Readers, Writers and how they (should) relate

Haven't posted a blog here in a week, so it's time. Because, you know, I try to post at least once a week. I can't manage to post every day, but once a week--you can check by and see what's new, but I don't overburden anybody. (Especially me!) (I'll get round to the topic in the title, eventually. Bear with me.)

I did an essay for Dear Author on Why I Read and Write... Y'all can go read it. And tomorrow, I'm posting a blog at To Be Read: So Many Authors, so little time... about how I'm so forgetful. (I was supposed to blog on Monday over there.) So it's not as if I haven't been blogging at all.

I have been thinking, off and on, about readers and authors and the relationship between them. It started with all the sound and fury over the fourth Twilight book, when so many readers got all up in arms about the way Meyers finished her series. Then I wandered across the post at John Scalzi's Whatever blog about "Pissy fans," which got me to thinking again (though it's really about other factors). Plus, there is the perennial Hate for Laurell K. Hamilton for the direction she's taken Anita Blake--which doesn't bother me at all. I still glom onto the books... Suzanne Brockmann even had problems with readers getting upset because certain characters got together with characters other than those that were expected--or hoped for. And now, I think all of that thinking has gelled to the point where I know what I think, and I think maybe I know why I think it. (Profound, I know.)

This may relate to a long-ago post of mine (I'm not going to go look it up right now because I'm supposed to be doing Bulletin Board) about Protecting the Work. Because I firmly, truly and deeply believe The Story Belongs To The Writer.

That's why I started writing stories in the first place. So I could tell the story I wanted to tell. My story, not somebody else's.

I read Hamilton's books to see where she's taking the characters. I'm along for HER ride, not mine. If I didn't like where they were going, I wouldn't ride along--I've stopped reading a number of authors for just that reason (George R.R. Martin's series among them--well written books, but not for me)--but I sure as heck wouldn't get mad at them for not writing the story I wanted. Because it ain't my story. It's theirs.

I think this is why I stopped writing fan fiction long before I really got to writing my own stories. I understand loving the characters and wanting certain things to happen. I can even understand feelings of ownership, because of that huge love, but guess what? Readers don't own the characters. And if the author sufficiently motivates the event--the love affair with the new/different character than the one the reader wants/expects, say--I'm perfectly willing to go with it.

In the case of Brockmann's Dark of Night, in which characters who have been pining for each other through five or six books wind up with someone completely different, the book worked perfectly for me. I think in part it's because "real life" doesn't always work out like we want it to--but if we're open, we can see that the change of plans is even better than what we originally thought we wanted. Maybe the folks who got all upset are that way in real life too--wanting what they want without being open to the possibility of something else. Or maybe not.

My point is--and I hope it's clear that I have one--the relationship between readers and authors must include the recognition and acceptance of the fact that The Story BELONGS to The Author.

By publishing a book, we are inviting the reader to come along on the journey with us, whether for one book, or fourteen--but the author is still the one in the driver's seat. That's just the way it is, my dears.

If you want to tell a different story, Go for it! Write the story the way YOU want it to go. But please, use your own characters and your own universe. And that story will belong to you. Until then, enjoy the ride!

NEW BLOOD is in the bookstores!

Yes, THE BOOK IS OUT! I haven't seen it in stores yet, but I am reliably told that it is there. AND, it got a really great review at Sarah and Candy's blog. I'm tickled about that. Y'all should go read it. I think they've cut off the sign-up for the book giveaway, but I'm giving a book away at the RWA published author chapter blog: To Be Read--So Many Authors, So Little Time... next week, so if you go by there and comment, you might win a book.

Um--what else is going in my life? Not much. I'm busy revising The Book Formerly Known As Old Spirits, and writing back cover copy for it, and writing articles, and doing blog interviews. (I'd post a link to the interview, but I can't find it--the wonderful person who interviewed me e-mailed and told me where it was, but now I can't find her e-mail... Sigh.) I've received some other very nice reviews. They're in my e-mail--and out and about. I'll put a couple on the website. I'm just hoping lots of people will buy it, and like it.

That's about it. Went to see the parents last weekend. Have to go back again soonish. To work. (sigh) But I have a friend I haven't seen in AGES who will be coming by and we're planning a visit. It will be fun! I also want to get my Waco buddies down for a visit, but don't know when... Lots of stuff coming up. Not so much going on now.

