:draft pick:

I spent most of the past week or so getting my NaNoWriMo novel, "Emotion Blur," out of first draft status. To be truthful I didn't really alter too much of the basic story. It was more correcting grammar or filling in missing words. As ever, I think faster than I write or type, and so may miss a few words along the way. I am still a bit ambivalent about the first few chapters after the initial one, as they involve characters that never show up again, but there are facts and such in those chapters that refer to later plot points. So I am torn. Any further edits will have to be in another person's hands.

All told, I think it's a decent story, for my first attempt, but I am unsure if it has any hope of actually getting published. I'll look into it but it's not a giant priority this year. Those of you out there who have my first draft, perhaps you'd rather read this one (so far only one person has given me feedback about it), so get back to me if you do.

Still on the lookout for photo ops in my monochrome winter. Now that I'm free from the writing for now I hope to find some more. I'm seeing a live concert this Saturday night, Zola Jesus, we'll see if I can get some good shots there, but I don't want to spend the whole night doing so. It's sad enough that there'll surely be a sea of phones being held up by people, recording instead of actually enjoying it while one is there.

Chinese New Year is approaching as well, and I'd like to go and photograph the lion dancers as I have for nearly every year for the past decade. I may even go to New York CIty this time. I'm not so sure black & white would be the best choice, though, as they're quite colorful. We'll see if I break out of monochrome for that at least.