Christmas. that happened.
There was about a week of food preparation for three days of non-stop eating. I'm sure many can relate to that. we had a Christmas eve dinner which extended late into the night (I lit fire poi's and avoided incident). Christmas breakfast involved copious amounts of cream cheese, croissants, ham, jam and butter. Breakfast morphed into lunch which lasted roughly twelve hours and included a serious bucket of pina colada slushies which melted in the sun, and -mixed with black currant shnapps- turned to sickly, sweet alchoholic syrup... lunch lasted well beyond dinner, several bottles of sunscreen, bubbly and two groups of guests. Then came boxing day morning -chocolate- then a whole day on the beach with friends eating BBQ'd sausages and left overs. Then there was another gathering for the third dinner of Christmas.
To sum it up I am sun burnt, happy and have eaten enough to feed a small village.
All of this plus the recent flooding of our little city (few hundred homes evacuated and red-stickered, lots of slips and roads closed) has left my book a little lonely for the past week. I have managed to write a half chapter and have spent some time working on bits i need to plant here and there..
I'm looking forward to returning to it with a vengeance. Being more that half way there on my first extraordinarily rough and bare-bones draft, has made me quite confident that i will finish it in a couple of months. ( fingers crossed )
Appreciation
I'm beginning to really appreciate the select handful of people who have shown a fair amount of enthusiasm for this mammoth project. I have put my all into it and it's nice to have people approach me and ask questions. There's also the friends who have been condemned to hear me talk about it at all times, and they listen, which makes me keen to carry on. I don't think I truly appreciated the amount of work that writing a book would take when I started this. It's not the obvious stuff (planning, editing, writing) but the little things, like making sure every paragraph is interesting and all of the tiny loose ends get their answers somewhere along the line, making sure every character is where they should be, sacrificing the small things that occupied my time before this (I haven't been for a good walk in a while) trying to talk it up to people, planning the demise of characters I love...
Monday 26 December 2011
Friday 9 December 2011
The Pinnacle and the organisational chaos.
Listening to raging dub step and destroying characters might seem destructive, but is isn't. Really it isn't. Not when done with a certain degree of delicacy.
Yes. I did argue with myself over that one. Only for a moment though. Needless to say, the chapter I have just written is my favorite so far. An action packed blur of fantastic.
On another note, now that the Christmas show 'The Mousetrap' is over I have more time than I've had since before the show before that show.... (Pack of Girls). I am able to go back to things I had previously abandoned, like keeping my desk clean, filing Kelly's hooves, eating real food, brushing my hair, sleep, exercise.. or -like the last week- I can just sit at my computer till two A.M and juggle University complications with the thirteenth chapter and eat licorice.
The Two unfortunate chapters that I wrote while 'The moustrap' was running are hilariously bad. I made a deal with myself to keep notes and edit when it was a whole (I do however brush up a chapter several chapters back as I write, It's a good way not to forget who went where, etc etc). They're bad because the precious moments I had to write them were short late-night sessions that resulted in jumpy, tired scenes written in paragraph blobs while i was half asleep drooling over my keyboard from tiredness.
This precipice that book is resting on warrants a new organisational system to better the organised chaos that was before. If I could find my camera underneath the pile's of breakdowns, notes and 'List's of names from various places' folders -then I would photograph this havoc and keep it as evidence of how my brain works. I was told once that I had 'complicated thought processes' I think It would be more suitable to call it 'mess'.
I have an entire wall of pictures, quotes and drawings. None of it from an outsiders point of view would appear to be related to anything. Just an assortment of 'stuff,' but Almost all of it has it's own relevance. The Bill Hammond postcards that have patterns that make me think of one characters tattoos. The freeze I got from an art museum in the capital that makes me thing of the youth in some of my characters. Bit's ripped from magazines that have 'her eyes' or 'his hair'. It isn't interesting to anybody else, but when I look at it it's a mind map. I've spread the 'written organisation' across two desks, and 18 notebooks. (when i say 'two desks' one is really just a gigantic trunk covered in arty stuff and stacks of paper). My box of 'planning stuff' is like -folder of chapter breakdowns, bits of paper, things to add, CHOCOLATE, inspirational things, CHOCOLATE, visual diary, CHOCOLATE. I don't know how all that chocolate got in there honest...