TBR Challenge Book #1

I have read a book off my TBR challenge.

SABRIEL by Garth Nix.

This is a YA fantasy. Sabriel is the daughter of the Abhorsen, who makes the Dead behave. In the Old Kingdom, where she was born, the Dead don't like to stay that way, and to come back into life, they have to eat living things. So they need the Abhorsen to make sure the Dead stay dead. There is, apparently, only one Abhorsen at a time. She's just graduating from boarding school across the Wall from the Old Kingdom, where magic mostly doesn't work when she gets a message from her father. He's not quite dead, but he's stuck in Death, and he's sent her his sword and the bells he works his magic with. And Sabriel is off on a huge adventure. This was a pretty good adventure story, though it didn't go very deep. Emotionally, it tended to stay at the surface. Don't know if I will read the other books in the series. Maybe if I can get them at the library...

I don't even know where my TEXAS RANGER book is. I'd been carrying it around in my bag to read, but the bag was getting heavy, so I took it out, but where I set it??? No clue... Sigh.

Will write more later. After I finish tomorrow's revisions on Book II. Which is acquiring a new name. Heart's Blood, is what it's looking like... Romancey and ties in with New Blood.

I'm reading Silent in the Grave now...

New week, new stuff

According to my goals list, I didn't get a whole lot accomplished last week. It felt like I was spinning my wheels most of the week too. Got my opening scene written, and then stalled out. Couldn't figure out where to go from there. Part of it was an "order" issue. I'm a linear writer, which isn't the same as a plotter, or a "pantser"--someone who just starts writing and figures it out as they go. The other kind of writer is a "puzzler" who writes scenes as they come, and then figures out what order they go in. I Really can't do that. I have to write mostly from beginning to end, because my scenes build on each other. If I leave something out I decide I need, I can insert it without much of a problem, but during the first draft stuff, I pretty much have to have stuff in the order it happens.

I am also trying to do my first draft on the computer this time. Not really because of the time issue, but because of my vision issues. So I'm doing a LOT of stuff on the computer. I also have a lot of my thinking files on the computer--including a scene list. I put the scenes I've already written in red for his POV and in blue for hers, and the ideas for future scenes--if I know I need the scene, it's in black, and possible scenes are in purple. I'm not very far ahead. I sort of know where I'm going, but my roadmap is REALLY vague.

I also need a new title for Old Spirits. It sounds like booze to the New Yorkers, and isn't "romancey" enough. (I don't know what was so "romancey" about New Blood...) So I have to get my brain in gear and figure out a new title. Not my best topic. All suggestions invited. (The Conjurer's Apprentice?) And I have to do a few revisions on it, ramp up the action early on. I think I know how to do that. (First, cut out all the boring stuff that I didn't already cut out.)

Last week was a really lazy week. I did take Dolly the granddog to the vet, because she apparently ate something that made her sick. She quit eating and almost quit drinking, and acted like a sick little doggie. She's all better now, though. Back to her high energy, Gigi-exhausting self.

I am enjoying my new Sony e-reader. Alternating between reading a book on it, and reading one of my backlist TBR books. I have caught up on my RITA books. Finished them off, unless I'm asked to do a second group, and can read stuff just for fun. Or from my TBR Challenge list. I have Sabriel off the shelf, sitting on my desk... Okay. After I finish Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand, I'll read that one.

Oh, and I have two articles to write this week, and a list of interview questions to answer. The first article is due Wednesday (I think.) The questions need to be answered before next Tuesday, and the second article is due next Thursday. Need to doublecheck on the newsletter topic.

AND, I need to get a newsletter out to my newsletter subscribers. New Blood is out NEXT WEEK. How did it get to be almost March so fast? Ack!

Okay. Off to work.

Valentine's Mardi Gras

Galveston celebrates Mardi Gras. Not quite as big time as New Orleans--but it's not nearly as large a town. Even before Ike washed away about half the population. So you wouldn't expect it to be quite as wild, or as big. But it's plenty big enough for me.

Saturday was Valentine's Day, but we mostly did Mardi Gras. There were three parades on Saturday, all down the seawall on Seawall Blvd. One at noon (Krewe of Aquarius, I believe), one at three (the Firetruck Parade) and one at 6 p.m. (Krewe of Gambrinus), complete with fireworks over the gulf at the 37th St. Pier. I was invited to ride in one of the noon parade entries--a convertible, not a float--and throw stuff at people. We had candy, beads and college promo freebies like keychains and rubber bracelets to throw.

