The mask is my face: Friday Update
News:
None this week. Should have something next week, though.
Works in Progress:
My effort to write and edit a novel in one month continues apace. At this point, it seems doable, but demanding.
Masque reached 60K words last night, and if things go according to schedule, I might be finished with the writing by next Friday-ish. I wrote a lot in my outline so I wouldn’t forget, so I’m having trouble gauging how long each part left will take. But I’m enjoying marking them off as I write them (and not having to figure things out as I go, but my attention/memory is such that each new part is still a recalled surprise). I’m not sure at this point how good anything is, but the words have been flowing and I’ve been having a wonderful time world-building and trying to write Victorian romance in the time of plague.
On the other hand, I really dislike research, which is part of the reason why I rarely do historicals, but here’s me with my second historical in less than a year. Sure, it’s alt-Victorian, so I can fudge some of the details as pertains to the alt and how it might have changed things, but it still requires research. And I’m one of those people who can’t research before I begin, because I do have some working knowledge of the era but don’t know what I need to know until I get to the point that I ask the questions. Don’t get me wrong. I love learning new things. I just don’t like the way it slows me down.
Writing at a 5K/day pace is already tough, but last weekend I pushed it up to 6K words to even out the word count, then also wrote and edited a piece of flash fiction on Sunday (for Flash on the Fly through Death Knell Press, so I wasn’t mismanaging time; it’s impromptu by design). By the end of the weekend, I was exhausted. Mentally wiped.
Books I’m Reading:
Mary Reilly by Valerie Martin
The Tommyknockers by Stephen King
Things I’m Listening To:
Nightwish
Beyond the Black
Kamelot
Hannibal soundtracks
Things I’m Watching:
The Omen (2006)
My Bloody Valentine (2009)
Silent Hill: Revelation
Summer Baking Championship series
The Amazing Race series
America’s Got Talent series
Abbott Elementary series
CSI series
CSI: Miami series
CSI: NY series
9-1-1 series (finished)
Supernatural series
Murder, She Wrote series
Poem of the Week:
under a massive magnolia
with buckeye in one pocket and
smooth flint in the other
red clay dust on soles
and hem of my pants while I try
not to think about bloodsuckers
crawling up my legs or sweat
dripping my back sticky as
end of summer honey
lazy smoke in the air
charred meat and burning gasoline
i cradle a blossom lantern for the shadows
