Idea/Flower Tea Buds: Add Time and Hot Water

Ovidia —Every other Tuesday

This came up because I went to the February Space Bar Write In Yesterday.

I wrote about my first visit at the inaugural Space Bar last month, so this was my Second Time. Space Bar is communal writing space for isolated writers. They offer tables, quiet space, power (drinks and books for humans, electricity outlets with multi-plugs for devices).

The January Space Bar came just when I needed it: my editor had just retired and I wasn’t sure what would happen to the history mysteries that had been contracted through her. Ordinarily I would have started work on the next book by now, but I was having a bit of trouble getting down to it. Plus the next Su Lin trilogy is set in the Emergency years, which makes for depressing research.

So I decided to use my first Space Bar session to generate a new series. What did I have to lose, spending a Sunday afternoon in the library? And I came out with a vomit draft of almost 3000 words for my first middle grade fantasy—not bad, I thought.

One month later, we come to what I find the single most useful thing about having a monthly Space Bar check in; it gave me a point of external accountability. I told myself I would turn up for the February Space Bar with a (very, very) rough draft of Lily Lee and the Greedy Ghost to start on editing.

This is where are the flower tea balls come in.

My drawing's not great, but flower tea balls look really drab in real life too.
Flower tea bowls are dried flowers wrapped up in dried tea leaves. They're really more of a gimmick, but you can get some made with really good tea and the flowers are pretty.

This is kind of what they look like when you see them in tins in the Chinese tea shop.

Anyway, I stuck (figurative) flower tea balls all through my draft as place holders, so I didn't spend time expanding/ researching what I wanted to put in right away. Because I had a play target – to make it to the next space bar with something as close to 40,000 words as I could get.

The biggest benefit of having the Space Bar Play Target was the challenge it gave me. I didn't have to worry what someone might think of my writing—I just had to put words down in the draft, export it to Word (I work on Scrivener, but my agent and most editors I’ve encountered prefer documents in Word) and show up.

And I got over 30,000 words, a rough outline full of flower tea balls—

With all the flower tea balls in place, all I needed was time and hot water… and at the space bar I sat down and started stewing my way through it, expanding them as I moved through the text--

It seemd to work too, I got into a comfortable rhythm where I'd write for 50 minutes then walk around for 10 minutes, trying to chalk up at least 250 steps in that time.
Walking around the library looking at Books is one of the best ways of taking breaks from writing!

But then when I got home, there was a minor freak out! I couldn't find any record of any of the work I’d done that afternoon!
It turned out(thankfully) to be just a mixup. When you are kiasu (Singlish term term for being overly Singaporean) like me, you save multiple versions of your precious WIP when working on it anywhere other than home: in iCloud, in OneDrive and on a dongle… I'd spent the whole afternoon working on the OneDrive Copy and went home to look for it on the iCloud where of course it wasn't.

So – happy ending for now.

Flower tea in bloom, seen from above. Doesn't taste too bad either!

In a couple more days I'll have enough to polish up and show to my agent, just to see what she thinks and hope she finds it worth pursuing.

But it's no longer such a desperate case because it turns out, she'd got Happy news for me too – the new Editor at Little, Brown wants to talk about a new contract for the next Su Lin books!

If we get the contract signed, I know what I'll be doing at the March Space Bar write in: brain dump my first vomit draft of the (tentatively titled) Tembusu Tree Mystery!

Please wish me luck and happy reading and writing everybody!!

... Because I Can't Pantster a Cardigan!

Ovidia--every other Tuesday

I've pretty much finished the cardigan I was knitting as I worked on the last book. I like to have a craft project running alongside the 'big' writing projects because there are times, in the middle of these six to eight month writing periods, when I find my brain and eyes are too tired to read or watch anything but at the same time I'm too wound up to sleep or relax.

So that's when I knit...

Knitting is something I can do with my eyes shut, but requires just enough attention that I stop thinking about how differently I should have done the day's writing!
The bulk of the big pieces (back, left & right fronts, sleeves) got finished around the same time as I submitted the Rose Apple Tree draft.
And yesterday I did the button band--

I should be able to finish the buttonhole band tonight, then all that remains will be to assemble all the pieces--which should be a pretty straightforward process. It'll still take time and careful positioning and stitching, but it should be 'easy'.

Which was pretty much how I wanted to work my NaNoWriMo project (which I still haven't started yet).

I had some difficulties with logging into the site but that's just an excuse because I'm having more difficulties with putting together the ideas I've had.