There was a time I could throw a softball or baseball pretty well. But that was a LONG time ago, and I wasn't sitting in a car while doing it. Now--I basically suck at throwing. I have no arm, and I'm a klutz anyway. So I took on the job of throwing bracelets. I had to take each bracelet out of its little plastic zip bag, because if you threw them in the bag, they would plummet to the asphalt about a foot from the car, but if you took them out, they had a chance of flying a ways out, at least to a spot safe to pick it up. However, you must take into account the fact that I was throwing them.

Some of them flew right to the folks I was aiming at. Some sailed over their heads. Some sank like a rock. Some hit the balloon tied to the side mirror and went in strange directions. Some went practically behind the car because my arm got all contorted into a crazy side-arm sort of throw... Anyway, the bracelets were very popular, perhaps because they were different. Not your usual bead.

Saturday was a rainy day on the island. It sprinkled lightly while we were waiting for the parade to kick off. It cleared up right as we were heading out (we were about 30 minutes into the parade). Then it started sprinkling again harder when the parade was almost over. We ran out of stuff about 54th St. The parade went to 59th. Oops.

We went back to our house afterward--at about 2:30--to have lunch and warm up. It wasn't that cold out, but when wet--I had hot chocolate. It was wonderful. :) And while we were eating our homemade soup (I didn't burn it!) for lunch at 3 p.m., just as the firetruck parade was starting, the sky opened up and the rain POURED down. It rained really hard for about 20 minutes, then just rained for another half hour or so.

And after a little nap, we went back out to watch the evening parade and fireworks. We walked. It's not far from our house to the seawall. But we walked all the way down past 45th St. so we could see the fireworks. The rain had stopped, but it was still foggy and cloudy. I thought they were going to do the fireworks after the parade, but they started shooting them off before the parade reached us (which admittedly, was an hour and a half after the parade started). They looked very cool lighting up the clouds. We walked back to 45th St., met some friends and their kids and grandkids, and watched the parade with them.

The floats were fabulous, the people all dressed up on them, and I caught a lot of beads. Or rather, I picked up a bunch from the ground in front of me. I actually caught one strand. But I had beads up almost as high as my ears... And I danced with a member of one of the bands marching by. As former band members, we were hollering and cheering for the bands, so when this one--North Forest High School out of Houston--stopped right in front of us, and the tubas and drums took over the music, the kid took my hand and we boogied till he had to march off again. It was hilarious, and no, the fella did not get the camera out of his pocket fast enough to get a picture. (Thank goodness!) But it was fun. Then we went over to our friends' house for a glass of wine and some stuffed grilled jalapenos. Yum.

We have pictures. I'll try to remember to download and upload them when I get home.

We also finally found and ordered a sofa to replace our old ratty white one. We've only been looking about 2 years to find something we liked. It will be a while before it arrives, but not another year, which is probably how long we'd go before trying to shop again... We still need lamps and end tables and recovered chairs and... Lots of stuff. But not today.

I'm up to p. 33 on the book. Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, right?

Mini adventures & random thoughts

Went back out walking this a.m. on the beach. Did not take the dog. The weather was cloudy and windy, and a bit rain-spitty. But I wanted to walk on the beach, so I drove down, rather than spending so much time just walking up there and back. I climbed down the stairs at a place where one of the stair rails was broken off the concrete stairs and three-quarters buried in the sand. The part that wasn't buried stuck out of the sand at an angle, like some drowned spar.

Anyway, where I climbed down, they hadn't put any additional sand down. They're replacing sand washed away by Hurricane Ike, but hadn't done it yet in that area. However, they'd piled sand up on the other side of the next jetty, clear to the top of the jetty. I climbed up on the rocks, from "my" side, but I wanted to walk down by the water, where the sand would be harder packed, and--well, the sand is piled up so high, it makes a little cliff. Higher than I wanted to jump down with my wonky knees. So I walked down the jetty to where the tide had washed the sand down.

