Bad planning

mood: frenetic
music: Kiss, Kiss (in Turkish) by Simarik
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Why do I do this to myself every year?

I can't seem to learn to keep October relatively free for planning my November project. I thought I was doing it this year--told the kids we'd be doing simple Halloween costumes that didn't involve hours of sewing by Mom. That's what took up my October last year, so I thought I was being Smart. Then I started the rewrite of my other novel, with an eye to having it done by Oct. 31st. Am I crazy? I must be. Now I have a novel that's a big mess--so many markups in different colors that it looks like a preschooler's art project--and another one that I keep having great ideas about but can't take the time to sit down and hash them out.

The result is a kind of paralysis. Now I can't seem to get anything done, on either project.

Well, I have five days to do something about that. I'm hoping this little rant will be cathartic and get my brain moving.

And next year, I'm writing "Keep October Free" in big letters on my calendar.

Celtika

mood: fair to middlin'
music: The Hard and the Easy by Great Big Sea
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Today I finished reading Celtika by Robert Holdstock. At first I was really enjoying the book; it took the Merlin legend and spun it in a new way, incorporating other myths along the way. All in all, though, it was a hard book--not as in difficult, but sort of a cold book. At the risk of sounding sexist, I'd call it a man's book. By that I simply mean that it would probably appeal more to men than to women. There are two more books that follow it, but I haven't decided yet if I'll read them.

I think I'll throw myself into something completely different next: Terry Pratchett's Going Postal. That should help me de-stress before NaNoWriMo!

Bought tickets today for the Simple Plan concert in December in Halifax. Ostensibly to take the kids, but I'll enjoy it as much as they will.

The rewrite continues apace, although I did goof off yesterday long enough to mock up a cover for my November project in Photoshop. The call of the forums is like a siren-song when you're trying to concentrate on something else...

Back on track

mood: hopeful
music: Autumn by George Winston
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Looks like I might be back on track with the rewrite--last night I took the ms to our writing group meeting and we all spent some time working on various projects. I had to buckle down and actually look at where I'd left off, wrote a couple of pages and realized what I had to think about next. Later, at home, I made some further notes and went to bed early as a reward for being so virtuous.

This morning I'm trying to write another couple of pages, so I'd better get to it. My desktop countdown timer is telling me only eighteen days left until November, so I have to get in gear.

I'm beginning to understand that the feedback I got on the novel was really priceless. Having to add more complications is leading to a lot more depth of story than there was before.

My daughter signed up for the NaNoWriMo young writers program. I hope we'll have some fun working on it together this year. She's quite excited and planning out her story with great enthusiasm.

Think I 'm in Trouble

mood: upbeat
music: sweet silence
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I think I'm in rewrite trouble, and I don't have time to be blogging about this, but it might help. I'm only halfway (if that!) through the rewrite and I'm getting NaNoWriMo fever. All I want to be doing is thinking about my 2005 NNWM project, browsing the forums, filling out character sheets and plot planners. Stop! Must...finish...rewrite...first. I'll hate myself if I don't. Argh.