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Welcome to the Writing Life! (Read 1140 times)

Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Welcome to the Writing Life! Reply #550 - Nov 20^th, 2014 at 6:50pm	Print Post
	"Demon in the Dark" is officially underway. I don't have the beginning or the ending yet but a scene near the beginning came to me so I'm getting it down.


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Welcome to the Writing Life! Reply #551 - Nov 28^th, 2014 at 5:46am	Print Post
	I've added bits and pieces to "Demon in the Dark" since my last entry around Spirit's birthday preparations and the holiday. I have the ending -- or at least "an" ending -- and some description and dialogue. Total word count: 896 which isn't too bad considering how busy the last week has been. The Christmas season is usually crazy around here due to Skywise working for the Postal Service but it's a "crazy" I know how to deal with and I expect to be able to get a handle on this story and get it written by the end of the year. I don't know if the "Lovecraftian Horror" story will be written next or if I'll throw one or two stories in between it and "Demon in the Dark". I want to eventually collect my short stories into one or more anthologies so I'll be "dating" them so that I can keep them in chronological order. I'm sure the readers will appreciate that!


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Welcome to the Writing Life! Reply #552 - Dec 3^rd, 2014 at 11:18pm	Print Post
	"Demon in the Dark" is now a bit over 1,100 words and I've written a description of the monster -- subject to change if a better idea comes along -- and I have an idea about how Our Heroine gets a line on where it lairs but I haven't written that part up yet since the particulars haven't been decided. Still, I'm getting back in the groove now that "Thanksgiving Hell Week" is over.
	« Last Edit: Dec 3^rd, 2014 at 11:30pm by Penthesilea »

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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Welcome to the Writing Life! Reply #553 - Dec 5^th, 2014 at 2:21am	Print Post
	I've been running variations of one scene through my head today. None has "clicked" but I think I'm getting close to working out something both believable and "suitable." Gotta give the creative part of my brain something to do while washing pots, pans and baking dishes.....


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Welcome to the Writing Life! Reply #554 - Dec 7^th, 2014 at 4:30am	Print Post
	The cats are leaving me alone so I'm getting a little work done, Thank Bast! My left leg is very uncomfortable but not terribly distracting. I'm currently trying to get the monster killed. Our Heroine's cats may have to lend a paw.


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Welcome to the Writing Life! Reply #555 - Dec 10^th, 2014 at 5:24pm	Print Post
	My continuing studies have convinced me that the ending of "Homecoming" will have to be redone. Just how, I don't know yet but it is now at the top of my "To Do/Revision" list. That may mean that the book will be longer or shorter, I don't know yet.


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Welcome to the Writing Life! Reply #556 - Dec 11^th, 2014 at 4:21am	Print Post
	I'm getting some work done on "Demon in the Dark" tonight. The word count is up to 1,706 with a lot of gaps in the narrative but "progress" is progress. I've got bits and pieces of the battle between Our Heroine and the Monster written up. I have to remember that she's a lot younger during this time period and it's easier to get one up on her. I've deliberately set the action in a "magick-free" zone so she has only her physical and non-magickal mental skills to rely on. The "Lovecraftian Horror" story may or may not be set in a magick-free zone. I haven't decided the particulars since it IS possible for the villain to do what I want him to do in an area where magick doesn't work.� That would put Our Heroine at a distinct disadvantage which could make the story more interesting and the consequences of failure a lot more dire.....


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Welcome to the Writing Life! Reply #557 - Dec 12^th, 2014 at 4:11am	Print Post
	Because my legs demanded that I be prone with no weight on them, there was no writing today although I may do a bit of editing/proofing/tweaking after dinner. Since I couldn't sit at the computer, I studied. Once I'm finished with this book, hopefully next week some time, I've got two very short books in the pipeline and then I'll tackle two longer books I have on "structure" and "outlining". Those two have workbooks to go with them and I'll probably get them to make my "self-assigned" writing course as comprehensive as possible. I'm doing short stories now but I still have three novels written that need work and a fourth that needs to be written so yeah, I need to put in time on studying the nuts and bolts of novel writing and I am.


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Welcome to the Writing Life! Reply #558 - Dec 13^th, 2014 at 2:29am	Print Post
	Well, the creature is dead. NOW I get to figure out how it got that way. I don't really know how one would describe my writing method but I guess the most accurate way would be to say that I write a bit here and a bit there and when I have a story, I fill in the gaps. Don't know if that would work for anyone else but it seems to be the most natural way for me to work.