Except it had washed the sand underneath, between the rocks, and not on top of the rocks, and when I was standing on what I thought was sand over rock, turned out I wasn't. I was standing on sand with a hole under it. And my entire left leg crashed through the sand into the hole between the two big jetty boulder/rocks. Next thing I knew, I was sitting sprawled on the sand-covered jetty, with my leg down a hole. Didn't hurt me. Had on long pants and walking shoes and socks. The sand made a kind of cushion, so no bruises. Just a big surprise. And a lot of sand down my leg, in my sock & shoe.

But getting up and down those jetty rocks was a lot of work. So I hiked down to the next set of stairs --past the next jetty-- and climbed up and walked back to the car on the seawall. And got rained on, a bit. It's cloudy and windy, but not cold, today. Until the Gulf washes more of the sand down, and makes that edge not so cliff-y, I'll probably stick to seawall walking for a while...I do need to go take a picture of it, though, so you can see what I'm talking about...

Now, we come to the random thoughts section:
I did see 15 pelicans flying out to fish. And did I mention that the seagulls have their black heads back? It will soon be the season for seagull love...

The boy and I watched "300" again last night. And there was a scene with a bird sitting on an abandoned spear (from one of the dead, I think). And when the bird flew away, it made a seagull cry. Except--seagulls can't sit on spears. Their feet aren't right. They're webbed. So they can't perch. They can sit on pilings and broad flat posts and roofs and stuff, but they can't perch. It would be like a duck perching on a narrow branch. Ain't gonna happen. So now, I'm criticizing the birds in movies. (sigh)

Took Dolly to the vet this a.m. after my walk. Turns out, she not only has allergies like the rest of the family (her "white" eye is really sensitive), but she has a wonky knee like her Gigi. That's why she limps sometimes, because her kneecap keeps sliding out of position. Knees, not hips. We got ointment for the eye--it got infected from the allergy irritation--and shots, and she's in great shape otherwise. She was SO excited at the vets. Wanted to sniff at all the smells and play and sniff and play and... I think she scared an elderly dachshund's elderly owner, running up to sniff and play. The dog was a little affronted, but the owner looked alarmed. So we took her out the other way. Dolly, not the dachshund.

Went to see TWO (2!) movies this weekend. Taken and Push. Liked both. Becoming Jane and Hancock came in from Ntflx. Jane came in twice. I reported that it hadn't come (they mailed it from Houston, and it didn't get here in a WEEK. I can drive to the far side of Houston in 2 hours...)(Plus, we got the other movie, watched it and mailed it back before the 2nd Jane came.) so they sent another one. And now I have 2. I will mail it back. I have enough clothes to fold for a movie watching marathon tonight.

I have written 7 pages so far of HARRY & ELINOR FIGHT MONSTERS. I am going to attempt to write this on the computer. We will see how it goes. If I don't get my page count up, I may go back to the longhand...except that I probably wrote a LOT more pages than I have left, since I started, and started over, and over again multiple times. When I write that in longhand, I still have the scratch-outs to show that I actually wrote more. I am saving some of the deleted bits--and have already used some over again--but it's still not as much as the saved. Anyway, I'm getting to the more exciting stuff, so maybe it's going okay...

As if I needed another Reason to Read Books

I am joining a book reading challenge, the TBR 2009 challenge. You try to read 12 books (one book a month) off your backed up shelves. I want to get some books off my To Be Read shelves. I have a lot of them. Plus the books under my bed. Plus... well, I have a lot.


So. This is my TBR challenge list. I'm going to mostly go by the suggested genres.

And I just remembered--I have a lot of RITA books I need to read, since I was on deadline and put them off till I finished writing a book. Anyway--I can read the TBR books too. Especially since I don't have to read them in the particilar months. I'm just going to list them in order of the suggestions.

To be honest, my TBR pile is full of things that aren't necessarily romance, because I read the romance first...But I will toil manfully away at my pile and try to whittle it down.

1. THE TEXAS RANGER by Jan Hudson - Harlequin American Romance (the only series romance on my shelf)

2. SABRIEL by Garth Nix. This was recommended by a friend of my son. That counts.
The suggested topic for February was a book bought because of an AAR DIK review...but I almost never visit AAR, so that's no good. I just picked something that's been sitting around on the shelves a long time...

3. LOVE AND HONOR by Randall Wallace - Historical novel w/romantic elements (I hope.)
It's been sitting around a long time too.

4. EVE OF DARKNESS by Sylvia Day. I've been meaning to read this one a LONG time and really want to. Urban fantasy (I think. I know it's fantasy of some kind.)


