Writerly Wackiness

Seriously, how is this weekend almost over already?

Because life has gotten progressively more insane this month, I'm going let my productivity reports fall by the wayside, at least in their current format.  When I didn't have job craziness* to worry about, the productivity posts helped keep me on track, but for now, I think I'll be just fine without reporting in on a regular basis.  And I'm sure none of you care so deeply about my exercise routine and music practice habits that you'll miss hearing about them.  I'll still post about things I'm reading, though likely not on such a "here's how many chapters I read this week" detail level.  And to live up to the blog title, I will of course keep posting about that wacky writing thing.

Reading: Finished The Dramatist's Toolkit, and I definitely recommend it to anyone interested in playwriting.  Actually, it's got some useful things to offer for short story and novel writers as well, particularly when it comes to approaching character, scenes and dialogue (not too surprisingly, it was on a list of books to reference for TNEO last year when we were focusing on dialogue).  One of the things I like most about the book is that it's very straightforward and practical, and it helped me reach a place where I feel like I can finally tackle some of those play ideas I've been kicking around.  Now the question is which idea to run with first.

Next up on the reading list: my shiny new copy of Writers of the Future XXIV, courtesy of the kindly j_cheney 

Writing:  At last, I finally finished revising the first scene of chapter 5.  That only took forever.  I would have gotten more work on the second scene done too if I hadn't been an idiot and forgotten to bring the pages that need revising on the train with me Thursday.

*I should specificy that while there is much job craziness, it's good job craziness. When I'm this stressed out yet still like what I'm doing, it's a very good sign.

It's been a weird week.  And I start my new job on Monday, so next week will likely be even weirder.

Reading
Finished Bitterwood earlier this week. For my continued reading adventures, I'm taking a short break from fiction with The Dramatist's Toolkit: The Craft of the Working Playwright by Jeffrey Sweet.  I've been toying with the idea of writing a play for a while now, but despite lots of involvement with the theatrical world, I feel totally ill-prepared to write one. I was hoping to find a playwriting course I could take this summer, but no such luck.  Most of what I found was for teens.  The only local one for adults was an online course, but I'd really prefer something in person. So in lieu of a class, I thought I'd tackle this book and see if it helps jump start my inner-playwright.

Exercise
I've been saddled with an annoying cough since last week, so I've been taking it easy on the exercise front.  A little bit of yoga, but not much else.  And today's exercise will be helping my aunt move stuff.

Music
Coughed my way through choir rehearsal Wednesday night.  Singing has been aggravating the cough in general, which frustrates me to no end.  It doesn't hamper the piano playing, though, so I've at least been keeping up with that without a problem.

Writing
I've been productivity-challenged in the writing department this week. A little bit of slogging through My Big Fat Epic Fantasy Novel, but that's it.  I'm hoping to achieve something resembling real progress this afternoon and tomorrow.

Reading
Through chapters 15-18 in Bitterwood.  Also finished the audio book of The Road, which didn't end as bleakly as I thought it would.  I give it a thumbs up overall.

Exercise
It's looking like I'm going to slack today, but I'll make up for it tomorrow.  Otherwise, I've been keeping to the routine.

Music
Keeping on top of my piano lessons and practicing.  Monday was the last regular rehearsal of the season for the chorus I sing with.  We have a dress rehearsal tonight and a concert Sunday, and then it's only church choir and some solo stuff on my plate through June.  I'm kind of dreading tonight's rehearsal.  We've done the concert once already and have had two regular rehearsals since then to brush up on the music, but I have the feeling that we're still going to go through everything in its entirety and then some instead of just doing what's necessary to adjust to a different space and acoustics.  I wish we had spent more time on Carmina Burana (particularly the diction--I tend to pick that stuff up pretty easily, but I'm hearing a lot of mush around me), but the other pieces on the program (especially our chamber choir pieces) have been beaten to death, and then backed over with a truck for good measure.  Rehearsing is important, but there comes a point of diminishing returns.

