Entries tagged with stress

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c'mon, damn it, brain. this is what we DO, remember?

I have a world, and a set-up, that Joe (aka New Agent) LOVES. I have a very specific voice for the book. I have two absolutely perfect characters to carry the POV, and several secondary characters just waiting for their lines. I even have a Scenario off which to base the dangerous hijinks and dark magics, derring-don't and foolish heroics.

What I bloody well DON'T have, is a plot. I've got the thinkings of a plot, the the trappings of a plot, but no actual plot on which to put said damned trappings.

I know it's in there, somewhere. It just hasn't come OUT yet.

*shakes brain, impatiently, waiting for something to fall out*

Ha, plot! I was falling for my own story-sneakery, and looking in the wrong direction.

Gotcha now.

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this is either a very bad start to the week, or an "it can't get much worse" start...

Awake at 5am on Monday morning, after a stress dream wherein a readers' group that invited me to sit in on their meeting gave the book of mine they were reading 2/5 stars, and I discovered that that's what they had given ALL of my books...

This may be the writer's version of the "failed to study for a test" dream. Ugggggh *scrubs brain, looks for chocolate*

[to add to the stress, I was being driven to the meeting by a former lover who is, um, not always so good with the directions, and I was pretty sure we weren't going to arrive on time (we did), and we had Mei-Chan with us but she couldn't go into the meeting itself so I had to leave her outside which was another level of stress and... yeah. I was actually sort of glad to wake up, even at 5-freaking-AM.]

Also: today is a freelancer's nightmare: a Monday where you're expecting a check but there's no mail delivery so you know it ain't showing up today. Wheee?

EtA: a realization about schedule changes has made it official: Bad Monday. ~~Possibly Very Bad Week. I'll let you know once I pry my claws out of the ceiling.~~ Bad but potentially manageable. Just an additional unpleasant jolt to a morning that didn't need any more, thanks so fucking much...

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defining panic...

So there I was, working hard on Iteration 2.1 of the mystery project, when I get an email from Madame EditrixB* saying "hi! Would it be possible to get the first 2 chapters (or 20-25 pages if they’re short) today or tomorrow morning?" because they want to send excerpts to the sales force for Fall 2012 sales kits.

At which point I uttered the Eeep Heard 'Round the City, because there is No Way this is ready to be seen by anyone other than my betas (it's due Monday). And I say this unto my main betareader, and she beats me 'round the head and shoulders, informing me that my idea of "not ready" is the equivalent of many people's final drafts.

Which, if true, is scary as hell people, I'm just saying.

But she held my hand, and looked over two possible excerpt, and did a final beta on them, and with her gentle boot to my backside, I got the file out to Madame Editrix in a timely fashion.

So. Baby Book is going to be seen by Other People. Or at least parts of it.

The only cure is to keep working, and Don't Think About It.

yeah. right.

*I currently Have Madame Editrix Matrice (A) and Madame Editrx Micki (B) and Monsieur Editor Adam. Watch me juggle the deadlines...