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edenfallingNaNo Word Count:
11/24/06 -- 0 words
11/25/06 -- 425 words (425 on "Lemonade")
11/26/06 -- 500 words (500 on "Secrets")
11/27/06 -- 2,150 words (2,150 on "Secrets")
Current Total = 20,625 words
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Hi there!
Thanksgiving went well, and I managed to get the story printed, hole-punched, and tied up with ribbons on Friday. I also wrapped Ardis's and Aunt Cara's Christmas presents and hand-delivered them, so as to avoid mailing them in December.
(I am going to be mailing small gifts to so many people this year. I wish I hadn't bought them, but they're relatively cheap, and genuine Finger Lakes products and whatnot, and I thought I might as well get something as a minor token for various family friends and relatives. Still need to buy something for Dad, Cat, and Susan, and extras for Vicky and Aunt Jan & Uncle Bob. Also need a card for the Martins, to accompany their gifts.)
On Friday, Ardis treated us to dinner at Coimbra, a very nice Portuguese restaurant in the Ironbound (a neighborhood in Newark), which looks like your typical hole-in-the-wall until you get to the end of a dingy hallway and enter the spotless dining room. Our waiter had very little English, but we made do, and the food was amazing. I made out like a bandit with various leftovers, since my parents' fridge was nearly full already, so I have not had to really cook dinner for the past three days.
---------------------------------------------
I spent most of Sunday rereading "Secrets," since I'd completely lost track of my subplots. That's kind of embarrassing, but I've been working on that story for so long, and the gaps between chapter updates are getting so long, that it was awfully strange to read something I wrote back in early 2002. (Yes, I have been working on "Secrets" for over 4 years now.) It's recognizably my writing, but there are a number of minor things I would not do the same way now, and I found myself making a lot of tiny changes as I read through -- mostly deleting extraneous stuff and adverbs/adjectives, but also tweaking and adding lines here or there to clarify points or to bring early chapters more in line with later ones.
The most interesting thing, though, is that I realized I still like my original version of Ginny's possession much more than JKR's version. I managed to sort of retcon and slide into total blackouts once OotP came out, but I miss my sleepwalking and muddled dream symbolism, and my original plans for the climax down in the Chamber. They won't ever see the light of day, now, and the story as written has shifted enough that I couldn't change it back without heavy revisions, but I think I'll always sort of wonder what might have been.
I also realized that CoS was, in some ways, Ginny's version of OotP -- where she learned that trying to be a lone hero and keeping everything to herself doesn't always work, and can backfire dramatically. It's an important lesson, especially in the HP world where the kids' distrust of adults is so entrenched, and I still don't know how well Harry's learned that he can't stand alone. That worries me on occasion, when I'm still thinking intensely about HP. I'm trying to play up Ginny's 'lone Gryffindor hero' kick -- which, interestingly, she's basing on a sort of "What Would Harry Do?" style of planning -- but it remains to be seen how well that comes across in the actual story.
I am going to work like a madwoman on chapter 11 of "Secrets" for the remaining three days of November, and with any luck I can also make a good start on chapter 12... or even get it done by the end of the year! (Somehow I doubt this, though.)
And then maybe I should get back to writing "Guardian"...
*flees from backlogged WIPs*
11/24/06 -- 0 words
11/25/06 -- 425 words (425 on "Lemonade")
11/26/06 -- 500 words (500 on "Secrets")
11/27/06 -- 2,150 words (2,150 on "Secrets")
Current Total = 20,625 words
---------------------------------------------
Hi there!
Thanksgiving went well, and I managed to get the story printed, hole-punched, and tied up with ribbons on Friday. I also wrapped Ardis's and Aunt Cara's Christmas presents and hand-delivered them, so as to avoid mailing them in December.
(I am going to be mailing small gifts to so many people this year. I wish I hadn't bought them, but they're relatively cheap, and genuine Finger Lakes products and whatnot, and I thought I might as well get something as a minor token for various family friends and relatives. Still need to buy something for Dad, Cat, and Susan, and extras for Vicky and Aunt Jan & Uncle Bob. Also need a card for the Martins, to accompany their gifts.)
On Friday, Ardis treated us to dinner at Coimbra, a very nice Portuguese restaurant in the Ironbound (a neighborhood in Newark), which looks like your typical hole-in-the-wall until you get to the end of a dingy hallway and enter the spotless dining room. Our waiter had very little English, but we made do, and the food was amazing. I made out like a bandit with various leftovers, since my parents' fridge was nearly full already, so I have not had to really cook dinner for the past three days.
---------------------------------------------
I spent most of Sunday rereading "Secrets," since I'd completely lost track of my subplots. That's kind of embarrassing, but I've been working on that story for so long, and the gaps between chapter updates are getting so long, that it was awfully strange to read something I wrote back in early 2002. (Yes, I have been working on "Secrets" for over 4 years now.) It's recognizably my writing, but there are a number of minor things I would not do the same way now, and I found myself making a lot of tiny changes as I read through -- mostly deleting extraneous stuff and adverbs/adjectives, but also tweaking and adding lines here or there to clarify points or to bring early chapters more in line with later ones.
The most interesting thing, though, is that I realized I still like my original version of Ginny's possession much more than JKR's version. I managed to sort of retcon and slide into total blackouts once OotP came out, but I miss my sleepwalking and muddled dream symbolism, and my original plans for the climax down in the Chamber. They won't ever see the light of day, now, and the story as written has shifted enough that I couldn't change it back without heavy revisions, but I think I'll always sort of wonder what might have been.
I also realized that CoS was, in some ways, Ginny's version of OotP -- where she learned that trying to be a lone hero and keeping everything to herself doesn't always work, and can backfire dramatically. It's an important lesson, especially in the HP world where the kids' distrust of adults is so entrenched, and I still don't know how well Harry's learned that he can't stand alone. That worries me on occasion, when I'm still thinking intensely about HP. I'm trying to play up Ginny's 'lone Gryffindor hero' kick -- which, interestingly, she's basing on a sort of "What Would Harry Do?" style of planning -- but it remains to be seen how well that comes across in the actual story.
I am going to work like a madwoman on chapter 11 of "Secrets" for the remaining three days of November, and with any luck I can also make a good start on chapter 12... or even get it done by the end of the year! (Somehow I doubt this, though.)
And then maybe I should get back to writing "Guardian"...
*flees from backlogged WIPs*
