Things I Did Yesterday 20/01/10

Two weeks until we go away! Yeah! Anyway, yesterday I:

- Did some more work getting ready for a revision (I would say something like "first pass" but to be honest that just makes me feel like I'm trying to be something I'm not quite yet), just making notes and gathering my thoughts about how I should proceed. The NaNo site has a lot of advice on its forums, but I'm largely going blind. I barely even rewrote essays at school, let alone a novel. Any of you folks with experience in this kind of thing have any advice?

- Worked. Lots of boring stuff involving spreadsheets, plus a little excitement with a misbehaving piece of software. Oh, and I also rearranged our basement back corridor, which had become something of a deathtrap of badly stacked boxes.

- Got my book! My free proof from CreateSpace.com, a prize for finishing NaNoWriMo, arrived! I have to say, it was a real thrill. Even though it's just a print on demand item, it was extremely exciting to see my efforts transformed into a sort of real, honest to god novel. 184 pages of blood, sweat and lazy hackwork. Gave me a great boost to get things going on the rewrite, and even gave me that pleasurable buzz you occasionally get when reading back over your own work and going "Hey, that bit wasn't bad at all." Good buzz. Here it is!

Small Perils, by the way, is a rather hastily decided on title, thought up at the CreateSpace submission stage when I suddenly realised that my previous title, Winter Moon, was lame (which I already knew) and had no bearing whatsoever on the story. So, given the deliberate anti-epic nature of the book, and the idea that even the most minor traditional fantasy monsters would pose a huge threat to normal folks, Small Perils sprung to mind. Not sure it'll stick, but it'll do for now.

- Worked a little late thanks to the aforementioned software hiccup, then headed home.

- Bit of a nothing of an evening. Went over the (very tight) holiday budget with wifey, called my mum, called my sister to wish my nephew a happy birthday, watched Gordon Ramsey swear his way around India, watched a True Blood and a Nurse Jackie, then hit the sack.