Friday, January 18, 2008

Friday Fiver

1. Trying to decide whether or not to take an essay class from the esteemed Andrea King Collier in February. Would that be too much on my plate with this novel?

2. Finally getting access to the remote access for the day job: the right sufolders, etc. That was a hassle.

3. Revision is moving along, I'm dreaming about the book now, which is a good sign. This weekend is all revision, all the time.

4. Tonight is Cloverfield (new JJ Abrams movie) and I can't decide to go see it or not. I think not; I can't stand freakishly suspenseful movies in the theater.

5. Three day weekend, which is a surprise, because I wasn't planning on it until like Wednesday, but now I'm really excited.

Short and sweet today. Gotta get to my work.

Currently reading: Intuition (Allegra Goodman)
Currently listening to: Jordin Sparks

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Thursday and I Need the Weekend . . .Now!

Yes, the blog changed a bit. I'm fussing with it, trying to decide what I like and what I don't. That's Maui (looking out from the Seven Sacred Pools) by the way. Everyone is in Hawaii right now (well not everyone, but plenty of people I know who keep emailing me to say hi; hello to you too) and I could use a dose of it myself.

Moving on.

I was sick yesterday, so not much progress other than LOST season 3 and day job work. The day job is all shot to bits right now because my old boss is leaving (my new boss doesn't want the job) and they keep including me in on all these management meetings (that start at 2 am my time) and I don't know why. Someone got hold of my name somehow and I'm the "solution" person, so I actually have spent time thinking about this stuff. I should not be! I'm the copyeditor. We've got marketing, content, ROW to worry about, but I am just trying to make sure the commas work and that all these niggly things are decided and made consistent. I am so small on the totem pole, but end up worrying about things that people are paid a lot o' money to worry about.

Watched some American Idol and now understand why I don't watch American Idol. Dreamed that Houdini's car got dropped on our house. Did Houdini even have a car? It was painted like an American flag. I gotta quit thinking so much.

Today is more of the same, but I sure feel better.

Currently reading: Dear Joan Didion
Currently listening to: Famous for Nothing (Dropkick Murphys)

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Mid-week and I'm gonna make it!

Everything I've been waiting for in the mail showed up yesterday (except my Sephora order; I really need my makeup, people!) and that was a relief. I found out I get Monday off--sweet! And I'm to the 100-150 zone in the first pass revise. Double sweet!

This revising wears me out! Well that and I got up at 6:30 yesterday and was at work at 6:50 AM for a batch of two meetings yesterday that got canceled without anyone telling me. I slept in this morning (no meetings) and feel rejuvenated.

Ran to Costco because disk 2 of my LOST season 3 dvd set wouldn't play and poured over the book tables. I didn't buy any, because I have enough to keep me busy, but I need to get my hubby a copy of Greenspan's book on Audible for sure. Almost nabbed that, then put it back.

Shipped a bunch of client work back via UPS, and ran to the library to return Holly Black and Stephenie Meyer's books. I'm finishing Ken Follett and ready for book 2, and that might have been my downfall at Costco. Should have picked up his sequel. Darn.

Today is day job and massive focus because deadline is Friday, then I'll attack a quick batch for another client, start in on the World Bank copyedit I've got on deck for next week, and attempt to get another author to make up her mind about italics, which is driving me bonkers. And the revision continues. At this rate, the book goes January 22. I was going to send it yesterday, but Jen talked me out of that. Encouraged me to really give it some thought and attempt to clean it up as best I can. The editor I chose "knows" industry people. I'd rather not embarrass myself more than I need to. (I'm sure I'll be plenty embarrassed, mind you, but I can clean up the lazy writing--the ings, the lys, the roareds, laugheds, and crieds dialogue tags, and make sure the character's name is still Jim by the end of the book). You know, the edity stuff. I can do that.

What I'm hiring the editor for is to tell me in the broad scope of things how to introduce more conflict, how to make it flow smooth, how to not wear out the reader by page 5, that sort of thing. Basically, she'll be another brain with mine on the presentation. It's almost too good to be true. I'm so excited!

Had disturbing dreams last night, just remembered them. Time for breakfast.

Currently reading: The Year of Magical Thinking (Joan Didion)
Currently listening to: Jordin Sparks from American Idol (pretty good)

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Tuesday and My Head Hurts

Fifty pages in to the revision and my head is throbbing. Might be me coming off of sugar and caffeine, might be the fact that I can't figure out how to fold a chunk of storyline in without ruining my continuity. Must keep thinking.

Quick booklist for Q1 (this is the fiction list)

The Reluctant Fundementalist (Mohsin Hamid)
The Year of Magical Thinking (Joan Didion)
Intuition (Allegra Goodman)
My Year of Meats (Ruth Ozeki)
Instances of the Number 3 (Salley Vickers)
Broken for You (Stephanie Kallos)

Thanks to DGG's eZine for a great list! (I've also bought up her nf list and will post that later this week.)

And for those who have their head stuck in the sand, PBS is showing 10 weeks of Jane Austen. Persuasion (not a BBC production) showed on Sunday, and next week is Northanger Abbey. See Masterpiece for more info. The Persuasion movie was not what I hoped for (they changed the movie from the Austen original text), but I still enjoyed it. It's better than the dreck on tv right now! It's still Jane Austen. Everyone is hopeful that the series improves.

Off to work and then later, the next 50 pages.

Currently reading: The Year of Magical Thinking (Joan Didion)
Currently listening to: One Republic

Monday, January 14, 2008

Monday Starts Off With a Bang

It was a nice weekend. Super busy, but really nice. I took a really long nap yesterday and feel rested and ready. The revised manuscript is so close! I will ship it off in the next few days.

We had a party for the Seahawks-Packers game and hooked up two of the tvs in order to watch the game and play the Wii. Everyone is sore! Then we packed up and hubby and I ran up to meet friends for dinner. It turned into a four-hour mastermind/brainstorming session on careers and entrepreneurship. It was great! My brain really needed that workout and I think everyone at the table walked away with good networking ideas on how to further careers and business plans. I encourage every entrepreneur to get into a mastermind group and toss around ideas--think outside the box. It pays off.

Today I head back to Bellevue to meet with Jen before she jets off to her vacation. I have several things to deal with workwise before I go, plus after I return tonight, I need to start in on this week's to-do list. Should be fun (and real).

The writing is going great. I had a super fun class Friday and worked on some exercises with the class that got me into the head of my narrator. Really helpful. We just used writing prompts and let our imaginations run wild. It worked for me!

Happy writing today!

Currently reading: The Year of Magical Thinking (Joan Didion)
Currently listening to: Daft Punk