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Teresa's treehouse cubicle
message 51:
by
Anne
(new)
Jul 30, 2009 02:51AM
Words today: 334. Two days off, starting today! :)
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Words today: 729. Have started on morningpages!
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Thank you, Kenzie! I don't get as many brilliant ideas as I used to, so I daren't let any one of them slip by. I have been known to grab strangers and try to explain to them what idea I've just been struck by, if there is no other way to document them. ;)Words today: 711
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You seem to meet nice and understanding strangers, Kenzie. I'm glad to hear that! Have you used your napkin-idéas in anything you have posted here? :)Words today: 672
Words yesterday: 690Words today: 711.
I sometimes wish there were a way of measuring spoken words during a day. If there were, today would be one of my busiest days this summer!
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Thanks, Dee! I wonder how long this nice new vein of dicipline will last though. Better enjoy it while I can! :)
Words today: 856. Thunderstorms outside, so no chance of doing anything but write by hand in candlelight. Makes me feel like I should be doing it with a feather pen too.
Words today: 703. Last day of work for a while! :)
Well done. Nice pattern of consistency emerging here!
Thank you so much, Paul! I just hope it will last as I am enjoying this new, productive me enormoursly! Words today: 685
Thanks for cheering me on, Paul! :)Words yesterday: barely 150
Words today: 823
(some extra 400 words today, by hand)
For someone who thought she'd only manage 250 words, you are doing outstanding. Great word counts and very consistent. Did I read you write occasionally by hand? I did that until I got my laptop. I was more productive that way I think because I took my little notebook everywhere. I think we should get to double our word count when we write that way. We are writing it twice after all.
Pardon me, I just needed to climb up for a better look over the fence at Renee's Kraken in the pool over there. *whistles*
Boy you sure can appreciate the size better from up here.
Hey! What's all these telescopes doing pointing at other people's cubicles? shouldn't they be pointing up at the stars or something?
Anyway, have a lovely day teresa. Happy writing.
Yes, Renee's Kraken is a magnificent creature! And not particular at all about food either, I hear!Telescopes are a bit like elevators, Wendy. When not in use, they prefer to keep a very low profile. Having said that, there's plenty of star material in the cubicles also! ;-)
Renee wrote: "For someone who thought she'd only manage 250 words, you are doing outstanding. Great word counts and very consistent. Did I read you write occasionally by hand? I did that until I got my lapto..."
Thank you, I'm very pleasantly surprised at myself too! I haven't dared to type anything on my laptop yet though, that would make it seem more official. I somehow feel that as long as I write by hand, I can allow myself to be a bit whimsical and playful, but things written in a proper document have to be a bit more serious. I know it makes no sense at all, but there it is! Anyway, I always have to rewrite a lot to make it all hang together, or it would resemble your Kraken in quite the wrong way. All arms and no body, if you see what I mean.
Before the laptop, I'd edit and stuff by hand in my notebook. I had to get used to editing on here, it was hard and still is. I hate reading on a screen. I usually print it off anyway and get my red pen. I love my red pen. It's not so nice when someone else uses it. I'm nice to me, so the red marks don't hurt so much.
Renee wrote: "Before the laptop, I'd edit and stuff by hand in my notebook. I had to get used to editing on here, it was hard and still is. I hate reading on a screen. I usually print it off anyway and get my re..."Same here! But maybe I should be brave enough and learn how to edit on screen too, and save some time that way. Do you have any helpful hints on how to start or does one find one's own way?
Teresa, if you let me have your email address, I've got a couple of documents on self-editing I can send to you. One is from Carlos J Cortes, the other is from Del Rey publishers, so they're both excellent.
Teresa did you mean how to start working only on the laptop? Or editing on it. I still use the notebooks, when I'm outside with the kids or something like that. The screens don't like it outside. They mess up your eyes.I'd take those self editing files from Paul. Excellent aids. For writing on the computer the most important thing is to remember to backup your work. Save to disk or flash drive so that you don't lose everything should the laptop have a seizure and die on you.
