More shelves, new windows and doors

For months, the inhabitant of Casa Voinov have been pouring money into the shared account that we use to pay the mortgage. I guess you're really "partnered" when you have a shared bank account and low six figures of debt together.

Watching the sum grow nicely, I then realised that we should actually start putting some of that money to work, so I got a windows/doors sales guy in a couple weeks ago.

Well, the Big Day has almost arrived, so on Monday, we're getting two new doors (kitchen and front door) and two large new windows installed. The possibility of being really fucking cold next winter too has diminished considerably (the roof seems to have some insulation). I'll also have a fire escape from the top floor.

Also spent two mornings in the company of "Simon the Carpenter", who replaced two busted floor boards and installed two sets of bookshelves into the recesses of the study. All tailored, exactly to spec, and they are brilliant - I hope to spend some time on the weekend rearranging my books by theme/topic/time period.

In case you're curious, the main categories in my flat are: fiction (classics), fiction (contemp), gay history, generic military history, ancient history, medieval history, modern history, locations (especially Afghanistan), espionage, encyclopedias, WWII, and creative writing books & books on writing. Smaller category: trophies (author copies of books I've written and those I've edited/feedbacked), friends' books, and medical history. There are also shelves and shelves and SHELVES of roleplaying books which I should really sell as I'm not doing anything with them.

The idea is to sort them by theme (they mostly are, but the system's not *perfect*) and then by proximity. The books for the "two birds" book should be nearest to my desk, whereas books I bought for books I want to write at some point in the future would be correspondingly more distant. This would mean reshuffling with every finished book, which would actually help with closure.

The carpenter also fed me ideas about nailguns as weapons (he said Hollywood's Doing it Wrong).

In writing-related news, the "two birds" book has progressed to just under 16k. Any hope that this is a short story has been soundly shattered, so I might just as well live with it. I don't believe I'm halfway in the plot. It's more like a third. Or will soon be a third. We're quite possibly looking at another short novel - in the area of 50-60k. On the positive side - I do believe I know where it's going, or at lest I have an idea for an ending/resolution and several important scenes that might just get me there.

On the negative side, the book's been devouring my brain completely and all other projects have stalled (apart from the secret project, which continues, if slower than I'd like). I'm on the line to write a short story for the group over on Goodreads, and not a word is coming. I have half an idea, but it's only half an idea and it would need way more research, and I don't have the time - or headspace - to do it. Next time, I won't sign up for that kind of thing. My own muse demands 100% obedience and won't have it any other way.

With Monday taken off work, I'll have three days to do stuff. Not that I expect to do any writing with the builders taking out and putting in windows and doors. I do hope to get a little bit of work done, but right now, I've beta-ed and edited mostly. But that's mostly because while I can edit when work's slow at work, I really struggle writing emotional scenes while at work.

In any case, I'll post some photos - before and after. :)

Hope everybody has a great weekend!

Revision request - novel surgery

I got a revision request - rather than a contract - from the publisher I subbed TCaS to. It all makes perfect sense, and is in line with what I thought I'd fixed, but apparently not enough. Time schedules being what they are, this will push back "Iron Cross" for at least another 4-6 weeks. That's the timeframe we're looking at to rewrite a significant part of the novel and then slot it back in and make it appear like there are no transplantation/surgery scars.

Hiding those scars isn't an easy job, actually. It has to be all natural and organic, but most of all, inevitable. However, if it had been inevitable, then it would have happened in Draft I, II and III. So that's the biggest sleight-of-hand trick - to make readers think that the book they are reading is the only possible version of that book. We hand them a bottle of water and need to convince them - with a straight face - that water can only live in bottles.

Again, this will mean a full print-out of the novel (a big folder of paper, it's around 90k), and then writing a synopsis by chapter. The beginning has to change, every scene needs to be slightly adapted, and one of the plots (granted, the smaller one), is flawed and needs more... more of everything.

