I've spent this evening so far rewriting one of the key scenes of Coquus ex Machina, where our good friend Vaucher is coerced into agreeing to cater for an upcoming royal banquet:

Gardou sighed. "Monsieur Brongniart is currently indisposed."

"Indisposed?"

"Someone took a dislike to him. With an iron bar."

So far so good. It's very different to the original version of the scene, but so far I'm finding the best stuff is coming out when I ignore what went before and try something new. It's a new process for me; previously I've been so hung up on directly improving what's already been written that I think previous novels haven't had the chance to develop the understatement some of these new scenes seem to display.

That's 800 words tonight, so sleep is well-deserved.

Got 750 words written this morning, finishing off the highly-charged scene between Vaucher and Song, the Mistress of Spice (or the 'aromatic bitch', as he calls her). That was a fun one; I tried writing it last week and it was appalling, and it was only after mulling it over at work that I realised why.

I had Vaucher put in a very uncomfortable situation by Song, but then immediately relieved the tension by moving on with the things I needed to happen in the scene. Hence the tension only lasted briefly, and was no fun. I've just rewritten it this morning so that Vaucher remains uncomfortable throughout the entire scene, and the tension's there throughout. Far more entertaining.

Bonus: I got to use the word 'flumfed' as an onamatopoeia for someone falling into a pile of cushions ;) We'll see if that one survives edits!

In homage to this weekend's rail journeys, we have a new comic up at Generation Minus One:

I promised I'd give further details of the Parallel Dimensions book-signing event I attended this past weekend, so I'll see what I can remember. The whole weekend seems like a dream at the moment, so excuse me if I leave anything out!

Jenny & I caught the train up north on Friday afternoon, and spent an enjoyable evening with my aunt & uncle, including being introduced to a pleasant little pub with a locally brewed beer by the name of Sunlight. I would have enjoyed more of said beer if not for the creeping awareness that I would need to be at least semi-coherent the next morning. I have a bad habit of clearing my throat during public speaking, and a bellyful of alcohol the night before wouldn't help!

Saturday lunchtime, with delicious bacon sandwiches washed down with a cup of tea, Jenny & I made our way to the pub opposite the library where Parallel Dimensions was due to take place, where it had been suggested that some of the other writers involved would be gathered. We bought drinks and lurked around the interior for a while, trying to spot people who looked like writers, and after a little hesitation found ourselves at a table with ajodasso and David Tallerman (who thanks to a haircut and new beard looked rather different from his website photo). Introductions were made, and we were shortly joined by purplecthulhu.

At the appointed hour we crossed over to the library where adele_cb was organising everything for us - thanks again Adele! - and waited for the event to start. I volunteered to go first, both to get it over with and to catch the audience at their most attentive, especially given the warmth of the afternoon, and read the first scene from Coquus ex Machina. I only tripped over my words a couple of times, and managed to keep at least some eye-contact going, so I was fairly pleased with my performance even despite the realisation half-way through that my legs were shaking uncontrollably ;). People laughed in the right places (and didn't everywhere else), and I had a number of positive comments afterwards, so it also acted as a great confidence boost for the marketability of the Vaucher concept. (Once I've recovered from the efforts (and excesses) of the weekend, I intend getting back to the writing of said novel at full pace. I've got another meeting with my mentor in a couple of weeks, and I'd like something to show for it!)

Anyway, the other writers followed with their excerpts, and afterward we had a lively question and answer session with the audience (about 20-25 people turned up), which took a few minutes to get into the swing of things, soon was flowing back and forth and coming up with some intriguing discussions. I really enjoyed that part of the proceedings, and if there are any writing conventions anywhere nearby in the future, I'd be more than happy to volunteer for the occasional panel after that experience.

Books were sold, signatures were signed, and at last we emerged from the stuffy heat of the library into the stuffy heat of the afternoon, where we transferred our luggage from my uncle's car to that of one of my long-estranged childhood friends living in the area, who'd come to the event and had offered us a place to stay. Pleased with the day, we sat back and headed for Chester.

