Well, I finally opened up the file, hooray, and discovered that I’d already done the first thing I meant to do, so then I wasn’t sure what to do next, but I started reading through, and that was a good choice, I think. I did some clean up edits as I went, but mostly, I discovered that I actually do like this book quite a bit, and I think it has a chance of being really good. So that’s satisfying.
At lunch, I took a break to play a quick game with Jed — he’d gotten me a few little Kickstarter games for Valentine’s Day — we played Tussie Mussie yesterday (a game of giving and receiving flowers and their meanings) and Turbo Drift (race your card car around card obstacles) today. Both fun, and I like that they come in these little 18-card packs which are just perfect for traveling with. I think these would be ideal to bring along for family vacations; you could pack a whole bunch, and they’re quick to play. There’s a third game he got me, Banned Books, which is a one-player game; I’ll probably try it sometime soon.
Then back to revising — I got to the end of Part 1, which is about 16,000 words, and I think they’re mostly solid, although there are some flashback scenes that I’m pretty sure Jed Hartman would tell me are a little repetitive and can be trimmed. I’d ask him to look at them, but he’s deep in Jump Space editing right now, so I probably shouldn’t ask him to switch books mid-stream. (Updating to note that Dan Percival, hero of the revolution, has agreed to look at this issue for me and get back to me, huzzah.)
I’m going to just make a note and keep going, I think. Or rather, I’m going to take a break from the novel now — swing by the house, eat some lunch, check on the kids, water the plants, watch the WandaVision season finale with Kevin, grab a check that needs depositing, stop at the bank to deposit it, then back to the AirBnb with Jed. Probably takeout from local Indian place for dinner tonight.
Might write a little more after dinner, we’ll see. My experience of this kind of writing retreat is that I tend to start slow, with a lot of resting (I woke this morning feeling really well-rested for the first time in a while), and then gather momentum as I go. So I’m not going to push myself too hard to churn out lots of words fast.
Jed and I started watching Ginny and Georgia on Netflix last night, somewhat randomly, and are enjoying it, though it’s also sort of odd. It’s like an update of Gilmore Girls in some ways (I mean, it seems very deliberately that), but crossed with something else, something with a lot of suspense and sudden revelations of dramatic backstory.
It seems very light at first, but if you’re someone who likes trigger warnings, you may want to look for them on this show before watching, as there are several traumatic elements that could be triggering if you’re not braced for them.
