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...and still going.

I feel like I'm channeling mundungus42 because every day, even at work, my story is simmering in the back of my head. Sometimes it comes to the forefront and I have to jot down the idea. I have so many post it notes on my desk at home with snippets. Then when I get home I fire up the computer and things just start to flow.

It's fantastic. I wish it was like this all the time. I'm trying to maintain by firing up Word every day and so far it has worked.

Chapter Five of The Binding is 8k words and counting. But I'm only on the 2nd draft, so it may wind up shorter.

You guys...you guys...I feel like a writer again. *weeps*

And, the best thing of all is that I really am enjoying where this story is going. And I've got a few things to work out because it's now set after the War instead of during--so Moldy Voldy isn't the Big Bad anymore.

GAH!! Wish I could just stay home and scribble.

I need an HP writing icon. There has to be one somewhere of Snape with a quill, right??

None! Yep, big fat goose egg.

That's mostly because I've been writing. :)

Reworking my Binding story has really been good for me. I've written every day since 6/22 and really changed it around. It still centers on Snape and Hermione being magically bound together, but I've changed the timeline to after the war, aged Hermione up to 20 and am trying to focus on the effects of sexual assault and on mental health issues.

And it's been really interesting, doing the research and changing things around. The first chapter has been changed so much it's almost completely different. And from Chapter 5 on, it is different since I have a different big-bad than before.

Hee, my beta readers must think (know?) I'm nuts because they keep getting chapters followed by emails saying, wait! I've changed it again! Snerk.

Now I have three days to indulge. With the exception of Saturday evening when my kids will come over for food and to watch fireworks off our back deck.

If you don't know, she is attempting an "Insane Writing Project" and has been successful, so far. (I'm really rooting for her!)

Well, as you may have read now and then (heh) I've been a bit depressed and had a couple of family members die this year. So, while I was able to write and submit my sshg_promptfest fic, I really had not written anything except that all year.

I just got out of the habit of writing every day.

Now, I want to finish at least one book before I die. I have one nearly finished (a sci-fi/romance) and one started (a Regency romance) but no motivation to pick either one up again at the moment.

So. What to do?

I had started to move my HP fic from all the different places it's posted all over the internet to AO3 a few years ago. So, I came up with the brilliant idea to finish moving everything over there so it's all in one place. I figured that would a) get it all in one place, and, b) get me writing every day again.

Because, once you re-read something you wrote nearly ten years ago, you WILL revise. (No, you WILL. Ugh. See previous post!)

(Also, I've been writing HP fanfic for 10 years? I am so surprised at how many stories I've written. And I know that many of you have written so much more than I have--where do we come up with it all? We rock.)

So, I started on June 30. Since then, I have moved 12 additional fics to AO3 (and tossed in a donation, too.)

A handy link if you want to see and read.

And, I have been writing every day. :) A couple of the fics needed some serious editing. (Hoo, boy.) Some I had to go in and code everything (what a pain).

I have a draft sitting tonight since hubby and I went out to eat and run errands after work, and I didn't get it finished. But I worked on it! And I'll post it tomorrow night.

I'm really feeling good about this exercise. It's helping me get into the habit of writing again. I'm loving the high I'm getting from it. I had forgotten how much I love to write.

I must go off to bed (work tomorrow, boo), but I couldn't wait another day without thanking mundungus42 for the inspiration. *smooches*

And with the beta. I'm sure there will be some tweaking, but overall it's finished and I'm pretty happy with it. I may have to add an epilogue, because I've just realized I might need to tie up one loose end which is a pretty important one. We'll see what my lovely beta has to say.

It's a huge relief, because as of last week, I was afraid I might have to pull out and I didn't want to give up on my writing. So, whew.

Saw ST: ITD and liked it. ( Spoilery )

Back to work tomorrow. Short week, but if the past is any indication, it'll be brutal. There will be movie attendance again this week. Hubby wants to see "The Great Gatsby" and I'll see either ST or IM3 again.

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Forgot to update my project gratitude from yesterday...will do a double today. ;)

Got more birthday cards in the mail today. Got one from one of my Delphi Forum friends which was a perfect card for me...has the doctor holding a naked baby by the ankle (the implication is he's spanking it for the first breath)and inside it says "From the day you were born, you were into the kinky stuff." And she wrote that this card just screamed "ray" to her. Hee. You see, she's read some of my fanfic...

The second card was from my dear friend in Texas who I love and miss so much. My first ever Star Trek buddy and my best friend for ever so long. I've known her longer than almost anyone else, and we shared so much...I hope that someday I get to visit her or she gets to visit me again.

The last card I got was from my best friend in Ft. Lauderdale, my sweetest little punk girl (heh or she used to be until she decided to get a 'real' job). We've been through Subway, growing kids, college, term papers...so much. I am so sad that she will be in NY when I go for my quick visit in September...but she sent me a gift certificate to RED LOBSTER!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! My hubby can't get out of it now!
( Don't click if you're not interested in my latest smutty fic idea )

Hubby went back to the doctor again today as he has not been able to shake the cough which has been bothering him for weeks now. He was also going to go stake out the house and septic area on the property so the surveyor knows where things are supposed to be...don't ask me why the guy just can't go survey five acres from the fence-row downward, but whatever. Hubby isn't home yet, but I expect him any time. I was hoping to get some writing done, but there was a bit of bother on my favorite forum which needed attending to, and my friends are much more important to me than anything else.

Dang, this is a long update for me, guess I'd better stop now.

edited to add, I received a most kind and EXTREMELY gracious email from Metamuse which cleared up a lot of my misunderstandings about the validation email I received earlier which I then went off the handle and ranted about here. I am not deleting the entry because I was wrong and I am willing to admit it. I want to apologize to Metamuse and everyone at SH. I will remember how wonderful you all were to a raging lunatic and not be so damned touchy about things in the future.

