Write-a-thon Week 2 Update

Despite working steadily throughout the week, I am a little behind where I had hoped to be.

The good news: I finished revising "Baby Food and Absolution." I need to proofread it and see if I can cut yet another 500 words to bring the word count under 5k, but I am calling it effectively done. Which means I am 1/6 of the way through my goal of 6 finished stories.

The half-way decent news: I reoutlined my Week 5 story yesterday and hope to redraft tomorrow. I don't think it needs as much new writing as the last one; mostly I think scenes needs reshuffled and bits tweaked to more clearly define the conflict. It's a significantly shorter story too at 2000 words, so I really hope I can get it done tomorrow or Monday. The revision slated for after that is also super-short, so if I can get two stories done this week, I'll be back to needing to finish a story per week.

The "not so great for productivity" news: My mom and stepdaughter are both invading the house in the next few days, so I'll have to balance my obligations to entertain them while also getting work done.

NEXT TIME: Will Tina finish redrafting her stories? Or will familial-induced guilt keep her from the keyboard? Stay tuned...

Oh, and the reason that I am not writing today is that Brad and I are celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary. Go us!

Photosynth

WARNING: Geek Content

If you saw the movie Deja Vu, you'll recall that they supposedly recreated a 3-D environment by putting together all of the available video data and were navigating the world through that. (This was before we discover the true, much more fanciful nature of their technology.) Well, the first explanation is much closer to being available now.

This software, Photosynth, analyzes collections of photos, either your own or culled from a database like Flickr, and then arranges them into a 3-D representation, so that you can actually look around a whole environment by moving from picture to picture. Didn't get detail of that cool gargoyle on your camera? Just zoom into the picture and it will switch to a picture from someone who did. Forgot what was around the corner? Turn the model around and see if someone else took a picture of that side.

If they keep this up, I may never have to travel again. Which would be sad. But at least I'd save a lot on airfare.

Early Fireworks and TinaCon I

The inaugural TinaCon took place over the weekend and was a smashing success. A list of highlights can be found at Caroline's blog, to which I will add:
-Yummy cioppino, courtesy of 3na


Also over the weekend, I got a new niece: Hanabi Alizabeth. "Hanabi" is the Japanese word for fireworks, and literally translates to "flower fire."

This is her in a less explosive moment:

WaT word count for Friday through Sunday: 0

Write-a-thon Week 1 Update

A summary of the week's events:

Monday: Started and finished a draft of a new story. 3200-words in one day, which may be a record for me.

Tuesday: Nada. I had planned on writing, but I got distracted by my old landlords being [insert profanity].

Wednesday: Started revising my Week 4 story from Clarion West, "Baby Food and Absolution." It's not the kindliest revision to start with since it's a) the longest story I have to revise at 6700 words, and b) I'm aiming to cut it by at least two thousand words. So most of the day was spent re-reading the story and mulling what changes I need to make. After chickening out of more radical structural changes, I decided to cut one section, completely rewrite three others, and then just edit the hell out of the remaining four.

Thursday: More pondering of thematic issues, in order to make the story tighter. Started rewriting. I can probably finish it in two more days.

Friday: Taking the day off to be social. Party!

Stay tuned for next week's progress.

Write-a-thon--GO!

Okay, so technically it started yesterday, but since it was the weekend I did no writing. I was actually building some chairs to go around the kitchen island, but that's a whole other thing...

I've collected a handful of sponsors and come up with a rough plan of attack for the next six weeks. I have three stories that I need to revise now and two half-finished stories that need finished or rewritten or somehow banged into shape. Which means I will be doing at least one totally new story. I have a backlog of story ideas that need to be written up, so naturally I will start with the new idea I came up with the other night.

I'll post updates at least a couple times a week so that my merry band of supporters (that means YOU!) can chime in with hurrahs and other words of encouragement. I'm going to need them.

Garden, Planted

I dug up a corner of the yard for my experiment in gardening. (This actually happened two weeks ago; I'm slow and lazy about posting, I know.) Once I pulled up the grass, I discovered that there was nothing but sand underneath. I mixed in some topsoil, but we'll see how things grow. I also have a planter of herbs and one of lettuce.

Of the holy trinity of gardening--soil, sun, and water--I've done what I could about the soil, and I have the utmost confidence in receiving plenty of rain, but the last one... I don't know. They say it gets sunnier up here in July. But then, people also told me it never snows in Vancouver.

The good news, of course, is that weeding gardens is an excellent way to procrastinate on writing, better even than washing dishes because it comes with the extra excuse of getting fresh air. Grow, little weeds, grow!

All's Quiet

The thing about living kinda out in the boonies, like I do now, is that it's pretty quiet all the time. Sometimes rather creepily quiet, though...

And the problem with sitting inside all day at the computer is that I don't often see people anyway. But today, I haven't seen or heard anyone at all. No lawnmowers outside, no kids riding their bikes home from school, no mailman even--though it's already six in the evening. It's like, where'd everybody go? Am I the only person left in the world?

I suppose this kind of paranoid thinking signals that I should get out more, especially with all these bloggers playing Zombie Apocalypse Day.

Write-a-thon-A-Rama

To help raise money for Clarion West and to spur further writing productivity for myself this summer, I've signed up for their annual Write-a-thon.

What this means for me: I've set some goals to complete while Clarion West is in session this summer, from June 17 to July 27. While you can check out in-depth info on my Write-a-thon webpage, the gist is this: I do six stories in six weeks. (Those who know anything about my output while at CW last year know that this is an ambitious goal for me.) And I'm talking six completed, ready-to-drop-in-the-mail stories. Okay, yeah, so rewrites and flash count as well--I just want six stories ready to submit by the end of July.

What this means for you: I need money. More specifically, I need sponsors to pledge money for completing my goals, which then goes to support Clarion West. You can pledge a lump sum, say $5/$20/$50/$100, or a sum per story or whatever works for you. I'm flexible like that.

If you want to sponsor me [please please please], post a comment so all the world can marvel at your generosity. Or drop me an email (tinatsu at hotmail dot com), and I'll keep it all private-like.

Be forewarned: Last year's limping progress notwithstanding, there's a fair chance I will actually get six stories out. I finished a new story today, a record three days after completing the previous one. (Yeah, yeah, so it was flash--still counts.)

On the other hand, my mom will be visiting for a week in the middle...

Not Dead...

Just keeping a low-profile. I did come back from WisCon (wonderful time, met many lovely people) with a bit of a bug, probably from getting less than my usual gajillion hours of beauty rest. But that's cleared up now.

The real reason that I've not been blogging is that I've been, uh, working. Now that we're relatively settled in to the new house and I don't have the excuses of either day-jobbing or taking care of my dad to worry about (for now), I have the one thing I've always wished for: hours of free time to write. Scary. I even have a dedicated writing room. So now that the pressure's on, I've been trying to be a good little writer and actually be productive.

To which end, I've revised another story and have it ready to send out after a quick proofread. That makes a whopping two post-CW stories completed. Yay, me!