Day 26 — Got the Day’s List done early, and started reading WE HAVE ALWAYS LIVED IN THE CASTLE by Shirley Jackson, which I am absolutely loving so far. It’s like Roald Dahl meets Edith Wharton with a pinch of Nathaniel Hawthorne. It’s great so far. I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to read her longer works. Finished the retyping of the current editing project. Managed to drop exactly 800 words (weird that it’s so even), so it’s a better length, but still needs to be tighter.
Day 27 — Today was…not so great. Had a tough time sleeping last night, which in addition to some EEK OMG DEADLINE! extra-curricular commitments and a hormonal tendency today to be !@#%!#$RAWR, made for a trying day. Still managed to claw my way through my Day’s List, which is probably the only thing that kept me from being *really* grumpy, but it took a lot longer than usual, and the motivation was just. not. there. Editing-wise, I’ve determined that the Scene/Sequel method for this particular short story may not really work. It still fits the Three Act structure, so *that’s* hopeful. Even so, the editing on this one has been somewhat brutal and disheartening. I can feel something not quite working, but can’t quite put my finger on it. Tomorrow, I’m going to try reworking some of the middle portion and see if I can’t wriggle it into something more engaging, but meh. We’ll see…
Maggie Slater 