February - The Month of Editing...
Feb. 1st, 2007 09:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
athersgeoSoooo. Been another little while since I updated here. I'm really getting bad about that *smacks wrist* I shall endevour to improve on that front. Meantime, this is going to be a bit of a jumbo update, so, here we go.
I set a bunch of aims for January, and it's time to regroup and review, so...
The aims were as follows:
-Update Soaring Eagle at least once
-Finish Mistletoe and Wine
-Work on Estranged
-Edit A Chinese Adventure
-Do some OU.
Of that little lot, I *did* manage the Soaring Eagle update (and I'm about a third of the way through writing the next one, too) and Estranged is progressing nicely. I have also done some OU, though not quite as much as I'd have liked. The other two items, however...yeah. Not so good. Mistletoe and Wine has progressed a little bit, but I'm still a little bit stuck, and don't mention A Chinese Adventure!
Having reviewed, it's time to set myself a few more aims - and as the subject line for the post might suggest, editing's going to feature quite highly!
-A Chinese Adventure
This is getting top priority. I really do want to have a polished second draft done by Feb.28th, so the first step is for me to take my trusty red pen to my print out and start making notes. The second step is to formally write up the relationships AND print off the family tree that I prepped up at the end of November!
-Freya's Daughter
Both more and less urgent than the above (long story), I'm currently going through my NaNo story (which has been retitled, btw) and correcting it. I'm not doing any heavy-duty editing on it yet, but I *DO* want to try and eliminate errors like "head quarters" [why yes, I *DO* have an apparent phobia of compound words; why do you ask?] and obvious silly errors.
-Soaring Eagle
I want to get the next installment done and posted this month. For preference, two updates would be grand - but that's going to depend a little bit on how work pans out.
-Estranged
Part two's nearly finished, part three's partially blocked out and part four's got the final sections written. I just need to sew it all up and fill in the gaps. I don't imagine I'm going to do all THAT this month, but getting at least some of it done would be good, as would getting at least part two posted!
-Mistletoe and Wine
It's bottom of the heap, in terms of priority, but, ironically, it's probably going to be what I tackle first. I'm planning to spend this coming Sunday wrestling with it in the hopes of getting a goodly chunk done. This also ties rather nicely in with...
-OU
One of the writing exercises I've got for the weekend is producing focussed batches of (I think) 500 words on a particular set of topics. What I'm aiming to do is do the exercise twice - once on the OU's topics and once through for Mistletoe and Wine. There are five topics so (assuming I'm remembering the word count right [it was 5:30am when I looked it up, so forgive me for being a little hazy on the details!]) that should mean 2500 words for M&W.
With the adminy/housekeepery things out of the way...
I'm starting to really hate my diet. I don't think it's helped me in the slightest that I was ill last week and my back's been playing up, which has curtailed my exercising, *but* if I have to eat brown rice at least twice a week, you'd think my body would oblige and actually show at least a little progress? Gah. Suffice to say, it hasn't been going too well.
In an effort to try and kickstart myself, I've now sorted the diet out sufficiently so that I have a nice, simple breakfast (bagel, yoghurt and banana) which meant that, this week, I could get back to going to the gym early morning. For some reason, going in the evening just doesn't suit me, whereas going in the morning (either at stupid-o'clock or a little later, on weekends) suits me perfectly. I guess it's different strokes for different folks *grin* Anyway. I'm back in the routine and enjoying it *AND*, more importantly, I think I have started losing weight again. So yay. (That's something to tell myself the next time the cat's pinning me to the bed and I'm considering just going back to sleep!)
The added bonus, of course, to getting up that early is that it gives me half an hour or so of writing time first thing in the morning. I haven't managed anything terribly constructive this week, but this is partly because I desparately need a second pair of reading glasses [I am sufficiently short sighted now that when I'm wearing my contact lenses, I need reading glasses for close work], which I'm taking care of on Saturday. Once that's done I shall be good and productive *nid*
And, to be fair to the diet itself, it has introduced me to some recipies that I shall be keeping even after I've reached my target weight *and* it's shown me that it's not actually *THAT* painful to have to cook when I come in from work - although it's still a little bit awkward because now we have *three* different dinners getting cooked, usually at the same time!
