Dr. Phil's Dreamwidth Journal

Wow. I never expected Version 1.10 of the Great YA Trilogy project to last this long. It was started on 13 March 2015 and I'm closing it out and moving onto Version 1.11 on 25 May 2015. This ends Book 1 Edit Pass 1.

Book 1 Part A Pass 1 Page 368 -- completed ‎04/‎03/‎2015 16:28:59
‎Book 1 Part B Pass 1 Page 750 -- completed 05/‎25/‎2015 16:52:22

In 73 days, Book 1 Part A grew by 30% and Book 1 Part B a whopping 130%. Book 1 total went from 126,444 to 211,544 words or 1165 words/day, plus edits.

As I mentioned before, Book 1 Part B was in "worse" shape than I'd been thinking, with several large sections I had written in my mind, but little on the paper. That happens, not a problem. Until one is trying to finish, of course. (grin) Yes, some things may be cut back or even edited out. But I wanted all the pieces in. I kept on moving the day I was expecting to finish. I'd hoped by Friday, but there was a big scene I really felt I needed to include -- and it took some time. (It'll actually be revised in Edit Pass 2, but I chose not to do the research the other day.)

At this point, what I am calling Book 1 is clearly at least two books. At 70,000 words each, it could easily be three -- I am avoiding doing this because I really like where the break currently is. The bad news is 100,000+ words isn't really typical YA novel length.

I took a little time last night to write a little 540 word short story for Memorial Day (DW) (LJ) -- something I've done before. And then I'm going to take some time working on a novella for submission. Not so bad to take a couple of days away.

No Office Hours last week or this week.

Next up, though, is Book 1 Edit Pass 2, where I finish getting names and place names finalized. This could be painful, too. But I really want to get it done quickly. Pass 2 is NOT a general editing pass, so... maybe a week? For Edit Pass 3, though, I really only have to Book 1 Part A, the first half, in order to come up with something to sent to Lulu for coming up with preliminary books for Beta readers. Would REALLY like that to be the end of June.

We shall see.

New Researches: Forsvarsmuseet, The Armed Forces Museum of Norway, is located at Akershus Castle in Oslo. Oslo founded around 1000 A.D. Oslofjorden is an inlet (not a real fjord) in the south-east of Norway, part of the Skagerrak strait, connecting the North Sea and the Kattegat sea area, which leads to the Baltic Sea. Oslo (OSL) to Copenhagen (CPH) SAS 1469, Boeing 737-800. Seat 17A has extra legroom, since there is no Seat 16A. Copenhagen (CPH) to Chicago (ORD), SAS 943, Airbus A340. Seat 3H, rightside window (2+2+2 seating). Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde was in service from 1976 to 2003. The Auto & Technik Museum Sinsheim in Germany is the only museum which has both a Concorde and a Tupolev Tu-144 "Concordski" on display. Arnhem, Netherlands. Vänern is the largest lake in Sweden and the largest lake in the European Union. The Daim bar came out of Sweden and Norway as a sort of Heath chocolate bar. Heath wouldn't give them a license but did give them the list of ingredients to the Heath bar. Huh. Société Bic, maker of Bic pens and lighters, is based in Clichy, France. Sankt Olav domkirke is the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oslo. Catholics, including 70% immigrants, make up about 5% of the population, making Norway the most Catholic country in Nordic Europe. The northern part of Norway is in the Prelature of Tromsø -- once part of the Apostolic Prefecture of the North Pole. Catholicism was illegal in Norway between 1537 and 1843 -- priests could be executed. Svinesundbrücke/ Svinesundbroen is the bridge on the E6 at the border between Sweden and Norway, spanning the Svinesund sound of the Iddefjord. The old bridge had an arch under the roadway, the new is suspended from an arch over the roadway and is quite lovely. The Svinesund tollkontor on the Norwegian side handles customs controls, since Norway, while a member of NATO, is not a member of the EU.

A surprising amount of research, until one realizes the new sections which had to be written in the past ten days.

All the shiny counters now advance to:

Book 1 Page Edits (Pass 1)


The Lost Kingdom Project YA Trilogy Version 1.10 (05-25-15 Mo, 1412 pages)


Book 1 Part A (103,792 words, starts page 47) / Part B (107,752 words, starts page 382)


Book 2 Part A (76,905 words, starts page 41) / Part B (50,650. words, starts page 317)


Book 3 (starts page 40)


The Lost Kingdom Fourth-Fifth Novels Version 4.10 (05-25-15 Mo, 68 pages)
Book 4 (4894 words) / Book 5 (11,737 words)


The Lost Kingdom Sixth Novel Version 5.10 (05-25-15 Mo, 16 pages)
Book 6 (1629 words)


I won't kick myself about the length of Book 1 Parts A/B until I get to the point where I can sit down and read it -- and have Beta readers give it a go. I am so pleased to not have to teach until September.

And for those of you who have seen the news that SF author John Scalzi announced a $3.4 million dollar, thirteen book, ten year deal with Tor -- No, this does not mean that my mammoth epic will automagically generate six or seven figure book deals. John is a proven, solid author with an excellent track record for completing things and is a full-time author. Good news for John, congratulations, but these sorts of deals in SF/F are outliers. Not the norms.

I am smarter and more realistic than thinking I'm working towards a deal like that. (evil-grin)

Dr. Phil

Posted on Dreamwidth
Crossposted on LiveJournal

One thing about writing such a sprawling epic is that there are sections you're sure you've written -- this is coming home to roost in Book 1 Part B. (evil-grin) No wonder its word count was less than Book 1 Part A. And another thing is there are other sections you run across and say, Really? I don't remember this. And yet another thing is running into things you know you wrote a note for, but it didn't get transcribed into the notes sections -- so you'll either have to dig for it or re-engineer it.

