Hiding, cogitating, time-traveling.

I have just done the MOST FASCINATING bit of historical reconstruction in re the Victorian setting for That Other Story that is niggling. I was drawn to it in part because it was something I could do in 5 minute bits here and there, as opposed to the many-hours-worth of sit-down, pound-it-out writing I need to do to get ahead with the Opus (which has not been feasible to work on along with the demands of my non-fiction writing for client right now).  So, by way of at least making *some* forward progress with *something*, while I am doing geeky writing, I invested my creative energy in reconstructing Hanover Square, London, in August 1854, on the eve of the great cholera epidemic of 1854, which is the initial setting of That Other Story (or better said, Chapter 1 of that book).

After a certain amount of research and (educated) guesswork reconstructing that locale, I later found other sources that totally confirmed - down to the actual street addresses - what I had recreated on my own using my history detective skill and my google-fu.

Yes, I am inordinately full of myself right now, and Very Happy to finally be SEEING the locale and people and time and place in great and hairy intimate detail. I even have portraits of people who lived there at that exact time, from the National Portrait Gallery (UK) online.  It is that kind of close-up I need to tune into a time/place in order to write about it.   I will share with you now, also, that I have a presentiment that it is *this* book - or the quadrology I see it as the initial part of - that is the Narrative Cycle that will be primary to my writing career (not the sf/fantasy stuff I've done to date).  Hence the compelling interest here for me, and therefore I feel I scored greatly with this one.  I am so detail-oriented about this kind of thing (that's a gracious phrase for it) that I have re-created the scale-exact map (based on the appropriate Ordnance Survey map of London)  that  my  map(s)  now are populated with the real-life families and institutions that existed at specific addresses there/then. 

All this is to say, I can now see this microcosmic world at a glance, and I now know where Everything and Everyone Is, in reference to the stage setting of my story. 

That is indispensible to the way I write and time-travel to Be There, and what a relief it is to Know all that, finally!  Especially in history-based writing, you can't just throw out a made-up character in a made-up locale: people who know anything at all about the era will say, no that address didn't exist, or no, so-and-so didn't live there then. But in MY little Hanover Square world, I have that nailed. I have the right little universe happening. If you were there then in August 1854, you're on my map.

How happy that makes me, I can't begin to describe. (Anal retentive? Nawww.... It's called "historically accurate...";)

This is what I have been doing while being silent. Or one of the things, anyway.  I mean, I have been attempting to become disentangled from Tar Baby (for those who don't know the reference, Tar Baby was originally one of the old slave-told folk tales from the American South in the 1800s.  See this classic tale, here: http://home.nycap.rr.com/cyclone/disney/sots/tarbaby.htm ), and I have been generally frustrated with my income/creative work balance (as I have lately lamented here).  So, I've needed an escape that at least offered *some* degree of creative redress for my grievances. My reconstruction of Hanover Square has filled the bill, and man, don't I know a butt-load more about Victorian London now, than when I started!

Grist for the mill. Which leads me to say,

'Scuze, I must go grind, now....

...or maybe I should *be* committed. 

I've made a delivery committment on my book and now have 4 months to finish it in. (or 3 months and 3 weeks, but who's counting).

Piddly client freelancing has intruded in my work schedule this last week. I can't permit that to happen or I will be so screwed come Nov. I need to find a way to reorgnanize what I'm doing for work and how I'm handling these conflicting demands on my time. 

Meanwhile today I took a proactive step that makes me feel more committed to this process:  I have contacted my critique partner, who has promised to read/review the WIP, both what exists and what is forthcoming, and be that sounding board I need as a writer. I've always been allergic to writing and critque *groups*, but I do find it valuable to have very pointed feedback from just one or 2 people who get what I'm trying to do, and have truly valuable kinds of feedback to contribute.  So my friend K fits this bill.  I have one onther friend I may approach in same wise, but this is the basic starting point at least. 

This means come Monday I a writing new material, 1,000/day minimum and will be accountable to K for sending that material for her review and critique on a weekly basis.  