And if you've waded your way through all that lot (or even if you haven't), here's something funny for you - and further proof that my father is a complete raving idiot sometimes...
We had a neckwarmer. It was in the shape of a cat and, since it was black and white with markings alarmingly like Felix (our half siamesepain in the rearcat), it got nicknamed Xilef (by my father - who is probably more soft and soppy over soft toys and animals at 60 than I ever was as a very small girl!).
Now, the deal with these things is (as I'm sure a lot of you know) that you microwave or oven heat them for a small amount of time and then drape it around your neck to try and warm/thaw muscles and ease aches and pains. For Xilef, the limit of microwaving is 2 minutes.
I'll repeat that: The limit is 2 minutes.
So there was my dad, on Monday, with a stiff neck. He decided to microwave Xilef. No problem. 2 minutes go by, he takes it out of the microwave and decides it's not hot enough. So he puts it back in...
...for another 2 minutes!
Fortunately, he stayed in the kitchen while it was microwaving because the inevitable happened: Xilef caught fire!
He extinguished Xilef and discovered that there was now a large hole in the plush fur. If anyone here is thinking that he does the obvious (to wit, putting it out in the garbage, since it's clearly now useless), you'd be wrong. Having made sure Xilef was throughly extinguished, he took it out of the bowl of water and hung it up in our airing cupboard to dry.
When asked about the possibility of tossing it (because 1, it's useless, 2, it now reaks of burned wheat and 3, it's dropping wheat everywhere through the hole), however, the only response is: You can't throw Xilef out!
*headdesk*
And he wonders why the house is full of rubbish...
OK. Off to haul butt through what's left of my work for the morning...
I set a bunch of aims for January, and it's time to regroup and review, so...
The aims were as follows:
-Update Soaring Eagle at least once
-Finish Mistletoe and Wine
-Work on Estranged
-Edit A Chinese Adventure
-Do some OU.
Of that little lot, I *did* manage the Soaring Eagle update (and I'm about a third of the way through writing the next one, too) and Estranged is progressing nicely. I have also done some OU, though not quite as much as I'd have liked. The other two items, however...yeah. Not so good. Mistletoe and Wine has progressed a little bit, but I'm still a little bit stuck, and don't mention A Chinese Adventure!
Having reviewed, it's time to set myself a few more aims - and as the subject line for the post might suggest, editing's going to feature quite highly!
-A Chinese Adventure
This is getting top priority. I really do want to have a polished second draft done by Feb.28th, so the first step is for me to take my trusty red pen to my print out and start making notes. The second step is to formally write up the relationships AND print off the family tree that I prepped up at the end of November!
-Freya's Daughter
Both more and less urgent than the above (long story), I'm currently going through my NaNo story (which has been retitled, btw) and correcting it. I'm not doing any heavy-duty editing on it yet, but I *DO* want to try and eliminate errors like "head quarters" [why yes, I *DO* have an apparent phobia of compound words; why do you ask?] and obvious silly errors.
-Soaring Eagle
I want to get the next installment done and posted this month. For preference, two updates would be grand - but that's going to depend a little bit on how work pans out.
-Estranged
Part two's nearly finished, part three's partially blocked out and part four's got the final sections written. I just need to sew it all up and fill in the gaps. I don't imagine I'm going to do all THAT this month, but getting at least some of it done would be good, as would getting at least part two posted!
-Mistletoe and Wine
It's bottom of the heap, in terms of priority, but, ironically, it's probably going to be what I tackle first. I'm planning to spend this coming Sunday wrestling with it in the hopes of getting a goodly chunk done. This also ties rather nicely in with...