I also email to a trusted friend when I finish the first draft, as an extra backup.
As for the writing part, just start writing. It is so much faster, you'd probably double your word count.
Paul wrote: "Teresa, if you let me have your email address, I've got a couple of documents on self-editing I can send to you. One is from Carlos J Cortes, the other is from Del Rey publishers, so they're both e..."Thank you, how very kind of you! My email adress is annebritateresa@gmail.com and I shall certainly read those documents most carefully.
Words today: 820. Renee, I think I mean both editing and writing only on the laptop. There's nothing for it, I shall just have to try and see if I can't get into the habit of typing instead of writing by hand. You are right, I think half an hours typing must be an incredible amount of words, and I've allready gotten into the habit of reserving that halfhour to myself.
Thank you for the encouragement! :)
OK Teresa, emailed to you just now. Typing does save you having to write it twice, but on the other hand, perhaps you only need type the final draft. Unless you want us to review stuff here, in which case hand-written stuff would be difficult :)
The typing after handwriting is useful for editing though. I notice a lot on the transfer to the computer, so time-saving is in the editing part that way. I can write 2000 words in just a couple of hours or less on the laptop. that's the good part. More than that if I'm not interrupted.
Paul wrote: "OK Teresa, emailed to you just now. Typing does save you having to write it twice, but on the other hand, perhaps you only need type the final draft. Unless you want us to review stuff here, in whi..."Thanks, I just got your email! It all looks very good, just what I needed! Yes, handwritten stuff would be tough on anyone, especially with my handwriting. Plus I'd have to get a little more serious about writing in English too.
Renee wrote: "The typing after handwriting is useful for editing though. I notice a lot on the transfer to the computer, so time-saving is in the editing part that way. I can write 2000 words in just a couple of..."That is indeed very impressive! I usually notice things that sound odd when I rewrite, whether I do it a second time by hand or on the laptop, but I'm only a rookie so far, and still have heaps to learn.
I'm in the rookie club too, I think we'll always have lots to learn. Sigh, it's just the way it is. Always learning. Why can't we just know it all?
Renee wrote: "I'm in the rookie club too, I think we'll always have lots to learn. Sigh, it's just the way it is. Always learning. Why can't we just know it all?"How I wish I could learn things the first time around properly! Imagine how much time that would save! I find the only things I remember very easily are the things I have no earthly reason to remember at all.
Yep, me too. I find editing and knowing why I'm removing things makes it stick. It might be a good idea to have someone go through and edit at least once. Then you go and read their critiques so that you understand why you're changing this or that. That's how it started to stick in my brain. But I'm a why person. I always need to know why in order to understand something.
Nothing wrong with that. We've all expressed our dislike of people saying "this is the rule because someone says so..." and leaving it at that. Why is it a rule? What function does it serve? Is it a rule at all, or is it just something that someone decided a should be a rule back in mediaeval times?Remember, in England, a traveller can bang on the door of anyplace that calls itself an inn, and demand to be given food and lodging at any time of the day or night. All taxicabs have to carry a bale of hay in their boot (trunk) for the horses (?)
OK, they were laws from 1450 or so, but they've never been repealed.
Those examples are very interesting, Paul! So a law is a law until someone repeals it? I wonder how many other laws there are that have outlived their purpose?
Good idea, Renee! I will ask someone I trust to help me read through and if it makes little or no sense I should probably change quite a lot. Do you find that you write as a why-person too?
Yes, I do. Which is probably why I have to take a lot out. I over explain sometimes. When I'm writing the first draft I don't worry about it but I know it has to come out later, the rules that I don't understand and can't seem to follow are the ones that no one has given me the reason why they are rules.
