I refuse to be resolute, but at least I can be ambitious.

[lenora_rose]

So far my sole new course (Drama 1, second year English approach rather than theatrical one looks fun more than difficult, though keeping the papers to 1500 words sounds like a challenge.

And now I need to read Doctor Faustus for two courses. Part of me is happy at overlap, part annoyed that nobody notices he wrote, like, other plays.
___________________________

I did in fact write yesterday: but since I get this odd feeling I'm going to scrap part of it, I felt reluctant to write an actual word count or progress note. I just feel that we've had enough encounters of this particular kind, and I want to introduce some characters with physical presence. And yet abbreviating travel time is iffy, as the travel time later ends up relevant. (Granted, I'm already handwaving the number of days, but the rough idea that it's not an easy week's meander is significant.)



So, instead, here's some thinking about what i want to accomplish in the coming year. This isn't firm resolution, just plans.

The short version is I want to clear some of the backlog of ideas.

(Immediate) Finish both Serpent Prince and Soldier of the Road drafts. The two books combined should only be slightly longer than Raising the Storm's one book, and since it doesn't kill computers, it should be fairly straightforward going.

(Upon completion of either or both of above) Find people to critique; some to cover just one, some to peek at both, so I can tell if they hang together *and* if they work as standalones.

(Whenever enough critiques are back, preferably after one of the two above novels is finished) Get back at least three critiques for Raising the Storm, revise it as seems fit based on those remarks. Revise synopsis a few more times, come up with a query letter for those queries where the synopsis and opening chapters are not included. Get that out the door.

(Ongoing) Send out the already written short stories until at least one sells someplace reasonably acceptable.

(After all the above not-ongoing stuff) Get at least halfway through any one of the unfinished novels mentioned in my last non-progress notes post: Those being Labyrinth, Dark Water, Bird of Dusk and Blood of the Woods (But most preferably not the last, which looks like a duology. Standalone. Standalone. Standalone.)

(AS indicated, whenever a novel is done) Finish ONE of the unfinished short stories/novellettes/novellas (Or write one whole new one, if you really must) per novel draft completed or revised above.

Plus two short essays for one course, a long essay for another, and two middling length for the third, each needing various degrees of research.

We'll see how I do.

__________________________

So this is my list for what I had on my to read pile early last year. Of course, by February I was probably already reading things not on this list, and over the course of the year, I probably read three times the total books, just not the ones I always *meant* to. I've bolded everything I actually read, and italicized the one that left the queue. Actually, i did better than i was afraid of.

Sherwood Smith - Crown Duel (Okay, I admit it. This one has been knocked out of queue when it was the next book up about three times now. Thus my starting on it this afternoon, finally.)
Various library books on hurricane and monsoons (that probably won't answer the questions I really have) (Okay, I skimmed a couple, decided they didn't, did some internet research in case it helped)
Various library books on Native American folk tales, articularly focused on Coyote.
Steven Gould - Jumper (Since I've already read its standalone sequel)
Sherwood Smith and Dave Trowbridge - Ruler of Naught (Book 2 of a five book SF series)
Caroline Stevermer - A Scholar of Magics
Lois McMaster Bujold - The Hallowed Hunt
Kate Wilhelm - Storyteller
Neil Gaiman - Anansi Boys
Elizabeth Bear - Hammered
MIdori Snyder - The Innamorati
Angela Carter, Ed - The Virago Book of Fairy Tales
Diana Wynne Jones - Eight Days of Luke
John Scalzi - Old Man's War
Anthony Trollope - Barchester Towers
Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling, Eds. - The Faery Reel
Jennifer Crusie - Crazy For You
Elizabeth E. Wein - The Winter Prince


This year's most immediate to read list, not counting schoolbooks:

Janet McNaughton - An Earthly Knight
Georgette Heyer - Lady of Quality
D.T. Niane - Sundiata (Translation of a Mali epic)
Midori Snyder - The Innamorati, Hannah's Garden (I have no excuse for not reading the former yet, I haven't yet adored any of her books, but I tend to like them)
John Scalzi - Old Man's War (At the time it was put ont he last lsit, I don't think I actually owned it. Now I do.)
James Alan Gardner - Radiant (Right before Christmas I finally got to Ascending, which directly addressed something about the setting that's been nagging.)
Charles de Lint - Spirits in the Wires
John M. Ford - The Dragon Waiting (Which I am, I confess, halfway through, and then, when I decided I wanted books I needed to think to read after three light romance novels in the course of one Christmas Holiday, I grabbed Carnival.)
Samuel Schellabarger - Lord Vanity
James Shapiro - A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare: 1599 (I've read the first chapter, and found it very readable)
Debra Doyle and James D. Macdonald - Land of Mist and Snow
Dorothy Dunnett - Queen's Play
Patricia McKillip - Od Magic
Elizabeth Bear - The Chains that You Refuse (I get a cheatin' head start by having read three of the stories already.)
Martha Wells - Wheel of the Infinite (I just scored a hardcover copy of used book trade-in!)
Rudyard Kipling - Kim (Another one I'm partway through. And mom reminded me she wants ehr copy back)

I have a full other shelf of books to-read

Comments

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Lady of Quality is one of the really bad Heyers--it's the Bath plot for the third time, even more distorted than the others. I don't know anyone who likes it; I'd say, skip it until you read some of the yummy ones on the list!

[lenora-rose.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the warning: I've read a couple of hers, including the Grand Sophy, and found her range to be enjoyable to good, so I thought there weren't any dreadful ones. I got mom one of the historicals (My Lord John) for Christmas and hope that's not considered a weak one.

Right now it's first priority to finish Carnival for fun, Kyd's the Spanish Tragedy for 16th ccentury (And, so far, for fun - though I'm afeared of the copious quantity of blood I'm warned is ahead), and Lorca's the House of Bernarda Alba for Drama whenever I get the funds to buy the drama textbook.

After that it's liable to be one of the ones that's been on the list a while, or got started but not finished.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Well, if you mom is a completist, she'll want that one. Mostly, the very last Heyers were not so hot--Lady of Quality, Charity Girl, and the unfinished Lord John which was supposed to be her Great Work--but she never got around to it, and it shows she really didn't quite grasp the medieval mindset.

Hi - I'm Lenora's mom

[eleanore-c.livejournal.com]

Lord John is the only Georgette Heyer I have. I haven't read much historical romance ever and that not for many years. Lenora gifts books sometimes with the idea of expanding the giftee's interests!
I wouldn't call myself a completist, except for Terry Pratchett, and even with him I don't want everything - the Johnny Maxwell books don't really do it for me (sorry, Lenora).
I've only just started Lord John, I'm only 1 chapter into it so I'll let you know in awhile how I like it.
I've wanted to reread Kim ever since I read Laurie B. King's The Game.

Re: Hi - I'm Lenora's mom

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Let me know what you think--and what you like--and I can recommend some of Heyer's best ones that you might get more of a bang out of. '(course, you might like this one!)

Pratchett is My Hero.

Re: Hi - I'm Lenora's mom

[lenora-rose.livejournal.com]

Actually, i gift books when I have a reason to think the giftee would like this particular thing, usually because A) you requested it, B) I loved it and thought it fit with things where our tastes overlap, or, as in this case, C0 you expressed some vague interest when I mentioned I had a couple of books of hers. :)

I probably should've just passed you a copy of the Grand Sophy which I know can be bought new, but the one I handed you sounded intriguing so I took a chance. If I flubbed, no harm, it was cheap even among the used books I used for your stocking stuffers.