(no subject)
May. 2nd, 2010 02:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lenora_roseThus:
- I actually did come back from what was a very good weekend at a cabin. It was an all-women gathering, all of us with some form of craft project.
Many of us being writers of one stripe or another, laptops rather abounded, plus of course my Dana*, but there was also henna, an experiment with indigo dying as an alternate to Henna, crocheting, sewing, a very little recorder practice, and some mandolin practice on the dock (Which did mean I needed to borrow a minnow net to rescue the Capo...). And one girl spent an astonishing amount of time experimenting with creating new alcoholic drinks - considering that hardly any one of us had more than one or two single drinks and some sips of the other attempts in a given night.
Since the ice had come off the water within the last week, there was no consideration of swimming, though occasional feet were dipped in the water. But we canoed (Brannie kayaked) to visit another house (NOT cabin!) on the lakeshore, where Brannie's parents live. Beautiful house. Very nice paddling, too, if you weren't stuck in the middle (As I was on the trip out, but not the trip back). The main dock hadn't been lowered into the water, so the main work of getting in and out had to be done at either the base dock, which was a bit high for the canoe and pretty much impossible for getting out from the kayak, or off the tiny hint of beach by the creek. S., whose parent's cabin it was, and Brannie were the only ones who dared stand int he water any length.
The water wasn't running in the main house, but between water retrieved from the lake for non-potable needs (Though it's probably potable with boiling) and from the tricky to climb to but very nice creek, which is tested artesian, for drinking, and the fact that the guest house had its water turned on the second day (The guest house had insulated pipes, the main didn't) all our needs were met. And there was electricity, for occasional music, laptop charging, and lighting. Except for the night we deliberately tried to do all by candlelight. I refused to use the Dana's internal light, even with the prevalence of laptops to charge by, so I had three tapers huddled close around me.
All in all, a highly worthwhile weekend, even if my mosquito bites are still healing (That would be the on-the-dock mandolin practice at evening...)
Of course, returning home hit a sour note, as misunderstandings between the husband and wife in difficulties led to a near-instant argument, and came close to stranding S. at entirely the wrong house.
- The Wednesday immediately after was Jeff's return to Winnipeg, very late, so those of us with no job or other reasons to be foolhardy did a midnight dinner at Boston Pizza (Jeff's bid, as they don't have any in Houston)
- and Thursday night I spent with my husband - we'd meant to go to a friend's farewell saxophone recital, which was reportedly excellent, but didn't feel up to it, and were glad enough of time alone together. Since Colin was leaving Friday Morning at 5:00 Am to go to Atlanta for the Microsoft conference.
-The time he was away was more full than it seems, including especially a birthday evening for Jeff and a fair amount of board games, but my mind fills it with a fair amount of writing, pining, and feeling the house to be emptier than it should.
Oh, also with buying and hauling flooring.
Also, the Children's Hospital book market, where I stayed under my $40.00 budget easily, in spite of having forgotten to physically take out the money in question to prevent the slightest chance of overspending. (And buying Jeff a fair bit of his present)
- Colin returned this Wednesday, and we had another good evening together.
- Another Birthday celebration, for two friends, this Saturday, where we drove out to Pinawa to hang out at a cafe/bookshop to write/play games/read/hang out, then tromped about in spite of the weather over the suspension bridge (Very pretty view) and the fun terrain of the Canadian shield, all rocky slopes and brush. The chokecherries were doing their paler, less scent-mad imitation of sakura. The to Seven Sisters, to walk to and along the dam, and back for a restaurant in the middle of the small town run by a world-class European chef. I actually got the most of my writing done in the car on the drives to and fro (Until the light failed and I again opted against using the internal light. I don't know why this time, as It would *not* have been likely to run out). And lots and lots of deer-spotting, none of it, thank god, in front of the cars. Pretty good all around for a weekend suggested then left mostly unplanned until last second. Colin didn't join us, due to feeling either ill or exhausted.
- However, based on the increasing tickle in my throat, I'm opting 5to stay home from the Barony's 40th anniversary hang-out at the university; Colin kind of feels like the barbeque to follow, but I'm feeling a bit peopled out.
- Writing through all of this has been charging ahead like a wild thing; I stopped working on Labyrinth after I ran out a scene at the Cabin, but I've been successfully alternating bits of Serpent Prince and Soldier of the Road since. Most importantly, I just hit the end of another part for Soldier, and discovered several things: this novel now has a structure!
Soldier of the Road was previously pretty much Ketan's POV all the way through, with a sort of one-damn-thing-after-another plot, and a gap most of a year long where he just keeps living a soldier's life, and events are locked up in a cask, fermenting away.
Until Thursday, when I wrote out a 4000 word scene that was basically a much needed infodump. And Friday, when I cut out 2000 words of same and added 500 new words of distrust and argument. And yesterday, when I stitched back in the rest of the necessary pieces of information in the midst of a whole lot of sudden fresh plot - and discovered that the only reasonable thing for a sane protagonist to do from this point was to go off in a whole 'nother direction. And that it might best be shown from a new point of view. It fixes the whole "What with one thing and another, a year passes" gap.
Though I've started to think this is a quartet, not a trilogy (damnit!). Serpent Prince will probably come in clean at 100-110K. Soldier of the Road is trying to fit in a lot more of both words and plot. And this loop shortens the length of time in which events happen, but doesn't shorten the book one whit.
But it feels like FUN to work it out.
*In the grand tradition of things around me acquiring actual names, while it refuses to let go the brand moniker, it seems to be actually named Dana Duck. Which I guess goes with the mandolin called Angry Chicken, and the computer named Arthur, where *I* don't know if it's named after a King or a Rat.)
