What’s up Wednesday: Nano’s Eve

What’s Up Wednesday is the weekly blogfest to share the answers to a few simple questions…

What I’m reading:

Finished ‘Engaging the Enemy’, still listing to audio-books for “Heechee Rendezvous” and “The Ringworld Throne.” Read a little more of ‘Jumper Cable’ in the Kindle app on my iPhone, and gone back to reading some magazine stories; I finally finished off the October/November issue of Asimov’s magazine, and just this afternoon I started a fun serial from the latest issue of Analog: “Lockstep!”

What I’m writing:

Well, I’m trying to finish one more round of revision on “Return to Civilization”; the critters.org feedback has been very encouraging, so hopefully I’ll be able to submit it somewhere tomorrow evening! I’ve also done some more discovery work on my new Nano idea, which I’ve tentatively named “Measuring alien love on a kitchen scale” 🙂

What inspires me right now:

Nanowrimo is only days away! It looks like we’re going to have a crapload of local write-ins this year.

Also the heroic Agents of SHIELD; very inspiring!

What else I’ve been up to:

Got my Hipster PDAs put together in time for the Wrimo Kick-off party, and getting ready for a Doctor Who convention that was inconveniently scheduled for the first three days of Nanowrimo. Still trying to keep up with Team Ambitious critiques; this round I only have one story to critique, so that’s a bit of a relief.

What about you? Click here to join the hop or check in with some other great writers.

What’s up Wednesday: This Space for Rent

Well, it’s Wednesday, and I’ve been busy posting nano spotlights and eight-sentence snippets on the blog all week, so what else is going on in the life of Kelworth, you may ask? What’s Up Wednesday is the weekly blogfest that gets you the answers!

What I’m reading:

Still in the middle of the audio-book version of “Heechee Rendezvous” on my iPhone, and loving the science fiction business dealing of it. Started another library ebook on my new tablet, “Engaging the Enemy” by Elizabeth Moon, number three in the great Vatta’s War series. Also did some shuffling of ebooks, trying to get things organized so that all of my pocketable gadgets have one good book (or a few good books) that I haven’t already read cued up and ready to go, so that I don’t need to stare at the library list and go ‘Duh…’ if I’ve got my Palm TX and a few minutes to read on it. In connection with this, I’ve started reading “Jumper Cable”, out of the epic Xanth romps.

What I’m writing:

Not much. Finishing Steampunk Roswell 51 took some of my creative steam. I did get some good revision done on “Return to Civilization”; the new draft is out to the critters.org readers today, so hopefully I’ll be getting some good feedback on it. Also done a little prep-work for a new Nano idea involving an alien love triangle, and an Earthling city on an alien planet facing a threat of eviction.

What inspires me right now:

Wrimo gatherings! There were actually four of us at the Evensies write-in this weekend, and RSVPs are coming in for the Hamilton kick-off party next Sunday. Also, ‘Castle’ playing around with the notion of time travel. 🙂

What else I’ve been up to:

Trying to find time to practice drawing, like copying a preacher in perspective after Charles White. Doing critiques for Team Ambitious. Still reading slushpile for James Gunn’s Ad Astra. Working on ML stuff, like rounding up Nano swag I can give away as prizes, and delving into the ancient lore of assembling hipster PDAs.

What about you? Click here to join the hop or check in with some other great writers.

Nano season is kicking off…

In my time zone it’s less than 27 hours until NaNoWriMo begins, and the excitement is definitely building. I had a great time at the Hamilton Kick-off party Sunday afternoon, and everybody seems to think I did well with my first official function as a Nano ML. The Hamilton Nano chat room has been registered, and I have three write-ins to go to in the next few days – Thursday evening, Friday late afternoon, and Sunday early afternoon. 🙂

My novel idea is coming together a bit more – it’s not the most planning I’ve ever done, but then, I think I do better and have more fun with Nano when I edge towards the pantsing side instead of plotting. I think I know where I’m going to start on Thursday morning, and that’s the important thing.

And my to-do list for October is nearly finished. It looks like one thing will end up partially unfinished; the novel critique I signed up for with critters.org  I finished reading the book, but I’ve still got over a hundred notes I took on my Kindle that I want to review and add as notes in MS word, and that just takes more free time than I think I’ve got. I want to give the author a chapter-by-chapter critique, though, and let her know that I’ll work on the line notes when I can, Nano permitting. I still need to work on that this evening.

And I’ve got a lot done in October, from ML preparation to a new short story, with plenty of ‘Goal, Motivation, Conflict’ and Holly Lisle revision in there too. I even tried a little sketching – more about that possibly much later. See you in NaNoLand!

Approximately 2 and a half hours to Script Frenzy…

Script Frenzy index

And I’m feeling really ready and excited!

First – the ‘after’ shot of my bulletin cork board, since last week:

Securely mounted on my bedroom wall, with 41 scene cards indicating setting, overall beat, shift in emotional tone, and a vague notion of a conflict. I’m feeling very ready, like the plan is even more together than it was for Nanowrimo last November.