The Pass 1 edit counter has jumped from 511 to 551 pages, but actually I am nearly fifty pages beyond that. I just have to go back to 551 and work my way to page 600 and make sure it's all complete. This is what happened in the other stalled sections the last couple of weeks. All that earlier big stuff worked out great. This current section moves faster in time, for reasons, and I have to make sure it works right and doesn't seem too slight or rushed. It's the end of a school year and everyone knows it goes fast. At the end of Book 1 Part B, it's off to America and university for the senior princess.

But we won't do the big Pass 1 edits on Book 2 for a while. Because I need to get into the Book 1 Pass 2 edits, where we cement in place all the people and place names, recheck a few research bits, verify dates. This SHOULD take little time, except I suck at naming characters and this time I have to integrate all the relationships, since they're all related to each other. Ack!

Book 1 Part A Edit Pass 3 is where we'll end up with the Beta reading version. It's coming, it's coming.

New Researches: Valbyparken in Copenhagen. You can usually bring your dog with Copenhagen public transport, but if it is not small enough to be carried in a bag, you need to buy a ticket for it. Discourses and Sermons for Every Sunday and the Principal Festivals of the Year (Google eBook) by James Gibbons / J. Murphy Company, 1908 - Church year sermons - 531 pages. W. Shakespeare, Henry IV, part 2: "Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown". "It is no easy thing to wear a crown, Catelyn thought", GRRMartin, A Clash of Kings. As of 21 June 2014, Star Wars Episode VIII has release date of May 26, 2017. That could mean Episode IX in 2019 or 2020, but I suspect these schedules will slip. CinemaxX Copenhagen in Fisketorvet Shopping Center, which opened in October 2000 with 10 screens and 3,200 seats. A commercial IMAX screen was added in 2015. First commercial IMAX in Norway also 2015. Where the Trains Used to Go (2003). A 4½ minute IMAX film -- Norway's first 15-perf/70-mm film celebrates a 100-year old narrow-gauge railway in South Eastern Norway. The camera required a surveying theodolite for shooting along the old route, one frame as a time. V-E Day celebrated on 8 May 1945 (7 May in Commonwealth realms. 9 May in Soviet Union). 75th anniversary will be in 2020. Hitler suicided on 30 April 1945. Denmark celebrates Befrielsen (The Liberation) on 5 May. Cinco de Mayo (5 May) celebrates El Día de la Batalla de Puebla, NOT Mexican Independence Day (16 September). RentTheRunway.com was mentioned on NPR last week -- overnight shipping of designer clothes. They have a Chicago store. Letitia – means Joy or Happiness. Achsah (or Acsah) – Daughter of Caleb. When Caleb promised her to Othniel in marriage, she requested that he increased her dowry to include not only land, but springs of water as well.

Book 1 Page Edits (Pass 1)


The Lost Kingdom Project YA Trilogy Version 1.10 (05-09-15 Sa, 1332 pages)


Book 1 Part A (103,792 words, starts page 46) / Part B (83,158 words, starts page 381)


Book 1 Part B has now exceeded its 80,000 word estimate and so I'm over the revised 180,000 words for both Parts A and B. The only reason I'm not disheartened is that I expect to be a little brutal in tightening up some of the technical geeky bits which I needed when I was writing, but most readers probably won't give a flying fuck-all about. Which may allow me to trim a few thousand words or so. (yikes-grin)

I also spent a little time in Books 2 and 4 this week, though it was to get some stuff started and didn't bother totally up those books separately.

Progress!

Dr. Phil

Posted on Dreamwidth
Crossposted on LiveJournal

Another slow week. I took Saturday off to do a day trip to Penguicon, which also meant that I couldn't stay up Friday night until 4am -- seeing as I was getting up at 5:30. (grin) In addition to an Office Hours day on Thursday, Tuesday was a short "work day" as we went out to dinner and then to the Last Days in Vietnam event (DW) (LJ).

As far as the current writing effort, I also had to work my way through editing another tough section -- a couple of To Be Written Later bits, which Now Had To Be Written. And the addition of another section which required me to readjust the ordering/time of two events in order to make things work out right. This is why you have to read through carefully and see what is what.

At Penguicon I was also able to talk about some aspects of my YA novel project -- things are still going in a direction which seems realistic from both a writing/selling point of view and a story which seems to interest people.

We shall see...

New Researches: Þjóðvegur 1 or Hringvegur around the perimeter of Iceland -- 1337 km. Speed limit 90 kph. In Iceland, 9-1-1 is 1-1-2. Keflavíkurflugvöllur or Reykjavík-Keflavík Airport (KEF). It's 10,000 foot long, 200 foot wide runways were Space Shuttle rated. Range Rover Discovery. Maître d'hôtel. In 1769 Christian VII of Denmark invited the Hungarian astronomer Miksa Hell (Maximilian Hell) to Vardø. He observed the transit of Venus, and his calculations gave the most precise calculation of the Earth–Sun distance to that date (approx. 151 million kilometres). Spent much of his reign (1766-1808) being ruled by others. Queen Christian VII was the sister of England's George III. (You remember him...) She was married at 15, divorced, died at 23. French irregular verb conjugations. Miyamoto Musashi 宮本 武蔵 (c. 1584 – 13 June 1645) was a famous Japanese swordsman, believed to have been one of the most skilled swordsmen in history. He founded the Hyoho Niten Ichi-ryu, or Nito Ryu style of swordsmanship and wrote Go Rin No Sho (The Book of Five Rings) a classic work on strategy, tactics, and philosophy. My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. Bronies. Perhaps 10 million in U.S. The Knights Templar wore a white surcoat with a red cross and a white mantle also with a red cross. Saint Thorfinn of Hamar (died 1285).

Book 1 Page Edits (Pass 1)


The Lost Kingdom Project YA Trilogy Version 1.10 (04-27-15 Mo, 1273 pages)


Book 1 Part A (103,757 words, starts page 44) / Part B (69,156 words, starts page 379)


Not a huge increase in the numbers, but forward progress nonetheless.

Onward!

