Category: Revision Hell

I dreamed about the Equus story last night.  I wanted to write it so badly this morning, but I know it’s a decoy.  It would be “easy” and Revision Xibalba is “hard.”  No matter how pretty and shiny the new idea is, I must stay the course.

I got a slow start — at one point I e-mailed Jenna and admitted I only had 79 words — but I finally found my rhythm.  The scene is up to 1022 words and not yet finished.  A new character trait came out for a secondary character, so I need to go back and weave it in to lay the ground work.  I also need to think of an appropriate office weapon that could kill someone.  Self defense, of course.  My Beloved Sis already used the stapler…

Update:  Added roughly 20 some scenes to my daysheet (up to 47 now).  I still feel like I have some holes, especially in Tara’s (red) POV, but I decided to just let it go, get what I know down, and then I can print the thing off and eyeball it for symmetry and balance.  Maybe I need to trim back her scenes.  I have her pretty well balanced against Quinn right now, but maybe she doesn’t need so much screen time. 

That’s the thing about plotting.  I don’t believe it should ever be “perfect.”  If it were perfect down to the finest detail, why bother writing the story?  What’s left to discover?  If plotting ceases to be a tool and becomes an alabatross around my neck, why keep bemoaning water (plot) everywhere and not a drop to drink?  Ditch the thing!  

I do find the daysheet helpful for weaving multiple threads, though, so I’m going to keep at it.  I’m not going to stress about not having it perfect and finished, though.  By then, I could write the damned book. 

 

Also came up with the opening line for Return to Shanhasson today, subject to a hundred revisions (openings kill me).  I know exactly how the story ends.  I know the horrible inciting event.  I know many yummy bits in between.  It’s the timing of the beginning quarter or so that is still not worked out in my mind.  I’m hoping to work out some of those kinks before NaNoWriMo.

I woke up with a brand new story in my head this morning.  While That Man watched the Chiefs lose, I jotted the whole thing start to end on about 40 notecards.

It is *far* from anything I’ve written.  Even riskier than Letters and ANTs and that’s saying something.  I hope I get to write it, and soon.  The working title is Mei Bellus Equus.

Despite the temptation, I returned to Revision Hell this evening.  I shuffled the next few scenes around in my daysheet, edited the next section in Jaid’s POV, and pasted in the new scene in Quinn’s POV that I wrote yesterday after some light polishing.  The story is up to 97 pages now and I’m ready for a new scene in Tara’s POV tomorrow morning.  So about 25% finished, I’m guessing.

The bad news:  I’m pretty much out of scenes in my daysheet.  I need to sit down and really grind out the proper scene order but I need uninterrupted time to concentrate, which is few and far between.  I guess maybe I should have done that yesterday, but I was too eager to write that new scene.  It ended up pretty horrible–in a good way–too. 

Yes, it’s the weekend, and yes, I’m WRITING!!!  *snoopy dance*

Two of the monsters have birthday parties today.  The first is at Incredible Pizza, a “Chuck E Cheese” sort of nightmare place with games.  That Man didn’t want to leave Littlest Monster there by herself for her party, and at the same time wanted to do something special with Middle Monster since she’s feeling left out today because she wasn’t invited to any parties, so he took them ALL with him.

Leaving me at home.  Oh, joy, rapture.  Two whole hours (at least) of peace and quiet!

So I’m writing the new scene in Quinn’s POV, 647 words so far.  Meanwhile, thank God for the internet.  I’ve looked up city maps for San Marcos, Round Rock, and Waco TX so far, and found exactly what I needed.  I’ve also used MapQuest to get driving times up I35 from Laredo.  The bad guys are less than two hours away from the big D, Quinn’s hometown, and he’s getting ready to stumble upon some bad, bad things on the Brazos River….

Up to 1179 words but I’m not finished with the scene.  I ended up at a zoo and I’m waiting for the bad guys to make an appearance.  They’re there — I just don’t know when they’re going to jump out.  I think they’ll scare me as badly as Quinn.   

Heading into the kitchen to start chili for dinner.  No sign of the monsters or That Man yet.

Finished the scene at 2571 words.  Even got in a few static traits, which tickles me to no end.  Of course the bad guy got away — it’s way too early in the story for anything less than failure by the good guys!

I worked on smoothing and organizing my daysheet in the car as we drove over to visit Grandma K.  I’m through the first 80 pages now and feel like the balance of scenes is pretty solid now.

I’m ready to write the next new scene in Quinn’s POV.

The next 20-40 pages are going to need some shuffling.  I start swapping between the hero/heroine POVs more, which means more threads to manage as I weave in the new POVs.  I’m hoping to get a nice chunk of reorganization done this weekend, but I’ll just have to see.  I’m not taking any vacation until 10/24 and the monsters are out of school, so likely little writing will get done.

I guess I’m about 20% through the manuscript, which is depressing.  I hoped to be further along by now.

Yesterday was exactly why I decided to start getting up D&E.  With the monsters, Evil Day Job, and That Man, I simply cannot count on having any time at all in the evenings to write.  At least if I get up at the butt crack of dawn, no one else is up and I have an hour or two to myself.

Today was much better, even though I didn’t get up quite as early as I hoped.  I did get to bed well before 10 but That Man stayed up until 11 and so I didn’t sleep deeply until then (and of course woke up when he came in). 

Good progress this morning.  Another 712 words to finish up this new scene.  Now I need to go through the next several scenes (that are done) and figure out the best placement for the next new scene in Quinn’s POV.

Writing is a journey.  Today was a test of will.

