Writing Diary - 3

 

tracking April 2002 - December 2002
Date Accomplishments
12-Apr-2002 Why nothing until now?  Two words:  "Tax season".  That's now done, so I have a life again; I even completed my own taxes.  Currently recuperating.
13-Apr-2002 Started redesign of website, which usually helps me get my brain in gear for more writing.  Started to outline a new short story, social consequences in space colonization sort of stuff.  Also, will be doing major restructuring of "Ghosting the Little Bighorn" (LBH).
15-Apr-2002 Completed restructured web pages, but did not upload them to web site.  
24-Apr-2002 Came up with a plot outline and character for a new story, while working on a separate project.  Working title is "Brine."  Continued review of the LBH story geared towards planned rewrite.
26-Apr-2002 Consulting job for former employer was focus of day.
28-Apr-2002 Copied "Brine" outline information to a separate file.  
29-Apr-2002 Selected a handful of MilPhil photos and prepared page for them to reload on web page.
09-May-2002 Finished a draft of a "throwaway" novel I'd been working on for just over a month.  It's throwaway in the sense that it's something that will never, ever, be published, over my dead body (and probably not even then), but something I wrote to learn.  Lessons learned:
1.  It is possible to realize that, even with the work in the 60,000 word range, and the bulk of it is trash (or that it's gone way off track), one can throw it away and start over.  I did keep the initial chapter, with a few minor changes that pointed toward the way I wanted the story to go.
2.  Based on information in a reference book I've been reading, I learned to structure the events of the so they fulfilled the promise of that original, opening chapter.
3.  I learned I could go ahead and write whatever tripe I wanted or felt in the mood for, just to get it out of my system, and then turn around and delete it if it didn't contribute to the purpose of the story, then continue with the story the way it should go.
4.  Situations I set up in earlier chapters needed to be resolved in later ones, so the learning there was how to work them into the story so that they made sense.
5.  I learned that I have the capability of finish a book-length work without wandering all over the map (epic fantasy excluded, where wandering all over the map is a requirement).
11-May-2002 Borrowed reference book for LBH story rewrite from a friend at local workshop meeting.
12-May-2002 Spent a few hours reviewing ref. book, looking for specific examples of quoted documents, so I could plan out material to add to LBH.  Started rewrite of opening of story.  Abt. 1200 words.  Set up new page at web site with instructions for getting to ConJose (driving, flying, bus, train). 
13-May-2002 Looked over what I'd written on LBH the day before, realized that I may have ditched the unnecessary professor, but I ended up substituting a mouth lab tech, who I'd put in only to allow the reader to learn something about the Main character, Hannah.  I decided I'd have to seriously truncate the lab tech's role, as he doesn't play much of a one in the rest of the story, so my first job was cutting about 200 words.  Continued writing, incorporating and modifying key elements I had in first version.  Also included my first few tries at short passages from Custer's POV.  Finished day's work with about 2500 words of story put together.
14-May-2002 Reviewed opening scene as written, decided to shorten Hannah's sequence.  Looked over a couple of the Custer POV items, and modified them.  Decided to make them slices from letters to his brother.  Still not satisfied with the opening scene, but felt it was better.  Saved the first 7 pages separately and emailed them off to my personal slave driver.
21-May-2002 Received back rewritten story start with detailed comments.  Printed out and read through, then let sit and compost until I figured out ways to resolve.
05-Jun-2002 Posted a challenge that is really an exercise in disguise in the IMP workshop area on CompuServe:  Come up with ten opening sentences to ten different stories and post them in the forum.  Exercise freely and openly taken from Sasha Miller, except I expanded it; I wanted people to comment with their reactions to the openings.
10-Jun-2002 Came up with ten opening sentences of my own and posted them.  Got six or seven by reviewing my idea file and coming up with opening sentences for the nebulous ideas that had been sitting there for some time.  Added a few that didn't tie into any idea already recorded.  Net gain:  Seven story starts, three new story ideas. 