I see, but on the other hand it's very kind to your readers to explain things and not to leave some loose ends dangling. I hate it when a character just disappears or when I'm left with a question mark after finishing a story!Words today: 820. Tried typing,and got half way before I realised that I need to switch off all spell checks and inbuilt help if I am to type more than three words per hour. Will do that tomorrow.
Hi, Teresa! I've gone back to look over your word counts and whatnot (I'm new so this is the first time I've looked) and have to say I'm impressed. You're doing a great job! Keep up the good work. :o)As far as weird laws go, there is a law in the USA somewhere (I want to say Montana but I can't remember for sure) that says it is illegal to tip your hat to a cow.
Hi Jaimey! Thank you very much, I will try to keep this up for as long as I can! :)I wonder what was the origin of that rather peculiar law about hats and cows? Did ever something untoward happen to anyone who had just tipped his hat to a cow, or was it originally intended to insult someone nearby?
Words today: 794. Transfer from notebook to laptop still in progress.
In America, asa whole, it is illegal to get a fish drunk.In Alaska, the following laws apply to moose:
# a moose may not be viewed from an aeroplane.
# it is illegal to give alcoholic beverages to a moose.
# it is an offence to push a live moose out of a moving aeroplane.
In Arizona it is illegal for donkeys to sleep in bathtubs
In California, it is illegal to ride a bicycle in a swimming pool.
In L.A., it is an offence to lick a toad.
Jaimey - did you mean this one?
When you pass a cow in Pine Island, Minnesota it is illegal not to tip your hat.
But in Britain, we also have these gems:
In Hereford, you may not shoot a Welsh person on Sunday with a longbow in the Cathedral Close.
However, in Chester you can only shoot a Welsh person with a bow and arrow inside the city walls and after midnight.
Also in York, excluding Sundays, it is apparently legal to shoot a Scotsman with a bow and arrow.
Obviously we Welsh, and the Scots, were once the socurge of these English border towns.
And just to prove we haven't forgotten our Canadian friends,
In Alberta, there is a city law that states that any person being released from prison must be given a handgun with bullets, and a horse so that they can ride out of town.
I'd have figured the moose laws were Canadian. That would explain the epidemic of skydiving moose. We have no law to stop it.As for the Alberta law, well he needs to make it to his next victim safely doesn't he?
Thank you for those gems, Paul! Imagine what lovely stories could be told, leading up to those laws! I loved the moose-related laws! Poor things, always having to keep a weary eye on the sky in case there are aeroplanes about, unlawfully viewing them or pushing them to their death from above! Who is punishable for the viewing, the pilot or the one who sees the moose?Renee: but it is ok if the moose jumps out voluntarily? I thought the law was against them being pushed, which I can understand! Your problem with skydiving moose might need another law altogether!
I feel sorry for the mooses (meese is the correct plural says Renee) not being able to drink; but the sight of a pissed-up moose would be truly scary.However, I am going to incorporate a brigade of parachuting moose with substance abuse problems into my current work. A few minor changes - carnivorous, a small pair of arms either side of the jaw so they can handle weapons, and more dangerous antlers, and they'll be wonderful.
I just can't resist it. There's something inherently funny about mooses.
Hmmm...maybe a good law would be no moose in planes. That is a good safety precaution for everyone involved I would think. They do love the adrenaline rush, those wacky moose. Always doing crazy stuff like that.
Brilliant idea, Paul! I can't wait for the translation into Moose (or whatever the language might be called)! Revenge at last for all those years of moose hunting! It's a tradition that's very much alive here in Sweden, maybe in other countries as well? As for the substance abuse problems, I've always suspected as much. Have you seen their eyes? I like your suggestion of no moose in planes, Renee! Maybe with an addendum of no moose in garages. I had a moose run into my garage where I used to live before, and it was a nightmare for both of us trying to separate the moose from the building. They are just not very bright, not at all like cows or pigs.
Ps Renee. If I was to create my very own design brand of outdoor clothing, I would definitely call it Wacky Moose! Don't you think it sounds like a brand name for tough wear outdoor clothing?
