Time To Get Serious About Rewriting

Sometimes I really excel at procrastination. I've been unemployed for three months now, which should have been plenty of time to get lots of writing projects done, yet I have to kick my own buttocks to finish up on two major rewriting projects.

Specifically, they are the rewriting of The Right Hand of Evil, based on the new synopsis I sold to Flux, and Cupidity, my new novel that's just about ready for the world. Things were going great until I got to the part of both books that required real work. You know, not just changing around a few sentences but stuff where a substantial change in the story is necessary. I know what needs to be done, and I'm at the spots in both books where the major change has to break off from the written text, but I'm reluctant to actually go in and do it. It just seems daunting.

It's not that I'm reluctant to cut my glorious words. Well, okay, maybe a little, especially where a good gag is involved. Still, the real problem for me is thinking about breaking into the text and taking it in the new direction while still coming back together with the rest of the book that still works. If that makes any sense.

Anyway, it's something I have to do. And it will get done, of that I have no doubt. I just have to get on with it.

TransFormerCon!

I had a really fun weekend at my favourite convention - TransFormerCon! Every year, enthusiasts of the 80's toy line gather at the Doubletree International Plaza to sell off their collections, buy new additions to those collections, and just hang around like-minded people who can't get enough of those Robots In Disguise.

I've rented a table at the last four cons, and don't have much of a collection left. Okay, I still have about 50 Transformers, most of them standing on my new computer desk. They are cool toys. Yes, I'm a geek, but I'm a happy geek.

I also sold five copies of Epoch, and two copies of Section K! Plus, I was interviewed by a photographer from the Etobicoke Guardian. That was fun. I gave her a copy of Epoch and asked her to pass it along to their book reviewer, so hopefully I'll get another review out of this.

I sold a lot of toys, but didn't make all that much money. All my really valuable items I sold off in the last three years. Still, I earned enough to rent a table at Polaris 22, a sci-fi convention happening 3 weeks from now. And I got a few toys. I had to. But I showed a lot more restraint this year than last year.

Fun stuff.

I'm On The IMD!

My friend Mike emailed me recently to tell me I'm on the Internet Movie Database. It seems my work on The Dumb Bunnies has been recognized there, so they have a page dedicated to me! You can check it out by clicking here. Interesting that I'm Timothy Carter II. I wonder who #1 is?

Ten years ago I wrote two episodes of the cartoon The Dumb Bunnies for Nelvana. At the time I thought I had a brilliant future as a screenwriter ahead of me. Unfortunately that didn't work out, but now I have a brilliant novel career ahead of me, so I'm not too downhearted. My IMD page lists my episodes as unknown, but I can give you the titles here: Can It and Smile Trial.

I've Been Productive!

The quest for a job continues at a slow pace. I had a 3-day job last week, followed by a promising interview, but I am still waiting for news.

However, I have not been lazy with my time off. This weekend I finished an edit of Cupidity, and feel very happy about it. I'm still not ready to show it to people - I've made a bunch of notes for myself for more things I must change - but it is one big step forward.

I've also started rewriting The Right Hand of Evil. The first half of the book will require minimal changes, but the latter half will require a lot of hard work. The contract for this book just came in from my agent, so things are plowing ahead there. Very exciting!

Currently, I'm on Chapter 11 of my new novel, Apoca-Lynn. That one is going very well, and I am confident it will make an enjoyable read.

It will almost be a shame if I get a job now - all my writing projects will suffer!