Monthly Archives: October 2006

ESTC Update — Final Countdown

I’m so worn out that I’m numb.

Current page count stands at 219; word count stands at 53,575. Everything except that final page in Chapter 2 exists. There are two prayers and one ritual that I may or may not write and include tomorrow, for the sake of completion.

I hate this part of writing, the part where I can’t keep on going and include all the wonderful things that I want to include. The line has to be drawn somewhere.

This is the point where I look at what I’ve got and think There, I’ve done it. But at the same time I’m a bit sad, because the actual tangible written product never fully resembles what I envisioned at the beginning of the process. And because I’m a perfectionist, as t! pointed out to me earlier today, I have a tendency to look for what’s not there as opposed to all the wonderful stuff that is there. I’m the creator of this particular piece: I see the masking tape, the wires that fly the actor across the stage, and not the magic that others will see in it.

Tomorrow morning, I’ll finish that section on rites of passage in Chapter 2. Then at noon, no later, I’ll start at the beginning of the MS and go through it line by line for omissions and notes to myself, places I’ve marked to smooth out, and bits I’ve marked as possible deletions. I’ll check the bibliography, and the appendices for all the right references.

And then it’s done. One more work day, and then it’s done.

I’m so very tired. But then, writing a book will do that.

ESTC Update

Well, that’s enough for today. The word count stands at 51,537 after adding and subtracting scads of words in different places, and the page count stands at 211. I think work hours clock in at around twelve, which is about twice as many as I usually work.

I’m going to have to go back at look at what I did with Chapter 8 tomorrow morning, because I can’t wrap my brain about where it was versus where it is now. There’s more, which is a good thing. I have no concept of how complete it is, or if the quality is up to my desired standard at the moment. And yet, after writing a bunch of new pages on various necessary subjects, I don’t seem to have crossed more than two things off my list of things to do in that chapter, which is mildly odd.

Also, there is a new ritual in Chapter 9.

Overall, there seem to be approximately four things left to do in Chapter 8 tomorrow, one of which is minor, one of which is expanding on something, two of which are from-the-ground-up. There needs to be another ritual in Chapter 9, possibly, although it may be left out if space doesn’t allow for it, and little finicky transitional things in both chapters that always take more time than they claim they will. Then it’s back to Chapter 2 to talk about the nature of rites of passage, that technical bit that I had to leave undone the other day because my brain was shutting down.

I think I’ve worked too late again. When I work too late, I can’t fall asleep for ages and ages because my brain needs time to shut down properly, and that in turn messes up my sleep pattern and yields nowhere near enough hours of sleep (I need around ten per night, usually). So I’m now going to go curl up in bed, drink a cup of warm milk with a drop or two of vanilla extract, listen to some Enya, and read a Brother Cadfael mystery — things that don’t ask my mind to do gymnastics to enjoy them.

The Weekend Roundup

After a tense day of work and an ill HRH at home on Friday, once I’d put Liam to bed I went out to the YUL NaNo launch party. I’m at the point where I can’t relax in my own home again, and while I wasn’t exactly in a social mood I knew that staying home would be worse than going out. So out I went, and found parking right around the corner from Kit‘s house, which I chose to interpret as a good omen. On the stairs I was warned by excited friends who care deeply about my emotional and mental well-being that “Wow, there’s over forty people up there, and you only know about half a dozen of them!”, which helped prepare me for the moment when I reached the top of the staircase and walked into a solid wall of voices and warmth. As Ceri said, you could physically feel the creative vibe from the enthusiasm of forty-odd writers of all ages crammed into Kit’s living room, dining room, and kitchen. Kit made me a blessed cup of jasmine tea, and I made a point of meeting some new participants as well as saying hello to some veterans. (As I am chronically shy, this meeting of new people was a big thing. Except it wasn’t, which is odd in and of itself, and probably indicates to how tired I am: I couldn’t muster the energy to be freaked out.) I stayed for an hour and a half and then went home feeling very glad I’d attended. Of course, I slept horribly, but that’s par for the course this week.

Saturday was band, sans vocalist, which was actually beneficial because we all got to focus on music and hear the fine points of what goes on with the other instruments, which we can’t do when our vocalist sings because we listen to her instead. Afterwards, I went out to the big local hardware emporium with t! for lightbulbs and wooden planks and screwdrivers and such (and I got the wrong lightbulbs, damn it all), which led to an adventure in trying to pack the car with an eight-foot wooden board and a cello too, all in horrible weather. I was still in a decent mood, all up until the last five minutes of my drive home when idiot drivers trying to get onto the bridge blocked the intersection around the corner from my house. Funny how it only takes one thing to break the camel’s back. The day went veering madly downhill from there for no particular reason. I shut down so firmly that I don’t remember eating or doing anything at all on Saturday night. Oh no, wait; I watched Topsy-Turvy then went to bed. (Note that I did not say that I went to sleep. I think I was awake for a good three hours before I dropped off for a bit.)

Liam woke up insanely early Sunday morning and since I’m still sleeping horribly I was very grumpy about it. Once up, though, and breakfast eaten, I worked on the book, and late Sunday afternoon we all went over to Matthieu’s second birthday party! It was Liam’s first attendance at a birthday party not his own, and he was terrific. He got to play with TAZ and Zoe, whom he knows, and he saw Matthieu again, and played with lots of Matthieu’s toys that he just loved. He said “plss” for bread and cheese, and loved his taste of cake, and I could hardly believe he was as grounded and well-behaved and perky as he was, seeing as his schedule had been wonky all day what with the waking early and the time change. HRH’s choice of gift for Matthieu — a Superman hockey jersey — was a great success (as all the other gifts were! ah, the joy of a two-year-old and his new gifts), and it was really a wonderful party. It seemed to be perfectly balanced in regards to number of people, temperament, gifts, and food. I left this party extremely glad that I’d attended as well.

I managed to sleep more than five hours last night, glory be, and not wake up more than once during the night. Today’s been an okay day so far, although that may have a lot to do with the sun that’s actually visible for the first time in days. Liam woke up at a more decent hour, though his internal clock says he’s waking at the regular time and the time change means it’s earlier than it used to be. After getting dressed and playing in his room for a bit he said “door plss” when he wanted out into the rest of the house, as he had accidentally shut the door. Then he asked for “kssp plss!’, banging on the pantry, so he had a heaping bowl of Rice Krispies for breakfast, followed by applesauce. It’s been a good morning.

I’m going to stop for lunch now.

ESTC: Onward Ever Onward

Chapter 6 is done, and Chapter 7 is mostly done but I’m moving on, because what I have to do involves (a) writing another ritual that I will probably end up having to leave out, and (b) complicated knot instructions, and I haven’t figured out how to handle this yet because it will produce scads of word count. (Maybe I’ll just say, “Look up knots in a knot book and choose one you like. Follow those instructions at the appropriate point in the ritual. Practice before the ritual itself or you will end up feeling very unhappy and frustrated, and the point of the ritual will be defeated.” You now, this has a lot of potential. Hmm. Look! Problem-solving through journaling!)

I haven’t checked the total MS wordcount because I know I’m over 50K, and I still have two chapter left to go. I’ll deal with it later.

Two more chapters to go! Although it’s more work than it sounds, because these are the two chapters that require the most new stuff added to them. Then once that’s done, it’s onward to the (possibly ultimate, possibly penultimate) read-through and polish on Wednesday morning.

…

Oh, fine; I’ll check my wordcount. And hey, look at that; I’m actually not over 50K yet: current wordcount stands at 49,714. A good sign.