Ah, yes, here we are again...

Let me back up a bit and post an update on things.

It's been perhaps two months since I've blogged here, though I have been journaling at LJ for a couple of weeks now. I think I was feeling the pressure of networking and finding something interesting to say, when I just wanted to write on the novels and keep the details to myself. I mean, only I would understand what I was saying, but no one else would have a clue about the plot/character ramblings I wanted to scribble about. And seriously, little else of note, that I would dare share in a public place, was happening. So I took a hiatus and thoroughly enjoyed it. But it's time to dive back in.

The novel project is crawling forward. I'm finding a chain reaction happening. I expected some of it, but nothing quite this dramatic. When I rewrote the first half a couple of years ago, I had changed a few details that are now adding up and causing far bigger changes in the last half. It's a pleasant surprise. I know the text, the characters, the events so well, that it's like these changes should always have been a part of the story, but just hadn't made it onto the page yet. But those changes are also able to keep my interest engaged. I wish I could describe in detail what I'm talking about, with examples, etc. but those examples just wouldn't make an impact on anyone else. You'll just have to read it when it comes out in print.

I'm also getting a bit impatient. It's February, and that stack of paper is still huge. I just want the project to be done with, so I can hold the printed and bound book in my hands and cry with relief. A decade ... that's a long time to become sure of the path this story needed to take. That's swallowing a lot of pride and saying this story is not what editors are looking for these days, but readers might like it and sod it if they don't, I have to finish the project. I've promised too many people involved that they'll receive a copy, anyway, hopefully by Christmas. I'm glad I was realistic with the deadline. It will take me all year to give the novel the attention it needs, while allowing time for short stories on the side.

Good thing is, the cover painting is finished. Well, at least the pastel part is finished. Now I've scanned it into the computer and it will take time to hide the seam between the two pages it took to paint a full wrap-around-sized pic. Also, some of the corpses' faces are too bright for being in shadow. I'll have to darken them as well, and b/c I'm not fluent in the GIMP program, this part of the project will take me a long time to finish, too.

So you see, I'm down to a nitty-gritty, driven routine. If I don't have many updates, it's because the same ol' grind is happening day in and day out.

I am keeping sane by calling it quits most days by 5 pm, eating dinner with my honey, then dungeon crawling with him in DDO. But then, going to sleep, bashed and bloodied from fighting undead and lizard creatures in the stinky sewers, my mind turns again to what I will write come morning. Meditating on it, seeing it clearly, all over again. Like I had a decade ago. Ah, the life of a mad writer.

I found this really cool update system somewhere on LiveJournal and thought I would try it out and see if it keeps me accountable to posting. I've had to customize the thing so that it works for this particular project:

TODAY'S PROGRESS
Project: Falcons Rising
Pages Rewritten: 5
Pages Cut: 1 1/3
Bad things that happened: a funeral. :(
Good things that happened: not much - it's hopeless! (evil laugh follows)

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