Slow Going, Check's In the Mail

Reading: China Mieville, Perdido Street Station
Rereading: J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
Writing: Book One, Chapter 3, v.30.0

Nothing much new to report this week. It's been a little slow going on Chapter 3, as the flashback scene is taking some time to bend in the direct I need it to go. (The problem is a common one for me when it comes to writing scenes with a specific end goal in mind--getting from A to B sometimes takes a few twists, turns, and false starts.) Odds are I'll have to trim down the scene before the end, but first I'll have to finish it.

In other news, I received word that the ASCAP check has reached the dean, which means I should expect a payout soon. It's technically the first money I've made off of my writing, so I'll be sure to keep the stub (and probably scan in the check before cashing).

CGing Result, Part II

After approximately 12 hours, from pencil sketch (which didn't work out right . . .) to finished CG:



Now, back to Chapter 3 . . .

Goodfellows, Another Article, Chapter 3, New CG Project

Writing: Book One, Chapter 3, v.30.0
Watched: Monk, Season 7

This week marked my start as a post-graduate research fellow, and things seem to be much as I anticipated. One exception is my on-campus work space, which is lighter on the space (read: virtually nonexistent) that I was led to believe. Not really a problem, as it gives me a rather compelling argument to work from home more often than not, which really is more conducive to editing anyway. So in the end, the others at the office get dedicated work spaces, I--the homebody--get to stay home, and my supervisors still get the finished product they're after. In a way, it's not so different an arrangement from freelance editing, except that I have a dedicated client base built-in.

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Crazy as it may sound, with Article Two only recently added to the publication queue, I'm entertaining notions of synthesizing the content from my previous articles with indigenous cultural issues inherent to my fellowship position. It would bridge the gap between my previous scholarship and my current job, and because it's Center-related, would be a boon for the department as well. I've got the go ahead, provided I take care of my editing / cite checking projects first.

So let this be a lesson for law students: when one is writing articles, like when one is eating potato chips, it's really, really hard to stop at just one. (Or two, apparently.)

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Because I spent most of the week getting the hang of my new position, I really didn't make much progress on Chapter 3 until today, and most of that was due to a new approach that occurred to me (and, fortunately, I wrote down) around bedtime yesterday. That's one of the reasons you'll never catch me without some form of notepad and writing implement: you never know where inspiration might strike, and--at least if you have a short-term memory like mine--if you don't write it down right there and then, it's as good as gone.

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I suppose absence does make the heart grow fonder, because when I logged into the blog today, the CG result I'd posted looked a lot better than the last time I laid eyes on it. Coupled with the fact that I now have a scanner for penciled drawings, I might tackle another small but important task: CGing a new avatar pic for this blog and my other various presences on the internet. The current image, while a reasonable facsimile of my real visage, is not perfect, and it's always irked me that I've been forced to conscript another artist's work for my anime-styled image. (That this particular artist has apparently disappeared from the internet does nothing to assuage my wounded honor.) Within the next week or so, I will seek to rectify this situation. The result will, of course, replace my current image, once the deed is done.