19-Jun-2002 Almost a month later.  In the interim I've reviewed my idea file (see previous item), as well as the files of stories I'd written or started in the past.  However, sat down after my second review of the LBH tale and rewrote it.  Rewrote the opening a half dozen times, at least.  Printed the story and let it sit overnight.  Story came in on rewrite at 4200 words.  This was long that its original length of 3300 words, but overall it's a denser story. 
20-Jun-2002 Took green ink and a good night's sleep to the printout of the LBH story, went over it in detail, and marked it up like crazy.  Later, took the marked up copy to the computer and started inputting changes.  Decided I wanted to do better with my description of Hannah's clothing in the final scene (she's wearing traditional Cheyenne dress), so spent some time looking on the web for images of same.  Found two very good ones, then used iceberg theory of research inclusion in actual writing (i.e. only 10% of the research shows on the surface).  Finally finished the complete story rewrite just after midnight on 21-Jun, ran a final spell check, and emailed if off the Editor Person.  Word count after rewrite, 4400.
22-Jun-2002 Came home from local workshop meeting to find acceptance letter in email.  Also a request for title change.  Editor Person wanted to call story "Custer's Ghost"; I said fine, as I'd considered changing it anyway, only to "Custer's Angel."  Editor Person wrote back and said he liked my second title even better, so that's what it ended up.  Now, on to next project, which was what all that idea review, etc, was about.
23-Jun-2002 Spent afternoon helping a friend try to get 3 giveaway computers up and working.  One needs a new video card, two need new BIOS chips. frustrating day.  Updated web page.
25-Jun-2002 Wrote first draft of "Brine".  This was the short story I'd outlined when working on my throwaway novel in April and May.  Total word count for day, and for story, 4400.  Printed out first draft to let vegetate overnight while preparing for rewrite.
26-Jun-2002 Spent time during morning line editing "Brine," then spent time looking up job ads on the net and sending out Da Resume.  Later, entered the changes I wanted to keep into the story file, ended up with net 100 word gain.  Printed copies to send to local workshop group.
04-Jul-2002 Just after midnight, began complete rewrite of a story I originally called "The Simple Things", new beginning, new focus.  Combined it with a planned sequel to make a single story, now called "The Cure Quest."  I know what I want to do with the scene where I stopped, but need to let the idea compost to figure out the details.  Day's word count, about 4400.
04-Jul-2002 (Part 2):  Went back to working on story during the evening, added a few items into what is now the first chapter, cleaning it up.  Took the beginning I'd had for the second story, now the second chapter, and cleaned it up, refocused, and wrote.  Introduced two new characters, and added depth to two of the existing ones.  Changed the story title back to "The Simple Things" for now; it could end up as something completely different in the end.  As I wrote, chapter titles suggested themselves to me, so I've inserted those for the first two chapters.  Additional wordage about 3600; day's total (last 24 hours), from 8000. 
05-Jul-2002 Cataloged herbs from three books in my library, and started outlining more details of Nila's world (Nila is the POV character).  Put together a map, with countries, seas, islands, lakes, rivers, cities, etc.  I now know the name of Nila's country -- Gelasia -- and its neighbors.  Reviewed the first two chapters and added more definition to the first chapter, as it has morphed into a tale that wants to be a book.  I've decided to call this my "Topsy" story -- "it just growed".  Additional wordage, about 200, after the fine tuning.  Story count to date, 8200.
06-Jul-2002 Researched more herb lore on web.  May or may not use our world's rules for herb lore for my fantasy world; more than likely, I'll set up different rules for Nila's world.  It already has its own months, weekdays, and deities, which are not ours.  Dove into next chapter, and have Nila moving forward in her quest.  Day's wordage:  about 2500, story now at 10,700.
07-Jul-2002 Inserted a new, short chapter between first two, told from POV of one of the other characters.  Needed the POV and the events told in order to forward the story the way I wanted.  Made a few changes in punctuation, namely for the speech of the characters who've been accidentally converted to animals.  Brought in another character who was foreshadowed in what is now Chapter 3, and moved the group further on their journey.  Also finished a chapter left hanging, and added still another one, also short.  With edits, modifications, and new material added, the day's total is net gains is about 6,800 words, bringing the story up to 17,500 so far, and it's still plugging along.