I'd intended to 'pantster' this project as an exercise over November. It's not how I normally write, but so many people say that's the only way they can write, and I wanted to see how it worked. Also, because I always have so many ideas I want to explore, I thought I could just braindump and get 50,000 words towards the next project.

Only I'm having trouble figuring how to link up all the ideas I have!

Frankly, it's a mess!

What I'm ending up with is kind of how my knitting projects would turn out if I just started knitting to try out new stitch patterns or new needles (which has happened--I love the bamboo needles I got in Bristol last Crimefest and have been trying them out) but these little sample stitch things don't add up to anything usable any more than my 'great' ideas are adding up to the next book.

So I'm stepping back to try to work things out. Which is also why I'm knitting even when I'm not tired now!

Right now I feel like I can't immerse myself into any other projects because the Rose Apple comments/ feedback/ edits will need to be attended to as soon as they come in. Which I'm kind of looking forward to doing!
Overall, my November is a great place to be in, with the bulk of the year's writing done and new project ideas to play around with!

With the book deadline met, I'm using also using this time to reset and reboot and catch up on my reading.

Which is why I've finally had time to read Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus and I really really LOVE it! I hear it's been filmed but I'm not sure if I want to watch the show given how much I love the book.
(I've been visualising Calvin and Elizabeth as a litarary versions of Sheldon and Amy from the Big Bang Theory so part of me is afraid of being disappointed, no matter how good the film version is)

And I've gone back to attending weekly pilates and yoga sessions and doing yoga at home as well as swimming and walking on the other days, so I'm feeling really good.

Also, the Singapore Writers Festival starts this weekend. I'm not speaking, meaning I can enjoy it and I'm looking forward to it without dread this year!

I hope everyone else is having a peaceful, productive and wonderful November too--however the American elections turn out. Oh--and I just want to mention something a visitor said (not sure if she was joking) about Lee Hsien Yang seeking asylum in the UK--
'He's kind of like your Prince Harry, isn't he--'
I think that's the best way I've heard it put so far!

Anyway, we wish him well (without mentioning the property assets he still owns here while claiming to be broke) and hope he turns out better than Amos Yee, that other asylum seeker who ended up (in prison) in America!

Happy November everybody!

Squashing Them Mealy Bugs (2 week Update)

Ovidia--every other Tuesday 

It's 2 weeks on from my plant rescue and both the adenium and I are still alive!

Look at all its new shoots!

I think she's decided to live after all. 

We've been finding white crawling things here and there but I've been squishing them with apologetic human guilt (yes, you are a valid part of Nature but you're hurting this plant under my care so as another valid part of Nature I'm squishing you) and lots and lots more green buds and leaves have appeared. Just look!

The life force is strong in this one! I can't wait to see what colour her flowers come out. They could be anything from dark red to pale pink, yellow, pure white or anything in between.

I haven't repotted it yet though, or even bought the good drainage potting mix (thanks to all the recommendations I know what to get, but I really need to get through this round of edits first)

But I think we've pulled through the worst of things.

I'm still doing daily bug checks and am gradually cleaning bug and ant detritus off her trunk and branches. 

And once I find out what colour her flowers are I might even get another adenium to keep her company.

Unfortunately some evil white mites did sneak in, using her as their trojan horse. 

In the last couple of weeks I found them moving in on  my kaffir lime plant and saan choy (slippery veg) but have managed to beat them back.

But aside from damage control, I've not been doing much for my plants or anything, really. Because I'm on my last edit before sending in next year's book. I suspect most people reading this (if you still have time to read) know how this feels! 

And as so often happens despite my best intentions, I've been trying to work in a fairly major last minute plot tweak because I saw something in the book cover design (which I love) that could work so well as a delicious clue to it. And though a small tweak it's leading to a slew of petty but necessary changes.

Between that and the War against the Mealy Bugs, I've been exercising and sleeping less than I'd like. And today I'm missing yoga in order to write this and still get through my day's edits. 

Not smart, I know. And not a complaint. I love all this. Even the grind. And the 'high pressure' is for a short time only.

Missing my yoga practice means missing centring time as well as moving time (reminder: Non attachment means non attachment to non-attachment practice time too, right?) but I'm trying to stay on track in other ways.

I walk up and down the stairs or do sun salutations between editing pomos, keep up with my DuoLingo and read for an hour a day--

though lately even that feels sad because I've been re-reading Wolf Hall in memory of Hilary Mantel and Cold Is The Grave in memory of Peter Robinson.

All the best with your own projects if you're reading this. Small steps while in grind mode add up to giant swathes long term. 

And if we're struggling that means we're alive--which is still a great state to be in!