Drunken Owls and Other Delights

Getting there

Mon, 21 Jul 2025 01:42:03 GMT

Woohoo! I'm finally DONE with the remastering work for A Division of Souls (that is until I do one last reread, heh), so now I can shift all my creative focus back on Theadia! I'm looking forward to starting in on it again, especially now that I have a clearer head and a few really good ideas on how to rework it into the style I want. I've given myself until late 2026 to finish it, so I've got a year and change to make it happen. I'm pretty sure I can do it, considering these days the first drafts of my novels take maybe a few months at most. [It's still kind of weird to say that. Each book in the original trilogy took about a year, while In My Blue World took three months.]

Whether or not this one will expand into a duology or just be a very long single volume, we shall see...

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Back to the grind

Mon, 09 Sep 2024 18:04:33 GMT

My hours are a bit wonky this week, but not necessarily in a bad way. The main bookkeeper is on vacation, which means I'll be covering his 5:30a - 2p shift aside from today. I'll be a bit tired and cranky from waking up so dang early, but as always, getting out at 2 is a neat thing indeed.

I didn't exactly do any writing-related work during our vacation, and I'm fine with that these days. It's good to just chill out and do not much other than reading and listening to tunes in a small water tower base that's been converted into a cabin in a very small coastal town that's known for having been where they shot many exterior shots for Cabot Cove on the show Murder She Wrote. [The exteriors of fishing piers and docks were shot a bit up the road in Fort Bragg.]

What I did do however was something I'd done a few years previous, actually in the same cabin: open up document copies of some of my older 750Words entries. Why did I do so, you ask? Well, partly because it's fun to see what I was writing then, and to see what's changed, but also to see how my post-trilogy standalone novels evolved! Meet the Lidwells, In My Blue World and Diwa & Kaffi were all written as daily entries on that site, as were several MU-related outtakes. There are also other ideas in there that I think are worth investigating further, including several short stories within the D&K universe. [One thing I realized was that I'd misremembered D&K's origins; that novel was written in tandem with those short stories rather than growing out of them.]

Still -- the vacations are over, I don't have any other major events coming up any time soon, so I'm ready to get back to the grind and get this writing thing back up to speed again. That means daily work on Theadia and prep work on possible projects to be started. I may even go against my better judgement and try Inktober again this year, now that I have the time and the brainspace! Heh.

Anyway, going to go and enjoy the rest of the day! Hope everyone has a good week ahead!

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Weekend update

Sun, 16 Jul 2023 22:15:55 GMT

Woo, I had today off! I've had to work Sundays for the last couple of weeks due to people being out and while I'm not actually doing extra hours, it is kind of screwing with my personal time. Thankfully that person is now back from their vacation and things are sort of back to normal. [Unfortunately a different coworker seems to have fractured their ankle via an episode of inebriation, so my hours are still a tiny bit wonky. Not as frustrating, but just a bit off.]

Meanwhile, the new PC is up and running at top speed, which means I really should get back to my writing work. I've been very bad at following through lately, but now there's no real reason not to jump back in. I'm still up in the air:
--Do I finish off and revise the Queen Ophelia project? It's about 95% done but needs a lot of work.
--Do I finish off and revise Theadia? It too is about 95% done and also needs a lot of work.
--Do I outline and start the sequel to In My Blue World? It's my best seller and I'm sure readers will enjoy another episode of Meeks Sisters Adventures.
--Do I outline and start the romcom idea I've had in my head for the last year or so? I have a rough outline but it needs a lot of work, plus I need to work at getting my brain back into that style.
All this is while I'll be working on MU4 project, which I know will be a long-term one that may not see the light of day until sometime next year. I'm taking my time on that one.
What I'm doing now is reading what I have of all of them so far, to see what resonates with me the most. We shall see soon enough.

In the meantime, we've just gotten back from a five-mile walk around the neighborhood and I now have to do the laundry, so I'm going to relax a bit before I decide on anything!

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Best Laid Plans: Update

Sun, 20 Jun 2021 23:21:36 GMT

Huh. Who knew that a) putting attainable plans into action and b) finding that sweet-spot level of productivity that c) isn't just me trying too hard and overworking myself and d) keeps me just enough from distraction would actually, y'know, work? Heh.

It's been a surprisingly productive week here in Spare Oom. I got more submission work completed (including a complete query/synopsis package for In My Blue World and a few submission emails), finished off the synopsis for Waystation Project, made a to-do short story list for College Campus Project, continued rereading and synopsis for MU4 Project, and somehow decided that maybe playing out a synopsis for In My Blue World Sequel Project wouldn't be a bad idea either. Oh, and maybe Best Laid Plans for Oh Hey Remember That One Project I Keep Untrunking Well Maybe It Still Needs A Crapton More Work So I'll Put That One Aside So Forget I Said Anything Project has been put aside.

