David D. LevineScience Fiction Author

Word count: 104436 | Since last entry: 1003

Today kind of vanished, starting with yoga class and continuing with a variety of small tasks that had me waiting around for someone else to show up. For the whole middle of the day I don’t think I had more than 45 minutes at a stretch of continuous, focused time. But I got some bills paid, handed off some decluttered stuff to be auctioned for the Sue Petrey Fund, and met with a guy about moving the OryCon and OSFCI websites to a cheaper, better hosting company.

This was my second yoga class ever (the first was last week). Kate’s been going for a while and asked me to join her this term. I’m finding the poses much less difficult than I’d expected, though after the first class I was surprised how sore I was the next day. I’m not seeing a lot of benefits so far, but I forsee that it will help my core strength, stability, flexibility, balance, and posture, and possibly also calmness.

In college I took calculus 101 and physics 101 at the same time, and each one helped me to understand some aspects of the other (calc gave me a better understanding of the math I needed in physics, and physics showed me how calc was useful). Yoga and training at the gym are similarly complementary, both being about improving the body and learning to use it better, but having different focuses. I’m also seeing that yoga, weightlifting, meditation, tantra, and Body Electric are closely related — nearby points in a multi-dimensional space, each having some aspects of the others. One thing they all have in common is concentrating on how to breathe.

Yesterday, I see I failed to mention, I spent a good chunk of the day clearing out the large quantities of stuff that had accumulated on the floor on my side of the bed and atop my bedside table. This was one of my Yuletide presents to Kate: a pledge to clear the mantelpiece and my bedside by January 15. Deadlines are useful things.

I filled a bag of paper to recycle and a box of books to be sold, generated a foot-tall stack of reusable paper for the printer (good, we’d been running low), added a dozen books to the to-be-read shelf (which is no longer on the mantel, but upstairs), and made the pile of fanzines to read in the bathroom nine inches taller (that’s a problem for another day). I also dusted and vacuumed the place where all that stuff had been. I am pleased.

One of Kate’s Yuletide presents to me was the Lord of the Rings extended edition DVD box set. We’re about halfway through. A fine, fine set of films, though I’m finding that some of the added material is a little draggy (the hobbits sitting around reminiscing about Gandalf right after his death in the mines at Moria comes to mind). Most of the added material, though, is an improvement, and I’m glad I’m finally getting to see the films as the director intended they be seen.

We also saw The Bucket List in the theatre. Save your money.

Another thing I see I failed to mention is that I passed the 100,000 word mark on my novel. Yay me. I anticipate around 120,000 words for the first draft, just like the last one. I am currently working on the last chapter but one. All of the secrets are out in the open now (well, except for one thing that a character’s been hiding from herself and won’t come out until the denouement), and all that’s left now is the climactic, physics-defying battle. It’s going to be fun.

To bed at a fairly reasonable hour, for once!

Word count: 103433 | Since last entry: 4912

A good night writing and chatting at the coffee shop with Jay Lake, although most of tonight’s output is a huge expository lump that will probably have to be slimmed down and redistributed later.

Late last week I finally got fed up with the fact that the space bar on my iBook’s keyboard was ever so slightly intermittent. It probably worked four times out of five, but that was bad enough to be annoying. I even turned on the squiggly red lines in Word, which I hate, to help me spot the missing spaces. Fortunately, the computer is under warranty. I called Apple and they said that if I mailed them the computer they’d fix it… but I didn’t want to be without my computer for who-knows-how-long, and I knew that the iBook keyboard is a user-replaceable part. So I insisted. Eventually I convinced them to ship me a new keyboard. The package arrived the very next day… but it was a standard desktop keyboard. I called back and tried again, and again I had to insist that the iBook keyboard is a user-replaceable part. Finally I got the right keyboard in the mail. It took about 15 minutes to install. Happy spacebar. Now I can turn the red quiggly lines off, and my writing speed is ever so slightly faster.

Word count: 98521 | Since last entry: 2304

The Preliminary Nebula Ballot has now been officially released, and “Titanium Mike” is on it! The story is now available for everyone to read at the F&SF website.

Also, we’ve (semi)finalized our travel plans for the year. It was really hard, because although we’re no longer limited by vacation days there’s still the danger of burnout, so there are many events that we could attend that we have reluctantly decided not to. Here’s where we’re pretty sure we will be:

January: Christmas in Kennewick (as many of Kate’s relatives are too busy on Christmas to do Christmas at Christmas).

February: ACDC square dance fly-in in Washington, DC, with a few days touristing beforehand, and RadCon SF convention in Pasco (at which I am Short Story Guest of Honor).

