Wed, Jan. 29th, 2025 09:15 pm
annarti: (i ded)
I'm in paaaaaaain D: Today's fitness was running up a frigging hill. I run on the beach. I wonder how it manages to register 12m gained over 5km when I'm running right on the shoreline. 400m uphill, then 400m back down, 2 minute rest, four times. My calves are feeling it, 'sgonna be even worse tomorrow D: Thankfully no fitness scheduled, so I'll go for a walk around the botanic gardens instead.

On Saturday we went to the Women's Ashes at Adelaide Oval 💚 Absolutely dominant performance. Every match, England's been getting better and better, til the previous match in Canberra where it came down to them needing 22 of the last over, they got a four off the first ball of it, then it started raining and we won on Duckworth-Lewis. We probably still would've won but damn I would've loved to have seen the end. Anyway, come around to Adelaide, annnnnd that was a flogging. I even fluked filming the catch of the night! During the innings break, a kid was being interviewed in the crowd and they finished by asking him to give us a cheer, to which he went, 'Let's go, Strikers, let's go!' The Strikers are the local Adelaide team. We were watching Australia X3 BUT three of the players, including the skipper, are indeed Strikers, so y'know what kid you weren't far off.

After the win we got selfies with all the players bar Darcie Brown, the Thunder from Kapunda, because idk she forgot to go north of the dugout after the game. She's one of the three Strikers so it's not like I won't see her around again, but still. At least I got a photo with ma girl TMac 💚

Final match starts tomorrow, which is the Test at the G under lights 🤩 omg so excite.

Australia Day barbie on Sunday was delightful :D Up at Mum and Dad's so it was, like, 32 degrees, perfect barbie weather and a very chill afternoon. We ended up in the pool with a bottle of cider just floating around and having good conversation. This is what Australia Day is to me. I know there's ~*controversy*~ around it being Invasion/Survival Day, and I'm sure its days of being on 26 January are numbered, but so long as it's in summer and we get a public holiday for it, I don't care when it is. There's a case to be made for May 8, cos it sounds like maaaaate, but May is way too late for a barbecue and floating in the pool with a cider, so no. My vote is for, like, the third Monday in January or something equally irrelevant. Always a long weekend, not tied to any date, everybody's happy. But it's gotta be chill and have plenty of sport surrounding it.

I've aaaalmost finished the alchemist fic. I think it works? I'm not as proud of it as the tree prison one but it's only 1000 words. Maybe I'll get better at writing shorts over the course of the year. 'But you used to do these challenges all the time!' Yeah but they were never self-contained. That's the challenge here, and it's really ruling out using my established characters. I'm still determined to write in Tsyllaes (though this alchemist one's not entirely canon, since I've got a very clearly established way magic works and alchemy ain't it) cos I don't want to give up on this world. Even if I've given up on SH, way too much time and research has gone into Tsyllaes to just throw it all away. There are still thousands of stories I can write in Tsyllaes. Sucks absolute arse to try and accept it, but SH just isn't one of them.

Mon, Dec. 9th, 2024 07:40 pm
annarti: (Green Shyguy)
OKAY had thoughts while running. Cos it was 49 minutes and I can't help but think and plan and plot and whatever.

SO.

I'll edit the Silent Harmony two chapters I've got written, then I'll call it done*.

Next year, I'll enter some competitions and hunt down some publications and such, write shorts and have fun.

Then I'll do Novelember again, this time something with the aim of actually getting it published. I'm thinking something with a fortune teller, cos I really need to properly nut out how all that works and that'd be helpful. Then spend a good chunk of time getting it looking gorgeous and tight and fling it around at every publishing house I can think of and see if I can get it published. Maybe art for it through the year and get a following on Tumblr/other arting places? idk. Hard when I'm not an arteest.

Maybe then, by 2026, I'll be ready to make a call on SH. Cos shit knows I can't write it while nobody's reading it. I can't express how much my hope just fizzled and died when I opened the file at lunch time today.



* for now

Mon, Dec. 9th, 2024 02:31 pm
annarti: (i ded)
Since the last post, I've read a couple of books, written a porny Novelember* and generally taken a break from SH. Novelember was so much fun, omg. Loved watching those boys develop from not knowing them to suddenly having a relationship after a month. I just finished editing it over the weekend, nothing major, just some typos and fixing of clunky sentences but nothing wholesale.

Lunch today, finally opened up SH again, scrolled back to chapter 19 where I'm up to just the last read-through before it's ready to go... and my shoulders slumped, eyes stinging, brain wondering what's the point.

So yeah. Distance ain't cutting it.




* Replacement for NaNoWriMo since that went down the toilet this year. Same concept, no arseholes involved.
annarti: (i ded)
tl;dr I give up. Silent Harmony is as done as it's ever going to be. I finished the first draft and at least made it to chapter 20 of the rewrite of Rust, which was categorically the worst bit of the whole story, so I'll just have to be happy enough with that. I'm not, but I'm done. I'm so fucking done.

