Dr. Catherine Schaff-Stump

Today, the writer is working.

Thanks to archeologist/writer/VP XIIIer Miranda Suri, I have whacked my my 9 chapters of troll-y goodness into 22 smaller chapters. The theory being that my chapters were way too huge for teens.

I hope to repay Miranda by giving her good crit on her latest novel, of which I read two chapters last night. VERY Aztec.

Thanks to all you nice folks who have been helping me get perspective on the agent partial. I'll have it ready to go soon.

***

Um...resuming the 4th draft. Things are both more ambiguous and less muddy. Clarifications are happening where they need to. Characters are no longer blurting out their motivations. The book is plumping up. We're a little over 54K.

And I don't mind telling you I'm heartily sick of this book. This, this is the slog I so well remember from my dissertation. It's a much better book than it was even last draft. I'm satisfied, win, lose, or draw, that I'm putting my best effort into it. But yes, the romance is gone as I look at spelling, organization, and what would bore a reader at 15.

And just think! If I am lucky enough to get this book accepted somewhere, I probably get to do this rewrite thing several more times! Hurray!

***

Meanwhile, there is some stuff swirling around "O-Taga-San" which I will update you on ASAP.

Feh. I've got to have devil-possessed David try to beat Grant to a pulp, mark 4. Later, taters.

Catherine

Mirrored from Writer Tamago.

I am pleased to say that I took Sunday for all intentional purposes off, and it made me a new woman.

In addition to hanging out with my wonderful husband, I did the following things, none of which I am ashamed.

1. We saw Machete. From the popular Grindhouse trailer, this movie about an ex-Federale is Mexploitative and Sexploitative. It was also a fire hydrant full of Cheese Whiz. Stick around for the scene with the intestines. Stay for the eye patch.

2. We saw two more episodes of The Kingdom. Okay, Lars, now you're just getting freaky for its own sake. Gotta admire the toilet cam work.

3. We finished Throne of Jade. Bryon and I both think that Peter Jackson might want to spend a good chunk of his Temeraire movie here. He's got an awesome villain. All he has in the first book is abstract Napoleon.

4. We began I Shall Wear Midnight. Sorry, Temeraire, but Tiffany Aching always gets priority. Really hooked, almost from the outset, we get to see what it is like to be a 16 year-old witch over a very large territory. It's pretty dark right out of the shoot too.

5. I read several short stories from Bodies in Motion. It's the other guest at Wiscon book I bought this year. There's no fantasy to it, but each story is a tiny seed pearl on a giant tapestry of family, complicated and interlinked.

It was all I could do to keep myself from pigging down both 4 and 5 this weekend.

Thanks for all your kind words on Friday. Tiffany Trent was right. Sometimes you've just got to be fallow. It was a good move.

Have I mentioned how excited I am to get to my book, and to start reading the latest incarnation of Whore Lord Miranda's VP manuscript?

Catherine

Mirrored from Writer Tamago.