So in short, I put aside the Ooh Shiny Best Laid Plans Project that should maybe stay trunked (and locked, let's be honest) but opened up a Pandora's Box of SO MANY OTHER PROJECTS in its place. And I don't actually mind this, as this is the level I want and need to be at, where I'm most comfortable creatively. (Side note, I still have that other synopsis I wrote a few weeks back of a completely new story based on a dream I'd had, so we'll add that to the list.)

ANYWAY. Other than that, I've also been busy elsewhere as well. I've been doing a bit of drawing in the afternoons and picking up my guitar to play along to a few songs at least once a day. I've been good with my daily stretches. And I've been keeping up with the blogs. Keeping super busy but a GOOD kind of busy!

My schedule may be a bit wonky starting next Sunday, however, as A is on vacation and we'll be traveling for a few days (for the first time in over a year), but I'm sure I'll continue to keep myself busy and up to date. We'll see where this all leads us...!

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Weekend Entertainments and Errands

Sun, 24 Feb 2019 22:43:02 GMT

It seems our weekend entertainment usually falls on Saturdays, leaving Sunday to be the Errand Day. In this case, we went to see Alita: Battle Angel at the Alamo Drafthouse in the Mission last night. Having been a fan of the original 90s manga, I'm quite happy to say they did a fine job of remaining close to it (I read later that it's based on the first four tankobon of the original series) and that they kept the theme that it's most definitely NOT a male-gazey female-cyborg story. I would totally go see it again, and yes, I will definitely get the blu-ray for it when it comes out.

Today's errand excitement was a walk to the farmer's market down the other end of Clement, then a drive down to Fort Mason to drop off book donations at the SF Library store and clothing donations at the Goodwill up the street. (Why do I drive down there when I could easily use the Goodwill up the way on Clement? Parking, you see. As in There Ain't None Close By On Clement. Heh.) I usually use that as my excuse to get out of the house and the neighborhood. Sometimes when I'm down there I'll also stop at the Flax Art Supply store and pick up some things -- I bought a smallish sketch book down there that I desperately need to start filling in.

I'm slowly cleaning everything up here in Spare Oom so I go ahead and buy a replacement for the loveseat that's in here. It's old and lumpy (it was A's and dates back to the late 90s by her reckoning) and desperately needs to go. We're planning on ordering from the same place we bought our living room couch (which came in two big boxes as a build-it-yourself thing). I'm sort of playing a long game here, planning out each step with the final goal of getting my papers, books, music and personal effects in order in this room. Getting a new mini-couch in here is one of the biggest steps and will make things a lot easier once it's purchased and installed.

Anyhoo! Good news on the writing front! IN MY BLUE WORLD IS OUT NEXT SATURDAY!!! Woohoo! It'll be available as an e-book at Smashwords if you follow this here link: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/925076

It's a long time coming, but I'm quite proud of this one. I took a lot of chances with this story...it's definitely different from the other novels I've written over the years and heading more in a direction I want and need to go in with my writing. I'm seeing it as the first of a new path for my writing, and I'm looking forward to seeing where it'll lead.

Hope everyone has a lovely week!

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Midweek Update Can Finally Breathe Again

Thu, 06 Dec 2018 03:37:57 GMT

After three or four days of allergy irritation, I'm quite happy to say that i'm no longer stuffed up and can breathe easily again! Woo! I even celebrated by heading to the gym this afternoon! Now I just need to get back into my daily exercises, which I've been avoiding for the same exact reasons...

Tomorrow I'll be walking down the other end of Clement Street for a local annual holiday shopping celebration called ClemenTime. It's a stretch of three or four blocks where the local shops will have things on sale, free refreshments, and other fun things. I usually head down there each year to hang out at Green Apple Books for a few hours and peruse while enjoying the free beer. And yes, there is a very good chance I won't be coming home emptyhanded, considering. Heh.

In writing news, I've stumbled across another chapter of In My Blue World that needed a complete rewrite. Short version is that the original had a subplot that I really didn't like and went nowhere. The problem was that the previous chapter set up a plot point that's kind of important that I DO need to keep, so I had to figure out how to thread something in that a) made sense, b) wasn't filler, and c) could also be used/referenced later on. It's taken me a few days to figure it out, but I figured it out! Woo, go me! Now hopefully I'll be back to regular speed once this chapter is done!

Meanwhile, A is having a fun time in London and tweeting lots of fun pictures and making me jealous. She'll be heading back on Saturday, though. In the meantime, I've tried to be good, eat halfway decently, and not stay up too late.

Hope everyone else has a great rest of the week!

