Muse solved an editing problem!

Despite today being my day of relaxation...I've spent the last few hours editing. Well, I wanted to. And as soon as I'm finished with this post I'm putting the laptop away and heading back to dvd watching and embroidery.

It was wonderful! I'm still on lesson 12...but I've only got two more smallish things to do then I can move on to lesson 13. I've been sorting out my characters, changing some of the notes I'd already made, and creating new notes for the revised wip. It's helping get everything straight in my head. And...in re-reading what I'd put before, I discovered that with the new plot Muse has actually solved a dilemma I had with one part of the plot! How cool is that?! ^o^ Got to love my Muse. She is very awesome.

I've finished Winx season 3! I finished it this afternoon. It was as amazing as ever. I didn't watch the film or start season 4 because I actually wanted to watch some more of Sasami, Magical Girl's Club. It's a nice light anime (exactly what I need). Going to get some reading in tonight, just in case tomorrow is mental at work and I need to watch more dvds than just 2 episodes when I get home tomorrow. Finish off a friend's wip and starting an ebook :)

Splish, splosh, yawn

Hands up who is sleepy! Not that I can see you. Work was busy again, but there were some laughs to be had which makes all the difference. I came home, watched two episodes of Winx to relax, then did a little editing. Didn't manage as much as I'd hoped, but something is much better than nothing.

I'm finishing up quickly on online stuff, then it's time to relax! I've got the Bake Off or whatever it's called 8pm on BBC 1, which is good fun to watch. I've ordered some cereal with my milk delivery as there are special offers on one cereal which I like. Tomorrow I do have another contact lens appointment (I don't think my eye is irritated any more) mid morning, so I can only have 45 mins of craft club, but I'm going to do some embroidery, so that's cool. In the afternoon I am free. Which means I so need to relax! Winx & sewing. *happy sigh* Got to love my day off.

What is important is that I'm getting back into reading. The last few weeks have been so weird that reading hasn't figured much on my agenda. Well, I'm in the reading mood, and I want to nom on books. So I will be!

Tomorrow's review will be posted at the end of the day (just so I can be oblivious to my laptop for most of the day), and hopefully at the weekend I can get back to scheduling reviews in. It's time to go hunt out some food.

What a day!

(picture from google search)

Muse is not a happy bunny/camper than this is the 2nd day I'm not editing. Or writing. Yesterday, I felt a bit mweh so I took the sensible option and rested all day. That was a hard but necessary decision. I'm still finding relaxation a huge learning curve. I watched dvds & sewed all day. It was great fun - I finished season two of Winx, and now I'm on the 2nd (of 3) disc of season 3. I did nearly finish another bookmark, so I'll get the delights of starting a new project today. 

I'm glad I rested yesterday, as I suspected today would be a bit mental at work, just with the stuff that was already planned. It was more mental than I anticipated. And the insanity started while I was about 10 minutes away from work (of a 40 minute commute). 

There was the usual traffic at the mini-roundabout leading up to the main road. I knew schools were back this week, so expected that. In a 3 lane road (I don't know the technical term for the lanes. There is left, middle, and right. Or rather 'go slow/sensible drivers' (left), 'middle for overtaking and those who like more oomph (middle) 'nutcase lane' (right). 

I head straight to the right. There wasn't really anyone in the left, but I didn't think anything of it. People in the middle were trying to get to the right. I saw a bit of smoke and thought there was a bonfire (it is possible, although unusual for where we were). That was until I saw a car on fire, in the left lane. 

I found greater respect for those who deal with emergencies like that. The fire engines were nearly there, there wasn't any police there yet. 

I was really freaked out, even though I knew logically that no one would be in there. Once at work, a cup of tea, a chocolate bar and a few tissues later I was ready to face the busy day. 

I reckon it probably was arson, as there was no other car stopped nearby, no one out by the side of the road. I've seen it on TV, but up close it's quite different. 

So the busyness & incident combined mean for my own sanity I need lots of happy things (aka Winx). So Muse will kick her heels for another day. 

Hope you all have a good evening! And your life gets a little less manic. 

On lesson 12!