I have taken a step in the right direction. I now number my notebooks. There's notebook 3, notebook 4 and, yea no that's as far as I got... On the plus side, at least the planning part of this novel is there, shining through the mess like little beacons of exciting booky things to come.
This is a short post. I needed to vent my enthusiasm for what is becoming of the words i have written. I will leave you with some 'raging dub step'.
Combine them and you have a happy sandwich, and a message of this unusual pinnacle chapter. I don't always listen to dub step. see what this book has done to me. I do like it though...
peace
Yes. I did argue with myself over that one. Only for a moment though. Needless to say, the chapter I have just written is my favorite so far. An action packed blur of fantastic.
On another note, now that the Christmas show 'The Mousetrap' is over I have more time than I've had since before the show before that show.... (Pack of Girls). I am able to go back to things I had previously abandoned, like keeping my desk clean, filing Kelly's hooves, eating real food, brushing my hair, sleep, exercise.. or -like the last week- I can just sit at my computer till two A.M and juggle University complications with the thirteenth chapter and eat licorice.
The Two unfortunate chapters that I wrote while 'The moustrap' was running are hilariously bad. I made a deal with myself to keep notes and edit when it was a whole (I do however brush up a chapter several chapters back as I write, It's a good way not to forget who went where, etc etc). They're bad because the precious moments I had to write them were short late-night sessions that resulted in jumpy, tired scenes written in paragraph blobs while i was half asleep drooling over my keyboard from tiredness.
This precipice that book is resting on warrants a new organisational system to better the organised chaos that was before. If I could find my camera underneath the pile's of breakdowns, notes and 'List's of names from various places' folders -then I would photograph this havoc and keep it as evidence of how my brain works. I was told once that I had 'complicated thought processes' I think It would be more suitable to call it 'mess'.
I have an entire wall of pictures, quotes and drawings. None of it from an outsiders point of view would appear to be related to anything. Just an assortment of 'stuff,' but Almost all of it has it's own relevance. The Bill Hammond postcards that have patterns that make me think of one characters tattoos. The freeze I got from an art museum in the capital that makes me thing of the youth in some of my characters. Bit's ripped from magazines that have 'her eyes' or 'his hair'. It isn't interesting to anybody else, but when I look at it it's a mind map. I've spread the 'written organisation' across two desks, and 18 notebooks. (when i say 'two desks' one is really just a gigantic trunk covered in arty stuff and stacks of paper). My box of 'planning stuff' is like -folder of chapter breakdowns, bits of paper, things to add, CHOCOLATE, inspirational things, CHOCOLATE, visual diary, CHOCOLATE. I don't know how all that chocolate got in there honest...
I have taken a step in the right direction. I now number my notebooks. There's notebook 3, notebook 4 and, yea no that's as far as I got... On the plus side, at least the planning part of this novel is there, shining through the mess like little beacons of exciting booky things to come.
This is a short post. I needed to vent my enthusiasm for what is becoming of the words i have written. I will leave you with some 'raging dub step'.
Combine them and you have a happy sandwich, and a message of this unusual pinnacle chapter. I don't always listen to dub step. see what this book has done to me. I do like it though...
peace
Saturday 26 November 2011
Findings
Mainly I seem to post about things i find -or things that find me- thoughts, bits of paper, things in my garden, old stories. Trust me every bit of it weaves it's way into my book, like a giant jigsaw of 'stuff'. I like to think that people who know me well might recognize a place, a mannerism and idea... anyway If i find my sanity amongst these discoveries I will let you know.
My laptop case -the Mary Poppins bag of lap top cases- contains many of these findings. Today I leafed through the bits of paper, knitting, notebooks, crochet owls and buttons held within said bag and found a poem.
(I just dropped coffee on my keyboard, I hope the 'num lock' button isn't important...) I've never ever been any good at poems, in fact the only ones I've kept are ones intended for my book. The poem I found was probably written four of five years ago. It's very short and very sweet and I can't believe I wrote it, but lets just say I am extraordinarily excited to slip it inside the jigsaw. I won't write it here because It's one of those poems that only makes sense when you know the mythology behind it plus it's far more powerful when you hear it from the marginally-depressed, ill-fated, possibly-doomed and overwhelmed character who is going to say it. it isn't sad though, don't get me wrong, its sort of carries a sense of resignation. It's a 'turning point' poem. It's special.