Got an email from SH today..."correcting" several "errors" in my latest chapter. Now, this chapter has been checked by my word processing program spell-check and grammar check and was beta-ed twice.
There were a couple of things which needed correcting, especially my non-capitalization of "Mudblood" which neither I, nor my betas caught. I am going to have to correct that in my MS Word program so it will auto-correct that particular word.

So, I'm wondering if this has anything to do with my question to them last night regarding validation. This is the FIRST time I have had any chapter sent back to me with ANY corrections since a few canon corrections they asked for in the first chapter. Not to mention, I fucking WON FIRST PLACE in their damned Spring Faire contest...wonder how THAT happened if my punctuation is so bad???
Obviously I was out of my mind. The one had nothing to do with the other.

I'm really pissed off. This is NOT the way to start the day.
I am better now, the day is going quite well, as a matter of fact. I'm wearing my GoF hat and my "Marauders" t-shirt, my HP watch and I brought my HP lunchbox to work today. Getting lots of comments and lots of chances to squee about the book!

I fired back an email with the above (without the cursing and without the last sentence) and now I'm waiting for a reply. If they insist, I may just have to pull the story and all of my other stories from that archive. This is a petty revenge response, in my opinion.
Hey, I know my writing isn't perfect, but there's NO WAY that more than six punctuation and/or capitalization "mistakes" were missed by me or my betas.
Again, I can only plead temporary insanity. And I did delete my final, arrogant "Fuck them, I'm pissed. It was uncalled for and I should know better than to write in this thing when I'm mad.

The latest chapter is live at SH:
http://ashwinder.sycophanthex.com/viewstory.php?sid=4732

It looks like I'm going to have another chapter of my sirusly neglected fic posted (depending on the queue at SH) before HBP comes out!

The lovely Daireen from KA volunteered to beta for me and my buddy Anne got the surprise of her life in her email box too.

As soon as I get it back, it goes to the queue and (if I say so myself) it's a hell of a chapter.

*breaks arm patting self on back*
*notices time*
*scurries off to watch "The Amazing Race"*

I've been thinking about the next chapter of my fic. This is my writing "method". I think about the next bit for a while...anywhere from 2-? days, weeks, months (YEARS, I KNOW, >LISA< GOD.) and then I will sit and write my first draft out longhand in a battered spiral notebook. Usually there is much crossing out, scribbling in margins and arrows pointing in every direction by the time I'm finished. Then I think about it some more, read it over, make even more changes, scribbles, arrows and edits. By this time, the printing on the page has become micro-scopic. That is when I move it to the desk, boot up MS Word and start typing. The editing process goes on as I type, because the hand-written draft is more of a guide which I add to or change as I go.

Anyway, I've been thinking about the next chapter. I know everyone who is reading it expects a steamy sex scene, and I was actually going to write one, but now I'm not so sure. I'm wondering if it'll be worth pissing them all off to just move along without it. I mean, at the end of chapter 11, it's well after midnight, they are both exhausted, and well--I just don't know.

Lucius has to make another appearance, too. I'm actually thinking of going with that scene instead.

Another thing I'm thinking about is my long-neglected novel as I mentioned before. I just wish the computer/desk was somewhere other than the living room. I love my husband, but the PS2 games, the tv shows he watches and his music drive me to distraction and I can't think. I should probably invest in a discman and a headset and just turn up the volume to tune stuff out. I really want to finish it and submit it and get the rejections started. I have sent the "finished" part to a couple of folks and am anxiously awaiting their opinions of "the story so far". I'm so pathetic, I need so much feedback and I still feel all unsure of my writing. Gah, I'm a putz.

On an entirely different note, hubby and I went to a Chinese buffet restaurant called "Chef Wang's" tonight for our Valentine dinner. All I can say is: Wow. The food was FRESH, hot, well prepared and varied. It was not expensive and I had moderate success with chopsticks! Hee! We are going back, soon.

Extreme Makeover-Home Edition was a "family reunion" tonight which was so neat. I teared up, as usual! I love that show.

Can be found via an FAQ asking how an unpublished author goes about obtaining an agent on Neil's Journal . He asked his friend Teresa Nielsen Hayden who is an editor at Tor Books and a wonderful blogger. The links at the bottom of Neil's latest entry lead to some funny and interesting reading. There's an entry on Slash/Fanfic and Mary Sue's, not to mention lots of advice for aspiring authors from someone who is "in the business". I spent a couple of hours reading the entries (and the comments, which are wonderful) and musing about taking up my long-neglected novel once again.

There was some talk in one of the threads about the definition of "clueless" and these were my favorites:

"He couldn't pour piss out of a boot if the directions were printed on the bottom."

"He didn't know whether he'd found a rope or lost a mule."

The second one caused my hubby and I to laugh for a very, very long time--until my cheeks hurt and my eyes were dripping with tears. Just imagining the farmer--standing in the field wearing his straw hat and blue overalls, holding a rope and scratching his head.

Work is not bad but not as great as it used to be. The emails are stacking up again and TPTB don't really care...even though these are our customers, too. Not for me to criticize, I suppose, but they don't seem to realize that being a week behind on responding to the web queries (when the website says you'll get a reply in 24 hours) is bad business.

But, I'm just a cog, and I do what I'm told and try not to offer up any opinions anymore. I mention to the managers each day how far behind we've fallen, but that's as far as I go. Today I was working on verifying fax IDs and entering orders. I think I may have done about twenty or thirty emails, tops. Usually I do about 120-150 per day...and that is not enough to even make a dent in the total.

Not for me to say...but I think it stinks.

Time for bed.