Jules Jones

I have been quiet, because I have been writing. I started another short/novelette for an anthology call that sparked an idea, with the intention of using the current PicoWrimo session to keep me going on 150 words a day. Unfortunately the idea sprouted Plot as soon as I started jotting it down, and it's rather obviously not going to come in under the 12 kword limit. I've abandoned the idea of keeping it novelette length, and am going to write the novella it so clearly wants to be. I haven't quite managed 150 words every day, but I have written *something* on it every day up until today, and it hit 9100 words last night, so the average for the month so far is looking good.

Over the weekend I also worked on revising last month's novelette. This involved tightening the first draft, in the process trimming about 500 words to bring it under the 12k limit. I've formatted it for the intended market (I always write in something that looks like typewriter manuscript and can be saved to 7 bit ascii, and then format it however the market wants it), but have not as yet written the synopsis and submission blurb.

No actual words tonight, because at long last I managed to catch up with someone to discuss some background for the novel-length WIP that has been in hiatus since Eastercon, so I was doing that instead.

Another 2440 words today, taking the total word count on Nice Tie to 5068. My hands hurt...

They're still not shagging yet, but a proposition has at last been made. If not unambiguously answered.

I have overlooked the wordage report for the last week or so. It's actually not too bad, even if nowhere near NaNoWriMo daily rates.

Thursday last week took the total from 35877 to 36024 for 147 new words, Friday none, Saturday 36761 total, 737 new, Sunday 37361 total, 600 new, Monday 27942 total, 581 new, Tuesday 38274 total, 332 new, Wednesday none, Thursday 38474 total, 200 new. Last night I phoned up Watervole for some fact-checking and idea-bouncing, and wrote down some notes which took it to 38779 (i.e. 305 words of notes), and then wrote some actual story text to take it to 39005 total, 226 for the evening.

So it's now hit 39 kwords and a key turning point of the story. I think in terms of story pace this should be the half way mark. That would also be good in terms of getting this to the right sort of length for a print release if a publisher wants to do that. The problem is that the in-story timeline at this point is a handful of incidents over the course of a couple of weeks, and then a very eventful weekend. The *rest* of the story is going to be rather less frenetic, and is going to have to take place over several weeks if not months, with a final resolution to the main plot hook over a year down the line. This is going to take a fair bit of work on keeping up the momentum without making it real-world-unrealistic in terms of how long it will take to actually do certain things.

I do know one thing. It's not going to play well to that section of my readership that expects wall to wall sex in my books. 39 kwords and only two sex scenes so far...

The word count is moving on Taxman after a break since the beginning of August working on edits and post-release stuff for Bargain. As usual after a longish break, I'd slightly lost the thread of where I was going with the chapter - not that I'd lost the plot of the book, just what I was doing with the next 1000 words or so. I seem to have got back into a groove again after 4 days of writing, although possibly not the groove I was in before I set it aside. :-) It stood at 30592 words when I opened the file on Monday night, and was 31063 at the end of the evening, for 471 new words. Tuesday I skipped, owing to a long day and temptation in the form of a brand new Midsomer Murders. Wednesday was 31373 total and 310 new. Thursday was 31626 and 253. Tonight was 32042 and 416.

I should try to keep this up while it's flowing. But I'm also very much tempted to dig out an old short story that never found a home, and do some re-writing on that. It's only 3300 words so would need to be beefed up a bit to meet the minimum 5k for the epub markets that take short stories, but it might be fun doing that.

Not done as well over the last week for various reasons, but still plugging away.

Friday 28 Oct no additional words, Saturday 23704 total, Sunday nothing, Monday 23968, which means I added some 3800 words in October. Tuesday I was far too tired to write, Wednesday I was busy, Thursday 24211, Friday 24282, Saturday nothing, today 24505 in spite of having spent some of my free time adding some of my fanfic to AO3 and the WordPress site.

I still need to order that book. :-(

Slow but reasonably consistent progress so far this week. Running totals as follows: Sunday 20923, Monday 21005, Tuesday, 21104, Wednesday 21262, Thursday 21408, Friday 21511, which took it to the end of the sex scene. Which means that no, it's not a very long sex scene. I could try to expand it, but I fear that it would be padding. Probably better to leave it be and wait for the next one, which will probably be a somewhat more considered exercise from the characters' POV.

I also probably need to go back at some point and add a bit of descriptive wordage to the rest of the story, because once again I am demonstrating that I hear my fiction as a radio play, rather than seeing it as a film. It's not as bad as the first draft of Ship to Shore, but it's still too light on visual description for readers who are more visually orientated than I am.

The wordage continues this week, apart from last night, when I chose to spend the evening lying flat on the floor with a hot water bottle for a pillow, on account of ricked shoulder playing up.

Skipped Tuesday and Wednesday last week, but after that the running total has been Thursday 18791 (or 347 that night), Friday 18965, Saturday 19188, Sunday 19380, Monday 19695, and tonight 20125. Some 2000 words in the last 2 weeks is pleasing. Some of it will have to be cut as it is meandering wibble, but it's meandering wibble I need to do in order to work out some background stuff that hasn't quite gelled, so it's all useful stuff to be writing even if it does get cut.

I have still not got to the first sex scene. :-) However, I expect to start it tomorrow.

Glory be, this afternoon I managed to get enough piece and quiet to re-read the partial draft of the urban fairy story to get back into it, and then take it from 16006 to 16562 words for 556 new words. Not wonderful words, but it helps me get back into the habit of writing.

Visitors finally went on Sunday evening, and I got in a whole 191 words on L&M3 before collapsing into bed.

Nothing for fiction on Monday and Tuesday, but I've been making notes for an essay post, and last night wrote the review of "Another Life", so I have at least been putting in 250 words a day on something constructive. Nothing tonight, because I got home late and have spent the evening putting together my 2009 book log summary, which was a useful thing to do but does not count as writing. (It mostly counts as copy-n-paste...) Going to be sensible and go to bed now, because at this point I'm tired enough to be starting a headache.

Currently reading: EC Tubb -- Veruchia

116 words yesterday, and it was like pulling teeth. But something seems to have finally unstuck (oo, er, missus), and I've done 367 words tonight in spite of being very tired after the clock change at the weekend. Shall call that a day and go to bed now.