Dr. Phil

Posted on Dreamwidth
Crossposted on LiveJournal

Ides of April Eve. We finished our taxes last night. E-filed Federal, accepted in minutes. State return mailed this morning. Done.

Even before I bought TurboTax Deluxe 2014 (DW) (LJ), as I have for many years, there were issues, which I reported on the TurboTax Survey at the end:

We've used TurboTax every year since we bought a house around 20 years ago. Actually was probably the least painful ever this year. -- But...This year there was a glitch with the issue of removing Schedule C from TurboTax Deluxe, which was a problem for someone with minimal business income. I understand it will be resolved for TurboTax Deluxe 2015.

As I mentioned in the link above, Intuit blinked -- and not only did the Home and Business upgrade cost us nothing, it took like five seconds, so I suspect by the time I downloaded TurboTax Deluxe 2014, they already had the code in and only had to unlock it. Next year, in Schedule C!

The writing business? As nonexistent as 2013 (DW) (LJ). Let's be realistic here. In 2013 I was hospitalized for 5½ months, in 2014 a week. Plus I spent six weeks of prime Summer 2014 on at-home IVs twice a day, and five times a week hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) chamber sessions where I was allowed no paper and no electrical devices a couple of hours a day. So there was a lot of time-in-chair which was not possible.

Still, I have been amazed at how much writing I did get done. Hell, I wrote a 17,000 word novelette on the touch screen keyboard of a Kindle Fire HD while in hospital 2013. Three or four really good stories were written, plus a couple of very good revisions. No sales, but several got close and at least one is still sitting on an editor's desk. Then there's the 320,000+ words written on the big YA project since September -- can't sell what is neither done nor sufficiently quite in shape to even ship partials to editors. Not at this stage in my career.

So I am perfectly pleased with my writing the last two years, even if I have generated no sales. My submission numbers are way down, too. For reasons. See above.

It may be a new year, but the refrain is the same as tax years 2012 and 2013:

2012: Michigan wants everyone to e-file, too, but Yet Again they just don't get it -- e-filing the state return costs $19.99 versus the cost of two stamps, you can see where I'm going with this one.

2013: We don't E-file Michigan. We could, but TurboTax would charge $24.95 -- four sheets of paper and a check and a stamp cost a helluva lot less. In TY 2012, Michigan got rid of a lot of allowable charitable deductions, especially public TV and radio, so we went from getting a modest refund to paying a small amount. Bastards.

The nonsense with state e-filing is going in the wrong direction. And in the past three tax years, we've had to pay Michigan $84, $70 and $71 since they got rid of the state charitable giving, so I'm feeling even less inclined to spend $25 instead of an envelope, four pieces of paper and a stamp. No matter how much Michigan pleads it wants us to e-file state returns because "it's easier". Guess what, sunshine, if it's so damn easy why do I have to pay so damn much? (And is that money to the state or TurboTax? I don't really care... fix the problem, guys.)

We are done here. Til next year!

Dr. Phil

Posted on Dreamwidth
Crossposted on LiveJournal

Regarding my last post on this week's writing progress (DW) (LJ), comment on Facebook:

Progress, darling, comes on little cat feet like the fog I noticed outside my windows last night. Keep it up. (Amy Ranger)

To which I simply could not resist commenting:

Progress comes on big CAT front end loaders backing up going BEEP, BEEP, BEEP...

Somewhere in that rock is the dinosaur. Sometimes it takes a palette knife and a soft brush, sometimes it takes explosives and drills.

That's all.

Dr. Phil

Posted on Dreamwidth
Crossposted on LiveJournal

I don't want to give the wrong impression that I've just spent the last ten days watching basketball games. I've had some very productive days. Sunday, in the middle of all the games, I put in 3000 words. On Wednesday, I wrote over 4000 words, but most of them went into Books 4 and 5. I've also continued on with editing Book 1.

Still have to come up with some names of minor characters. Some are written on a piece of paper which I haven't dragged out in a while, because I wanted the naming to jell.

I ended up not going to the office this week, but pounded the keyboard all week.

Of course, not all is laughs and giggles. I was looking in my Publishers subdirectory to see what I had on Lulu.com, since I've talked about printing up a couple of Beta copies of Book 1 Part A for people to read the book like a book. Anyway, I found a file "LuLu Titlescorer November 2010.doc" and you can Put your title to the test.

Enter your novel title in the field at the top of the page.
Use the drop-down menus to choose the variables which best describe the attributes of your title.
Click "Analyze my title!"

Score represents the percentage chance of its being a number one hit. Results are between 9% and 83% chance of bestseller success.

I tried three variations on my current book title. Each of them scored:

The title... has a 10.2% chance of being a bestselling title!

To put that in perspective, back in 2010 I had scored four titles:

My second massively unfinished novel scored a 
"26.3% chance of being a bestselling title!"

As did my first completed novel which needs a rewrite 
and has never been shopped.

My second completed novel, which has been shopped twice, 
had two variations in title, both of which scored:
"79.6% chance of being a bestselling title!"

Personally I like that it won't deliver either a 0% or a 100% -- the cynical part of me wonders if 10.2% is the lowest possible score, to make you feel better than getting 9%. (evil-grin)

Now... I have no problem with being told my titles suck. The title to my Analog story "The Brother on the Shelf" was written by Stanley Schmidt -- my working title was "The Johnson Boys of Ames, Iowa" and was originally part of a much larger story called "Home Front". This is what editors are needed for. Of course Lulu doesn't think much of either Stanley or me:

The title "The Brother on the Shelf" has a 10.2% chance 
of being a bestselling title!

The title "The Johnson Boys of Ames, Iowa" has a 10.2% chance 
of being a bestselling title!

So I'm not putting much stock in this, but gee, it sure woulda been fun to get a high score. (wishful-thinking-grin) This is, of course, in lieu of finishing this great project and SELLING IT.

Just for fun, I took Book 1 Part A, still in Book Antiqua 12-point and formatted it single spaced for a 6x9 Trade paperback, no Table of Contents, page breaks for each new chapter and ended up with an estimated cost of 448 pages: $7.32.

