Why aren't I writing?

Why aren't I writing? I'm a writer and I should be writing! I've been
reading John Scalzi's “You're not Fooling Anyone When You Take Your
Laptop to the Coffee Shop”, and he often produced 5,000 words in a
day. Welp.

Maybe it has something to do with trying to catch up with cleaning and
laundry after the party season, and the quarterly tax return, and
taking the decorations down, and distributing my books around the
island, and planning my website overhaul and trying to get fitter and
having a minor lurgy. I can see how that might interfere with writing
a bit. Oh, and I knitted myself a new pair of gloves, because I
couldn't find the old ones. Of course the old gloves turned up just as
I was finishing, along with another pair that I'd forgotten about, but
hey, it was quite nice to knit something.

And so far this year I've written 5 blog posts (most backdated) and 500
words of creative non-fiction which is nearly ready to go, and 500
words of publicity for my books (ditto) and further drafts on two
short stories. So I have been writing – just not very much for the
last ten days.

But I haven't done anything about finally finishing the second edition
of Una espectacular ventana al universo or starting a new book. I have
several ideas about new books, but I haven't done any bum-in-seat,
fingers-on-keyboard work on it at all.

Oh well, 260 words of blog post, at least. I hope it knocks some rust
off the wheels.

A new(ish) printer

Yay! I have a printer again. It's second hand, but it works, and I managed to install a driver so it talks to the computer. I can now get on with FINISHING THIS DANG BOOK!

Re-crastination

Yeah, I slowed right down again. Partly due to that pesky business of earning money.

So I'd better go back to work and get another baby step out of the way.

Great News

...and we interrupt our regular programming to bring you a news flash.

BSFA (British Science Fiction Association) preliminary 2008 award nominations for non-fiction includes:

"How to Burn a Chicken – Using Astronomy for Worldbuilding” by Sheila Crosby (in Escape Velocity, vol 1 issue 2)

I haven't been able to confirm this yet, but the unconfirmed report made my day.

Another Sale!

Escape Velocity have bought "The Dodo Dragon" for Issue three. This story's been published before, (once in Greek!) but it still makes me feel good all over.

And the novel's up to 80,771 words, which also makes me feel good. But I don't think I'm going to finish the first draft by the end of the month after all. Which is a puity, because I'm starting a writing course in March, and I'm going to be seriously pushed for time.

Ah well, I'll just let the house get dirty. It's always worked before.

60,000 reasons to celebrate

Yay! I wrote 50,000 words of a novel in November 2004, and one way and another, it got stuck there. By March 2005 it was still only 54,500, and I stopped again.

Well since late September I've been trying to write every day, and I've usually manged 200 words or so. At the weekend I finally reached 60,000 words.

There's still a long way to go, but at least it's moving, and I've found a technique to keep moving.