Soul searching goes here )

Will I even participate in NaNoWriMo this year as planned? Honestly I don’t know. I’m extremely down right now and can’t honestly see that changing before November, but… that cynical optimist in me will still keep hoping. Not that this is a cry for help anymore—I did that in May and got crickets—but hey, maybe someone’ll read it that way and throw me a life saver.

Mon, Jan. 6th, 2020 02:15 pm
annarti: (Green Shyguy)
Happy New Year! I feel I can more properly say that now because on Friday night, I took myself down to the Horizons coctail lounge overlooking the (highly smoke-affected) sunset and I finished Silent Harmony. I feel like, since beginning of NaNo, I've kinda had just EVERYTHING on hold in favour of finishing this thing, so now I have it really feels like a new year. I was just thinking earlier today, with some actual nice weather this week, I'll be able to take my laptop to the botanic gardens as I've always planned to do and do some wri--no, wait, there's nothing to write. WELL THEN.

Random old dude came and tried chatting to me when I was literally five paragraphs from the end I MEAN. I know I'm on my own in a cocktail bar on a Friday night but PLEASE. NO.

Just as I'd finished and was posting my margarita of triumph to Instagram, another random sat down to start chatting, this time an Aboriginal chick. One of the most interesting conversations and fascinating people I've ever met. She started out by saying how I looked intelligent, because of the Word doc and clearly not being on Facebook or whatever, so I said YEP just finished a novel I've been working on since I was 18! So we got to talking about how words and language are sexy, and how cats are better dependents than children, and how nice it is just coming down to the beach and getting a cocktail/wine. She's a nursing technician mostly working in elective surgery but sometimes shoved into Emergency, so with my sister-in-law as a nurse we talked a bit about how you see the best and worst of humanity in a job like that.

Came back around to language again, which led into herritage, me being of bog-standard white Aussie nothingness while she was brought up in a Jehova's Witness family. WTF says me? Cos that's weird enough normally, let alone Aboriginal Jehova's Witnesses. Oh yeah, says she, because I was adopted into an English/Irish family. Well, 'adopted,' cos I was one of the Stolen Generation, and oh dear my glass is empty, lemme just go get a top-up, can I get you another one? Oh, no, I'm driving and this is my second cocktail for the evening already and also holy shit???

JUST

CASUALLY DROPPED IN THERE. STOLEN GENERATION.

FRIG

I swear she was about my age, but nope, 46. She's since found her biological family, including two or three siblings, and SEEMS to have a good relationship with everyone. Including the English/Irish Jehova's Witnesses. Like, all through our conversation she used 'Mum' to refer to either or. idk it was in parts refreshing and disturbing to hear her so casual about it? Like... I've never met one of the stolen generation. The only time I've ever encountered them has been on TV, when they're generally very angry and bitter and, in a lot of cases, guilt-trippy. So to meet someone who's just chill with her life, it's like... idk. Good onya for being able to get your shit together, thank you for not having a chip on your shoulder towards all white people even tho you have literally the best reason in the world to be pissed at white Australia... yeah. I said none of this at the time because I was still in the middle of processing HOLY SHIT and by then conversation moved on. Like I said, just casually dropped it in there.

More casual chat, how scary bushfires are, how I live in the Hills and have my own place, she's living in a Housing Trust home which I thought was... odd, for a nursing technician? Dunno how much they earn but I would've thought it could fund a rental place. Turns out she's recently (I got the feeling no more than a year ago) gotten out of an abusive relationship, and left with just her car and the cats. She went to get Government support and they've given her the Housing Trust home, which I was pleasantly surprised by. She did the heartbreaking thing of not blaming him, or rather, trying to blame him but feeling guilty for doing so. He had scizophrenia, but chose to take marijuana instead of his medication, and that made him paranoid that everyone, especially she, was out to kill him. Like, driving past roadworks and saying she paid them off to make him crash into the roadworks and die, that kind of thing. Bashed her up badly, hence the finally getting out.

So I told her she was incredibly brave. For getting out, for asking for help after it, for keeping herself on track and holding down the job even in the midst of all that. Just, so brave.

She said she still felt guilty for leaving him, cos he was unwell. He needed help.

Yeah, I said, but it's not your job to care for him. It's not your fault. It's not your job to look after him.

It was like a lightbulb moment for her. She just looked at me for a moment and went, 'Nobody's ever told me that. That it's not my job.'

GIRL. GIRL. I can't even. I'm glad she's finally heard it, at least? More importantly, she was very drunk by this point, but very much of the thinking over her words and still making intelligible conversation kind of level, so hopefully she remembered it the next morning, too.

So there you go! That was the night I finished Silent Harmony! Most fascinating conversation ever. You go, girl.

