Tuesday Update

I'm 31,634 words into Argiope now. The protoganist is having a conversation with the leader of group that may or may not be an ally. I'm pretty much making a hash of it, to be honest. But at least it will give me something to go back and rewrite later. Sometimes progress is progress, and you settle for that.
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Not much else going on. Back to writing.

Tuesday

Rowan is still enjoying the spoils of Easter.
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I slept all night, courtesy of the favors of Nyquil, but I'm still groggy as I get up this morning. I needed to do it though, I'm trying to get my nights and days straightened out.
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I managed to get around a thousand words written on Argiope yesterday. I'm sort of tiptoeing through a scene where the protagonist finally meets a couple of members of one of the secret groups who are now involved in his life. I'll probably have to rewrite the whole scene, but I need to get the dang thing written first. I'm sort of feeling my way through this book anyways.
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I found my folding walking cane. I had left it at the library. The librarian mused aloud how somebody could forget a walking cane. I couldn't think of nothing to say, so just settled for a shrug and hobbling away. I don't always need a cane, on my good days my braces are enough. Anyways, I will soon have my nifty new cane that lights up in the dark arriving in the mail. Cool.
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Anyways, here is more adventures with Rowan and reading.
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Happy Easter

Stinkerbell gets busy hunting those Easter Eggs. She remembered that from last year...and the candies inside those eggs were all the more motivation for a serious hunt.

I took the day off from writing, and just visited with famile, and watched the kids and a movie. It was a pretty good way to spend the day. We can't be paragons of production every day.

Maybe tomorrow.

So What's It All About

While working on Argiope, I started to ponder the meanings of the story...and if it even had any.

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The Ways of Khrem actually does tackle a couple of deeper issues, even if they are overshadowed by the action, atmosphere, and setting. But what about Argiope?

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I'm not sure yet.

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First of all, The Ways of Khrem just sort of worked out that way. The issues dealt with sort of naturally arose from the story itself, and therefore needed to be dealt with on one level or another. And the underlying plotline of that series will probably see to it that that keeps happening.

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Argiope may be a different beast. I don't know yet. The charactor will have to make a couple of moral choices later in the book, so at least some meaning will be there, and they won't necessarily be easy. At the same time, I can see how a couple of other charactors could be used to explore the idea of what it is to be human, and what makes one human. One of them may not even be human at all. At this stage it's just too early to tell.

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But I do admit I like my stories to be about something.

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Oh well, Happy Easter everybody! And may you find all the right meanings in your life today!

Minor Milestone

I have now crossed the thirty thousand word mark in Argiope. Woohoo! It seems like theres always something coming up to interfere with progress on that novel, but it's still coming along in fits and starts.

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So now it's at thirty thousand words, and a body count of eleven dead and four wounded...with two shootouts, one bombing, and now two close encounters of the arachnid kind.

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One thing this book shouldn't be short of, is action. I actually have reached a part where I'm considering slowing it down for a while. It's pacing has been faster than I originally intended, although I don't know yet if that's a good thing or bad. So far, the couple of proofreaders who have seen it have approved, so I'll just have to wait until the first draft is finally finished before worrying about things like that. Right now I would estimate I'm about a third of the way done, but we'll see.

Update

I have now been at home for six hours...alone with the children.

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What is this nonsense? They just had spring break a week or two ago, and now another holiday? Why didn't anybody notify me of this sillness! Why is it always the bus driver who says "See you in a week," or "See you Monday," when it's only Thursday!.

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I pay my taxes! Where is my free babysitting the public school system is supposed to provide? They get the whole summer off as it is! This is an outrage!

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Aadsfmvdlknvelssdj!!!!!

What's on my Plate?

No. Unfortunately it isn't lasagna. I'm only allowed lasagna in rare instances.

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Basically, as things sit, here is where I am with current projects.

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1. Waiting for the edit for Part 3 of The Ways of Khrem to come in from Pill Hill Press, so I can begin on that.

2. I've gotten my critiques back on The Barrow Wolf, and I'm ready to start working on that.

3. I'm still at a scene involving three drug runners in Argiope, and haven't finished killing them yet.

4. I'm looking at doing a couple of short stories for a friend. It will be a new genre for me, but I have a rough idea for the first one.

5. I got my copies of "Pandora's Nightmare" and "Proxies of Fate" in from Amazon.com and I need to find time to read those. Easter weekend may provide me with the opportunity.

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So I guess my plate is full...metaphorically speaking. Speaking of which, the kids are complaining that their breakfasts plates are empty and seem to think I should do something about that.

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Sigh.

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Work. Work. Work.

Afternoon Update

Well, the kids are home from school.

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I have to be mean old Dad today because the boy got in trouble for repeated talking in class, and the girl...well, we just won't go there. Suffice it to say the boy is on the couch practicing his reading skills, and the girl is on the computer doing the same.

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Kids...can't live with them, can't trade'em in for electronics.

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And of course, I'm half asleep because I woke up at nine PM last night after a four hour nap and couldn't get back to sleep. Ah, sleep.

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All work and no sleep makes Nate something something.

Blogging From Word 2007

I didn't do any writing today, and it felt marvelous. I got my routine car maintenance taken care of, my daughter taken to her therapist, then napped the late afternoon away. It was glorious, but now I have to do something to justify my existence today.

So I'm trying out this blogging feature on Word 2007 to see if I can figure it out. Gotta learn something new if I'm not going to write anything. Even a failed experiment is better than no experiment at all. I'm trying to learn as much as my poor old sieve of a mind can take, and it often rebels at the task. Sometimes I wish I had started this career a lot younger, but then I remember I was pretty much an idiot then too.

Especially when it comes to technology.

You know that guy, the one who just intuitively knows where each cord goes on the dvd player, and can instinctively work his way through the menus on the tv setup guide? Well, I'm that other guy…the once standing in the corner looking stupidly at the remote control and wondering if he just slagged a five hundred dollar piece of equipment by merely pushing the wrong button. Yeah, that's me. If there is a secret "detonate" button on a remote, I'll hit it.

Oh well, that's my cheery thought for the morning.

Ta!

UPDATE: Well, I would call that a partial success. The font came across, even if it does make the readers eyes want to bleed, but the picture wouldn't load. Oh well, it was worth playing around with.