It all started wrong as far back as last night.  I didn’t get any additional writing done last night, although I do have 3 of my Eppie entries read.  I didn’t get to bed until very late and I was already tired.  I barely got up in time for the Evil Day Job this morning, let alone Dark & Early for writing, so I felt very bad sending the sheepish note to my accountability partner that I’d overslept.  Then minutes before leaving for school, Littlest Monster notified me that she was ill.  From her symptoms, I immediately assumed she had a bladder infection.

I got the other two kids to school and made her an appointment, but she couldn’t be seen until 2:35.  My Dad (Papa from Mexico) came by to entertain her for awhile while I worked, and then That Man got home well before lunch, so I didn’t have to take a whole day of sick leave.  We pushed fluids and she seemed to be feeling much better.

So much better that the Doctor doesn’t think she had an infection at all.  *scratches head*  She had some pretty distinctive symptoms, so it’ll be interesting to see if the culture comes back in a few days.  Anyway, the doctor did talk us into the flu shot while we were there, which LM was *not* pleased about.  I still need to go back next month for the other two monsters (and LM will need to get her second one).  Joy.

Of course then it was time to drive home in rush hour traffic.  We stopped by the local consignment store and I let LM pick out a toy while I shopped for some pants for her.  (Middle Monster wears all her jeans out long before LM can inherit them.)  I fantasized about the possibility of dinner on the table for us when I got home (after all, That Man had been home all afternoon and dinner was pulled pork which I’d already cooked earlier in the week), but alas, that bubble was quickly burst.  I can count the number of times he’s made dinner for me on one hand.

So then it’s dinner, dishes, and check in at work and make up some time, and then homework and library books and…

*do you see WRITING anywhere in there?*

So here it is, nearly 9:00 p.m. and I’m exhausted and so pissed off I can’t see straight because the day is just gone.  I refused to watch TV with That Man (he insists that’s “quality time”) so I could get at least a little writing done.  However, I swore to myself I’d be in bed at 9:30 tonight and asleep by 10:00, so I don’t have much time.  Let’s see how much I can accomplish.

791 words in the new scene.  Heading to bed as promised after I prep the coffee pot for D&E tomorrow.

I obviously can’t count.  I missed RX Day 9 but I guess I’ll continue with this sequencing.

I got a late start today.  I always set two alarms:  one for Dark & Early; one as my failsafe in case I oversleep.  I almost missed the failsafe alarm today, too.  Or worse, some mornings I turn the failsafe off (so I don’t wake up That Man), and then accidentally fall back asleep myself.  Those are always scary close calls.  I have this dread fantasy some day I’ll wake up at like 9 a.m. and we’ll all be late for work and school.

Yes, I admit, I have a bit of a compulsive obsession when it comes to the alarm clock.  Really big days — like important interviews or catching a red-eye plane — I wake up and check the damned thing at least a dozen times.

Anywho, I didn’t get a lot done today, but I did fix that continuity issue I mentioned.  I’ve always struggled with the passage of time in a story.  Ironic, isn’t it, when I am obsessed with my own alarm clock?

At this point, I’m obviously not going to finish Revision Xibalba by the end of the month unless a miracle happens and the laundry, cooking, and housecleaning fairies finally do show up.  So I’m not sure what I’ll do about NaNoWriMo yet.  I really want to participate but I can’t put this time-sensitive project on the backburner.  I’ll think about that tomorrow I guess.

Goals tonight:

1. Get a start on the next new scene
2. Keep grinding away on that day sheet.

Today was an editing day.  I went through 23 pages this morning.  Some had been fairly well edited in the past, but a few minor things needed to be changed to bring it up to the current timeline/flow.  Then I also smoothed in a brand new section.  I have 4 more pages to edit, and then the first 3 chapters are solid.

Goals tonight:

1. Finish Chapter 3.  Done.
2. Work on Day Sheet.  Worked on it awhile but it’s nowhere near finished yet.  I’m still having a hard time getting the righ balance between old and new.
3. Made notes on a few things I need to fix–another timing issue I need to clarify.  Also jotted a few ideas for the new scene I’ll tackle in the morning.

I had to do some triage today.  Despite all my planning, timelining, and day sheet (at least for the first half of the book), I realized I had a significant time error this morning.

It had been going so well.  This new section adds some really nice suspense and tension to the story (and gore, but that’s why May calls me the Sister of the Severed Hand).  I needed a bit of a break between Jaid’s argument with her current boyfriend and the break in, and this scene fit the bill perfectly.  However… I had one scene happening at night and the other happening in the morning, and the follow up scene just minutes later at night.  Doh!!

Looking at my day sheet (both lines said “day 1” which was correct, but obviously not helpful), I couldn’t figure out how to get it to work.  If I moved the morning scene up in the story–it wasn’t believeable for my bad guys to move from Guatemala to Mexico to Laredo that quickly.  If I moved the scene later to Jaid’s “next morning”, then I had too many scenes in a row in her POV and a serious hole in the placement of Quinn’s “green” thread.

It’s dumb, but little things like this can really derail a project.  If you let it.

I finally decided to change Quinn’s scene around to night time instead of day so it would fit.  In the end, I think it works even better that way — it gives the bad guys nearly 24 hours to make their trip — and lets me break up Jaid’s ordinary world with a high action scene that literally screams.  Her world is going to change in a heartbeat and it’s only a few pages away.

So not a lot of “new” words exactly, but a serious hole fixed.  We’re going to Granny’s this weekend to pick apples, and I’ve got tons of crap to do around the house so I don’t know what kind of writing I’ll get done.  I’ll just have to fit it in the best I can.

Happy Friday!