Tag: Edgewood

Thinking aloud

Perhaps you are aware that I love lists, especially to-do lists, though I rarely refer to them after they’re written. It’s the act of writing them that helps me arrange things in my mind. Yes, I’ll do this first, and then that, which will take about this long, after which I’ll have just enough time for this other thing. Oh, and I can’t forget that I have to, etc.

So here’s my list for today.

  • Write 1,000 words of a new scene for Chapter Seven of my novel Edgewood, accompanied by my third cup of tea for the day.
  • Write a short article about space garbage for the SAT tutoring center where I work.
  • Prepare some SAT material for teaching tomorrow morning.
  • Edit an article about missions for a press where I freelance.
  • Lunch, accompanied by an episode of Firefly, perhaps “Out of Gas.”
  • Grade students’ in-class writing online and give feedback about their in-progress essay drafts.
  • Write PowerPoint presentations/lecture notes for next week, since I will be busy Sunday afternoon when I usually do so.
  • Read about half of Children of Dune by Frank Herbert.
  • Have a lovely dinner at the Cheesecake Factory with a good friend from graduate school.

Will I get it all done? Probably not. I’ll work on all of it, but I might not finish all the projects completely, particularly those related to grading and lecture prep. The dinner, however, is a sure thing–my reward for working hard!

December 2011

And to wrap up 2011, here’ s the Stuff I’ve Been Reading post for this month.

  1. Edgewood by Moi. Lest you think it mere padding to put my own novel on the list, I assure you that I sat down and read it front to end like a proper book. Which, of course, it is.
  2. The Magician King by Lev Grossman.
  3. The Hammer by K. J. Parker.
  4. Solstice Wood by Patricia A. McKillip (25%).
  5. The Darkness that Comes Before by R. Scott Bakker (20%).
  6. The Writer’s Notebook: Craft Essays from Tin House by Dorothy Allison, et. al.
  7. The Kingdom of Gods by N. K. Jemisin. The godling Sieh is the narrator of this exciting conclusion to Jemisin’s first–but I hope not her last–trilogy.
  8. Miracle and Other Christmas Stories by Connie Willis. As it was a book I received for Christmas last year, I thought this read would be apt in December: gently Christmas-themed stories, all.
  9. Hogfather by Terry Pratchett. Christmas in the Discworld is called Hogswatch–but what will happen to belief if the Hogfather is…inhumed…by the Assassins Guild? As it turns out, the sun may not rise. This book was also my first Christmas present (thanks, Sherri!).
  10. The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin. Once you get past the turtle aliens, you realize this book is all about good stewardship of Earth’s natural resources.
  11. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell. It was beautiful historical fiction, about a Dutch clerk in Japan during the 1800s; but Cloud Atlas remains my favorite David Mitchell novel.
  12. Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton. The back-cover blurb by Jane Yolen advertises this novel as Pride and Prejudice with dragons, and it’s really spot-on: a positive delight to read.
  13. Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper. A reread, this first book in the Dark Is Rising Sequence is something I picked up on a lark as I was arranging my new acquisitions on the shelf.
  14. The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper.

Best Christmas Book: Hogfather

Best Sequel: The Kingdom of Gods

Best Fantasy: Tooth and Claw and The Magician King

Goodbye, 2011, and hello, 2012. I hope and trust that the new year will be filled with many excellent books.

I hope you like To-Do lists

I hope you like To-Do lists, because I seem to write a lot of them. But it’s a safe bet that if I’m not thinking about the book I’m writing or the book I’m reading, I’m thinking about things I have to get done.

Today: I just finished my word count for the day, so I’m at 45,45o; that’s only Chapter Ten remaining. And now I have to grade papers in an uber-serious way. Like about four hours of grading. And then I reward myself with Terry Pratchett.

Tomorrow:

  • 8:00-8:50. Teach.
  • 9:30-10:45. Grade papers.
  • 11:00-11:50. Teach.
  • 12:00-12:30. Lunch.
  • 1:00-2:20. Teach.
  • 3:00-5:00. Write 2,000 words.
  • Dinner.
  • Evening. Read and relax.

Tuesday: Write 3,000 words. Win NaNoWriMo with one day to spare. Celebrate and decompress for the rest of the day.

That was a lot of food

1. Many Food. I just got back from a trip to see friends and family during which time I was either eating out or eating in. Turkey and ham. Mexican and Italian. Two kinds of apple pie.

2. Plus Some Shopping. I also did Black Friday shopping, although no doorbusting. I bought I Shall Wear Midnight by Terry Pratchett, though it is not yet clear how the protagonist Tiffany Aching, witch, intends to do so. No matter. There are Nac Mac Feegle, so the book is spectacular. If you don’t know who the Nac Mac Feegle are, you need to read The Wee Free Men right away.

3. But Mostly Words. Oh yeah, and I also wrote nearly ten thousand words during the duration of the trip. Despite having been in the car for almost six hours today, I’m exactly on schedule with my word count, at just shy of six thousand words to the end of the novel. That’s the end of Chapter Nine and all of Chapter Ten. Four days left. I plan to finish on the twenty-ninth, but if not, it’ll be the thirtieth. Either way, I will have written a novel that I quite like and for which I have serious and exciting revision plans in December and January.

Seven quirks

Seven Quirks about This Writer, Rarely Discussed

With apologies to Ann Beattie and The Book Bench.

  1. The best writing happens while wearing pajamas, sitting up in bed, smothered in blankets, with a cup of tea at hand. Two hours under these circumstances can produce in excess of two thousand words, which will probably get tossed away later, as this writer is a gleeful and unabashed draft writer.
  2. In the event that writing in bed is impossible, writing at the desk in pajamas and a bathrobe can sometimes produce the same psychological effects of comfort, security, and ease. Tea is still required.
  3. Most writing of any length is performed on the computer, with Microsoft Word as the processor of choice. Pages are numbered in the top right corner, and Times New Roman (size twelve, double spaced) demonstrates the influence that this writer’s academic career has had on her formatting preferences.
  4. In the absence of a computer, creative work is recorded in the writer’s Moleskine, of which she is filling her eighth. Her pen of choice is a black Sharpie pen, since it has a fine point and does not smear or soak through the page. She writes about two hundred words to the page, in ugly handwriting that is a blend of print and cursive. The words may be unattractive, but she likes the look of pages that are full.
  5. The writer rarely eats while writing, preserving food as a reward when writing goals are completed. Favorite snacks are Dove dark chocolates, of which she consumes only two per day. Panera Bread is also an acceptable prize for significant achievements. Sometimes she will even allow herself a cookie.
  6. The writer cannot abide wide-ruled paper, or reporter-style notebooks that open from the top.
  7. Early drafts of stories are readily discarded. The writer feels that it is no business of posterity’s that she chose to rename the protagonist four times and that she excised the entire first paragraph and replaced the word “verily” with “in truth.” She enjoys frustrating graduate students of the future who lack dissertation subjects. They will simply have to read the published versions and be satisfied.
Design a site like this with WordPress.com
Get started