Robynettely

It's killing me that I can't refer to William Blake's dark satanic mills, since he was born like 100 years after my story takes place. I don't know how I'm going to purge this wretched thing of all my accidental (what's the opposite of anachronisms? I know there's a word for it).

First Draft “Fairfax”. Around 100K, and not that close to the end. This sucker had better wrap up before November, that’s all I have to say.  “Lucky Kate”. First draft finished. This was the reward for the thing I don’t talk about that I finished a draft 2 on sort of. Meaning I’d used my new editing system to achieve a target, and so I got to do something fun (which isn’t to say editing isn’t fun, but you know what I mean). It’s a first draft, so it’s horribly flawed, but there’s a frame to hang a story on there. Editing Yes.  Circulating 2 things. The same two things. To the same two places. So I didn’t send anything out. Knitting “Joy” from Rowan Vintage knits. Put together, and done. (In April actually). “Bome” fair isle, also known as “night garden” in these here parts. Cast on body, made it up past the pleats. (The sleeves were done in March maybe.) I feel like I’ve been working on this sweater forever. Right now I can do about seven rows a week, s

“Sense and Sensibility” by Jane Austen. So I, um, won a kindle fire at my holiday party a couple of months ago. This was the first book I read on it. I found it a nice form factor and comfortable to read off of, but I found it easier to put down and not pick up than an actual book, maybe because you have to turn it on. The wrap-up of Eleanor’s storyline seemed too easy to me, not that I wasn’t happy for her or anything, but I felt like it should have been less of a surprise and more motivated. “Graceling” by Kristin Cashore. Oh my god, a book I chose myself! The boy wandered off with this when he’d finished all that GRRM stuff. He told me it was “a good first novel” which is damning with faint praise but whatever. However, when I was reading along, I could see what he meant; it lacked a certain elegance in execution. The idea was really cool, though. I loved Po’s grace. And the plot moved right along. “The Fox Woman“ by Kij Johnson. I’ve read three of her short stories, a

In defense of my characters in this novel I'm writing, I can tell it's annoying them, too, that they are all clustered together talking instead of doing something about the threat they're under. It's not their fault; the threat hasn't ramped up yet.I am dying to see how I fix this section in Draft 2. I am sorely tempted to skip ahead to the climax, write that and the denoument and say "the end", and stick the whole thing in a box for half a year to cool off. I've got at least 15,000 words to go, and I'm over wordcount already.  Maybe a handstand will help.