-OU
One of the writing exercises I've got for the weekend is producing focussed batches of (I think) 500 words on a particular set of topics. What I'm aiming to do is do the exercise twice - once on the OU's topics and once through for Mistletoe and Wine. There are five topics so (assuming I'm remembering the word count right [it was 5:30am when I looked it up, so forgive me for being a little hazy on the details!]) that should mean 2500 words for M&W.
With the adminy/housekeepery things out of the way...
I'm starting to really hate my diet. I don't think it's helped me in the slightest that I was ill last week and my back's been playing up, which has curtailed my exercising, *but* if I have to eat brown rice at least twice a week, you'd think my body would oblige and actually show at least a little progress? Gah. Suffice to say, it hasn't been going too well.
In an effort to try and kickstart myself, I've now sorted the diet out sufficiently so that I have a nice, simple breakfast (bagel, yoghurt and banana) which meant that, this week, I could get back to going to the gym early morning. For some reason, going in the evening just doesn't suit me, whereas going in the morning (either at stupid-o'clock or a little later, on weekends) suits me perfectly. I guess it's different strokes for different folks *grin* Anyway. I'm back in the routine and enjoying it *AND*, more importantly, I think I have started losing weight again. So yay. (That's something to tell myself the next time the cat's pinning me to the bed and I'm considering just going back to sleep!)
The added bonus, of course, to getting up that early is that it gives me half an hour or so of writing time first thing in the morning. I haven't managed anything terribly constructive this week, but this is partly because I desparately need a second pair of reading glasses [I am sufficiently short sighted now that when I'm wearing my contact lenses, I need reading glasses for close work], which I'm taking care of on Saturday. Once that's done I shall be good and productive *nid*
And, to be fair to the diet itself, it has introduced me to some recipies that I shall be keeping even after I've reached my target weight *and* it's shown me that it's not actually *THAT* painful to have to cook when I come in from work - although it's still a little bit awkward because now we have *three* different dinners getting cooked, usually at the same time!
And if you've waded your way through all that lot (or even if you haven't), here's something funny for you - and further proof that my father is a complete raving idiot sometimes...
We had a neckwarmer. It was in the shape of a cat and, since it was black and white with markings alarmingly like Felix (our half siamese
Now, the deal with these things is (as I'm sure a lot of you know) that you microwave or oven heat them for a small amount of time and then drape it around your neck to try and warm/thaw muscles and ease aches and pains. For Xilef, the limit of microwaving is 2 minutes.
I'll repeat that: The limit is 2 minutes.
So there was my dad, on Monday, with a stiff neck. He decided to microwave Xilef. No problem. 2 minutes go by, he takes it out of the microwave and decides it's not hot enough. So he puts it back in...
...for another 2 minutes!
Fortunately, he stayed in the kitchen while it was microwaving because the inevitable happened: Xilef caught fire!
He extinguished Xilef and discovered that there was now a large hole in the plush fur. If anyone here is thinking that he does the obvious (to wit, putting it out in the garbage, since it's clearly now useless), you'd be wrong. Having made sure Xilef was throughly extinguished, he took it out of the bowl of water and hung it up in our airing cupboard to dry.
When asked about the possibility of tossing it (because 1, it's useless, 2, it now reaks of burned wheat and 3, it's dropping wheat everywhere through the hole), however, the only response is: You can't throw Xilef out!
*headdesk*
And he wonders why the house is full of rubbish...
OK. Off to haul butt through what's left of my work for the morning...
(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-01 11:49 am (UTC)and poor Xilef - maybe you could empty the weat out and refill him with something and then repair him
We have a very battered Bruno, bought as a soft toy more than 18 years ago - he's now looking very threadbare, but he's the family pet and we couldn't throw him out
(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-01 04:48 pm (UTC)The filling him with something else sounds like a possibility, though; thanks for that :)
(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-01 01:38 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-01 04:52 pm (UTC)Not quite as dramatic as still being food poisoned, I was mostly just lazy!
How're you doing?
(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-01 07:16 pm (UTC)Your dad sounds as bad as me....