The word of the week is opportunity.
Sept 17 -Feedback!
As I've already mentioned, yesterday I sent out my novel's manuscript to a few people
to get some feedback, vital to making a good draft into a GREAT second draft.
I'm hoping to get enough feedback that agrees on the good parts AND the bits
that need improvement, but not so much that I can't handle it all. Hence only a
few people, for now - too many and I'd spend more time reading feedback than
implementing the recommended changes.
In the evening I received some other feedback from my
writer's group, who I hosted in the SkyLounge. It was a sub-group, focusing on
a novel we had each written, going chapter by chapter. I received some very
positive feedback on the first and second chapters of my novel, which was very
uplifting and useful. I also gave some solid feedback on the works of the other
four people there, who are all solid writers and more used to this sort of
thing than I am, as it was my first time in such a group. Which means they were
rather forgiving of my gaffes and errors, for which I was grateful. We'll be
meeting again in a month's time, when I am expected to have re-worked my first
and second chapters using their critiques.
Sept 18 - An almost-free NEW printer?
It's very odd that Providence has been providing me things
of late as needed; I'm in NO way unhappy with it, but today was a good example:
For about six months now I've been looking for a good, inexpensive
laser printer, as I knew I'd likely have to print a manuscript or six once my
novel was finished. Well, I finished my novel and did print up half a
manuscript on the HP P1102W that I'd bought as a one-day special( only $30!!!
)at the end of 2011. But the little tyke can't handle extended print jobs and
my manuscript is almost 400 pages right now. So I've kept my eyes peeled but
there's been nothing I'd want to lay out money on for less than $200.
Today while traipsing through Value Village, what should I
spot but a sleek HP printer on a shelf? A quick look confirmed it to be a
P1606dn, a solid home office laser that only came out in 2010 and in great
shape! For $20 it was worth taking a chance on, despite missing two paper
trays; there was no toner cartridge either, but that's to be expected. I got it
home and ordered an aftermarket toner for another $20, which arrived just two days
later from Vancouver; plugging it in, I powered the laser up and to my delight
it worked perfectly. The print count said that NO pages had been printed; it
was an UNUSED and BRAND NEW printer!!! So instead of paying upwards of $300 for a new 1606dn plus around
$80 for an 'official' toner, I got it all for only $40 - talk about luck!!!
The printer is networkable, meaning I can print to it using
its own email address from ANY device( like my phone )no sweat. It's also full
duplex, which lets me print on both sides of a page automatically. I printed
out the final 200+ pages of my manuscript in less than twenty minutes, which is
incredibly fast. The print quality is HP-excellent as always and I'm just thrilled
that I found such a PERFECT local bargain!
Sept 19 - A Publisher in October ???
Speaking of signs from the universe:
Today I JUST found out about an opportunity to submit my
novel to a publisher!
It's BIG news, as a well-known publisher is making an
OPEN call, allowing ANYONE to submit a manuscript to them - even if you don't
have an agent, like me! Incredibly, they're VERY keen to get scifi or fantasy
submissions… it's like someone heard that my novel was done and popped up this
opening!
So I'm under another self-imposed deadline now, to whip my
first draft into as close to second-draft shape as I can in LESS than three
weeks! While the submissions to the publisher don't have to be in
absolute-perfect shape, it cannot hurt my chances to weed out ALL the major
bugs, fix a lot of the little ones and add as much as I can from my notes into
the novel before I submit it. It's THE BEST chance I'll have to get my novel in
the hands of a publisher in the industry and I WILL NOT miss this chance!
Sept 20 - Colds and Job Searching
The universe works in mysterious ways.
Yesterday, I found out I have a chance to submit my novel to
a publisher fairly easily, IF I work HARD for the next three weeks on the
manuscript… and today I discovered that I've picked up a cold.
