ROW80 Round 5 - 14th Update

Well, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of last week didn't see much added to my word count (I think those days are generally going to be low productivity-wise since those are my most work-filled days, and by the end of it I can't be bothered doing anything even when I do get home). I made up for it Friday, Saturday and Sunday, cranking out another 4,000 words in total (don't know what the count was for each individual day since I was too lazy to check) for my new story, bringing me to about the 10,000 word mark. It still doesn't really have a plot; all I have so far are the two main characters and a few random scenes, which will more than likely be cut once I figure out what the characters are meant to do. This is one of the few times I've thought of the characters before a plot, and it's a bit weird to work with. In all my other stories, the plot came first, followed quickly by the characters who put that plot into motion. Maybe I should give these two a self-help book each so they can work out what to do with their life -.-

Today I wrote another paragraph for my main WiP (yes, one paragraph. Break out the champagne). I'm trying to get back in the mindset for this story, since it's the one I care about more and want to finish more, but the other dumb story won't leave me alone. I've been listening to the music that originally inspired this story in the hopes it would take me back there, but it's only half working (if anyone else has any suggestions for writing exercises etc that might help with this, fire away).

I've also started a little painting with the new acrylics that arrived the other week. Didn't get off to a promising start, though, so I had a minor tanty and packed it all away again; in fact, I'll probably just gesso over it and start again tomorrow after work. Hopefully I'll have something to show for my next update. It's been a while since I painted with acrylics, so at the moment watching me paint is a bit like watching a budgie try to eat noodles with a spanner or something equally ridiculous. I also must remember to wear clothes I don't care about; I managed to splatter paint everywhere and now my previously-plain shirt looks like it was decorated by Jackson Pollock (still, I think half the fun of painting is getting it all over everything, including yourself).


Sure you can, Judgemental Dog. Just as soon as I finish writing it... *slinks away*

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ROW80 Round 5 - 13th Update

I know, I know, I've been a bit naughty and missed the last two updates. The first one was because I hadn't really done a lot worth writing about, and the second was because I was busy with work (both jobs) and writing. What I lacked in productivity for the first half of last week I made up for in the second. Oh yes, I made up for it. *cue maniacal laughter*

Three days in a row, I managed to get a little bit done on my main novel in progress, Dark and Silent Waters. I think I got around 2,000 new words for that story, which was pretty awesome since I'd been lagging on it a bit lately. But the real fun started when I started playing around on 750words.com after seeing other people talking about it in the ROW80 Facebook group. Since DASW is kind of 'solidified' in my mind, I found it difficult to be as spontaneous with that story, so instead I decided to start hammering out some of the other story (the one that was a random mash-up of genres) that's been bugging me lately. It seems to be settling more into the fantasy Feudal Japan setting, so at least it has some direction... sort of (and it still seems to want to develop into a romance, though I have no idea why). Hoping to at least get something out of it, I started story-rambling in 750 words... and ended up getting more than 1,000 words three days in a row. Yesterday I actually wrote 5,000 words, which is more than I usually write in a week. Sure, most of them are probably rubbish, but hopefully now that I'm back in writing mode, I can keep up the momentum. At this stage I have what could be an opening (or perhaps second) chapter for the story, which makes me happy; I like to write chronologically, but usually I just can't and end up bouncing around through my story in any old order.

I do feel guilty about not working on my main WiP. I really want to finish it, since I feel like it has potential and I also feel like it's something I can finish, if only I can work out a few small plot kinks. But this new idea is so shiny and fun and it's eating all my creativity :( I've already got around 6,000 words for it, after only a few days of writing, which I suppose is a good thing, but I really wish I could have added those 6,000 words to DASW instead.

Anyhoo, I have to go finish marking some uni stuff before bed. Adios!

Judgemental Dog was so pleased with my progress he even dressed up for the occasion:

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P.S. More Judgemental Dog news: Late last week the vet said we could decrease Rex's medication for his bowel disease to two doses a week. This has made a huge difference to him. He's basically back to his maniac-puppy self, bouncing around like a fool and full of energy. His appetite seems to have returned with a vengeance, since he is now eating all of his food at mealtimes (and then trying to scam some from us as well; he nearly knocked off my ham roll the other day, living up to his Austrian crime-fighting namesake). His paw is completely healed, which means we've been able to take him for a few walks (only short walks, though; every day lately has either been scorching hot or full of torrential rain as is typical for Melbourne). He'll have to be on the medication for a while longer, but at least at this stage it seems he'll beat this bout of the disease as well.

