Today is a good day, so far. While the weather is unseasonably high--it was 20 degrees celsius before 11am; I was actually warm while waiting for my tram to work at 8am--the writing is going well. I tackled part of a new scene from Chapter Three at lunch, and I think I may be on to a winner. I've been struggling with the characterisation of one of my supporting characters and rewrote the first scene between her and my MC about five times in the past year. Today, I think I stumbled on the exact way to highlight what should hopefully be the reader's first impression of her. I'm so happy I could dance!

In other news, I also downloaded a 30 day trial of Scrivener last night, and so far I'm quite impressed. It's a lot faster than Word and as of yet hasn't made my (rapidly approaching middle-age) Macbook groan and stall. I'll know for sure in the next week or so, but I think I'll be shelling out to be a license for it!

(Today is also the release day for Sarah Rees Brennan's YA debut The Demon's Lexicon! I had the luck of getting an ARC of this (one of the benefits of working in a bookstore and being able to pester reps!) and to meet Sarah herself, who is lovely. This is definitely one of my top reads of 2009: witty, dark and extremely moving, with characters that stayed with me for a long time after finishing it. If you can, definitely get your hands on this one.)

Eek, once again I sort of disappeared from here for several months! Unintentional, I assure you. Right now I am deep in the second draft of TWFF with a deadline for the end of June. This is a deadline I have to stick to as one of my readers is heading to Thailand for seven weeks at the end of next month, and she's hoping to either read the draft before she goes or to take it with her.

I recently returned from a trip to New York; my first cross-Atlantic trip, in fact. I may have ransacked the YA sections of many bookstores while I was there. I came back with twenty-six books, but, as I was underweight, I could have bought more. I'm starting to make my way through them, but taking my time of course.

So far we seem to be getting an actual summer, if only for a little while. I think it's time to start contemplating writing outside in the garden with a cool drink. It's still bright on my home from work after evening shifts, warm enough that I don't need a coat--perfect thinking time. While I'm not a fan of summer, preferring pleasant spring days, I love summer evenings and how they make me relaxed and contemplative.

I'm hoping to start querying TWFF possibly in late summer or early autumn, but we'll see. I think there's still a draft or two to go; there's no point in overthinking it until I get some reader feedback.

Eek, yes, I sort of forgot about this place a little. Oops. Anyway, I hope everyone had a wonderful winter holiday of their choice and new year. Mine was lovely, and I entered 2009 determined that this would be the year I got TWFF up to a querying polish and actually started to query agents.

I rambled talked about the book with a couple of writer friends who helpfully pointed out some loop holes and plot problems which I'm in the middle of fixing. I'm hopeful that I can get it into proper shape and make a real go of it.

Other than that, life is pretty boring. I've recently become obsessed with the Gilmore Girls and am steadily making my way through the series. And I've been reading a lot, but that's not very unusual.

Non-Writing News

It's been two long years, but I learned earlier this week that I passed my Masters. Yay! \o/


(THOSE WHO FAVOUR FIRE is careening towards its climax/revelationary stuff. The finish line is finally becoming visible on the horizon!)

*determined*

I will have a completed and polished draft of THOSE WHO FAVOUR FIRE to give to my readers by early December.

Enough faffing about. It's time to get things done.

My set of His Dark Materials has been taken over by the coloured sticky-note army

*waves from sea of sticky-notes*

I love how the urge to write hits me like an anvil over the head right during thesis crunch time.

Nice timing, life. Niiiiiice.

The end is in sight!

Losing my mind a little...

My thesis has to be written, edited, printed and bound by the 21st September. 17,000 words, hardly a medium-sized drop in the ocean in terms of a book. And yet, I'm freaking out a little. Unlike this time last year, however, I have tricks up my sleeve, the best of which is to spend all of my days off in the library. The one good thing about being a postgrad student is that no undergrads are using the reading room in the library at this time of year.

(For anyone interested, my thesis is about women, gender and sexuality in His Dark Materials and The Chronicles of Narnia. It'll be awesome! When it's done.)

Unfortunately, I've also just moved into a new house, so I'm trying to get to know my flatmates without spending all of my time in my room, frantically reading. And I'm trying to get my partner's birthday present done in time. And I'm going on holiday to spend time with said partner on the 22nd September (hence my self-imposed deadline--the real deadline isn't until 30th September). Ergo, I'm not having a lot of time to actually relax and such right now. In an effort to stop myself from going completely insane, I've allowed myself to do some non-thesis reading and write a couple of hundred words on TWFF every few evenings. As much as I hate it, the thesis has to take top priority (apart from work, obviously).

See you on the other side--there will be some serious celebrating on October 1st!