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In Process -- July 2011

First Draft
“Fairfax”. Started month with about 5000 words I think (12 pages plus the two flash fics). Each of those flashes is probably a chapter needing to be fleshed out (maybe 50% more? There’s no description of anyone, really). Now I have around 14,000, and I'm almost at the end of Chapter 7.

I want to shout out a little where the ideas are coming from, because by the time I have a draft, I will have forgotten.




  • My sister asked what was going to happen next after Dollheads.


  • ChiaLynn I think first used the term (in my hearing) on twitter.


  • I read http://truepenny.livejournal.com/ , where Sarah Monette reads a lot of histories, and commented once on the presentism (I think it would have been an example of that) in a book about the Salem Witch Trials, and how to the people living back then, maybe witchcraft was real and a real threat, so we shouldn’t assume they were all faking it or making it up. I’m paraphrasing here, and doing a poor job.


  • Back in the late 80’s I shared a kitchen with a guy who was doing a Master’s in US History at UofT. He had to teach an undergrad class, and every year he asked them not to do their major paper on the Salem Witch Trials, but of course some did. His problem was a lot the same as Sarah’s, above – that he wasn’t so sure there wasn’t witchcraft going on.
Research: how towns were governed in late 17th century Mass., Puritan architecture, Puritans in general, Virginia Colony, Colonial leaders, witch trials in Salem and Virginia, waterwheels, generators

Editing
"The Rabbits". Completely changed the hidden character because the way I was trying to write it wasn’t working. This was really part of the fourth draft that I started in May. Did the fifth draft to get it ready for the Crit Marathon on OWW. Might as well take advantage?

The challenges
“Overlord/Friend”. Wrote 1200 words on Saturday, typed on Sunday. Edited on Wednesday, edited again on Thursday, posted just before midnight.
“Naiad/Slayer”. Wrote 1600 words on Monday. This may be the first story I ever wrote based on a sock. Typed Tuesday, edited Wednesday. Research: names of lost creeks in Toronto. This story wants to be longer. If I had the inclination and word-count, the naiad wouldn’t be there when the MC got there. She might have friends. She wouldn’t be so easy to run through.
“The Art of Swimming in Armour”. Wrote 1500 – 3 pages before Acro, then three pages after, for about 1700 words.
“Stupid Beast”. This was not the story I expected to write. I thought I was writing about an eating disorder.

Ignoring
“Succubus”. Short story; working on 2nd draft
Troll.
Pampelmouse. I was out for my weekly run in Brookbanks park, and there were three red birds. I thought to myself, how odd to see three cardinals all together, and all male. Then I looked a little closer, and realized they were not cardinals (I’m not ruling out the possibility that they were juveniles or something, I know nothing about birds really – but they didn’t have what I think of as Cardinal color or beak). Some kind of parakeet maybe? They must have escaped or been liberated. Pampelmouse is coming true, which I guess is a sign that I should work on it.
“Imp Face”. Needs to be typed.
Pause.


Being reviewed
“Karate Zombies”. My friend who read it last month asked for it back so he could comment on it directly.
“Ian’s Dad’s Ashes”. (Three crits in July, seemed to like it)
“The Rabbits”. I wanted to have some things up for the Crit Marathon, so I pulled this one together.

Knitting
Morrigan. Finished first sleeve; started second.
Naiad/Slayer. Socks. Fin. A fun knit. I never thought I'd be saying this, but I'm good at kitchener stitch!
Commuter gloves. Fin.
Sideways socks. Started.
Also, I set up the knitting machine.
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