One fifth done!

Whoopee! Now I only have to do this four more times and the book will be done. Sounds simple enough. ;)

20,180 / 100,000 (20.2%)

I've just finished another scene that was sort of annoying me and now I'm onto a really fun section of the story, which hopefully means a recipe for fast writing. And good writing, of course. Always good writing.

I think I'm really getting the hang of this first draft thing, though. It's really freeing. I'm making such better progress now that I'm not trying to polish and perfect as I go. The draft is seriously ugly, but hey. That's what editing is for, right? And I love to edit. I'm getting the story out and that's the important part. That's my only job right now: to tell the true story. Not to worry about the language, whether it's marketable, whether it will sell, whether I'll get published, whether an agent will like it, what my book jacket copy will say, what kind of questions I'll get at signings (gee, can you tell what I fantasize about??). Just. Tell. The. Story. The rest is for later.

Do you read Marjorie M. Liu's LiveJournal? I recommend it. She's very insightful and writes in this cool combination modern slang/poetically beautiful prose that I love. Anyway, I read her LJ everyday and find it very inspirational for my own writing. The other day, she posted the following quote from Neil Gaiman, which I find to be absolutely brilliant and true:

"Another thing that's really, really good, if you want to be a writer, is writing, and not doing something else. Writers, all human beings, but particularly writers, are really good at doing something else. You may never have thought that your herb cupboard needed to be sorted alphabetically, you may not be the kind of person who normally says 'I think I'll clean the bath,' but then suddenly, you're writing, and something else seems easier. Daniel Pinkwater, who is a marvelous writer, talks about how he goes off to his writing place, and he is allowed to either write or not do anything at all. He's not allowed to do something else; not do a crossword, not read a book, not do a blog entry or e-mail or something, can't doodle. You can do absolutely nothing, or you can write. And it's amazing how quickly the joy of sitting in a chair not doing anything at all palls, and writing just gets much more fun, and all of a sudden you're writing again."

So, so true. When I was in Canada, I had very few choices. There was no internet connection, no day job, no dog, no TBR shelf, no household chores, no errands. There was spending time with family, there was a brief and frustrating love affair with the Ratchet and Clank PSP game and there was writing. I got the most writing done of my whole life. Not to say that spending time with my family wasn't an attractive option -- it was and I did a fair amount of it. But mostly, I wrote. Sometimes I dragged my laptop out onto the family-filled porch and wrote there or at the nightly campfire so I could be surrounded by family while still writing. It was one of the most satisfying weeks of my recent life.

In a complete non-segue, I have recently been wishing it was winter. Is that strange? Autumn has always been my favorite season followed by winter. Spring and summer are about tied--spring for the amazing transformation from the dormant and frozen to the warm and life-filled, summer for the sense of anticipation, freedom and mystery it's never quite lost for me since college. Although I can't stand the heat. Or the bugs. God, how I hate the bugs!!! But this last week or so, I've been staring out the window wishing for a snow covered scene, longing to wear sweaters and snuggle under blankets, missing the snap-crackle of the fireplace. That last is especially strange because we have a gas fireplace that doesn't snap or crackle. But the longing is there just the same.

I promised a review of Jeanne Stein's Blood Drive. Here it is, in summary: excellent. You need to read this book. Which means you also need to read The Becoming, the first in the series. I'm not particularly adept at writing reviews--I'd much rather gush about particular scenes or plot points but spoilers simply won't do, tsk tsk--so here we go. For those of you who have read The Becoming, Blood Drive is even better. Anna is coming into herself and bringing the story with her. Blood Drive is gritty and raw but laced with a compelling tenderness that exemplifies the Anna's struggle with balancing the primal urges of her newly turned vampire self with the humanity she refuses to let go of. The story is fast paced with quick chapters that beg to be read in stolen moments throughout your day at work or home. I couldn't leave it alone. Here is a short description of the book from Jeanne's website:

Anna Strong is a vampire caught between two worlds. She clings to what makes her human, her family, her job, her lover. But the pull of the undead is a siren song becoming impossible to resist. She discovers she has a niece, Trish, a child caught up in the worst kind of human nightmare. To save Trish, Anna may have to surrender to the animal side of her nature. Concepts of good and evil are no longer clearly defined as Anna must determine who is the real monster—a human who preys on children or the vampire who tries to save them.

I also read Thin Air, Book 7 of the Weather Warden series by Rachel Caine. Oh, how I love Rachel Caine and the Weather Warden series!!!!! I believe I've previously ranted on this blog about you readers running to the store to buy these books, so I shall spare you the lecture for a second time. Thin Air was great, just like the others. This book is a little different, as it's written in first person from Joanne Baldwin's perspective and, well, she's had her memories stolen. The first half is admittedly a little slower paced than usual WW stuff because of the whole memory thing -- lots of time spent having to reacquaint Jo with characters and situations the readers are already familiar with. But Rachel does it with style (duh!) and by the middle of the book, I couldn't put it down. We learn a lot about Jo's world in this book and there are several revelations to be had. Man, would I love to get Rachel all to myself for 15 minutes just to get some of these questions answered!! That woman is queen of the dangling carrots and cliffhanger endings. You know, in a good way. ;) It was an extremely interesting read from a technical perspective -- seeing how Rachel handled the challenge of a first person main character who loses her memories and a zillion avid readers who still have all theirs. Very cool.

I learned a few things and can therefore justify the fact that I didn't write at all yesterday and was two hours late getting to the laptop today because of the book. Sure I can. Ah, well, we all have our short lists of authors whose books are on the stop-the-rest-of-your-life-to-read list. Rachel's definitely on mine.

I will leave you with this final piece of wisdom. I subscribe to dictionary.com's Word of the Day feature and have decided to start posting words I find interesting or appealing. Here's the first in our new blog feature. Goodnight, all.

Word of the Day for Thursday, August 9, 2007

diaphanous \dy-AF-uh-nuhs\, adjective:

1. Of such fine texture as to allow light to pass through; translucent or transparent.
2. Vague; insubstantial.