October 2022 - on thin ice with scissors
Hi Everyone,
I can’t believe it’s fall. I feel like I blinked and missed the end of summer.
I’ve spent the last month pushing hard to finish my first draft of Subject 34, the third Encoded Orbits book. The story is complete, but my past self resorted to point form in way too many chapters. I’m now beefing everything up into proper prose. I hope I can finish this draft off in the next two weeks, because I have NaNoWriMo plans.
NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month—which is slated every year for November. The goal is to write 50,000 words over the course of the month. I use the structure of writing this way most years and many of my first drafts come out of it. But… I need a solid outline ready before I begin.
This year’s project is a side novel to my Encoded Orbits series. I recently read Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel (as an aside, we both grew up in the same tiny small town, but I’ve never met her). I love how she handled linked timelines in this novel, which has inspired me to use that technique for my next book.
My story will run over multiple, interconnected timelines—something that will need a solid outline and perhaps even a chart.
The Ice..
Speaking of charts… out on a recent walk, I found these in one of the tiny libraries that dot my neighbourhood (I always stop and peak at what books are there, and I regularly leave books in them).
I know, the books don’t look that exciting. But… they are full of interesting charts, figures and plots, all great background stuff for collages (and I will use them that way).
But the real reason I picked these up was because they left me with an odd sensation of nostalgia. You see, I did a PhD in Arctic Ocean stuff, including the ice, and when I flip through these books the mathyness and ice related pictures appeals to me—my dissertation looks very similar (although about a different Arctic place).
Of course, I could just pull out my dissertation and flip through it. But three years after I successfully defended it, I’m still kinda mad at it for taking as long as it did to create.
And something out of character…
In late 2019, a fellow author and I booked a table at a local comicon scheduled for the spring of 2020—obviously it didn’t go ahead. After more than two years of rescheduled date, the comicon finally went happened last weekend. I’ve done a few craft fairs in the past, but this was my first comicon and it was awesome. Below is a shot of me at our table.
It turns out a comicon is the perfect place to find science fiction fans. I enjoyed sitting back and watching all the fantastic costumes go by. Even though I’m an introvert by nature, I loved chatting with everyone who stopped by.
I think I might dress in costume next year (a costume that I can sit in), but, I’m still working on ideas.
Are you a cosplayer? If so, what do you dress up as?
Finally, for something completely different check out this apartment:
As always, hit reply and say hello.
Cheers,
Jeannette
My Books:
Encoded Orbits
Fractured Orbits - direct or from the shops
The Alien Algorithm - direct or from the shops
Settler Chronicles
Day 115 on an Alien World - direct or from the shops
Far Side of the Moon - direct or from the shops
Abandoned Ships, Hijacked Minds - direct or from the shops
The Alien Artifact - direct or from the shops
And if you aren’t already a subscriber, what’s stopping you (especially if you have read this far).