Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire
  • Mood: geeky
  • Music: Glee, "Red Solo Cup."

Quiet milestones.

Parasite is the first book I've written largely in secret. Not because I was ashamed of it, but because first it wasn't sold, so I couldn't say anything about it. Then it was sold but unannounced, so I couldn't say anything about it. Then, when it was finally announced, I was so far into the writing process that I couldn't force myself into the normal flow of word counts and benchmarks and all the other things I use for motivation.

Pro tip: I work better with word counts and benchmarks. I know this now.

Friday I wound up staying home from my day job, thanks to an inability to breathe that was only resolved when I had another of my amazing fire hose nosebleeds, or, as I like to call them, "blood vacations." (It's not high blood pressure, it's a weakness in one of the blood vessels that runs through my sinuses. My doctor and I have discussed it. So please, no medical advice.) And once I mopped up the blood and got some clean clothes on, I got to work, and quietly, without any real fanfare, passed 500 draft one pages.

It's not a perfect book, by any means; for one thing, it's missing about 8,000 words still, and for another, it hasn't had any editorial, which means that all the Mira Grant "tics"—repetition, over-explanation, Joss-y dialog—are in full display, with no mitigation. But I can see the shape of what will be a good book, once we finish kicking the crap out of it, and that's very reassuring to me.

It will be awesome.
Tags: being productive, good things, medical fu, parasite, writing
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  • 100 comments

donaithnen

June 11 2012, 19:58:13 UTC 5 years ago

Apropo of nothing, last week a friend said that she was in need of books to read, so i went by Barnes & Noble to get a real live physical copy of "Feed" to loan her, since i'd originally read the ebook version. But when i got there i couldn't find it! How could they not have Feed?!?!?! It's the first book in a multiple-Hugo nominated series whose finale just came out! Entirely unacceptable! This was an outrage! A travesty! An... oh wait, i need to be looking under "Grant", not "McGuire" don't i?

(Said friend did receive the book in good order, and i am informed started reading it last night at midnight, and finished the whole thing about 3:45, much to the detriment of her sleep schedule =)

seanan_mcguire

June 12 2012, 00:21:18 UTC 5 years ago

That does help, I've found. I do that occasionally, too.

donaithnen

June 13 2012, 02:58:42 UTC 5 years ago

Oh, and i forgot to mention, while talking about Feed afterwards she said she was frustrated that the weird brother/sister relationship was developed but then dropped without ever getting resolved. Heh heh heh heh. (And yes, i'm loaning her the other two books tomorrow =)

seanan_mcguire

June 14 2012, 20:17:31 UTC 5 years ago

Yay!