The Fall of the 500 Page Beast, the Tenacity of Water Lilies and Ashes and Snow
What's Up Wednesday is a weekly meme geared toward readers and writers, allowing us to touch base with blog friends and let them know what's up. Should you wish to join, check out Jaime's or Erin's lovely blogs and sign up with the link widget at the bottom of the post.
WHAT I'M READING
I'm still reading SWAMPLANDIA. This week has been so busy that I've been forced to ration it. Which is good, because I've had a wonderful book to come home to every night.
WHAT I'M WRITING
Today was the deadline for a beastly 500 page scientific report I have to do every year for work. And because I'm doing the work of about 5 people at said job, I had to write the whole thing in 4 days. Granted there are a lot of graphs and figures involved, but still that was some serious typing. As in keyboard on Fire typing. Unfortunately, it ate up all my regular writing time, but it just goes to show what kind of word counts I can turn out when my feet are to the fire.
WHAT ELSE I'VE BEEN UP TO
Highlights of this week included:
WHAT INSPIRES ME RIGHT NOW
I posted a video for my Weekly Dose of Wonder post on Monday: Ashes and Snow. It has basically haunted me for days and set the tone for my whole week. The short film has some absolutely exquisite imagery. If you missed it, you can watch it here: Weekly Dose of Wonder- Ashes and Snow
WHAT I'M WRITING
Today was the deadline for a beastly 500 page scientific report I have to do every year for work. And because I'm doing the work of about 5 people at said job, I had to write the whole thing in 4 days. Granted there are a lot of graphs and figures involved, but still that was some serious typing. As in keyboard on Fire typing. Unfortunately, it ate up all my regular writing time, but it just goes to show what kind of word counts I can turn out when my feet are to the fire.
WHAT ELSE I'VE BEEN UP TO
Highlights of this week included:
- Watching more Zebra Longwing butterflies congregate at our lek in the evenings. There are dozens and dozens now. And when you step into the shade, you feel like Alice in Wonderland, buffeted by a hundred feathery, floating wings. When they alight, they go back to the exact same twig.
- The water lilies I planted four years ago as part of my wetland restoration project are in full bloom. Hundreds and hundreds fragrant white blossoms. They've survived a wildfire, yahoos in 4 wheel trucks and a drought that cracked the earth into peeling clay. All it takes is a little rain (or in our case a LOT of rain) and you can witness a miracle of rebirth.
- The etc.- Lemon scones, curling up to watch movies with the other house animals, alternately freaking out with bouts of extreme giddiness and waves of self doubt about quitting my day job.
WHAT INSPIRES ME RIGHT NOW
Posts
I have been curious about SWAMPLANDIA since this summer. I read a couple of her short stories and loved them. I completely forgot about this... I have to put it back on my to-read list. Thanks for the reminder!!
ReplyDeleteMy WUW: http://www.riverarunsthroughit.com/2013/09/back-to-routines-whats-up-wednesday.html
It is a truly beautiful book. I'm only about half way through, but I am absolutely loving it!
Delete500 pages?!?!?! In four days?!?!?! You are amazing! It is interesting the things we can get done under pressure, huh?
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm most curious about SWAMPLANDIA. Will have to check this book out!
Haha! Thanks. It was like a mini-writing marathon. Now NanoWriMo is going to feel like cake. :)
DeleteAnd you should check out Swamplandia; it is truly fantastic.
So, I just realized I wasn't following your blog yet. Duh! Fixed! Basically, I love everything you have in your What Else I've Been Up To section. (Except the self doubt, of course.) Wow! So much awesomeness there. I'd love to see these butterflies and water lilies. :-)
ReplyDeleteI can't even imagine what 500 pages of scientific report would look like. I think it would look like a lot of stress. Yikes! Here's hoping you're able to write more fun stuff soon. Have a great week, Kris!
