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Obligatory Not Dead Post
Jul. 12th, 2010 03:33 pmPretty much, what the subject line says, really. Life has been...excessively nuts recently (for a fairly loose definition of recently). We're supposed to be moving house, but for a whole slew of reasons, this has not been going well. Remarkably, one of those reasons ISN'T that we haven't been able to sell our house - we'd managed THAT minor detail by the end of March...
There's also work-related stuff that's been going on that I'm not going to get into but it's been eating at my sanity for the last few months. Some of that, though, will categorically be coming to an end at the end of this month, and on that score at least, July 31st really, REALLY cannot come too soon.
And health stuff that I'm REALLY not going to get into here because that's what I keep my JournalFen account for. (I'm also not going to get into it over there, at least for this afternoon - I have some two thousand words to type up between now and 5pm!)
Then there's been the computer gremlins that have screwed around with me for the last month that have meant my connection at home has been...less a connection and more a collection of blinking lights on the modem that signify the damn thing's dropped again. Allegedly, this is now fixed, but it's still not 100% reliable, so I haven't been using things like YIM because I haven't been sure I wasn't just going to vanish without warning. Said hiatus will probably continue until we've finally completed the move (rumour has it, that might be some time in August now), but now that the connection seems to be a little more stable, I should be around via email - and I'm going to be working on catching up on the backlog of THAT over the next couple of days. (So if you've emailed me recently and haven't had a reply yet, there should be one very shortly!)
About the only good thing about the above stress is I've been working it out by applying finger to keyboard. I think, in the last three months, I've written probably close to fifty-thousand words on various projects.
In terms of rounding up the WHAT I've been working on, it's been as follows:
Original work - I've been doing some work in the Freya's Daughter universe. Nothing solid, but enough to make at least a little progress; I've also been brainstorming some original short stories with a view to getting published. Again, nothing solid there, but there's a few ideas noodling around
Identiverse - The next installment of Soaring Eagle has inched a little closer. I've got probably half a chapter written and a pretty clear idea of what else needs to happen, I just need to find the words to say it in.
Isard's Grip - This is now a story in search of a conclusion. Assuming everything plays ball this evening, there'll be an update for this tonight.
Red Rain - Major writer's block on chapter 6, but on the upside, I have chapters 7 and 8 written, chapter 9 mostly written, chapter 10 mostly written, the climax mostly written, the follow up story mostly written, a spin off/backstory story mostly written, the second follow up story sketched out, the proper sequel's been started, the third big story in the series is about half written at this point...so, uh, yeah. If I could just figure out what the missing 200 or so words were in chapter 6 of Red Rain, everything would be extremely golden!
Bitter and Blue - This would be a new story in a new fandom *cough* which has mushroomed from being a one-shot/five-scene short story to...uh...well, 10,000 words and counting. It's probably going to clock in at around 30,000 words (with what I have plotted out), but at least it hasn't spawned. So far, at least...then again, this is ME we're talking. The odds of this one NOT spawning at some point are...slim.
A Kind of Magic - This would be another new story, and a crossover. It was born of an idea I had at 3am that just WOULD. NOT. DIE. (even if it DOES explain a few things...) I'm still feeling my way a little in this one as the plot is fairly complicated - I think I have strand A of the plot nailed down and I have strand A of the subplot nailed down; strand B of the plot, though, is proving to be elusive and strand B of the subplot is still a little waffly. This one, though, HAS spawned, and how. I've now got a five story arc and a prequel story that, rather oddly, is currently languishing under the working title of "One Night In Bangkok" (this is odd because the story actually takes place in Baltimore!) I have goodish starts on stories two and three and, even if I do say it myself, a pretty kickass plot for story four (even if I have condemned myself to a fair chunk of research to make it work)
Difficulties for Francie - I have half an update done and, if I can give myself a week of total focus on this, I can probably get the rest written as I have the story pretty well plotted out. That, though, isn't likely to happen before the house move
And, not that I've actually committed any words to the cause yet, but one final project that has at least occupied a small corner of my brain lately...
A Woman With Friends - the sequel to A Woman Alone, I know where I want to start the story (both in the context of the continuing storyline AND in the context of CS Does It Again), but I need to plot the story out properly because this is really the book/story where Margot's absence is going to be noticed. After all, with no dip in Lake Lucerne, does Biddy meet her husband to be?
My aims for the rest of July are pretty straight forward (beyond the obvious of not going insane):
1) Finish Isard's Grip
2) Finish the next chunk of Soaring Eagle
3) Finish chapter 6 and 9 of Red Rain and also the side story Rough Justice
4) Finish Bitter and Blue (or at least get to the point where starting to post is not unreasonable)
In an ideal world, I'd also like to get at least one original short story written, but as I'm doing most of my writing at work atm, that's not necessarily all that viable. (I find it far easier to pick up fanfic when it gets interrupted by a client asking a silly question than I do original fic - and yes, I have tried!)
