*contented sigh*

The weather is lovely, absolutely lovely, at the moment, and I am on the couch on my sunporch with my computer neatly set up and my feet up, and I am setting up the password-protected directory I promised to make so long ago for my Vikings Novel so that I could put it up online someplace not public, but that doesn't require a Livejournal membership to view.
It's taken me so long primarily because the main advocate for this system broke down and got herself a Livejournal already, and so there went that motivation. But, since then a couple non-LJ users have asked if they could read, so I thought, well, why not. And I've gone ahead and done it.
It's not terribly secure-- there's no encryption or anything sophisticated. They're not state secrets, it's just a semi-amateurish (less so with every rewrite!) novel in progress that i hope to polish to publishing standards someday, so I'm not Posting It Publicly. Any non-LJ users who want to be able to read it, let me know and I'll email you a username and password so you can view it. LJ users, I'll post a login-included link in a friendslocked post that you can click on so you can read it if you like without going through the hassle of getting a password etc.

Meanwhile, the page is here:
Password-Protected Directory O' Goodies (for somewhat subtle values of 'goodies'). It'll prompt you for a username and password. I will gladly supply one if you let me know you want one. Email me at my lj username at livejournal dot com, and I'll send you something. It doesn't matter if you share a username and password with somebody else-- just let me know who you're letting read it, just cuz I'd like to know.
Sadly, I don't have a commenting system in place there-- but I do have a "leave a comment" link at the bottom that pops up an email window to me.

So far I only have two chapters up, because they're all I have completed-- and they're the same two chapters, not edited, that i posted up here friendslocked this past week. But there's also a "character descriptions" page that has physical descriptions of the characters, photos of actors that remind me of them, and a section on the costumes of the period featuring truly awful sketches by yours truly.
It's a bit spoilerish I suppose if you haven't yet figured out which of the characters is meant to be the hero, I should warn you-- the first draft was way way less subtle, and so I didn't really focus on any of the supporting cast.

I am feeling so clever and productive, I can almost forget about how pathetically deteriorated my HTML skillz are. (Would you believe I used to be a fairly dedicated hand-coder? I used to do nested table layouts without a WYSIWYG. I even did CSS, though I never really mastered CSS-positioning in any possible meaning of the word "mastered".)

Bonus material: ( the IM conversation wherein I had to ask Z how to embed a mailto: link. )

Edited to add: I am also amusing myself with a printed-out packet of about five pages, which contains the results of the Best Of City voting at the alt newsweekly where Z works. It's not going to be published for a couple of weeks, but they've tallied the votes. Z and I are thinking man, we oughta go to all these places now, while they're good but before the rest of the city knows they're good. It's a good way to find good eats and good drinks. I'm sorely tempted by the winner of "best dive bar", but y'know, I do have to be at work at 9 tomorrow am.

chapter three

urgh. chapter three of vikings novel is done. it is up here:
Chapter Three: Warm Hands. (To view it, you need a login and password. Email me for one. LJ friends, refer to this entry for the seekrit friends-only link.)


I actually finished Ch. 3 yesterday, and so I was really hoping to do Ch. 4 today, but it's kicking my ass instead. I'm just pretty much throwing out everything I wrote in my second round of revisions, which threw out everything I'd written in the alpha draft, and it kind of hurts.
But it's producing a readable novel, I think, so I guess that's what I get. Sigh.

But I don't know if I have the strength to finish Ch. 4 today. I am... so... dumb... can't believe I thought draft 2 was readable...

To the serious writers among you: does there ever come a time when you don't look back upon a previous effort and cringe? How can you finish something, unless by deeming it good enough and simply stopping reading it again? Argh.

holy shit! chapter four!

Yes, I'm making fantastic progress because I'm cutting the chapters way short so nothing actually happens in them. Amusing. Upon rereading, I believe that only two sentences of this are original. but I composed it into a saved-as copy of the original document, deleting each paragraph as I replaced it, so it counts as the same paragraph.
Yes. I'm on fire.
Yawn.
(edit: not to say I'm not impressed with my own progress, I'm just stuffed full of spaetzel and can't make myself care. The newer chapters are good, though. Er, I think.)

So: Chapter Four: Intrigue;
LJ friends see this post for the link with no password needed.

Took a break in the midst to go Out To Supper with Z. He drove to work today and so I was waiting at home for him. I decided to do some self-grooming, make myself all pretty, dress up kinda nice. On a whim, peering into my closet, I pulled out various old outfits that haven't fit in a long time.

OMGWTFBBQ MY LEAVERS' BALL GOWN FITS ME.
I bought that when i was 18 and had just recovered from mono which had left me unable to eat or, really, stand for about a month. I was tiny. And managed to pour myself into it for the ball, and haven't worn it since. (It was spring of 1998.)
It FITS. It doesn't quite zip up-- I couldn't reach for the last four inches or so-- but holy God, it actually goes over my ass. I took photos, out of incredulity. No way.

Now I need an excuse to wear a rather simple and plain black brocade evening gown.

Then we went out to the Rose Garden, a German restaurant out near the airport. I had some weinerschnitzel, and half a piece of cheesecake. And yes, i'm still holding out hope to get to Anderson's for Orange Chocolate night. I am utterly shameless.