Quote of the Moment

"What's Past Is Prologue." - William Shakespeare

Sunday, October 24, 2004

Oops...almost forgot today

Yes, I almost forgot to write a blog post this week. I'm so bad.

Well, I'm having issues with blogger, of course. Someone decided to spam my blog by putting a comment on one of my posts (two posts before this one) advertising a free tv. So, I should be able to delete the comment, right? For some reason the garbage can icons are not showing up for me, so I can't delete the post. The techs at blogger say it should show up when I'm logged in. But it doesn't. See my problem? Evil spammers.

In writing news, I have to get 18,000 words revised between now and the end of the day Thursday. I've procrastinated too much, and I'm all down about how little description I have even after the first revision (on what I've revised so far at least). This is going to be an interesting week. I also have to plan and decorate for my Halloween party on Saturday, bake, clean, write a reading journal and self-assessment, and go to a crappy interview (for a job I really don't want). No sleep, that's the key.

I will be undertaking NaNoWriMo in November (I think I might have mentioned that before). I know blogger is advertising NaNoBlogMo, but I'm not about to post an entire novel for all the public to see. Does blogger want to encourage people to lose their first published rights so no publisher would be willing to publish the novels? Anyway, I intend to do a daily update on this blog. It'll include my word count, my frustrations, and anything else I deem worthy. I figure, if I have to post here everyday it'll force me to write, since I won't want to post "I did diddly squat." I'll be working on the sequel to the novel I'm currently revising. I really need to know what the core plot of that one is going to be. I know where I want to be by the end of the third novel, but each novel needs its own story arc (unlike Laurell K. Hamilton's last Merry Gentry book).

Okay, I have other things to do. Maybe I can get 2,000 words revised before I go to bed (if I stay up until 3am...). Happy writing all!

Sunday, October 17, 2004

New Website Is Up and Running!

I know, I just posted a blog update yesterday. Didn't I tell you I was impatient to put my new website up? I decided to not wait for the metadata and just add it in when I get it. It might not even do me much good anyway. Who knows.

Anyhow, click on the link to go to the new website: Alexa Grave's Writing Corner. I'm really proud of myself for learning style sheets and creating the website from scratch. Let me know what you think of it (layout and content). Any feedback is welcome. Oh, and I still have a lot of content to add. Most of the pages you click on, you'll get a wonderful excuse saying I still need to add to that page. Sorry - this is the result of my impatience.

The old website is still up, and I know I need to take it down, or at least make it only one page with links to the new site and such. I'll get around to it.

You know, when I was writing the Bio for my website, I realized something. My eleven-year-old goldfish is only a couple months older than when I started writing fantasy. Could it be that it's the goldfish all along that has some crazy power to drive me to write? Needless to say, I'm going to bawl when that fish dies - he's been with me through so much (poor little thing has a cataract over one eye too).

Okay, update over. :p

Saturday, October 16, 2004

Has it been a week already?

This week went way too fast. I'm not even sure where most of it went. Oh, yeah, at least a good chunk of it was devoured by Evercrack (um...I mean Everquest).

I had the most difficult time revising when I sat down to do it earlier this week, and was only able to accomplish 250 words in an hour and a half. Don't ask why - or if you might know why, please tell me. ;) Did about another 500 the next day to at least finish off the scene, and I think the scene ended well at least. I'm learning more and more how Bastian works - I thought he was going to be too stubborn to agree to something (that he agreed to much quicker in the rough draft when I didn't know how much of an ass - and I mean unmoving donkey - he really was), but Tessa baited him right, which is one of the things she's good at doing. Of course she'll make a good High Priestess, she's a manipulative little bitch. *evil grins*

The next scene is a longer one (at least in my terms), and the next scene/chapter is even longer than that. Maybe that's why I'm procrastinating. I know my butt will have to be glued to the couch and my laptop soldered to my lap for a long while, since I hate stopping in the middle of the scene; if I do, I lose my train of thought and next time I sit down to revise, I suck up lots of time by re-reading the stuff through.

Oh, look at all that commentary above. And I thought I'd have nothing to say when I finally decided I needed to do a blog entry.

I haven't submitted any of my stories that I received rejections back for. I'm thinking some might need another revision or two. I might just break down and revise "Cold...Oh So Cold" again, even though I said I wouldn't. Maybe just a tense change. Now to find the time to revise. I have a few other older stories that if I just had the time to revise them, they might actually be up to snuff to submit to places. I think I'm going to have to make a "This is what needs to be done" list for all my writings. Something to put on my website? Perhaps. Perhaps not (might just be too boring for most people - not everybody is as list-oriented as I am).

Oh, yes, there hasn't been much progress on the website. I'm ready for it to go live once I get the metadata from my friend, but all the pages off the main page are currently awaiting content. I might work on some of that after this post. It would be fun to send the new site live on Halloween (also my wedding anniversary), but I don't think I can be that patient. I'm hoping it'll be up this week sometime. Here's hoping I can get the search engines to pick it up.

Okay, enough blather. I should be doing more important thing, like revising (and playing Everquest...I didn't say that, really). Happy writing!

Saturday, October 09, 2004

Tired, and more tired

I seem to be super tired lately. Maybe it's the change in whether. Who knows. I've of course been putzing around with things I shouldn't be putzing around with, instead of writing. I spent about 6 hours yesterday and a bunch more today (oh, it's after midnight, so that would be Thursday and Friday) working on my website. Sorry, no one else can see the changes yet since the site will be going up at sff.net, at least once the main page is done. I'm not even going to post it on geocities. But, I learned a bunch about style sheets. Which means, I now know how to putz with the blog look without having to arbitrarily change something and see what it does. :p That reminds me, I need to change around some fonts and colors... Oh no, more stuff I shouldn't be doing.

In way of writing, I started a short story, temporarily entitled "The Purging." It's actually set in the world of my current novel in progress. It takes place in the past, one of the turning points in Leera's history, when the first Witch Hunter beheaded a Witch for the first time, and the sun turned as red as blood. ;) The new quote in the scrolling marquee is my first sentence of the story.

I just received my contributor's copy of The Drabbler (and yes, the story is under my pseudonym), and I'm tempted to frame my dollar. :p Also received another rejection from F&SF, but this time it was on a Monday, not a Saturday (thank the Goddess for small favors).

That's about all that's going on with me. I need to revise more. This term went so quickly. My unemployment is going to run out way too soon. Eek! Anyway, happy writing!

Saturday, October 02, 2004

The Drabbler

Hey, all! Well, I survived another deadline for school, and I'm eager to plow ahead with the revising, if I didn't have so many other damn things on my list to do. *grumbles* It's really sad that I actually kind of want to revise, and then I can't find the time (it's those last 3 books I have to read before my final deadline this term).

Anyway, that's not what's important. My story "Jasmine, Sage, Lavender, and..." is out in The Drabbler through Sam's Dot Publishing. Buy It Here! I'm not sure if they published it under my pseudonym or not (I'll know once I get my contributor's copy), since they sent me the contract last minute. *sigh* Anyway, it's only $5 with the shipping, if you're interested.

In other news, I'll be moving my website to the sff.net servers. I'm sick of Geocities. I don't know when the move will happen, but it won't be until I figure out how to redesign my website. This won't effect my blog at all. That's staying where it is. And I'll probably still keep the Geocities website up with the link to my new website and a link to my blog.

That's all for this week. I have cleaning that needs to get done, and revising that says, forget about the cleaning. Happy reading and writing all!