Yesterday was great fun, because as I was reading lesson 11 I thought  that there wasn't much for me to do. I was write. I'm now on lesson 12. I had a peek at it yesterday, and thankfully for 12-14 I've actually done quite a lot of the work in my head, earlier on in the revision course. So I'm just writing down what's in my head. It does mean that I actually have to give names to a few characters (rather than calling them Bodyguard, which really works in the novel but I needed a real name). I knew the real name for Bodyguard was in another wip (where she first features as a bounty hunter, but because of that book becomes a respectable member of a security force), so I hunted that wip down. The name was beautiful, but I needed a less girly name for her in Inescapable Ties. So I brainstormed with a friend, and we came up with the same name, slightly different spelling at the same time. So that name is sorted.

It's a nice surprise that the next few lessons shouldn't be too tricky to work through. As much as I want to carry on editing all day, that really isn't a good idea for me. So I'm being good, closing everything down and going to read this afternoon, then have a bit of a Winx fest this evening. Getting back into reading is supremely awesome, and I'm loving it! There's no better place to be on a rainy day than inside, warm, snuggled under a blanket with hot chocolate and a stack of books.

I lost a few hours earlier today while my car was serviced, but I did take books there. I had a pleasant surprise as I waited, was offered some tea so didn't refuse, but instead of machine tea it was in a proper mug! That was very pleasing, as machine tea doesn't always taste great.

What ever you're up to today, enjoy it!

Finished lesson 10 - whoohoo!

Party time! I've just finished lesson 10 (which I've been wrestling over a few days as I couldn't do it all in one go).

I now have the new plot on index cards in a document. Looking at it on many view pages it looks really pretty. I have no idea what's ahead in the next lesson, but I'm pleased to say I can hopefully start lesson 11 tomorrow.

Now, I've got this book to read tonight, then a question to think of for the author (yes I'm rather excited about getting it answered! Philip Pullman is quite a legend over here.) So yes, busy night as it has to be read by tomorrow.

Enjoy your evening!

Whoohoo for edits & Winx!

(this is from a Google search of anime birds - it's actually from the first anime I ever saw, Castle in the Sky which I still adore today). 

This morning, seeing as I felt relatively chirpy I figured I'd get some editing done, as I've had a small break from it over the past week. 

(copyright to original owner (not me))

I managed to complete the new outline using a sentence for each scene! I'd stopped about half way through, have ended up with around 84 scenes (it had been 46....but some scenes have been deleted/merged). I was up for a bit more, so I kept going with lesson 10, and started compiling a new master copy of index cards detailing my plot. I managed 10 scenes, then started yawning. 

(copyright to original owner (not me))

That means it's time to stop editing for the day, and enter the second exciting part - Winx fest! I can't nap in the day as it mucks up with my sleep, but dvd watching & sewing = very relaxing and something I planned to do today. 

Enjoy the rest of your day! I will be doing this later...

.(copyright to original owner (not me))

Productivity = good!

(copywrite to whoever this belongs to)

You know those days where you feel like you've done something? Today is one of those days. I had a lot of fun at work as a few of us had lunch together. It was a welcome break after doing some proofreading (which I really enjoy but it's quite a brain work out with all the technical jargon).

Then I got home, unwound with an hour of sewing and delved into editing. I'm on chapter 10, and the lesson is good fun because I have to rewrite the story scene by scene (sentences only!), not stopping to change them. I confess to changing one scene because I'd written it wrong (bad me. Not that I care!).

It's been very insightful. Muse has found a way to work in the changed storylines in such a way that the incidents which I'd previously put in, which had to be there but didn't quite make sense all now have a purpose and the storyline is behaving itself so far. I'm currently on scene 30, which I will tackle another day (probably Thursday as tomorrow is supposed to be a rest day from all work). I'm definitely making good headway in this editing! It's nice having it come together and start making sense out of the muddled plot ends (some are muddled. Others are merely finely interwoven with others in such a way that you need glasses to look to see where each one starts and ends).

Tonight I'm sewing while watching the British Bake off and some expedition thingy on BBC1. Family is baking butterfly biscuits so I'll have a warm one later (yay!)

Have a great evening!

Yay! 2 editing lessons complete!

Party time! (in Aria anime style!)

When I sat down this morning, I hoped to get to the end of lesson 8. I exceeded that and finished lesson 9 too!

I've been learning about what I want in my story, what I need in my story for it to work, what must remain other the story isn't the story. It's been fun!

Now, ordinarily I would be tempted to carry on with lesson 10 this afternoon. It involves coloured index cards (I'll prepare mine in different word documents on my laptop, which is surprisingly simple to do).

But I must clean out my birds, so I'm heading off for a baked potato with tuna, then cleaning my pets.

After that I'll be bashing up monsters with these people!

