Black Candy

PETERMBALL Journal , , , , ,

I’m working late at the dayjob today, having started late under the assumption that driving back from the Sunshine Coast would be a foolhardy undertaking this morning. I’ve had to much good food and not enough sleep, and I’m suffering from the vague ick that comes from sleeping in an overly air-conditioned room.

When I got to work I was told about the earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand. Every couple of minutes someone plays a youtube clip of the events, or downloads a snippet of news from the internet, or simply sees something new on twitter. Some people have family over there, others were just planning to head over to NZ for a holiday in the near future.

I’ve never been to Christchurch, but I hear it’s nice. I’m starting to suspect that  nature has  it in for the whole southern hemisphere of the planet at the moment.

If you have the resources to do so, it may be a good time to consider donating to the New Zealand Red Cross and similar organizations.

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In happier news, I was paid for a story today. There is nothing like receiving payment for stuff you’ve written to remind you that it really is the best job in the world.

This is important because tonight I’m going to go home, tired and cranky and my lungs filled with air-conditioner induced muck, and I’m going to try and do some more work on Flotsam, and some more work on the novel with the unwieldy title, and some more work on the Black Candy rewrite.

Odds are I’ll be fighting for every new word tonight and I’m going to dislike every minute of it, but the dislike is momentary, and will have more to do with me not yet having a grasp on the projects than anything else.

So, yes, coolest job in the world. I’ll remember this.

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While I was writing this the news came through that there are 65 confirmed dead in Christchurch. Parts of the cathedral and arts center suffered damage. Seriously, consider donating.

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Still reading Moby Dick. It’s still awesome.

3 Days ’til Worldcon

PETERMBALL Works in Progress , ,

And last night there was Write-club with the inimitable Angela Slatter and Ben Francisco, whereupon many words were written and we ate our body-weight in sugar. I was also mocked (albeit politely and deservedly) for my insane approach to rewriting, for I have real trouble letting go of a scene when I know that *something is dire and wrong*.

Victory was mine, however, for after five weeks of hammering my head against the brick wall I finally found the problem with the opening chapters of Black Candy. It’s involved much deleting and rewriting, but I suspect that this will be the final rewrite I do before launching into the (much easier to write) middle of the book.

In other news, I suspect updates will be scarce for the next two weeks (’cause, like, Worldcon, yo!). See everyone on the other side and all.

One day I’ll make things easy on myself…

PETERMBALL Works in Progress ,

Today I’m having a running conversation with my brain where I say “time to work now, buddy” and the brain says “dude, you’ve taken industrial strength antihistamines, why don’t you just sod off and let me sleep, yeah?” Fortunately I once spent three or four years living with a girlfriend who had cats, so I know exactly how well I can work while living on industrial strength antihistamines. The brain gets no free passes, there will be work.

The real problem, of course, has nothing to do with the brain-clouding chemicals that are currently allowing me to cohabitate with two felines without, you know, dying. No, the real problem is that rewriting the opening of Black Candyis hard, and that I’ve made a hash of it several times prior to this. Part of it is the world-building, since I’m trying to jam together a bunch of concepts that don’t quite fit together, and the rest is a familiar problem.

One of these days I will learn: not everything I write needs a tangled back-story. One day I may even introduce a character to someone they don’t know.