So it’s October 1st and that means the start of a brand new month and I decided to take a page from Dean Wesley Smith’s book even though it’s crazy and that’s how it goes. Okay?
I want to track my reading and my writing because I’m a stealth reader and writer and have been for a long time. For example: last night, I reread most of Spots the Space Marine by M.C.A. Hogarth, out of order, in between running chkdsk scans on my computer, which is finally semi-resurrected by the way, but I still have to run a virus scan and backups tonight.
So, a day in the life of a reader/writer. You can skip these posts if you want, or you can keep up on my slog if it does not put you to sleep. I'll post sometime during the day and probably update as I go. Let's see if I can even keep this up.
Stage One: Assess
Went through my LJ inbox and have a bunch of ficlets from thecatisacritic to read. Which reminds me that I have a bunch of prompts for ficlets to write. Naturally, I am also torn between plowing ahead on "Collateral Damage," a major Rachelle-focused Kingdoms and Thorns fic and ripping out the back half of "Dowse and Bleed" to rewrite that from scratch. Again.
When in doubt, write ficlets.
Stage Two: Work
Wrote one ficlet, which didn't go at all where I expected. I thought of the second scene and started at the first scene and didn't like the second scene but posted the ficlet anyway. I know this is part of the big piece where Lena finds out about Wesley in the Seven Days storyworld.
Took a break and read and reviewed half of my ficlets to read by thecatisacritic, but stopped at half as my first work break was over.
Lunch break: it's time to start ficletting again. Checking out the prompts...
Scribbled one ficlet then stopped because I only had a couple minutes left and decided to finish reading the comments on DWS's excellent Book as Event post. Reading a couple more ficlets from thecatisacritic.
So wrote some more ficlets (I swear, I'm going to get that reading done), and boy, I'm wanting to dig in to something longer, but this is a start anyway, covering some of the rougher patches and crossroads in Kingdoms and Thorn. Rougher to me anyway. Posted them all at once.
Additional Comments on the 365 Challenge
The current day number is 274. I started it at 182 of the 365 Challenge (which means I'm only almost 100 pieces behind—do I ever catch up), and now that my muse has filled in a lot of holes in the Kingdoms and Thorn world, I'm feeling impatient with writing the necessary shorter work to meet the challenge, instead of the more ambitious work that will finish out a book.
Ah, well, the challenge is still on, so I keep writing the smaller pieces, knowing I'm going to slice and dice them and merge them into the longer work I'm still nibbling at.
Le Interlude: Computer Notes
And this is where I take time out from writing to finish resurrecting my home computer, virus scanning, and backing up my files. The huge awesome wonderful bit is that I'm editing this post at home. The bad bit is that I need to get off and let the scan run. :le sigh:
Stage Three: Count
For obvious reasons, we are not counting the words spent commenting.
- Total Fiction: 1827 words
- Total Blog: 409 words
365 Challenge Pieces
- 183/365 – Seven Days Ficlet: The Apple Don't Fall Far: 447 words
- 184/365 – Kingdoms and Thorn Ficlet: The Fox and the Wolf: 304 words
- 185/365 – Kingdoms and Thorn Ficlet: A Gift Well-Chosen: 355 words
- 186/365 – Kingdoms and Thorn Ficlet: Cracking the Ice: 285 words
- 187/365 – Kingdoms and Thorn Ficlet: Remind You to Dance: 436 words