Some writers are posting their wordcounts on their blogs, and have said making production tallies public makes them feel accountable for their work.  I can't do that. Posting stuff like that makes me feel paranoid and irritated. ::grin::  But I *can* build in accountability with immediate peer pressure, mostly though because that friend is eager to read what happens next.  That is a much bigger and better motivator for me: someone sitting right there saying, "And then...?"

So. I have this weekend to wrap up client stuff for the nonce, and then....I'm committed. 

Eeeek!

Today being the New Moon, I did two things today to set the tone for how I want things to unfold as I move forward, and into my imminent production phase for my novel. 

First, I did some just-for-fun creative writing and thinking for a game thing I'm working on. 

Second, I spent time in the kitchen letting my subconscious process story issues I'm chewing on, while my hands occupied themselves with food.  Some more zucchini got whittled down to size, and a batch of corn chowder made for dinner, but mainly, I baked. 

Today I made the first yeast bread I've made since I moved to The Farm, which also happens to be the first yeast bread that's been produced in this kitchen since everyone else moved here 2 years ago. So this seemed like a nice hallowing of the space, and creating a nourishing, nesty intention to go along with my goal of creating a nurturing, nesting space in which to create. 

This is a dense artisan-style bread that R thought  tasted just like a pulla-style bread a Finnish exchange student once made for his family,  I can't vouch for that (it certainly lacks the cardamom and eggs that go into traditional pulla), but it's tasty as-is. What I liked most, though, was the batch of small rolls I made along with this, which included some kitchen magic and good mojo for all in the household to share. They became our  "make a wish"  New Moon rolls.  That was the best part, fresh from the oven with butter and jam and jasmine tea. Yum!
Recipe behind the cut.

Getting last bits of freelancey work out of the way this weekend (not for the Job that Ate My Brain, which is thankfully foreby, but for someone else I like doing work for. Easy peasy, no pressure, good $, quickly done. Ideal). 

Which is good because at the start of August I'm girding my loins for the last marathon to the end of my present WIP and delivery to publisher on 12/1.  The book's half done; this is do-or-die time, approaching. 

I need to get my office squared away. Bookshelves up, reference books unpacked. 

Need to rebuild puter, new hard drive and reinstall OS (am out of room on this 250gb drive, have a 500gb standing by and desperately need it! )

Need to fire up printer and print out the glorious wonderful MAPS of my world and urban locations that I surround myself with while writing, so I can "Be There Now". Plus, it's easier that way to find stuff like, where is character X and character Y and will they have time to meet in the middle for lunch? Or not. Also aids in my writing for ongoing RPG, which shares some of the same settings. Multiple birds, one stone.

Need to put my Year-at-Glance calendar up and mark it out with the Moon phases (am a Cancer and incredibly moon sensitive - full and new moons are my holiday weekends. Not good time to write, at all, so I plan downtime around those periods.) Plus other deadlines I can put there, then I can see what time I can devote to my (new, hatching) alternative cashflow-generating projects. 

I plan on doing 1k words/day, more if possible, on a (sort of) Mon-Fri schedule. Though it will actually be a schedule not dependent on weekdays so much as on moon cycles. See above. 

Need to re-institute my Artist's Way workbook/project discipline, which I have lost track of as the money crunch/freelance frenzy hit me these last couple weeks. Not good. I get so much benefit from this AW exercise. That must become a priority for me, on a par with the production writing. It greases the skids, so to speak, and the writing goes much more easily in consequence.

Plus let's not forget therapy/grounding/happy play time in the kitchen. MUST do that, probably this weekend for starters, in between Current project stints.  I hear hearth bread and (on a different track entirely) dim sum calling my name. May only have time for the bread - dim sum requires a lot of hand work I may not have time for right now. We'll see. 

So, that's my life right now. 

To be continued...

I just withdrew from the Project That Ate My Life, and essentially fired a client, and am now eying the prospect of doing Other  (creative! fun! at-home! ) Work for cash flow purposes instead of bleeding myself to death over old-style (for me) freelance work. 

Epiphanies at last. 

Thank Your For Your Support. No, really. And especially to

alphaviolet

 who said the magic words that enlightened my subconscious and meta-Self all at once. (see post before last for context if you don't know what I'm on about.) 

Huzzah.