But there are still blank lines I put in for writing, so let's kill those and clean it up:

After Ctrl-H ^p^p^t ^p^t -- 335 pages
And Ctrl-H ^p*** *** -- 332 pages
Removed a blank page, added a line after each 
Chapter Title by hand... 331 pages
Manufacturing cost per 331 page book: $5.68

Formatting is everything.

Remember, this is not for sale, but only for Beta reading purposes when I get that far. I am using the same formatting I did for my Christmas and New Year's PDF stories, so the same file will also be usable as an e-book. I'm guessing it will be about a month before I start sharing Beta versions with people.

New Researches: Chef de cuisine, Sous chef, etc. Law on quoting music lyrics. Æbleskiver, traditional Danish spherical pancakes. Also Swedish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian and Scottish pancakes. The first use of "katana" (gatana) as a word to describe a long sword that was different from a tachi occurs as early as the Kamakura Period (1185–1333). The holy swords of Masamune. Kanemitsu created some of the sharpest swords ever. Both 14th century. The distinctive curve of a samurai sword is created by differential heat treatment, not by bending the metal. Rattus norvegicus, the Norwegian brown rat is not Norwegian, or from Hamburg -- both victims of smear campaigns. There are very few places on Earth where the brown rat cannot live. Brudkronan, the Swedish wedding crown, a symbol of the bride's virginity, though "in some cases possible to convince the priest to overlook a premature pregnancy with a bribe or sometimes by atoning for the sin by paying for a new gilding of the crown". Sony Professional HVRZ5U HDV High Definition Handheld Camcorder. Sony HDR-CX330/B Full HD Handycam. Sámi people, previously known as Lapps or Laplanders. Quareg -- Tasselli quadrati. 2016 Acura NSX sports car. Consulate General of Denmark, Chicago, Suite 3950, Hancock Center Chicago. Currently there is a 29,008 sq.ft. office available for rent in Suite 4100. David Burke’s Primehouse – 616 North Rush at Ontario in The James Hotel Chicago. The Consulate General of Japan in Chicago is about two blocks south of the Hancock Center.

With a lot of time spent editing, not as much research is needed.

The broad shiny counters are up to:

Book 1 Page Edits (Pass 1)


The Lost Kingdom Project YA Trilogy Version 1.10 (03-27-15 Fr, 1148 pages)


And since there was a big jump in the later books:

The Lost Kingdom Fourth-Fifth Novels Version 1.10 (03-27-15 Fr, 68 pages)
Book 4 (4874 words) / Book 5 (11,573 words)


It might look like I got much less editing done this week than last, at the 222 page mark versus 138 pages, but one has to temper things -- page counts aren't story. And right now the story doesn't begin until page 40 of 520 in the Book 1 Version 1.10 file. So we are really at 98 of 448 pages lat week and 182 of 480 this, which makes for 98 pages edited last week and 84 pages edited this week -- plus a lot of writing in other sections.

Yeah, the accounting is such that I don't mind if you don't actually get down this far in the post. (sad-grin) But it looks like I might break 300,000 words in the original trilogy this next week...

Still fun!

Dr. Phil

Posted on Dreamwidth
Crossposted on LiveJournal

There are three kinds of word counts:
-- Raw word count -- necessary to have enough bulk for a story or a novel. This is where you try to pour your brain and overactive imagination, and maybe your enthusiasm, onto the page. This is where you are given permission to write crap. Words which can be cut, drawn, quartered and sent to the four corners of the kingdom never to be spoken again. Words which are more seeds of what might come. And of course the brilliant stuff. Isn't that all everyone writes? (grin)

-- Quality word count -- this is where the grace and glory of the story comes from. Also, sometimes, your darlings you have to murder. Either way, whether it makes it to the final story, these words are most definitely not crap. They are the ones which define the story. There will be less of these than raw word count. Focus only on numbers and days of quality words can look discouraging. A good writing day, however, isn't just numbers.

-- Edit word count -- the payoff. Sometimes it's tweaking a word or two. Or stomping on those damned typos which can date back MONTHS and you've reread many times. Stupid typos. Some days you can fly through the pages. Sometimes you can spend all day working on one section. And then there inevitable I am sure I wrote this because I can see this plainly in my mind what do you mean I never actually wrote this whole scene down but just a placeholder or the opening and ending lines?

Eventually you have a completed, readable draft. And usually the process starts all over again. Another inevitability is that if this is really going to go forward, someday you have to release the story or novel to your beta readers. Or in the case of a short story, just ship it to some market and go on to the next story until you get this one back.

Until you've released the story into the wild, or least to beta, writing is just a solitary entertainment.

I've been able to take some pressure off this phase with my YA trilogy project, because I released online two chapters at Christmas and New Year's, and read from the opening to a nearly empty room at ConFusion in mid-January. Not as much feedback as I'd like, but I wasn't pelted with rotted vegetables either. And I've been keeping myself honest by obliquely talking about my progress here on these blog pages.

In the wee hours of Wednesday though, between 2 and 3am, a nagging problem suddenly earned its solution. And even better, it was in the correct context for the novel. I even dumped a quick triumphant crow about it on Facebook:

Philip Edward Kaldon
March 18 at 3:03am

Ooh, I am so thrilled. There been this issue in my YA novel which has bugged me from the start -- and tonight, when I tried to map it out for real, I discovered I didn't have to. The problem literally was written away, in the context of the story. Perfect.

In the words of Colonel Hannibal of the A-Team, "I love it when a plan comes together."

Dr. Phil

It is no secret that The Lost Kingdom YA trilogy is about a secret kingdom. Nor is it a secret that it in Scandinavia -- I mean, Vikings and all those Research notes about Norway and Denmark. But from the start I've had to resolve two competing issues:

(1) The desire to make this story as "photo realistic" as I can.

(2) The need to co-opt a piece of the coast of Norway just above the Arctic Circle to locate my Lost Kingdom.

