Side trips and shortcuts

Posted on | 3 years, 6 months ago, in the early evening | No Comments

I’ve been hijacked by a short story. It’s set in the BONESHAKER universe, though it has nothing to do with any of the characters in that book; and I’m fairly confident that it will stand alone just fine when I’m finished. Ordinarily it takes me the better part of a week to compose this kind of thing, but writing is going smoothly and I’m pleased with what I’ve got so far.

Project: “Tanglefoot”
New Words: 3398 (not bad)
Present Total Word Count: 3398
Goal: 7000 words (guestimation)





First Sentence: “Hunkered shoulders and skinny, bent knees cast a crooked shadow from the back corner of the laboratory, where the old man tried to remember the next step in his formula, or possibly — as Edwin was forced to consider — the scientist simply struggled to recall his own name. ”

Fiction Things Accomplished: Established the dear and formerly estimable Dr. Archibald Smeeks, who presently resides in the basement of the Waverly Hills Sanitarium with his young assistant Edwin — an orphan whose mother (an inmate) died there three years previously. Edwin is a bit lonely, and he’s a bit useful with tools, just like his senile mentor. He’s always had a hard time finding friends; so now he’s found it easier to simply make one.

Real Life Things Accomplished: Not much, frankly. Corresponded with agent; chatted with Justine a bit via IM; cleaned off my desk; did a little housework; arranged a viewing of a movie this evening with husband and friend; made myself a tuna sandwich and ate some leftover birthday cookies.

Stumbling blocks: It’s hard to start a new story, even when it’s a new story in a familiar world. But now that I’m rolling, I hope to have it nailed down over the weekend — Richelle‘s book release party and costume preparations for DragonCon notwithstanding.

Reason for Stopping: I’m getting hungry and the apartment is still a little dirty. I always try to start the weekend with a fresh living space, so I suppose that means I’m going to have to clean the litterbox now.

Total Fiction Words Composed in 2008: 249,640

Category: misc

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