Writing
I've been hit or miss with the writing this week.  Some days I've been super productive girl.  Other days, like today, a little tinkering is about all I seem capable of accomplishing. On the plus side, I finished rewriting chapter 4 of My Big Fat Epic Fantasy Novel.  On the downside, that's only because I'm splitting what was originally one long chapter into two smaller ones.  Either way, I'm about 11,400 into the rewrite.

Reading
Got through chapters 11 and 12 in Bitterwood this week.  I've also been listening to more of The Road in the car, and that--well, "enjoying" doesn't seem like the right word for this kind of book.  But I'm hooked.

Exercise
Except for yesterday, I kept on top of the routine.  But I think slacking yesterday was probably a good thing.  My left leg was sore and stiff from overdoing it earlier in the week, and taking a day off seems to have helped.

Music
Slightly crazy week.  On top of church choir and piano lessons, the chorus I'm in has our first of two Carmina Burana concerts tonight.  So in addition to the regular Monday night rehearsal, we had the dress rehearsal last night.  There's a large contingent of clueless people in this group who have serious problems with that whole filing on and off the risers thing, so coordinating that always takes ten times longer than it should and makes me want to smack my head against hard surfaces.

Submission Land
More rejections, more stories back out the door. I have two stories I'd like to try at Sword & Sorceress, and I thought the markets they're currently at would have bounced them back by now, but amazingly, no.  Knowing my luck, they'll both reject the stories the day after the Sword & Sorceress submission window closes.

Writing
I was tinkering with novel revisions last weekend, but the zombie story kept calling to me, so I finally answered and began my next round of revisions on that. I'm rather excited as I think it's going to be a much tighter story now, and I think some of the changes I've made are helping me better develop what's going on with the protagonist.  I also realized that I had an entire scene that could go away, so the story's already about 1,000 words shorter.

This week has been strong with the bat-shit crazy side of the Force, making that whole productivity thing a challenge. Some of the things keeping me busy were good things (Easter with the in-laws, seeing a production of Edward Albee's At Home at the Zoo, a reception where my dad got a firefighter-of-the-year award from the local VFW).  But other things...well, I think my brain exploded a few times.

Now onto what I actually managed to accomplish amid the crazy:

Reading: I'm partway through chapter 10 in Bitterwood.  As for Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, I gave up. I reached my library renewal limit on it and was just going to copy the remaining discs onto my computer last night, but then I realized that I still had 12 discs left. It's an entertaining book, but it's not that entertaining. So I took that long-winded puppy back to the library today and checked out the audio version of Cormac McCarthy's The Road.  Only six discs total.  Ah, blessed brevity.

Exercise: Fell off the wagon Tuesday and Wednesday thanks to the crazy, but stuck to it the rest of the week.

Music: The usual rehearsal schedule, but fitting in practice time on the piano proved tough. I was all stressed out at my Wednesday lesson as a result, which didn't help.

Writing Business: Bored with the rejections-a-plenty/several-months-long-dry-spell-when-it-comes-to-sales combo now. I'm feeling particularly disheartened with one story. It's a flash story I wrote a while back, and while not brilliant, I think it's a good little piece. When I first wrote it, a fellow writerly type thought very highly of it and said, "If Strange Horizons doesn't take this, I don't know what they'll take."  Well, they didn't take it, and neither have the 27 other markets I've sent it to. I've never had a story get shot down that many times, and it's depressing, especially since it came close at a few places, which gives me confidence that the story doesn't suck. Unfortunately, I'm almost out of decent markets for it.

Writing: I spent much of last weekend figuring out what I needed to move, add, axe, and rewrite in chapter 4 of My Big Fat Epic Fantasy Novel, which was fun and exciting and I couldn't wait to start writing.  Then, Sunday night, I sat down to write, and nothing. I spent an insane amount of time rewriting the opening sentence. I didn't get back to the chapter again until Wednesday, when I finally managed to push past that block. But because I had so little time for writing this week, I'm only about 500 words into the chapter. Blah.