Have you ever really looked at the coast of Norway? I mean, REALLY looked at it? As in zoom in Google Maps looked at it?

"Look at me - I design coastlines ... I got an award for Norway ... I've been doing fjords all my life ... for a fleeting moment they become fashionable and I get a major award."

-- Slartibartfast (planet designer)
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy / Douglas Adams

It's not just the fjords, it's all these treacherous little rocks and islands off the coast.

I looked and looked, and there just wasn't anything like I wanted where I needed it. Either I needed to structurally change Norway -- a difficult thing to do when you are trying to write photo-realistic fiction -- or I had to radically change my precious story. NO! MY PRECIOUS!

And then it hit me.

Maps.

Ever look at ancient and old maps? You can laugh at how far they diverge from reality, yet still seem to contain some of the right features. And then there's the old cartographer's trick of deliberately mislabeling or moving minor things around, in order to establish copyright violations. Rand McNally certainly has done this. Even, as I understand it, with the atlas of the lunar surface. Don't steal from the big boys.

So what if the maps... are just wrong? The Lost Kingdom is secret. They've been protecting their secrets for 1550 years. They started out as Romans and early Vikings. You don't just walk into the kingdom without an invite and expect to get out alive. So why should they advertise where they are? The maps you see online, why hardly anyone lives there and who would notice? And if you had a whole vast chunk of miles of tiny islands and jagged rocks sticking out of the sea with strong currents -- the strongest current in the world's seas is near here in real life -- would you risk taking a boat into there? The map screams, Stay Away.

But this is March 2015. We not only have Google Maps, we have Satellite View! Gotcha there, sucker! Don't we? Uh, no. Roman conquerors, Viking raiders, 18th century pirates -- what would be your kingdom's business model in 2015? That's right. The dark net. Hackers. Satellite View has been hacked to match the fake maps. Oh sure, a few countries know from their military satellites, and Norway is rather pissed to have These People stuck like a pimple on their coastline, but otherwise, who would know?

It's a neat solution and I am very happy about it. Rather than forcing me to rewrite the story, it gives me MORE story. And that's how I know that this thing is really working and firing on all cylinders.

Wednesday I drove into my office at WMU and got my Lonely Planet guides to Norway and Denmark from Amazon. And quite frankly, the Norway guide has already paid for itself within the first five pages I looked at last night. My senior princess's college roommate is from Holland MI, which provides some nice humor between the Michigan Holland and the European Holland. And from LP Norway, there on the Nordland map is a little town on the coast of Norway near the Arctic Circle called Holand. You can't make this stuff up. (That and most of the online maps with detail, and Google Maps I'm looking at you, do NOT bother to show you where the damned Arctic Circle is. So LP Norway is very much appreciated.)

New Researches: The Chicago St. Patrick's Day parade is the Sunday before St. Patrick's Day, as needed. Always starts at noon. Erin go Bragh is an English corruption of the phrase Éirinn go Brách in the Irish language. In 1095, Pope Urban II proclaimed the First Crusade with the stated goal of restoring Christian access to holy places in and near Jerusalem. The canonization of Saint Udalric, Bishop of Augsburg, by Pope John XV in 993 is the first undoubted example of a papal canonization of a saint from outside Rome; some historians maintain that the first such canonization was that of Saint Swibert by Pope Leo III in 804. Pope Formosus (c. 816 – 4 April 896) was Pope from 6 October 891 to his death in 896. His brief reign as Pope was troubled, and his remains were exhumed and put on trial in the notorious Cadaver Synod. Twice. Norway employs a weak form of mandatory military service for women and men. While 63,841 men and women were called in for the examination of persons liable for military service in 2012 (mandatory for men), 9265 were conscripted. Catholic baptism and infant Communion. Odin (Old Norse Óðinn), the chief god of Norse mythology, was referred to by more than 200 names in the skaldic and Eddic traditions. Alföðr Alfodr Allfather, Father of All. In Norse mythology, Ask and Embla (from Old Norse Askr ok Embla)—male and female respectively—were the first two humans, created by the Gods. Phantom of the Opera staged at the Det Ny Theater, Copenhagen (2000–2001, 2003–2004, 2009). Sequel Love Never Dies, 2013. 2005 Mercedes S500 4MATIC AWD sedan. Noma, one of the top restaurants in the world in Copenhagen, is located in an old fish warehouse on a wharf. Twice they've closed to take their whole kitchen staff to pop up restaurants, first in London and then in Tokyo. Nasjonal sikkerhetsmyndighet is the Norwegian security agency, established in 2013. Christmastide and the Twelve Days of Christmas, liturgically. Bodø, located just north of the Arctic Circle, and Mo i Rana, just south of the Arctic Circle. The three largest communities north of the Arctic Circle are situated in Russia and Norway: Murmansk (population 307,257), Norilsk (175,365), and Tromsø (71,295). Rovaniemi (in Finland), which lies slightly south of the line, has a population of approximately 60,000, making it the largest settlement located in the immediate vicinity of the Arctic Circle. The largest North American community north of the Arctic Circle, Sisimiut (Greenland), has approximately 5,000 inhabitants. Of the Canadian and United States Arctic communities, Barrow, Alaska is the largest settlement with about 4,000 inhabitants. Greensushi in Copenhagen. Mercedes-Benz GLS 350d 7-passenger diesel SUV. Kongens Nytorv, King's New Square, is a cobble-stoned square in Copenhagen dating to 1907, containing a royal equestrian statue of Christian V. The Politiet is the Danish police agency.

Got the plot all figured out in your mind yet?

The shiny counters are up to:

Book 1 Page Edits (Pass 1)


The Lost Kingdom Project YA Trilogy Version 1.10 (03-20-15 Fr, 1108 pages)


These weekly updates get written to Dreamwidth, crossposted to LiveJournal and linked in Facebook. Most of my blog readers probably see things via Facebook. Alas, FB is notorious for deciding what things you should be allowed to see. When I made the FB post shown above, I had one of my friends from WOTF XXIV comment "I did not even know you were writing a YA! Where have I been? So cool!"

