Seraph7

The Mother's Day present is bought, the cake is collected. Now I have to actually give her it tomorrow. I hope she likes it but we'll see.
Today was really long and dragged because no one was in. I saw the end of 'Sucker Punch' and I couldn't help but feel it was a bit disturbing to be honest. I don't know if I really want to see it. Surprisingly they made it a 12A so that's caused controversy with parents. Great!

I was discussing how long 'Songbirds' was getting especially as I was reaching 100k and to be honest there's still quite a bit that needs to be done.emerald_skies suggested that I should split it into two. It's a radical idea, but it has merit. I would be able to go deeper into the whole relationship with Pierre and Bettina, Tom's crisis and Rob's romance with Flora in more detail. I feel part of the problem is that I need to sort out the end of the novel. It's getting there but it's just finishing the draft before tearing it apart and making it the best it can be. I really would like to publish this one. There's just something about the characters and their story that I really want to do justice.

Edit: For anyone that is following my writing on A03...

I'm at Seraph7 on the AO3. Subscribe to me - fandoms in the immediate queue include Generation Kill, Elizabeth, Eastern Promises, La Reine Margot and Don Carlo (You'll need to log in to see the subscribe button.)

I'm kind of anxious, now that I know when they're going to be interviewing for the projectionist position. Next Tuesday, which doesn't give that long to prepare.
I still don't really know whether this is what I want to be honest. I can foresee a whole bunch of trouble arising from this, seeing as if I get the position I will be working with Neil extensively and let's just say there's been a certain amount of semi-flirtatious banter going on over the years.
Do I really want to be in a position where he's going to be my line manager? Seeing as I distinctly remember at least one occasion where he tried to get off with me and I kind of knocked him back. This is something that frankly is bothering me a bit.
The only thing is I really do need the extra money and I need a change. But can I handle it, that's the question?
I think the first thing I'm going to do if I get it is actually pay for a new laptop as this one is winding me up. The USB ports are really irritating and interfere when I'm working.I'd also like a more modern desktop with a decent screen, and decent wireless internet access. I miss that so freaking much, you have no idea.

I have been semi working on a subs letter for Songbirds. When this is done and frankly I hope it's soon I want to get it critted properly.
I'm actually considering paying someone to do it professionally, but of course it's going to have to be the very best it can be. No loose ends or dodgy formatting! I literally will be so happy to finally finish this freaking draft, you have no idea. I also want to finish my fics and rejig 'Troubadour' as it's a bit of a mess. I wish I didn't have to rush to try and finish it.
I also need to check the Scrivener site to find out if the Windows release is ready yet. I want to use my Nano discount, seeing as I earned it.

No fic recs at the moment. I feel like I haven't read any for ages.I just haven't got the time to cacth up but I will soon, I promise. I don't have any holiday from work until late May because of Easter and the whole Royal Wedding hooha.
Somehow I've got to fit in five weeks because they've decided to do it that way instead of giving us lieu days. In which case I think they should reinstate double time on bank holidays. There is absolute no incentive to do them now expect for the fact you get rota'd for the buggers and you just have to suck it up.

One of my workmates is getting married so I might make an appearance at the reception. It's been a long time since I went to a social event. I was asking about the wedding list, but he couldn't even remember what site it was on. I really have no idea what to get seeing as I'm more familiar with him, since I work with him. Kind of tricky, but I feel obligated to do something since I'm going to the reception. It's in Quainton, which is going to be interesting to get to.

Edit: I don't know if I mentioned the Armie Hammer comm, but there is one.

armie_hammer

Now we just need some action up in here, rather than just on Tumblr. I also found this in the Wall Street Journal Magazine A Lighter Shade of Pale - Armie Hammer models in WSJ magazine

Woke up to find out about the earthquake in the Pacific Rim. Bloody hell, this year has already been such a terrible one, full of upheaval across the globe. It's only a matter of time before it comes here. All I feel I can do is donate to charities and hope that my little contribution can make a difference, however slight.

I need to make a decision re a possible migration to Projection. I'd never really imagined myself as a projectionist and it would only be part time, meaning I would still be working downstairs for a bit of the time. However I do need a change and it's about time I learnt some new skills job-wise. I think I am just scared of failing but I can't allow myself to be stuck in the same job for 5+ years. It would a major change to my routine and my life but it might be a bit more money. Not much, but a bit.

I would like to sort out this draft of 'Songbirds' Ideally I wanted to the book to be 90k-100k but with the amount of plot I still have to tackle I'm not sure that it's going to work out. I did come out with some good bits for some productions and flashbacks so you understand the characters a bit better.