On that note, it's onto the weekend for me.  I'm going to get in some more work on the novel tonight.  Tomorrow AsYouKnowBob and I will be driving down to Washington DC--the chorus we're in is singing at the National Gallery, and afterward we'll be making a Maryland pit stop to have dinner with some of my friends from college. Sunday will be singing at church in the morning, writing group in the afternoon. And if I'm not too exhausted, I might squeeze in some more writing before Monday rears its ugly head.

...my shiny new iMac! The downside is that I didn't get much done today other than playing with the shiny new iMac, but that's ok, because shiny new iMac!

I did get things done the rest of the week, though, so here's the productivity report:

Reading: Chapters 4 and 5 in Bitterwood, and I believe I'm up to chapter 30 in listening to Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (my god is JS&MN a long damn book)

Exercise: I've been entirely too obsessed with Wii Fit this week.  Especially the rhythmic boxing. But i should start alternating with some non-Wii exercise sessions.

Music: The usual round of rehearsals, lessons, and practicing.

Writing: I've gotten about 1,100 words into the zombie story revision. Not as much as I would have liked, but good progress given the whole one day I managed to work on it. 

Writing Business: Lots of stories have been coming and going out the door this week. Somebody buy something already, damn it!

The slug put up a hell of a fight this week--which I now realize is sort of funny since that means the slug is working very hard at trying to get me to do nothing. But except for the exercise department, I actually achieved a fair amount of productivity this week:

Reading: I finished Prime Codex on Monday. The last story was "Radical Acceptance" by David W. Goldman, which made me smile. Space otters make me happy. There were a few stories in Prime Codex that didn't work for me, on the whole, it's a good collection that I'd recommend.

For my next book, I started James Maxey's Bitterwood (got through the prologue and chapter 1 this past week).  And in the audio book department, I'm up to chapter 18 in Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. I also thought I'd mention that I also read short stories in various places online, but I'm so scattershot about those that I decided I won't keep track of them on here unless one blows away me so much that I must share its awesomeness with all the world.

Exercise: I haven't done yoga or pilates in what feels like forever, and I only got on the elliptical strider two days this week. Beyond that, it was just pseudo-exercise in the form of Wii Sports and the 15-minute walk to and from the concert I was at for work last night.

Music: I had to miss chorus rehearsal Monday night to attend a grant award reception for work, but otherwise I was good about keeping up with practicing this week. I didn't get any in yesterday beccause of the concert I was working, but I'm making up for it today.

Writing Business: Two more stories came home, disappointed that their brilliance had not been recognized. One was a simultaneous sub, so he'll just continue waiting at the place that hasn't rejected him yet. The other one is waiting for the next market it wants to visit to re-open in April. And I think I may have to shoot out some queries on one or two stories to see if they're coming for dinner or staying over at their friend's house for a bit longer.

Writing: A little over 1,600 words on the zombie story this week, and I'm still not frickin' done. Close, though--I'm about halfway through the penultimate scene. Hopefully I'll be able to trim this one significantly during revisions, because right now it's at 8,200 words and counting.

I've got some more practicing to get in today since I'm doing a solo at church tomorrow morning. And I have to figure out what I feel like doing tomorrow afternoon to determine what I do after practicing today. I could go to my writer's group tomorrow, which means I have a 9,400 word story to critique. Or I could go the Mozart Requiem Sing-In the chorus I'm in is holding tomorrow, which means I don't have to crit that story and can get some more writing done instead. Decisions, decisions...

I've actually managed to ease back into productivity mode these last few days better than I would have thought.

Reading: Read two more stories in Prime Codex. "Tides" by Tobias Buckell was sad but lovely, with some truly wonderful world-building. "Urban Renewal" by Tom Pendergrass was a fun little tale in which the little old lady who lived in a shoe meets modern bureaucracy. Only three more stories in the book to go.

And so that I can feel productive while driving to and from work on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I've decided to give audio books a try. I browsed through the selection at the library today and picked up Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell.

Exercise: Wii Sports counts, right? My right arm and shoulder sure tell me it should after all the tennis and baseball. And the boxing certainly feels like good cardio, though it took until today to finally get an opponent who put up a fight. I knocked out the five before him in the first round. This one at least lasted until the second.

Music: Lots of piano and singing.