So, for all of you who need to catch up on what I'm doing:

You can follow the tags to this posting or use this handy link to The Lost Kingdom tag...

... and the first entry here. These links also include the Christmas 2016 and New Year's 2017 entries.

Dr. Phil

Posted on Dreamwidth
Crossposted on LiveJournal

I've been on a tear with writing lately. And that's a good thing. This week, however, there were other things going on. And that's a good thing, too. Read a good book, Flex (DW). Had a doctor's appointment. A fabulous meal out on Monday night, which I need to write about. Movie and weapons grade mac & cheese yesterday (DW).

I also spent a little time, as I sometimes do, hopping through the 954 pages of my main file, finding holes, filling in details. Getting rid of more characters named Xxxx with real names. (grin) Funny thing, I see the Xxxx with the red underlining from Chrome's spellchecker and I want to check the line and figure out what the name is supposed to be. But it's supposed to be Xxxx here! (OCD-grin) What? OCD isn't in its spellchecker? Outrage! (right-click-Add-to-dictionary-grin)

One of the things I always admired about Dune were the beginning of chapter quotes. They added some depth -- as well as history both back and forward from the events going on. I already had a "quote" at the beginning of Book 1 and decided that I need to put in something for the starts of all the parts. Books 1 and 2 Parts A/B and Book 3. To that end, I had already written a first draft of the words to the kingdom's national anthem -- there's a stanza right there -- and added an Advice to Princes attributed to the kingdom's patron saint, plus the openings to the First and Third sagas. Didn't know the kingdom had sagas? Oh, they do. Come on, Vikings? Sure.

New Researches: Second generation Subaru Legacy BK flat roofed wagon (not Outback). Left-Hand Traffic and Right-Hand drive. Sunday, 3 September 1967, Swedish as Dagen H (H-Day), the 'H' being for Högertrafik or right traffic. Swedish trains did NOT change from left-side to right-side, due to costs. For the Copenhagen to Göteborg X2000 train line, I found on Google Maps satellite view the flyover-type crossover north of Malmö. Malmö is the third largest city in Sweden. Together with Copenhagen, it constitutes the transnational Øresund Region, the most densely populated area in Scandinavia. The Øresundsbroen is a double-track railway and motorway bridge across the Øresund strait between Scania (southernmost Sweden) and Denmark -- trains on the lower level. Longest combined rail/road bridge in Europe. 8 km bridge on east end, the artificial island Peberholm in the middle, 4 km Drogden Tunnel on the west end, comes out near the Copenhagen airport. Bœuf bourguignon, Julia Child's recipe. Frederiksberg Runddel ice rink in Copenhagen. Free if you bring your own skates, otherwise skate rental is 50 DKK. For 2015, open from 1 January to 1 March, so you're out of luck for this year. Café Phenix nearby. Easter eggs in Scandinavia. Polish drapanka style pysanka Easter eggs -- we did something like this growing up, using hot wax to lay down batik patterns in different colors of egg dye. Яйца Фаберже́ -- Fabergé eggs. There are seven lost imperial eggs, but only three have known photographs, including the Royal Danish egg, the largest of the Fabergé eggs. Norwegian Dawn of the Norwegian Cruise Line -- larger than RMS Titanic. Norwegian Dawn is the de facto official ship of Rosie O'Donnell's R Family Vacations, a cruise designed for gay and lesbian families. Vista Garden Villa Suite #14500 is portside -- it has a private upstairs sundeck. Accommodates 30 for parties, three staterooms. Visiting cruise ships to Copenhagen generally dock at Langelinie Pier, Norwegian Cruise Lines at Ocean Quay. Hot cross buns. Fastelavnsbolle (Danish and Norwegian) for Shrove Monday. Stollen for Christmas in Germany, Dresden Stollen (originally Striezel). Allerheiligenstriezel, a braided form of stollen. Constitution Day (Danish: Grundlovsdag), observed on 5 June, is also Father's Day. In Norway, Father's day (Farsdag), is celebrated on the second Sunday of November. Tesla Model S luxury sedan -- the top selling electric vehicle in Denmark -- optional third row with two rearward facing child seats with shoulder harnesses. The three Copenhagen seaforts -- Trekroner and Flakfortet have ferry service during summer, Middelgrundsfortet is privately owned and currently under development. Museum Maribo-Bandholm is an antique train museum in Denmark, volunteer run, with limited tourist schedules -- but you can rent the steam train for a group up to 50 for any day of the year, 5600 DKK. Optional dining car. Oseberg Viking ship in Oslo, one of three well preserved Viking ships that had been used for burial -- hence their preservation. Tharsis, western volcanic plain on Mars. The name Tharsis is the Greco-Latin transliteration of the biblical Tarshish, the land at western extremity of the known world. Ira Glass’ This American Life on Trouble, a little restaurant in San Francisco that serves four things: Coffee, cinnamon toast, coconuts and shots of grapefruit juice.

The grand total is now 263,121 words.

The shiny counters are up to:

The Lost Kingdom Project YA Trilogy Version 1.09 (03-07-15 Sa, 954 pages)


Book 1 Part A (78,100. words, starts page 46) / Part B (42,201 words, starts page 304)


Book 2 Part A (61,804 words, starts page 458) / Part B (44,730 words, starts page 680.)


Book 3 (starts page 845)


Hmm, exceeded the revised goal for Book 1 Parts A/B? Guess it really is going to be two books then. Up the total to 160,000...

Book 1 Part A (78,100. words, starts page 46) / Part B (42,201 words, starts page 304)


Probably going to Version 1.10 next week, so we'll restructure all the shiny counters. Still trying to decide if I want to break the main file into pieces for Books 1, 2 and 3. Maybe.

Dr. Phil

Posted on Dreamwidth
Crossposted on LiveJournal

Saturday, with very little effort, I passed on through the 250,000 word barrier in the main YA novel file. Saturday was a 4001 word day alone.

