Category: Trainwrecks & Ghosts

  • The Schedule is Dead, Long Live the Schedule

    <SQUEAK> Rule number one in writing for a living: Things Change. If you want to keep eating, sometimes they change quickly. Books now comprise 276 working days, up from 251. That’s 88 buffer days, but NONE OF THEM can be front-ended to Hawkspar. Here’s my new schedule: ============================= Finish HAWKSPAR and have it in on…

  • Goals for the Day

    One: Three thousand words on HAWKSPAR. Two: Finish the second draft of the proposal for RED GLASS BOX. Clair won’t be able to look at it until the end of next week, so I have time to refine it, rethink some more, and make sure that it sings. Three: Finish the article "I Hate Writing…

  • Synopis is Turning into Outline

    At this point, RED GLASS BOX is about 2000 words long, and is much more an outline than a synopsis. But I think I’m going to go ahead and run with that. I’m having to figure out a couple of other things that are not precisely writing related, so I’m done for the day. Pleased…

  • Back To Work

    Did not sleep worth a damn last night. Had three — count ’em, THREE — nightmares: one about being on an aircraft carrier that was under fire; one about a schoolteacher in possession of an unregistered weapon who dumped a bunch of stolen money in my backpack; and the last one about being questioned by…

  • Synopsis Half Written

    Done for the day. Have to think some more about the ending.

  • Progress, but Not a Lot

    I went though the story very linearly the first time. This time I’m asking more questions, getting more of a feel for my characters — but the fact is, I’m trying in three hundred words or less to nail a story that’s going to end up being about 100,000 words long. There just isn’t all…

  • Thinking RED GLASS BOX

    I’m opening up Inspiration now. Going to sit down with my characters, with the story I’ve already figured out, and with the nagging gut feeling that I’ve missed the boat somewhere, and see if I can find the magical twists and turns that will make this story sing. My only goal here is to have…

  • Done, Mostly

    Got my three thousand words plus change. Finished out at 7454. This afternoon, I’ll work on character development for RED GLASS BOX, and see if I can get a better direction for that synopsis.

  • Working Since Four AM

    Have already written a complete series overview and three novel thumbnails set within the series and sent that to Robin. Am now working up one-page synopses for Claire for the two ideas that interested her (of the three I proposed).

  • New Year, New Books — Clearing the Deck

    I’ve cleared my desk (which took all of two minutes — with good shelves and a carefully thought-out organizational system, I’ve discovered I can be a tidy writer after all). I’ve pulled LAST GIRL DANCING from my active files and my WIP Progress meter. Have opened HAWKSPAR and moved it into the first spot on…