- I actually did come back from what was a very good weekend at a cabin. It was an all-women gathering, all of us with some form of craft project.
Many of us being writers of one stripe or another, laptops rather abounded, plus of course my Dana*, but there was also henna, an experiment with indigo dying as an alternate to Henna, crocheting, sewing, a very little recorder practice, and some mandolin practice on the dock (Which did mean I needed to borrow a minnow net to rescue the Capo...). And one girl spent an astonishing amount of time experimenting with creating new alcoholic drinks - considering that hardly any one of us had more than one or two single drinks and some sips of the other attempts in a given night.
Since the ice had come off the water within the last week, there was no consideration of swimming, though occasional feet were dipped in the water. But we canoed (Brannie kayaked) to visit another house (NOT cabin!) on the lakeshore, where Brannie's parents live. Beautiful house. Very nice paddling, too, if you weren't stuck in the middle (As I was on the trip out, but not the trip back). The main dock hadn't been lowered into the water, so the main work of getting in and out had to be done at either the base dock, which was a bit high for the canoe and pretty much impossible for getting out from the kayak, or off the tiny hint of beach by the creek. S., whose parent's cabin it was, and Brannie were the only ones who dared stand int he water any length.
The water wasn't running in the main house, but between water retrieved from the lake for non-potable needs (Though it's probably potable with boiling) and from the tricky to climb to but very nice creek, which is tested artesian, for drinking, and the fact that the guest house had its water turned on the second day (The guest house had insulated pipes, the main didn't) all our needs were met. And there was electricity, for occasional music, laptop charging, and lighting. Except for the night we deliberately tried to do all by candlelight. I refused to use the Dana's internal light, even with the prevalence of laptops to charge by, so I had three tapers huddled close around me.
All in all, a highly worthwhile weekend, even if my mosquito bites are still healing (That would be the on-the-dock mandolin practice at evening...)
Of course, returning home hit a sour note, as misunderstandings between the husband and wife in difficulties led to a near-instant argument, and came close to stranding S. at entirely the wrong house.
- The Wednesday immediately after was Jeff's return to Winnipeg, very late, so those of us with no job or other reasons to be foolhardy did a midnight dinner at Boston Pizza (Jeff's bid, as they don't have any in Houston)
- and Thursday night I spent with my husband - we'd meant to go to a friend's farewell saxophone recital, which was reportedly excellent, but didn't feel up to it, and were glad enough of time alone together. Since Colin was leaving Friday Morning at 5:00 Am to go to Atlanta for the Microsoft conference.
-The time he was away was more full than it seems, including especially a birthday evening for Jeff and a fair amount of board games, but my mind fills it with a fair amount of writing, pining, and feeling the house to be emptier than it should.
Oh, also with buying and hauling flooring.
Also, the Children's Hospital book market, where I stayed under my $40.00 budget easily, in spite of having forgotten to physically take out the money in question to prevent the slightest chance of overspending. (And buying Jeff a fair bit of his present)
- Colin returned this Wednesday, and we had another good evening together.
- Another Birthday celebration, for two friends, this Saturday, where we drove out to Pinawa to hang out at a cafe/bookshop to write/play games/read/hang out, then tromped about in spite of the weather over the suspension bridge (Very pretty view) and the fun terrain of the Canadian shield, all rocky slopes and brush. The chokecherries were doing their paler, less scent-mad imitation of sakura. The to Seven Sisters, to walk to and along the dam, and back for a restaurant in the middle of the small town run by a world-class European chef. I actually got the most of my writing done in the car on the drives to and fro (Until the light failed and I again opted against using the internal light. I don't know why this time, as It would *not* have been likely to run out). And lots and lots of deer-spotting, none of it, thank god, in front of the cars. Pretty good all around for a weekend suggested then left mostly unplanned until last second. Colin didn't join us, due to feeling either ill or exhausted.
- However, based on the increasing tickle in my throat, I'm opting 5to stay home from the Barony's 40th anniversary hang-out at the university; Colin kind of feels like the barbeque to follow, but I'm feeling a bit peopled out.
- Writing through all of this has been charging ahead like a wild thing; I stopped working on Labyrinth after I ran out a scene at the Cabin, but I've been successfully alternating bits of Serpent Prince and Soldier of the Road since. Most importantly, I just hit the end of another part for Soldier, and discovered several things: this novel now has a structure!
Soldier of the Road was previously pretty much Ketan's POV all the way through, with a sort of one-damn-thing-after-another plot, and a gap most of a year long where he just keeps living a soldier's life, and events are locked up in a cask, fermenting away.
Until Thursday, when I wrote out a 4000 word scene that was basically a much needed infodump. And Friday, when I cut out 2000 words of same and added 500 new words of distrust and argument. And yesterday, when I stitched back in the rest of the necessary pieces of information in the midst of a whole lot of sudden fresh plot - and discovered that the only reasonable thing for a sane protagonist to do from this point was to go off in a whole 'nother direction. And that it might best be shown from a new point of view. It fixes the whole "What with one thing and another, a year passes" gap.
Though I've started to think this is a quartet, not a trilogy (damnit!). Serpent Prince will probably come in clean at 100-110K. Soldier of the Road is trying to fit in a lot more of both words and plot. And this loop shortens the length of time in which events happen, but doesn't shorten the book one whit.
But it feels like FUN to work it out.
*In the grand tradition of things around me acquiring actual names, while it refuses to let go the brand moniker, it seems to be actually named Dana Duck. Which I guess goes with the mandolin called Angry Chicken, and the computer named Arthur, where *I* don't know if it's named after a King or a Rat.)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-05-02 07:56 pm (UTC)