ROW80 Round 5 - 12th Update

I missed the last check-in, but that was because I was busy writing (so I don't think Judgemental Dog will be too hard on me). Unfortunately a lot of it went towards some other random story, but at least a few thousand words went towards my dark fantasy novel. I'm still stuck on the last scene of chapter two; it's almost like I'm afraid to write it because I know it will be crap. Still, I keep plugging away at later chapters, in the (possibly vain) hope that it will somehow prod my brain into punching out the early chapters. I also have one half-chapter or so that I really like, but that I think will probably have to be cut out because of plot/continuity issues. Hopefully I can salvage some of it.

Yesterday I got my revised thesis/journal article back from my supervisor, so now that I've made the last few small changes (delete a sentence here, rephrase a sentence there), it will be good to submit to the journal :D Since uni starts back next Monday and I'll be tutoring two days a week (as well as working four days at my other job), it will be good to have it off my plate.

The review on my Sakura Koi watercolour paints I wrote last week seems to have been getting a lot of hits, so I'm wondering if I should make art reviews a regular thing on my writing blog. It would be a good way to exercise my non-fiction writing muscles (with all my art supplies I'm in no danger of running out of material lol). It will also give me an excuse to buy the new range of water soluble wax pastels Derwent has just brought out :D I should also start doing book reviews again, since I haven't done one since late last year.

I also checked up on my illustrated children's book, Belvedere, and discovered that in the last week I've sold two more copies. I know it's not much, but still... Yay! :)

I haven't had any chocolate or energy drinks in the last week (I know, people who know me are going "WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH THE REAL BEC?!") since I'm actually trying to be a bit healthier. Plus I figure the less I spend on sugary stuff, the more money I'll have for art supplies and books :D I can pretty much feel my synapses hammering at the inside of my skull, shrieking at me to eat something sweet.

I would shank a mo-fo for some M&Ms right now, is all I'm saying.

No Judgemental Dog photo this week. Instead (because I was really really bored) I decided to make a Judgemental Dog video. Here is His Judgemental Holiness playing with the new toy I got him, a giant novelty tennis ball:


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ROW80 Round 5 - 11th Update

Since my last update, I finally managed to meet one of my ROW80 goals for this round; finishing the first draft of my thesis in journal format. I managed to get it from 70 pages or so to around 18, and I've just got it back from my supervisor. Luckily there were no major changes that needed to be made, so I've spent today just fixing up all the little bits and will soon send it back for another look.

For the rest of this week, I want to squeeze in some writing and some painting, as well as mucking around with my modelling clay. I did a bit of writing last night and a bit more this morning; not much in the way of new stuff, just fidgeting with chapter 1 again, since I want to give the second draft of it to my workshopping group to look at. I've had a few ideas for paintings and created a few sketches, so hopefully my artistic muse will smile upon me this week and let me bring some of them to life in more detail. I had a bit of a play with my art supplies today, attempting a small watercolour painting of a rainbow lorikeet (below) and a pastel drawing (which came out crap because apparently I'm just rubbish at using pastels). Since I was bored, I wrote an art supply review on the paints I used for the lorikeet; you can read it here.


I also fell off the wagon and bought more art supplies -.- But it wasn't my fault, they had a huge sale on making it like a hundred bucks cheaper than if I bought the same stuff in Australia and I couldn't help it :O Still, Rex is on a lower dose of medicine now, and I've worked a bit of overtime lately, so at least I won't have to live on canned soup and noodles since I spent most of my money on art supplies...

Judgemental Dog thinks life should be all work and no play.

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ROW80 Round 5 - 10th Update

Short update this week, since I have to go to work soon and I don't have that much to report. I haven't quite finished my thesis but I should have it done by tonight, or tomorrow morning at the earliest. I just have one more section to finish (it's a pig of a section though) and some formatting to do and then I can email it to my supervisor. After that I'll just have to wait til she sends some feedback, so I can revise it and hopefully send it off to a journal for publication. I want to return to the conference paper I wrote last year as well, so I can try to get that published too, but I'll most likely end up doing some sort of artsy stuff; I got some modelling clay on sale the other day so I want to see what I can do with it.

Healthwise, Judgemental Dog continues to improve; he's a lot more cheerful and bouncy than he's been in a long time, and he seems able to walk normally now, without any pain. He's starting to get a bit hyper though; he needs a good walk, but we're not allowed to take him for a walk for at least another week, just to make sure his paw is completely healed. Since the infection had got into the bone, he's got to stay on the medication for at least another week, but it looks like he'll avoid needing surgery.

Judgemental Dog should have no reason to nip me this week.

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ROW80 Round 5 - 9th Update

Since last check in I've finished editing another section of my thesis (the methodology). Only a small section, but at least it's still another bit that's out of the way. Wednesday and Thursday weren't too bad for productivity, but Friday I had one of those days where I woke up and just knew I wasn't going to do anything useful (so I went shopping instead XD). Then, when I settled in on Saturday for what was meant to be a whole day to myself, my old man decided to clean the house to within an inch of its life (even though it was cleaned on Thursday) and to be as noisy as possible while he was doing it, occasionally nagging me to fix something he'd messed up in the first place. Knowing that even if I got into the writing frame of mind I'd probably be interrupted straight away, it was very difficult to stay focused on what I was doing, and today wasn't much better (it did mean I got to spend some time reading though, which was good).

