Am back from meeting with Rachael King (Hi, Rachael!) at university, and ostensibly working. This means I am:
1) Making coffee
2) Annoying the cat
3) Following random links on the Internet
4) Picking at a bit of thread on my cardigan
5) Daydreaming
6) Panicking mildly
7) Staring at the goldfish swimming around and around and around
Some actual work may or may not start soon. After the coffee.
I'm a bit nervous about starting the final revisions (well, I say 'final', but what I really mean is 'last ones before I submit it'. Inevitably there will be more). Every time I spend a little while away from the book there is a reluctance to get back in. You know when you go swimming in the summer, and the water is lovely and cool and you don't want to get out, but when you do get out the sun is so warm and you dry out so beautifully that you don't want to get back in again? It's a little like that.
The Christchurch Writers' Festival is coming up, which I have never attended for some reason, and I am excited about it. Today Rachael mentioned a talk in which she is participating called "Not Another Bloody Blog!", where the panel discusses how you can "sort egotistical wittering from the truly interesting and intellectually challenging." It should be a good talk - even though I think my own blog falls squarely into the egotistical wittering category. Those of you who live in Christchurch - take a look at the website! I'd love some friends to drag along to the various events. Let me know if you're interested.
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Monday, August 25, 2008
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Conundrums and the like
Bah! I am not at my most productive and dynamic these days. I'm waiting for LOML to come back before I make the final changes to the book - he took a copy with him to the States, so he may have some thoughts that could improve it. I have made a start on the supplementary essay that I need to hand in to the marking panel with the novel. The blog has been invaluable! I recorded a lot of the process here, so I can go back through the archives and pick out important points for the essay.
I told someone the other day that I was about ready to submit the novel for marking. Their response was, "Great! So after that are you going to get a job?"
I can understand why that's a natural question, but at the same time it really bothers me. As if writing this book is something that will end when I hand it in, a blip in my career. Which it isn't. Once the book has been handed in for the MFA, my next goal is to find a publisher. I am ... tentatively confident. And once I do get a publisher, I really need to step up work on my next book. I have one on the go that I plan to finish over Nanowrimo, but my next major project is one that requires a lot of research.
Anyway, my response to this question is usually, "I already have a job." At the moment, I'm a full-time writer. But I do need to earn some money.
LOML has been really wonderful supporting me this year - it was he who suggested giving up my part-time job at the bookstore so that I could fully concentrate on the book - but I can't (and don't want to) be completely financially dependent on him for long. I want to contribute. Inevitably it is going to be a while before this book pays me anything (and the royalties from the book I published in Zimbabwe are so infinitesimal that they can be completely discounted), so I need to earn money somehow. I don't want to work as a journalist again, and there are no major publishing companies based in Christchurch. I don't want to work in retail again, either, it's just too depressing.
My freelance work has never been my sole source of income - it has always been a sideline that brings in a little extra money. I think, though, that once I've finished with the book and am starting to look for a publisher, I'm going to expand my little company. Set up a proper website. Do some advertising. After all, that's what I'm officially qualified as - a writer and editor.
Forgive my ramblings, this post was a bit stream-of-consciousness ... I'm trying to work through some of the tangles in my head.
I told someone the other day that I was about ready to submit the novel for marking. Their response was, "Great! So after that are you going to get a job?"
I can understand why that's a natural question, but at the same time it really bothers me. As if writing this book is something that will end when I hand it in, a blip in my career. Which it isn't. Once the book has been handed in for the MFA, my next goal is to find a publisher. I am ... tentatively confident. And once I do get a publisher, I really need to step up work on my next book. I have one on the go that I plan to finish over Nanowrimo, but my next major project is one that requires a lot of research.
Anyway, my response to this question is usually, "I already have a job." At the moment, I'm a full-time writer. But I do need to earn some money.
LOML has been really wonderful supporting me this year - it was he who suggested giving up my part-time job at the bookstore so that I could fully concentrate on the book - but I can't (and don't want to) be completely financially dependent on him for long. I want to contribute. Inevitably it is going to be a while before this book pays me anything (and the royalties from the book I published in Zimbabwe are so infinitesimal that they can be completely discounted), so I need to earn money somehow. I don't want to work as a journalist again, and there are no major publishing companies based in Christchurch. I don't want to work in retail again, either, it's just too depressing.
My freelance work has never been my sole source of income - it has always been a sideline that brings in a little extra money. I think, though, that once I've finished with the book and am starting to look for a publisher, I'm going to expand my little company. Set up a proper website. Do some advertising. After all, that's what I'm officially qualified as - a writer and editor.
Forgive my ramblings, this post was a bit stream-of-consciousness ... I'm trying to work through some of the tangles in my head.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Aaargh!
I feel completely swamped. Am coming up for air quickly to write this and possibly put on another pot of coffee. Yes, that sounds like a good idea.
I am working at the dining room table. This is what it looks like at the moment:
Coincidentally, that is also what the inside of my head currently looks like.
I have completed the rewrites, and I'm on my final (final!) read-through. I'm on page 31 of 227. And it has taken me almost 1 3/4 hours to get this far. I need to pick up the pace.
I am working at the dining room table. This is what it looks like at the moment:
Coincidentally, that is also what the inside of my head currently looks like.
I have completed the rewrites, and I'm on my final (final!) read-through. I'm on page 31 of 227. And it has taken me almost 1 3/4 hours to get this far. I need to pick up the pace.
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