The Wins File - Something to Read When I Feel Anxiety Over Writing

After running across the advice on Mez's blog and at Writer Unboxed, and then followed by a bad episode of the inner rage monster spitting vile, I decided I needed to write these out and remind myself how far I have come. In rough chronological order:

• The first of the few teachers who encouraged my writing and I can't even remember her name. She took over the gifted program and I finally got to do what I was really good at, reading and writing and not the math that everyone else was good at. She could have just let me read and write book reports to my heart's content, but asked if I wanted to write my own story. Help! Something's Out to Get Me in 1988
• You got Ms. Ernst to read a story about incestuous sexual abuse and ghosts to a high school class when you asked for feedback. That wins some kink points.
• Jesse said he really liked the character, that they seemed real after he read the Sherlock Scam. That was the first time I didn't have to dig for something beyond "good story."
• My query letter to Star Wars Adventure Journal got me a submissions packet in my senior year of high school. Lucas is still an idiot for taking the liscense away from West End Games before I had a chance to submit the game. And he can't write dialogue to save his life.
• I was the go-to script girl for the skits put on my Math-Science Upward Bound in Oklahoma, and I collaborated well with others; our skits got the biggest laughs.
• Play writing class--that format I had never attempted before, the one I chose such personal material to write about--everyone loved the "Front Porch."
• ARGUS Northwestern State University's literary magazine:
  • "The Bloody Hand" won first place in the Fall 1995 contest
  • "The Rose" was published in 1998 edition
  • "Dreams of the Dead" won first place in the 1998 Fall contest and "Elizabeth's Oak" won second the same semester
  The rest of the staff was under no obligations to publish anything I submitted or give me my first prize money for writing.
• "Gargoyles: Regrets" won second place at the 2001 Gathering.
• "Gingerbread Girl" was published by someone I don't know, so in no way can it ever be called a personal favor.
• "Covenant of the Restless" gained attention and would have gone further if the whole venture hadn't gone belly up. Which was not my fault because I dared to submit something.

2012 Fiction Word Count Week 27 - 38

To list this quicker, I'm only going to put in the weeks that had change.

Week 27

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Week 31

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Week 32

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Week 33

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Week 37

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Week 38

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Bat/Cat Thoughts pertaining to my fanfics

The Dark Knight Rises hit the muse HARD. That's the only explanation for it. The following links are other people's thoughts that made me go "ooooh!"

Martha Wayne's Pearls in the Nolanverse -- I didn't even have this in mind when I wrote Partners, but damn, it fits perfectly with what I went with.

Christian Bale's quote about Catwoman in the movie and Bruce's attraction to her.

So what do you think Selina meant when she said come away with me? To add to The Bat and the Cat Tumblr's answer, Bane already hurt Bruce once to the point where she thought he was dead. She couldn't see that happen again, which tumbled into she couldn't let it happen again and she turned the Batpod around.

More on the symbolism of the pearls

Bruce and Selina are courting in TDKR Yes, and they will end up together because Talia is DEAD! *Triumphant laughter* Oops, that was my outside voice again.

Maybe Christian Bale should write Catwoman.

Talk about the costumes

Selina came back for Bruce Of course she did and then the bastard goes and blows himself up.

You could have gone anywhere scene, Batman stops to deal with Selina's vulnerability I don't like my Batman suicidal, but a person I was discussing the movie with had the thought that it was Selina and her kiss that made him turn on the autopilot and give life a chance. If that theory is true, this is where the boot met his bat cowl.

Bruce's half of the romantic journey My only quibble is Bruce's bit to Miranda in the dungeon. I didn't read the line as romantic, Bruce was there to rescue Fox and resurrect Batman. He owed Miranda an explanation and she deserved rescue too, so he was promising to get her out in the language all good guys in a cape use.

Alfred and the letter and eight long years My first thought back to the Dark Knight is Rachel should have NEVER put Alfred in the middle of it. Second thought, I had to write a reconciliation fic between Alfred and Bruce, in which Alfred confesses to Selina he should have told Bruce the truth before Bruce jumped back into Batman.

There's the end of the pile. I hope I don't make another one.

A new twist to my writing life

I started compiling background information for stories into Tiddlywiki for a couple of years now. It was easy to use between home and paying job, and easy to keep updated. Until this week. It works fine at home, but at the paying job, the browser won't let me save any changes.

What I have to work on in every writing project I've got going is background material. So progress has ground to a halt. I don't know the best method to fix it. The files work at home so the problem is probably a security measure they've added at the paying job. So do I find a new way of keeping the information or shop for a laptop that I can bring to work?

Stellar Gift of Death Post 225

Stellar Gift of Death 2011 Revision

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METRICS
New Words: 306
Chapter Twenty-Two total words: 3386
Chapter Twenty-Three total words: 3464
Total words for the new draft: 101,965
What I hate: Not packing enough food and getting headachy.
The Good: I found the missing 75 words from Chapter Twenty-Two at home!
The Bad: Disaster hit at the paying job. Now I'm really glad that the main thrust of the narrative is done, because I'll probably just have home time to write for a while.
Fave line: My foot connected with Possatact's shin strictly to wipe the smug smirk off his face.
Details I'll probably need again when editing: Bruise and How do you get a blood clot in your eye to dissolve?,
What I'm looking forward to: Filling in all the places where I skipped book quote sidebars, creating alien languages so I can name characters, the end of first draft.
What I'm not looking forward to: Finding all the places I skipped book quote sidebars. Why didn't I make notes of where I skipped? Taking the aliens species I have described and giving them believable biology, languages, and cultures.

Stellar Gift of Death Post 224

Stellar Gift of Death 2011 Revision

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METRICS
New Words: 342
New Words I Can Count: 267
Chapter Twenty-Two total words: 3311
Chapter Twenty-Three total words: 3240
Total words for the new draft: 101,659
What I hate: Not hitting save when I should.
The Good: After a weekend spent on language creation and a Monday and Tuesday too busy to write at the paying job, I got back in my grove on the holiday and finished off the journal entry for Chapter Twenty-Two and a big chunk of the journal entry for Chapter Twenty-Three.
The Bad: The power blinked and rebooted my computer since my battery backup died and I haven't had the funds to replace it yet. I didn't need Word for what I had left to do, so I didn't reopen the program. So I have discovered that 75 words that ended the journal entry for Chapter Twenty-Two are missing on the 5th when I reopened it to finish Chapter Twenty-Three. Hopefully I can find them in the home computer's auto-save tonight.
Fave line: "Nah, it's not what I want, but you won't give her what the little traitor deserves either. My crew could break her mind and spirit without hurting a cell on her body and you know it."
Details I'll probably need again when editing: Bruise and How do you get a blood clot in your eye to dissolve?,
What I'm looking forward to: Filling in the six journal entries I need, finding all the places where I skipped book quote sidebars, creating alien languages so I can name characters, the end of first draft.
What I'm not looking forward to: Finding all the places I skipped book quote sidebars. Why didn't I make notes of where I skipped? Taking the aliens species I have described and giving them believable biology, languages, and cultures.

2012 Project Post 08

The map of Haganville and surrounding areas is done enough for me to say finished on it. If the story needs for me to expand a different location, I now have the basics to work off of.

This is the entire Greater Haganville area.

This is Downtown Haganville, including the city limits.

This is Outlook, a neighborhood where the rich have lived for decades if not longer.

Next background detail to concentrate on is making sure characters have birthdays and they work with the timeline of events. I hope it doesn't take as long to do as the maps do. :p

2012 Fiction Word Count Week 26

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