Whew!

Wow.

I think I wrote myself into a headache tonight.  *s*

I just finished chapter 11 of “Kiernan’s Curse.”  I’m sitting at around 34,000 words.  I did about six pages tonight.

I’m pretty pleased.  Especially considering my (lack of) progress yesterday.

One thing I know:  I need to research sword-fighting.  Not fencing.  Real rough and dirty sword-fighting.

The other night, the History Channel had a show on about swords, axes, and knives, and how each was used and made.  I wish I could have taped it.  Or that I could get a transcript of it.  I’ll have to look into that.

Filed under: writing

Name Changed

So now it is “Kiernan’s Curse.”

I actually like the way that sounds better than “Phillip’s Curse.”

You know how it is.  You’re working on something and it’s going pretty good.  Then you tweak it just a little bit and it’s like, “OK, now we can get down to business!”

That’s where I’m at.  Unfortunately, I have to do some more day-job stuff before I can get to writing the next couple scenes.

I also found a more appropriate spelling for “Ian”  (Phillip’s/Kiernan’s brother).  It is “Eoghan.”

A word of advice, people. 

When using the search & replace function in your word processing program (which is a godsend, in all honesty!), take the extra millisecond to click on the “More” button and tick off the “Find whole words only” box.

I didn’t do that.

“Rhiannon” became “RhEoghannon” and “physician” became “physicEoghan.”

Oops.

It was easy to fix using the same search & replace feature that created the problem in the first place.

True.  It wasn’t the feature that created the problem.  It was the user.  I suppose that was better than giving me an “ID10T” error.  *s*

Filed under: writing

Um, Oops?

I was doing a wee bit o’ research earlier today on names for another character when I hit on something a bit disconcerting.  BUT it was something I had thought of before just never looked into.

“Phillip” is not an Irish period name.  I either need to re-name him or move the story forward 1000-1500 years.

I’d rather rename him.  I’m deciding between Kearney, Kieran, or Kiernan.

“Kiernan” is getting my vote at the moment.

Filed under: writing

Phillip Update

This is going to be a very short post.  I’m tired and I have to get up early tomorrow to go work instead of sleeping in (I only get to do that on Saturdays) and going to the local writers’ group meeting.

In the past couple days, I’ve done about 12-15 pages on “Phillip’s Curse.”  I’ve started chapter 10 and have almost 30k words.

A couple things of note:
-Phillip is the jealous sort. 
-His closest friend isn’t really anything of the sort and he’s finding that out the hard way.

That’s all for now.  If tomorrow goes OK, I might post a little more on it.

Filed under: writing

Speaking UP

The more time goes by, the more I’m beginning to think I’m becoming more and more of a language/word usage snob.

My current pet peeve?  Up.

I see it and hear it a lot. 

Stand up. — How else are you going to stand?

Sit up. — OK, this one is actually acceptable.  You can’t do situps without the “up.”  But in context, sometimes the “up” is unnecessary.  “Sit up straight.”

Stir up.  — Do you actually stir down?  This one is increasingly popular with Sandra Lee on Semi-Homemade and Rachel Ray on 30 Minute Meals.  (I love Food Network, but these two have become so annoying to me that I don’t listen to/watch them much anymore.)  “Stir it up” is especially a favorite of Sandra Lee.  How about just “stir it?”  What’s so wrong with that?

Bake it up.  — Simply bake?

I know I’m harping on the subject, but it really burns me up.  (Yes, I did that entirely on purpose.

Yes, “up” is necessary sometimes.  But have you ever noticed how often it can be left out and you would never even miss it?  (Same with “that” but that would be a different post.)

I won’t bore you by going on any longer.  I just had to get this out of my system a little bit before I went ballistic the next time I hear it.

Filed under: writing

Website Headaches

Today — more specifically, this afternoon — I have been trying to work on a website for my jewelry.  The only thing I have accomplished is to make an already-bad headache worse.

It was so easy to set up my jenifernipps.com website with this host.  Why is it so infernally difficult to set up beadedjen.com??

I know, I know.  The only answer I’ll get on that is from tech support.  That is, supposing I send a request.

It’s just driving me nuts.  I know I’m smart enough to do this.  Heck, they have a freakin’ wizard that walks you through the process.  That doesn’t take a rocket scientist, friends.

I think I’m going to work on “Phillip’s Curse” some more and then try to tackle the website stuff again later.

Filed under: writing

For the Kudos File

I just had to pass this along.

A friend of mine in Florida read all of what I have so far.  E-mails like this first thing in the morning aren’t conducive to getting transcription done so I can write.  It’s more like, let’s do it the other way around today!  *s*

BTW, I’m at the middle of chapter 8 and at 24,750 words.

Sent: Monday, February 19, 2007 12:44 AM
Subject: [thewriterslife] RE: Phillip

For those of you who have not read up as far as Chapter 8 of Jen’s story, all I can say is nana nana nana. This is some great stuff. Who knew Miss Thing knew about things that go on in the bedrooms of castles. WHEW. Now I want more.  I found a couple of typos but other than that this is GREAT. Get her autograph now before she starts charging for it later. LOL
Mikey

Which makes me wonder….

What is the going rate for an autograph?  (Just kidding!)

Filed under: writing

Thinking…..

I’m about in the middle of chapter 8 with Phillip.  I’ve been going at a pretty good clip, not counting yesterday because I didn’t really get much done then but I did get some done, so that’s good.

The conference I’m going to in May gives you opportunities to have one-on-one meetings of about 5 minutes with an editor or agent.

There’s going to be an editor from Tor there.

That gives me two months to finish Phillip, write a synopsis, and get going on revisions. 

I wonder if I can have it done in time for an appointment that weekend.

Hmmmmm….

Filed under: writing

Time Is Tickin’ Away

I’m posting the ticker again. Whenever this falls off the page, I’m going to repost it.

I am beyond ready for this.  I’ve started getting some things together that I will need to take.  3 months should be plenty of time for that part of it.  *s*

Filed under: Uncategorized , WCDH residency

Slow Work-Week?

Geez louise!  I wish I had slow work weeks more often.  lol.

This morning I’ve already done 4 pages on Phillip.  I think that ends chapter 7.

There are so many areas where I need to do some research, but unless it’s absolutely vital and I can’t go any further until I do, I don’t do much at this point because I know I can get that done later as I go through and rewrite.

Wow.

I’m at 23,500 words now too.

Again, wow.

lol.

I’m kind of surprising myself here.

Filed under: writing