Writing Business: Another nice but frustratingly close one from Cemetery Dance: "Nicely written throughout, and good emotion. This one came very close for me--please try us again with something new when we reopen to submissions in 2010."  I will crack this market, damn it. Also a nice one from Shimmer for a different story: "I think it's very well written and I love the evocative details of the piece, but..."  Ah, the ever popular "but" of death.

Writing: I haven't been able to do any writing since last Wednesday, so it was tough getting back into the groove today. But I managed a little bit more on the zombie story, so here's hoping I can pick up steam and find that awesomely productive zone I was in before real life reared its head last week.

The slug reared its ugly head again a few times this week, particularly toward the end of the week. So I didn't get as much writing done as I should have, but some level of productivity was still achieved.

Reading: Read three more stories in Prime Codex: "Sister of the Hedge" by Jim C. Hines (this is one of those stories that I'm going to have to read again in the future to decide what I really think of it, but the fascinating intersection of Sleeping Beauty and Christianity kept me hooked), "Rampion" by Mary Robinette Kowel (short but sweet), and "Salt of Judas" by my Odyssey classmate ericjamesstone (the premise of a magical deal with a devil-like character gave the story a slightly familiar feel, but it was well written and enjoyable, which isn't surprising since I've yet to meet a story of Eric's that I didn't like)

Exercise: My knee's feeling a lot better, so I spent this week gradually easing back to my normal exercise level. Well, except for Thursday, when I slacked.  Stupid slug.

Music Stuff: The usual week full of rehearsals, piano lesson, and lots of practicing, particularly for a recital-type program I'm performing in tomorrow.

Writing: Close to a 1,000 more words on the zombie story this week. Not as much as I would have liked, which is my fault since I didn't spend as much time writing as I could have, but when I did write, I was at least cranking out more words than I had previously been doing. I have the feeling this story may end up being one of my longer ones.  It's definitely going to live up to the "crappy first draft" moniker.  But for me, fixing what's already down is the easier part of the process, so that's ok.

Writing Business: I spent far too much time prognostojectioning this week, particularly when I saw a bunch of response times reported for a horror market I'd love to crack. Here's hoping I haven't heard anything yet because the story's being seriously considered and not because things were lost in the Great Postal Submission Abyss.

Slowly but surely, the productivity groove is being re-established. I feel like I have a much better grip on the new job now, and today I got my first grant proposal for them out the door, so yay. Another week or two, and life may start feeling normal again.

I had a fun weekend that went by way too quickly: wine tastings Saturday afternoon, a fun dinner with shvetufae and our significant other-types Saturday evening, and an afternoon of wackiness with my writing group in Philly on Sunday. And on either side of all that, there was productivity.  So on that note, here's the productivity report since Friday:

Reading: I've read and enjoyed the first three stories in Prime Codex: "To the East, a Bright Star" by James Maxey, "Ticktock Girl" by Cat Rambo, and "The Man With Great Despair Behind His Eyes" by Ken Scholes.

Exercise: Got in 20 minutes on the elliptical strider on Friday, but had to take yesterday and today off due to injury. Coming home from my writing group meeting on Sunday, I slipped in the train station and banged my left knee on the floor. There's a big honking bruise there now, but otherwise it's ok--luckily, I hit just below the kneecap.  I think I can safely resume exercising tomorrow.

Music: Lots of piano playing and singing. We were short altos for the second week in a row in my church choir, so I got to be a switch hitter, which has led to everyone dubbing me a sopralto.

Writing-Related Stuff: I had to crit two stories for Sunday's writing group meeting, and I was quite relieved to be free of critique dread for the first time in a long time.  Woo hoo! In the submissions department, two stories have come home.  One went right back out the door, but the other one is torn about whose slush pile it wants to visit next.  I'll give it a few days, but any longer than that and it's gonna have to start paying rent if it wants to stay on my hard drive.

Writing: A little over 500 words (maybe more) on the zombie story.  Not phenomenal progress, but I think I'm finally getting a better sense of what this story wants to be, which might help me get through the rest of the first draft faster now that I won't be groping my way around in the dark anymore.