The Golden Journey to Samarcand

samarcand @ 2009-11-06T22:27:00

2009-11-06T22:28:32Z

Only 600 words tonight, but I did manage to get in my joke about Paul McCartney being a zombie. But still recording Live and Let Die.

Scribble...scribble...scribble

2009-11-05T21:17:29Z

How long has it been?

Quite a while... Hello again!

Things have happened. I've got a new job - working for North Tyneside Council - no students! No registers! No EMA complaints! More money! Yay! It's all good.

I discovered two days ago that the company through which I was taking my MCSA qualification seems to have disappeared. All their websites are dead and their emails are being bounced back. So, on the one hand, shit, all that work for nothing, I hope I can get at least some money back. However, on the other hand - thank god for that!

And, it seems to have enabled my writing again. I started working on the next novel. I've dropped the Roman story (for the moment) and I'm working on something else - a contemporary, Newcastle-based, supernatural thriller, entitled 'Ghostkin'. I'm quite excited about it and I've written 2000 words in the last two days. So yay!

Please note - yes, I'm writing a novel in November. But I'm not taking part in Nanowrimo. However, good luck to all those who are!

Here: Have a word count...

Two days in a row.

2009-07-01T20:05:00Z

That two days of both posting and writing. Is this some kind of record? Well, it certainly seems to be for me, anyway.

Today I have written 556 words - most of which were brand new, apart from a few where I changed a bit... That makes a total of 1226 words. Which is a certain percent (around one...?) of the whole thing finished. Yay!

And, I've just added a character who wasn't in the original idea at all but looks like he may be going to be fairly important.

In other news... first day of work went well. People nice. Place I am working nice. Nice.

Writing

2009-06-30T19:57:44Z

Well, I've done some writing. Not a lot, admittedly, but I've done some. It was really fucking hard.

Saying that, I may have actually managed to get re-started on the next novel. We'll see how it goes.

Unfortunately, I don't have the extremely nice word count thing that moshui has for his book. But then, he's managing about ten times more words a day than I have done in the last couple of months. Well, when I say the last couple of months, I actually mean, because I haven't done any writing in the last couple of months. But anyway, I've written 207 words this evening, which makes a total of 703 words. Which is really crap, actually. But, if I keep it up, I'll get there. Eventually. It's not quite NaNoWriMo, but it's at least NoWri. As opposed to no writing, which is what it has been.

In other news, I start my new job tomorrow.

Tomorrow...

2009-06-25T19:18:41Z

is my last day in my current job. This is one of the reason's I have not been posting recently. I have been working like the proverbial sapphire-hue rear-ended insect to get the next six months work done in the month before leaving. And why do I do this? Mainly because I'm stupid, I think. And there is that whole 'consciencious' (which took me three goes to spell and I'm still not completely certain I've got right but I really can't be arsed to go and find a dictionary) thing which apparently has a deeper hold on me than I previously thought.

Mind you, it doesn't help that I decided last Friday: 'I know, I'll just rewrite the database that I've spent the last two and a half years writing and refining.'

So, I start my new job at t'council on Wednesday. It's basically the same as I'm doing now but for more money. Like my current job, it's brand new, so I'll be basically creating it as I go along. So, we'll see how it goes. More news, probably somewhat after it happens.

A few things to make a post.

2009-06-06T09:01:39Z

Lulu.com has listed my book, The Long Sleep
on Amazon.com!

I've got a new job! I start at North Tyneside Council as a Research and Information Support Officer on the 1st July. No students, no parents, no EMA. And an extra 4 grand a year. it's all good.

Candy has had an operation on her ankle, so she's back on crutches for the next six weeks. She's survived a week so far but she already starting to go stir crazy.

I IZ A PUBLISHED WRITER!

2009-04-30T11:09:20Z

I have just had confirmation that my short story, 'I Wish I Could Be Like' has been accepted for use in a Talking Newspaper tape for South Tyneside.

It's payment with a copy of the tape, but it's a start!

I am a happy bunny. Now to get started writing again!

An Announcement

2009-04-17T07:29:06Z

Happy Birthday shewhomust!

Another picture of me!

2009-03-17T20:22:04Z

Just thought I'd post a picture of what I wore when I went out last week to the TG evening at the Turbinia. It's a bit of a change from my usual look - pink skirt and white blouse with grey tights.

I had another really good night. Lots of talking to other girls - both tv and ts. I hope to go back again this month, because this one was really my February night out which got postponed to the beginning of March. We'll see...

-30-

2009-03-04T15:32:03Z

It's done! I have completed. Now I just need to read it and see if it's any good or if it's self-indulgent tranny crap. And then get other people to read it to confirm my opinion. Well, if it's the former. If it's the latter, ain't no-one else gonna get their mitts on it.

And, to celebrate, I'm going out dressed tonight. I tried for the last two weeks, but life kept getting in the way. But tonight, it's definitely happening!