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Midweek Update Is Surprised It's Midweek Already

Wed, 24 Oct 2018 20:53:03 GMT

This week is going by ridiculously quick for some reason. Could be that I've been insanely busy at the Day Job during the day and completing a full chapter of revision for In My Blue World at the end of the day, with other smaller things in between. I don't feel too physically or mentally exhausted, but I think I should probably lighten the load for a few days just to make sure.

I'm a little less pissed off than I was on Sunday, which is a good thing as well. I'm purposely ignoring social media for a few hours each day to maintain sanity.

Speaking of Day Job and things related, I believe I've finally finished touching up my resume for the time being. I've left a few things purposely vague and/or blank so I can adjust them as necessary. It occurred to me that with a few positions I'm thinking of trying for, I can revise some of the sections of my resume to reflect what they're looking for. I do so many different things at the Day Job that listing them all would be too much, but listing the ones pertinent to what the posting is looking for makes more sense. I'm planning on sending them out this week. The long term plan is to try to get a position before the current Day Job demands I move back to the office; it's not so much out of spite as it just makes more sense to avoid the extra headache. We shall see.

Man, 2018 has been one hell of a busy year, hasn't it...?

Hope everyone has a good (and more relaxing) rest of the week!

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Midweek Update Is Running Late

Fri, 19 Oct 2018 01:44:41 GMT

Oh hey, wasn't I supposed to write this yesterday? Ah well. It's been a week of cleaning up the aftermath of taking a vacation from the Day Job. My fill-ins did a decent job considering (they had a perfect stom or all kinds of crap thrown at them) but it's taken me a full week to get everything back to normal. OY. [Side note: I was looking at another bank's careers website, and realized that I'll need to do a bit of translation, because I'm seeing listings for stuff I currently do that's under a different name there. This actually bodes well for me.]

Anyhoo, bob-bob-bobbin' along at my usual pace with the writing. Working through revision work for In My Blue World, letting the Apartment Complex story simmer for a bit, and doing some half-serious writing work for Mendaihu Universe Book 4. Yes, despite my current work load, I'm playing around with the longhand work I did a few years back for that project. I say 'half-serious' because I'm doing two things: one, I'm doing a bit of transcription into the 750Words entry, and making editorial notes after it. A sort of 'this is what I wrote' versus 'this is what I plan to do with it'. I'm also adding a few new ideas to the mix if it warrants it.

As for non-writing, non-Day Job? I'm back to normal with the exercising. I'm being a bit impatient with the weight I'm trying to lose, but it's expected and I'm not going to worry. Besides, I weight myself for the first time in forever the other day and realized I'm down 20 pounds from where I was probably six months ago! Go me! I just need to keep up the exercise and the movement and the gym visits, and ESPECIALLY laying off the junk food. The vacation kind of threw that one off a bit, but I'm back to normal again.

Have a good Friday, everyone!

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Midweek Update Readies Himself for Vacation

Wed, 03 Oct 2018 20:07:30 GMT

There will be no Weekend or Midweek Update next week, as we will be on vacation, visiting friends and family back east! I'll be afk and basically filling up on Dunkies, maple-flavored things, and taking a bajillion pictures of the foliage. Yay!

Not too much to report here at the moment...the Day Job is what it is, so I'll just keep it at that for now.

As for writing: coming along fine with the revision work for In My Blue World, slowly but surely. I've already deleted a scene and inserted a new one, I've cleaned up a lot of the prose in the first few scenes, and doing what I can to fix up the continuity. There's a lot of fiddly bits that need straightening out (using the correct POV pronouns, for instance), but thankfully I have them all flagged in my notes.

As for the personal end of things, I'm still not entirely sure if I've lost any weight yet, given that I haven't bothered to weigh myself in ages, but I *think* there's a bit of an improvement going on. This process is so slow people usually don't notice right away. I feel healthier, though -- despite my lower back giving me a twinge earlier this week. I haven't done any heavy lifting or overexertion lately, so I'm pretty sure that's due to me possibly doing my crunch exercises incorrectly at some point, or that I slouch like a champ when I'm at my desk. Still... I'm getting there. Soon enough.

Hope everyone has a great rest of the week!

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Midweek Update (aka The White Album)

Wed, 26 Sep 2018 18:58:04 GMT

Did I pre-order the six-cd-plus-bluray 50th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition of The Beatles when it went on sale on Monday? Darn tootin' I did! Do I already own the 30th Anniversary Edition cd that came out in 1998? Of course I do. Do I already own it as part of the 2009 stereo AND mono box sets? Of course I do! Did I used to own it on vinyl back in the day? Of Course I did!

I'm actually glad I gave into temptation and pre-ordered the box set without a second thought, because an hour after it went on sale, the price zoomed up at least fifty dollars! And if I'm not mistaken, Amazon will honor the amount I ordered it at, so go me!