March: Potlatch SF convention in Seattle, followed by Rain Festival square dance fly-in in Seattle the following weekend, with four days in Victoria BC in between.

April: Novel workshop with Dean Wesley Smith, and Rob & Ximena’s wedding in Eugene, and probably Peel-Off square dance fly-in in Palm Springs, and probably the Nebula Awards weekend in Austin.

May: Wiscon SF convention in Madison.

June: TBA.

July: Touch a Quarter Century, the gay square dance Worldcon, in Cleveland, and Readercon SF convention in Boston.

August: Denvention, the science fiction Worldcon, in Denver, and Farthing Party in Montreal.

September: Push Open the Golden Gate square dance fly-in in San Francisco.

October: World Fantasy Convention in Calgary.

November: OryCon SF convention in Portland, and Weave the Rain square dance fly-in in Vancouver BC.

December: Christmas in Germany, details TBD.

There are, believe it or not, a few additional events that we are still waiting to find out more information before we commit. Also we will be remodeling the bathroom. Whee!

Word count: 96217 | Since last entry: 2758

I’ve been very good at meeting my 1000-words-a-day writing goal since the Solstice, and the result has been that the novel is absolutely flying by. Compared to the months I spent thrashing around in mid-year, things are now happening so fast that I’m having trouble keeping it all in my head. This is both in terms of events per chapter and in terms of events per writing day, though mostly the latter.

The events per chapter count is definitely much higher, though. Where I felt before (in mid-novel) that I had to come up with more stuff to fill out the chapter, I now (just finished chapter 13 out of 16) am having trouble getting everything from the outline into a chapter of reasonable length. There may be some rebalancing and squishing-about of stuff in the revision phase.

My current writing pace has me finishing a chapter a week rather than a chapter every three weeks. At this rate I’ll finish the first draft by the end of this month, as planned. Look at the uptick at the end of this chart!

I have to point out that I have not increased my writing speed, only my writing productivity. I still draft at around 300-500 words per hour, but I’m putting in more hours per day. The downside is that most days I’ve been getting to bed after midnight (but still generally waking up around 6:30, a habit from my working days I have been unable to break). What I should really do is start writing earlier in the day (duh!) but the press of Other Things (chores, decluttering, email, LiveJournal) and stupid inertia has prevented that so far.

Today is going to be a busy day and I should really be doing something more productive than graphing my word counts in Excel (I tried to use iWork, but I couldn’t figure out how to import data from a text file) and blogging.

Word count: 93459 | Since last entry: 2405

Here is The Plan for completing novel #2:

I have a large printout of this on the wall near my writing chair. I will put a star on the calendar for every day that I write 1000 or more words or spend at least an hour and a half editing.

It has stars on every day so far.

Meanwhile… Edd Vick has blogged his recent trip to Portland, including our expedition to Glowing Greens, a pirate-themed underground black-lighted (blacklit?) miniature golf course. It was, as Amy Thomson said, like playing mini-golf in a cheap carnival dark ride, but it was fun and very silly.

And if Edd ever invites you to mini-golf? Beware. Total shark.

Word count: 91054 | Since last entry: 2396

New Year’s Eve was a pirate-themed party at Willow Cottage. Despite the fact that we’d known for months about the theme, did we start work on our costumes before Thursday? We did not. And there wasn’t a decent tricorn hat to be found anywhere. So Kate knitted me one. Yes, she knitted a tricorn, and it was fabulous.

The party itself was a little strange at first, being populated by large numbers of young people that we didn’t know. Turns out this was the children of the household, who used to run around underfoot, then had their own party upstairs, and now were the party. After midnight things quieted down a bit and we got to chat with Howard and some of the other folks our own age. The first thing on the iPod when we got in the car to head home was “League of Notions” by Al Stewart, followed by “My Boyfriend’s Girlfriend” by Must Be Tuesday (MP3), which both seemed incredibly apropos in a difficult-to-explain way.

New Year’s Day brought the usual potluck brunch at the home of our friends Marc and Patty, which marks the 23rd anniversary of the day Kate and I met.

January 2nd we had a professional organizer come in and help us de-clutter. Kate blogged it, so I don’t have to. Personally, I got rid of at least three large boxes of papers and old diskettes (the diskettes are going to GreenDisk today) and we’re both jazzed up and will keep chipping away at it for the rest of this month.

All during this time I kept up with my quota of 1000 words a day. Sleep? What’s that?

And this morning I learned that “Titanium Mike Saves the Day” qualified for the Nebula preliminary ballot, with 12 recommendations. At least, it’s on the draft ballot that was posted this morning for inspection. So it’s on the preliminary preliminary ballot, and there’s many a slip ‘twixt the cup and the lip. But it’s still very encouraging news.

