Character File: Alicia Bowmyn

Yesterday evening I puttered around on a Manga-Avatar site, building sketches of all my characters from I Had To Fall. As a graphic designer, I like visual things. I thought it would be most excellent if I could draw out my characters and always have them as references, helping to make them more real when I'm writing about them. (By the way, if you're thinking, "you're a graphic designer, just illustrate them yourself!" then you should know that I'm not a graphic artist, but designer. I'm a strictly stick-figure kinda illustrator.)

So I avatar'd all my characters. Then I thought, wouldn't it be cool to do a blog post tomorrow as a character study, and show off one of the new avatars, along with a description?

Things just snowballed from there.

I didn't post this morning because I thought, hey, instead of just slapping the avatar image in with a description, what if I made like a faux case-study sort of thing? That would be cool. But for that I needed some of my design software, which I don't have at home. So I packed up my lunch an hour early and headed into the office, where I promptly started designing a folder to build the character content into.

By the time I was supposed to start work I'd decided it would be best to make the character study like a sort of police report / case file, complete with the Hunter's emblem at the top and a hand-written-in report on what the Hunter's might know about the character. Plus maybe they'd found a scrap of paper (like an excerpt from a book about said character...?) to put in the case file too.

So I spent my lunch hour finishing everything up. It's not my best work (this isn't really my kind of design anyway) but with a little more tweaking I think I'll be happy. So without further ado, here's the character study for Alicia:

So, thoughts anyone? Improvements I could make? Because I'm going to do these studies for all the characters, plus some studies on each race specifically. I have to kill time on my lunch break anyway, right?

Hahaha...

S.

Status of the Writing

The weather has been most excellent in Calgary this week, but last night as I was sitting at the writing desk I noticed all the trees suddenly whipping all crazy like. Within moments these clouds—which a friend of mine called Harry Potter clouds—rolled over our nice blue skies:

Obviously Voldemort was out and about, causing some kind of ruckus...
 
The rewrite of chapter eleven that I mentioned in my last post is done. I finished the dialogue and prose last night, with a final weigh in of just over 3K words. It feels better than the original version did. I was never really happy with the original: the characters acted strangely, Deyl performed some magic she shouldn't have been able to, and it was kind of dull.

The new version has a lot more action. The location is the same, much of the dialogue is the same (at least, the same message and key points are there) but it's got more interest and impact, and makes their entire road trip seem more challenging—like it should be!

Anyway, I'm happy enough to leave it at that for now. If I can stick to my schedule I'll be reviewing my edits of chapters one through fifteen on the weekend. Hopefully I'll have some perspective on the changes I've made and see if I need to make any last adjustments.

Tonight I'm hoping to finish the edits for chapter twelve. It shouldn't be too much of a challenge: it's a shorter chapter, and at a glance it doesn't look like it needs much work.

Until tomorrow then,
S.

Tuesday Tunes: Let it Die

After a week and a half long bender, yesterday went pretty well. I managed to dialogue and then prose a new chapter (called "9B" for now) though it ended up being shorter than most of my chapters, at about 2K where I'm usually around 5K. I'm not really sure what to do about it at this point. I think the content justifies its own chapter, so for now I'll leave it alone. Once I get this revision done I'll skim back through chapters 9 - 11 and see how 9B best fits in.

So I finished 9B, which was my goal for yesterday. Then I also managed to jump ahead and pretty much finish off the edits to chapter 10, which put me ahead a day. Which is great, because I'm sure some kinda nonsense will come up during the week, or next weekend, that puts me behind a day. Then I'll be right back on track ;)

Tonight's goal is to dialogue chapter 11. This scene used to be fairly simple and low-key: Deyl had abandoned her friends (for reasons discussed in 9 & 9B) and now she finds them and rejoins them. They're pissed with her at first, but they quickly reconcile and get back on the road. I've decided to rewrite it with more action and more emotion. Instead of Deyl just explaining to her friends why she left, and why they should take her back, she shows them why they need her. They're in trouble now, providing the reader with another view of the Hunters, and Deyl's going to have to rescue them. Whatever their feelings were about her abandoning them, this rescue should prove where her loyalties really lie. Well, we'll see how it goes tonight.

And part of dialoguing an action scene means I'll be listening to my aptly-named "Action" playlist. So for today's Tuesday Tune here is the Foo Fighter's Let it Die, one of the songs from that list:

S.