Meanwhile, back in the real world, things are going well. I'm keeping a positive attitude here, even and especially despite certain Day Job issues attempting to bring me down. I've decided that life is far too short to continue this habit of letting things ruin my day. I'll lapse now and again, as per old habits, but I'm catching it in time and turning it around. It'll help me face the bigger, nastier things without feeling as much strain.

Tomorrow is going to be a busy one for me...I have to wake up stupid-early so I can drive to Concord for a Day Job visit, head back, and then go to the Masonic here in town to see The The. Pretty sure I'll be dead to the world come Friday, but I'm okay with that...!

OH! YES! THAT'S RIGHT: I finished the first draft of the Apartment Complex story last night!!! WOOO! It tops out at around 79k, which is around where I expected. After the rough start, it was a pure joy to write, which makes me quite happy. I've got some great plans for this one. Including a title! Heh. But for now I'm going to let it sit and percolate for a little while. I'll be focusing on the In My Blue World revision in the interim, so I can come back to the AC with fresh eyes.

Hope everyone has a great rest of the week!

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Weekend Update Is Fitter, Happier, More Productive

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 22:56:46 GMT

I've been horrible this weekend by not doing any exercising. Shame shame! [Okay, that's not entirely true. We did do a good amount of walking these last few days to make up for it.] I am happy to say that otherwise I've been doing good at staying on top of it. It's only been a week and I'm still figuring out which exercises will benefit me the most, but I've been staying with it so far. My main aim here is to get rid of the excess weight, especially in the belly area. I've had multiple doctors tell me that I should be at least 30 to 50 pounds lighter -- I'm not obese, but there's definitely a lot of excess there that I shouldn't have. I'm also making it a point to get to the gym at least three days a week after work. I've also figured out that the best time for me to work out is in fact first thing in the morning, before breakfast, so I'll burn the calories I have on hand rather than the ones I've just put in me. So instead of wasting time online, I'll do a few reps of various exercises until it's time for me to log on at work.

It's only been one week, but I think I can definitely see and feel a difference. I'm more awake and aware, I feel much more positive, and I think I might even have already lost a pound or two. Win!

As for the More Productive, I'm still going strong on the Apartment Complex story, I"m on the last quarter of making revision notes for In My Blue World, and I'm even sneaking in some other personal creative things as well! So yeah, I can't complain.

I will say that the last few weeks have been a bit of an eye-opener on quite a few levels, and I think I have an idea of what I might want to do regarding personal and day job things. Again I'm being purposely vague, but it's something I'm taking quite seriously and patiently. I'm not sure how any of it will pan out, but it's worth all of this extra work and exertion. I'm hoping it all comes to fruition soon enough! :)

Hope everyone has a good week!

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Weekend Update Is Getting Caught Up

Sun, 02 Sep 2018 23:03:05 GMT

It's a three-day weekend here, so we've been a) sleeping in for once, b) taking our time doing errands, and c) relaxing. That of course doesn't stop me from wanting to Get Everything Done Today though! Nothing big, just a lot of small irritations that needed doing, like getting the car washed (first time since November when we bought it!), grocery shopping, and so on. We've interspersed that with A's binge-watching of various shows and a few college football games. Right now I'm in Spare Oom, having just culled a considerable amount of boxes and bags from the back closet that needed tossing. A took a big slice out of the mass-market paperbacks (I should probably do the same), and cleaning out my emails and catching up on blog entries.

So yeah, busy but relaxing weekend. Can't complain.

Writing update: I've finally reached the halfway point in the revision of In My Blue World, and it's actually the same exact point where I realized I'd needed to go back to the beginning and make some serious revision notes before doing any rewriting. It was a plot point that had always irritated me and stuck out in a bad way, but I've figured out how to fix it and surge forward. I think the rest of the novel should be a bit clearer going for me, and I"m hoping I'll get started on the Big Rewrite in a few weeks. If I'm not mistaken, the remaining half of the novel is much more on par with what I was aiming for, so hopefully there won't be any major surgery to do there.

Writing update 2: It's funny, but when I got to the point in the Apartment Complex story where the Big Life Changing Event In Act III begins, I suddenly found myself not writing my original idea, but instead came up with an even better one. It fits so much better alongside the rest of the novel, and I've been kind of hinting at it throughout. No spoilers, but I'll just say I'm glad I came up with it, an I'm really looking forward to releasing this one. In fact, I'm so excited and proud of this one that I think I might actually submit this one somewhere instead of self-publishing it. Not bad for a novel that I'd almost ragequit in frustration multiple times a few months ago!

Hope everyone's having a nice long weekend!

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Midweek Update Almost Forgot It Was Midweek

Thu, 30 Aug 2018 16:40:55 GMT

Oof. It's been one of those weeks at the Day Job, where I'm either going all out, or there are long stretches of not much going on, and very rarely a happy medium. Fun fun!