I just got home from my epic weekend up north at the Parallel Dimensions book signing event. Amazing weekend; I'm absolutely delighted with how well everything went, and I really want to thank everyone who made the past couple of days so special. I'll post my reflections in more detail over the next few days as my brain processes stuff. Until then, goodnight!

Spent the day at home today with a bit of a stomach bug. Hopefully it's a minor thing, as I've got lots to do at work this week to get ready to go up north to the book signing this weekend, so here's hoping that I'll get up in the morning feeling right as rain.

Not a complete waste of a day, though; I just submitted my revised LH story Xylem & Phloem to an anthology. Fingers crossed!

Spent the weekend at my parents' house, celebrating my big brother's 30th birthday and Independence Day in passing. Cue lots of jokes about Jenny trying to bring the revolution back to Britain ("What's that? You don't like being ruled by the British government either?"), and considerable fun when my brother brought out a small scale water-bottle-rocket kit and launched it fifteen feet into the air.

Of course, with an engineer and two scientists amongst the men of the family, fifteen feet would never be enough. After trying various launchpads (most of which ended up drenching me at liftoff ;) ) and varying ratios of air to water in the bottle, we upscaled to a two litre bottle complete with stabby stabby death-dealing twigs taped to the periphery as launching struts and no stabilising fins to speak of.

Amazingly, not only did it fly far higher than the original set, but no-one was grievously injured as a result. Great fun :D And luckily the weather held out until after the barbecue; only upon our return to Swansea did the torrential downpour begin.

This coming weekend's the big book signing thing for Hadley Rille Books. Everything seems to be in place; hopefully there'll be enough books going round for people to buy - assuming, of course, that people do turn up - and that my excerpt from Coquus ex Machina goes down well. I'm more interested in seeing the reaction of the audience, to be honest, to give some indication of whether it works. Of course I'll be testing it on Jenny all this week until she's thoroughly sick of it.

Last but not least, there's a new comic up at Generation Minus One:


We've recently been delisted from our advertising system for G-1, so I'm also investigating the Amazon affiliates program. I'm thinking of sticking a quick advert up on the site for the Hadley Rille anthology I'm in, and see if I can make a few quid off that. Might be worth practicing in advance of any further publication, at least!

250 words this morning (bonus: Vaucher being made distinctly uncomfortable by the close proximity of a lady :D) plus attempted readthrough of the first scene of Coquus ex Machina as potential book reading material. They want less than 10 minutes; that scene clocks in at around 8. Happy enough with that, and I think it'll help gauge its effectiveness by reading in front of an audience.

Now to work!

Just managed another 500 words on Coquus ex Machina, plus another 500 I managed to squeeze into last night pre-football (which was an incredibly tough game against the top of the league team, where we had four less players than them and still only lost 15-5). It's all going slowly, but as long as it's going we're all good.

I'm currently trying to work out what piece I should read at the Hadley Rille Book Signing event the weekend after next. I was going to do one of my short stories, but Jenny's suggested I do an excerpt from Coquus ex Machina instead. Hmm, perhaps. In that case I just need to find a bit which is rewritten, and interesting stand alone.

Then I really should start practicing!

It's almost midnight, I've just finished stabbing a skeleton in the face with a needle, and I feel like all my bones are ready to liquefy and turn my armchair into some kind of gothic evil overlord throne. No writing today, unfortunately, but I did help in getting the comic up this morning.

Exhibit A, now up at Generation Minus One:


No writing tomorrow morning either, unfortunately, as I have to get into work early in order to make up for the writing I did last week. Ah flexitime, how you lure me into bad working practices!

