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It took me quite a while to be able to continue writing the novel again, partly because I had left it out of my mind for so long that I had forgotten a great deal of what I had written. I rarely enjoy reading my first drafts, either, so it wasn't a very appealing idea to have to back over it.
It wasn't as bad as I expected, though, and reading just a few lines here and there brought most of it back to me pretty quickly. Progress continues! I am excited that the book is still alive.
In a completely uncharacteristic move, I offered the print-out of what I have so far to my wife for her to read. I am very nervous about this. She's the only person besides myself who will have read the story in its current state. I trust her to be kind, however.
I've added a field to the left where you can enter your email address if you want, and I'll send you notification when this blog is updated.
Okay, so I totally forgot about Write Night. My friend didn't, though, so kudos to him.
Truth is, I was deeply engrossed in writing a new song, so it could have been worse. At least I was involved with creating something.
I'm feeling the itch to get back to the book more and more every day, though. so I may not wait until next Write Night to have a go at some new pages.
In other news, I've started the other blog I've mentioned a few times in the past. It focuses on my translation business. You can check it out here:
Translate This!
It's been a while since I've posted here. Nothing has been done on the book since I last checked in, except a lot of thinking about it. That may be a good thing.
I kind of stalled out with my site redesign because I can't get things to look right on my Mac. I'm still going to try and overcome that and I am planning on starting a blog related to my business, which will be updated very frequently (hopefully as frequently as my past journals). This blog will continue as well, though only in relation to my book.
Stay tuned.
I'm currently working on a broad site re-design. I'm having horrible problems with the layout as far as how it looks on my Mac in IE 5, I think due to the "float" CSS tag. Bear with me...
Well, looky here. Things are starting to look a little better around here. I haven't tested this out on the Mac yet - I'm sure it'll look horribly wrong on some platform or another. But it doesn't look bad from where I'm sitting right now.
This weekend was fantastic as far as writing goes. I caught all the way up to where I'm supposed to be with the daily quota, and managed to write some sections that I thought were really interesting in the process. The writing might not be so hot, but the concepts are good, and it's the concepts that will count later during the painstaking revision process.
It's clear to me now that 50,000 words will be a great achievement for me, but it will not be the end of my novel. If my book ended there, it would be a pretty disappointing story I think. I may be carrying the plot along a little slowly right now, but I'll have to see how it turns out when I get to where I'm going. Pacing can be fixed later, as well.
Breanna finally posted an excerpt, which is very dramatic and exciting and makes me want to read more of what she's writing. Hopefully there will be more to follow.
Okay, enough procrastination. It's time for dinner, then to meet my daily writing quota (so meager compared to the thousands of words I churned out yesterday... yee haw!)
Due to horrible aching back pain, I wasn't able to write yesterday. I could barely sit. Today wasn't much better but I spent most of it strapped to an electric blanket (functioning as a heating pad), which enabled mobility as long as I didn't leave its protective warmth for too long. This is very uncomfortable and I hope it stops soon.
I updated the design of this site slightly, something I've been meaning to do for some time. It's still got a ways to go but I like the start I've made.
Very close to 25,000 words now, though still nearly a week behind. I feel that I'm on the verge of a couple of good solid days that will take me back up to where i need to be. We'll see if I manage it.
An excerpt of the latest stuff is in the extended entry.
Driving home to Vermont from the City was like slowly sinking beneath the surface of a lake. At the start of the journey, all was noise and chaos. The bustle and movement of the City was in motion all around, its lights and activity unavoidable to the eye. At first, each city block seemed more alive than the one previous. The City seemed to go on forever.
Then, slowly, though only after a substantial amount of distance had been covered, the commotion and movement begin to calm. The surface of the lake opened up underneath.
With each passing mile, more and more fell away and the immeasurable calm and beauty of the water beneath rose closer and closer until finally there was a point when Peter knew that all of it was behind him, above him, beyond the surface of the serene border through which he had just passed. Beneath and ahead was only the tranquil beauty of life untouched by the machinery and confusion of the City, of life above water.