Yay, new follow! When moved my blog, I lost my old follow widget, so now every new follower feels EPIC. (You're pretty epic on your own though)
DeleteAnd yes, the stress of that report has been hanging over me for weeks. I feel so much lighter now and I can't wait to write some good old fiction. (So much more fun) :)
It's truly amazing the impossible things you can do when you have to. I learned that with NaNoWriMo. Unfortunately, you now have no excuse for not piling on the word count. If you can write 500 pages for work, SURELY you can write 2-300 for your novel? Eh? Hmm? :)
ReplyDeleteSeriously, though, congrats on getting the report done. It must have been hard giving up four days of novel time to a work project. But you did it, and it speaks highly of your determination, which I'm sure will serve you well, both in your future work, and in your publishing career. :)
Haha! Thanks Colin! And you're right, after that I have zero excuses for NanoWriMo. :)
Delete500 pages?!?!?! :O You are unstoppable! Are you going to do NaNoWriMo? I mean, it'll take you, like, what? Two days? ;)
ReplyDeleteHaha! Writing a report is very different from writing fiction. With fiction you have to actually decide *what* to write. But, yeah NanoWriMo should be a breeze now, right?! :)
DeleteCongrats on getting your work writing done. I've written long reports for my day job and know it's very different than writing fiction, but sometimes that different is harder, so congrats on finishing it.
ReplyDeleteNow I fully expect you to finish your WIP by this coming weekend, I mean seriously, why aren't you done yet? :)
Haha! I know, I am such a slacker. How has this WIP taken me this long? It's like it doesn't want to be done or something. :)
DeleteThat is a ton of pages! Wow.
ReplyDeleteOh, and the water lilies sound beautiful.
Thanks, though a lot of it comprised graphs and such. I wish I could have gotten a good shot of all the water lilies, but they just looked like little white polka dots on a lake. :)
DeleteThis year, for some reason, we have an awful lot of hummingbird moths where I live. They come in all different colours and markings and are so fluttery and pretty when they arrive at the plant hanging in front of our living room window. They remind me of fairies as the evening arrives. Not as pretty as butterflies, but my own little piece of Wonderland this summer. (Canadian Wonderland, maybe....)
ReplyDeleteAnd 500 pages in four days? How on earth have you had time to Twitter and comment on my blog? LOL I can only imagine the copious amounts of caffeine that must be coursing through your veins this week. But just think....no more of these reports when you walk out that door in a few months. :-)
Oh, I LOVE hummingbird moths. We have a huge variety of sphinx moths down here to. One is the craziest green and white pattern. (tempted to send you a photo now) And you're right, they do hover like fairies. Maybe fairies ride them. ;)
DeleteThe answer to that second part is LOTS OF CAFFEINE. It was weird, when I turned in that last report, it was with infinite relief, but also a tiny twinge of sadness because it was the last one. I'm now turning my wetlands over to someone else who has never touched the trees, or tromped through that mud, and they cannot possibly care for them the way I do. *sigh*
Hurray for the report finally being done!
ReplyDeleteWhere you live sounds so beautiful.
Now I want a lemon scone :)
Thanks! And I will share my lemon scones with you any time. :)
DeleteThat water lily is gorgeous! And apparently very resilient! I love reading all the descriptions and seeing the pictures of nature in your posts. It makes me feel refreshed every time!
ReplyDeleteOkay, I can't believe you had a 500 page report to do. That's insane!!! I think my brain would have completely shut off somewhere around page 2.
And now, I think I might have to go find a recipe for lemon scones, because those sound delicious! Have an awesome week, Kris!
Thanks! And that is so nice of you to say that about my inane ramblings about nature. Sometimes I think I'm boring the pants off everyone. :)
DeleteAnd yeah, I think my brain completely shut down around page 97...after that I was just on auto pilot.
Wow, congrats on getting through those 500 pages so quickly! I hope you are able to get back to writing this week.
ReplyDeleteI love that you're surrounded by so much pretty nature!
Congrats on getting that beast of a report written! Whoop whoop! I hope you celebrated. :)
ReplyDeleteThe water lilies, butterflies, and lemon scones all sound so lovely. :) Annnd now I have to go watch that short film ... Unfortunately, it will have to wait until I have a better wi-fi connection. That photo/image has certainly caught my interest!
Have a great week!