On the other hand, I did have to pick this week - apparently the start of a heatwave over here - to kick my physical activities into full gear. Yesterday Jenny & I joined a few of my friends from work at the Tree Tops Trail down near Tenby, which is effectively an assault course strung between trees forty feet in the air, with each section culminating in a high-speed zipline back to earth. Tremendous fun, it was, to the point where I had to try not to daydream of the ziplines while sitting in a training session today. Unfortunately, tree-hugging plus tonight's 5-a-side kickabout in a baking hot warehouse has left me spectacularly unprepared for tomorrow night's big league match.

As long as we can keep their score within double digits, I'll be happy!

Success! A thousand new words written into Coquus ex Machina, transforming a boring scene where Vaucher walks from point A to point B musing about how brilliant he is into a high-speed high stakes grand tour of the streets of Lepari. Satisfied Rob is satisfied.

I've also been trying to research historical Parisian hotels, to find a really illustrious grand hotel which would have been built in the mid-1700s for Vaucher's next scene. Unfortunately I keep coming up with nothing more than lists of modern hotels, which are naturally light on details and heavy on availability and pricing. Anyone know of any particularly famous hotels which would fit the bill?

So far it's been a very pleasant Saturday.  I'm writing a post now because I just woke up from a nap and my brain hasn't yet clicked back into gear enough for me to be good for anything.  The sun's out, and we spent all morning outside, wandering round town and visiting the local library for some research on 18th Century French architecture.

Got home at lunchtime to my Writers of the Future "didn't win but try again next time" letter; I've already sent off my next entry, and it's a considerably better story, so we'll see. Then after a bit of lazing around in the afternoon heat, Jenny & I sat down with her art supplies and did some painting on little postcard-sized canvases and acrylic paints. I've never been much of an artist, and I don't believe I've ever painted on canvas before, so it was an interesting little experience, and I came out of it with a passable little painting of a squid which I kinda like. Not a clue what I'm going to do with it, but I can worry about that some other time :D

If possible I'd like to get some writing done this evening. I've been subsisting on writing drabbles the past couple of days, due to limited time, and I really want to throw myself back into Coquus ex Machina. After all, I've got a busy four weeks until my next meeting with my mentor, and I really want to get at least the first 10K completely rewritten by then.

Tomorrow we're off to Tenby to do a tree-top adventure course thing, complete with ropes, zip-lines, walkways, etc. Can't wait, but a little nervous. Fingers crossed for the weather!

Last night I wrote three drabbles - stories exactly 100 words long - based in Lepari to be used as promotional materials for the world of Coquus ex Machina (which were also lots of fun to write), then another 600-odd words on the first chapter of Coquus ex Machina itself this morning. Fairly pleased.

At last, ladies and gentlemen, we have novel progress! 900 entirely all-new words on Chapter 1, Scene 2, being rewritten from scratch. Adds a bit of local colour, plus tension rather than Vaucher just wandering round going 'isn't this nice!' and being self-congratulatory. Narrative drive FTW!

Anyway, enough procrastinating. Time to work out which corner of Swansea my bus leaves from today!

What an odd day it's been. Got up and wrote this morning (as previously documented), went to work, spent most of the day looking forward to playing football after work, discovered football was cancelled, so instead came home early and baked bread. Thanks to Jenny going the extra step and buying a bread tin, it looks far less gimpy than the loaves I created while she was away. I just hope it's big enough to make something more than haute cuisine sandwiches on.

While bread was baking, I got back into Xylem & Phloem, and I believe it's complete-ish now at 1750 words. I'll let it stew for a week or so then give it one last look before sending it out to market. Now I've got that one checked off my to-do list, I can get back to rewriting Vaucher in the morning.

Speaking of to-do lists, in an attempt to organise our labours a little more over last weekend, Jenny & I signed up for a useful little service called Remember The Milk. Effectively it's a useful little webservice which allows you to organise your to-do lists, including being able to tag individual tasks and filter by tags (for example, we're sharing one account for convenience, and I can filter on 'rob' for all tasks assigned to me, or 'writing' for all my little writing-related tasks like finding markets for specific stories). Better, you can add tasks to your lists by just about any means known to modern man, including by emailing an account-specific email address and via mobile phone apps (not that we have one, but still).