I really do need to get this finished before I tackle the sequel for novel_bigbang this year. I really want to do this and then Nano if possible. If I can manage to get it sorted perhaps I could submit it to Avon Romance Impulse which is a new mostly e-book line. As long as I can boost the Flora/Rob romance it might just work. I don't know how they'll feel about Tom though. I hope it wouldn't be a major issue. Once I've finished I need to start submitting, but I really need some proper readers first. I worry about whether I am ready to submit work. Maybe I'm not.

I thought I'd post a few excerpt from what I have been writing at the moment, just to whet your appetite a little. This first bit is from the sequence where Tom finds out he has been outed by the press. He finds out in a rather traumatic way, bless him.

( Tom is outed by the Press )

This excerpt is when Rosanna decides to pursue Rob and Flora's reaction to that.
( Rosanna schemes to get Rob )

Comments are welcome. Let me know what you think!

We're still waiting for my sister and Amber to turn up from Swindon. Surely this has to be the worst day to travel in the year. Mostly because I imagine none of the buses or trains are working. Put it this way: She was meant to be arriving sometimes around 1.30. It is now 6.14. Personally I'm not sure that I would have bothered, but that's me.

I asked Mum how she was. I think she kind of had the hump that I didn't go down at midnight, but to be honest when I'm in a mood, it's best I keep away from people. There's no point in dragging everyone down with my epic bad mood, is there?

Luckily I have managed to reach 60k. Considering I wrote 10k in the last two days of Nano that has got to be the slowest 10k ever written. I still have to write a crit for someone of their Nano in response so I'd better get on with it. Maybe tonight if I manage to get this Rosanna and Rob sequence done.

I have to thank teaparty_alice and ecosopher for kind of talking me down from a ledge writing wise with regard to the excerpts from 'Songbirds'. I think I was just getting myself into a funk because of the sheer scale of the edits I was faced with. I have to bear in mind this was only one readers opinion and there were some positive things that she said. I just was exasperated by some of the things she picked up on.

EDIT: the prodigals have arrived so I have to disappear and serve up dinner. So much for family meals. I really wanted to get as much done during the three day I have ( the equivalent of my Christmas break.) It's a bit of a joke work-wise to be honest. I also need to fix my door when I get the chance and sort out a new card. How annoying. I will be raging if I find it after all this, I really will!

I have also realised I need to sort out a proper outline/ treatment for 'Songbirds'. Perhaps if I had one of those I would be having the problems that I currently am having. I think I did OK, bearing in mind that I started late and still laboured to meet the target.

I was nosing round the Stats section of my journal and it's actually very interesting. I suppose I assume that the only person who reads this journal is me, with the occasional visitor, but that is not the case at all.

I did it! Despite the worst day, where I had to spend hours in Casualty waiting for the doctor to see my Mum because she needed a blood transfusion I managed to get Validated and sorted for 50k. I proved to myself I could do it! Even under the most challenging of circumstances.

I think next year I definitely need to plan more and not leave til 5 days in to come up with an idea. That was just asking for trouble. Leaving it til the last minute to validate was pretty stressy as well. Won't do that again!

I really want to do 100k next year. One epic fanfic and an original. That would be good!

50029 / 50000 words. 100% done!

Check out the cover of Songbirds! Simple and effective I think. I will be doing a fanmix later if I manage to reach my target of 20,000 words.



Current Progress:

16051 / 50000 words. 32% done!

So far, things are going uber slowly. I'm kind of frustrated with Scrivener which worked fine until today and now refuses to save. This mean I can't seem to get any flow going. If things don't improve I'm going to have to transfer back to Word. I hope it's just a beta glitch as I really like the software and find it useful. I would be very disappointed to abandon it.

I really do need to work on my synopsis. Make sure I have enough scenes to fill this out. I don't really want this to be a long novel. I think 75-80k would be ideal and that's what I'm aiming for.

11661 / 50000 words. 23% done!

What I'm going to do is include a snippet and I would really appreciate a couple of f-list opinions? Pretty please? I just want to know that I'm on the right track. It's like I know what I want the story to be, since it is based on the Sutherland/Callas story. I have changed things significantly though and developed the characters to be different. I didn't just whack the two characters into an RPS story. Tom and Rob are facets of Ricky and there isn't really an equivalent of Pierre. Anyway here's the excerpt.

( Come inside! )

I don't know how I feel about this, to be honest.

Anyway what else is going on. I have to leave home in about an hour because I have to go hand out leaflets at work again. I need to do a mini-review of that random 'La Faniciulla del West' production I watched, and I really want to hit at least 15k tonight, and 20k by tomorrow to get myself back on track.I also need to find that Russell Braddon bio of Joan since I will probably be using that as some kind of source.