I think that'll cost me a couple months, and since both Raev and me are busy with what they call "real life", this is going to be tough. Expect to read a lot of whining and bitching about it. In the end, however, I'm learning how to revise novels. That's a skill all novels will benefit from.

Talking about revising, I'm currently going through the galleys for "Transit", which is another chunk of work (at 98 pages or thereabouts). It has to be done.

First the current magazine issue, then "Transit", then "Scorpion", then TCaS, and Iron Cross. I'd wager that's my year taken care of. I have no idea how on earth I'll be able to slot in "Pawn" - there aren't enough hours in the day to completely edit another full-sized novel that needs some serious beta-ing from a Russian.

Well. Magazine work today, Transit and Scorpion this week. I'll see what happens if I just knuckle down.

Mostly done

I spent the last days working nonstop, but it's paid off. The big technical feature is written. Tomorrow I'll do a some nip and tuck on it (okay, more than "some", I have to cut around 40%... but I already trimmed it by a third, so... yeah, I can do this), so heading off to work early again, but after that, the worst part is done.

I also finished the line-edit of "First Blood" and now have four days to do the fact checking about some details. Four days sounds like a *lot* after the amount of stuff I did recently.

I'm also flying out to Germany for a few days over bank holiday weekend, meeting friends and hopefully not working at all. While I've "done" it, and I think it's a good result and will be even better after the final cutting - I've learnt a lot about pacing myself and how much I can work on how little sleep. Getting there. I'm way more positive about the next bits and pieces. Boss seems happy, too. Overall, it's all looking good.

But right now, my brain's hurting from too much work. I'll enjoy sleeping for eight hours and relaxing, and tomorrow is the last "Kraftanstrengung" (which translates as "expenditure of strength", but the English expression isn't nearly as poignant) - stuff will be finished then, and I can book my flights.

Life's good, but pretty hard work.

Long weekend

I've done a huge pile of work-related work yesterday. Then I started editing "First Blood". Note to self - editing 10k a day is bad for your sanity.

Today I got up early (on a Sunday. I'm a hero), and edited 20k of "First Blood".

That means that not only has my sanity taken a major hit, I'm also halfway through "First Blood", which has 62k words. All this so I can manage the remaining edits during a completely crazy work week. Somehow. I'm not sure how Barbara powered through 160 pages of the text on one day...she's just that good. :)

The edits are 95% "fiddly shit" as I call it - pure line-editing and having found a better word in the meantime. The 5% percent is stuff that I could have discovered with more in-depth research. I guess one never stops learning.

Now I'll have to go back to "work work" and earn my keep there. Apart from those two, I read two books for Elisa Rolle's Rainbow Awards (and both were pretty good). I'm done there, so at least there won't be frantic activity on that count in the next couple weeks.

I'll see you soon on the flipside with more interesting musings than wordcounts.

Maybe one thing - I got a long, awesome email expressing gratitude for my writing, which is always amazing and does help with the moments where I go "can't be bothered, am going to bed."

Thanks guys, for your support. It makes a huge difference.

Now I'll grab a book and a nap on the couch - I'll have to do a load of work tonight, but late afternoon is my "dead zone" anyway, and nothing gets me through editing exhaustion like a book and 30 minutes shuteye.

More progress

I've finished the edits of chapter 20 of "Mercenaries" that Alison sent me. Looks good, so I updated the "Mercenaries" file on my website with it.

Beyond that, I didn't really do all that much. I'm heading off to Cambridge tomorrow to attend a conference and hope to get some reading done on the train. (Two hours total, plus some time on the tube). I hope to get some stuff fixed regarding the Tarzan project and get some more words in on that this week, but it's been very very slow.

I'm pushing the scorpion story on the backburner. It's not coming together, and it might fall apart completely. I don't know. Sure hope to salvage it when the time comes. I did like writing fantasy again, but at the moment, duty and deadlines come first.