5. P.S. I LOVE YOU (don't want to go back and look at the author.) The suggestion is for Friends to Lovers - Don't know if I have any of those, but this one seemed maybe close.

6. GALE FORCE by Rachel Caine - Urban Fantasy - I usually don't let those sit around too long, but I think that one's been sitting the longest. It's August of last year. The suggestion is "Tortured Hero or Heroine" and I think Caine's heroine fits--but she's mostly tortured by Rachel Caine, not her past...
Okay, in here? I'm going to be coming down to the line on my next deadline. So what I'm going to do is list what the suggestions are for and do what I can to get them done.

7. WHAT A ROGUE DESIRES by Caroline Linden. Wrongfully Accused, or Just out of Jail (???)

8. GET A CLUE by Jill Shalvis Specific authors. First of all, this is the last month before my deadline. I doubt I'll get anything much read. (Though I did read 2 books this past month while on deadline, so one never knows.) But second, I don't own any books by any of those people (Nora Roberts, Mary Balogh, Julia Quinn, etc.) that I haven't read. What? Are you nuts? I glom onto them instantly. I'll pick something from the stack.

9. THE SMOKE THIEF by Shana Abe. This is one of the authors on the list. I've been told that it picks up after the prologue, so I may just skip the prologue, because, honestly? Every time I start at the prologue...I put the sucker back down again. This will be after my deadline, and I'm hoping I'll be able to read it then.

10. Horror! Hate horror. But I have some RS books that scare the pee-waddin out of me, so maybe I'll get through Colleen Thompson's HEAT LIGHTNING this time. (It scared me!) And hopefully, there won't be any hurricanes...

11. TRUE DECEPTION by Patricia Waddell. Because it looks interesting. (Thanksgiving theme. Ha! It's a SF romance)

12. LOVE OVER SCOTLAND by Alexander McCall Smith. It was in the closet at the newspaper where they put the books people send for reviews for whoever wants to to read, and it looks light and fun, so while it's not Christmas theme, it's not Heavy.

Don't know if I will have a new deadline. I'll need to get back to work on my big historical novel, if I have some time in here, so...

Maybe I can move a few more books off my shelves.

Dancing in the streets!

Okay, actually, there's no dancing. Just lying around and reading books and playing videogames. I took a whole day to do absolutely nothing but what I wanted to do. Why, you ask?

Because I FINISHED THE BOOK! (Snoopy dance) Finished it. Cut out all the boring stuff (I hope) and cleaned it up, and sent it off to the agent and editor. It came in at 576 manuscript pages. One page more than New Blood. Just over 135,000 words. New Blood has just under 134,000 words.

Today I played. Even went out and walked along the seawall--but didn't go down on the beach, because they've piled the sand up 4 feet high (or so) and it requires climbing down a cliff to get to the hard-packed sand, and I didn't want to do that. Maybe if it's warm enough for my flip-flops tomorrow... The seagulls have their black heads back, so it's already courting season for them, or will be soon.

And tomorrow, I have to start the next book. Oak and Iron? Maybe I can do a hyphenated adjective to go with the noun of the title... Need something to go with both elements and with plants. Hmm. I also have to figure out the magic processes a little better. Wish me luck.

Today's count

Down to 586 pages at 9:04 p.m. CST.

Had Shrimp & Stuff dinners out and took time to watch Jumpers with the boy. Back at work. It's going to be do-able!

Edited to add: 11:39 p.m. Reached the end. I'm at 581 pages.

The last hundred pages was a lot tighter. It gets that way.

I have two scenes I want to thin out considerably--they're repetitious, padded, and boring. I'll do that tomorrow. Then--maybe--do one more read through and ship this puppy off.

New count

Down to 605 pages. My back is killing me.

Finished the Brockmann book last night. Going to bed early tonight. I sure hope I can get those few more pages cut.

Okay, off to text the boy and sleep.

Checking In

Down to 621 pages now!

I've got all the way through it, and am putting my changes (and making a few more) into the computer. I have picked out a couple more places that need to be chopped WAY down, but I just printed them out/set them aside and noted what I need to do. After I get all the way through again, I'll work on these specific places, making sure I get in the necessary information--or figuring out whether the info in them is really necessary.