It's been just a shade over two weeks since I reached 200,000 words (DW). This is twice the pace of a NANOWRIMO win, but that's not a fair comparison, as we are deeply involved in the middle of things and not starting from scratch. Middles of novels/stories are very different from beginnings and ends.

The thing is, I'm really not writing just one book. I need to know the story -- and I have to get ideas turned into words fast -- so it wouldn't work in this case to just write the first book and then say And there will be more... This is foolish, from the stand point that no one is paying me yet. But I am on sabbatical, more or less, so I have the time to let my fingers fly on the keyboards.

-----
Have I mentioned backups recently?

It seems that I sometimes have to remind students that if you don't have copies of your files, you are basically wasting your time. It is never a matter of IF you are going to need a backup, it's always going to be WHEN.

On the other hand, backups are notoriously difficult. I dislike automatic cloud backups, because I want to control how I use my bandwidth. And the cloud? Also known as remote storage? The closest I get is to email myself critical files as attachments. But... having just one backup on one type of media AND in the same room as the computer, gives you only a false layer of protection.

Anyway, I was thinking about backups yesterday because I made a mistake. I should've hit Fn+F3 on ZEPPELIN to put it to sleep, but instead I did Start | Shutdown -- while Word 2010 was still open.

Of course, I am an old programmer and longtime computer user. I make extensive use of DOS Batch Files in the MS-DOS box -- COMMAND.COM in the old days and CMD.EXE on Windows NT4/2000/Vista/XP/7 NT-class machines -- which is way faster and gives you more control over the GUI Windows Explorer. I keep a Shortcut to CMD.EXE right on the Desktop, and it's usually the first icon I call upon.

C:\utility>copy con backout.bat
@echo BACKOUT Version 1.00 / 28 February 2015
@xcopy *%1*%2*%3* BACKFILE^Z          NOTE: ^Z = Ctrl-Z or F6 key.

You can run this with up to three arguments, such as:

E:\WORK(7A)\NTOVELS>backout prin 09 doc
BACKOUT Version 1.00 / 28 February 2015
E:A Princess of a Lost Kingdom 109.doc
E:A Princess of a Lost Kingdom Chapter List 109.doc
E:A Princess of a Lost Kingdom R-09.doc
3 File(s) copied

The first time you run this, XCOPY will ask if BACKFILE is a (F)ile or a (D)irectory. Hit D and boom -- files are backed up in a subdirectory. So if your main files get hosed for some reason, you have the last saved version right there.
-----

Fortunately, Word 2010 is smart enough to decide during a Shutdown to make a last moment copy of the current file. A simple Save As replaces the previously written file with the newer text. No work lost.

Older versions of Microsoft Word would give you Recovered files, which almost always were OLDER than the last version of the file I saved!

The moral of the story: Save often. Have Automatic Saves enabled -- I have it set for 10 minutes. Have "Always create backup copy" enabled. Make your own backups. Carry a copy of your backups to the office or to home, as needed. In case of fire, grab the kid, the cats, the spouse, the flashdrive with the backups... (grin)

WHEN, not IF. You're welcome.

The current shiny counter:

The Lost Kingdom Project YA Trilogy Version 1.09 (02-28-15 Sa, 919 pages)


Now if you excuse me, I have some ice skates to put on and some motorcycles to ride. Or rather, my characters do. It says so on this little piece of paper I scribbled on at 4:04am just before I went to bed.

Dr. Phil

Posted on Dreamwidth
Crossposted on LiveJournal

Despite the weather getting down to -13°F last night and other temps all week +/- the zero mark in the Fahrenheit scale -- this was a very productive week.

For example, last night I remembered that I had a submission that might (or might not) have been sitting in the 15-day penalty box before shipping to new Editor CCFinlay at F&SF. (The might not part comes from the fact that the last rejection was not to the general F&SF e-sub but the last of Charlie's special F&SF issue e-subs. Technicalities do not trump politeness. When you have the time.) I had the whole sub and cover letter ready to go -- checked the story and lo, found a nit, which I fixed. By the time it was shipped and I checked Gmail for the confirmation email, there was a rejection from another market. Oh well. Hop to Ralan's to look at the current Flash markets -- ah, here's one at SFWA pro rates! Re-shipped. +2 - 1 = +1 gain in stories out. Yay.

Then 10:30 this morning, as I was getting up from my morning nap -- since I went to bed at 3:40 and got up at 7:00 -- I had a sudden story idea. By 1:20 I had the story fleshed out. By 1:40, I'd converted it to printer formatting (Standard Manuscript Format, which is not what I usually write in), read it aloud, printed it. I've already proofed the printout and left it for Mrs. Dr. Phil to read. -- Ze Beeg Question is, at 1650 words is it sufficient or should I really make it longer? It's not Flash, but there are a number of markets perfectly happy to see sub-2000 word SF stories.

Posted this yesterday on Facebook about my researches for the YA trilogy:

Clever Google.

Trying to get a character from Copenhagen to Monte Carlo at the last minute. All the evening flights are two stops with an overnight layover.

Google suggests I try Nice -- only 11 miles from Monte Carlo. Hey Lufthansa has 18:40 Copenhagen to Frankfurt, 50 minute layover, Frankfurt to Nice. Arrive 21:55.

My character will be happy.

COMMENT: And does it advise on transport from Nice to Monte Carlo? Taxi? Rent-a-car? Train? I think the Nice airport is a bit outside of town. Just saying'. xo

REPLY: Oh, they definitely need to rent a car. Nefarious deeds ahead. Also a silver Lamborghini is involved. -- Dr. Phil

Don't know what the 2022-2023 model Lamborghinis are likely to be called. Given recent history, probably not a $237,250 Huracán. But do I invent a name? A Lamborghini Toronado? (Oldsmobile-supercar-grin) Or just leave it as a Silver Lambo? This is the problem with writing near-term-but-future fiction.