Miss the Writing

So far 2012 has been all about editing I Had to Fall. I started with my critique partner's notes and worked through all the minor changes she recommended. She'd brought up some bigger issues and ideas, so I allowed those time to percolate. Lots of percolation time.

The trade show business is busiest here from early March until early June. I end up working ten hour days and weekends (paid overtime, thank god) and, after I get the house tidied and dinner done, I basically go to sleep. So I had a bit of lull during those months where the editing was on hold.

I picked up my work again after the Global Petroleum show and worked on it fairly regularly. So I'm clipping along at a good pace now, getting about a chapter done (the major edits now) per day. Which is great. I like where the story is going. But...

I miss the writing! I can't even remember the last time I was working on something I was actually writing instead of editing. I miss plotting, and dialoguing, and finding things out about my characters I didn't know, or having them take me places I didn't expect. Don't get me wrong, I love editing - it appeals to that side of me that likes to have to-do lists for my to-do lists, all alpha-numerically organized of course. Writing is the creative side, and I really miss it.

I've got at least three more weeks until I'm finished editing I Had To Fall. I'm not sure what I'm doing with it after that - trying to find another beta reader, or querying it into the world - but I know what my next project is going to be: something that needs writing!

That was my little rant for today. Since I discussed so much editing, I think tomorrow I'll show you all some pieces from Scrivener and how I use that in my editing process. Until then...

S.

White Stuff

Ah, Calgary. We don't get even an inch of snow in January, but come April...

Maybe I'll be snowed in and can't get into work tomorrow? Ha... if only. That excuse used to work when I drove a Civic, but I don't think it'll fly when the boss knows I have the Silverado at my disposal. Oh well.

Made it through three and a half chapters worth of notes from my critique partner tonight, after a lovely Vietnamese dinner in the midst of the snowstorm. She's brought up a lot of good points: some things that have surprised me, some that made me face-palm at my own stupidity, and other things that I already felt uncertain about. I'm hopeful that I'll make it to the end of her notes tomorrow so I can create a kind of road map for revisions over the weekend.

A weekend at the house. I was going to go out camping with Husband, until we realized the spot we were heading to is supposed to get like three feet of snow between tonight and tomorrow. So maybe the next weekend...

Hey, how's it going?

Well, I'm back.

So far, 2012 hasn't gone much like I expected it to. A lot of things have come up—some good, some very bad—and I haven't gotten nearly as much writing done as I'd like. In the early part of the year I wrapped up my first draft of my YA novel, SPEECHLESS and moved back into editing mode for my contemporary fantasy, I HAD TO FALL.

That was the end of February. That was also when tragedy struck my family and everything else ceased to matter for a while—I needed time to grieve. Just when I thought I was starting to recover from the loss, a new problem cropped up and I set aside everything else to help some friends through a tough, emotional situation.

Hopefully, though these the experiences were difficult to endure, I'll have gained something from them that will help me become both a better person, and a more well-rounded writer.

So I've jumped back into the editing process of I HAD TO FALL, working with my critique partner to start revisions. I spent a good part of my evening just importing her comments into Scrivener. Once those ducks were all in a neat little row I dove into chapter one, reviewing her notes and starting a list of issues she'd brought up and how I might address them, along with some of my own ideas and issues that have cropped up in the back of my mind while this project has been on the backburner. All in all, it was another good day. One at a time.

Tomorrow (as long as this cold I seem to be catching doesn't lay me out...) I'll try to make it through the next few chapters of her notes.

Shiny & Sparkly & New

I made a nice new little cover for my fantasy novel, I HAD TO FALL, yesterday during lunch break. I didn't spend much time on it, mostly because I don't really like spending my spare time designing. I mean, that's what I do forty hours a week. I like other hobbies—like writing—in my free time.

Anyway, the broken cityscape is appropriate for the war-torn landscape of Deyl's world.

Pretty, right? Or not? Thoughts?

And check out the synopsis on my writing page...

Ideas

Wow, a week has slipped through my fingers since my last post! I finished the final, polished and shiny version of my urban fantasy, I HAD TO FALL, and decided to take a break from any real writing and just focus on fleshing out some new story ideas. I've got a lot of them rolling around in my head, so I've spent most of the last week sitting out in the backyard, vodka cooler in one hand and laptop in the other, soaking up the sun and pouring out notes on those different ideas. Hard life, eh?

