4/26/14

Okay, it's official. I've been spending WAAAY too much time on Facebook and not enough time doing what I'm supposed to be doing.  So that means I'm going to have to limit my online time severely, which also means I won't be surfing and IMing or whatever as much as I have. Nor will I be checking and replying to messages and whatnot.

Sorry guys, it's necessary. Right now I'm in a particularly tricky spot on the Earth book as well as the romance and it's crucial that I keep my focus in the right place.

I will check in once a week with a blog entry, but otherwise don't expect to hear form me much for the next month.

:-(

4/25/14

Thought I was going to lose my mind.

I spent an hour writing on the Earth book this morning, went to save it and promptly lost it. I spent another hour trying to figure out where it had gone since I knew it didn't just disappear. One good thing about this computer is that it saves everything every few minutes, whether you want it to or not. I just couldn't figure out what had happened to my doc between one keystroke and the next.

Eventually what I discovered is that when I download from my Dropbox the document is opened in a chrome-extension location, not the Google docs area. (!) After working on it, the next part - saving it back up to Dropbox, is a whole different kettle of fish (still haven't figure that one out yet.)

All in all, this thing has its good points (portability, long battery, other stuff) and bad points (not intuitive, unclear instructions, does not support some programs I want to use).

Chromebook has all kinds of internal nooks and crannies that are not evident or intuitive. If you don't know how to use it it's a process to get the answers.

Nothing is perfect. I'm just glad I found my doc.

Addressed BIF's and the GOE. Trying to figure out how to insert the beginning of plate tectonics and the electromagnetic field. And somewhere in there life is creeping out of the deep. (Should've stayed put - Earth's first great extinction is just around the corner.)

APRIL 23, 2014

Major discovery - I do not work well or quickly when I write in sections and then try to merge the bits.

From now on I’m going to just steam ahead from beginning to end within a scene. I’ll add notes and additions after first draft. I know I’ll work faster doing it that way.

Yes, I know, but I needed to learn this on my own (I’m stubborn that way.)

I’ve finished Chapter One of my romance this morning and I’m going to work on Earth this afternoon when I get back from work.

I’ll be checking in with Blog here later.

Excelsior!

Finished first chapter of my romance novel. Going forward with Chapter 2 and not looking back until I complete the first draft.

Also started to readdress my Earth book. Am on the Proterozoic (third Eon) - the longest single section of Earths history at 2 billion years. Lots to talk about. 

Forward.

APRIL 21, 2014

I am really and truly blessed with the bestest family in the world. Apparently my mother Canary and oldest sister Darlene decided I needed help with my writing and they conspired to fool me by telling me they were gifting me with a new hard drive.

My question was, why did i need a new hard drive?

I was told on Saturday to expect this on Monday and spoke with both Mom and Darlene on Easter Sunday about it. Mom told me to let her know when it showed up because she might have a use for a hard drive herself. (Devious!) Neither one gave a hint as to the true gift that was going to show up.

I had to go in to work this afternoon so missed the delivery. When I got home there it was in its smiley face box.

Opening the first layer i was met with a wholly unexpected sight - an Acer Chromebook computer!

It’s designed to boot up immediately, update automatically, and do other tasks almost effortlessly. Best of all I can use it anywhere. Unlike my old tablet whose battery has been long dead, this one has hours of autonomous use.

Do I sound like a commercial? Sorry, I’m definitely not trying to get people to buy one of these because it’s not right for everyone, but for me and my writing adventure it’s perfect!

Darlene even had me do research on chromebooks for her. (Doubly devious!)

Love you Mom and Darlene. :-)

Meanwhile, I did a little writing Saturday and virtually none Sunday because of the holiday. I’m going to make up for it now by going out on the porch on this very warm and lovely day with my new battery operated writing machine. YAY!!!!

Moving along

Been writing the last couple of days. Yay.

It's going pretty well but I've got to figure out how to keep out of my own way.  I am moving along with the romance, and so far, even though my heroine and hero have not yet met they are converging towards the interception point fairly easily.

Show, don't tell. That is the goal. It's harder than you'd think.

I'm trying not to get bogged down by adverbs, or use 'was' and 'were' more than four times per page. Also, I'm trying to make this thing interesting without being too obvious or too mysterious. <sigh - Why do I want to be a writer, again?>

And meanwhile the Earth is whispering in my ear, trying to seduce me to come back to her story. I keep telling her I'll be returning soon, but for something that is over 4.5 billion years old she's strangely impatient.

But I am writing. Good for me. :-)

 April 17, 2014

Yesterday was for crap as far as writing. My brain just refused to deal with reality, logic and anything to do with forward progress in my life on any front but cleaning a bit and staring blankly at computer games.

I hate when that happens.

My sister Darlene tells me that since my moon sign is in Capricorn I was deeply affected by the glory that was a full lunar face (more or less) shining brightly over my (and the rest of the western worlds) hovel.

Huh.

So, after having my bi-weekly chat with the aforementioned sibling, I’ve decided that I’m going to take a brief break from writing about the Earth and try to address the incipient romance novel that’s been cheeping quietly in the background.

I realize that trying to do two projects is not the best idea for a wannabe author, but I need time to process all the information I’ve gathered, as well as figure out the timeline in terms of which extinction affected the future of all life as we know it, when.

Meanwhile I’ve got at least a ream of paper already covered in thousands of words that need to be incorporated into one manuscript and the whole thing has begun to overwhelm me, thus the decision to take a short break.

I don’t anticipate that it will be longer than a few days. Last time I had this type of… block, if you will, Earth kept bugging me until I relented (threatening to open up a gaping hole under my car is a great incentive).

So, that’s where I am at the moment.

More to come, without a doubt.

More to talk about on the same day.
I got so  tangled up I decided to go back and re read from the beginning to see what I'd already addressed in previous chapters.

I can't decide if that's a mistake or a blessing. There's a pattern emerging  in which a forward step that happens on the planet, but then  a major catastrophe that seems to cancel things out and the whole thing has to start over again. My problem comes in trying to figure out which beginning I'm addressing at any given point.

One thing is certain - Life is tenacious. No matter what come up (or down) some form of what we consider living biological material is able to survive and repopulate after the most extraordinarily violent events.

Yikes.

So, back to the salt mines.

Stay tuned.

Okay. I've decided I'm going to start blogging to keep me focused. Right now I'm organizing my previous notes and writings about the Proterozoic, which turns out to be the longest Eon in Earth's history. It's almost exactly 2.5 billion years of set up for the main event (complex life - as in dinosaurs, bugs, and, oh yes, humans).

On a side note, i must have been brain damaged when i thought i was going to finish this thing in a few months. The research alone is taking eons (hah) to do.

Every once is a while I have to take a break so my head will stop exploding, but Ma Nature keeps poking me until i have to get back at it.

Right now I'm redoing the Siderian period. Slime poop (oxygen) is just beginning to bond with iron in the oceans, which are green. (The sky is red, btw.) Continents are finally begin to stabilize.
It's truly fascinating to see the progression from rock pile to fully functioning, life bearing planet. (and she knows she's fabulous.)