Athenaverse

Sunday, January 20th

#110: Finito

Music: The Stooges
Mood: excited
Last night, at 9:43 PM PST, I finished the edit that I have been working on for over a month. According to my calculations, I removed around 15,000 words, or 24% from the original manuscript. I'm sure I could edit it 5 more times and still not be satisfied, so like a film or a painting or any other piece of art, at some point you have to stop tweaking it and say you're done. And I am almost done. I have to put it into proper manuscript format, but that shouldn't take much time at all. In fact, my next day off is Tuesday, and I am going to complete it then. The early deadline for the Clarion West Workshop is February 1, so I have 10 days to get that ready to go. Did I mention how excited I am?

santo26 on 01.20.08 @ 12:57 PM PST [link]

Saturday, January 19th

#109: Oh It's On

Music: The Pixies
Mood: focused
Due to some shrewd negotiating with a co-worker, we both managed to get two days off in a row. This does not normally happen for me in my line of work. I usually get two non-consecutive days off a week, and getting a "weekend" happens once a month if I'm lucky.

When I got up yesterday, I buckled in and just went for it. All in all, I spent a little over 12 hours yesterday editing. I got up this morning and I'm still at it. I have two chapters to go. I'll let you know what happens.

santo26 on 01.19.08 @ 04:38 PM PST [link] [No Comments]

Wednesday, January 16th

#108: A Year

Music: Beastie Boys
Mood: proud
One year ago today, I sat down in front of my computer and began writing the first chaper of my manuscript. I had written the first chapter a bunch of times, but this was the first time I stuck with it and six months later, I had written a book. Very few things have given me the feeling that I got when I typed the last sentence. It was confirmation to myself that my decision to structure my life in order to pursue my artistic endeavors was totally right and that as long as I saw the book through to the end, things would change.

I wanted to finish this edit by today. That didn't happen, but I did edit today and have now edited 12 chapters out of 20, or 60% of the manuscript. I have edited 9 chapters in less than a month. I'm making time to edit and getting it done, and if I stay on this pace it will be done in a very short time. All that matters is that I am doing it right now.

I don't want to look at not finishing the edit by today as a failure. I want to celebrate the fact that I wrote a book this year, and this time next year, who knows? Maybe I'll be on Jay Leno promoting it.

santo26 on 01.16.08 @ 06:27 PM PST [link] [No Comments]

Friday, January 11th

#107: Plowing Ahead Like Mr. Plow

Music: Tarbox Ramblers

I edited yesterday and today, making a great deal of progress. On Wednesday, I did not edit, but I did go to the gym and did a bunch of chores. Optimally, I should be able to edit, exercise, and do my daily duties. If I write this in a few minutes and get in gear, I should be able to make it to the gym and do the errands I need to do before I go to work tonight. As "Bob"'ll tell ya, it's all about time control.

So far I have edited nine out of twenty chapters. Some of these chapters are wicked long, some are wicked short. Either way, that leaves me with eleven more chapters to edit in five days. It seems like a lot, but then again I seem to do better when I have structure and deadlines.

santo26 on 01.11.08 @ 05:19 PM PST [link] [No Comments]

Tuesday, January 8th

#106: The Day After

Music: Medeski, Martin & Wood
Mood: determined
After I posted yesterday, I edited for a couple of hours. Progress was made. During the editing session, however, I realized that it was January. I started the book last January 16th. Today is January 8th, 2008, so that gives me 8 days until the one year mark. This realization lit a fire under my ass. The thought of writing and editing my first book in a year is really satisfying.

I am also considering applying to the Clarion West Workshop, and the early date for submissions is February 1, so I need to stay on top of that. I am definitely attending Potlatch, a 3-day sci-fi writers event put on by the same folks who run Clarion West. There's no sense in going to a sci-fi writers convention if I don't have something for folks to read, eh? The amazing bit is that both Clarion West and Potlatch take place here in Seattle! There's a whole SF community that I have yet to tap into! Who've thought?

So for all these reasons and more, I'm going to move up my deadlines to January 16th. Stay tuned!

santo26 on 01.08.08 @ 03:40 PM PST [link] [No Comments]

Monday, January 7th

#105: It's Next Year

Music: Ghostface Killah
Mood: determined
Well, here we are in 2008. I am about to start editing, but before I begin, I wanted to procrastinate just a little bit more while I drink my coffee and get psyched up.

Now that the holidays are truly over, it seems like a good enough time to begin the New Year. I enjoyed my holidays; lots of OT at work with interludes of relaxation and contemplation. I am ready to embrace the new year and run headlong into the future. I have chosen to embrace the opportunity of the future, this new life that I have here in Seattle.

The book represents this future. The book is an idea that I have been actively writing about since 1999. I made some great steps but I did not have a plan or truly apply myself so nothing really got done. Then I made the decision to focus and write the book. I wrote the book. Now I have to finish editing it. Then I can get it published. The sooner I finish editing it the sooner it will be published.

I have to focus. Can it get any simpler than that?

santo26 on 01.07.08 @ 04:45 PM PST [link] [No Comments]

January 2008
S	M	T	W	T	F	S
		1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30	31