K.A. Wiggins's Blog, page 19

Day 206

A post shared by K.A. Wiggins | �������� bookaholic (@kaie.space_author) on May 3, 2017 at 5:59pm PDT

Didn���t get as far as I wanted to on Saturday, but I finally knocked off that one outstanding freelance project, clearing my schedule for all of a week, lol, and hitting my targets for the month on at least one line item. Also renaming Itri to Ash (alternates: Lash, Tam, Tamb, Eladon, Eldon) last name Herne/Hearne or Faa. There���s a thing with true names and daily use names, so Ash may be more of a common name, maybe Eladon or Itri will surface later? I choose names as a combination of meaning and sound, taking into account appropriate heritage/background, but while I originally wanted to draw the connections between light-silver-starlight and what I now call the Travellers (Dreamwalkers), I���ve realized that Itri just doesn���t have good flow or recognition attached, which is a bigger deal now that I���m planning to record.

Feeling justified in taking Sunday off as per usual; made a bunch of notes when I should have been falling asleep last night. The extra brain space freed up generally seems to pay off, even if it is hard to let go and harder to get back into it after the break. Unfortunately, these notes mean I���ll need to loop back and close some plot holes in already-rewritten chapters, but I���m hoping to spin through those and still hit my 5 +3 chapter catchup target (to c40, getting me to c60 on Friday at a pace of 5/day for an extra day+ of buffer) today. There���s some slim chance that the overall chapter count could drop (very, very slim), giving me a bit more margin, and there���s also a developing situation that may call the family away for a few days, giving me unbroken space for the last couple days of deadline and the collapse/catchup period immediately following. So, onward to try to tighten things up and make sense of the maelstrom!

Inconsistencies: rooftop dream, if Cole thinks silver presence that saves her is cadence, doesn���t that mess with feeling abandoned by cadence and angry at her after?
Make Itri more grim, driven, mission oriented. Get to the action personality, problem solver. Cole drawn to his sense of mission, buys in to making change as opposed to Ravels mercurial hot air approach. Reconciles to the idea of cadence showing her visions of Itri as a strategy to keep her motivated. Skip Cass episode? Or rather she���s already decided to commit to getting back to her mission, before she realizes cadence is straight up and Itri���s real.

Insert slowdown of multiple days nights dancing in freedom at first, distracted by getting oriented in the new world before she stumbles across Ravels meeting and gets pulled into the Exchange. Uneasy sleep, restless, over sleeps often and finally starts to wonder why nothing���s really happening besides keeping ravel happy on the dance floor. Waking from uneasy sleep, feels remorse for sinking into mindlessness, ventures out in search of ravel? Dreams don���t start until she loses her mask, wears less gold.

Monday

Start Time: 12 pm

Location: Abbotsford; home; chair

Day 204

A post shared by K.A. Wiggins | �������� bookaholic (@kaie.space_author) on May 2, 2017 at 6:12pm PDT

Ugh, so far behind on everything! On the plus side, I get an extra day of alone time to try to knock some more out. Not nearly enough, but I���ll take what I can get. Dropping more things every day to try and get more focused and stay on deadline (lol social media), which is not good for my long-range marketing efforts, but possibly maybe helps? Oh yeah, chores and contracts and human interaction also goes poof for at least one more week. The weather is turning miserably sunny and warm though, so it���s not like I actually want to go outside - even the evil cotton fluff is out in force. Nightmarish. Despite all that trimming the fat, so to speak, I did finally get around to dumping a handful of journal entries onto the website in the hopes of ensuring it doesn���t become totally without value. And renewing it - can you believe it���s been a year? And I���ve only redesigned it, what, a half-dozen times? Not that it isn���t due for another overhaul soon���

Slow going yesterday, but some great forward momentum at the same time. Wrote in the exchange scene, which really adds a dimension to the story, but also snarls up the flow of the middle/early second act big time. It���s tough going, trying to piece together continuity and emotional honesty, and even just flow at this point, but at least it feels like it���s going in the right direction. Like every previous stage, the last act is probably gonna get short shrift and be rewritten in, like a day or something because DEADLINES!!! Gah. But needs must. Speaking of needs, I also need to crank out my chapters today and finish off that one horrible outstanding freelance project so it���s not hanging over me. Audiobooks are at a standstill at the moment and I���m only just over a week out from needing to dive back into the freelancing and make some money, so I probably shouldn���t be ignoring them so much, but��� yeah. I don���t seem to have much capacity to write and work at the same time. Or at all. But hey, I have a possibly awesome book coming out���

Friday

Start Time: 3:30 pm

Location: Abbotsford; home; chair

drinking: Cabernet Sauvignon

Day 203

A post shared by K.A. Wiggins | �������� bookaholic (@kaie.space_author) on Apr 29, 2017 at 6:14pm PDT

Slowly but surely catching up and getting back on track with stuff. Put in a long day yesterday and clawed my way up to Chapter 20 (1/3 done!), so if I can keep up a pace of 5 chapters/day until next Saturday and excluding Sundays, I���ll (just) make deadline. Which isn���t optimal, as that���s really just a thorough once-through, but I���m starting to wonder if that���s not how all books get published; less-than-optimally. And if, given more time, I���d really make much progress anyways���

I did rejig the bookmap for plot issues, so hopefully following that as closely as possible will make a big difference, and pay off as a worthwhile balance of investment, since it did take me weeks longer than I���d planned. Also sent off what I think are the final edits to my cover artist today, though it was super hard deciding on the fine-tuned direction. Struggling with the best blurb (and the inability to just go in and change it myself!!) as well as some art direction-y stuff. More brightness or less? Spikier tower or streamlined? Negative space ���i��� or starburst? Head-spinning stuff, I tell ya.

Also finished Libba Bray���s brilliant second entry in the Diviners series. Makes me sad I���m not going more epic with a wider cast, but I do see how the added complexity could really sink me. After the overhyped debut of Caraval, I���m pretty aware of how hard writing something that will garner great reviews is going to be. Also read Scott Westerfeld���s Spill Zone, and was reminded yet again of how I wish writers would stick to novels. It���s cool and all, but the whole time I���m just thinking how much more enjoyable it would be as a novel, or even TV. While I enjoy the freedom of being home alone and doing things at my own pace, in my own way, at this stage I pretty much have worked out that there���s no benefit in productivity either way. Though, less distractions once I do force myself to get on the keyboard are a plus. As is the cat hyper-affection; I���d have gotten started hours earlier today if Soul hadn���t decided to climb into my lap first thing this morning and nuzzle his head and forepaws into my hand, effectively pinning me down for hours. Because of course.

So, here we go again. I���ll backtrack a chapter or two to make sure I didn���t rush past anything critical, than push for 5+ chapters today. The word count is still climbing, so that needs some attention, and I���m stuck with characterization for Ravel in particular - I think he needs to become more appealing, less disturbing early on, but getting that across is a whole ���nother matter. Plus there���s something about reacting in the moment that I don���t think I���ve quite got down��� or got down at all, lol. However, there have been a few good scenes that I was able to flesh out for world- and character-building purposes, as well as advancing the plot, so at least some good is coming of all this.

Thursday

Start Time: 3:30 pm

Location: Abbotsford; home; chair

drinking: Cabernet Sauvignon

Kids' Fantasy Audiobooks Live

The audiobook recordings of Book of Curses and The Book of Wishes by award-winning Irish author Conor Kostick are now complete and live on Audible, Amazon Whispersync and iTunes!

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