Catch Up

Sunday, April 05, 2009

Almost lost the latest version of the wip last night. After working through the two critiques I've gotten back so far, I went to save the document at around 12am and got an error message. Windows wanted to save it under that weird "W~temp" attribution. Thank goodness I didn't! I copied the whole wip into a new doc and saved that as a backup, then followed the windows prompt.

No surprise that when I re-opened WORD the 'w~' doc had disappeared. But the back up was still there.

As for the crits themselves, the line edits were mostly about words that should be hyphenated and words that shouldn't. I seemed to have gotten over my misuse of semi-colons. *heh*.

But both critiques had a couple of concerns in common re the heroine, and various other concerns, separately. What I find interesting, is, this is Nate's story. So much so that the heroine was just a cipher on the page in the earliest drafts. She was just there reacting to things around her, while the hero’s issues, pain, and back-story were right there on the page. Yet, I flesh her out a bit, with a little back-story and both critiques wanted to see her personal issues resolved in a much more decisive way on the page. I'm a hero-centric reader, but I'm beginning to suspect I might be a heroine centric writer. The reaction to Felicity made sense, it's her story in Felicity Stripped Bare, but it's interesting to see almost the same reaction (albeit from 2 beta readers) to Tessa, when it's Nate's story.

Which brings me to story 2. I keep thinking of it as the hero's book, but as I flesh out back stories in my mind, I think the heroine will be the one readers respond to more strongly. Guess that means I need actively think about making my heroes more appealing on page. Not that they're unappealing, but I'd like to write the type of hero that becomes a reader favourite.

On today's To-Do List:

1. The arborist will be by in an hour or so to give me an estimate on some trees that need trimming in the backyard, particularly the 50yr Elm with branches overhanging my roof and the neighbour's. Done!

2. I brought files home from work, got to get cracking on them because I'm handing over so of my work tomorrow, so I can start training on some new projects (with someone I totally dislike. Where are my stress tabs? :-/ ) Done!

3. Tomorrow is the boy's 21st birthday. =:-O I can not believe I have a 21yr old! Having him at 12ys old was so worth it. Joking! I was 13. JOKING!!! Anywho, I still have one other present to buy and a card, and a chocolate cake to procure. (Cause, hell no, I don’t have the time or energy to bake one.)

4. Didn't get out yesterday, the weather outside sucked and I wasn't feeling great, but today going to run out and do some grocery shopping, and return books to the library.Done!

5. Get the synopsis done for the wip.Done!

6. Start on the outline for book 2.

7. Wash/condition my hair (Done!) and do some laundry and a bit of tidying up.

8. Do a crit for someone!Done!

To that end, going to check my email (Done!) then get started on the list.
Blog Widget by LinkWithin

10 comments:

vanessa jaye said...

Drat! The arborist just came and went. I had another arborist in a couple of weeks ago and he quote me what I thought was a pretty good price (never had a tree professionally trimmed before, and I've been hearing horror stories). But that guy is a friend of a friend and works for the city trimming trees, and does this on the side. Anywho, a oouple of days later a coworker who'd also been looking for an arborist told me she found someone. A week later she gave him a A+ review and gave me his number (he charged her/hubby $500 cash to trim/cut back 4 trees. My guy was charging me $400. I'd hope he'd be a little cheaper than my guy, but he just quoted me $650! The only problem with the first guy is, he wouldn't give me a firm date, only that he'd schedule me in for this month. I haven't heard from him yet so I'll give him a call next week about the timing. :-/

raine said...

Happy Birthday to "the boy"!
It's a great age. :)

I seemed to have gotten over my misuse of semi-colons. *heh*.

Um...we'll talk. :D

vanessa jaye said...

I seemed to have gotten over my misuse of semi-colons. *heh*.

Um...we'll talk. :D


Eeep! ::resists urge to open up wip again::

azteclady said...

Wow! At those prices, I would consider getting out my chainsaw and indulging on a bit of DIY.

But then, I'm reckless and pay for it later :grin:


On the kidlet: my eldest turns 21 in July, and I can't believe that 6' tall athletic looking man is my very own baby. Just... can't!

vanessa jaye said...

Aztec, the limbs that need cutting are at least 10' ft above the roof, but the branches have cascaded down and almost brushing the roof. The problem is those branches lifting the shingles off the roof, or a branch crashing down onto the roof. :-P

If it was a smaller tree, and further away from the house/deck, then, yeah, renting a powersaw from Home Depot for some DIY would be in the cards.

vanessa jaye said...

Rough draft of synopsis is done! Now off to the library and grocery store.

I suspect the synopsis stinketh mucheth, but the dones are down.

I'm just motoring through this To-do list today. :-)

raine said...

Btw VJ, I know you're in Canada, but in some places here in the states, the electric/power companies offer discounts on trimming/cutting down large branches/trees. They have to do it in their line of work anyway, so they have the equipment & trained personnel.
It may not apply where you live, but might be worth checking out...

vanessa jaye said...

They'll only do it if the tree is on public property. Then they'll come out and trim/cut the tree for free.

Did I mention that if you cut (not prune, but cut) a tree down without a city issued license, you could be find up to $3K?

My coworker who recommended the guy who showed up today, had a tree on *her* property that was growing up into the hydro lines. She called them to see if they'd come out and cut/trim the tree. They said, nope. The tree was on her property and her responsibility. They also said that if the tree did damage the hydro line, she'd be liable. :-P

vanessa jaye said...

Oh, I didn't quite answer you suggestion, did I? The power company only does trimming for themselves/in conjunction to their work. No deals for the public. Ditto the re the city--they don't even have a directory or list of recommended aborists. You're on your own as long as it's private property.

I'm actually not too upset about the price, I thought it would be closer to $2K, so finding out it's well below $1K is a relief (besiedes, compared to the big eff-up i did by not filling out some paperwork correctly and therefore screwing myself in the butt sans vaseline when it came to a tax break for first time home buyers and therefore being reasses a couple of months ago to the tune of $4K.... this just isn't a big deal. :-P )

vanessa jaye said...

I know i put 'done' beside tackling the files from home, but I'm just about to start them now at 9pm. I just finished the crit. That's it for me for tonight. Not surprising, I once again haven't made a move on the outline for the next book. :-/ At least I keep thinking about it, so it's still progressing that way.

Related Posts with Thumbnails
 

2008 Vanessa Jaye | All Rights Reserved | Design by Katrina Glover | Back to top

You are visitor number:

web stats