Christine Cook's blog

IS IT FRIDAY ALREADY?

My near-daily accounting of my writing pursuits is quickly becoming a once-weekly version, not that that is my intention. Life is passing me by at a very fast clip. I will do a round-up of the week's events here:

1) Reading. I finished another book. This one was the 12th in the Diane Mott Davidson series, called CHOPPING SPREE. It was cute, vintage Davidson. I'm getting a little tired of her one-note food preparation narratives, which she sprinkles throughout the book, so I find myself skimming them. And the character's son is turning into a brat, but then he's now 15, and perhaps this is reality (ugh, I think as I contemplate my own young man, who is getting dangerously closer to this age himself). I am now reading THE GAME, by Laurie R. King, and next up after that will be GOING POSTAL, by Terry Pratchett.

2) Writing. I have read through my novel, GUESTS OF THE GUNMETAL, in preparation for the long, slow second rewrite. Now I'm starting the reworking of the six key scenes, which are opening and closing scene, plot points 1 and 2, midpoint, and catharsis. With any luck, by this time next week I'll be able to tell you I've completed that process.

3) Marketing. I have about five contests I plan to enter within the next three months, so I began the process of rewriting the piece that goes forward first. I have also completed the formatting for putting MURDER MOST MOTHERLY on Kindle and on Smashwords, so now all I need to do is create a jpg of the cover and we're in business.

4) Professorship. I have completed the evaluations of six papers out of seventeen. So far, so good.

5) Knitting/Crocheting. Since I have a bit of an audience in the Rav-world, I will add this section. This week I haven't finished anything, but I did make good tracks on two projects. I have one mitten done out of two fair-isle mittens, minus the thumb. And I have completed 62 rows of a shawl for D, which is getting bigger, and bigger, and bigger...this is actually my first triangular shawl, so color me surprised to realize it was done from the top middle down to the bottom/edge. I always thought the triangles were done from the point up. These are both Nerd Wars projects #3 and #4 out of six per month.

More anon.

TUESDAY UPDATE

I finished another book yesterday, so I'm still on track for 52+ books in a year. This one was the next in the Diane Mott Davidson that was on my list--#10 in this case. She is at number 17 or 18 in real life, so I'm now more than half-way through. The book is 6) STICKS AND SCONES.

I am also reading THE SIGN OF FOUR, by Arthur Conan Doyle. I am reading it on the Kindle, in the middle of a complete works of ACD, so I can't tell you how far along I am, but I can say that I have 180 kindle pages left.

In addition, I have bought and am working my way through the latest Julia Cameron book, PROSPEROUS HEART. It's a 12-week program, so with any luck it will take 12 weeks for me to read. I am also reading Mark Allen's THE MILLIONAIRE COURSE. I find it ironic that I picked them both up at Barnes and Noble at the same time, from different sections of the store, but they dovetail very nicely together.

In writing and marketing news, I am about a third of the way through the reread of GUNMETAL GRAY, which is step one in the laborious second draft process. This is the hardest draft for me, since it takes so much work to shape the book the way I want it to be, but it is also ultimately the most fulfilling part of the process. I must say, I am actually enjoying reading the book for the first time post first draft.

My Christmas mystery is stalled a bit, as is my time-travel steampunk, alas. I am hearing voices in my head from one of my Norse mythology characters, so I think I may be putting some things to paper there soon.

And on the marketing front, LIVING ON TATTOOINE should now be available on most ebook devices, and I am 4/5 of the way through the formatting process for MURDER MOST MOTHERLY. It should be making its Kindle debut by week's end, with any luck, and other ebooks shortly thereafter.

ANOTHER BOOK TO ADD TO THE LIST

At this rate, I actually WILL be able to make the 52 books in 52 weeks goal. In addition to MONSTROUS REGIMENT, TOUGH COOKIE, GET REAL, and--um--the other one (ETA: SON OF NEPTUNE), I have now finished book #5 in as many weeks.

5) A STUDY IN SCARLET, by Arthur Conan Doyle. I have joined a Read-Along group (RAL) wherein the plan is to read all the Sherlock Holmes books. This is the first one ever written, and it was good, although I liked the first part better than the second. AC Doyle gets off on a tangent about Mormon bashing in the second half, and it doesn't contribute significantly to the whole of the book. I think that's why when they film this one, they cut it off right around the end of Part 1. But I'm really glad to be reading all the ACD books, for the first time in my life.

Current reading projects are: 1) STICKS AND SCONES, by Diane Mott Davidson. This is the next in that series after TOUGH COOKIE; 2) THE SIGN OF FOUR, the next AC Doyle book; and 3) I'm rereading GUNMETAL GRAY, the next in my dWC series. I'm rereading it in preparation for starting the second, blood-letting, draft.

Wish me luck!

MONSTER IN A BOX REVISITED
(a one-minute story)

A man sits on a blackened stage, at a table. With a microphone and a glass of water, he changes the world, on night at a time. One performance at a time. One audience at a time. One radio at a time, one television news story at a time, he changes the world.