NaNoWriMo 2019

Fri, Nov. 29th, 2019 08:25 pm
annarti: (This post is all about cricket)
I'm 1500 words off of winning NaNo with Steel with a full Saturday still to play with, so I thought I'd take a bit of a break to... write about writing. YEP. I was going to go to the cricket this evening after work, but the weather is shit. It's cold and wet and there's no heating at the Oval. Despite that, it's day one of the Test and we've already had half the attendance of the entire Gabba Test, and they had gorgeous weather. Suck it, Brisbane.

Anyway. I've tried NaNo once before with SH, I think it was during Tarnish, and failed horribly. Last year I challenged myself to 60k, despite being in Sydney for the first three days of the month, and still finished I think with like two days to spare. The pressure is so much more with SH. I feel like I have to make it good. It's not just a fun romp through the desert/forest/ocean/castle/whatever. This is the last novel! Shit's gotten real!

Also, if I do manage to get a full chapter done and posted tomorrow, I'll have written 11 chapters in a month. Even if I don't get that full chapter done tomorrow, there's nowhere near 11 chapters left in the book.

...

8DDD

I am on a rollSteel right now, and there are a few things I'd really like to make happen before I go anywhere, just some cute little flavour touches. For each kingdom, I'd like to make up, say, ten of the following to have as things to pick at whenever they come up in-story:

Animals (mammals, birds, reptiles, fish and insects. Maybe 2-3 of each)
Fruit
Vegetables
Meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner, nibblies/snacks; 2-3 of each here, too)

World history would also be useful. Outside of what Yan was up to, I've really got nothing. Comes from living in a country with almost nothing recorded prior to about 200 years ago, I think. I'm not used to a thousand years of history. The more I've written of ancient history, the more tempted I am to make the founding of Raykin into a NaNo. Watch this space.

That's all I wanted to mention. Lessee about that final 1.5k...

EDIT 11PM WON NANO 50k :D

Happy New Year!

Thu, Jan. 3rd, 2019 12:09 am
annarti: (Default)
My New Year's Eve was significantly smaller than it has been in previous years--just me, Mum and Dad with copious cocktails and the Sydney fireworks on telly. Still, was a nice, quiet evening.

Earlier that day I also bought a tray of pratia from the local native plants nursery, then planted them all down the front end of the garden. The place is in the middle of the Belair National Park and I had no idea it was there until Mum took me back in September-ish. Normally I get them from Bunnings for about $6 per plant. From this nursery, though, they're normally $4 per plant, and because I got the whole tray they did it for me at wholesale, $2.90 per plant. If only I'd known about this longer! This is pretty much the last I'll need to get of it, I hope. I've got them spotted all over the back area now, so it's up to them to grow into themselves. The far end, where I planted them in autumn, have pretty much covered the ground with just a couple of bald patches yet to go. I'll leave the whole lot for a year or so, then any remaining patches I can fill in with a few new plants. It's looking good, though, and there's enough there that I can walk on it. It's so, so soft and cool, much nicer to walk on than lawn. Love it. The only remaining garden plan now is calla lilies, which will go in where the daffodils are, but I'll need to wait until you can get bulbs of those. Daffodils come up in August, die back in October, lilies come up to replace them in October/November. It'll be glorious.

Meanwhile, my holiday is sliding away too quickly. Four days left? Seriously? I'd hoped to write a chapter or two at least, but I've only just been able to start on such things today. I did get all the memories added for [community profile] figjam and [community profile] yrae, so that's that off my back. God it was dull, though it did get me wanting to write again. I used to write a LOT of minifics, doing those 15min fics and such once a day for years. I also went a long, long time between chapters. Like, a quick chapter was a month, and that's when I was at uni and living with Mum and Dad. This year I'm hoping to hit chapter 20. I feel like last year I really hit the groove of how to consistently write chapters--write about them in the Spoiler Book before writing the chapter itself. It's amazing how many issues I could easily out in that time, instead of coming up against a block midway through page two and just waiting until it sorted itself out, usually four months down the track when I'd finally realise I needed to backtrack and start the whole section again. Now, though, I think I've got it. Let's see how this practice will apply to Steel.

Ummmmm... It's hot. I've been watering the garden every day over 30, which has meant every day since I knocked off work. Tomorrow is 41, so that's fun. (no it isn't). I will park myself in front of the cricket and hopefully bang out the rest of this chapter.

Sat, Oct. 13th, 2018 10:26 pm
annarti: (go away or I shall taunt you a 2nd time)
Okay, so, what in the high holy shit has LJ done to memories now? They don't appear to function. Previously it's been a list of keywords, click your keyword, and you get a list of entries in order of when they were added to the list of memories. Now though? I don't even know how this functions. Already you can see it's just posting the full entries, not links to the entries, which is GREAT for if you want to start from the beginning of the list (it's not).

Through that, for example, I challenge you to find the chapter I just posted, which is the prologue for Steel (I know, I'm excited, too 8D). It's under 'Silent Harmony Chapters', which makes sense, yeah? So you select that memory from the dropdown, sort entries by Order Added... and top of the list is Gold: Twenty-Five. Then comes Gold: Nineteen... Fifteen... Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven, Two... What the shit even. Maybe it's on the next page? Click Previous Page (I mean...) and it's General Nimay's Character Design. That's not even under the category of Silent Harmony Chapters. Neither is General Nimay in the Big Book of Stuff. The next post by giraffe_warrior isn't even in the yrae journal. So it's at that point that I gave up and came here to bitch.

I'm just going to have to make a new post with the list of chapters and update that periodically, because this is ri-goddamn-diculous.

On the plus side, I wrote a prologue! I may even have an actual full chapter before Cassie gets here and then NaNoWriMo starts the week after. That'd be cool. Wouldn't that be cool? Hell yeah.

I also bought pjs. On Wednesday, the pair of pants that'd gotten a hole in the knee at the beginning of the week gave up the ghost, and by morning the hole reached all the way from ankle to hip, because this is how holes in flannelette pjs go. So I chucked them out, put on my other pair of flannelette pants on Thursday night, and as soon as I sat down they split right up the arse. So that's the story of how I lost two pairs of pj pants in two days. I used the last of my Myer voucher to get two pairs of silk pjs, mostly because I'm sick of how flannelette barely lasts a year and I'm hoping silk will last longer. We'll see. One pair is black and hella comfortable, and the other is black with flowers and also hella comfortable. I feel swanky.

Sun, May. 27th, 2018 12:52 pm
annarti: (see it's like this...)
Yesterday, I finished Gold! Book three of Silent Harmony is finally done! I am so, so very stoked. I love everything. I'm quite proud of how it all came together, after so many bombshells the characters dropped on me all through it. One book to go, and I have effectively zero ideas for it. Thiras will turn up somewhere, but that's all I've got. I don't know the ending, I don't know the beginning, it's wide open.

For each book I've had a preceding (sort of) NaNo to develop the featured kingdom (Vermilion for Llayad, Bouquet for Kazin and, to a lesser extent, Blade Archer for Raykin. I'd been doing so many shorts around that time, though, that Raykin was already pretty well-developed by that point) so I'll give a shot at a NaNo for Tsayth, too. I mean, working full time will make such things tricky, but I'll try! Between now and then, I'll read back over Tarnish and Gold as I did Rust at the beginning of the year and get Thoughts together for the rewrite (because boy oh boy do I have Thoughts on Rust already), and I'll get a plan and maybe an outline together for Steel.

I've also worked out a method the last few months while I've been on a roll: write about the chapter in the spoiler book before I write the actual chapter. It's been great for nutting out problems that would inevitably come up and otherwise become a block. See if I can keep that up for the last book. I might write the thing in a year, you never know. I'm excited! SO excited!

I had hoped to go to Bridgewater Mill yesterday to write the last chapter, purely so at the end of it I could have a celebratory cocktail, but unfortunately they were closed for a private function, so I finished it at Red Cacao instead. Somewhat fitting, since I've been there every Saturday for writing for the last month or so XD Then ordered a pizza with garlic bread for dinner, opened a nice bottle of Chris Ringland shiraz to go with it, and drew Nol looking far more badarse than he actually feels. So that was pretty cool. Still want to go get a cocktail somewhere for celebration, too.

I FINISHED GOLD! I'M SO HAPPYYYYYY!!!!!

Tue, Mar. 20th, 2018 09:58 pm
annarti: (see it's like this...)
It's amazing* how quickly writing happens when I have a solid plan and outline and when I know what's happening. Chapter in a week, woo! I have less of a chapter-by-chapter outline now and more of just a lump of plot points, arranged in such a way that would be nice if they happen that way. Now that I have a laptop with a battery that charges again, I'd love to do the oh-so-cliché coffee shop writing thing some day. I feel like it'd have to be either a really crappy, wintry day where you curl up in the corner of the bench seat, or a really gorgeous day to sit outside with an iced coffee. At this stage it'll proooobably be more the crappy weather day. It's very suddenly autumn now, cool nights and nice-to-meh days. But I'm getting sidetracked.

Whenever I come back to writing after a massive, usually involuntary break, I feel like I'm giving my old friends a big hug. I've missed these people so much! It's been 11 months since I wrote anything, but the last time I wrote Nol was in October 2015, and he wasn't even the POV character for that chapter. Previous Nol chapter was a few weeks before that. That is a LONG time between drinks. Don't lose the knack for him, though. He's still in my head as one of the three strongest voices. God I love 'im :< I hope things work out for him somehow, I really do. He needs a hug. Maybe I should make Assili hug him in the next chapter. That'd really confuse him.

I theoretically have about nine chapters left, and there are nine months left in the year. Never that simple, of course, but wouldn't it be nice? If no other characters throw spanners in the works and make me replot this thing again. I swear this is why Gold has been taking so long. The other two books didn't require such heavy replotting halfway through. There were some minor adjustments, but no bombshells I didn't see coming from the beginning. I keep saying it, but I can't wait until I've finished and can start on the rewrite. SO MUCH will suddenly make sense. I'll be able to cut swathes of useless threads away that end up going nowhere or contradicting things. Slip in foreshadowing and details about upcoming people and things and events. Make things make sense as they happen. Everything feels like such a clusterfuck right now--I started this current iteration in 2007 after three false starts, and if I knew how this thing was going to end I probably would've restarted a dozen more times before now, too. But I need to get to the end before I know what it is.

Am I weird for not knowing how it ends? I have ideas and theories, I know a few things that are going likely to come into play, but I mean geeze, the plot of Gold has changed so drastically since I first wrote the outline that I'm loathe to plan anything so far down the track as the end. When I get started on Steel, then I'll know where the end is. I just want Gold DONE so I can finally get to it. This is the year. I'll make damn sure of it.



* it's not

Tue, Feb. 27th, 2018 08:48 pm
annarti: (see it's like this...)
I got a good chunk of plotting done, know what's happening with the main plot for the rest of the story, but all the side-plots, mostly in Wensleydale, are just... ugh. They all feel so disjointed and nothing's tying back together. I keep reminding myself that there's still another book, I don't have to tie all the loose ends up in this one, but it'd be nice to tie up one or two, y'know? I've got all these potentially major events that, when I think about them, have no tangible effect whether the character/s live or die. But then if I try and make that event have an impact on the plot, then I've got yet another loose end. Finally bringing Raykin back into things, while awesome, has kinda made Llayad irrelevant. So that's. That's where things are there. Mrr.

Writing is hard. I still plan on having a(nother) rejigged outline complete this month, tho. Just you watch.

Sat, Feb. 24th, 2018 11:44 pm
annarti: (see it's like this...)
I did it I updated my portfolio! Some of the bugs are weird? The print galleries, for example, are off kilter by about 70 pixels. Unless you resize the window, and then it's instantly fine. I have no idea why and hence no idea how to fix it. But mostly, I've added new stuff I've designed in the two years since I created the thing, and it's now using Nexa instead of Conqueror for the font, because I've finally gotten bored of Conqueror. I also finished the printed version yesterday, so that's all ready to go and I can feel confident applying for jobs again. There are ten listed on Seek. There are NEVER ten listed on Seek. You're lucky to get two. So I'm not passing up this opportunity. Plan is to apply for them all tomorrow.

Also tomorrow, I'm hopefully going down to the beach, if the weather suits. Go for a run, have a swim, sit on the beach and plot Gold. No distractions, so it'll happen this time. Hopefully. I finished the last chapter in April that's how long I've been putting this off. But so much story-changing stuff happened! And I like all of it! I just don't know how to weave it all together with so many characters and subplots I'm balancing right now. It's intimidating, so I haven't even looked at it since then. I should do that. Reread everyone's most recent chapter so I remember where things are when I go to the beach tomorrow. This story needs to get back on track this year.

Sun, Jan. 8th, 2017 01:49 am
annarti: (see it's like this...)
I have not been killing my desk bromeliad(s)! It turns out dying is just a thing they do after they've flowered. I mean, I'm sure the day of direct sunlight on a 40-degree day probably sped up the process on the last one, but I still could've saved it.

Turns out, they only flower for about six months, then they start putting out little offshoots called pups, of which mine now has four. Once these are half the size of the plant, you can take them off and plant them as new plants while the mother keeps producing more. Its flower will die, as mine are in the process of doing right now, but the leafy bit will stay alive for another couple of years, by which point the little ones will be ready to flower and the cycle starts again.

My first one had put out one pup, but the rest of the thing was not looking happy after the said day of full sun, so the plant wouldn't have gone for those couple of years creating pups, but it at least had the one I could've saved. Woulda been nice to have had that on the tag when I'd bought it, but at least now I know. I'm not killing this one, it's just dying of its own volition. So that's nice to know.

The fern alongside it, which had been decimated by that 40-degree day to the point where it was reduced to two leaves sticking out of the dirt, has now fully recovered and is as fluffy and green as it was when I bought it. Hooray!

Also I've written a page of SH:Gold tonight! I've worked some shit out and now it's flowing again. I doubt I'll have it done by the end of my holidays (tomorrow =( ) but it's flowing and I'm reasonably confident about what's going on with the rest of it. Politics have been left to the politicians, leaving Nimay to hit things with a sword, drink beer, and figure out how to 'kill' Yan. I am le squee.

Sun, Jul. 12th, 2015 09:56 pm
annarti: (see it's like this...)
That moment when you get to a Pivotal Moment in the writing, and it's bed time.

You just know that, whether you write it or not, you're not getting to sleep for three hours.

Also Nimay's (as yet) irrational anger is making me angry. Damnit.

Wed, Jun. 24th, 2015 11:26 pm
annarti: (see it's like this...)
THERE I fixed my outline. Again. All that planning and making sure there weren't any holes and then BOOM characters go do their own thing and completely stuff everything up. Well, one character. Catalyst for everything else. BUT NOW IT WORKS AGAIN. Okay technically that one chapter at the end has nothing but [stuff happens] but lbr the whole thing'll change before I get there anyway. I know how I work.

Wed, Jun. 24th, 2015 07:33 pm
annarti: (see it's like this...)


=|

Thu, Jun. 4th, 2015 07:15 pm
annarti: (see it's like this...)
Nooooooooo don't tell me that Jetstar, not after I just booked my tickets last week! DAMNIT I could've saved $50. Now I'm peeved.

Finally got off my arse and got into work half an hour early this morning so I could leave at 4 and get more curtain samples. Still not totally sure. Getting a measure and quote on Tuesday after work, anyway, so we'll see then how they compare with Spotlight. I'd like to go locally if I can, but if the green can't be bright enough then... meh.

I finished formatting the two Silent Harmony books, so I'll see about getting them printed tomorrow. I know it won't happen until late next week at LEAST because of a massive job that's going to take our entire capacity for about three days solid, but at least I've got the artwork sorted.

Dinner time!

Wed, Jan. 30th, 2013 08:57 pm
annarti: (oooooooooh~)
I know I should really update on my Cassie holiday, but right now I have to celebrate a MILESTONE of ten years of Yrae Chronicles. Ten years ago today I met my twins in this completely random snippet thing. Back then I only had that image in my mind. Yamin's name fell onto the page, and because I didn't expect this thing to go anywhere, because I expected it to just be a random stand-alone thing, because I didn't want to lose my flow but still needed a sodding name for her sister, I just flipped Yamin's name in reverse.

Since then, Nimay's gone from being the general of the entire Raykinian army, quite handy but nothing spectacular with a sword, to being the general of just those fifteen blokes and ranked about number 4 in the kingdom with her sword (behind Rumal, Emon and Melraan). Also, according to how many fics I wrote on the topic, she was far more assassin than warrior. That's probably her biggest change.

Also Raykin hasn't gone to war in decades. And they ride camels, not horses. And the archers aren't nearly so dominant anymore. And wtf pushing fifty siege rams all the sodding way to Kazin. Though I do remember there was some internal conflict going on in Raykin at the time. I think it may have been halfway towards being Kazin, but the more I got to know those guys, the less merit the idea had. Raykin's too laid back to go to war with itself. Also the yrae is a shitload less impressive than it was back then because it has BOUNDARIES now and I know how the thing works. Took years to work that out. YEARS.

Yamin's pretty unchanged. She's always been shy but happy and friendly. Certain facts have been added, but as far as her character and role goes, she's the same as she was waaaay back at the beginning. NO WAIT. She used to be a scribe rather than a healer. I'm not sure why, tho a healer is a hell of a lot more use in SH now than a scribe was ever going to be. Man, if I'd persisted with the scribiness I'd probably ship her even harder with Nol than I do now >> My otp that will never happen <3

Yan doesn't appear in that fic, but he appeared later that night, along with a WHOLE bunch of story. Yan is the one I have least NO control over. None. I feel like with the twins, with Nol, with the Kazinians and the Own and everyone else, I'm the one changing their professions or giving them certain fears or hopes. Yes, they change on their own more often than not, but they're changes I expect and understand and all is good. Yan feels like a stranger who just rocked up as a complete person and I've only been finding things out about him, not giving life details to him. I learn something and realise I've been writing him wrong all this time and he just won't tell me at the time. He used to kill people on a whim. Now I'm not even sure he killed the twins' parents. I bet he could count the number of people he's killed, over four thousand years of not-life, on one hand. And he regretted every one of them for centuries. He just started out as 'the bastid' and kept that moniker until I realised Ni-Yana was named after him. Yes, the city's name came before the man's. SEE? Learn things about him but don't give them to him. He's the one I can ramble about the most but when it comes to writing him... god he's hard to get across.

AND THEN CAME NOL. I think. I have a funny feeling Melraan came first as the 'I need another army person *POOF*' character which is why he just epitomises the Own. But yes. Nolryn came in several months later (possibly in October, being as that's when his birthday is, but I'm not sure). He was evil. Genuinely he was the villain-who-wasn't-Yan. The charm was a façade to hide the evil. He was working with Yan and hadn't even been manipulated into it. And then he grew, as so often they do, and I think he's possibly my favourite now. As long as he's not talking politics, he's the easiest to write, and I don't think that's just because he's the only one of the three narrators I have at the moment who talks. He just feels like the most complete. The twins... still kind of feel like the product of a teenager's mind at times. Yan, as we've discussed, was not created so much as he rocked up and just let me figure him out as I went along.

The rest came as conscious decisions (I need a Llayan/healer friend/army master/Kazinian royal/parents for Nol/etc I KNOW HERE'S ONE *poof*) and more-or-less developed as I told them to. 'Cept Assili, she's come along much more than I was expecting her to, the little dear <3

Sum total, over a full decade, including two finished SH novels, three uncompleted SH:Rust drafts, one finished and two unfinished NaNovels, a handful of shorts and novellas and hundreds of minifics and writing memes and challenges: 886 245 words. You can bet your backside it'd be over a million if I counted the stuff I've written about it.

And there, all the way from day one a decade ago, there's been one person who's ridden right alongside me with it all. My Sallie, who's read just about every one of those nearly 900 thousand words (give it a month or two and she will have, I'm sure X3). For encouraging me with the crack and the serious, for letting me ramble and plot and throw characters at, for creating some of the most interesting people in Tsyllaes, for reading nearly a million words of my innermost everything: Thank you. I love you so so much. I feel like I'm writing it all for you as much as for myself. I had meant to draw you something awesome in thanks but the deadline has crept up on me much quicker than I was expecting! I'll draw you something this year, have no doubt <3

The other who of COURSE deserves a thing that I haven't yet drawn is Shanra. She's been the first to read every chapter since she hopped on several years back, and always offers the most invaluable advice (and inevitable squees and wails X3) over the course of the writing. You absolutely take to heart my 'rip it to shreds' rule of being a beta reader and I love you so much for it. I could not ask for better <3 It's your demands for MORE that get me off my arse to finish the next chapter X3 I love you. Thank you <3

To all those who've read anything of the Yrae Chronicles, be it a few random minis or the first couple of chapters of Silent Harmony (which, let's be honest, getting on a bit now) to those magnificent two who've persisted through to the end: Thank you all.

Also, this being the year of finishing things, next on the list is Blade Archer! I reread the whole of it last night to remind myself of what the hell's going on in that story, only took 3 hours or so, and I won't be rewriting any of that going forward. Being as that was NaNoWriMo 2004, MANY things have changed in Raykin since then, but I'll sum those things up when the next chapter gets posted. Going from 5000-word chapters back down to the NaNo version of 1667 will be odd but here goes!

Happy birthday, girls. Here's to many more <3

Fri, Dec. 23rd, 2011 11:57 pm
annarti: (Default)
I swear, one of my new year's resolutions will be to post more regularly so my entries aren't just filled with dot points. In the meantime, DOT POINT ENTRY!

o So I've been riding to work since the weather started fining up in October, and have only missed maybe three or four days since when it was raining and crap in the morning. Coupla weeks ago I had my first... well I'll call it a crash but really I was going no faster than walking speed and fell over. But yea. Riding between a line of parked cars and a line of cars waiting at the traffic lights, plenty of room, until a ute decides when I'm about a metre from his wing mirror to turn left. I ALMOST made it between the two cars but clipped my handlebar on the mirror and fell over. Bruise on one knee and a scab on the other, but my bike's handlebar kinda bent up at right angles. So I have a new bike now! It's black and green and has freaking SUSPENSION and it's pretty awesome. I love it a lot. Also the metro tickets I haven't been buying for public transport have just about paid for it anyway so yay!

o I WROTE TWO CHAPTERS. I haven't completed a chapter since NOVEMBER LAST YEAR. This is big news and requires CAPS.

o Smells like Teen Spirit is apparently only #2 on this Music Max party rock anthems countdown. Given that Max would like this song to top every countdown they do from love ballads to the big hair countdown*, I'd like to know what beats "here we are now; entertain us" in that. Stay tuned.

o Three weeks of annual leave started today! THIS IS AWESOME AND ALSO REQUIRES CAPS. I haven't had this much solid time off since school.

o Sweet Child of Mine. I disagree with this.

o So far in my Christmas haul of work and my amazing housemate Anna P: Shitloads of chocolate, biscuits and lollies, Swarovski crystal necklace and matching earrings (more on this later), and a bike helmet and riding gloves. Naughty girl bought me TWO presents. If I'd known I would've gotten a selection of cheeses to go with the cheese board. She's too good to me <3

o I got so pissed off with my other housemate on Tuesday night that I decided not to give her her present, so Anna P and I split the box of Haigh's choc chip shortbread biscuits between us last night. Basically, Mum invited them both up for my standard Tuesday dinner in the Hills last week. Sunday, housemate was finally able to say she wouldn't be free. Tuesday night, as Anna P and I were working out logistics via text, I got the message that the said Anna could come a bit later and pick up housemate on the way. 'Nah she told me she wasn't coming' I replied. 'Yes she is, I just talked to her,' says Anna P. 'Damn... woulda been nice if she'd told me.' I say back. Call Mum, who is able to get another piece of salmon out of the freezer cos she's awesome and just has spare pieces of salmon hanging around. As one does. I get up there, apologise profusely, etc and so on. Anna P and housemate arrive, housemate says nothing~ and does nothing~ and carries on the night as if she was expected there the whole time. This all pretty much confirmed my dislike of the girl, but the clincher? As Anna P was praising the salmon and the mango and avocado salsa and the frankly awesome potato wedges and the salmon and how awesome my Mum was... housemate said nothing. She LEFT without saying thank you. SO GLAD SHE'S MOVING OUT YOU HAVE NO IDEA. I have been TRYING all year to like her but omg. I don't care what you think about me, you can dislike me for whatever reason, but my mum? Who has made special concessions for you with SALMON? And you can't even be arsed to say thank you? No. Fuck you. You're not even getting politeness out of me anymore.

o Why is Kiwiland releasing a trailer for The Hobbit a YEAR before it comes out? That's just cruel and unusual punishment.

o 30 degrees on Sunday, oh yeah o/ But drizzling. YAY MUGGY =|

o I get more excited about giving my presents to people than getting them. Bring on Christmas Eve~ with the awesome lunch and the pressie giving~ and then Christmas DAY with the awesome lunch~ and the pressie giving~ and yeah I'm not going to hit my target of 80kg by the end of the year am I? YAY CHRISTMAS.

o The Swarovski crystal sparklies? Boss and Boss Lady have sold the franchise =0 Graphic Designer and Accountant are owners as of January 16, the day I get back from leave. FRIGGING BIG NEWS. Not much will change first up but EEE exciting stuff. Boss will be hanging around for a year, and Boss Lady will be in once a week to do finishing (stapling, collating, hole punching, that kind of thing) but still, BIG CHANGES AFOOT.

o I forgot to bring my tablet up to the Hills tonight. This sucks cos I was going to do my Secret Santa tonight. BALLS. I'll just have to make it particularly awesome over the course of the week. While I'm on LEEEEEAVE omg this is awesome.

o I swear this will be the last giant dot point entry, really.

o Lol LJ wank. I really don't care enough about subject lines to move, what is it, five journals? tpyo, HB, yrae, the Thrai (hah like that gets used anymore but whatever)... four journals. It does amuse me that the people who are getting the most worked up over it have already ditched LJ.

o I made a thing! Which I am clearly announcing at the wrong time but whatever. I'll point back at it in July.

o I bought a commission :D I love that everyone so far has seen Ackerley with fluffy red-brown hair. Hey I might even add them all to bloogum some day wouldn't that be a novel idea?

o Holy crap Dexter. I've been waiting six seasons for that. laksdghalksd want next season now kthxbai.

o THE END.



* If you've heard a better premise for a music countdown, I'd like to hear it.

Thu, Jun. 30th, 2011 10:25 pm
annarti: (free as a bird. wild as the wind)
We're ttly the best Worldwide franchise in the country. Hell yeah, bitches >D

In other not real-world news, I'm finding myself hugely reinvigorated with Silent Harmony <3 Chapters haven't been really happening for aaages but right at the moment? I'm basically rewriting the Big Book of Stuff.

The Big Book of Stuff is sort of hard to define. It has a lot of the printed stuff that's on bloogum and [livejournal.com profile] yrae but oh my GOD is it outdated. It's historic and nostalgic right now with a few useful pages like the maps, the calendar, one or two bits from character or kingdom profiles... basically this tome that takes about a ream of paper in this huge binder could have its useful information summed up in about ten pages. It contains such gems as character profiles written in 2004, about a year after I came up with the twins and Yan, and maybe a couple of months after Nol appeared on the scene.

AND SO. Rewrite. Oh god it's fun. I'm going through all I've got and picking out the useful info, which means going through all these old profiles. I've done the healers, mostly to sort out the fonts and layouting cos gdit I'm a designer, and now moved onto Nimay.

Fun facts! Nimay used to be really angry. Virtually any negative emotion, including sadness, would turn to anger. Also, loss used to make her shut down and be completely useless for, like, a week. GEE THAT'D GO WELL ON A MISSION. Especially when the general dies, it being the mission that proves to the rest of the guys that she's clearly their next general.

Getting her memory back was her greatest ambition. Um. Yeah no.

SHE WAS LAZY! I mean it! This was her typical day, apparently: "Wake up shortly after dawn (late by Raykinian standards), eat breakfast, laze around the palace until lunch, then train until dinner with whatever weapon she feels like at the time. After dinner, she usually goes to the Golden Thrai with the guys, but sometimes there’s a mission Mithé’s set her during the day (usually one or two a month), or she goes to some secluded spot on the Ra-Lin just to think." Oh, and this was when being an assassin was the biggest part of her character, so that's what those 'missions' and 'sitting to think' are about.

I can't wait to get to Nol. He's without doubt the one who's changed the most since his creation. I distinctly remember his profile as having been made up as I went along. I barely knew him at the time.

Big Book of Stuff~ hee :D ... Nobody will be excited about this but me but SCREW YOU it's worth writing down. Then I can get to 2018 and go "well, that's old, time for the 7-yearly Big Book of Stuff rewrite!"

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