Writer's...Something

I got an email on Thursday (I think) from the my contact, Kelly, over at the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. They need some notes lickety split, and she wanted to know if I could do them. I'm a tad swamped, but I don't usually say no to work, so I said sure. I need to write notes for two pieces. One of them is a five-minute work that was inspired by 9/11. Thanks to the interwebs, I had a chance to hear the piece, and I got some information and even some good quotes from the composer. The notes should be somewhere in the neighborhood of 400 words. Sounds simple, right? Sure. I should be able to do this standing on my head, but for some reason, I just can't get my brain to spit out the words in the right order. I wouldn't call it writer's block, but hell, if I could think of a clever name for what I'm dealing with right now, I'd probably be able to dash these notes off in a second. *sigh* *needs sleep*

Last night, J and I went out to dinner with some friends, one of whom we haven't seen in months. She lives in London, and was in town to give a paper at a conference. Anyhoo, after dinner, a few of us walked down to Starbucks and hung out. We were there for three hours, and in that time, I saw a number of folks sitting at tables, typing away on their laptops. Even though I was having an awesome time with my friends, I have to admit that I was a bit envious of these folks. Right now, a few hours typing in Starbucks (and not typing program notes or proposals or articles) sounds better than a beach vacation. Spring Break is coming up, and I keep telling myself just to hang on a bit until then, and then I'll take myself to Starbucks, fire up the new laptop and just type away until they run out of Tazo Refresh tea. Sounds better than Daytona or Cancun at this point.

Also, the revision of my novel is coming along slowly; I did some good work on it this week during a few stolen moments. (Thank you, Google Docs for being so awesome.) I was all ready to send two chapters to my sister, but I was reading the new stuff over and I realized I'd given the brother knowledge of something he's not supposed to know about yet. So now I have to go back and figure out whether I want him to know this thing at the beginning of chapter 9 (and if so, I have to work in the heart-breaking conversation in chapter 8 somewhere), or I have to delete that part of the new stuff and figure out if his motivation stays the same or if it has to change. *facepalm*

All right, I should get back to writing my notes. In conclusion, I will end with a list of things that are currently making me happy (in no particular order):

1. My fiancee
2. Oreo Cakesters (sugar=crack)
3. Torchwood
4. On Demand (so I can watch Torchwood)
5. yellow legal pads
6. Google Docs (if I weren't already engaged, I'd marry it)
7. wearing a thermal shirt under a t-shirt
8. beer
9. my godson
10. text messages

In the mood to revise

On the heels of my latest rejections, I've been thinking a lot about my book. It's called Notches, in case I never mentioned it. It's a dilly of a pickle of a book. I'm going to imagine that it will be a hard sell for any publisher because it's as graphic as the day is long, and contains many things that make people feel squicky, like teenage sex, drinking, and drug use. Meh. I think the thing that also has agents running for the hills is the non-traditional structure of the story. But this is something that I'm rethinking right now.

In the original version, Natasha gets knocked down a few pegs, and her life definitely changes, but things stay mostly on an even keel. But after really thinking about it, I think that Tash needs to lose everything. You know, in the way that protags lose everything: i.e. friends stop talking to them, jobs are lost, they are utterly alone in the universe, etc. And while I don't think Tash is going to lose her job at the ice cream shop (unless...), I think she's definitely going to have to lose her support system for a bit.

I've figured out the cataclysmic event that sets the rest of it in motion, it's just...I'm going to end up rewriting the final third of the book.

I don't know if you've ever written a novel while holding down a full time job and a couple of part time ones, but it's difficult to find the kind of blocks of time you need to get back into the characters.

*sigh*

I don't know when I'm going to do it, especially because I have other writing projects on my mind right now. I have the other YA book I'm writing (needs chapter 5 and beyond), I have the adult novel (for which I have come up with a kickass first sentence), not to mention the OWC stuff (I'd give that up, but it's like eating candy and I ain't giving up candy). So, I'm a tad screwed.

This April, I will have been trying to get an agent for a solid year. M'not discouraged, though. No siree Bob. If anything, I'm more fired up than ever.

I'm also very sleepy.

*headdesk*

~Hero