Spaulding Gray, Mike Daisy, Swimming to Cambodia, Monster in a Box, Expose of FoxConn and Apple. It's all a Slippery Slope. Very few women have done this. Perhaps Laurie Anderson would count, but she doesn't so much change the world as change how the mind sees things. ANd she doesn't sit behind a table on a chair with water to drink and not much else. She flits around the stage like a bid, on bare feet, flinging her electric violin at the multi-media images with which she surrounds herself.

Perhaps this is the job of a single man, on a single stage, creating a light in the darkness, shining a spotlight on the black holes in the world.

Sometimes it takes that Monster in a Box.

READ, WRITE, MARKET

It seems that this year, I've gone on a binge of book reading updates for my blog. I guess this blog post is no exception, but I plan to also do a writing and marketing update as well.

First, my book list so far:

1) MONSTROUS REGIMENT, by Terry Pratchett
2) GET REAL, by Donald E. Westlake
3) THE SON OF NEPTUNE, by Rick Riordan
4) TOUGH COOKIE, by Diane Mott Davidson

The first two I had already posted. The third, by Riordan, is what I would call popcorn fiction. It has some nutritive value, and it's hard to stop eating it once you've started, so the book is finished before you know it. I really enjoyed it, as is usual for the Rick Riordan books. I think I need to look up his mysteries, since I love his mythology books so much.

TOUGH COOKIE is the ninth in the Diane Mott Davidson series, and I've been slowly working my way through all of them. In some cases this is "working my way through...again," and I think I read this one before, but I'll be darned if I could remember any of the plot details. Her books all run together, but I still enjoy them. Again, it's a bit like popcorn, but in this case, maybe it's caramel covered.

In the writing department, I started the rough draft of a book I thought would take me a week to write. I was SO WRONG. Eight weeks into it, and I'm not yet a third of the way done. Oh, well. I have now made it a goal to write 1000 words a day, without fail. Since I made that goal, I have made it each day, sometimes going over. So there's still hope.

My time-travel book is on the back burner, for a number of reasons, but I still want to work at it, so once I'm done with the rough draft of my Christmas Murder Mystery, I will go back to 1000 words a day on this book.

Meanwhile, fans have been clamoring for the newest d'Arcy W. Carter, which is in first rough draft form right now. In February, I plan to start the really serious second rewrite, which is always the longest and hardest part. Once that rewrite is done, though, third draft tends to be a fairly easy (comparatively easy, perhaps?) process. I will do NaNoEdMo with that book as well, which will take me to the end of March, and then it's ScriptFrenzy time.

January is supposed to be marketing month for me, and I have had some successes and some failures on that front. I got MURDER MOST MOTHERLY onto the Kindle, uploaded BAD WISDOM to Smashwords, and those are my two biggest successes for the month. I am currently trying to format LIVING ON TATTOOINE for upload to Smashwords, and I've hit a snag. I can't figure out how to hyperlink my chapter headings to my table of contents on the Mac. If anyone has any ideas, let me know.

That's it for now.

BOOK UPDATE #2

I have finished another book for the year, making it two books in two weeks. This one was Donald E. Westlake's GET REAL.

I used to read a lot of Donald Westlake. I remember loving the movie THE HOT ROCK, then actually reading it, and enjoying it even more. But then I got away from reading his books, and I'm not exactly sure why.

He died a few years ago, and this book was his last book before he died. I enjoyed it, although again I noticed that the beginning was a little slow. I say again because I've noticed the last two books I read had that issue. I'm glad I read past page 50 for both of them, because otherwise I might have put them down, and missed out on two good books.

So, let's see. The next books on my docket include Tim Gunn's Guide to Style. That's not what it's called, but it's close to that. I'm also reading CREWEL WORLD (don't remember the author) and TOUGH COOKIE by Diane Mott Davidson.

More later.

BOOK-READING UPDATE

I have finished my first book of the year, which is:

1) MONSTROUS REGIMENT, by Terry Pratchett

I had trouble getting into this book. I think for the first time I noticed Sir Terry had a "fish-head," which is when the first thirty pages of the book don't flow very well as the author gets his feet wet with the subject. He could probably have safely lopped off those thirty pages and still had most of the information needed for the book. But after about page 62, I really got into the book, and it was enjoyable from there on in. He still had the petering out ending, which I've noticed before with him, but it was still a fun book, and one worth reading.

Currently, I'm reading a Donald Westlake book--his last, in fact. It's called GET REAL, and I must admit, it was a little slow to start, as well, but now it reads very quickly. I'm almost at mid-point.

And I'm reading THE ART OF WAR FOR WRITERS (I forget the author). This is a pretty good book, and a fast read, and I'll report more on this in the future.

Marketing month goes "okay," or as D. would say, "meh." I'll spend a post discussing this later in the week or so.

More anon--

A YEAR'S ROLL-UP OF READING

Fifty-two books in a year didn't happen, but I did make it to 33 or so, and I'm good with that. The truth is, there may have been books I finished but forgot to log, and there are also many books I'm part of the way through, but they can't count until I'm finished with them. I also don't count the books I've written and have reread prior to working on a revision of them.

