Sunday, March 09, 2008

PROGRESS REPORT 31: SIDETRACKED!

These are the first of the Japanese cherry blossoms heralding Spring


It wasn't so much 'procrastination' as it was getting sidetracked the past week or so that kept me from getting back to work on Shadow of the Lion. It seems I had no end of editing to do on things for my travel website as well as for classes etc. I attended an all-day editing for fiction course at S.F.U. last weeks too, which provided me with inspiration and advice on how to go about editing my final draft of Shadow, as well as the other editing I do for other people. I'm taking another all-day course this coming week too and one again in April. My aim is to take as many editing courses as I can to give me more credentials for doing this as private work.

There were also media shows these past weeks which I went to : a breakfast for European Travel; a preview showing at IMEX of "Whales and Dolphins: Tribes of the Ocean" which was amazing! and the same day there was a briefing for media on local points of interest to write about for the coming 2010 Olympics. At that one a 5***** chef had made all the canapes and finger-foods which were bountiful and delicious and the wine pourers kept pouring. I managed to do my share of schmoozing too. There was another one the following day but I passed on it because I had a class (memoirs) in the morning and another class (travel) at night. Just as well as I heard they were serving mojitos. (This is one of the bonus points of being in the travel media!)

As for the novel, I managed to sort out the discrepancies in locales without having to really rewrite anything -- mainly cutting & pasting with a few small adjustments. That was quite a relief! Then I set it aside for a few days which turned into a longer time due to other distractions and commitments. But today I finally resumed the work on it, sorting out what comes next and getting Olympias and the royal household settled in the sea fortress at Pydna. (It's sort of like the "Last days of Pompeii")

My classes end this week so there will be more time now. And I have all the newest stories ready to publish on my travel website, so
Shadow will have my undivided attention.

By the way, last week I tagged a couple of people for a memoir meme on my "Conversations with myself" blog at http://ruthakik.blogspot.com Check it out and join the fun!


An afternoon of reflection at Central Park, Burnaby B.C.
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4 comments:

Meghan said...

Sounds like you have a full plate! Hopefully you'll be able to juggle it all and get your novel finished by spring's end. Lovely cherry blossoms btw. We have a cherry blossom festival every year in San Francisco around April. It's a lot of fun and you can participate in traditional Japanese ceremonies (tea drinking, etc.)

Wynn Bexton said...

I managed to get a few hours of notes done today. When I'm starting a new 'scene' I have to plan it out first and make handwritten notes. Then I start working on the computer til I get it right. I always find the transition scenes the hardest to write. At least I'm back on track but I do have a busy week ahead too.

Sam said...

We have the cherry blossoms here too - they always seem to herald spring, although we're having a freak cold spell and they've announced snow for this week!

The IMEX film sounds lovely - I bet it was gorgeous to see.
You sound like you have so much fun things going on!

Wynn Bexton said...

Sam, fun things is right. I seem to be in this whirl-wind of activity lately. Trying to do as much schmoozing as I can re my travel web site among other things. And always some fun social events as well.

Sun's shining here to day but yes, it's still very chilly considering Spring is almost officially here.