I'm managing to keep up with the things that need doing, though I should probably take a break soon so I'm not overdoing it. And of course being a writer, I hate taking a break because it feels like I'm just slacking off and getting nothing done. Eesh! Still, I need to reorganize my priorities this weekend for the upcoming month. I have some plans I need to act upon and need to start carving out a bit of time for them. Not sure how I'll pull this off, but we shall see.

In My Blue World is coming along, slowly but surely. I'm still worried that I won't make my deadline, but I'm still working on it. I just have to put more time into it than I am. [This isn't to say that I'm working myself ragged on it -- more like I know that I'm slacking off elsewhere and using up time that I could dedicate to it.]

The Apartment Complex story, on the other hand, is hurtling fast toward its Act III Defining Event and I'm eagerly looking forward to writing it. The scene has been in my head probably since sometime last year and I've only made notes for it, but never written it out as prose. I've also been thinking a bit about the title, or at least what it's supposed to mean. The main theme here is bonds -- of friendship, community, love, and so on -- so at least I have a general idea of where to go with it! It's funny how out of all my projects, this is the only one that's had title problems! Heh.

Okay, back to work! Hope everyone has a good rest of the week!

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Weekend Update Has No Major Plans

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 16:28:48 GMT

We've been doing things since the beginning of the month, so we're highly tempted to do not much of anything at all this weekend. We're no longer exhausted, but the idea of not having any plans is a nice change. Just some grocery shopping and not much else.

We're doing okay since A's job loss earlier this week. A has been keeping herself busy and things are still running as normal. I'm staying busy with the Day Job and the writing. It feels kind of weird because I'm so used to the 'now how are we gonna survive' reaction to losing a job and having little money in the bank. It's the opposite this time out; we're financially calm for the moment, so that reaction is now trying to find purchase somewhere when it doesn't need to be there. I think now it's more along the lines of me having to adjust my Best Laid Plans AGAIN to make my own writing career work. Frustrating, but it is what it is.

Slowly getting through the revision/reread of In My Blue World. It's taking a hell of a lot longer than I'd like -- I think it's because I'm too distracted at the moment, for various reasons, some obvious -- but I'm soldiering through the best I can. I just need to focus more, is all.

The Apartment Complex story is coming along well, much to my delight. I'm about one or two scenes from a Major Plot Point that's been in my head for quite some time now, and I'm looking forward to writing it. Not sure when I'll finish this one, but I purposely didn't give myself a deadline. I'm taking my time with it. In fact, I was almost thinking of submitting this one somewhere instead of self-publishing it, I feel it's that important a story. No concrete plans yet, though. Just ideas so far.

So yeah. Relaxing weekend with not much planned sounds like a lovely idea. :)

Hope everyone has a nice weekend!

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Midweek Update Has No Idea What Day It Is

Thu, 16 Aug 2018 00:41:38 GMT

Seriously, I've been up since 6am London Time, took a ten-hour flight home (which included a monster marathon of reading and making revising notes for both In My Blue World and Apartment Complex) and it's currently 5:30 Pacific Time (12:30am London Time). So I've been up about eighteen hours and have been on a plane for most of them, and the time change has made me loopy. I'm not tired, just not running on all cylinders at the moment.

And tomorrow is the first of four (possibly five) days of driving down to San Jose for Worldcon. I'm hoping I'll be awake and conscious for most of it!

The IMBW revision is currently about a third of the way In (I think?) and while there are moments where it desperately needs more work, there are other moments where they're just fine and the only work needed is prose-tightening. I'm still a bit annoyed that this one's not nearly as up to snuff as I'd like, but I'm getting over it. It's not horrible, it's just not up to a level I'm happy with yet.

As for AC, I'm happy to say that one has definitely exceeded all expectations. I'm quite proud of this one, really. A few gaps I'll need to fill in, but aside from that, it's coming out just amazing. I can't wait to share this one once it's done.

Other than that, I'm doing okay. I'll probably pass out later tonight, have a good deep sleep, and be ready to go tomorrow. Hopefully!

Hope everyone's having a good week!

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Weekend Update Preps for Vacation

Sat, 28 Jul 2018 16:23:04 GMT

Woo! At this time next Saturday, we'll be getting ourselves squared away for our London trip. Our flight is in the early evening, so we'll most likely do some minimal grocery shopping (so we're not completely barren when we come back) and perhaps hit the gym before heading out. A. likes to be packed and ready to go a good few days ahead of time, so we'll probably take care of that on Thursday the latest. I'm definitely planning on bringing the nice camera (though I'm not sure if I'm going to bring the new lens), my tablet (for IMBW revision work) and of course my mp3 players (duh), but I'm probably going to be somewhat minimal this time out. I know we'll be hitting Waterstones so I can buy the new Becky Chambers book (yay!) so I'm probably not going to bring any books to read. Okay, maybe one. We'll see.

