The weekend rolled past gloriously with a sweet and heady mixture of unexpected Alice, kick-ass writing (in feel-good amounts), sunshine, great coffee, reading, lemon Fanta and holiday planning!
There was also a bit of laundry, but I didn't think you wanted to know about that.
Unexpected Alice?: I was planning on working all weekend, but Allie's plans fell through and she came to stay. Despite having her as the world's greatest and most welcome distraction, I still managed to get some serious work done. Allie is beginning to feel that I live in an insect menagerie. After getting used to all the spiders, silverfish, spiders, earwigs, crickets and other spiders, it's surprising to see that someone else actually finds co-habiting with them a bit off-putting. I spent a lot of time fishing spiders and other wildlife out of windows.
Kick-Ass Writing?: Had a bit of an eye-opener. I worked very hard this weekend and came up with consistent, if not dazzling, second draft. Bits shone, and will be attempting to expand them this week.
Sunshine?: Where do I begin? I love this weather. I adapt to the heat pretty quickly, and only when direct sun is instantly painful do I start moaning about how hot it is. My landlord called from his house in Spain (where is my rent going, exactly?) to say that his wife had given birth to a healthy baby boy (they've called him Marco), and that it was 50 degrees celsius every day...my Mum would love that, but I think much hotter than the weekend just gone and I'd be lying on my bed panting like a beached porpoise.
Great Coffee?: Espresso instant. Need I say more? Okay. You can use it to make great long coffees, too. Mmmmmm.
Reading?: Captain Corelli's Mandolin. 'Nuff said.
Lemon Fanta?: Er, yes. We drank some.
Holiday Planning?: Allie and I are going to Spain in mid-September, for two weeks. We're flying into Madrid and out of Malaga, and moseying on down South in the intervening time, drinking beer, eating tapas and generally attempting to teach Alice Spanish without her lapsing into Italian. Honestly...linguistic girlfriends! I am looking forward to introducing Alice to the Alhambra in Granada, the highest-of-highlights of my travels in the summer of '99. Then it was a beautifully serene and elegant place, and it completely blew me away. These days apparently it gets over 2000 visitors a day and you have to book in advance. After just 4 years, I'm going to go back and say 'Oi rememburr when all this wurr fields...'
And in other News...
Victoria (the supposedly-vegetarian Venus Flytrap) caught her first fly this weekend, completely by herself! Judging from the wings that are sticking out, it was a greenfly.
Aaah, she's all self-sufficient and everything!
Not cute though.
Not at all.
My Agent Trap (TM) is almost ready.
I have a difficult call to make though, as my book doesn't run on conventional chapters, and 90% of prospective Agents (not TM) request three chapters and a synopsis.
I called the sections of the book 'Books', mostly because it felt good to begin with when it wasn't long enough overall to be called a book, and the first 'book' in the book is 15,000 words long.
More than your average Agent (not TM) will want to see up front, I suspect.
What do I do?
Split the first 'book' into bits?
Do I give them 5K of 'book 1' and a synopsis of the rest of it, and 5K of 'book 2' with a synopsis?
I think I'm going to end up taking the sensible path, which is calling each and every Agent (not TM) who is to be targetted by the Agent Trap (TM) and asking them what they, personally, want.
I'm thinking of taking up Salsa lessons.
So there you are.
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