So yeah. Not dead, just crazybusyfrustrated.
There's also work-related stuff that's been going on that I'm not going to get into but it's been eating at my sanity for the last few months. Some of that, though, will categorically be coming to an end at the end of this month, and on that score at least, July 31st really, REALLY cannot come too soon.
And health stuff that I'm REALLY not going to get into here because that's what I keep my JournalFen account for. (I'm also not going to get into it over there, at least for this afternoon - I have some two thousand words to type up between now and 5pm!)
Then there's been the computer gremlins that have screwed around with me for the last month that have meant my connection at home has been...less a connection and more a collection of blinking lights on the modem that signify the damn thing's dropped again. Allegedly, this is now fixed, but it's still not 100% reliable, so I haven't been using things like YIM because I haven't been sure I wasn't just going to vanish without warning. Said hiatus will probably continue until we've finally completed the move (rumour has it, that might be some time in August now), but now that the connection seems to be a little more stable, I should be around via email - and I'm going to be working on catching up on the backlog of THAT over the next couple of days. (So if you've emailed me recently and haven't had a reply yet, there should be one very shortly!)
About the only good thing about the above stress is I've been working it out by applying finger to keyboard. I think, in the last three months, I've written probably close to fifty-thousand words on various projects.
In terms of rounding up the WHAT I've been working on, it's been as follows:
Original work - I've been doing some work in the Freya's Daughter universe. Nothing solid, but enough to make at least a little progress; I've also been brainstorming some original short stories with a view to getting published. Again, nothing solid there, but there's a few ideas noodling around
Identiverse - The next installment of Soaring Eagle has inched a little closer. I've got probably half a chapter written and a pretty clear idea of what else needs to happen, I just need to find the words to say it in.
Isard's Grip - This is now a story in search of a conclusion. Assuming everything plays ball this evening, there'll be an update for this tonight.
Red Rain - Major writer's block on chapter 6, but on the upside, I have chapters 7 and 8 written, chapter 9 mostly written, chapter 10 mostly written, the climax mostly written, the follow up story mostly written, a spin off/backstory story mostly written, the second follow up story sketched out, the proper sequel's been started, the third big story in the series is about half written at this point...so, uh, yeah. If I could just figure out what the missing 200 or so words were in chapter 6 of Red Rain, everything would be extremely golden!
Bitter and Blue - This would be a new story in a new fandom *cough* which has mushroomed from being a one-shot/five-scene short story to...uh...well, 10,000 words and counting. It's probably going to clock in at around 30,000 words (with what I have plotted out), but at least it hasn't spawned. So far, at least...then again, this is ME we're talking. The odds of this one NOT spawning at some point are...slim.
A Kind of Magic - This would be another new story, and a crossover. It was born of an idea I had at 3am that just WOULD. NOT. DIE. (even if it DOES explain a few things...) I'm still feeling my way a little in this one as the plot is fairly complicated - I think I have strand A of the plot nailed down and I have strand A of the subplot nailed down; strand B of the plot, though, is proving to be elusive and strand B of the subplot is still a little waffly. This one, though, HAS spawned, and how. I've now got a five story arc and a prequel story that, rather oddly, is currently languishing under the working title of "One Night In Bangkok" (this is odd because the story actually takes place in Baltimore!) I have goodish starts on stories two and three and, even if I do say it myself, a pretty kickass plot for story four (even if I have condemned myself to a fair chunk of research to make it work)
Difficulties for Francie - I have half an update done and, if I can give myself a week of total focus on this, I can probably get the rest written as I have the story pretty well plotted out. That, though, isn't likely to happen before the house move
And, not that I've actually committed any words to the cause yet, but one final project that has at least occupied a small corner of my brain lately...
A Woman With Friends - the sequel to A Woman Alone, I know where I want to start the story (both in the context of the continuing storyline AND in the context of CS Does It Again), but I need to plot the story out properly because this is really the book/story where Margot's absence is going to be noticed. After all, with no dip in Lake Lucerne, does Biddy meet her husband to be?
My aims for the rest of July are pretty straight forward (beyond the obvious of not going insane):
1) Finish Isard's Grip
2) Finish the next chunk of Soaring Eagle
3) Finish chapter 6 and 9 of Red Rain and also the side story Rough Justice
4) Finish Bitter and Blue (or at least get to the point where starting to post is not unreasonable)
In an ideal world, I'd also like to get at least one original short story written, but as I'm doing most of my writing at work atm, that's not necessarily all that viable. (I find it far easier to pick up fanfic when it gets interrupted by a client asking a silly question than I do original fic - and yes, I have tried!)
So yeah. Not dead, just crazybusyfrustrated.
