Cracking the WIP

I think every writer knows this moment, when the novel you've been wrestling with suddenly turns and rolls over, like a dog baring its submissive belly and says, "Yes, okay, you win. The way is clear. Go on, now."

Ahh, I do like this.

Of course, I suspect most writers also know the moment that can follow - when the dog, having given you your brief belly-rubbing moment, leaps up and locks your wrist in a death-grip, and the dance begins again.

But that's another story altogether (hopefully).

For now, back to work, with guarded optimism.

* WIP = Work In Progress

Leaf of My Senses

So I've finished the marking and the copyediting and the translating and the accounting and most of the extension planning (take that, grout colours!) and some of the other random bits and pieces that were clamouring for my fickle attentions. And I've cleaned my desk. Not completely, but the thing is, despite my many friends who emailed me to say "Call that a mess? This is a mess!"  it was never really about the mess anyway. It was about the fact that there were just too many different things in there, too many disconnected and sometimes competing demands on my time and increasingly limited brainpower. I can take the mess, as long as it's not pulling me in too many directions at once.

But that's not the point of this post. The point of this post is this:

In partially cleaning my desk, I found the leaf - whole and flat and entirely unbroken despite the chaos of its surrounds. That has to be a symbol of something, surely?

It's the return of the writing desk and it's just in time for the school holidays, of course, but that's okay. It seems to be how things work around here, but when there are novels brewing, they will make their way into the light, school holidays or no.

There is other news on the horizon too, which is the current source of both excitement and blind panic. But I can't tell you about that, not quite yet.

The Trailer is Parked!

Remember Pile #4 from my last post? Wherein I vowed to finish my book trailer and upload it somewhere other than my desk?

Well, I've done it. It took a very late night and a certain quantity of hair-pulling but it's done and it's on YouTube and pretty soon it'll no doubt be a viral #1 hit all over the world.

Or not, but in any case, it will be done, and off my desk, and that is all to the good.

This is the outcome of a writingWA/ASA Book Trailer Workshop a small group of WA writers were fortunate to attend over the last couple of weeks. It was a lot of fun, and a bit of stress, as we staggered towards the deadline with only the barest grasp on what we were doing (or perhaps that was just me?), but I'm told it only gets easier from here. In fact, I'm actually looking forward to getting final images for my 2010 books so I can start thinking about trailers for those too.


Here's what I came up with for The Big Dig (let's see if I've learned enough to embed this without causing a rift in the space-time continuum).




According to YouTube, videos similar to mine include "Sea Lion Surfing" and "Sheep on the Roof". Intriguing.