alyson_m: That's my face, in case you're wondering (Default)
I can understand how, if one turns her head to the side and squints, she might see my novel as "fantasy," but...I just had to send this email as a reply to Emlyn at Novel Publicity:

Yes, one question; where are you getting the zombie aspect? My book has nothing to do with zombies. I guess one could joke about Gentiola being a sort of zombie, but really, she's just talented. The survivors are totally healthy people who live in a post-apocalyptic world due to extreme loss of population density, but there are no zombies in my book.

OTOH, this is sort of funny. On the other, I'm a little concerned that she read my synopsis and decided: "Zombies! Oh boy!"

Okay: she confesses to having just skimmed after the first page. So, I still pass the test. I guess that's sort of what I get for not coming up with a name for my humanity-destroying disease aside from "The Plague." Bad Monster! Bad!
alyson_m: That's my face, in case you're wondering (Default)
This one is from my second novel, User Assembly is Required, which is complete in rough draft but not much beyond that.

"You've never asked me that before."
alyson_m: That's my face, in case you're wondering (Default)
On Facebook just now...

Friend who has read my book: *posts picture of her husband playing with adorable baby daughter*
Me: "I love how {baby} looks so happy in all the pictures you post!"
Friend's Husband, with whom I don't think I've ever communicated before: "Alyson, WHY YOU {references something that happens in Charlinder's Walk, and which I will NOT spoil here}?"
Me: *not quite sure what he's on about for first 5 seconds or so*
Me: *oh now I know what happened*
Me: "{Husband's name}, why would you bring up something horrible like that WHEN YOUR BABY DAUGHTER IS CUTE IN A PICTURE?!"
Husband: {whines about tragedy in book}
Me: "{does the mea culpa}"

Now: Cackling inside like evil sadist.

The trailer does not spoil the event, either:



alyson_m: That's my face, in case you're wondering (Default)
One of my co-workers, who has confided in me that her usual literary taste runs in things that don't make her think (she has to think all day at work, so I sympathize), just told me that she watched my book trailer, and it made her want to read the book enough that she's going to spend the $15.50 on the paperback.

So I told her that I just ordered several new copies of the book a few days ago, so I can just bring one in to the office for her and save her the shipping cost. Win-win!

Here is the trailer, in case you're wondering:

alyson_m: That's my face, in case you're wondering (Default)
Well, look at that! Christine at GHI says my application is all done and good, and the apartment should be ready for move-in as early as August 8th, the 12th at the latest. I really need to get some boxes and start packing.
alyson_m: That's my face, in case you're wondering (Default)
Really, though, I managed to revamp a really important scene yesterday while sitting at my desk at work, then I went home and stayed up until past midnight rewriting another important scene.

(My antagonist is a troublesome character. She demands a lot of do-overs.)
alyson_m: That's my face, in case you're wondering (Default)
I like it when my cousins-once-removed come to visit (and by "visit" I mean it's their house and they need to work on it), but man, they do not make it easy for me to get work done.
alyson_m: That's my face, in case you're wondering (Default)
Her name is Dana, and I spotted her at the App store.

I just downloaded the free version last night, and so far I've only tapped out a couple of quick unplaced scenes...but I really, really like it so far. I can't wait to get home tonight and work with Dana some more.

It's not really helpful for revisions; for making changes to a pre-existing mass of text, I need to work in Scrivener, which has a full-screen option that I like for when I need to work new paragraphs into old chapters.

However? For writing up new scenes that don't yet have a place in the larger text? I did a couple of them last night in Dana. And I also did some full-screen work in Scrivener. And it's no trouble at all to copy-paste text from other programs into Scrivener scenes.

(Yeah, I'm sure there's some honeymoon effect going on with me, but whatever, it feels great.)

My work plan for the foreseeable future is this: write one sentence, or the revising equivalent of writing one sentence, every day. No more beating myself up for failing to do more than that.
alyson_m: That's my face, in case you're wondering (Default)
The TV is unplugged and banished to the space under a worktable in the vacant master bedroom. (I'm in a weird living sitch at the mo'.) In its place is my lapdesk with a printout of my editor's notes. The King's Speech arrived from Netflix last night and it remains unwatched. I went to bed drunk and preoccupied after 11:30, woke up around 4:30 and didn't get back to sleep until after 6, when I was supposed to wake up at 7. As a result of this alcohol-related sleep deprivation, I spent much of the subway ride to work feeling queasy. Today is going to involve a lot of coffee, as in, possibly more than usual.

That's right, everyone; I've got some revising to do!
alyson_m: That's my face, in case you're wondering (Default)
It's a good thing the season finale of Parenthood was last night, because my editor just emailed me within the past hour to say she finished reading (!!!) my "terrific" manuscript (!!!) and is now finishing up the edit letter.

That was sooner than I expected, and I'm very glad I've done most of the work on the book website already. I've set up most of the files, chosen graphics, written a stylesheet, and written pretty much all the content for it that I can write before revising the book.

