And well before the final deadline, too! WHOO! 81,324 words! 162 pages! 20 sections/chapters! WHOOOO! …now I have actual, external obligations to finish before the month officially ends. CEE-RAP. Mad Typos: thingers The unfortunate result of changing “thumbs” to “fingers” midsteam. thingers (n) – Digits attached to the hands with no clear evolutionary purpose. See: ring finger.
Nov 302009
Nov 302009
I’m just short of 5k away from my goal! I think this will equate roughly with the end of the story. It’s going to be an absolutely noxious cliffhanger. I’m a terrible person, I know. Maybe I’ll just keep writing on the heels of this draft and get the whole bit finished. After that, who knows? We stand now, on the brink, at 151 pages (Sylfaen 11pt) 75,682 words. I knocked off in the middle of a flashback that goes waaaay to the beginning of everything. It shows how Zelda got involved with Reinard and how she wound up doing this horrible, horrible thing to Zoe. Still not coming clear yet about what ‘it’ was, but it’ll be inferred. This is clearly not a ‘wrap everything up and tie it with a neat bow’ sort of book. Which is awful, because I hate those books. I hate super-neat deus ex machina endings, too. I have to make sure, on the rewrite, that there is a sense of satisfaction at the end, that the readers something has been resolved. Just not the major badness, which will continue into Book Two. I think I may return to the original title with that, Confessions of an RAPE Employee. Zelda will have plenty to confess by then. Uber congrats to Sush and Sreya for making it as well! Mad Typos: Like a gift from the gods, she heard voices outside. She scrambled to her knees, pressing her knees to the metal. EARS. Wait, no, [...]
Nov 092009
Still very behind. But, have almost hit the daily minimum, so there’s hope. Am going to try spending the day on the laptop tomorrow. Will hopefully post the last of chapter 5 before bed. Mad Typos: unremakarable unremakarable (adj) – That which cannot be made like a mackerel. I HATE this kind of typo. It happens when my fingers skip a letter and try to insert it after the fact. When I look at these, I can’t even work out what’s wrong with them at first. Then I see it’s wrong, but I can’t see how to fix it. It’s infuriating. I need some good verb typos.
Nov 052009
Kind of catching up. I need to hit 13,335 words by midnight Thursday, and I think I’ll be able to do that. I’m signing off tonight with 11,778. And, shocker, I wrote Chapter 3 in the course of one day! Amazing, eh? I even churned out the start of chp 4. Unfortunately, I’m now starting to get nervous, as this means I’m approaching the end of my initial outline. I’m outlining as I go, letting things be semi-organic. Just gonna sleep on it and see what I come up with tomorrow. Am worried that the intro of a certain male character in Chp 3 is too negative. Thoughts? Mad Typos: Self: eatmuffs (for earmuffs…)
Nov 032009
Reached my minimum for the day around 7pm on Monday, which was excellent. Everything else is extra. Regardless of total, I want to try to hit the minim of 2667 words every day, to maintain progress. I then proceeded to not write for several prime hours. Sigh. Going to try to hit 7k before bed. Research Done: German architecture vs. Italian architecture What the hell do you call the double S symbol in German? How to come up with street names Name for that thing–radiator! Roman holidays (not the film, the events!) Awesome quotes: When M didn’t respond, the Scotsman thwapped his mighty fists onto the kitchen table and screamed, “ARE YOU OR ARE YOU NOT A SHEEP’S ARSE?” The Rich M Story (ToC) – The First Mission “I’m Civilized,” said the monkey, offering up a hand, “and I’m delighted to meet you.” The Rich M Story (ToC) – Riding for their Lives, or Enter the Monkey’s Lair Mad Typos: Then the man rubbed his eyes with his tobacco covered eyes and yelped when it stung his eyes, nearly smashing his head. The Rich M Story (ToC) – The First Mission
Congratulate me, for I have finished Chapter One! Chapter has been started. Will post when this section is complete. I’ve also decided on a format for chapter titles, and made the 2009 TOC the blog front page. Har. So far, on track for word count, though slow. Mostly because I am leaving long pauses in which to… not write. Bah. Random bits of research done so far: That was a mere teaser for what I’ve hunted up today. Average seasonal temperatures for Rome and northern Germany (not as cold as I’d hoped) Map of Ancient Rome. AGAIN. Rome’s train hub (bloody modern) Size of a Roman legion Where the FAWK in Germania this thing is based. That last bit lead me to… Try every conceivable configuration of keywords to find maps of the Teutoburg Forest and its surrounds during the Roman wars. Find maps, and be unable to orient self. Download Google Earth Remember there is a function of Google Earth that shows antique map overlays. Find them. German maps are from the 1800s. Trace the Rhine and Lippe rivers, because they are impossible to see on the satellite terrain. Go back to desperately comparing maps to try to orient self. Say to hell with it, and start Wiki-ing the names of towns in an effort to find one with Roman roots. All towns/regions that show up at a decent zoom on GE are not in Germania. Zoom WAY in on the forest and start Googling tiny towns. Tiny towns [...]
