I didn't get to break in the new swimsuit yesterday because there were people hogging the pool. It's a community pool, but it's about the size of a regular backyard pool, so two people on inflatable rafts pretty much fills the whole pool and makes swimming laps impossible -- and these people were there for nearly three hours. I'm not sure how they survived without heat stroke, given that they weren't actually in the water and it was over 100 degrees.
My current writing project involves digging out the book I wrote last year for National Novel Writing Month and revising it. I spent yesterday (between excursions to see if the pool had cleared out) re-reading it, and it's not bad. It's essentially the bare bones of a germ of the idea, and from there I can really develop the idea. The initial draft serves as more of a brainstorming exercise for coming up with ideas, and from there I'll now have to actually write the book, though there are a few scenes that can be salvaged. Still, I enjoyed reading what I wrote, which is a good sign. It's a bit sloppy and underdeveloped, but I like the main characters and the action scenes were good.
Meanwhile, I think my subconscious is plugging away on that Misty Idea, which got distracting at times. For instance, I've suddenly developed an urgent hankering to go to New York. Yeah, I was there in the spring, but that was for a conference, and I barely left the hotel and didn't leave Midtown at all. I think this idea will take place in an entirely different part of the city than I used for the Katieverse, and while I've done a fair amount of wandering there, I haven't walked it for the purpose of using it as a book setting, so I'm not sure I could convey it properly. Non-New Yorkers have to be really careful about using the city as a setting, since most of the editors live there, and they can spot instantly whether or not the author knows what she's talking about. I was proud that I fooled a couple of people with my other series, so that people who actually live there thought I had lived there at least a little while (though there were a couple of years when I felt like I did because I went so often on business). I did spend some quality procrastination time yesterday looking up airfares and hotel rates and availability. I can afford the trip, especially since I could write it off my taxes and I haven't done any con traveling this year, but I'm afraid it's either this or the Browncoat Ball. Since the Ball is on the west coast this year, I can't do what I've done in the past and go from the Ball to New York. And now I'm torn -- see my friends I only see once a year and get to do some dancing, or wander New York to develop what I hope will be my comeback series that gets me re-branded as a fantasy author and re-ignites my career? I suppose the latter fits better into my Ongoing Quest for World Domination, but it's not an easy choice.
Hey, maybe something will happen in the meantime that will allow me the money to do both, if I can find the time (though time will be an issue). I'd like to go in October just because I love autumn, and autumn in New York is so lovely that there was a song written about it. It's a chance to experience a real autumn. But the book, due to a number of issues, is set in the summer. I've been in New York enough in the summer to be able to capture that sense, I think, so the autumn thing is really just for my personal pleasure (and because hotel rates tend to be a lot lower).
Travel issues aside, that idea really is going great guns and is sometimes distracting, but it's not ripe yet, so I can't start writing it. I have research and reading to do.
You know, this is falling into the pattern of when I wrote Enchanted, Inc. Maybe that's where the trip to New York idea came from, since that was part of my preparation for that book. Everything is happening at about the same time. I did my reading and research over the summer, did some plotting in September, went to New York in late September, then started writing in October. Now I'm getting all nostalgic.
I'm going to see the new Harry Potter movie in the morning, so the Virtual Vicarious Vacation may be late, unless I get up freakishly early enough to post before I go (we're hitting an early-bird show).
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