Anyway, have a word count:

19,717 / 19,717
(100.0%)

A week of writing

2009-02-27T19:26:54Z

I've managed to do some writing every day. I'm so proud of myself! I think if I manage to keep this up for another week, I'll have finished this story. And then it'll be on to the next novel...

6,246 + 7,414
(118.7% more)

Five by Five!

2009-02-23T20:08:38Z

9,212 + 1,546
(16.8% more)

ETA: I've just done another 550 words in addition to this. I'd do more but I need to go to bed...

Rolling along

2009-02-22T19:49:19Z

Four!

8,684 + 528
(6.1% more)

And we keep going...

2009-02-21T17:53:11Z

Three days!

7,950 + 734
(9.2% more)

I have written!

2009-02-20T20:44:20Z

That's twice in two days! Does this mean I'm getting back in the swing of things? Only time will tell... I don't know how long this story has to go. I think I'm about a third to half way. We shall see...

Two Households

7,246 + 704
(9.7% more)

I so desperately don't want to work this afternoon.

2009-02-20T13:08:10Z

So much so that I'm gonna Meme!

Welcome to the 2009 edition of getting to know your Friends. Change all the answers so they apply to you, and then send this to your friends including the person who sent it to you.
The theory is that you will learn a lot of little things about your friends that you might not have known!

1. What time did you get up this morning? Awoke – 6am, Got up – 7am
2. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? The Dark Knight
4. What is your favourite TV show? The Wire
5. What do you usually have for breakfast? Cereal – usually Special K Red Berries
6. What is your middle name? Andrew Inman
7. What food do you dislike? Peppers
8. What is your favorite CD at moment? I don’t know, because I’m listening to a mix of everything on my MP3 player
9. What kind of car do you drive? Peugeot 405
10. Favorite sandwich? Ham
11. What characteristic do you despise? Bigotry
12. Favorite item of clothing? Miniskirts. Well, anything femme really.
13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? Africa
14. Favorite brand of clothing? Monsoon
15. Where would you retire to? France
16. What was your most recent memorable birthday? The last one was pretty damn fine.
17. Favorite sport to watch? I don’t watch sport.
18. Furthest place you are sending this? The Internet!
19. Person you expect to send it back first?
20. When is your birthday? July
21. Are you a morning person or a night person? Night
22. What is your shoe size? 8
23. Pets? 2 cats
24. Anything new and exciting you'd like to share with us? no
25. What did you want to be when you were little? An astronaut. Or a princess.
26. What are you doing today? Various bits of administrative crap.
27. What is your favorite candy? My wife. (Am I allowed to say that?)
28. What is your favorite flower? Carnations
29. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? I’m not looking forward to any specifically.
30. What is your full name?
31. What are you listening to right now? Trying to avoid listening to the radio. And the voices in my head.
32. What was the last thing you ate? Grapefruit
33. Do you wish on stars? No
34. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Red
35. How is the weather right now? Cold but clear
36. The first person you spoke to on the phone today? Some student or other.
37. Favorite soft drink? Grapefruit juice
38. Favorite restaurant? The Hunan Balcony – on Broadway in New York. One of the reasons I REALLY want to go back to NY.
39. Real hair color? Dark brown
40. What was your favorite toy as a child? Play People and my Star Wars figures.
41. Summer or winter? Summer
42. Hugs or kisses? Depends who is offering them?
43. Chocolate or Vanilla? Chocolate
44. Coffee or tea? tea
45. Do you want your friends to email you back ? If they want to.
46. When was the last time you cried? I don’t remember.
47. What is under your bed? Most of girly clothes.
48. What did you do last night? Failed to go out.
49. What are you afraid of ? Being left alone and having no friends.
52. How many years at your current job? 3
53. Favorite day of the week? Saturday
54. How many towns have you lived in? 4
55. Do you make friends easily? I think so.
56. How many people will you send this to? Well, I’m going to put it on my Livejournal, so in theory it could be the whole internet.
57. How many will respond? As many as want to. Frankly, I’m surprised I have.

A silver lining

2009-02-19T06:52:52Z

One good thing about being up this early in the morning. It gives me a chance to do some writing. Which is nice. I've been working on my crossdressing short story. I doubt it's particularly publishable, but I kind of need to get it out my system.

Anyway, have a metric:

Two Households

6,246 + 1,019
(16.3% more)

Tired of insomnia

2009-02-19T05:06:03Z

Tired? More like completely fucking pig sick of insomnia. But that doesn't make for as good a subject line.

I've been awake since 3.30 this morning and finally got up at 4.30, after spending an hour trying to get relaxed and thus back to sleep. I don't know why I bothered. I knew pretty quickly that I was awake. I can always tell when I'm not going back to sleep - although I admit this may be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I don't know why I'm awake this morning, either. The only thing I can think of is that my worries about this evening have done it. Although, frankly, I think I no longer have to be worried. I can't see myself going out after this. We'll see. Maybe I can come home early this afternoon and crash out for a couple of hours.