And somehow—this is a bit of a mystery—I managed to catch a cold. I can feel it right now, that itchy feeling in the back of my throat, combined with the sniffles... in June! Well, if it means I have to miss a few days of work to recuperate * checks weather forecast of sunny skies and +25°C *  then so be it.

I'll be getting back into the writing tomorrow, but first I have to decide which of my ideas I want to push forward with. None of them are strictly urban fantasy, because I wanted to try something new. Of course, all these ideas have different pros and cons in my mind right now...

Adult fantasy. Different world, different species, not set on earth. Think Michelle Sagara. I really like this idea because the world is already pretty developed in my thoughts, and I like the idea of doing some more inventive and creative world-building. The problem: I can see that, in my head, the protagonist is a strong, silent woman with her own powers that slowly come to light. In this sense, she reminds me so much of Deyl Parker from my urban fantasy that I worry I'd get bored writing her.

YA dystopian. Or sort of dystopian. I loved DIVERGENT and have always been a huge fan of THE GIVER and NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR. Just added the HUNGER GAMES to my "Good Reads" list. Thing is, I always wonder what happened to make these dystopian worlds the way they are. If you assume they're set in a future version of our world... what went wrong? War seems to be a common theme, but I find my mind wandering off on tangents imagining where humans screwed up to end up like this. So my YA dystopian idea actually happens during the apocalypse, the great cataclysmic event that results in a new world order. And the characters won't have miraculous teenage powers that save the world from changing. Instead they'll have to learn to change with it, to salvage what they can and move on. I really, really, really like this idea. Also, I see it from the protagonist male point of view, which is totally different from what I've written before. The problem: I can't see the world as well as I'd like. I can't decide if the characters are straight-up human, or if they've got a little extra juice. I can see what's happening, but I'm not sure of the stakes. Still, with a bit more brainstorming I think I could give this one a go.

YA romance. I like this idea because I already know the characters, I've already interviewed them in my thoughts. I want to write it from both the girl and the guy's point of view, which will again be different from anything I've tried, but I love the way that works in Desrocher's PERSONAL DEMONS. This idea isn't really paranormal, more of a sci-fi I think. There is definitely a bit of a time travel thing. The problem: I feel like writing in this genre might be beating a dead horse. After the whole TWILIGHT extravaganza it seems like everyone has written a YA romance. Maybe that's no big deal, but I have reservations about writing mine.

Adult sci-fi romance. Time travelers. What did I just say about beating a dead horse? Ha! But seriously, this idea doesn't seem as overdone, at least in my head. It's not anything super tech-savvy, just that the characters, pros and ants, move through time a lot more than regular ol' humans do. It's a bit of a war-time scenario, except that war is happening way in the future. I see the story from the male protagonist's viewpoint, which I'd really like to write. He's also something of a sidekick to the story's hero, which I find kind of intriguing, centering the story around someone other than the hero. The problem: Honestly, I'm just nervous about trying to write a sci-fi. Time travel is complicated. Michael J. Fox can tell you that much. I'm nervous about trying to keep all my time threads neatly sorted while overlapping them enough to add some complications to the character's lives.

So that's it for now. I actually have a few other idea snippets I want to get down on paper (digital paper, of course) before the end of the day, and maybe one of those ideas will the one I go with...

For now, any thoughts on these ideas? What do you think I should write next?

Music to My Ears

I'm actually tossing around a blog idea in my head: Tuesday Tunes. I like the alliteration. Music is a huge part of my writing process, and I thought I would chat a bit about that - what inspires me, what I'm into at the moment, how different pieces play into certain parts of my writing. Why I own four iPods...

But wait, it's Wednesday.

The hell you say! Oh... Touché.

Well, this is kind of the unofficial start of Tuesday Tunes, because I'm not actually talking about any particular music yet. Today, I'm just excited to be finished the copy edit stage of my manuscript. That's right: I HAD TO FALL is all done. Complete. Fin. And I found (shockingly!) that music and copy editing don't go together. I read aloud during that stage, making sure everything sounds right. I kind of need absolute silence for that.

