Day 116

Spoiler Alert! May contain planning-stage plot/character details or other spoilers!

05 Jul 2016

Contains affiliate links. So I wrote applications for the best jobs yesterday: librarian on the Isle of Skye, archives learning officer in Thurso (at the very northern tip of Scotland before you hit the islands) and museum officer in Inverness. Living the dream, kids! Fingers crossed :)

In other news, I switched a dating profile location to London (Because I’ll be there in two weeks anyways) and have been inundated. Now, at least 95% (possibly more) are useless contacts, a distraction, and potentially frightening, but still. At the very least, I should have some good recommendations for how to spend my time once I get there (as if I needed help filling time!!)

Again in other news, I now have all of seven beta readers, one of which is a real-life actual teenage girl!! How perfect!! So that’s great. Of course, immediate family are the only ones who’ve actually gotten back with feedback so far, which is both a little scary, and awesome (because I don’t want to look at it until the first draft rewrites are complete anyways). Just from the little bit that’s come out so far, it’s clear that there are lots of little things that need cleaning up, chief among them that my attempts at subtlety are coming across as just plain confusing (lol?), so second round rewrites are likely to be pretty involved (sweats).

Finished Diana Wynne Jones’ Fire and Hemlock last night. Wow. The story itself was not one of her most engaging, but the essay where she describes what she was doing in crafting it? Pardon me while I go hide in a corner. Yikes. Huge respect for that lady’s learning, planning, and insight. Mind. Blown.

It’s rainy today, which I like, but I’ve spent so many hours working my way up to working that I haven’t had a chance to get out in it, and as there are some errands I really ought to get to, I guess I better dive in and push through another batch of rewrites. Should finish up to ch40 today, but I may get bogged down by the level of rewrites, as I’m now at the point where I foolishly decided everything should be written in first person limited perspective. Oops. So that takes a little more clean-up and is likely to result in embarrassing results. Lol? Also considering pulling the Maria & Raveltu bits as well as the secondary Morristu, Serov & Angelique, Sam etc. bits. But the second Morristu scene establishes Serov as a more significant villain? And the first Maria bit sets up Haynfyv on his path… so unless I dispense with him entirely? Need to have a chat with beta readers about that…

Tuesday

Start time: 3:30 pm

Location: bed/bedroom

Drinking: Sontinh Táo Mèo with Elder Growth Bitters

Soundtrack: Citizens & Saints’ latest single Madness on repeat

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