If I don't go out, I'm going to be amazingly pissed off. Originally, it looked like I was going to have a chance to be dressed up three times this week. Now it's looking very, very strongly like that number has dropped to zero. The other two are liveable with (one was meant to be a party on Saturday that I managed to screw up the dates for - I invited people for the 21st March instead of February - and the other was me going out to the TG evening which I postponed to next week so I could go on a date with my beloved one. The fact that the date never actually happened - we were going to see Slumdog Millionaire but the cinema was full, so we just came home again. Which was still lovely, but not exactly what we wanted to do, i.e. the same as every other night. So those two are liveable with, as they are postponements rather than cancellations but, even so, dropping from three girly nights in a week to zero is a bit fucking hard to live with.

However, after Sunday nights bout, I decided that it was getting far beyond a joke, so I at least have an appointment at the doctor's this morning to see if I can do something about it. Even if it's just pills to begin with, hopefully they can suggest something else. But whatever happens, I've got to stop doing this again. I can feel the depression starting to edge up on me again and I really don't want that.

Tomorrow Night

2009-02-18T15:33:35Z

I'm off out dressed tomorrow night. I'm going to see a band called 'Ever Since The Lake Caught Fire' which has one of my work colleagues in it.

And I'm angsting a little. This will be the first time in a VERY long time that I've been out somewhere where (a) I don't know everyone - Candy is going and so are some other people from work but there will still be lots. And lots. Of people there who I don't know and (b) it's a non-transgender-oriented evening. So, yeah, a bit nervous.

Of course, part of the nervousness comes out in 'what am I going to wear' angst. But there is a definite butterflies-in-the stomach feeling for which lack of clothing doesn't account.

I'm sure everything will be fine - for a start, it'll be dark inside the venue and for another, I'll be with someone who is about 6'16" tall. Not that I'm expecting him to wade in if anything does start to happen but having someone like that around has got to give people pause for thought. And it means there will be someone there who will be taller than I am, even in my heels.

Selected... naturally.

2009-02-13T14:53:48Z

I think I may re-read The Sandwalk Adventures this weekend, in honour of Mr Darwin.

I just got a copy of 'Happy Birthday Darwin', produced by The Centre For Life which has a really good 'Brief Comic Life of Darwin' by Hunt Emerson. The whole thing is available to download as well. Which is nice.

I can haz happiness!

2009-02-12T18:45:32Z

William has turned up. He somehow managed to get himself locked into the empty house next door - presumably someone must have gone for a viewing yesterday. Max and I were making a snowman in the front garden this afternoon (I got to come home early on account of a little bit of snow...) and I heard his miaow. And, fortunately, we have keys for the house so we could get him. He was purring ecstatically, but still didn't want to be picked up. Although being put down in the snow did make him pause for thought...

So. Yay us!

I can haz unhappiness

2009-02-12T12:26:47Z

It appears that one of our cats - William - has gone missing. He wasn't around yesterday evening and hasn't appeared so far today.

A Televisual Eulogy

2009-02-11T17:32:52Z

Last night, we finished watching Season Five of The Wire.

My life is now bereft. It has been the most audacious, breathtaking, well-acted, well-written, well-everything television I have ever seen. That (13x4 + 12x5 + 1.5)113.5 hours that I spent in the company of McNulty, Bunk Moreland, Lester, Omar, Barksdale and the rest have been the most satisfying televisual hours of my life. Better than Buffy, better than ER, better than Doctor Who. Better, even, than Bagpuss - including the Chocolate Biscuit Factory episode.

I can - and almost certainly will - watch it again, but it won't be the same. I'll know what happens. It won't be as exciting; it won't have the same frisson; the same need to see the next episode to see what happens.

I have to admit to a certain amount of hyperbole in this entry, but there is certainly a large element of truth in it as well. When we finished watching the final episode last night we were
speechless. Well, for a minute or so, anyway. Then there was lots of 'it was so good' and 'I loved this bit' and so on and so forth.

If you've never seen it than you owe it to yourself to watch it (and, seeing as the first three seasons are available from Amazon UK for only £15.00 each at the moment, there really is no excuse.

Unless you live near me and want me to lend them to you (although there is a list for that...)

Meanwhile, I've got Carnivale Season 1 to watch. It won't be the same, but you know... life goes on.

A review of The Long Sleep

2009-01-30T12:35:11Z

This comes from Katrina Stonoff, over at Stone Soup. Admittedly, she is a good friend - the only person I've 'met' through LJ who I have subsequently actually met, but she's also a very good critic - she gave me a wonderful reading of Down Among the Yla. She also has a couple of copies to give away in her weekly Book Giveaway contest.

So, I am very, very happy about what she's written.

Submit!

2009-01-22T21:53:46Z

I've just got an email back from Zeno Agency asking me to send them a sample and synopsis of Down Among The Yla. Yay!