But now that it's done I can toss the headphones back on and bring music back into my writing time. Which is good, because I almost feel lost without it. Definitely less inspired.

Music simply draws me into another world, into a character's life right inside my head. You should see me out there cutting the grass. Get the old push mower out, plug in the iPod and lose myself in the monotonous task. I fall into the music and my imagination takes off. And then a great idea hits me upside the head, I drop the mower in the middle of the lawn and dash inside. I'm sure the neighbours all think I'm out of my mind.

Sanity is in the eye of the beholder...?

So you've been warned: next Tuesday, first installment of Tuesday Tunes!

Just a snippet.

I'm running a bit short on time tonight, so here's a quick excerpt from my first Deyl Parker novel, I HAD TO FALL:

(Deyl, Josh and Alicia have stopped at a diner just outside of Chicago, midway through their journey to Minneapolis)

"So, what do you think? Should we drive through the night or stop at dark? My parent's house is only a few more hours from here," Alicia noted, speaking low and choosing her words carefully.

"Stop at dark, definitely," I said. I wasn't sure what to think about stopping at the Bowmyn's, but I was sure about stopping for the night. Humans didn't travel after dark unless they were Hunters.

We would be much too obvious on the road at night.

"We could be there by lunch tomorrow if we drive through…" Alicia pointed out hopefully.

"No, we couldn't, because we'd be dead before the sun came up again," I said in a flat whisper. "It's too dangerous.”

"I agree with Deyl," Josh murmured. "Too conspicuous to be out at night. We should stop."

Alicia snorted delicately, rolling her round, hazel eyes. She obviously thought Josh was just agreeing with me because it was me.

And unfortunately, there was a good chance she was right.

"Okay, okay. So then we’re crashing at my parents place?"

"I'm not sure," I hedged, thinking it made perfect sense to stay with her parents but worried about getting more people—more people I didn't know—involved in this catastrophe. Unfortunately, that was probably our best bet when it came to avoiding the Hunters, whether I liked it or not.

"So…" Alicia prodded, watching me expectantly.

"So we stay at the Bowmyn's. It's our safest option," I summarized, dropping my voice as a young couple sat down at the table two seats away. Josh looked like he was about to say something more, but Alicia cut him off.

"I'm sooooo happy you were both able to get the time off to come with me!" she chippered in a falsely bright voice. "My brother hasn't seen you in years, Josh, and his fiancée is dying to meet your sweetheart!" She tapped my hand with her tiny, pale fingers, clearly indicating me as the 'sweetheart'.

Fabulous.

Without missing a beat, I joined her game. "I haven't been to a wedding in years, I'm really excited," I said with a wide smile. "Have they decided on the blue or the gold yet?"

This was the danger in mingling with humans. To sit together, unspeaking, would look suspicious. At the same time, we were so much more likely to let something slip, to reveal what we were, if we tried to carry on a normal conversation. It was a fine line to walk.

Josh's bewildered look threatened to ruin the whole thing, so I reached across the table and took his hands in mine while stepping on his toes in warning. I was distracted for a moment by how surprisingly soft and cool his hands were and the slight tingle in my fingertips as I gently wrapped them around his, trying to look like the sweetheart.

"When we get married I think I'd like everything in gold," I mused, blinking at him like a moron, trying to convey our cover to the clueless man. Idiot.

Finally, the bewilderment in his eyes cleared and his shoulders relaxed the tiniest bit.

"Oh, I think they've settled it," Alicia continued. "But I can't remember what they decided… darn it, I've completely forgotten!" She arranged her features in a slight frown, looking stumped.

Josh's gaze grew crafty and he smiled mischievously as he said, "You say married like I've already asked you," looking pointedly at my bare ring finger and giving my hands a tiny squeeze.

My quick grimace was very real. The look in his eyes suggested that he might be enjoying our game a bit too much.

I sighed dramatically, shifting my expression shifted to a false pout. "You know I'm still waiting patiently."

Alicia’s laugh was like silver chimes in the wind, and I got the distinct impression she wasn't faking it. I sighed again, also not faking it.

"I know," Josh griped, and then shocked me when he pulled our intertwined hands towards his lips and lightly kissed my fingertips.

Damn, I thought, as my heartbeat kicked into overdrive.

I tried to remember if magicians had better hearing than normal humans, hoping they didn’t.

