Don't give up hope...I'm on page 8! It still needs about two more pages written and then a ton of editing.... but it's coming!
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Oh, bother. Our computer just died. And it will take a long time before the information locked within it can be extracted. The good news is that I did have CEN saved on a backup drive (well, it's online, too, but I hadn't put all the little changes and corrections online). The bad news is that the chapter I was working on wasn't backed up. Yep, I do have those first couple of pages online, but that's it. *sigh* I have to rewrite it. On the brighter side, I remember some author saying that he had to rewrite part of a manuscript from scratch and it was much better the second time. We can only hope....
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My poor, patient readers, I really am working on chapter 21. In fact, I hope to get a big chunk done tonight. But you have waited so long already, that I thought I'd put the first section up for you. Hope it will be followed shortly by the rest! It's HERE.
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You will all be stunned to know that I am already on page three of the next chapter. I've been working diligently in the last week, and it has taught me something about myself as a writer. It has taught me that I just can't write quickly. I have to write a little bit and then let it sit for a while before I can go on. I mean, I have an outline for the chapter, and I did make myself plow through it, putting the most bland and boring sentences on the page just to get the basic story out there (like, "Churchill stopped talking to Emma and went to talk to Jane Fairfax. Then Knightley noticed that Mrs. Weston started talking to Emma.") I thought that once I had the outline there, it would speed me up in the task of filling it out. But it doesn't. I can't think of a thing to say more than what I've written. However, if I put it aside for a few days and come back to it, I can usually think of something.
The usual explanation for this phenomenon is that my unconscious mind is working on it even while I'm not thinking about it. I don't know. It's a little discouraging, because having the end of Volume One in sight (two chapters after this one, I think), I'm itching to get it finished and into print. I thought that if I could put everything else in my life aside and just write like mad, it would be done in a week or two. Not that I could put everything aside... Anyway, it's just as well I can't, because it looks like it wouldn't help anyway.
All that to say, I'm hoping to be finished with the chapter in the next week or so...and even that will set some kind of a record, I think!
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Chapter 20 is up. :)
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It won't be long now...
We get home in two weeks, and I will be back to writing! I actually have done a little writing while I've been gone. A very little. Sorry to keep everyone hanging!
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Dear Readers,
Thanks so much for your comments! It means a lot to know that people are reading and enjoying.
We leave Monday for an extended trip across the Atlantic, and I had been sure that I would be done with chapter 20 before we left. Alas, I am not. (Try not to swoon from the shock.) I do have a rough draft of the first part, though, and you can read it here. I will be doing my best to keep writing while we travel. I have (I think) a mere two chapters left after this one to complete volume one. And then it will be published so you can have it on your bookshelf instead of on your computer. :)
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Sorry chapter 19 took so long to finish, but it's up now; you can read it here.
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The first half of Chapter 19 is written....well, a rough draft of it is, anyway. I've put it up on the website here. Hopefully the second half won't take long.
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The first half of Chapter 19 is written....well, a rough draft of it is, anyway. I've put it up on the website here. Hopefully the second half won't take long.
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I'm working on Chapter 19. Knightley has just met Frank Churchill. :)
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Chapter 18 is finally posted, here.
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I'm working on Chapter 18, and it's half done. Really. I've put a little bit up, just to prove it! It's here.
In other news, I've found a new quotable author: Rev. Sydney Smith (1771-1845). Here are some of his gems:
"There is no furniture so charming as books."
"How can a bishop marry? How can he flirt? the most he can say is, "I will see you in the vestry after service."
"He [Macaulay] has occasional flashes of silence that make his conversation perfectly delightful."
"He deserves to be preached to death by wild curates."
"Live always in the best company when you read."
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The rest of chapter 17 is posted here.
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Well.
The adoption has still not gone through, and it might collapse altogether. I have a hard time writing even under the most propitious circumstances...you can imagine my difficulties recently! Having said that, I actually do have a good bit of work done on Chapter 17, but it's not finished yet. I realize I haven't posted an entire chapter since May, which shocks even me! I can only apologize and promise to work on it tonight and see if I can't get something posted before long...
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Ok, I've posted the first part of chapter 17. Sorry it's not longer! Hopefully by the middle of August there will be a HUGE new section of the story to post! :)
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Ok, I'm off to Africa next week, and you should see my "to do" list! Finishing the chapter before then is out of the question, but I think I'll be able to finish off the section I started. I'll post that before I leave. I'll be gone for at least two and a half weeks, hopefully no longer! Unlike last year, I'm not taking one of the children with me, so I'll only have our new daughter to entertain. Hopefully I'll get some writing done! Besides, I'm not at such a sticky point in the story as I was last year when I traveled.
Thanks, as always, for your patience. (Actually, you have no choice, do you? :))
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Yesterday we got some rather startling adoption news...so startling that I lost my head completely and accidently posted all about it here instead of my family blog! Took me a few hours to figure out why my post wasn't showing up there! I thought I might be heading off to Africa within a few days. It turns out I probably have at least a couple weeks before I go, which is both a frustration and a relief.
At any rate, I am going to get at least a couple pages of chapter 17 written tonight! No more stalling or beating around the bush. I am going to stay offline until I get some words on the page!
(I know, I know, famous last words and all...)
UPDATE:
I did it! Nearly two pages done! Well, rough draft, anyway. Yay!
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Today in the middle of homeschooling (I think I was giving a spelling test) I was struck with an idea for Chapter 17. When I had a free moment, I jotted down some ideas and hoped my writer's block was overcome. Tonight I sat down at the computer to type out my notes and expand on them, only to encounter a fresh problem. You see, in the last few days I've been re-reading Jan Karon's Mitford books, and somehow the dialect used in those books has gotten lodged in my mind. Imagine my horror when I nearly made Robert Martin say "Boy howdy!" and when Mr. Knightley began to sound like a hillbilly!
Of course, it would be funny to do a whole chapter like that....translate my approximation of Regency speech into southern American slang. I probably wouldn't be very good at it, though; I've never lived in the South. I'm a California girl--born in Hollywood (literally)--and much more conversant with the "valley girl" slang of the 1980's. Now that would make an interesting translation, wouldn't it?
Meanwhile, I'd better read me some more good ol' Jane Austen to get my mind back in the right place. This means another delay, of course, dadgummit.
I mean, rats.
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You know, I think I am going to skip chapter 17 and write chapter 18. With any luck, I will find something that needs a backstory and be able to work it into chapter 17. Never done this before...curious to see how it will work. I don't think I'll post them in reverse order, unless there's a huge clamoring for me to do so. The bad news is then that there won't be a chapter for a good while, because I have to write two. The good news is that you'll get two at once!
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