I am struggling to make myself adapt to writing in a non-quiet environment. Ideally I like to work in silence when writing non-fiction/academic stuff (if I'm writing my novel I like quiet music that suits the scene/genre I'm writing), but I don't think I'm ever going to get that while I'm living at home (and I can't afford to move out yet). It seems that every time I set aside writing time lately, my family decides they have to pester me every five minutes or have their TV cranked up to maximum volume. And yes, I have tried asking them for peace and quiet when I need to work on something, but they insist on disrupting me. They know they're doing it; they just don't care. For now all I can do is try to do my writing late at night and early in the morning and say, "To HELL with a healthy sleeping pattern!" Though now I'm starting to get a cold. In the middle of summer. Poo.

I did get some good news though; the other day my Honours supervisor called me and asked if I wanted to tutor in one of the subjects she was teaching, so I'll be teaching three classes a week for that subject, and hopefully more in some other subjects as well (the official staff line-up won't really be decided til the end of Feb). This will give me something else to fill in my days apart from my normal retail job in the evenings, and it will be a good boost for my bank account. I'm also meeting my supervisor later this week to discus my thesis, so I need to make sure it's done by February 7, so I can email it on Wednesday. If I don't get it done, I will offer my rump to Judgemental Dog for a good, solid nip.

On the Judgemental Dog front; on Thursday evening we got a call from the vet with Rex's blood test results. They said we can decrease his medication from two doses per day to one. Not only will this be good for us (the medicine will last longer so we won't have to pay for it as often, cushioning the cost a bit), but it's already making a difference to Rex; though he's still not eating much, he's a lot happier and more like his old self. Since the weather is so hot, he's not up to doing much anyway, but hopefully once the cooler weather comes he'll start being more active, and working up an appetite to go with it.

Judgemental Dog tries to protect his mistress from the dreaded Desk Goblins, with varying degrees of success...

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ROW80 Round 5 - 8th Update

Since my last update I've got a few more pages culled from my thesis. I think my literature review section is more or less okay as it is (have cut it down from 16 pages to about 5), so next I'll be trying to cut down the methodology, prototype description and results sections (which will involve a lot of fart-arsing around to redo all the screenshots and diagrams). The last week or so has been a bit of a washout as far as productivity goes; between the constant interruptions, stressing about the dog and lack of sleep (yes, those last two are probably related), I've had difficulty focusing on my thesis to really get anything done. Needless to say I haven't made my deadline, which makes me feel bad. I feel like I should have started it earlier - and I probably should, after uni I had a month of not really doing anything since I was burned out from study - but it annoys me a bit that, as soon as I decided to start on it, life kept getting in my way (lesson to self; don't take time off, it will only end badly). I really wanted to have it emailed to my supervisor, but all I can really do is finish it as soon as possible and send it to her when it's done.

Now that I can stress less about the dog (will get to this soon), I should be able to concentrate a bit more, so I'm going to set a new deadline for Monday February 6th. I'm working nearly every day until then, but mostly only short shifts in the evening, so I should still have enough time during the day to make some good progress. I want to get it out of the way so I can get back into writing my novel. And I've applied for more tutoring work this year, so if I do end up getting some, I don't want to have to still be worrying about getting my thesis revised and published.

Anyway, to end the update on a good note: We took Rex to the vet last night, fearing that his limp was caused by a displaced hip and knowing that, if this was the case, we'd probably be forced to put him down (a $2000 operation on top of the $2000 we're already paying for his medication for his other disease would have been beyond us, especially since he's so old and ill that the operation could well kill him). Basically for the last several days, we'd all been mentally preparing ourselves to say goodbye to our faithful old dog. However, XRays showed no structural problems in either his hips or his paws (well, his hips have always been a bit dodgy, but they're no worse now than when he was young).

Instead, on examining his paw, the vet concluded that it's simply an infection in his paw (albeit a fairly serious one), possibly caused by a grass seed or something picked up while he was walking. He has to have some fairly hardcore antibiotics for the next two weeks, and he may need some minor surgery to clean it out if it doesn't come good by itself, but considering how worried we were, it's a pretty good outcome. Dad's been washing his paw with an antiseptic lotion, and already the dog is able to walk almost normally (still with a visible limp, but at least he can put weight on his leg now). We also managed to get him to eat a whole bowl of food (we had to pour chicken gravy all over it, but it's a start), so hopefully his appetite will start to return.

Judgemental Dog is just never satisfied.

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