Journal

Children Of The Dusk

Third Draft

Yesterday, I finished work on the third draft and I’ve since decided that it’s probably as close to the final draft as I’ll ever get it, and therefore I might as well start treating this as my manuscript for submission. In other words, this will presumably be it for The River, with some proofing and minor corrections ahead. (Oh, and as I am in the habit of naming my drafts, this one is called “Children Of The Dusk”.)

Look Out Below

Wait, so what does this mean? I’ll have to figure out how this thing works, I guess. I’ve been able to find quite a bit of information about the industry worldwide, but that information probably isn’t going to help me too much with the local market. I have a feeling that things work a bit differently here given the size of the industry and the state of literature in general in these parts. So that first thing is research.

I’m not sure quite where to start. I have a couple of leads, a couple of ideas, but they’re not of the optimistic sort. I probably need to look for a bit of help.

I’ll also be working on my query letter, since that will certainly have to figure in sooner or later.

I also see myself doing a short piece or two just to take my mind off of this for the time being.

And that will probably be it. It sounds so simple. What could possibly go wrong?

…Sigh.

Also Finished

I finished Half-Life 2 yesterday, and the ending isn’t as bad as I remembered it. I don’t know why I had this negative impression of it. Now it seems pretty okay.

In any case, really enjoyed myself with it. It reminded me of how much crap I’ve been putting up with some of the recent (and much lauded) games. I think the only game that hasn’t thrown me that kind of nonsense in recent times is MGS4, which I really love too.

Gargh, stop feeding me useless, un-fun games, game companies! I don’t want to date all my friends to go bowling to raise their percentage admiration or drive around on barren moon surfaces.

Loot

I went to the bookstore on Saturday and got myself:

• Boxwood, by Camilo José Cela
• José Saramago’s Blindness
• Basho: The Complete Haiku, by Matsuo Bashō (duh)
• Anne Higonnet’s Lewis Carroll
• The Alcoholic, Jonathan Ames and Dean Haspiel

Because I could choose my Christmas present, I also got myself Sebastião Salgado’s beautiful Africa.

Some notes:

The Bashō book is very, very pretty, and I’m very happy that I bought it. The Lewis Carroll book is a photography book featuring photos that he took. It’s a very elegant book by Phaidon and I’m glad to add it to my library. And I had never before heard of The Alcoholic, but on the morning before I went, I read Charles D’Ambrosio recommending it and couldn’t resist.

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© 2008 a modest odyssey.