08-Jul-2002 Going grocery shopping in 95 deg heat is Not Fun [TM].  Spent time recuperating after all frozen and refrigerated goods hauled into house, then started writing again.  About 2000 words gained, as I went back and modified some setup situations in a previous chapter (took out some stuff, added even more in), but the story progresseth.  This is not a deep story, it's rather a bit of fluff, but it's fluff that's flowing. 
10-Jul-2002 Took a day off from physical writing to stew.  Left my MC captive of a pathetic band of outlaws, and needed the time to figure out how she was going to escape.  Moved the work I'd included in partial chapter to end of previous chapter, which made it work better.  Made a cliffhanger ending.  Worked out a way to get two other characters introduced in chapter 3 involved again, and managed to write another 5500 words in this session.  Tale therefore stands at something like 25,000 words.
I've referred to this as a "fluff" tale (sans "welfies").  One online friend called this a "gift" book.  I think he's right.  Plan to print off the first three chapters to take to workshop this Saturday. 
11-Jul-2002 Fantasy continues apace.  Wrote another full chapter and most of another before calling it a day.  Need to review; may make most recent scene (in process) beginning of a new chapter, as it moves the story to a new phase of operation.  Anyway, 2700 words in one chapter, and 2900 in one following.  Am not quite satisfied with the scene breaks, and figure to rearrange some of them in the next session.
12-Jul-2002 Reviewed previous day's chapters and decided I was right.  Took the last complete scene IP (400 words) and moved to beginning of next chapter, then took a scene kicker from earlier in the one chapter and moved it to to a later chapter.  Switched chapter titles around so they matched better, and then wrote the next two chapters, one around the trial of the outlaws, another where MC and one of her newer associates share some revelations.  Total word count for day,  an additional 4200 words.
15-Jul-2002 Not home at all on Saturday, and took Sunday off, during which time I realized I'd done several things wrong from Chapter 7 on.  Made a note of the errors, and went back to page 100 and started rewriting.  Chapter content and lengths changed from Chapters 7 through 12.  Chapters 7-11 originally about 12,500 words altogether; ended up reusing about 2000 words of that, the rest is all new.  Added another 300 words to chapter 5 to set up new events in chapter 7, saved aside another scene to reuse elsewhere later.  Replaced over half of Chapter 7 and expanded it, then wrote new chapters 8-11 afterwards.  Net wordage GAIN about 9800; actual wordage probably about 20,000, considering all that was deleted. 
24-Jul-2002 Back to writing after a hiatus.  Cleared up a few back story elements, adding some foreshadowing and removing a couple of inconsistencies, then went on to finish Chapter 12.  Included some skill growth in MC, which are causing some effects she's not used to.  Also introduced a murder subplot.  Total wordage for session, about 2800.
25-Jul-2002 Wrote Chapter 13, which will conclude MC's quest for obtaining the ingredients for the spell she obtained in Chapter 3.  Not the end, yet, though, as she has to make her way back to a previous location to complete the original quest (reversing spells gone awry).  Political intrigues involving her companions have been introduced, and am setting stage for furthering them along in this chapter.  Total wordage about 3700.
26-Jul-2002 Continued on to write Chapter 14, enhancing items from previous chapter.  Wordage for day, 3000.
01-Aug-2002 After three days dealing with the aftereffects of insomnia, settled down to review the entire book to date.  Ended up splitting chapter 1 into two separate chapters, and did the same with a later chapter.  Cleaned up some inconsistencies, added a few items that linked up to future events, made a few minor characterization changes.  Net overall result of about 600 additional words, although many more than that written due to section deletions and other additions.
02-Aug-2002 Workshop tomorrow, so printed out next two chapters (after above revisions) to take along.  Also hunkered down and wrote a short story, the theme of which grabbed onto my brain after a discussion with a friend in chat the other night.  Story length in first draft:  1600 words.  Even after rewrite, it shouldn't break 1800.