I looked to see how long New Blood was--and it was 575 pages, so I don't feel so overwhelmed. I just hope I have enough action in Old Spirits. There's a LOT of action at the end of the book, but...

Oh well. Have to wait and see what the ed says.

Took today off from the paper to work on it. The fella is going up to the Panhandle (where it was well below freezing this a.m.) to pack the house up this weekend, but I'm staying here. Ordering pizza for supper tonight, and I'm making the boy pick it up. I guess I'll order it ahead of time so it's ready when he's on his way home. Except I didn't give him any money... Hmm.

I am going to take a break. I am suffering from severe fanny fatigue at the moment. I got Suzanne Brockmann's new book. Think I'll go see if I can get a little farther into it.

Countdown to Deadline

I've cut it down by 7 pages. Only 93 more to go. (ACK!!) I'm going to have to cut more stuff out. Lots more. But what???

I'll figure it out.

I've gone through to p. 358, and I've put in stuff up through--maybe p. 100? I don't know how many pages I have on the floor. I worked on it all morning, putting revisions in the computer and shortening things up. Pages that get put in get dropped on the floor. I'll go back to going through ms. pages tonight.

I'll save what I've done, 'cause I may have to start cutting out huge chunks of stuff I've already gone through.

Have to go buy dog food on the way home. Hoping the boy will take the hint and cook supper, but... At least I remembered to go to the bank today. I have $$. :)

Books and bylines

I actually finished the first draft--reached the end of the story--on Monday. Today, I have it all in the computer, and it is 637 manuscript pages. (Yeah, I know. I told you, I write long.) This means I need to cut at least 100 pages out of the sucker. Cutting is easier than adding--though I do have to add to weave the cuts together, sometimes.

Wish me luck.

In other news, I got my first byline in the paper today.

This isn't such a big deal, to be honest. I've written the whole entire paper back when I worked for those small town weeklies, (except for sports). And I had it in the paper once a week, when I was doing the society news column for the Clarendon Enterprise. But this was the first time I got a byline in this paper, so I was duly impressed with myself. Of course, they didn't put my byline on the article they posted online. Oh well. But that's the one I wrote.

So, I get to go home and print out the tome. Tomorrow, I can start cutting.

Of course, tomorrow, I also want to mess around with my new Sony e-reader and get it to working. (I haven't had time to even install the software that came with it yet.) And I want to go see a movie. And there was something else I wanted to do, but I can't remember what it was.

My mother's forgetfulness is already creeping up on me!

DONE!

Yes, I am DONE with the book. It isn't finished finished, but I have reached the end of it.

Now it is time to type it all in the computer. (Remember, I'm freakish throwback write-it-in-longhand person.) And then I have to whack out all the excess verbiage. I don't think there will be quite as much excess as there was in ETERNAL ROSE, but there may be a little more excess than there was in NEW BLOOD. I also have to make sure the story arc is an actual arc, rather than a... well, I'm not sure what geometric form would fit. My characters seem to take two steps forward, then one step back--and that can work, but I need to make sure it does, and isn't too jerky, and they're not behaving too jerkishly. Or that they're dropping their jerkishness (because a black moment tends to involve some of that) too soon. And then, I also need to make sure the action stays high... This one's more of a murder mystery, so it's more clue-finding than bad-guy fighting. I'm worried about that action issue...

Anyway, that's where I am. Literally. Working on the book. So I'm not here.

Whining ensues. If you don't want to read whining, then just skip this part. I'm only here now because the other community news person is back from going to the inauguration in D.C. I had read in the paper that she was going. (I know, I know, but her office isn't in the big bullpen-type newsroom, and I have to get up and go walk in there to talk to her, instead of yelling across the room, like I talk to everybody else.) But I forgot, and found out, the day before she was leaving, that she was leaving me this HUGE job--that I'd never done before. And it HAD to be done that next day. Had to.

So I came in to the paper at my regular time (after lunch), all worried about how I was going to get that done, AND my regular stuff, and discovered in the note she left me that she wanted me to come in early the three mornings she was going to be out of town, so I could cover all the other stuff she does. (She did do some of it, but there's a lot of stuff you can't do till the day of.) Thing is, if she'd talked to me before she left town, I'd've told her that I was on deadline with the book, and I really couldn't spare a whole lot of time to come in and work. I wound up coming in at 11 a.m. or so, and having lunch at my desk, and still wound up having to stay late, just to get stuff done. Anyway, she's back now. So I'm not running quite so fast. I'll get out of here before six today.