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Welcome to the Writing Life! Reply #559 - Dec 13^th, 2014 at 3:02am	Print Post
	Added a bit more. Now over 2,000 words. And I probably should eat something....


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Welcome to the Writing Life! Reply #560 - Dec 13^th, 2014 at 4:59am	Print Post
	I've eaten and written and I'm up to 2,507 words. The Queen has decided to park herself in my lap so I think I'm done for the night. LOL


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Welcome to the Writing Life! Reply #561 - Dec 14^th, 2014 at 4:41am	Print Post
	I added a little new text to "Demon in the Dark" but most of what I did today was of the editing persuasion since I had some other "non-writing" things to get done. I'm trying to maintain a balance between writing, my other interests and my "real life" responsibilities. I've done the "obsessed with writing" thing and it isn't healthy, not physically, mentally or emotionally and having done that and learned from it, I'm not gonna do it again. So there will be days when I write a lot and others when I don't write at all -- although I'll probably be thinking about it a great deal! -- and I'm not going to worry about it or obsess about "not writing" or being a "real writer". I'll leave that job to others who feel qualified to pass judgment although I have NO idea who died and appointed them the sole arbiter of who is or is not a "real writer." So I'm gonna ignore them and their pronouncements which amount to a pile of poop when viewed objectively. Life's too short to make yourself crazy.


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Welcome to the Writing Life! Reply #562 - Dec 16^th, 2014 at 1:27am	Print Post
	Real life is making me crazy but I figure the "crazy" will be over by the end of the week. I don't expect to write tonight although I have figured out how/why Our Heroine is fighting the monster on foot instead of mounted. I have pies to bake on Thursday and a package to mail sometime before Friday. One more gift is ordered which "should" be here by the end of this week so the only things I'll be doing between Friday and Christmas Day is bake cookies and such. And, of course, write while the washer is chugging away.


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Welcome to the Writing Life! Reply #563 - Dec 18^th, 2014 at 5:14am	Print Post
	No writing again tonight. "Real life" will have its way. Friday, however, is looking good. All the pie baking will be finished and once Skywise is out of the door with them, I should be out of the "baking for others" business until someone retires and there's another pitch in dinner. I've been doing my "required reading" in odd moments when I'm not TOO brain-dead. I've got a workbook on the way that goes with the next book on my study list. I expect great things....


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Welcome to the Writing Life! Reply #564 - Dec 22^nd, 2014 at 5:36am	Print Post
	The ending of "Demon in the Dark" looks to be in pretty good shape. I've added an adjective or two and that's all. The start is pretty decent too with one or two minor gaps to fill in. So I'm going to be concentrating on the middle when I get back to work, hopefully tomorrow. Baking for the staff party is done as is the Christmas shopping and gift wrapping. I'll be doing some baking for us this week but nothing on the scale of what I did last week. And since I've convinced both WP and the Queen and sleeping in the chair next to me is just as good and more comfortable than parking in my lap, I "should" be able to give my attention to the work without feline insistence than I pay attention to THEM rather than what I'm working on!� I've decided to use the writing techniques I'm learning on the kernel of a short story about Our Hero that has been languishing in my files. I know what happens -- major life changing event on his 33rd birthday -- but the particulars elude me. So it's the perfect project to practice on. Now that the major "routine disrupting" holiday is almost past, I should have more time to write.
	« Last Edit: Dec 22^nd, 2014 at 6:08am by Penthesilea »

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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Welcome to the Writing Life! Reply #565 - Dec 22^nd, 2014 at 6:48pm	Print Post
	I've been thinking about Our Hero. (I do that a lot!) And he needs a "timeline" and a more detailed back story. I know when, where and most importantly why he and his brother were born. I have a general idea about the couple presumed to be their birth parents (they weren't) but NO idea if this information will ever be used in a story but my studies have made it pretty clear that having this information down in black and white is a good idea. So working on that will be going on my Projects list. Since the short I'll be working on once I finish "Demon in the Dark" will be about Our Hero, taking the time to flesh out his back story will be time well spent. Contrary to what some people think, the "life" of a character doesn't begin and end with one story -- unless they are born and die during it. The past is what has shaped the character into what he or she is and the writer needs a solid knowledge of that past in order to do the character justice. I know how Our Hero is when "Homecoming" starts. What I need to know is how he got that way and how meeting Our Heroine -- and other sundry characters -- changes him. Finding those things out may mean some rewriting for "Homecoming" but I was going to have to do some of that anyway so I'll just do more.
	« Last Edit: Dec 23^rd, 2014 at 6:32am by Penthesilea »

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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Welcome to the Writing Life! Reply #566 - Dec 23^rd, 2014 at 6:18am	Print Post
	Things have been proceeding nicely tonight. "Demon in the Dark" is now up to 3,150 words. I've closed a couple of gaps and the end is coming into view. I'm going to close it down for the night at this point. I "hope" to be in bed in an hour or so and it would be nice if my brain was slowed down enough to sleep!


