The Girdle of Melian

I finished editing!!! And now... I've got to tackle the electronic MS, entering all those edits, fixing dialogue, typing up linking bits... oh, and, um, writing the last couple of pages. 6 pages per day - I should be able to do this, but if willpower fails, there's always the Mission girls! The goal is to finish by 1 February, since I've got about 10 beta readers lined up! I gave the first chapter to friends and family back in August - the chapter's changed since then, thankfully, since I got no feedback whatsoever... Non-writers!

Three days and eighteen pages left to go on the editing, and I'm getting a little discouraged... Seems I really ran out of steam in the last few chapters - lots of loose ends to tie up and dialogue to fix and description to add. I love Austin and Kedi and their story but I wish... I'm not sure. Time alone with a computer? More hours in the day? Whatever it is, though, I'd like to figure it out before the new year (remember the Charlie Brown when Lucy enters Linus in the New Year pageant? and Linus gets all stressed? I tried to find a link of some sort but Google didn't turn anything up this time...) comes in - and then institute a regimen of some sort (sorry, had to use that word - just caught someone trying to use it but saying regiment instead, without understanding the difference) and then stick to it . Sven is still going strong, so he might provide some incentive...

:-)

Blogs and mailing lists I follow are all into the Bookworm Meme (find the nearest book, open it to page 56, and read the 5th sentence (why page 56?)). *looks around* Ha! The day I finally decide to play I'm at the office with no books and I don't even have my commuting book with me cos I'm editing my own novel on the train... Here you go... From The Face of A Lion (the fifth sentence is kinda short. Therefore I'm just going to give you the whole of page 56): "But why me?" "All those who are chosen for such tasks ask that very same question. It is a mark of your humility that you should wonder at your own capabilities." Kedi's whiskers still tickled his knee. "The presence of such humility, couple with a dedication to the task before you, is precisely why you are suited so completely to this undertaking. Parua scintilla saepe magnam flamum excitat - a small spark often ignites a great flame." Kedi's words swam in his head. As far a...

Forgot two more! Sweet and Savoury Bites - an Australian baking book - and Tartans , both birthday presents :-) Now I can make lamingtons! Thanks Sim! If you had a blog I could tag you...

Addendum 2: Of course, none of the statistics below take into account any of the beta reading I've done, of my own novel or others' novels... Not to mention Letters from Home, monthly exercises, and so on, over at the Compuserve Books and Writers Forum , the best writers' hangout on the web!

Addendum: Two books that are missing from the list: Britannia Mews by Margery Sharp and Cost of Freedom by Carol Spradling I don't know what happened to Britannia Mews; I read it back in August, so must have forgotten to add it to the list... Cost of Freedom I just started! So that makes 104 books over 50 weeks if I finish the Pink Fairy Book this weekend...