Finished!
Regaining Home's first draft is done an in to my editor! Of all of the novels, this is the one where I wish I had a little more time to think about the structure and decide what actually works and where things could be better. Usually I turn in the second draft to my editor, as well, so I'm feeling like this one is a bit more raw compared to the others I've turned in. But deadlines are deadlines, and I know Shawn will find those places where I can do the least number of changes to greatest effect. The final clocked in at 115,885 words. For those who were keeping track, that's more than 25,000 words than I intended to write. I suppose I'm nothing if not verbose--strange for someone who used to work in the reference industry, where being concise is vital.
Like most days after a day where I put in twice as many hours on a project as is normal for a work day, I did very little writing today. I have a short reference assignment, a short start of a secret project that I should be able to talk about starting tomorrow, two press releases, and a particular blog entry I've been meaning to write "due" before I go to Greece. Beyond those three projects and the part-time, I have quite a bit of reading to do: The Sacred and the Profane by Eliade, Greek Religion by Berkert (although I don't actually have to read the whole thing, I'm pretty sure), and I need to track down my book on Ephesus so I can talk about the house of Mary Mother of Christ, St. John's Cathedral, and the Seven Sleepers while we're there. The students are covering the temple of Artemis at Ephesus, which was my project the first time I was there. One of my jobs is to discuss the Christian angle while we're at the sites--exciting since I've already put some thought into it independent of the trip. There's a lot of Christian history there (Paul in particular spent time there), as well as a lot of Christian mythology. Mary's house was actually discovered by a German (I think) woman who had a dream about it. Based on her dream, they uncovered the ruins of a very old house--a house the Pope acknowledged as the home of Mary Mother of Christ, where she went to live with John the Apostle while he was preaching. Local legend also holds that John the Apostle wrote most of his letters from Ephesus, as well as Revelations. At any rate, I'm finally ready to start catching up on the research I should have been doing for months. I'm also to be reading Do Kamo, a book on Milenesian language and spiritual culture, which has very little to do with Greece but is apparently very enlightening when applied to Barfield's writings, particularly Saving the Appearances.
Yay myth!
In other news, the tetanus "TDap" shot makes you feel like you've spent the entire day before doing one-armed push ups. Just in case anyone was wondering.
Like most days after a day where I put in twice as many hours on a project as is normal for a work day, I did very little writing today. I have a short reference assignment, a short start of a secret project that I should be able to talk about starting tomorrow, two press releases, and a particular blog entry I've been meaning to write "due" before I go to Greece. Beyond those three projects and the part-time, I have quite a bit of reading to do: The Sacred and the Profane by Eliade, Greek Religion by Berkert (although I don't actually have to read the whole thing, I'm pretty sure), and I need to track down my book on Ephesus so I can talk about the house of Mary Mother of Christ, St. John's Cathedral, and the Seven Sleepers while we're there. The students are covering the temple of Artemis at Ephesus, which was my project the first time I was there. One of my jobs is to discuss the Christian angle while we're at the sites--exciting since I've already put some thought into it independent of the trip. There's a lot of Christian history there (Paul in particular spent time there), as well as a lot of Christian mythology. Mary's house was actually discovered by a German (I think) woman who had a dream about it. Based on her dream, they uncovered the ruins of a very old house--a house the Pope acknowledged as the home of Mary Mother of Christ, where she went to live with John the Apostle while he was preaching. Local legend also holds that John the Apostle wrote most of his letters from Ephesus, as well as Revelations. At any rate, I'm finally ready to start catching up on the research I should have been doing for months. I'm also to be reading Do Kamo, a book on Milenesian language and spiritual culture, which has very little to do with Greece but is apparently very enlightening when applied to Barfield's writings, particularly Saving the Appearances.
Yay myth!
In other news, the tetanus "TDap" shot makes you feel like you've spent the entire day before doing one-armed push ups. Just in case anyone was wondering.