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Welcome to the Writing Life! Reply #567 - Dec 24^th, 2014 at 5:37am	Print Post
	I'm getting a little work done on "Demon in the Dark" tonight but it's slow going. I'm working on the final combat between Our Heroine and the monster and figuring out each of their moves and then describing them makes me want to get out my action figures to work it out! sigh I won't get a lot added tonight but I'll have something to show for the day's work.


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Welcome to the Writing Life! Reply #568 - Dec 24^th, 2014 at 6:09am	Print Post
	The cognitive functions, not to mention my eyes, are shutting down so I'm going to close "Demon in the Dark" for the night. I need just a few more sentences to finish the combat. Once that's done, all that will be left are the gaps at the beginning. I don't know how much time I'll have to write tomorrow but I'm hoping to get some writing done in between cookie baking. Current word count: 3,372


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Welcome to the Writing Life! Reply #569 - Dec 24^th, 2014 at 8:23pm	Print Post
	I had an idea for a bit of introductory dialogue for my next short so I jotted it down while waiting for the shortening for the cookies to soften. I have "Demon in the Dark" up on the desktop so I can work on it as time permits. I've already closed a gap so I figure I'm doing pretty good.


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Welcome to the Writing Life! Reply #570 - Dec 24^th, 2014 at 11:57pm	Print Post
	I was prone with the Queen when the solution to a problem with "Demon in the Dark" came to me. I'm about to start on the next batch of cookies but I'll be able to solve the problem while they're baking since all I have to do it shift and revise something that's already written.


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Welcome to the Writing Life! Reply #571 - Dec 25^th, 2014 at 5:52am	Print Post
	The Queen was of the opinion that I shouldn't write tonight so she parked herself in my chair and took a lengthy nap. I've been thinking however and I'm pretty sure that I'll be able to finish the first draft the next time I get a chance to work. The cognitive functions are just about ready to shut down so I'm not going to start anything now.
	« Last Edit: Dec 25^th, 2014 at 5:53am by Penthesilea »

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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Welcome to the Writing Life! Reply #572 - Dec 26^th, 2014 at 3:51am	Print Post
	Well, I've gotten some work done tonight but I'm so sleepy right now -- good food and lots of it will do that to you -- that I'm going to close it up for the night. The word count is up to 3,639. Post # 34,444
	« Last Edit: Dec 26^th, 2014 at 3:52am by Penthesilea »

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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Welcome to the Writing Life! Reply #573 - Dec 29^th, 2014 at 8:19pm	Print Post
	I'm still working on "Demon in the Dark" and I expect to finish the first draft this week. I'm also seriously considering getting Scrivener for Mac which is what I guess you'd call "writer's organizational/word processing" software. Since it's download only I'll have to wait until Skywise is on the "superlate shift" (which won't start until January 10th) to get it which gives me time to think about it. We won't be getting the most "up to the second" version of it -- our version of OS X is too old for that -- but Amazon sells an earlier version that I can use if I decide to get it. Skywise has checked the system requirements and we're "good to go" as far as that's concerned. So I've ordered the "For Dummies" book for it and I'll study it while I'm making up my mind. It is supposed to make the book planning process easier and is apparently compatible with the way I work. It also appears to solve the multiple problems I had with exporting my work to Word. If that turns out to be the case, that alone will be worth the cost of the software! Especially since entirely too many potential publishers of my work will only accept submissions that are written in Word. Likewise I've yet to find a freelance editor that works with anything written in Pages. A state of affairs that POs me no end. "Demon in the Dark" has only a few gaps left and even with what I have to do I "should" have it finished by the end of the year. LOL Which means I better get busy with some of that "other stuff" so I can get to writing later without that stuff nagging at me!
	« Last Edit: Dec 30^th, 2014 at 5:57am by Penthesilea »

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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Welcome to the Writing Life! Reply #574 - Dec 30^th, 2014 at 5:13am	Print Post
	I have two gaps left in "Demon in the Dark" and it looks like the story will come in at 4,000 words, give or take. Probably a few more since one of the gaps is a combat and they tend to take more words as a rule. Dinner is about ready and I don't know if I'll write any more after I've eaten. I may just call it for the night at 3,842 words.


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