I went to see breaking dawn a few nights ago. now that's an interesting topic. Twilight, I'm almost scared to talk about it actually. It seems people either love it, hate it, love to hate it or are obsessed with it..
A few years ago I was conned into reading the first book, I didn't think it sounded like 'my thing' Turns out it probably was my thing, I liked it, I read the others and brought Breaking dawn as it hit the stores.
In retrospect it quite possibly wasn't the literally content that drew me in but the rain, the wolves, Bella and the mysterious immortals. I've learned to fear Twilight (seriously the fans that emerged with the movies got scary) and have developed a certain respect for vampires that don't sparkle. I no longer know what to think of it all, in my opinion the books were a cool idea and the first movie was awesome but since then... and the final book didn't do anything for me, sorry SM but what good is a story where everyone gets absolutely everything they want. A good story has to have some balance, some sacrifice. (In my opinion)
I want to talk about Tellan. I've not written another synopsis yet, sorry. I'm excited about it. I feel like I'm weaving.. or putting together a big puzzle. I have little mysteries everywhere, wee lose ends and carefully planned comments, objects and visions. BUCKETS OF FUN. (accidental caps-lock but i'm gunna leave it just to emphasize my joy).
I've just introduced my protagonist to one of my favorite characters (who we can nickname 'the prince under pressure'). She's also just been extracated from a scrap with a 'lady' and experienced a rather mind-blowing change of circumstance.
Next on the 'to write' list -or rather in the up coming chapters- I have a series of near-death experiences involving a lake, some serious rain, a blue tiger and a wolf boy. That's right the wolf boy. He's about to make one of his brief appearances. I can't wait. This ones for you Alice.
Speaking of Alice (my sister). We-re about to re-united. With our combined adventures (her to Aussie, me to Canada) I haven't seen her since May 2010. whoa.
She's in Sydney being amazing, a model, fashionista, babe, writer, I'm not sure what.. http://lunamagazine.com.au/author/alice she wrote some stuff.. and I miss her. Alice is the basis for one very important character. One of those characters who's talked about all the time but no one really knows what she's up to, or where exactly she is... Alice was also the one who gave me the brain juice to create the wolf boy. When I was in Canada and told her of my plans to write my book she told me to write about a boy who was raised by wolves. I think the wolf boy is the next best thing... he wasn't raised by wolves but he's interesting. At least I think he's interesting.
THE HOBBIT. (more caps-lock, also leaving to emphasize joy). Still depressed that I wasn't here for extra's casting. and I think that this is the closest that they are filming to home, http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2011/11/14/50243-nz-photos-from-pelorus-river-region/
seriously considering going bush with a camera. No I'm not that dedicated. Or am i?
Pelorus is a pretty place It'll be neat to see it in the movie, I once found a frog in Pelorus that came all the way from the N. I (according to the DOC website).
I'm doing lots of exciting things this week, 'The Mousetrap' has just opened (our first show went seamlessly). Well except for a minor 'light switch' hitch and a few missed lines, but it was live theater and opening night it's to be expected. On top of that I have been asked to walk on stilts in a parade on sunday -which could be disastrous- I should be practicing... oh and I have to wear a giant ice-cream cone... hmm.
My laptop case -the Mary Poppins bag of lap top cases- contains many of these findings. Today I leafed through the bits of paper, knitting, notebooks, crochet owls and buttons held within said bag and found a poem.
(I just dropped coffee on my keyboard, I hope the 'num lock' button isn't important...) I've never ever been any good at poems, in fact the only ones I've kept are ones intended for my book. The poem I found was probably written four of five years ago. It's very short and very sweet and I can't believe I wrote it, but lets just say I am extraordinarily excited to slip it inside the jigsaw. I won't write it here because It's one of those poems that only makes sense when you know the mythology behind it plus it's far more powerful when you hear it from the marginally-depressed, ill-fated, possibly-doomed and overwhelmed character who is going to say it. it isn't sad though, don't get me wrong, its sort of carries a sense of resignation. It's a 'turning point' poem. It's special.
