Work on Dreams is progressing in fits and starts. I'm now at just over 14,000 words, which isn't as far along as I'd hoped, but it's really not too bad, given all the distractions at the moment (I built in a fair safety margin as a matter of course). I should be able to hit 20,000 words by next Monday: that'll be a third of the book written. Though I'm having to be a little careful right now, my hands are starting to hurt... (Ken's doing all the lifting.)
Now that Lutra's firming up plans to move, I'm looking into the possibility of going over for a visit with Kai. I have to admit the current economic climate is acting as a spur: travel is only going to get more expensive as time goes by and the fuel supplies diminish, so if I'm ever to manage it it should be sooner rather than later - as Lutra agreed.
Anyway - using August 2006 and the charges on Flights4Less as a guide, I checked out a few details: Emirates Airline works out cheapest, £1,584.46 [wince] inclusive of fees and taxes (but presumably not insurance - have to check that out separately). That's for a return flight with one refuelling stop each way (in Dubai), outward bound from London Heathrow at 17.00 on the 1^st of August, arriving Dubai 02.55 then departing 10.10 on the 2^nd, and arriving Melbourne airport 05.30 August 3^rd - total flight time 27 and a half hours...
Eh well. Kai will be able to sleep, and I can adjust once I get there (flying sunwards always makes me feel horribly jet-lagged anyway, though it can be fun watching the sun come up just a few hours after it set...). A couple of days rest and I'd be fine - there are some advantages to my irregular sleep/wake schedule.
We'd aim to go for at least three weeks, to make it worthwhile, and during Kai's holidays, when it would be winter in Australia (I really don't think I could cope with the summer heat, and Kai burns quite easily, so a cooler season makes more sense). The suggested main trip is a run up to Sydney (10 hour trip by road or train, or an hour's flight) for a visit to the Blue Mountains (an hour's train ride from the city, Lutra tells me. We'd love to visit the Great Barrier Reef and Ayers Rock too, you know, all the touristy things, but it's unlikely in the extreme the budget would stretch that far!) and another shorter trip to the mountains to the North of Melbourne - sorry Lutra, can't remember the name. Melbourne itself has more than enough to see and do, without leaving the city!
And we'll also need a decent digicam.
Then I remembered I haven't renewed my passport for... oh, longer than I care to remember. We've been meaning to do it for ages, so Ken picked up the forms on the way back from collecting Kai...
Bloody hell! 42 quid for a five year passport? And £25 for Kai? I nearly had kittens! Last time I got one it was around £20 for 10 years and kids could be included! And that's without the cost of the hideous photos. And of course, me being me and things never being easy, I'd not only have to send them my old passport, but also my Decree Absolute showing I'd divorced first husband, my marriage certificate to prove I'd remarried, AND my blasted change of name deed!
[head->hands]
... it's worth it... keep repeating, it's worth it...
Well, Kai will need a passport anyway, whichever school he goes to he'll have the opportunity to go on trips abroad, and we were wondering if we could afford to take him on a day trip to France sometime soon, so he could actually set foot in a 'foreign country' (other than Dartmouth [grin]) and hear French being spoken properly...
ANYway... this all depends to a large extent on the size of the advance(s) for the next book(s), and on Lutra moving, and a variety of other external forces, so nothing is definite yet. But it would be the holiday of a lifetime for me, and a fabulous experience for Kai, and there's no harm in plotting and planning. Sometimes that just makes things happen all by itself.
Ken would stay here to look after the house and animals, then he'd get to go on the next trip (though probably not quite so far!) But not the Maldives. When we go there, we all go together and I'll get someone in to house and pet-sit. If it's feasible in the near future my folks have offered to come up for a couple of weeks.
It's good to dream. It's even better to work to make it happen.
So, Van Von Hunter Vol 1... It's set 10,000 years - or possibly three years, it's difficult to say - after the end of the online comic. At least, I assume it's after the end, certain things are referred to that haven't happened yet. The artwork's pretty good, but over all... it's a bit of a disappointment, unfortunately. Yes, it has the Flaming Prince, which is always a plus, but it's... jerky. The abruptness that works well in the weekly comic is less effective in the manga. And some of the humour is forced, distinctly less funny than online. The book left me feeling vaguely dissatisfied. It may simply be that it was the first volume, the first time the creators have had to work to these particular constraints, and it will improve as more manga are produced. Problem is, I'm not sure I want to buy any more.
Well, maybe I will if the FP reappears...
[grin] Kai said, out of the blue last night when we were talking about books, "It's great to have parents who are writers."
And on that subject, I think I can do a little more before I have to rest the hands. Back to it.