to time—but mostly I like routine. I'm big on control, and routine gives me a feeling of control over my life. Right now I'm focusing on getting some of that control back.

Tomorrow is Monday. I'm going to try and make it as routine of a Monday as I possibly can—considering that I have issues with Mondays to begin with...

In other news, the rewrite of I Had to Fall is going well, all things considered. I'm hoping to finish the minor revisions and rewrites by the end of this week, and spend the following week or two on the major revisions. That puts the last week of May for final tweaks and polish.


Then off to query I go...