CRAP. But so it goes…
My job search is progressing slowly; there's not all that
many jobs I'm keen on applying for locally, at least that are listed. I'm going
to REALLY push trying to find those 'hidden' jobs, the ones that I'd likely be
better suited for and enjoy more than I might a 'standard' job in retail or
somesuch. I'm really just looking for something to a) Pay the bills and let me get ahead a
little b) That won't suck the energy out
of me so much daily that I don't have anything left to write with c) That I might enjoy doing - none of which are unreasonable goals; I'm
certainly not trying to pay a mortgage or raise a family with my pay.
I've thought about putting together a video resume`, but it
just seems like overkill. However, THIS guy takes the cake for awesome creative
video resumes. He's trying to get in on the just-announced TV series S.H.I.E.L.D.
with Joss Whedon:
Sept 21 - Sick Stinks
Whatever bug I've picked up is now in full swing, having gone
from my throat to my nose and sapping all my energy to boot. I did very little
during the day today save domestic tasks, sleeping when and how I could. Which wasn't much.
One thing I did do was to discover an online repository forElfQuest! This was a comic I remember coming across when I was growing up in
the Eighties, a hybrid mix of fantasy and scifi which caught my interest.
Now you can peruse EVERY ElfQuest comic ever made, for free!
I'm not all that familiar with the series, but there's a devoted following out
there so that does tell me there's more than a few good tales to be had in
these comics. I'll peruse them more thoroughly when I have more time and more
energy…
Sept 22 - Feeling Absolutely Awful
The people upstairs woke me four separate times last night,
so that by the time morning rolled around I felt inhumanly exhausted. Not to
mention feeling the cold in full swing. I managed to get a couple of hours
sleep before they woke me again; at that point I just gave up and tried to
get on with my day. I didn't end up doing much and had to leave soon after
lunch due to the people upstairs moving a LOT of stuff around. I felt horrible,
like I was walking around in a waking dream; even sitting on the patio at Moka
House for an hour did little to restore any feeling of humanity. Or energy; I've almost never felt this close to being beside myself. Most
of my evening was a blur of spot-naps for fifteen minutes and TV; thanks to
some chicken soup for lunch and dinner I managed to get a little writing done
but the words kept blurring. My feet and hands are cold, which tells me that
the bug is sapping my reserves of energy…
However, my fortunes reversed themselves after dinner: in the
morning, I had texted the couple upstairs about the noise levels keeping me
from sleeping. Turns out the noises around lunch were them rearranging various
bits of furniture upstairs! After dinner, they texted me, having VERY generously
put forward making changes to their sleeping arrangements to deaden the sound
of tending to their young kids in the night. They mentioned making other
changes too, all of which added up to a 90% reduction in the sounds from
overhead. It was wonderful and a testament to having a polite, open dialogue
with your neighbours instead of letting emotion get the upper hand. I went to
bed with a VERY changed mood, no longer a sleep-deprived zombie but just a
tired guy hoping for a better night's sleep…
Sept 23 - Recovery Day
Last night I slept wonderfully, all due to the people
upstairs after talking with them yesterday evening. It wasn't a perfect night's
sleep but I did feel somewhat rested, even given my cold-wracked head. I spent
the morning writing up part of my blog and then napped for a bit, which
actually helped as my nose cleared up and I could smell my lunch, which was a
pleasant change. I even went out for the afternoon for a few hours to sit in
the sun and just try to enjoy the day, which was easier as my nose no longer
looked like I'd been using sandpaper on it. Apart from the dark circles under
my eyes, I felt closer to human today than I have for the last forty-eight
hours. More chicken soup for dinner also helped, as did watching Flushed Away,
a cute animated yarn that I've enjoyed a few times over the years; English
accents always make a movie more enjoyable for me for some reason. Weird, eh?
I'm really hoping to dive into editing my manuscript
tomorrow using the feedback I've received so far, if I get my energy levels
back. Even if I don't, I NEED to, as the clock is ticking to make my novel the
BEST it can be before I submit it in less than three weeks. I HAVE to get it
done, to the exclusion of all else; this is an incredibly rare opportunity and
one that may not come again for a LONG time. No pressure…