End of whining.

In other news, we have a contract on our house in the Panhandle, so we'll probably have to go up there to clean things out and sign at the end of the month. Which means I have to get the revisions finished, before we go. Or I could revise on the road. Anyway, it's a good thing, but a... complicating factor.

Okay. I'm going home.

Quick visit

Stopping by quick, quick to say--only 4.5 pages today, but I wrestled with some knotty issues and I think got them combed straight. Big battle is looming, almost at hand.

The fella and sundry relatives (including the boy) have gone to Austin to see one of the sundries get sworn in as a state representative. I have to finish this book. I would go to visit with all the relations, but I'm not into politics so much. So I wish them all luck, and get back to the book.

Go look at the pictures, if you haven't.

Pictures!

I have finally managed to download the pictures from my camera onto my computer. Yay! So this blog will be pictures of stuff I've been promising, and am finally able to share. First, the picture of Dolly in her pink sweater.

We have a few other pictures, but she's looking the most "pit-bull-ish" in this picture. It's really hard to take pictures of her, because when you go outside for any reason, she's all "Play! You want to Play! With MEEEEEEEE! Yes, play! Play! Play!" And it's really hard to take a picture when she's jumping all over you wanting to play. I had to recruit some help. You might notice that her collar is sort of vaguely pink also. I washed it after her great adventure, so it's even more vague now... (yes, her feet are pink too, it's not just reflection from the sweater. But the sweater does make them look pinker.)

Next, we have the smiley potato. I was peeling potatoes for mashed potatoes one night last fall, and discovered one with a smiley face. We thought it was funny, so we took a picture of it.

No, we do not still have it. We ate it. It tasted very good.

Now I have to think of other things to say to fill up the space next to the smiley potato picture so the pictures won't overlap each other. Um...

I'm getting closer and closer to the end of Old Spirits. Almost to the final battle scene. The main bad guy ought to show up pretty soon, and once that happens, the battle will start. Once the battle is over, the book ends, so...

Next picture--I took a couple of pictures of my editor, Heather Osborn, in her office in New York City while I was there. (See blog about visit.) I took two so y'all could see her "slush pile" (which actually isn't nearly as big as some slush piles I've seen) and the (tiny) size of her office. This is view #1.

I need more filler, don't I? So, today, I went walking down to the beach, and wished I'd taken the camera, because I saw bulldozers driving in the surf. They were scooping up seawater in their buckets and driving up to dump it on the sand-ramps they'd built for the dump trucks to drive down to the beach from the Seawall on, to tamp the sand down.

Okay, here's the other picture. You will notice she's basically in the same position, leaning her elbow on her desk. That means you can see how close these shelves are behind her. Much of what is on the shelves is not slush. I think those are mostly manuscripts from her authors. But I may have the piles mixed up. One set of stacks is slush, one is contracted work. Heather reads very fast. This is why she's not backlogged more than this. Oh, and there are a lot of books in those stacks, you will also notice.

More filler? Okay, so because there were bulldozers driving around everywhere, I didn't get to walk very far on the beach. Dump trucks were driving down the ramp quite frequently too, when the bulldozers weren't dumping water on it. I walked over toward 45th St., but couldn't walk too far that way, because of the plazas that push the rocks out toward the waterline. I did see five terns though. And several ringbilled gulls. The laughing gulls are starting to grow their black head-feathers back in. Spring is on its way. Yeah, it arrives pretty early in Galveston.

Two more pictures. I took a picture through the window of Dolly the granddog sunbathing. She knows a thing or two about relaxing and enjoying the sun, doesn't she. The items of clothing scattered around her are an old pirate costume of her boy's. She's been abusing those pirate pants (the red-and-black striped thing) for months, and they just recently got their first holes in them. Small holes. We play tug-o-war regularly with those pants. Still haven't split a seam. That polyester knit stuff is TOUGH. The shirt (black and white thing) hasn't held up quite as well. The black stuff doesn't seem to be pure polyester...

And I shall leave you with the last picture. A sunrise over my neighbor's house. Only in winter do I get up early enough to catch the sunrise...

Right between the Eyes

Yep, just got smacked. Another year got me.

