The last seven days have been a bit hectic for me. Along with working, the new Gregg Hurwitz book was released on Tuesday, which took up a couple of my days. I had my six month review at work (mercifully I am still employed!), and then, on saturday, I decided to have an uncomfortably close encounter with a patch of ice outside of my condo door. As I told one of the customers who was asking about it, I will get revenge in a month or two. He didn’t get it.
So now I’m sporting a lovely tensor bandage on my left wrist. Fortunately I didn’t break anything. My grotesque back-hump broke my fall. I wish I was joking. I’m not. The fact that the kyphosis is so pronounced ensured that my back hit the ground first instead of my head. Score one for malformed body parts!
I’ve been doing what has been recommended and taking a break from writing while Maddison works on the art for the tees and postcards which, I hope, I’ll be able to make available for purchase once the rewards are sent out to the lovely backers! Michelle, the editor, has the book, and the money should be in her hands today or tomorrow (thanks for the delay, Paypal.)
It’s a surreal feeling, realizing that I have nothing writing-related immediately on my plate. I’ve been rereading bits and pieces of the book 2 draft, and there is plenty to work with there. I can also see where book 2 will give me a lot more creative freedom because I don’t have every second of it planned out. It’s like I’m doing a reverse JK Rowling. I’ll start big and by the time we get to book 9 it will be ten chapters long and the rest will be acknowledgements and pictures of pandas slowly morphing into fruit bowls.
I’m happy with the end result of Book 1. It’s a fun read. I’m also happy that I finally had the nerve to take a step back and recognize that I could edit it until the day I die and never be completely satisfied with it. I think that’s what I love most about writing. As you grow and change as an individual, your style of writing, your knowledge of the in’s and out’s, it all changes with you. Your writing matures as you do, and as any one of my friends of family, or even coworkers will tell you, I could probably stand to do some maturing.
For now I’m going to the Calgary Zoo. I’m going to look at the amateur tigers (I know, they’re Amur tigers or whatever, but calling them ‘amateurs’ makes me giggle.) And I’m going to watch the penguins go for a walk, and eat a beaver tail (a Canadian tradition that I refuse to explain further). I will go to T&T, the local Asian market, and get some tasty treats. I will go buy lightbulbs because as it turns out, we really need lightbulbs. When I am home I will sit down and play Super Mario 64 on the WiiU and swear loudly at the poor camera angles (I know, it came out in ’96. But still, how can I be expected to catch the damn rabbit if I can’t see it?)
I will do all of that and, for once in my life, keep my thoughts about writing pushed a little further back in my mind. It is a strange sensation, to not look at the world around me and automatically think “What would Natalia do or say in this scenario?”
If I’m honest, she’d say something snarky. She’d always say something snarky.
The Code Series 