Speaking of IMBW... I'm still a bit nervous about it, because while there are some strong scenes and ideas, there are still some weak spots that I need to do a LOT of work on. Of course, I'm at the 'oh god this all SUCKS' point of the novel writing process, so I'm going to need to soldier through it and do the best I can. I know what needs to be fixed and how to do it, it's just a matter of doing it. At this point I've pushed the release to sometime in October to give myself enough time to finish it. [The stickers on my freebie cards will say 'coming autumn 2018' to keep it sufficiently vague.]

So what about the Apartment Complex story? Heh. I should probably get started on combining the 'what I have so far' of the story in Word form so I can gather it together, which will give me more to read during our trip. This current version is working out so much better than I'd expected, which makes me blissfully happy. The moment I'd decided NOT to force it in a specific direction and just let it flow naturally, it started to spill out of me. I believe one of the main reasons for this is that I'd decided *not* to hold back with certain aspects of the story. This one's very much about relationships: filial, parental, romantic, and communal. Every scene/chapter focuses on the relationship between the featured characters in some way. And I STILL don't have a title for it! Eesh. But the plus side is that it's evolving in a great way and I'm really looking forward to making this book one of my best. :)

Hope everyone has a nice weekend!

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Weekend Update Is Having a Nice Relaxing Weekend

Sun, 22 Jul 2018 15:46:18 GMT

Not too much to report this weekend...keeping busy with All the Writing, as always.

One thing I'm quite happy with is that I ordered the postcards for In My Blue World. Since it's only one cover and not three, I created a smaller 5x7 card (the trilogy card is a half-page). I also deliberately didn't put the entire book information on it, such as the release date or the ISBN -- which I don't have yet anyway -- so I can slap a 'coming soon' sticker on it. [And when I *do* get that info, I can put a label with that info on it then, and update the template for when I want to reorder.] They look really nice and I'm looking forward to handing them out at Worldcon!

Other writing news: coming up with new ideas and notes for a possible new Mendaihu Universe story! It's kind of funny, really...while writing some of these notes I actually had to stop and look up some planet names mentioned in the original trilogy that I couldn't remember! It's a good thing I'm a packrat and keep detailed notes! One thing that's surfacing with these sessions is that I think the story might expand to the other worlds that are part of the history but didn't get much stage presence in the original trilogy. [Another thing that's surfacing is that I seem to be creating another trilogy, where originally I was going to write a standalone, but this does not surprise me in the least.]

Anyhoo! Not much else going on today... going to head to the farmer's market, maybe do a bit of cleaning, and then get started on the coming week's blog entries.

Hope everyone has a nice week! :)

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Midweek Update Didn't Expect It to Be Midweek So Soon

Wed, 18 Jul 2018 18:27:38 GMT

The downside to keeping myself full-up with projects and Day Job stuff is that the week goes by ridiculously quickly. The upside, of course, being that this is the level of creatively busy that I enjoy. If I've got various burners going with novels and book cover artwork and what have you, then I'm definitely in my element and it's mostly smooth sailing. [Mind you, the corollary is that it's also the level of business-busy that I find irritating because it's all about conflicting moments of ridiculous questions and OMFG crises.]

The revision of In My Blue World is looking better. It still needs a lot of work, and I'm quite sure I'm not going to get close to my original end-of-month deadline, but I'm fine with that. I've pushed the tentative release date to mid-October to give myself a few more months to get it cleaned up. In the meantime I've created postcards for the book (I should be getting them in the mail tomorrow) that I can use in the meantime. I purposely left part of it blank so I can slap a 'coming soon' label on it until it's released, and then put the book/ISBN info on it afterwards, and then update the template accordingly when I need to reorder.

As for the Apartment Complex story, that one's coming along as well. It's taken some very interesting turns, especially now that I've decided not to hold back. By this, I mean that I'm giving the characters more freedom to do what they want to do, instead of trying to fit them into a mold. They're still operating within the context of the story, but personally I'm letting them do whatever feels right. This has brought up a lot of personality traits that I hadn't expected but make total sense. So yay, major obstacle sort of cleared!

As for Project Three -- yes, a THIRD project, one I'm utilizing one of the 750Words sessions for. It's a long-term project that probably won't see major work on it until next year, but right now I"m doing some pre-writing work. And what is it, you ask? Well! It's the long-awaited, occasionally-mentioned next book in the Mendaihu Universe! It's based on some ideas I had in 2015 that I'm playing around to see what I can work with. Right now I'm just doing character sketches and brief plot ideas, but signs are good that this may have legs. So yay new MU story! Will it be another trilogy? Good question. I'm leaving that up in the air for now... :)

Hope everyone's having a good week!

