(no subject)

[cleolinda]

Actually Getting Off My Ass and Working: All right. I'm horribly behind on a self-imposed deadline to have the last two chapters of Black Ribbon ready by Monday so that I can send the whole thing off to my agent.

(Although... technically, aren't I actually getting back on my ass, if working involves sitting in a chair?)

"If they're at all good," she said of Black Ribbon and the Fairwood Files chapters, "we will sell them." Really, she hasn't read any of my original fiction yet, unless she started perusing my Fiction Press portfolio (which I doubt), so she's basically signed me up on the basis of "Troy in Fifteen Minutes," because she is a brave, braaaaave woman.

My point is, I gots to finish this shit. I'm getting really, really nervous about it, though--not so much about what she thinks, because she's trained to spot rough diamonds; if it needs a lot more work, that won't necessarily bother her. I'm more anxious about... I don't know. I think I've fallen out of the story a bit, and I need to climb back in. This entails going back and reading it from page one, through the first three chapters, and... I can tell I've fallen out of it, because I'm afraid to read it again. I've got enough outside perspective now that I'm afraid of what I'm going to find. There were a lot of problems or nitpicks I glossed over and moved past because I was trying to crank the story out in a hurry, just to say that it was done, because that's not how I usually work, and I wanted to do things differently this time. And then I slipped and fell back into my usual pattern, which is to let things sit and ferment and not get finished. Grrr.



Random thoughts:

You know, those of us who love bad '80s music have no room to complain about anything, really, but you know your grammar obsession has gone too far when it really gets on your nerves that the chorus to "Hungry Eyes" is "I feel the magic between you and I," which is not only WRONG WRONG WRONG, but doesn't even rhyme with "eyes" anyway.

I have a lot of Galadriel icons now. I have some I haven't even put up yet. I don't know. People at JournalFen were telling me that they totally associate me with Evil Eye Galadriel, and I decided to get myself a new range of Galadriel expressions. Which is great on JournalFen, but here on LJ, it's seriously starting to eat into my icon space.



Fun stuff:

[Error: Irreparable invalid markup ('<a [...] apples"">') in entry. Owner must fix manually. Raw contents below.]

<p><b>Actually Getting Off My Ass and Working:</b> All right. I'm horribly behind on a self-imposed deadline to have the last two chapters of Black Ribbon ready by Monday so that I can send the whole thing off to my agent.

(Although... technically, aren't I actually getting back <i>on</i> my ass, if working involves sitting in a chair?)

"If they're <i>at all</i> good," she said of Black Ribbon and the Fairwood Files chapters, "we <i>will</i> sell them." Really, she hasn't read any of my original fiction yet, unless she started perusing my Fiction Press portfolio (which I doubt), so she's basically signed me up on the basis of "Troy in Fifteen Minutes," because she is a brave, braaaaave woman.

My point is, I gots to finish this shit. I'm getting really, really nervous about it, though--not so much about what she thinks, because she's trained to spot rough diamonds; if it needs a lot more work, that won't necessarily bother her. I'm more anxious about... I don't know. I think I've fallen out of the story a bit, and I need to climb back in. This entails going back and reading it from page one, through the first three chapters, and... I can tell I've fallen out of it, because I'm afraid to read it again. I've got enough outside perspective now that I'm afraid of what I'm going to find. There were a lot of problems or nitpicks I glossed over and moved past because I was trying to crank the story out in a hurry, just to say that it was <i>done,</i> because that's not how I usually work, and I wanted to do things differently this time. And then I slipped and fell back into my usual pattern, which is to let things sit and ferment and not get finished. Grrr.



<b>Random thoughts:</b>

You know, those of us who love bad '80s music have no room to complain about anything, really, but you know your grammar obsession has gone too far when it really gets on your nerves that the chorus to "Hungry Eyes" is "I feel the magic <i>between you and I</i>," which is not only WRONG WRONG WRONG, but doesn't even rhyme with "eyes" anyway.

I have a lot of Galadriel icons now. I have some I haven't even put up yet. I don't know. People at JournalFen were telling me that they totally associate me with Evil Eye Galadriel, and I decided to get myself a new range of Galadriel expressions. Which is great on JournalFen, but here on LJ, it's seriously starting to eat into my icon space.



<b>Fun stuff:</b>

<a href="http://www.holycow.com/dreaming/stories/snow.html" title=""Snow, Glass, Apples"" target="_blank">Holy shit, Unca Neil, this is fucked up!</a>

<a href="http://www.inpassing.org/" target="_blank">I love this blog.</a> Other recommendations from the FT boards: <a href="http://www.whatsbetter.com/" target="_blank">What's Better?</a> (Top Ten: "Love, Sex, A Sense of Humor, Free Money, Making Out, The Best Thing You Can Imagine, Unlimited Wealth, Getting a Raise, Calvin & Hobbes, Romance") and <a href="http://www.tournamentofstuff.com/" target="_blank">Tournament of Stuff</a>, where owls are pitted against French onion soup and Sisyphus goes up against cat litter. I don't know.

Also: I am stuck on level two--the cherry level--of <a href="http://www.floweringnose.com" target="_blank">The Flowering Nose</a>. Dammit.<p>

Comments

[pride4u2.livejournal.com]

I'm stuck there, too! I can't find any rocks to give to the bridgekeeper dude.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Take the pickaxe and go dig in the quarry--hit "x" to dig. That's where the rocks are. My problem is that I've found all the stuff and picked all the flowers and killed all the ladybugs and I *still* don't know what to do. (Birthday cake?)

[mechamummy.livejournal.com]

I'm having the same problem. The giant rock dude is all like "the great oak would love a donut!" So I'm thinking I give him the donut and he gives me the cake or something, but where the heck is the great oak?

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Exactly. I figure the cake's on another level, but I can't get to any other level. GAHHH.

[kiena-tesedale.livejournal.com]

You have to go to the rock level, you can meet the oak there. And eventually, you have to go to the donut level, and possibly the pickax level, though I haven't found a need for that one yet. There are extra rocks in the 'rock collection' up and to the right. And you get another donut later on, so don't worry about trading it now. But absolutely every item will take you to a level, so the rock and donut and cake and everything will also bring you to a level. (BTW, I love that game. It's great!)

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

But I keep putting things on the X by the sunflower and it won't take me anywhere! How do I make it let me go to the rock level?? *cries*

[kiena-tesedale.livejournal.com]

Did you head back up to the pyramids? They're up in the upper left hand corner. The sunflower is down in the lower(ish) right. After you put something on the x, you have to walk back up to the pyramids and enter the floating light thingy. You'll know it when you see it. :) This gives you a chance to pick something else up before you switch levels. If it's still not working, you might want to reload the game - it might be buggy.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Dude... I knew about the pyramid thing. No, really, I did. *headdesk*

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Okay, I just died so hard on the hell level. I heard something about cooling the fires--you know how to do that?