03-Aug-2002 Reviewed printout of previous day's short story and marked it up.  spent rest of day away from home, local workshop group.
04-Aug-2002 Second draft of Friday's short story.  Revised story at 1700 words.  Will print out to take to new workshop group, which meets this Wednesday evening.  Total wordage written, about 300, with net 100 word gain.  After four tries, came up with a title for it:  "The Event Scheduler." 
05-Aug-2002 After spending morning and early afternoon on SFWA Suite stuff, went to work on rewriting the other short story, "Brine."  Threw out most of the actual event presentation, and modified a few in major ways.  I believe it strengthens the story, in the end.  I had thought of renaming the story, but the only option that I could think of gave too much away, so I just modified the opening scene slightly so that things previously confusing were clarified.  The previous version was 4800 word; this version is 5200.  I think I replaced all but about 1000 words of the original, plus added some.  With rewrites, it's difficult to tell.
08-Aug-2002 Printed out two short stories, with intent to inflict then on editors via USPS.  Also pulled up novel again, knowing how I wanted to revise first chapter to make it more like a novel chapter and less like a short story start.  Also added a prologue, wherein I introduced the various characters who end up getting accidentally transformed to animals.  Also cleared up a couple of inconsistencies in chapter 2 before I called it a night.    Set up each chapter as a separate file, with a master doc, and saved it all.
10-Aug-2002 Mailed the two short stories off to two separate magazines.  They are now in the hands of the US Postal service.
11-Aug-2002 Rewrote the first part of chapter 1 of the book, as I was totally unhappy with the rewrite I did on it on the 8th.  Finished chapter 18, wrote chapter 19, which is a small one.  Cleaned up a few inconsistencies in the master document.  Total words written, about 6200.  Net wordage gained, about 5000.
05-Oct-2002 Ran two stories through two different workshop groups in the past month.  Spent this evening fixing typos in one of them, and making a couple of enhancements based on review.  No wordage change.  Other than that, this is the first writing since prior to ConJosé; part of it was being too busy prior to and after the convention, part of it was recovering from the convention, and part of it, alas, was being out of practice.  The other story needs a couple of detail fixes, and one plot point modification, so it is now in the compost pile waiting for inspiration.
08-Oct-2002 Modified the master document for the fantasy, then started to work making changes in Chapter 1.  This was originally conceived as a short story, and so was written in a much tighter style than needed for a novel.  Am in the process of trying to flesh it out.  I've been away from this for two months, so have distance, and am hoping I'll be able to smooth out some of the rough spots as well as pin down and repair a few of the plot problems I realized I'd made during the initial writing.  Will be working on revamping this through the existing chapters for some time now.  So far, I'm still working on the second paragraph of the first chapter.   
30-Oct-2002 Wrote first draft of a new short story, fantasy, working title is "Chosen."  Know it's not the final title.  Story about 4300 words long at end, but even though all elements are in place, it isn't working.  Need to revise.
04-Nov-2002 After much cogitation, rewrote the short story.  Threw out about a thousand words, but have more information in it.  It's now 5100 words, and is titled "Walk to the Moon".  Now, to run it through the mill (i.e. workshop).
17-Nov-2002 Read through, and made changes in, the first four chapters of the fantasy novel.  No real change in word count.
22-Nov-2002 After workshop review of the latest short story, I spent a few hours rewriting it.  Haven't yet planned the characters' final names, but will change them for the final version.  Emailed it off to two friends who promised to look it over.  Final length:  5500 words
23-Nov-2002 Got back review comments on rewrite, and incorporated fixes.  Also, managed to rename all the characters but one earlier in the day.  Finally decided on name for the last one sometime in the wee hours of the morning during chat.  This is now fixed.
24-Nov-2002 Story's as done as it can get, given the looming deadline, so I emailed it off and hope it doesn't bounce.
02-Dec-2002 Started plotting out story for new anthology announced the same time as previous anthology.  Emailing editor for guidelines.

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