... that would be me.

The Scene From Hell is finished. Longest 2,000 words of my life.

I am now going to watch an episode of Veronica Mars, and maybe eat some chocolate...

Forgot to mention that I also bought Marie Brennan's Midnight Never Come at the weekend:





swan_tower's book looks fantastic - I can't wait to read it.

But I am going to wait, because right now I am reading the gorgeous:





By Venom's Sweet Sting is the second Hallowmere book, and I can't believe I took so long getting around to reading it. tltrent rocks! :)

No spoilers, don't worry all the US peeps on my f-list. But... bloody hell. Yesterday's episode... Wow...

It's not so much the episode itself that was great (which it was), but the trailer for next week's. Episode 6 looks pretty jaw-droppping. The title is apparently: *mutter mutter* O_O Did I say, wow?

*faints*

So I reached:

20,056 / 60,000 (33.4%)

on DOL, which is great news. But... hold the congratulations. *takes deep breath*

I think I might be writing this book in the wrong POV. When I first started this project I was writing it in 1st-person. Then I felt like it wasn't working, so I switched to 3rd and everything flowed. But now I'm not so sure. (I know, I know. I wait until I'm a third of the way through the bloody thing to start thinking about this! *g*)

The story is only told from my MC's POV - there aren't any other POVs - and much of the power of it comes from the transformation she goes through, and the emotional impact of that. I'm not sure that 3rd-person is allowing me to dig deep enough into her psyche and really mine that emotional content. I feel a little bit too distanced from her - and if I'm feeling like that, what about a reader? I mean, it's ok as it is I think... But maybe 'ok' isn't good enough.

Maybe if I try rewriting a chapter in 1st-person and see how it looks/feels... Contemplating this is a pretty huge deal, but I want it to be the best piece of work I can produce. Better to try it now than find it's something that needs to happen when the whole draft is complete!

... I did my civic duty and voted in the London Mayoral elections.

I am a firm believer in our right to vote, even if I don't think much of any of the main candidates! We just have to make the best of it and try to consider who will do the best job of managing our beautiful city.

These are the books I devoured in the last month. As you can see, it's been a month of YA fiction - both contemporary and fantasy:

Tithe, Holly Black (Finally! It took me long enough to read this gorgeous book.)
Ironside, Holly Black
Thirteen Reasons Why, Jay Asher
Vintage, Steve Berman
Total Constant Order, Crissa-Jean Chappell (Wow!)
Firebirds Rising, ed. Sharyn November (still reading this anthology)

No reviews necessary - I enjoyed every single one and highly recommend them all.

Took me longer than I thought - and I lost almost 2,000 words in the process - but DOL is heading in the right direction again. For now... ;P

I should hit 16k tonight before I switch off the laptop. I am aiming to make 20k on Saturday, even while taking a day off from writing on Friday. I need to make up those lost words!

Huh. I just took my first major wrong turn in this new book. It's not so bad - I don't think I have to go back too far to fix things and get my characters back on track.

*note to self* This is the problem with not outlining...

Back to work!

kt_coope is a Very Bad Influence for introducing me to Google Reader. I have just spent the best part of this evening subscribing to my favourite non-LJ blogs so I can read them all in one handy format. And check my email at the same time. *faints*

Luckily, I made time to write 1,100 words on DOL. Ha! Take that, procrastination! ;)

Despite the family day yesterday, I put in some extra time on DOL late last night and managed almost 2,000 words. Today I've written a little more than 3,000 which means I made my goal of 5K for the weekend! Yay! *feels proud*

My head hurts, but I'm sure some chocolate will sort that out... ;)

15,145 / 60,000 (25.2%)

Hope you all had productive/relaxing weekends.

*sigh*

Now I know why I don't have children of my own... My brother is here with my little niece. Plans for a good word count today have been thwarted.

Ah, well. Back to playing skittles in the garden. :)

It's starting to feel a bit like that, now. :)


YA urban fantasy - "DOL"

10,104 / 60,000 (16.8%)

So I managed 700 words on DOL last night - a bit short of my goal. I am determined to make up for lost words later. :)

With that in mind, and also considering that I have a couple of busy days ahead, I am declaring this LJ a blog-free zone until the weekend.

I will catch up with you all then! As usual, I'll still be checking my emails so give me a shout if you need me. See you soon...

Yesterday I just about made my 1,000 words. I'm going to try to do the same later, now that I'm home from work. If I can keep that up during the week, I can boost my word count at weekends. That's the plan, anyway...

No teasers, as there were a couple of tiny ones at the weekend.

Today it was so warm! It feels like we missed out on spring entirely, and skipped straight to summer.

I am writing a book I love, I actually had fun at the Day Job and the sun was shining. Not a bad day! :)

...but with a cat wrestling my laptop for space on my lap, this is no easy task.

*sigh*

I've been tagged by olmue. Wow! All this time on LJ and I've never been tagged before... *feels special* Here are the rules:

1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people and post a comment to whoever tagged you once you've posted your three sentences.

Okay, so I'll play. The book nearest to hand at this moment in time is Elizabeth Bear's Blood and Iron, which I was actually considering re-reading. Here are the three sentences:

He grinned up at Fyodor, half human reassurance and half baring of teeth.

Fyodor twisted over his shoulder to stare at Keith, one curl falling across his forehead. "I have had enough of revolution, I think."

I love this book!!

I tag the following five people (though I know a lot of you are away at RT or just plain busy, so no pressure):
reneesweet, sora_blue, skarrah, queenoftheskies and stephanieburgis.

...when you're writing a scene and find yourself holding your own breath along with the main character, right?

I finally remembered why I love writing so much! Thank you, Writing Gods. That is all.

*goes back to inflict more pain on poor Max*

Here are reneesweet's notes from the editor/agent panel she attended at RT this week. She's taken the time to write them up and share some great info. Thanks, Renee! :)

Fantastic essay by the talented author of Eat, Pray, Love. Check it out:

Some Thoughts On Writing

relliott4 - the lovely Rinda Elliott!!

Rinda has recently accepted representation from Miriam Kriss of the Irene Goodman Literary Agency. Her long-running blog, The Write Snark, has been a regular haunt of mine for a while so it's good to see her cross-posting over here. When you get a moment, go over and friend her - please make her feel welcome.

Looking forward to seeing you over at fangs_fur_fey soon, Rinda! ;)