picowrimo | November 2019

And posting my comment right away again, as I don't know if I'd get around to do it later. Being retired is a full-time job, I tell you!

In any case, I've translated a few paragraphs (not even a full page) and typed them up. These parts are full of descriptions and made-up fake science and really hard to translate. *sigh*

Excerpt:

“That is our Centre of Agricultural Research,” Riis declared proudly. “If you’d follow me, please…”

Without waiting for an answer, it hurried forward to punch the access code into the control panel next to the huge security doors. When those opened, Ann Mulhall exchanged meaningful looks with her colleague: the enormous doorwings, made of solid collapsed metal, were thick enough to withstand even the Enterprise’s phaser cannons. Clearly, the Dairu* took security very seriously.

The astrobiologist shivered. Were these protective measures truly meant to wear off the radiation of the supernova, or was something seriously wrong with the colony, so that the Researchers had to fear for their lives?

*The Dairu are a semi-canon insectoid species. In Original Series they were the inhabitants of the planet Kaferia, and while we never saw them on screen, they were depicted in Shane Johnson's The Worlds of the Federation as man-sized insects who were the unchallenged experts of plant genetics. The Kaferian Apples - very much canon, seen in the episode Where No Man Has Gone Before - actually looked like striped pears.

Edited 2019-11-03 17:33 (UTC)

The one thing I absolutely must do today is finish my Yuletide sign up - but I can't just do a straight copy from the last time, because some of the characters I requested then haven't been nominated for the list this time, and after a hectic weekend I haven't found the brainpower yet to start writing new requests.

Encouragement welcome :-)

I have put in three hours so far on writing projects today.

Two hours on kick-starting the novel that's been languishing (5 first draft chapters written and the rest in my head) for several years now. I worked through the first chapter of 'The 90-day novel' by Alan Watt. The chapter is aptly titled 'Preparation' and has the reader /writer do three writing exercises. The first one, 'The Fear Exercise', was to explore my resistance to writing. The second one was to explore one thing I feel strongly about as a way to learn to turn that strong feeling, and its opposite into a story theme and story conflict. The third exercise was to explore the the conflicts the protagonist is going through, which leads to the dilemma at the heart of the story. I'm feeling half-baked about clarifying the dilemma, but it will grow and become clear in time.

I also learned that I didn't know how to spell dilemma. I thought it was 'dilemna'. Please don't think less of me. I trust you will politely smile into your teacup and move on to the next captivating thing I am about to say.

I don't intend to finish the draft in 90 days from now, but I do plan to use the book as a guide after the holidays and get the draft done. I can't imagine getting a draft done in 90 days, but I am going to plunge in.

I also spent one hour on learning how to organize and manage the holiday story exchange. Which sounds ridiculous, but I do love a good project management process:) Yay lists:)

What this means is I have so far not worked on any actual story writing, but it is working on writing.

And now I am going to do some story writing until it's time to watch the football game.

Pico Goal: 1,800 minutes Done: 240 / 1800 minutes. 13% done!

What I did the first three days

Put together my prompts for the holiday exchange. We give three prompts and it always takes me forever to come up with something. I don't know why I labor over them to such an extent but I do. And of course 90% of the time the author takes them completely literally which is what I am trying to avoid. Because I never take prompts literally... hmmm I'm beginning to think that perhaps I'm the one who's been doing it wrong :D :D

Spent yesterday editing/revising someone else's writing--a last minute beg for a good friend.

Today I took a look at unfinished stories in my folder. There are a couple of fairly short ones that I can fiddle with for the next few days until I choose the prompts I want to write for the exchange. They're unconnected scenes right now, I want to see if I can give them some sort of an underlying thead that ties them together.

We switched to standard time today (rather than daylight savings time). That means that sunset comes at quarter to five--and even earlier as the next couple of moths go on. I hate that, I love having more light in the evenings. Ugh.

Well, I wrote a lot in my head. With fourteen prompts to choose from, I'm sort of picking and choosing them at the moment. I sort of like to get them wrangled around in my head before putting pen to paper, in a manner of speaking.

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Alas...no success. But I beta'd someone ELSE'S work - does that count? :D

After subduing the Yuletide sign up I wrote a LJ post and thought it might be enough, but then I repented and wrote another odd 100 words on Nelson's funeral.

Collingwood, of course, was still in the Mediterranean, but Lord St Vincent had twice declined an invitation because of his disapproval at Nelson’s attempt to leave Emma Hamilton to the nation - in his view, she 'could have made him poison his wife and stab his best friend'.

I also reached 20% in the knitting chart by the end of the day, which is more of an achievement!

I've been distracted with some KPop fandom drama the last few days though now I'm wondering whether I should spin it into some KPop fic

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