Of Course I'm Writing!

And we can all pretend like I'm not avoiding editing, for just a few minutes, yes? Ok then.

For the past two months, I've buckled down on finishing my current draft. I'm pleased to say the end is near.

At least for this draft.

What, you think a book is done in only 2-3 drafts? Oh, no, gentle reader, it is not. A book takes as many drafts as you, your agent, the publisher, and the vampire hamsters chasing you demand.

I'll have this draft finished in just over a week. Then it's out to a friend of mine to read for story inconsistencies.

Then, the next round of editing - fixing any story errors (which shouldn't have any, I hope), and editing for word usage. That should take about another month, and if I'm really lucky, less.

Then agent hunting, which will culminate in more edits.

If/when the book sells, more edits.

Then the vampire hamsters demand their share of the plot. Let's just say there are a lot of steps.

Funny Australianisms

When you live in a culture different from what you grew up in, it's not big things you realize are different, but subtle differences which come up and bang you on the face, leaving an expression that generally leaves the natives shaking their heads.

In my case, I find the differences to be generally amusing.

For example, living here is like living three years in the past. Technology isn't cutting-edge. The Kindle debuted in August and it was a Big Deal. Most Australians will never know what the white, first gen ones were like, because the ones being advertised are the second gen. And supposedly the current, third gen Kindles are here, but I haven't seen them, so my source may be misinformed.

I bought the new Kindle for cheaper than buying here would cost me, even with shipping.

Another funny thing - watching TV shows which are a season or two behind the US. Now to be fair, many are current (such as Big Bang Theory), but the ones which are a season behind are amusing. I feel like a time traveler who can't tell her culture the secrets of the future. 

Experiencing November as summer is unsettling, especially since the Christmas decorations are up. Tinsel everywhere, and no arguing about the propriety of baby Jesus on public buildings.

Sometimes the differences are quite annoying, such as paying out the nose for internet. Blazing fast speed here is ADSL2, which reaches a whopping 1.2meg download speed.

*twirls finger*

At some point, I'm going to write a post about actual Australianisms, which is the slang used here, so stay tuned.

Kindle, NoooOOoooOOOoo!

As of two days ago, my Kindle hath broken.

It was an accident, and although I was lucky enough to receive it as a gift (and didn't have to pay for it), I'm wondering if getting the new one, which'll be so much smaller, will be weird, as I'm now used to having a 9-inch screen to read off of rather than 6 inch. I'm going to head down to Dick Smith's at the end of the week to pick up a new one. It's my reward for finishing all of my new scenes, and since I have one new scene left to write, and then it's rewrite time.

I'm so excited, out of all of my book left, I've got about 8 scenes I need to do some fiddling with, then I'll be printing out my book to do a full pass at it. Yay!

Agent hunting commences at the end of this month. I refuse to be late to that deadline.

It's funny how once something becomes serious to you, how willing you can be to make it work. And build a routine. It's been a long, hard road to get back to a place where I'm ok sitting down and writing every day, due to so many personal issues coming to fruition at once, but I'm so glad I'm here.

In unrelated news, holy heck it's getting hot here. I've never had a warm, let alone hot Christmas, so this is going to be one weird set of holidays for me. In some ways, my brain doesn't fully comprehend that I should be awaiting Thanksgiving. Turkey day isn't celebrated in Australia - they don't even have their own version, but the plethora of other parties they have makes up for it.

Writing Successes and Goals

Last week was filled with many writing successes as I pounded out a hefty 10k new words for my novel. I'm working to finish the major edits, which includes adding a few scenes, before the end of the month.

Currently, I'm mostly on schedule. Flogs will ensue if I go off. :)