I went to see breaking dawn a few nights ago. now that's an interesting topic. Twilight, I'm almost scared to talk about it actually. It seems people either love it, hate it, love to hate it or are obsessed with it..
A few years ago I was conned into reading the first book, I didn't think it sounded like 'my thing' Turns out it probably was my thing, I liked it, I read the others and brought Breaking dawn as it hit the stores.
In retrospect it quite possibly wasn't the literally content that drew me in but the rain, the wolves, Bella and the mysterious immortals. I've learned to fear Twilight (seriously the fans that emerged with the movies got scary) and have developed a certain respect for vampires that don't sparkle. I no longer know what to think of it all, in my opinion the books were a cool idea and the first movie was awesome but since then... and the final book didn't do anything for me, sorry SM but what good is a story where everyone gets absolutely everything they want. A good story has to have some balance, some sacrifice. (In my opinion)
I want to talk about Tellan. I've not written another synopsis yet, sorry. I'm excited about it. I feel like I'm weaving.. or putting together a big puzzle. I have little mysteries everywhere, wee lose ends and carefully planned comments, objects and visions. BUCKETS OF FUN. (accidental caps-lock but i'm gunna leave it just to emphasize my joy).
I've just introduced my protagonist to one of my favorite characters (who we can nickname 'the prince under pressure'). She's also just been extracated from a scrap with a 'lady' and experienced a rather mind-blowing change of circumstance.
Next on the 'to write' list -or rather in the up coming chapters- I have a series of near-death experiences involving a lake, some serious rain, a blue tiger and a wolf boy. That's right the wolf boy. He's about to make one of his brief appearances. I can't wait. This ones for you Alice.
Speaking of Alice (my sister). We-re about to re-united. With our combined adventures (her to Aussie, me to Canada) I haven't seen her since May 2010. whoa.
She's in Sydney being amazing, a model, fashionista, babe, writer, I'm not sure what.. http://lunamagazine.com.au/author/alice she wrote some stuff.. and I miss her. Alice is the basis for one very important character. One of those characters who's talked about all the time but no one really knows what she's up to, or where exactly she is... Alice was also the one who gave me the brain juice to create the wolf boy. When I was in Canada and told her of my plans to write my book she told me to write about a boy who was raised by wolves. I think the wolf boy is the next best thing... he wasn't raised by wolves but he's interesting. At least I think he's interesting.
THE HOBBIT. (more caps-lock, also leaving to emphasize joy). Still depressed that I wasn't here for extra's casting. and I think that this is the closest that they are filming to home, http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2011/11/14/50243-nz-photos-from-pelorus-river-region/
seriously considering going bush with a camera. No I'm not that dedicated. Or am i?
Pelorus is a pretty place It'll be neat to see it in the movie, I once found a frog in Pelorus that came all the way from the N. I (according to the DOC website).
I'm doing lots of exciting things this week, 'The Mousetrap' has just opened (our first show went seamlessly). Well except for a minor 'light switch' hitch and a few missed lines, but it was live theater and opening night it's to be expected. On top of that I have been asked to walk on stilts in a parade on sunday -which could be disastrous- I should be practicing... oh and I have to wear a giant ice-cream cone... hmm.
Friday 11 November 2011
An ode to Chris Paolini and another chapter finished.
I can't begin to explain what finally getting this book written is like. .
Eight years worth of day-dreams, idea's, drawings, plans and a fair amount of random excerpts, are now almost a bare-bones-rough-edit-draft-of-the-first-draft. whoa.
I reached a hair-wrenching point of indecision today regarding the placement of two minor events in the space of one or two chapters... the 'one or two' being the indecisive part. Ideally it would be two -and there's definitely enough material there for two- but it's a part of the book where I really don't want to linger. .. hmm it's a thinker. Then again the previous five chapters are like AHHH (shit hits fan). Perhaps the book should drag it's bum for a few pages.. otherwise my poor protagonist is going to hit the fan also, or drop from exhaustion.
anyway.... OK a re-write of that patch may be in order (curses).