Alicia laughed again, louder this time, at my very stunned expression. They were both enjoying the game far too much. I blinked as Josh gave me my hands back, making room for the food that had just arrived with our drab waitress.

Sunshine, Vodka Coolers & Writing. Happy.

First, I was going to comment on how lovely it was to work on my final copy edit outside in the gazebo, under a brilliant blue sky with temperatures well above 20°C.

Then I looked back and realized how much, between here and twitter, I comment on the weather.

Is that a bad thing? Maybe. Boring? Probably. But I can't help it. You see, I'm Canadian. We talk about the weather. It's just what we do—a lot. 

So moving on. The copy edit is going really well, and really fast. I'm hoping to have it done before Tuesday, so that I can take the evening off and stay up all night reading PASSION by Lauren Kate. Let's face it: I'm going to do that anyway, thus it would be nice to have I HAD TO FALL all wrapped up so I can do the final spell check and formatting before I get lost in a new book.

On a side note, I've also made a lot of progress with my German lessons. I should be done Level II before I go on holidays at the end of July. I only wish I actually knew someone here who speaks German, because I could really use the practice. Maybe I should just book a flight to Deutschland... Ha, I wish.

And as for you New Yorkers sweating it out at 99°F (about 37°C) let me only add: I'm jealous.

Fine Tooth Comb

That's where my re-write for I HAD TO FALL is at: word-by-painstaking-word editing. Double-checking (or am I now at triple- or quadruple-checking? hm.) every paragraph, sentence and word to make sure that it reads with a nice, smooth flow. I hate being jarred by awkward sentences or poor word selection when I'm reading, so I'm being extra picky at this stage.

Though, being able to work outside under the sun makes it much more enjoyable...

It's slow going, but the end is so close I can taste it. After just over a year of outlining, writing, editing, resting, re-editing and copy editing... I'm excited!

But I gotta hit the pillow right away here. I know, I know... sleep is for the weak. Unfortunately, I stayed up until about 3AM last night (this morning? ugh.) finishing TORMENT by Lauren Kate. Getting ready for her new release next week. So I'm only running on a couple hours of ZZZs. And feeling it.

Night all!

the End is upon us!

Very excited tonight. I've got two or three small sections of chapter twenty-five to revise/rewrite tomorrow evening and I'll be finished the all the major changes I wanted to make to I HAD TO FALL. I'm working all day Saturday (setting up all those nice trade show displays I've been designing) but after that I've got a week scheduled for making a few last minor revisions to the story, and then another week for a line-by-line polish of the copy.

And then it's done. Like, really done.

To share in my excitement, I've got a nice little excerpt for you here. One of my biggest changes to the story was the relationship between Cal and Deyl. Their interactions and face time remained the same, but their opinions, treatment and feelings about each other changed significantly. This is from chapter twenty, a bit of Cal and Deyl working together towards a common goal. Not that they wanted to, but they didn't have much choice.

(Yeah, I know you have no context for this. Sorry. Hope you love it anyway.)

I turned slowly towards Cal, who was dropping the choked body to the ground. We just stared at each other, his breathing heavy against the steadiness of my own. In that moment I knew something between us had changed, our uneasy truce complicated by the bond that came only from fighting side by side together.

"We have to clear this," was all he said.

I nodded.

Blood would leave the most visible signs of our ambush so I grabbed the two bleeding men first, taking one by the arm in each hand and dragging them across the narrow road into the dark shade of the birch trees. Beside me, Cal carried two more. In a minute we had the road cleared of the bodies and all trace of the fight.

The last man dropped from my arms. It was the tall one with my knife still embedded in his chest. I pulled it out as he fell to the grass at my feet, wiping it clean on a nearby patch of moss before tucking it back into my shoulder strap.

"Nice toss," Cal remarked, his tone casual.

Gazing up at him, I tried to gauge his thoughts. His expression was carefully closed. It struck me that he meant it.

A broad grin lit up my face, the adrenaline crashing and making me feel a bit giddy.

"Thanks," I said smiling even wider. A distant, low boom echoed on the morning breeze. We both turned to look towards the sound.

The charge had blown.

Cal turned back to me and I met his gaze soberly, the giddiness evaporating. He snatched both shotguns up and tossed one to me.

"We need to move."

"Right." I fell into step behind him again.

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...

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!!!!!