Friday, January 06, 2006

Happy 2006

Happy New Year, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Hannukah, and best wishes to whichever holiday you prefer. What the hell, happy all of them! I hope your holidays, however much you had, were wonderful.

For ourselves, we loaded up the truck and stayed with my parents from the 24th to the 26th and had a blast. Whenever you have a kid around at Christmas, it's infectuous. That and I got some really good warhammer in with my brother. Only appropriate, as his gift from me was a 4'x4' set of gaming boards.
(4pcs 2'x2' that fit together). The joys of styrofoam, glue and paint.

Granted, he kicked my butt across the scenery, but that's only appropriate as two years ago he made scenery boards for me, and I kicked his army across the table. Much fun.

So in the end, I haven't really disappeared. Between lurching from one crisis to another at work and the general madness of the holidays, my writing (and blogging about it) kind of ground to an almost-halt. *sigh*

Wah, wah, wah. Suck it up, bucko!

So, on the writing front, I'm still working through characters, though lately I've stopped obsessing about it and just 'done it.' While the details may get more or less sketchy, I've been attempting to get it done, and I can revise and tweak them as I have good ideas through the story. I've refocused on the real goal, which is to lay the foundation for the story. Just have to leave my perfectionist tendencies behind and allow that foundation to evolve, otherwise I'll never get started. Now I'm really feeling like Tina K. (one of my faithful readers - both of them! :-) ) did some time ago, as if I'll never get out of the gate.

Nevertheless, 2006 is the year of the Novel! Specifically, my novel, finished (first draft), and start the editing process. Beyond that, I'm not going to bite off more than I can chew, especially with the requirement of a day job (mortgage and all that).

On a side note, I have been gradually filing my stack of scene bits, ideas for the next book, and other tidbits, so at least I'm not totally idle. Just a bit unfocused. Now if only I wouldn't always be inspired in the truck, because attempting to take notes and driving does NOT work. I haven't tried, except to call my voicemail at work and leave my idea as a message. Otherwise I'll forget by the time I'm there.

On a second side note, many in the writing blogosphere have posted photos of their workspace. I must do this, as I'm happy to show off. Not so much the workspace, which is decent. More the library it sits in, as I'm awfully proud of that. One of the conditions for our new house was a library for me and a dining room/living room for my wife. Now I have a library, which has my office, reading chair and painting table all in one room. My sanctum against the madness of work and life. That and we painted it soon after moving in (new house = blank canvas!) because I was NOT going to put all the shelves together, fill them up, and then move them out again to paint. Not since I moved 24 boxes of my books up three floors (no elevator, 'cause I'm insane) moving into an apartment years ago do I want to needlessly move my book collection.

Now that I've rambled on and on (it does say 'ravings' at the top, so you were warned), I'll sign off and get back to the day job.

4 comments:

Rowan said...

Yep, I've been smacking myself upside the head when I start languishing on something. I figure I'll keep moving and then the editing phase will begin. I'm always concerned that there's enough depth to keep the interest. Few thing bug me more than shallow characters.

BTW, what does 'nad geeze' mean? (or am I just outta the loop?) :)

Bernita said...

Glad you're blogging again.

Rowan said...

Thanks Bernita. While late last year was crazy, I was still out there. I'm glad you find my mental meanderings interesting. I'll post more often in the future (at least that's the plan).

Rowan said...

*Looks around to make sure no one saw*
That's okay, I'll forget the typo if you forget my cluelessness! ;-)