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Weekend Update Gets Creative

Sun, 15 Jul 2018 17:06:01 GMT

Yesterday was a search for sunlight. It's been overcast/foggy here in the city, and A. requested we go on a road trip somewhere where it was warm and clear. So! We drove down to Fry's in Palo Alto (I picked up a new lens for my nice camera that was a lot cheaper than I'd expected!) and drove back up via El Camino Real. Quite a nice drive, and it was nice to be out where it was a warm 80 degrees instead of an overly humid 65.

Also yesterday, instead of working on any writing, I spent a good three or so hours making the template for the postcards for In My Blue World. This took a little longer than expected, but I'm really happy with the result, especially since I chose to purchase another Shutterstock photo for the back instead of having it white with text and a smaller cover image. Interestingly it took the same amount of time for me to come up with the blurb text on the back as it did to tweak the picture! But it's done, so now I just need to give it one last once-over and then order a pack of them that I can use for future cons and elsewhere.

Meanwhile, this afternoon we'll be heading over to the Castro to see Yellow Submarine at the Castro Theater. I've been wanting to go there for ages and now I have a good reason! Yay! This will make the third time I've seen that movie on the big screen... I saw it at the Brattle in Cambridge back in 1999 when they released a major remaster of it, and the other was around the corner at the 4 Star a few years back (not sure of the reason for that one -- I think it was another format release?). This one will be for the 50th anniversary. Looking forward to it!

Then it's back to normal at the Day Job, and squeaking in as much writing work as I can...!

Hope everyone has a good week!

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Midweek Update Does the Needful

Wed, 11 Jul 2018 16:13:48 GMT

Wednesday already?? Eep! This month is going by far too quickly for my liking. Need to gt more done!! Yeah, I know, I'm doing a crapton of stuff already as it is. But at the same time it's working out just fine. The days are gong by fast because I purposely have a very full plate and I'm doing what needs doing to keep it running smoothly.

[Note to self: get off your ass and get those In My Blue World postcards created and printed for Worldcon already!!]

Made a concerted effort to mute a handful of people on Twitter lately. (Don't worry, none of you who follow me here as well.) Mostly the consistent doomcriers and retweets of doomcriers. Yes, I am well aware that bad things are going on. I just don't need the constant reminders or the nihilism. And I'm not blocking you, I'm merely making the sane move of having a somewhat positive social media feed.

Other news: It completely blows my mind that we'll be visiting London again in a few weeks! We've got a few exciting things lined up for it, and if we can, I'd love to meet up with some of our friends there. Of course, I'll be out of pocket and not posting (except maybe a fly-by or two), but I will most definitely be bringing my tablet so I can do another major revision/edit pass of In My Blue World. I do find that doing edit work (as well as behind-the-scenes notes and outtakes) is quite relaxing during vacation.

Okay, back into the trenches. Another busy day ahead! Have a good rest of the week, peeps!

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Weekend Update Is Getting There But Slowly

Sun, 08 Jul 2018 16:39:34 GMT

The start of a revision process always feels like it takes forever, doesn't it? I still feel like I haven't even made a dent on In My Blue World, even though I've been giving it a hard push over this last week. But considering that I'm now looking at the story as a whole instead of a series of 750Words sessions, I still don't have a sense of how long this story actually is. I know it's novel length, but I don't know the word count. [On the plus side, I've already strung together about 15k words, so I think I'm still on schedule.] My process here is that I've been copying a handful of those 750Words sessions and stringing them together in chapter form until I have about 15-20 pages to work with. It's working so far!

I spent a few hours yesterday fiddling with the book cover lat night, and I think I'm getting close with it. Bought the usage rights for the picture, played around with the filters, and made another attempt at the text. It still needs work, but it's getting there! Thanks to my friend and ex-roommate Bunny for teaching me a few nifty Photoshop tricks this morning that I can use for it! :) The plan here is to get the cover finished so I can create postcards in time for Worldcon.

So yeah, the first week of Revision Month seems to be going pretty well. Slow, but in the right direction!

As expected, though, I've been ridiculously busy. I'm also putting in time for the Apartment Complex story and other things, all while trying not to hide from the world. It's tricky, but I'm managing it so far!

Have a good weekend, everyone! :)

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Midweek Update Has a Bank Holiday

Wed, 04 Jul 2018 16:33:33 GMT

It's been kind of an odd week so far. Monday we woke up to having absolutely no hot water for most of the morning (our landlord emailed us late last night and got it fixed ASAP, so yay!), and then at around 9am our internet went out and stayed out until around 4pm. So basically: I couldn't shower until midmorning, and couldn't get online or do Day Job work at all.

