….creeps in this petty pace from day to day…(or something like that.) No, Horngard I has not yet fledged completely and was handed back to the nest by the helpful Agent who pointed out that just flapping wings wasn’t flying, and the primaries were only half as long as they should be. Metaphorically speaking. Horngard Read More…
Category: the writing life
Waiting: Not My Favorite Game
It’s been a difficult couple of weeks for several reasons, but especially because…I haven’t heard anything back from Agent. I’m working, of course: the wildlife management report (in the process of which I discovered that my old printer no longer prints text…just pictures. And not very well…with thin orange striped across them.) Then there’s the Read More…
On The Way
NewBook I is on the way again…I emailed it to my agent yesterday and he got it (confirmation email, yay!) so there’s that. I took the rest of the afternoon off for a walk outside and horse chores. Today I opened NewBook II’s file. You may recall that it is/was a little over 20K word, Read More…
Holiday Period
Whatever holidays you celebrate in this season….or firmly avoid, in this season…I wish you all as pleasant a passage from December to the New Year as possible. We will be having a quiet holiday season, since we can’t drive at night and thus can’t go to the Sing-Along Messiah, or any performances, or attend the Read More…
Once Again…
NewBook I has had a partial read by Agent now, and I called to find out what his reaction was so far (about 1/3 through it.) Still some concerns, things to work on, so I’m back in revision mode sort of, hoping to also get back to work on NewBook II while it still has Read More…
Agent Response
Great relief of writer to find that yes, the whole package is back…my agent called Friday and we had a good long talk. The book IS a book. It is a reasonably good book. It could use some work, but he enjoyed it, stayed up late to read it. Also, all the things he talked Read More…
And the Beat Goes On
The final buffing and polishing (final is an indefinite word since there’s always One More Tyop to find) is now done. So yesterday morning, bright and early, Book II poked its head up out of the debris left over from Book I and said “So let’s get started.” And I said “I need to clean Read More…
Of Purple Paint & Short Stories
Yesterday and today were spent, in part, with cans of Krylon ™ spray paint in the color designated by TX Parks & Wildlife as “NO HUNTING PURPLE”. The idea is that instead of posting “No Hunting” signs (where they inevitably get stolen, shot up, mysteriously blown away) , you simply paint the top of your Read More…
Done-de-done-done
NewBook is done. Three rounds of revision, wrestled to the mat on space, time, person, place, etc. issues. From here on out it’s nitpicking time because it’s DONE. 172,125 words, counting chapter titles, datelines (actually places, mostly), 31 chapters (may need some chapters numbered differently, that’s an editorial decision I’d take advice on.) It’s a Read More…
Stage Three Revision
Stage Three overlaps Stage Two, because–especially this time–there’s no reason to ignore 3rd level problems while reading aloud to someone from the computer screen (there is no print-out yet.) So if I find an entire paragraph that’s now redundant (a Stage Two problem) I just delete it, or a temporal-sequence problem, I mark that section Read More…