1/20/06: And we're off again

[davidlevine]

Word count: 1465 | Since last entry: 1465

Yesterday evening I did a bunch of iPod-related stuff, noticing at nearly midnight that I had not yet done any writing for the day. So I looked over the Carpet story, made a few edits suggested by the lovely coreolis, and put it in the mail. I gave myself a blue star for submitting a story. (The other star colors are: silver for 100-500 words or any amount of revision, gold for 500-1000 words, red for 1000+ words, and green for sending a story to critique. So far I have at least one star on every day of 2006.)

Tonight I was good and spent the whole evening writing. After looking over the ideas in my Writing Ideas file, and rejecting all those that were too big, required too much research, or just didn't appeal right now, I was left with about twenty -- all science fiction but one (and that one a weird one), and about half of those space-based. My last two stories were also space-based SF, so I wanted to do something different... but one of those ideas, one that dates back to Clarion, grabbed me. So I started in on it. It even has a title: "Second Chance" (which describes both the main character's situation and the larger situation of which he is a part).

Only one small problem: I think this might be shaping up to be a novel. Or at least a novella. Well, for once I'm just going to dive in, with the plot in my teeth, and see where I find myself when I emerge on the other side.

A snippet: "Uncurling, I grasped for an attach point, but misjudged my reach and scraped my hand on the rough plastic panel joint next to it. My body was all wrong -- too thin, too long, the skin as delicate as a baby's. Nothing was where I expected it to be. My heart started to pound again and I took slow, deep breaths to calm myself."

Comments

Re: My stars!

[davidlevine]

I don't think the different colors really encourage me, though I do feel more satisfaction when I stick up a gold or especially a red star. The blue and green stars are mostly so I can give myself credit for writing-related activities (and they help make it easier to make sure there's something every day).

Why is red more than gold? Well, when it comes to sticking stars on a calendar, silver and gold are pretty generic. "I brushed my teeth, I get a gold star. Rah." "Gold star" in this context is practically redundant. Hence, and a silver star clearly indicates an also-ran. But a red star is unusual, bold, different.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.