Sunday 08/01/2017
Didn’t get out on Rufus though…
Enjoyed the week more than I thought – conscious of two halves of brain working together more – planned to input four ring files of old longhand notes/ cut out photos from mag’s etc and hand drawn maps into the Scrivener files – also on plan was to track down any info I had already transcribed to digital over the years and import that too – preferably without typing it all word by word.
Left brain decided that this would be ‘a good way to learn cast and plot details’ before moving on to my ‘Seven Day In Five’ Edit of the 2nd Draft of Hacked Off I have planned for next week which was designed to leave me with clean printed copy and both Scrivener and Word Files matching – and me ready to write on the remaining story in Hacked Apart and the complete 1st draft of Hacked To Bits…
How ever as usual I started on my first morning and was repelled/bucked off by the task at first contact – the right brain pointed out learning old notes as I typed in conflicting comments about character age was unhelpful to learn and only of interest to posterity – so I used the iPhone camera and snapped away at most of that and imported it – I then found any laptop /mem stick files and did the same – I found only a tiny amount of printed out material that I had no access to -and I photoed that too – very little of the fours files was typed.
I condensed the files so I have one Work In Progress file covering all three stories – and a YA that happened to be filed with it and one file each for the printed out first draft and a log hand note book, Ch /scene written sheet and the sticky plot cards I had already done – I added in files of recent brain storms and by Wed afternoon I was done – left brain sulking ‘it hadn’t learnt much’ right brain pointed out that reason for next week’s edit is not a story edit, it is to get out the continuity details I have used so I can continue the story – not debate a character’s age range over the years…
That said I started on online casting session looking at models and actors and scouting the few magazines I have about for mug shots – I went for several approximate images for each rather than Robson Green IS Sam etc – this was entertaining and made me see many of my male characters are not distinguishable so I need to work on that I also cast horse crew and dogs and continued ‘Off Piste’ to cast and crew of Quest.
It was a more creative approach than typing up old notes but the goal of having the notes in the Scrivener file ‘Just In Case’ has also been achieved.
I printed out several things I hadn’t had time to, organised my finances and started listening and reading to more business structure stuff to file away in my mind – in case I ever think this is a hobby 🙂
I then decided to tackle another Bete Noir of mine – grammar and punctuation styles and I had realised that another reason to edit next week is to make sure the whole document is consistent with one style – I had noticed that Scrivener is adding/changing – words and Word is removing the – so which ever I used when saving the scene doc will be saved which when compiled will be inconsistent – this is a big step forward for me to realise this. So I researched basic common style guides briefly and sorted out the couple of texts I have on the subject and I signed up for free Grammarly which works with Word – Mon am I will extend that to the weeks free trial they do and each scene in 2nd D HO will be put through it and Word ( I updated the Word grammar settings to ) having done that and extracted continuity info and cross reffed that in whole doc ie no xyz names – I will save doc and put into a new Scrivener + Word file under the original scene file.
NB it may be necessary and sensible to work in Word in a duplicate original doc with TRACK CHANGES switched on again to get used to this and also so I don’t have them accidentally save it as I remember having trouble printing a doc once before where this had been messed up.
Any story edits still required I will note but not do.
This gives a real purpose to next weeks read through, adds real value to the MS – and it may take more time but will be worth doing – at the end of it I will have continuity of characters etc and consistent images to write on from and I can pay attention when writing that I use a consistent style in the document – try to also take on board grammar requirements as I go.
At the end of this timed edit I want to have a consistent punctuation style/grammar and a continuity list – I want any purple edits done and a clean copy of the whole MS printed off – I have bought ink – I may need paper…
I was pleased with developments in my book keeping arrangements and also husband and I are instigating a joint calendar for Weekends and acting on it cautiously ie 1 month at a time… 🙂 This is for DIY still needed on house project – so we can move back in – and helps me plan ahead meals for weekends so we eat well but I don’t buy food that gets thrown as plans change etc. Which helps my feeling of financial control and satisfies my frugal mind as I don’t waste either money time or food and bolsters the feel good factor over Fri pm – Mon am so I can work on and not spend first half of week picking self up from the battle ground weekends were becoming as two people with different agendas collided spectacularly 🙂 Win Win
Re blogging I developed this template and used it – though not to publish – and I attended a Parelli launch and positively supported them whilst also representing my own views.
All in all a happy left brain as jobs ticked off list and a happy right brain as it has been allowed to be creative in the approach and both brains seem to know what they need and are getting on with it – just leaving me to deal with the usual insecurity of ‘should you be doing this? Wouldn’t you rather get a proper job?’ Which funnily enough I have deflected fairly easily in the face of progress on all fronts and the mindset that this is not a hobby and it is not a part time job it is now a full time job and a major investment by G and I. But it has full time job hours – which means I get to live around the edges of it as ‘free time’ I want the best of a full time job doing what challenges me in a place I love that suits my family and a life that is healthy – that is the hard bit – I haven’t done much to improve that this week – well I did eat more sensibly and I cooked – no instant curries…
All in all a very good week