Upon realizing that I had no one to discuss this quandary with, I took off on a wee adventure. An adventure to climb the old-forestry hill, look out over Hobbiton, and generally vent my frustration somewhere far, far away from my laptop. I clambered over the debris of old felling, grass and bramble -all the while listening to epic, classical music and feeling rather brave and adventurous- then I tripped and fell on some pine cones... not so cool now are we. I proceeded to come home and make the situation (chapter/s) three times worse, drank a few cups of 'coffacino' and wrote a rather emotive speech from one character to another about good things coming from where you least expect it.
Eight years worth of day-dreams, idea's, drawings, plans and a fair amount of random excerpts, are now almost a bare-bones-rough-edit-draft-of-the-first-draft. whoa.
I reached a hair-wrenching point of indecision today regarding the placement of two minor events in the space of one or two chapters... the 'one or two' being the indecisive part. Ideally it would be two -and there's definitely enough material there for two- but it's a part of the book where I really don't want to linger. .. hmm it's a thinker. Then again the previous five chapters are like AHHH (shit hits fan). Perhaps the book should drag it's bum for a few pages.. otherwise my poor protagonist is going to hit the fan also, or drop from exhaustion.
anyway.... OK a re-write of that patch may be in order (curses).
Upon realizing that I had no one to discuss this quandary with, I took off on a wee adventure. An adventure to climb the old-forestry hill, look out over Hobbiton, and generally vent my frustration somewhere far, far away from my laptop. I clambered over the debris of old felling, grass and bramble -all the while listening to epic, classical music and feeling rather brave and adventurous- then I tripped and fell on some pine cones... not so cool now are we. I proceeded to come home and make the situation (chapter/s) three times worse, drank a few cups of 'coffacino' and wrote a rather emotive speech from one character to another about good things coming from where you least expect it.
Monday 31 October 2011
Uninteresting post about some things...
I tend to wander in my mind when alone at Buonissimos. This often leads to me staring aimlessly at ice-cream pots for long periods of time, or polishing the same spot off the coffee groups. Sometimes i'll write stories on post-its or make cup fountains in the sink (anything to escape the tedium of life behind gelato).
summer is upon us which means soon everyone will come home to nelson. (This will inevitably result in my brave venture out of the grassy confines of the 'iti' and back into civilization). Summer is special it means that when I get all the way home from Richmond I can have 'McLeods Daughters/LOTR' moments with Kelly next to the fallen gum tree at the top of the hill.. (then restle with her for half an hour while she contemplates leaving me up there because I made her walk up one side of the valley and didn't even have the decency to put a saddle on her. Ends up being a power struggle between two stroppy red-heads amid a daunting amount of gorse..)
I guess i can't complain in fact the boring nature of my occupation is rather ideal because I can think about my book and write that on post-its too...
I'm most definitely looking forward to opening night of Mousetrap at the end of next month. Still have a rather daunting amount of lines to 'concrete' (Molly Ralsten you have far to much to yabber on about.)
A bit of street theater always keeps the weekends interesting. Mums dance students got a gig dressing up in spotty leotards and dancing around the WOW museum so naturally i went and joined in the fun. Two hours of gymnastical, balletish physical theater in a unitard! so much fun.
we couldn't recognize each other in the costumes either. In a way that made things even more interesting, our only means of identifying each other was by looking at the colour of our toenail polish. The costumes covered our faces and hair and everything.. rather brilliant afternoon.
I went on a roll and wrote several thousand words the other day, then got a little bit ahead of myself. Iv'e been discussing politics and religion in my world with my 'wall'. What a fun subject, I rather do enjoy inventing these things...
summer is upon us which means soon everyone will come home to nelson. (This will inevitably result in my brave venture out of the grassy confines of the 'iti' and back into civilization). Summer is special it means that when I get all the way home from Richmond I can have 'McLeods Daughters/LOTR' moments with Kelly next to the fallen gum tree at the top of the hill.. (then restle with her for half an hour while she contemplates leaving me up there because I made her walk up one side of the valley and didn't even have the decency to put a saddle on her. Ends up being a power struggle between two stroppy red-heads amid a daunting amount of gorse..)
I guess i can't complain in fact the boring nature of my occupation is rather ideal because I can think about my book and write that on post-its too...
I'm most definitely looking forward to opening night of Mousetrap at the end of next month. Still have a rather daunting amount of lines to 'concrete' (Molly Ralsten you have far to much to yabber on about.)
