Getting things done through the fugue state.: seanan

Getting things done through the fugue state.

So let's review, shall we? I started this week a) exhausted from a comic book convention, b) with my back doing its best to murder me in my sleep, c) under deadline, and d) with the announcement that I am on the ballot for the 2010 Campbell Award. The first two have been sorting themselves out—I've had time to sleep, and my back is recovering, since I'm taking things relatively easy—but I'm still under deadline, and I'm still on the ballot.

(This whole thing feels a lot like when I first sold the Toby books. All I wanted to do was go up to strangers and be like "I just sold my first series!" All the strangers wanted me to do was leave them alone. So my friends wind up with a lot of really random-ass interjections. "What do you want for dinner?" "A tiara in Australia!" "Yes, but other than that, what do you want for dinner?" "I'm on the ballot!" "So we're having Baja Fresh again?" I try to keep this as non-offensive as possible, but really, it's like a constant GOTO loop at the back of my brain right now.)

Last night, I sat down with the goal of banging out 2,000 words on "Through This House," a Toby short set between Late Eclipses and The Brightest Fell. It's potentially for an anthology, and I wanted to make some definitive progress before I allowed myself to watch this week's episode of Castle. When I came up for air 4,000 words later, the first draft was done, and I felt vaguely as if I'd been hit with a brick. Tonight, I'm going to try to pull the same trick with "Build a Better...," an Alice/Thomas/colony of over-excitable pantheistic demon mice short (being written as the other option for the same anthology). Then, this weekend, I'll try to get three out of three by whipping through "Last Dance With Mary Jane," the Sparrow Hill Road story for June.

Sleep is for the weak and sickly.

In the cracks between the rushing, I've been dealing with taxes, trying to clean my room whilst entirely incapable of bending (it's a good thing I have flexible toes), and revamping both my websites, since the whole "on an internationally-published ballot" has been shoving a lot of traffic in my direction. It's fun like hysteria! And to be honest, I really am loving every minute of it. I am a sad, sad bunny-girl sometimes. So sad.

Next up, a webcomic endorsement, a Feed giveaway, some weird monkey noises, and a funky little dance. Whee!

spectralbovine

April 8 2010, 15:52:45 UTC 7 years ago

New comment

Ooh, I look forward to this webcomic endorsement. WHAT WILL IT BE?

I continue to be amazed at your ability to just crank out stories by sitting down and writing them.

seanan_mcguire

April 8 2010, 15:53:48 UTC 7 years ago

But...

But...

But how else would you do it? I mean, does the Story Fairy come if you set out biscuits and bourbon?

April 8 2010, 16:09:51 UTC 7 years ago

That hasn't worked for me yet.

Well, I've tried milk and cookies.

April 8 2010, 16:34:48 UTC 7 years ago

My muse is very alcohol-oriented.

deire

April 8 2010, 16:16:00 UTC 7 years ago

I could try cookies and bourbon INSTEAD?

April 8 2010, 16:35:34 UTC 7 years ago

Yes!

ladymondegreen

April 8 2010, 16:59:54 UTC 7 years ago

Or perhaps bourbon cookies?

You'd need to isolate the bourbon inside a caramel shell so it doesn't cook out, or douse them afterward ... this bears thinking about.