Even so, for the first hour or two I found its use to be limited given that I still had to access the site to see what was on my to-do list for the day. Then Jenny found that there's an official Firefox add-on which unobtrusively builds the RTM to-do list into my Gmail Inbox screen. Given that both Jenny & I effectively live in our Gmail accounts, it's perfect, and I look forward to continued productivity as I go forward. I have, however, avoided the temptation to add 'Write' in as a daily task. Otherwise, on days when I fail to write I'm going to have these big red 'Write' tasks showing up on previous days, further crippling my motivation. Let's hope it works out, and I can get some Coquus ex Machina in progress again.

Also courtesy of our new-found efficiency; a new comic up at Generation Minus One:

Jenny's been home for a week and a half now, so I guess I have no excuse for further procrastination. Time to get back to being a writer (despite the devilishly - and delightfully - busy and fun month I've got ahead of me), so as exhibit A: Monday morning, 700 new words on Xylem & Phloem. Considering the original version is only 1000 words, I may have to cut some of this when I'm done, but at least it's getting the main character to be a little more proactive rather than sitting back and letting things be handed to her.

Also good because it's getting me back into practice for writing. I have to start rewriting the first 30K of Coquus ex Machina later this week for my mentoring session at the end of next month, so I'd better get a move on!

Oh, and in other LJ-worthy news that I forgot to update, I sent my WotF entry out last week. That's two in a row. Two more to round out the year and I'll be happy.

Wow. Well done, British public. In your attempt to stick a middle-finger in the faces of the established political parties over their admittedly disgraceful money-grubbing, you've successfully handed a significant proportion of power in the European Union parliament to: a) racist xenophobes, and b) those who have been campaigning for the country not to be in the European Union, and on previous occasions have refused to take part in said parliament.

*applauds* That's some damn fine thinkin' there, unwashed masses!

Oh well. In order to distract ourselves from the impending political clusterf**k, here's a ray of sunshine:

It's past midnight, and I'm eating prawn crackers. It's been a fun day; I spent this morning working on the plot details of Coquus ex Machina, and after travelling to Cardiff in the afternoon, this evening I spent with Lionel, my writing mentor, discussing said book in great detail. And I think it was an evening well spent. Given that this is the first time we met, we wasted no time in getting on with things, and I've come out of the session with a better idea of where I'm going, and a whole bunch of new ideas, not to mention considerable enthusiasm. I've got four more sessions to come, the next one in two months time. Let's see if I can get fifteen to twenty-thousand words written of the rewrite by then, in which case we'll have something more to talk about!

It's way past my bedtime, so I'll leave you with the following:


Oh, and there's an accompanying optional soundtrack to this week's comic, embedded in the post at Generation Minus One. Bet you can't guess what it is.

After spending all yesterday making this week's comic, this morning's been wading through plot-strands for Coquus ex Machina, trying to get it all to make sense before my meeting with my mentor this evening. I doubt it will all make sense by then, but I'd like to at least have a better idea of how everything fits together.

Also, I just got word that one of my recent submissions has been kept back for a second reading *crosses fingers* :D

Well, I wanted to know who the Grand Chefs are; now I know! I also know the size and population density of my city (although as I've been told, we Brits have no concept of distance, so whether or not that means much to my inner writer is a different matter ;) ), and given that I'm basing it heavily on late 18th Century Paris, this 18th Century overlay map of the whole of France is going to be an invaluable find.

As usual, I would've liked to have done more, but there are limits, and I'd better start getting accustomed to listening to my brittle shell's complaints before I burn out. There won't be any time for that when I'm being mentored, I'm sure!

I also put together a post to accompany our new comic over at Generation Minus One:


Jenny should be back in New Jersey by this time tomorrow, the first step on the long journey back to me in mid-June. If you don't mind, I'm going to be hiding in the corner with my fingers crossed for the next two and a half weeks.