A bit of street theater always keeps the weekends interesting. Mums dance students got a gig dressing up in spotty leotards and dancing around the WOW museum so naturally i went and joined in the fun. Two hours of gymnastical, balletish physical theater in a unitard! so much fun.
we couldn't recognize each other in the costumes either. In a way that made things even more interesting, our only means of identifying each other was by looking at the colour of our toenail polish. The costumes covered our faces and hair and everything.. rather brilliant afternoon.
I went on a roll and wrote several thousand words the other day, then got a little bit ahead of myself. Iv'e been discussing politics and religion in my world with my 'wall'. What a fun subject, I rather do enjoy inventing these things...
Tuesday 25 October 2011
I can't even begin to describe how depressed I am that i was in Canada/America when they were having casting calls for extras for 'The Hobbit'.... gutted. so totally gutted. eating my soul. perhaps I'll just build my own hobbit-hole in mums garden and go in there and sulk about it.....
decided to take Kelly out today exploring.. and for a hoon, just in her head-collar. It's been a while since I've ridden bareback, at that pace, for that long. and when I got off i couldn't walk straight. proper awkward.
the books going great! (in my opinion) I have some incredibly complex characters though, which is making me think. I can only hope that they make sense to people other than me. My wonderful critic likes them, and we've exchanged many an email.. for which I am eternally grateful!
decided to take Kelly out today exploring.. and for a hoon, just in her head-collar. It's been a while since I've ridden bareback, at that pace, for that long. and when I got off i couldn't walk straight. proper awkward.
the books going great! (in my opinion) I have some incredibly complex characters though, which is making me think. I can only hope that they make sense to people other than me. My wonderful critic likes them, and we've exchanged many an email.. for which I am eternally grateful!
Sunday 16 October 2011
Bit of Research...
Ok, so after writing around 3000 words last night (then deleting 500 of them) I took a day off from booky.. actually thats a lie because here i am now with a chapter open puzzling over it while I type...
I went to the Medieval festival (which was absolutely the best way to spend a sunday afternoon, having spent the previous three days elbow deep in Gelato) and competed in the archery contest.... The organisers were two wrist gaurds short, I decided to be man and go without. I didn't pay heed to the fact that while I can get away without one using my piddly-kiddy-bow, Going without it with this particular bow turned out to be a bad plan... It had a nice little copper nook that bit me every time I released the string, needless to say after an hour of archery..I ended up with a nice welt.. but i can't complain.. it was a lot of fun! the faire had a great atmosphere, lots of fun stuff.. even a medieval coffee cart... and medieval indian food. hehe.
I am now the proud owner of some rather splendid swatches of fabric... unintended but quite ideal...
Whilst being caught eating peanut butter with a spoon from the jar yesterday (dad not me) my dad informed that he is also writing a book. It beguins with "John's last words were 'Ow F*%K ow' then he died"... Dad then proceeded to inform me that this is a cookery book... called 'BBQ etiquette for blokes'
only in the two little cornflakes on the bottom of the universe bowl (New Zealand, The mothership)
I went to the Medieval festival (which was absolutely the best way to spend a sunday afternoon, having spent the previous three days elbow deep in Gelato) and competed in the archery contest.... The organisers were two wrist gaurds short, I decided to be man and go without. I didn't pay heed to the fact that while I can get away without one using my piddly-kiddy-bow, Going without it with this particular bow turned out to be a bad plan... It had a nice little copper nook that bit me every time I released the string, needless to say after an hour of archery..I ended up with a nice welt.. but i can't complain.. it was a lot of fun! the faire had a great atmosphere, lots of fun stuff.. even a medieval coffee cart... and medieval indian food. hehe.
I am now the proud owner of some rather splendid swatches of fabric... unintended but quite ideal...
Whilst being caught eating peanut butter with a spoon from the jar yesterday (dad not me) my dad informed that he is also writing a book. It beguins with "John's last words were 'Ow F*%K ow' then he died"... Dad then proceeded to inform me that this is a cookery book... called 'BBQ etiquette for blokes'
only in the two little cornflakes on the bottom of the universe bowl (New Zealand, The mothership)
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