6600 words total. It’s mostly going very fast because I’m combining existing sections rather than writing them from scratch.
(also, yes, if I keep this up, I should exceed my target of 30k by a large margin–prov. total is in the high 40ies. However, I probably have tons of things to prune from the worldbuilding, which should help)

To tide you over: Gareth L. Powell has just released his SF novel The Recollection with Solaris:

(and if that cover doesn’t convince you to check out the book, try this handy summary over at the Solaris website)

The blurb is bittersweet, though, and reminds me that today is the day of Colin Harvey’s funeral–my thoughts go out to his family and friends. Still angry, and very sad at the hole he leaves behind him.

Right…
Let’s see if we can do this again. The novella failed to work out the first time (and I was very stressed with RL stuff), so this time I laid the entire plot of it into Scrivener, handily spread into scenes. It will have several parts (! never done this before in a story, let’s see how it turns out), which gives me an ossature to work around. Book 2′s a little flabby, but I have the basis right, I think. Now it’s only a matter of completing the research–which I’ve largely done–and applying butt to chair.

Onwards.

A longish, crucial scene wrapped up.
Things included: dragon fruit. Longans. References to the Oath of the Peach Garden, and the poetry club in Dream of Red Mansions (which I think translates to Crab Flower Club, but I’m not too sure. My version has “Crab Apple Club”. I hope they’re the same plant or at least the same reference…). And another unwitting reference to Dream of Red Mansions.
Also, I might have been rather mean with a particular character. Ah well. Such is life. She’ll recover

Been working on the novella again. Still not sure about the form–I feel it should be more complex than a short story, but I have this sinking feeling I put way too much in this, and that it’s really a novel in disguise. I’m also fighting my own genre pre-conceptions with this: I wanted to do a generational tale on a space station, focused on the troubles of a family in the wake of a civil war (basically, Dream of Red Mansions rather than Three Kingdoms), and my brain keeps insisting that I’m doing unimportant fluff, and that there should be explosions and battle scenes, and Important Scientific Problems to solve. Grr. Not where I wanted to go. Which isn’t to say, of course, that things aren’t earth-shattering in this, but they’re meant to be far less of a Boys’ Own Tale of Adventure, and more focused on consequences of dramatic acts on families and children (yes, I’m partly doing this in reaction to the whole Women in SF thing. You can tell).

Anyway, hope this shakes out all right. But darn, it does feel good to be writing again.

In other news, let’s see if replacing bean paste with hoisin sauce in the xa xíu marinade was a good idea. (my local Asian grocery had no bean paste, as it’s a Chinese ingredient and not a Vietnamese one).

32,000 words. Beginning of chapter 9, which means I’m back on track wordcount-wise. Nezahual and Teomitl are back to their old habits. Fun. *sadistic author*

I’ve just submitted two short stories. Been a long time since I haven’t done that.
In other news, my 2011 schedule is filling up (can’t say anything yet, but some sekrit event is definitely on the cards)

And 1,000 additional words on the novel, bringing me to 30k or something like that (right now, the novel’s in two pieces, of which one is on a computer and one on my neo). I was complaining to the H about feeling bored with the whole thing, and he looked at me and said, “yup, that seems like the right time for you to say so.” Guess it’s official: we have entered the Terrible Middles.

Still trying to select which stories to pimp for the Nebulas. The novelette’s pretty much self-explanatory (“The Jaguar House in Shadow” got good reviews, a mention in Rich Horton’s year-end summation, and high visibility); the novel’s easy, as I only published one this year. The short story… I’d want to plump for “The Shipmaker”, but the odds are it won’t be eligible for the Nebulas (it’s been published in the paper edition of Interzone, but not in e-version, and I’m not sure fictionwise will have the e-version up by the end of December). So it’s a choice between “Memories in Bronze, Feathers and Blood” (how can you not like Aztec steampunk, plus it got a number of good reviews), and “As the Wheel Turns” (my Chinese reincarnation short story published in GUD, which has a more original structure, more lyrical language and who’s left a lasting impression on the couple of people who’ve read it).

Decisions, decisions…

Wordcount: 24,000/100,000

Awesome title ideas: no further ones.

Body count: 1, 3 in progress. Oh, and 1 owl and 1 jaguar.

Best moment of the day: Everything appeared normal: a dead body was being carried back through the gates, followed by a procession of priests in grey cloaks.

Unexpected moment of the day: the jaguar’s death. Seriously. Some characters are just made of awesome.

Research: used the fact I owed my French publisher maps of the city to replace everything into a coherent system. Also found out about Tlatelolco via the Spanish version of Wikipedia.

Wordcount: 17,000/100,000

Awesome title ideas: no further ones.

Body count: 1, 3 in progress. Oh, and 1 owl.

Best moment of the day: the Tlatelolco marketplace.

Unexpected moment of the day: the merchant. Thin, armed to the teeth, and determined to defend his goods…

Missing research: none so far.

Wordcount: 9,500/100,000

Awesome title ideas: no further ones.

Body count: 1, 3 in progress. Oh, and 1 owl.

Best moment of the day: Acatl being called in to examine a sick man (yup, he only does autopsies )

Unexpected moment of the day: throwing in a further autopsy, just for the heck of it. Oh, and a character turning abruptly responsible.

Missing research: well, a missing book, really. I forgot Ross Hassig’s Aztec Warfare on the bus Thursday evening, and just realised it. Darn. I had to forget the expensive research book…

Missing bits: we’re down to extra bits, with a little scene that I mean to use at the beginning of chapter 4.

4000 words on the draft of book 3 today. Chapter 1 dusted and done.

Body count: 1, 1 in progress
Best moment of the day: Acatl trying to sacrifice an uncooperative owl. Many scratches ensued. Good thing blood is magical…
Missing research: need to find out if a character (Nezahualpilli) took part in the coronation war of the new Aztec Emperor. Will hit the history books.

Also, my birthday gift is apparently that I get to see my French editor to talk book, translation, promotion etc. (well, I had to place the meeting somewhere, might as well be on a nice day :=) )