So what did I do most of that day? Revision for In My Blue World, of course! I spent a good four hours or so on it, taking my time and shaping it into something that worked. It felt good to spend that long on it, since my openings are almost always the section that needs the most work! I'm still a bit nervous about getting this done in time for Worldcon, but I'm determined to get as far as I can with it. The fact that I'm working on that, AND writing the last few scenes for it, AND finding time to create the cover and postcards for it, AND writing scenes for the Apartment Complex story, AND dealing with the Day Job (and and fookin and :p ) is daunting of course, but again -- I'm determined. As long as I'm moving forward, that's all that matters.

[Oh -- and I made another mixtape that day too. Those are always fun to make, even after all these years! It takes exponentially less time to do nowadays, considering that I'm just taking a bunch of mp3 copies and shuffling them into an order I'm happy with and then retagging them, but it's still fun!]

We have today off, of course. No big plans, though I do have some blog work and writing work to do later on.

Hope everyone has a nice July 4th! :)

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Weekend Update Begins Revising His Latest Novel

Sun, 01 Jul 2018 15:48:59 GMT

July is already here and I've got a busy month ahead of me. I'm not entirely done with In My Blue World -- I probably have two or three more scenes to write before this draft is done -- but I still want to get started on the revision. I'd like to get as much of it done as I can by the end of this month so I have a new title to plug at Worldcon. The actual release date probably won't be until late August or even September, but as long as I have it mostly done and freebie cards mocked up and printed, I'm fine with that.

That being said, I'm going to make good on my plan and give myself some social media detox while I'm at it. I'll still pop up here twice a week along with my blog posts, of course. But I'll only be on Twitter and FB to plug my ebooks (There's a Smashwords sale going on this month! Go check it out!) and maybe say hello now and again. I just need to take a mental break from it for a bit.

So what else should I be doing this month? Well, I've got to read stuff for the Hugos! I downloaded the packet the other day and I just need to drop it all into my Nook. Surprisingly, I've already read most of the Best Novel nominations so I'm good there. I do quite enjoy reading the short stories and novellas for this -- I don't get around to reading them all that often (although I really should visit Tor.com more often, considering they always have some fine reading there) and this is a good time for me to get caught up with the good stuff.

New month, new goals.

Hope everyone has a good week! :)

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Midweek Update Is Keeping It Together

Wed, 27 Jun 2018 16:32:08 GMT

As you know, Bob, the news from Tuesday has broadened my temptation to gather together a group roadtrip to Foggy Bottom and environs to provide a mass dick-punching. So you may well expect that nerves and patience are raw for many at the moment.

But I digress.

Yesterday I tempered my ire by focusing on the positive in my life. I still had my words to work on; a novel to finish and another to expand upon. I have A here with me, the both of us celebrating our thirteenth anniversary on Thursday. [It just so happens that I'll be in Concord that day, but I should be home by afternoon as always. We don't have anything big planned other than another march on Saturday.] I've learned a long time ago that feeding the anger and helplessness does not help me at all; the best way for me to deal with it all is to find my own calm first before I do anything else.

As is usual, the FaceTwit universe feeling itchy as well. Twitter feels full of Subject Matter Experts and Facebook feels full of irate memes and it's wearing me thin. Perhaps it's time for me to take another detox session. Might not be a bad idea, considering I'll be stupidly busy all July working on revision. I''ll pop back in near the end of the month, just in time for Worldcon.

It's a tough world out there right now. Peace and love to y'all.

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Weekend Update Is Still On Schedule

Sat, 23 Jun 2018 15:44:02 GMT

It's a surprisingly warm weekend here in the Bay Area, already in the low 60s at 8am (that's a rarity here!). A and I are going to do a bit of walking today, going up to Fillmore for some shopping, and perhaps down to Japantown (a few blocks away from where we'll be) for lunch. But right now I'm watching the news and realizing just how many things are going on in the area this weekend! A race up at Sonoma Raceway, and not one but THREE pride marches in town (Trans March was last night, the Dyke March is today, and the Pride March is tomorrow). We take our pride seriously here, yo.

There's also the fact that I *think* I have a few books waiting for me at Green Apple, but I have yet to hear from them...

In other news, I just hit the major climactic scene on In My Blue World last night (woo!) so now I need to start winding it all back down. I'm still on schedule for finishing the book by the end of this month! I do feel like I've rushed it just a bit, but I'm okay with that. I have a month and a half to get a good portion of it in shape with revision. I've done it in that amount of time in the past, so I think I can do it again. Added to that, I'm quite happy with the scene I just finished last night for the Apartment Complex story as well. All in all, a really good couple of writing sessions yesterday!

The Day Job training session I had to go to wasn't nearly as much of a pain in the ass as I thought it would be -- it was long, but the person running it actually made it fun so it wasn't a complete slog. [I still have a few points of contention with what they're trying to roll out here, but they're at least being realistic about it.] One more trip to Concord next Thursday for the quarterly meeting (and yay, free food!) and I'll have made my quota for office visits for the next couple of months. Heh.

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend!

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