Then I'll do some sewing :)

Enjoy your Sunday, whatever you're up to!

Nothing beats a good night's sleep.

Really. Sleep is essential to life. I've slept badly for months. I've been able to adjust one of my medication, and it means I get sleep! 

I'm guessing most of you were asleep at 4am this morning, but that's when I woke up, refreshed, thinking 'Yay! Sleeep!' 5 hours solid sleep felt incredible. By 4pm I was yawning away, but it was nice to feel a bit more human., and thinking less of 'I need to sleep'. 

I'm hoping on the final increase tomorrow night I might get 30 more mins sleep. If I can get to 6 hours solid sleep - I'll be very happy. 

So this morning I did some reading, some tapestry work, then some more reading. I was a few chapters in a 400 pages + book (ninja vampires)

when I realised that I wanted to edit, not read. I knew I couldn't over do it it as I had to clean my birds before lunch (a time limit I set on myself). So I spent best part of 4 hours picking out items I'd used in my wip, which scenes they were in, writing them down on the scene cards & on the worksheets. I finished chapter 7! Huge whoohoo moment. (Finishing a lesson is a big achievement at the moment). 

I then carried on reading the vampire ninja book (Hero is a bit of a nincompoop in places, but heroine is very cool). Scheduled a review, remembered another review & comp was due up this weekend, had dinner, and now I'm relaxing. Feeling like a cosy cat so I'm going to read tonight rather than watch anime. 

Hope everyone gets some sleep tonight! Having a sleep routine helps in some ways, depending what your sleeping issues actually are. 

Editing tonight!

Confession: it didn't happen yesterday.

I had 30 minutes until bed. It takes my laptop a good 5 mins to boot up. So I opted for R&R with reading :)

I've nearly finished work, then its home, Japanese homework, read and review a book THEN editing (for sure!). Will post how far I get later on.

Tomorrow probably 0 will happen...ditto thursday. I'll try to make it up at the weekend. Got to celebrate my birthday :D

Editing Termion, Post #1

There are going to be many posts like these, so I thought I'd number them.

Yesterday I spent a good 2 hours 30 mins editing what was chapter 1 of Termion. It's now chapter 1 & 2. It grew!

This shouldn't have been a surprise, because I tend to write too few details in my first draft. It doubled in size! I had to split it, and found a good place for it. I'm happy with the current chapter 1.

Chapter 2 is a different story. I think the problem was I was trying to finish it before bed (bed time isn't moveable on a work night). So perhaps I was rushing it. But...its not right. I need more details, more of a build-up, etc. However, there is hope. On the commute to work, Bankar pointed out putting his POV in would add another dimension to the story. I agree with him. So I worked out the rest of chapter 2 in my head (and a few scenes later on in the story). So I've got lots to be getting on with! (and 30 days to do it all in). If the first chapter is an indication of the others, Termion is going to be a lot bigger than it was originally! (which wasn't huge for a YA). It's all good!

Writing = will happen AFTER Japanese homework tonight. Due to my birthday on Wednesday, I can't do it last minute on weds. Which is fine..only...I want to attack chapter 2! Poor muse, she'll have to wait.

It's June! (almost)

After a relaxing day, I'm about to attack chapter 1 of Termion. Got about 1/2 left to edit (I'm adding a bit to the beginning, had edited the middle, and haven't got to the end). I've got my determined face on: unless things happen beyond my control, I'm doing everything in my power to have it ready for beta reading on July 1st! 

BTW if anyone else is interested in beta-reading it over july, message me :) I never say no to volunteers. 

Let the editing commence!

Thus begineth the edit of Termion.

Deadline: July 1st

Motto: Thou shalst edit every daye.

(and possibly learn old English spelling).

*eyes glint*

Book! Book! Book!

Grr to blogger for deleting my first attempt at this.

I'm getting a book in the post! Call for excitement cos the 3rd in the trilogy by Maria Snyder
(Poison Study, Magic Study, Fire Study) wasn't due to be released over her til 16th Jan. But, I got an email from amazon saying that my order had been dispatched. Considering I haven't ordered anything recently, I was thinking 'what order?' I checked, squealed and much goodness follows!

So...I'm now going to read the previous two again so I'm all caught up. Even though I remember most of it, its funny and a good read.

Yayness!

I love editing too, which I think I've already blogged about. But that's what I'm doing tomorrow afternoon until the 1st (and writing...cos....

I FOUND MY USB STICK!

My week is off to a good start. How's yours?