Here's the other funny thing about research -- it can lead you into places you never expected (DW).

I was doing Google Maps to locate The Jam Pot, the bakery store of the Holy Transfiguration Skete, Society of St. John, a Catholic monastery of the Byzantine Rite. It's off M-26 on the northern shores of the Keweenaw Peninsula -- north of Houghton, just past Jacobs Falls and before Copper Harbor MI. And with Google Maps, you can scroll around. I was looking at Brockway Mountain Drive and then decided to see the northern terminus of US-41 (1990 Miles to Miami). And then I decided to see how far the private road goes to Lake Superior...

And there on the edge of webpage, along the tip of the Keweenaw, past the end of the main road, was a tag for Keweenaw Rocket Range.

Hell we lived there in the time between the last launch and the laying of the commemorative stone -- and didn't know anything about this. (geeky-grin)

New Researches include: Göteborg, Sweden. Répondez s'il vous plaît. Lange Luger (long-barreled). Siriuspatruljen (Sirius Patrol) elite Danish navy Arctic unit -- "The weapons carried also reflect the harsh conditions. Only bolt-action rifles (M17/M53) performs reliably. The standard SIG210 Neuhausen sidearm was recently replaced by the 10mm Glock 20, as the stopping power of multiple 9mm rounds proved to be insufficient against a polar bear." Glock 26 9×19mm "subcompact". Google Maps satellite view of Kalundborgvej in Holbæk, Denmark. Swedish X2000 train KOEBENHAVN H to GOETEBORG CENTRAL, €172 OW. (Accounting is complicated on websites, as prices get listed in Danish, Norwegian and Swedish kroner, euros, GB Pounds, US dollars, sometimes at whim -- one time Google Translate in Chrome translated a Danish PDF menu for me AND converted the DKK to GBP!) Porsche 991 is the internal designation for the seventh generation Porsche 911 -- 2013 Porsche 911 Cabriolet Turbo in Guard Red, black interior. The Porsche 918 Spyder is a limited edition plug-in hybrid, so you know it's economically friendly, priced at only US$845,000. (No doubt I can't fit in it. But the super-rich mid-life executive?) Linje Aquavit is named after the tradition of sending oak barrels of aquavit with ships from Norway to Australia and back again, thereby passing the equator ("linje") twice before being bottled. Kongens Nytorv square in Copenhagen. Det Kongelige Teater. Googly eyes. Sprung -- the state of being very attracted to a person, obsession often mistaken for love. Sankt Ansgars Kirke—Katolsk Domkirke. 11am Solemn Masses on 2nd and 4th Sundays are partly in Latin. Café Oscar, not to be confused with Oscar Bar Café in Copenhagen, the latter is the most popular gay bar. The former is a block away from the cathedral and serves Luksus brunch-buffet SØNDAG 11.00 - 14.00. Le Sommelier is a fine French restaurant across the street from the cathedral, but doesn't open until 18:00 on Sundays. (Research!) Sankt Elisabeths Kirke, Holbæk. Brennivin is Akvavit without the flavoring. Romersk-Katolska Kyrkan Kristus Konungens Församling (Christ the King Roman Catholic Church), Göteborg. Charon's obol. Scandinavian gullgubber, small and fragile gold-foil pieces replacing the coins for the ferryman. Roman Catholic funeral rites. Borzoi, also called the Russian wolfhound (Russian: Ру́сская псовая борзая). Copenhagen to Monte Carlo 17h 35min (1,730.1 km) driving via A7 -- ferry to Germany, Austria, short excursion into Lichtenstein, Switzerland, Italy, France, Monaco. (Probably less time in the Lamborghini... just saying.) As noted above, Google advised flying into Nice late in the day, otherwise it's overnight somewhere en route. Pizza Grandiosa refers to the most popular brand of frozen pizza in Norway. They've had commercial jingles as pop hits. Either tastes "great or like cardboard". (grin)

And in the category of "Things That I Thought I Knew But Had Never Verified", I have been trying to explain to people for years that Europe is more northerly than the United States -- that Chicago in the North is the same latitude as Rome in the South. Well, I checked:

-- 41°54′N 12°30′E Rome
-- 41°54′N 12°27′E Vatican City
-- 41°53′N 87°38′W Chicago

And I was right -- only off by one minute of arc, which is nuthin'.

Also, I've been using The Weather Channel app on the Kindle Fire HD to observe the daily weather in Bodo, Oslo and Copenhagen -- and despite the first one being north of the Arctic Circle, they're all getting milder winters than West Michigan this year. Or Boston. (sn*cker)

The shiny counter for the main workfile, without breakdown, stands at:

The Lost Kingdom Project YA Trilogy Version 1.09 (02-20-15 Fr - 874 pages)


That's 25,371 actual story words (not notes) in the past week, not including the 1650 word new short story and some edits of other documents. Very happy about this.

In addition, Version 1.09 now includes Book 1 split into Parts A/B, as I had done with Book 2. Doesn't mean that the trilogy is now a pentalogy (1A/B, 2A/B, 3), but it could be. Raising the Grand Total from 240,000 words to 300,000 words might make sense. Man, I hadn't even realized I'd hit the 98% level in the current "trilogy" counter!

The next major version of the story files will probably break things into Versions 1.10, 2.10 and 3.10, for Books 1-3. Or create a Research only Version R.10 file. Things are getting unwieldy given the amount of text I'm scraping into notes and the pictures I'm copying, including bunches of Google Maps in map and satellite views, sometimes even street view. One hates to depend solely on the Internet, but it is so much better than just winging it about things and cities and languages that I just don't know.

Dammit, I need a healthy five-figure advance, so we can go reconnoiter all this stuff. I've told my one sister-in-law, who studied German and Scandinavian languages in college and graduate school, that we'll drag her along as our translator. Also as our expert on pastries. (ooh-la-la-grin)

Dr. Phil

Posted on Dreamwidth
Crossposted on LiveJournal