So, without further ado, here's what I have read so far this year, in more or less chronological order:

1) THE CRYING OF LOT 49 by Thomas Pynchon
2) FUNNY LETTERS FROM FAMOUS PEOPLE by Charles Osgood
3) THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET'S NEST by Stieg Larsson
4) THE 4-HOUR WORK WEEK by Tim Ferris
5) FIRST DRAFT IN THIRTY DAYS by Karen Wiesner
6) SAVE THE CAT! STRIKES BACK by Blake Snyder
7) POSSESSION by A.S. Byatt
8) ZEN AND THE ART OF WRITING by Raymond Bradbury
9) FAITH AND WILL by Julia Cameron
10) REPAIR TO HER GRAVE by Sarah Graves
11) THE CREATIVE LIFE by Julia Cameron
12) INTERESTING TIMES by Terry Pratchett
13) THINGS I WANT TO TELL MY DAUGHTERS by Alexandra Stoddard
14) SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE by Kurt Vonnegut (This one is actually one I just remembered I had read and had forgotten to log)
15) THE MOOR by Laurie R. King
16) A MONSTROUS REGIMENT OF WOMEN by Laurie R. King (Another one I had forgotten to write down but remembered as I was typing)
17) EQUAL RITES by Terry Pratchett
18) SOUL MUSIC by Terry Pratchett
19) MASKERADE by Terry Pratchett
20) CATERING TO NO ONE by Diane Mott Davidson
21) KILLER PANCAKE by Diane Mott Davidson
22) DYING FOR CHOCOLATE by Diane Mott Davidson
23) THE LANGUAGE OF BEES by Laurie R. King
24) HOUSE OF LEAVES by ... um....something Danielewski? Something like that. I have it written down earlier in my blog. ETA Mark Danielewski
25) THE MAIN CORPSE by Diane Mott Davidson
26) THE HOGFATHER by Terry Pratchett
27) THE GRILLING SEASON by Diane Mott Davidson
28) GOLIATH by Scott Westerfield
29) GOD OF THE HIVE by Laurie R. King
30) LOCKED ROOMS by Laurie R. King
31) THE THIEF OF TIME by Terry Pratchett
32) PRIME CUT by Diane Mott Davidson
33) FATE'S MIRROR by MH Mead
34) HERCULE POIROT'S CHRISTMAS by Agatha Christie
35) WEE FREE MEN by Terry Pratchett
36) LAST SUPPERS by Diane Mott Davidson (another one I just remembered)

I had a few audio books that are escaping my mind at the moment, and I'm sure I'm missing a few more. But there are a few days left 'til the new year, so I'll try to keep working on this list. Thirty-six books isn't terribly shabby, though, so I'm proud of myself.

Again, I will throw out the fifty book goal for 2012. I have several books in the midst of being read, so I'll probably have them on the list fairly early.

Here's to a good year of reading in 2011, and wishes for continued good reading in the new year--

OVERCOME BY EVENTS...AND READING...

My computer's doing odd things at the moment; I'm not sure why. I wonder if this site has been hacked or something.

Meanwhile, preparations for the holiday season are combining with full-time and part-time work to make it difficult for me to blog with any great consistency. But, that doesn't mean I haven't been reading. Again, I don't have the actual numbers for you, regarding how many books I've read for the year, but I will add them to my list, and consolidate at the turn of the new year.

Sadly, I know I am nowhere close to my original goal, or even my secondary, more realistic goal of 50 books in a year. Alas.

1) PRIME CUT, by Diane Mott Davidson
2) HERCULE POIROT'S CHRISTMAS, by Agatha Christie

I keep feeling like I've read more than that, but it's a start. Right now I'm reading Terry Pratchett's MONSTROUS REGIMENT, GET REAL, by Donald Westlake, and TOUGH COOKIE, by Diane Mott Davidson.

But now I must go and continue the cardigan for my son, the Christmas dress for my daughter, the nativity scene for some friends and also for my mother, the cowl for another friend, and the knitted Christmas ball ornaments I'm making for a number of other people.

BEEN AWHILE, BUT I'M NOW A WINNER!

I got mired down in NaNoWriMo during November, and so I didn't blog as much as I would have liked. I'd like to think it was because I was using all my spare time to write!

I won NaNo yesterday, with 50,566 words, and now I'm moving on to NaNoFiMo, since I'm nowhere near done.

Meanwhile, I have read some books, but am I going to be able to remember all of them? Not likely. But here's a partial list:

1) THE GRILLING SEASON, by Diane Mott Davidson
2) GOD OF THE HIVE, by Laurie R. King
3) Another one by Laurie R. King that off the top of my head I can't remember the name of, but it's the one that takes place in San Francisco.
4) THE THIEF OF TIME, by Terry Pratchett

As I said, there are probably others. I don't think I'm anywhere near the total of 50 books for the year that I had hoped for. Perhaps I'm closer to 25. But any book finished is a good book, methinks, so I'll keep plugging.

Right now, I'm reading THE WEE FREE MEN by Terry Pratchett, the next in the DIANE MOTT DAVIDSON series (something about meat...PRIME SUSPECT? That doesn't sound right...), HER KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOR, by Jude Deveraux, and THE SON OF NEPTUNE, by Rick Riordan.

More anon.