More decluttering today, more writing, more great stuff. Happy 2008, all!

Word count: 88658 | Since last entry: 4586

2007 was a heck of a year. We traveled to Singapore, Thailand, and Japan, and I retired from my day job. From a writing perspective, it was mixed — focused on my next novel, I only wrote one new short story and made only two new sales (one of which was to a market that folded before the end of the year). But I saw a lot of stories in print, including my second in F&SF, a bunch of translations, and my first Gardner Dozois Year’s Best appearance. I also sold a collection of my short fiction to Wheatland Press, and “Titanium Mike Saves the Day” got at least 8 Nebula recommendations (I’ll find out soon, I hope, if it made the 2007 preliminary ballot… even if it didn’t, it has until April to pick up 2 more for the 2008 ballot).

In 2008 we plan to do a lot of travel. We’re seriously considering 7 science fiction and 6 square dance events, plus at least two writing workshops and a trip to Germany in December. There will probably also be more travel that we don’t even know about yet. I’ll post a travel calendar when we get a few more details sorted out.

Last year’s resolution was to finish my second novel. I didn’t make it — got 12 chapters out of 16 — but I think I made a good effort. My resolution this year is to write 1000 words, or do the equivalent amount of revision, every single day. (Not yet sure how to measure revision or what the equivalent amount to 1000 words is. Maybe an hour.) That’s two or three times as much as I’ve managed in previous years, but I’ve been doing it for at least a couple of weeks now and I think it’s doable.

At that rate I should finish up the first draft of novel #2 by Groundhog Day. I’ll spend February revising it, send it off to the novel workshop on or before March 1, and workshop it at the beginning of April. Then I’ll do whatever revision it needs and get it in the mail as soon as I can, hopefully by May Day. After that, short stories, at least for a while (though I have a couple of novel ideas fidgeting in the waiting room).

Word count: 84072 | Since last entry: 2685

Neither of us has relatives nearby, and as Kate’s brother is in retail, her brother-in-law provides customer support for something that doesn’t stop even during holidays, and her mother’s a deacon, there would be no point in trying to visit them at Christmas. We’ll be gathering the clan in late January, as usual. So for now, we have nothing to do but hang out with our friends. I think we have some kind of party or dinner every single day this week and next.

Today we got up around 8:30 and made banana-buttermilk pancakes before opening our presents to each other. I got Kate an iPod-dock-radio (I found one with knobs rather than tiny little buttons), the new Linda Thompson CD, and a promise to clear off the mantelpiece and the floor on my side of the bed by January 15. She got me the Lord of the Rings trilogy on DVD, a big bag of popcorn, and a decorative glass dragonfly.

In some ways Christmas is no different than any other day, now that I’m not working. But it was very quiet when we went for a walk in the neighborhood, and everywhere we saw empty parking lots and darkened shops that are otherwise always bustling. And then… snow! A light dusting, just enough to stick, and the air just cold enough to justify earmuffs. Just enough to make the day special, not enough to be a hassle. Perfect.

We spent the rest of the morning cleaning and cooking for Boxing Day, when we’re having a couple friends over. In the afternoon and evening, our traditional movie-and-squid with our friend Michael. This year’s movie was Enchanted, which was even better than I’d expected, followed by, as always, the best pepper-salted squid on the planet. After dinner, another thousand words on the novel.

I like my life.

Here’s hoping your day was as fine.

Word count: 81387 | Since last entry: 1849

If it weren’t for deadlines, nothing would get done. Stayed up until 2am to get chapter 11 finished, and sent it off for critique this morning. I’ve been so productive lately that I was sure I would get this chapter done early, and start in on the next right away, but this one turned out about one and a half times as long as most of the other chapters. Lots of stuff is happening now. I am a cruel god to my characters.

Also yesterday, being the Solstice, there was festivating to be done. Started off the day at the gym, then drove out to Beaverton to have lunch with the guys I used to work with. It was so comfortable and familiar that, when we got back to the office, I was just about to sit down and get back to whatever I had been working on before lunch when I realized I didn’t work there any more. In the afternoon, we found a tree, hauled it home, and put it up. I wanted to put up outdoor lights as well, since it wasn’t raining, but at that point I needed to fall over, so I did.

A simple dinner, then a holiday party dance with the “C-Dogs” Challenge square dancers (hosted and called by M, who is doing much much better though he still can’t work or drive). Challenge dancing is really more like walking to music, but I still managed to do something to my left calf (which has been giving me minor problems for months, on and off) on the last tip. Ow.