Book progress

Right, time to report in for all the Orbiteers and anyone else who is keeping track. Love you for keeping me motivated!

Kindred Spirit is making steady progress at last. Chapter One has been almost entirely rewritten, to up the adrenaline and intrigue. Act 2 has been tightened and expanded where needed. And I’ve found more ways to confuse and torture my heroine (yes!)

Word count is now 74,500 approx, with another 5,000 still to be written, possibly more.  I’m battling a flaky internet connection which is highly irritating for those moments where I need to do quick research. For instance, when Triss is given her lost father’s ring – what stone would have the most appropriate significance? (Currently I’m deciding between carnelian – action; and bloodstone – courage)

I’m going public now to declare I will have this draft completed by 9th March, the day before my parents come to visit for 2 weeks.  Wow, it’s unnerving to have an actual deadline.

The Universe loves me!

For the past week I’ve been consciously practising the Law of Attraction to support me having the Writing Life. (Thanks Kim Falconer for reminding me what I already knew; and for putting me onto Pray Rain Journalling)

Last night, the Universe came through.The thing is, when the Universe delivers, it isn’t always immediately apparent. Sometimes you have to look for the gift inside the shit. Messy work, but rewarding.

Yesterday my previously-reliable internet connection started falling over. Eventually it wouldn’t reconnect at all. After three calls to the service provider I was advised the upstream provider wouldn’t be able to look at it until after the weekend.

First I wanted to hurl the phone through the wall. The blog I was drafting seemed so important! Plus I was working from home and wouldn’t be able to check work emails for the last 30 minutes of my (paid) working day.

Then I sat forlornly at the computer for ten minutes. And finally – because there was nothing else to do – I turned to the scene I’d been putting off because it was going to be difficult.

Doh.

Not only did I have fun doing the ‘difficult’ scene – I knocked five or six other editing and rewriting items off my ‘to do’ list. Bloody wonderful!  All I’d needed was a gentle kick up the pants to get through the fear of that scene; and the Universe provided it.

By the way, if you are cynical about LOA that’s cool. I know it works because I’m really good at it for some very specific things. I can find a parking space ANYWHERE I WANT by visualising it on the drive to my destination, even if I’ve never been there before. My family didn’t believe it but these days when I stay with my parents, they get me to drive if we’re going somewhere busy, on the assumption I’m the only one who will get a park.

The best reason not to blog

Well, the 2009 daily blog resolution didn’t get very far. But that’s because the 2009 WRITING THE NOVEL resolution is going swimmingly!!

I’ve dispensed with all the excuses and the dramas of 2008, I’m back in the saddle – and loving it.

My word count has actually fallen because I’ve taken out scenes that were naff or pedestrian or just plain boring, and I haven’t yet inserted all their sparkly new replacements.

As I look at my diminishing word count, I comfort myself by looking at the list of new scenes yet to be born; and the mantra “size isn’t everything…”

Because we all know that’s so true.

Vale The Prisoner

The sad loss of Patrick McGoohan at age 80 has me remembering that mad and wonderful show The Prisoner, and a weekend in Harlech, Wales, while on tour with a production of Peter Pan.

I hadn’t even realised The Village was a real place until I discovered it less than 10K from my B & B.  Spent an entire day exploring what has to be one of the oddest places in the world, and marvelling at its transformation into one of the oddest places on television.

The makers of the aughties remake are shooting in Swakopmund, Namibia, which looks charming and eccentrically European. But can it possible be as surreal, weird, just plain Out There?  Portmeirion will be a tough act to follow. 

Almost as tough as Mr McGoohan.

Are future readers being let down?

Witnessed today at a local (corporatised) child care centre (marketed as ‘early childhood learning’ centre), a fully qualified worker who could not read the word ‘chameleon’ in a book being read to the children.

Perhaps I’m just feeling tired and emotional, but how on earth can we instill a love of reading when those charged with teaching it are not adequately prepared by their own education? Sigh

Beating The Man

The new solar power system was hooked up at around 4 pm Friday and within the first 72 hours we’ve generated over 18 Kw. We’ve used about 13 Kw and sold the rest to the Electrickery Company Man. At the same time we’ve bought back some of his pesky coal-fired juice (at night when we can’t make our own), to the value of about 4 Kw.

There is somehing quite delightful about sitting on one’s porch with a chilled beverage, doing absolutely nothing and simultaneously contributing to the State’s generating capacity.

Furious Horses

Here’s a terrifying idea – produce one short story a day for a whole year. Madness, right?  Clearly not for Christopher Currie, whose blogsite Furious Horses is based on that very premise.  Tell everyone you’re going to do it, then do it, then build up a readership which expects you to KEEP doing it, by which time you can’t stop doing it….  Actually it’s quite brilliant. 

Check it out at www.furioushorses.com.  I like the Hindrance series (One to Ten) in particular.

Going solar at last

Just got confirmation from our supplier that tomorrow our solar power system is being installed – whoo hoo!  We’re getting six panels which will generate about 1.2 Kw, and an inverter which has the capacity for 2Kw (so we can add more panels later if we want to).

So, if you buy green power, you never know – you could be buying electrons from Ballarat.  Yes, I do know that’s not really how it works but indulge me…

Then we can put the money we save on electrity towards a new roof and then a water tank. It’s all good!

Guilty chocolate

Having partaken of way too much chocolate over Xmas, I’ve just realised how much I’ve supported the child labour trade in Africa.  I feel so dumb that I had no idea of the scale of the issue. Quarter of a million kids – many the victims of human trafficking - working in the chocolate trade, and our major manufacturers have no plans for how to address the problem. Sigh.

Details at the World Vision site for those who want more info.

My solution? New Year’s resolution number 10 – only Fair Trade chocolate for me in 09!

2009 resolutions

In the past 24 hours two people have inspired me.

Kate Eltham’s (Electric Alphabet) resolution to blog every day in 2009 is an ambition greatly to be admired, and yes – why not aim for the top?  I can relate to that.

I’ve just listened to Stephen Fry’s first Podgram – a wonderfully shambolic 23 minute rave from a man suffering a recent and painful injury, dopey on sleeping pills and (one hopes) high on painkillers.  Not his usual sparkling self, but still out there and speaking his mind in the public forum. So it’s okay to ramble in public and not be perfect (I can manage that).  (Podgrams available from iTunes store, for details go to Stephen’s website)

Given the only reader(s) of this blog are probably me and a few slightly bonkers mates from Bribie, I figure I should take a leaf out of Kate’s and Stephen’s books and just get on with it. Once a day and hang the perfection.

But first a disclaimer. Those who know me well know I’m a political animal who feels the need to share. I will tag any political rants as such so you can hit the delete button if you prefer. Similarly my recent passion for family history.

That’s it folks for today. Happy New Year and here’s to a year of resolutely kept resolutions.