Monday, April 9, 2012

State of the City

Breaking radio silence to say congrats to the recently-announced Hugo and Campbell award nominees!  And special congrats to fellow Night Shade author (and alumni Night-Bazaar blogger) Stina Leicht for her Campbell nomination.  Stina's a terrific writer - I loved her debut novel Of Blood and Honey, and I'm really looking forward to reading the sequel And Blue Skies From Pain - so I'm thrilled she made the Campbell shortlist.  Also, congrats to the authors who made the David Gemmell Morningstar award shortlist!  Voting's gonna be tough for me, I've read and loved several of the novels.

So. Two work weeks left until my deadline for The Tainted City...time for the final push to the end.  I'm taking vacation from the day job these next weeks so I can write on the days my 3 year old is in preschool, and praying nobody gets sick or any other life mishaps get in the way of finishing.  Latest stats:

Current manuscript length: 135,251 words
Deleted scenes file length: 24,080 words (gaaaah!)
Number of scenes left to go: I don't want to think about it.
Number of spree candies consumed: way, waaaaay too many.  (I hate coffee, tea, soda, pretty much everything with caffeine, so I use sugar instead.  Back at Caltech, I used to eat pixie sticks and tubes of icing during finals week to stay alert.  Might resurrect that tradition now...)
Songs currently in heavy rotation on my Tainted City playlist: (I listen to music while writing whenever possible, and latch onto songs that have music or bits of lyrics that remind me of scenes/characters/relationships in the book - I play them to quickly get "into the zone" for writing.)

Shelter (Icon of Coil) I can't find shelter in this world / I'm searching for another world where I'll feel safe 

Poisonous Friend (Seabound)  Sometimes I watch her kill / cold eyes and no restraint / and I wonder how it feels to annihilate a friend  (Note: I actually like the "Severed Heads remix" version best, but that version doesn't seem to be available online anymore...)

In the Pit (Combichrist)...a.k.a. the Jylla song. I'm all f**ked up now I want you to care / want it right now, I want you to care

Daimonion (Project Pitchfork) You've got to get to know yourself / or are you just a marionette / following the subtle rules given by the mighty

Undisclosed Desires (Muse)...a.k.a. the Dev and Cara song.  I want to reconcile the violence in your heart...I want to exorcise the demons from your past 

Headhunter (Danny Tenaglia cover of Front 242) I'm looking for this man / to sell him to other men / at ten times his price at least

Two weeks.  Not long!  See you on the other side...





 

2 comments:

  1. Number of spree candies consumed: way, waaaaay too many.

    I didn't know you liked Spree too! I've eaten too many in my time...

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  2. Spree! It has gotten me up more peaks and steep passes than I can count. I remember climbing Mt. Whitney the first day of a 10-day backpack trip in the Sierra (so my pack was super heavy w/10 days worth of food), and chomping a spree every switchback to get myself up the last stretch. Good times.

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