The practical upshot is that the TV shall go into the coat closet (or somewhere) TONIGHT so that I will have no distractions while I set up the manuscript in Scrivener and start dealing with the edit feedback. Additionally, my editor's services also include a half-hour phone call, so I'll need to set up a time for that with her. (Speaking of my editor's services, this means I'll soon get a bill for the second 50%.)

Oh and also, just as I finished reading that email, someone from the parent company of my current employer came into my new office and handed me an offer letter. When it rains, it floods.

Muh?

Apr. 4th, 2011 01:59 pm
alyson_m: That's my face, in case you're wondering (Default)
What the heck is up with LJ today?
alyson_m: That's my face, in case you're wondering (Default)
The plan tonight is that I get Chinese dinner delivered to keep me warm and sated, and once I'm fed, I bite the bullet and figure out how to write a decent query cover letter. The dinner is already ordered. So I've got no excuse not to address the letter situation.

Still haven't bought any new booze, which is probably a good thing.
alyson_m: That's my face, in case you're wondering (Default)
Well, I have finally finished writing the synopses (2nd draft, hopefully this one doesn't suck) in all formats. I have a 1-line, a 1-paragraph, a 1-page, and an expanded version. Now I need to figure out how to write a decent cover letter, but when I do, the synopsis portion is ready.

I don't want to think about how long that took. But now that the synopsis-writing is finished, I'm allowed to buy myself some more booze. :p
alyson_m: That's my face, in case you're wondering (Default)
Damn, but I am just the poster child for ADD this weekend. I could not focus on a meaningful task if you pointed a gun to my head.
alyson_m: That's my face, in case you're wondering (Default)
My mother bought me a "novel-writing kit" created by the founder of NaNoWriMo and left it in my room this morning. The title is "No Plot? No Problem!"

I find the title obnoxious. I've already completed two novels and have a third in progress. Plots are not in short supply. I have plots coming out the butt.

Once I calmed down a little and looked inside, though: actually, it might be helpful. It's a neat idea, anyway. One of the items is a little booklet of "Onerosity" coupons, in which you promise a chore/obligation/valuable item to someone if you fail to meet your word count goal by a given date. I've been doing that for years now, first with my fanfic and later with my pro fiction. At first I just told a friend she was licensed to kick my ass if I didn't finish a fic (though since we were mostly interacting online, I don't know what she could have done to me as punishment). Later on, while working on Novel 1, I promised not to read the last HP book (or at least not to go online and comment on it) until I reached a certain point in the story. If that hadn't scared me into writing up a storm, I don't know what would have done.
alyson_m: That's my face, in case you're wondering (Default)
Between yesterday and today, I am finally---FINALLY---editing Book 1. It's a lot like homework for school: it's really not so scary once you sit down and do it. One of the first, and most important, changes I'm making is to scrap the prologue. It doesn't fit the tone of the rest of the book, I need to chop the word count something fierce, and everything in it that you'd really need to know can either be replaced with a few paragraphs of introduction, or I have another character cover it later on.

The fun part will be writing the new introduction. The prologue, however, is soon to be a non-entity.
alyson_m: That's my face, in case you're wondering (Default)
I should have started long ago, but I am finally starting the word-processing on Book 3. There is....quite a great deal of longhand to type at this point. But the good news is that I'm actually quite pleased with what I've scribbled up so far! I don't think it would sound stilted and unnatural if I read it aloud. Go me!
alyson_m: That's my face, in case you're wondering (Default)
Now that I am drunk, this pic is like baby pandas holding hands under a rainbow.

funny pictures of cats with captions
see more Lolcats and funny pictures

I wanna baby piggy! *nuzzles*
alyson_m: That's my face, in case you're wondering (Default)
Yesterday I attended the Open Mic at The Writer's Center in Bethesda and read an excerpt from my first novel, Charlinder's Walk. Here I have posted it at my blog: "You're not gonna make it to the Bering Strait!"
alyson_m: That's my face, in case you're wondering (Default)
I tried recharging my Kindle today, and it mostly charged up, but then the charger broke. The little metal part that goes into the unit broke off. It's not stuck inside, but I can't screw it back together.

At first I thought this would surely mean I'd need to buy another charger, and while I'm at it might as well buy another battery, but then I found I could also charge the unit by hooking it up to a computer by USB port. So, maybe I'll just make do with that until I can afford to upgrade to a new reader. I think I have enough files on it by now that it's basically paid for itself.

Also: I went to Richmond and saw Wicked last night. BEST MUSICAL EVER.

NB: Maybe I should only recharge it sparingly on the USB cable. The files kept coming up "unsupported" after I let it charge for a while, but not to worry, I restarted the unit from the Settings screen and now the files are opening normally.

March 2012

S M T W T F S
    123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021 222324
25262728293031

Syndicate

RSS Atom

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jul. 11th, 2025 12:19 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios