writing

Bikini, New Project, Earphones...Oh My!

Nadia Lee Life, Miscellaneous, My Projects No Comments , , , ,

Confidence is the weirdest thing ever. When I was in my early twenties, I was a size 4 but could never wear a bikini because I was too embarrassed at how "huge" I looked. (Because I was not a size 2...I know, I know...misguided youth!) I'm bigger now, but got myself a bikini anyway in a color I like. Figured life is too short to worry about a little bulge here and there so long as my bloodwork looks good (and it does; the doc joked that maybe I should eat more junk food or something). Besides, if anyone mocks the way I look in my new bikini, I can always feature him/her as a villain and/or a weasel in one of my stories.

Interestingly, not giving a damn about what other people think gives me more confidence and a sense of liberation. I'm not sure why I wasted so much of my youth worrying about fitting in. Guess it was just part of the growing up process.

On the writing front, I started the first draft of my new WIP. Much to May's surprise, I'm pantsing this draft. I've never really pantsed. Everything I've written had a clear outline, but I figured why not? Maybe I'll do better this way. I'll never know unless I try.

Oh BTW -- Amazon is selling Altec Lansing UHP336 earphones for less than $40 which I think is a great price. I love the clarity and the beautiful sound. I can hear everything, every little base note, the cellos, etc. (I'm a very aural person, and I love listening to music when I write, etc.) The only bad thing is that it highlighted how inadequate iPods are for playing music. The earphone is very sensitive so it picks up every hiss, etc. from your audio unit (should you have a crappy one), and iPods produce the worst static and hiss. (Naturally, you won't notice anything if you use the meh "earbuds" that come with your iPods.) What a disappointment. iPod Touch was the worst even if the wifi off. So if I want to listen to music on it, I'm stuck with earbuds.

P.S. I googled the problem, thinking that maybe it was just my earphones, but actually a lot of audiophiles have noticed the same issue. *sigh*

Lovely Reading & Writing

Nadia Lee Books, My Projects No Comments , , ,

I finished reading Butcher's Small Favor. Very very good, although the middle part felt a bit slow. Also read Cole's Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night and Rich's Free-Range Chickens.

On my own writing front -- I figured out what's been bugging me about the second quarter of the book. There are two sex scenes, and they're so...dry.

What I mean is that the characters are doing this and that, but very little emotions are coming through. My characters have a lot of history together, so the scenes rang false when I reread them for the sheer lack of feelings from both of them. A lot of missed opportunities.

I also decided to add a couple of short scenes to advance the main subplot (the court intrigue part). They're all new and feature secondary characters. I think they'll add a bit more to the subplot because currently the book's about 85% romance.

After dinner I spent about ten minutes jotting down notes on my next project -- a futuristic paranormal romance. I can't decide if I want to write it in 1st person or not. The heroine is snarky and slightly eccentric, but I think the snarky 1st person narrator is a bit of a cliché now. I wonder if her voice can come through just as clearly in 3rd person.

Hmmm.

Nineteen Working Days

Nadia Lee Life 7 Comments

mood: sleepy
watched last night: The Forbidden Kingdom
bought today: a small calendar from a ¥100 store

Tomorrow I start the first real day of writing after a long break plus brainstorming. I'm totally anxious to get going. This month has only nineteen working days due to various national holidays, etc. and so on. Knowing that of course makes me even more determined to make the best use of those days. I'm trying to figure out the point where marginal productivity diminishes because I feel like I've been working hard for a long time without sufficient return for all my effort. I spend so many months on something, but at the end I don't have a whole lot to show for. So that's something I really want to work on this year.

1 2

Works

News