I really like waking up and working on it first thing. It's much less intimidating than my short stories -- not because I don't want it to be good, but because it feels a lot looser, somehow -- like it's okay if I write a bunch of scenes that I don't end up using in the final version, for example. Or if I go off on a tangent for a while. It's just got a completely different feel to the project; very strange. Freeing. And it gets me writing right away when I get up, which is good -- I'm hoping that this will help me get into a pattern where I'm writing consistently for a good chunk of the day for the next couple of years (and reading much of the rest of the time). I have to do *something* with this fellowship, after all, and if I don't impose some structure on myself, I'll a) go mad and b) turn into a lazy slob who watches tv all the damn day. Between Tivo and Netflix, I could get into big trouble.
At some point, I should also think about structuring something active into my week too -- not just a morning workout, but something where I go out and interact with people. Volunteering somewhere, probably. We'll see, though -- probably won't figure anything like that out 'til after WisCon, and possibly after the summer. I'm thinking after WisCon I may need to temp some for a few months; my fellowships aren't active during the summers, so no income. And even though I'm living rent-free for the moment, I a) have debts to make regular payments on, and b) would like to be able to buy groceries and household items and clothes and such on my own. I guess I'm not quite ready to be a fully-kept woman yet. :-)
Of course, I'm still sort of hoping this Melcher book will happen sometime in the next month, but they seem pretty busy with other projects at the moment, so I'm not sure when they're planning on advancing with that. We'll see.
In the meantime, I'm happy working on the novel. I finally got to the magic this morning, plus a lot of fun sisterly dialogue. I like writing dialogue; I ought to do more of it. Usually I lay the dialogue down first, just like in a play. Then I go through and add all the actions and other details around it. I'm still such a lazy writer -- when I compare the first pages of this with the first pages of something like the Diana Wynne Jones Fire and Hemlock I was reading yesterday (really good -- her best, I think; couldn't put it down all day), I'm struck by how much more scene-setting and other descriptive narration she does. It's tempting to claim that I'm a minimalist writer, but I think I'm just lazy. I like fabulous descriptive passages when I read novels, so I don't think I have any excuse for not at least trying to write them. But maybe they'll mostly show up in the second draft; for now, it's all about laying the story down (which I am *totally* figuring out as I go along, btw).
Fun!
Today, finalize my exam list, which will probably take an hour or two, and then one more half-day of vacation; I'm going to go to Borders, I think, and read some of the books I can't afford to buy quite yet. :-) Tomorrow my stuff arrives, so I'll want to work at home for the week or so after that, I think, so I can alternate unpacking with computer work. Want my stuff!! Want it now!
Ah well. Patience, young grasshopper.