Today is the last day of my ‘holidays’ — the month I took off work in order to finish my novel. Didn’t quite make it to the very end, but I did get a helluva lot done. Took the m/s from 80k to 120k. There’s another 10k or so to go and I really can’t guess at how much wordage is going to get stripped back out again in the second draft.
Today I am working on the synopsis. Trying to capture the essence of it all in a single page. Personally I think writing the synopsis is way harder than writing the actual book bit.
Some things I learnt while writing ‘full-time’:
1. It is much easier to work on a novel-length project full-time than it is to try and grapple with it whilst simultaneously working a day job.
2. Novel writing is more difficult than the work I do in my day job.
3. I eat and drink too much when writing full-time.
I also reworked a couple of short stories and submitted them for publication, laid out half an anthology for another small press and did some cover art for a journal.
I’m not usually into lists, but for no apparent reason I made one of all the stories I partook of whilst away from work.
Movies watched:
Tintin and the Mystery of the Golden Fleece
Die Hard 4.0
The Reaping
The Good German
Attack of the Sabretooth (OK, so we only made it a third the way through this one. It sucked)
An American Haunting
New Police Story (Jackie Chan)
Vertigo
National Treasure: book of secrets
Alien vs Predator
Topaz
Alien vs Predator: Requiem
KvC (Komodo vs Cobra)
Mimic 3
Men in Black
Flight of the living dead: outbreak on a plane
Gothic
Duran Duran Live from London
Voyage of the Damned (Dr Who Xmas special)
Dig!
The Man Who Haunted Himself
The Golden Compass
Paycheck
Jurrasic Park
Jurrasic Park 2
Jurrasic Park 3
War of the Worlds (Spielberg/Cruise)
Men in Black 2
Cloverfield
TV shows dipped in to:
The Simpsons
The Invisible Man (1959)
The Saint
The Invaders
The Adventures of Tintin
Supernatural, season 2
Heroes, season 1
Relic Hunter
Secret Agent Man (utter crap)
Dead Zone season 5
Stories read:
Kaleidoscope by K D Wentworth
The Jeweller of Second Hand Roe by Anna Tambour
Pococurante by Anna Tambour
Stars Seen Through Stone by Lucius Shepherd
Chronicle of a Doomed Librarian by Toiya Kristen Finley
Pol Pot’s Beautiful Daughter by Geoff Rymann
Northward by Andrew Macrae
There is Something So Quiet and Empty Inside of You that it Must be Precious by Ben Peek
A Scar for Leida by Deborah Biancotti
Lonely as Life by Simon Brown
Novels read:
Stalin’s Ghost by Martin Cruz Smith
Secret Files of the Diogenes Club by Mister Kim Newman
Novels started:
Brasyl by Ian McDonald
Saturn returns by Sean Williams
Tonight we are going to see Grindhouse. Yep, both parts.
12 Comments
How was Dead Zone S5?
I liked the end of S4.
haven’t got very far into it yet. Yeah, end of S4 rocked
I eat and drink too much when writing full-time.
For me, I’ve discovered I smoke more. Not a whole lot more, but enough for me to notice.
aha! Yeah, at a dinner party full of writers last night, I discovered I’m not the only one reaching for the emotional props whilst going hard at the writing. I guess we have to find ways to manage these things if we don’t want to die of obesity/lung cancer before actually attaining our publication goals.
That’s fantastic progress. Go you!!!!
Ta! I’m going… I’m going…
You’re beating me, damn it!
mwahahahahaah!!!
How’d you like Stalin’s Ghost? I quite liked it. And have you read his earlier Wolves Eat Dogs? I read that enroute to Kiev and before and after my trip to Chernobyl and Pripyat.I really loved that one.
Haven’t read Wolves eat Dogs yet — will get to it eventually as I do love his books. I enjoyed Stalin’s Ghost.
While I liked both a LOT, I think I liked Wolves Eat Dogs a bit more.
cool — something to look forward to!