Tonight's Efforts

Tonight I'd set myself one of two goals - and didn't reach either of them.

I'm researching for a kind of keystone which will unlock the imagery I want to use in my historical fiction piece currently titled Newland. I'm thinking of a bird but it must be able to fly and it must have significance to indigenous Australian's so it is used within one of their stories - what we know or call "The Dreaming".

One would think tracking down something similar in the historical records of the first inhabitants of this land a fairly easy thing to do. Indeed I mentioned what I was after to a knowledgeable friend who looked at me strangely and said, "Of course it's easy," and promptly went on a search of his own - which yielded nothing.

I'm just about resigned to the fact I'm going to have to talk with a tribal elder to discover my keystone. First I'll try another visit to the library at the scene of my story which had a plethora of historical tomes the last time I went there - only that time I wasn't looking for the Aboriginal content.

I have a huge store of Aboriginal knowledge I can weave into my story due to my research, so it hasn't been a complete misfire, but looking into the history of those who first lived in the area my story is set in, is nowhere as easy as I first assumed.

So the word count I've added is: nearly 300 words to my research notes after 3 hours of surfing. I've read countless Dreamtime Tales but none have been what I want. Some I can use, but only in passing. I also found out many remain secret and unpublished.

I did find one little bit of information which will help me reshape my ending as is decidedly unsettling. Very cool, but nothing to do with imagery or able to be used throughout the book to plant the imagery - decidedly not cool.

My other goal was to write some additional words to the story. When I sit in a computer chair for extended periods of time, my legs seriously begin to ache. I work with computers during the day and relieve the pressure by going outside for a short walk each hour or so. When I'm at home I become engrossed in what I'm reading/researching/writing and can be seated until the pain drives me out of the room. I wander around for a while, but the damage is done and my stints at the keyboard shorten significantly. After three hours this evening, on top of the hours I have sat already today, my legs are screaming out in agony resulting in no will to write after doing the research. Net gain is 0 extra words on the manuscript again this evening - pitiful.

Tomorrow night is the kid's Xmas party at the cricket club so there will be no additional writing then either. Any spare time I currently get at work is devoted to helping out another writer - if I haven't completely alienated them with my overview of the manuscript they sent me to read.

I filled out my application for enrolment for next year today so that will go out the door soon.

No further replies back about submissions and I'm guessing everyone is winding down for Xmas holidays so any further news is probably not going to happen until next year. Maybe I should just send all my pieces to publishers in the Australian market first to try and build up some credits - God that sounds terrible. What I mean is: perhaps I shouldn't target the pro and upper semi-pro markets around the world anymore. Perhaps I should aim for semi-pro and paying markets a little more? Maybe even send any pieces which have been rejected five or more times to non-paying markets. If they get rejected there, then maybe I need to retire them to my examples pages...I suppose it goes back to how long you want to trot them out as I've talked about before.

Okay, my legs are reminding me it's time to move, and this will be the last move for tonight as I blissfully slip beneath the covers.

So goodnight to you all. Pleasant dreams and may all your writing wishes come true.

BT

Oh! I almost forgot - Alex has posted a new writing tip in her ongoing series. Go take a look here or if you're wondering what I'm talking about, check out my post with all the links in here.

later

B