It has been CRAZY chez moi. A day or two after Dolly's mega-adventure, her boy came home from college evac. He'll be back in school on the local campus in the next week or so. A few days after that, he went with me to fetch the parents, since I was NOT letting them drive through Houston. We got to see my baby sister for a little visit, and some nieces and nephews, and then we were off, zipping back through the heinous Houston traffic. (I took the tollway, since I didn't want to deal with downtown traffic, even during off hours.) And the parental units finally agreed that they really didn't want to drive through Houston. The traffic was scary and the signs and exits were confusing. Given that Daddy got lost inside my house (!), I think it was the best decision. He has spatial issues and motivational issues. Mama just can't hang onto events. She couldn't remember whether she'd made arrangements to have her chairs recovered. (I went with her to do it, so I know it happened.) That sort of thing. (I figure the writing is on my wall, so I plan to enjoy my next 20 years or so...)(A LOT.)

It was good to have them down for a visit, though. The older son came in Christmas evening with his boys and we had Christmas all over again. The grandkids made out like bandits--which is as it should be. The boys had an all-night movie-watching marathon, which got postponed because the electricity went out for about 4 hours. (We had a cold supper that night.) We played our new games and laughed like loons--one of the games we got required writing down things that belonged in sets, like "Things a lady should not do" or "Things you should not say to your mother," then guessing who wrote what. We had to repeat the things numerous times because Mama had trouble remembering what they were, so we got to doing them in a sort of shorthand. And of course, we decided that "Fart" could be a "thing" on most of the lists--and of course, boys being boys, "Fart" was the answer they gave a great deal of the time. And I got my tang all toungled repeating the answers so many times, and came out with "spart and fit" instead of what it was supposed to be, and made everyone laugh so hard I thought I might fall out of my chair.

You had to be there, I guess...

The little guys had to go home Monday morning, so I took the great grandparents home Monday afternoon. We had such a good visit. And then Tuesday, after I worked really hard on the writing and got lots of good stuff done, I went to the dayjob, and fell apart. The crud hit me so fast and hard, I was falling asleep over the computer, so I took my sore throat and icky feeling home and went to bed. I'm still coughing like I could lose a lung, but the ickiness is gone. The main problem was that the ick hit the brain.

I tried to write...one other day that week. Thursday--New Year's Day, maybe. And the writing was good, but I had an inspiration during the writing for how the blackness of the moment would resolve itself...and when I finished the writing, I couldn't remember what my inspiration was to make myself a note. Usually, I can remember, or at least reconstruct, but it was just gone. So I resorted to typing in/revisions for the next several days.

Today, I let myself get back to the writing, and it's coming nicely. I like what I got today. It flows--and the braindead writing worked too, believe it or not. I have 3.5 more weeks to get this finished, typed and completely revised. Wish me luck. I'm going to make it. Without too much panicking involved...

The next book, however...

Happy New Year to all y'all.

I'll try to post again this week, maybe about goals...

Dolly's Adventures at the Beach

This is how uneventful my life is--when Dolly the granddog has better adventures than I do. Of course, I wouldn't want the adventures she had.

Last Friday, when the weather was shirtsleeve warm (today it is butt-freezing, let-Dolly-hang-out-in-the-laundry-room cold), we ventured forth for a walk on the beach in the fog. She was a very good doggy walking down the street to the light and waiting for it to change. We crossed Seawall and proceeded east to the stairs where we usually descend and walked back the other way to the jetty, which had been transformed by a huge pile of wet sand into a ramp from the street to the beach on either side of the jetty.

Huge dump trucks were driving up and down it, and down the beach to the west of the jetty--which is much narrower than the east side section because more of the beach got washed away over there. They were replenishing the beach, starting down at 61st St. Given the trucks and the narrow beach, I turned Dolly around and went back to the wider part of the beach. And, foolishly, I let her off the leash so she could run. She ran up and down the beach a while, mostly in the (cold) water, chasing birds, until she decided (apparently) that she could catch the birds that flew out to sea by running out to the end of the jetty. She ran about 3/4 of the way out, and then Jumped Off The Jetty Into The Water!

Deep water. Over her little doggy head. Where people get swept under and drowned every summer. She did not fall. She jumped. So I'm trucking fast as I can (running! Me!) to reach the jetty, even though I can't go in after her, but maybe I can reach out and grab her from the rocks or something. Meanwhile, I'm watching the little white doggy head at the top of the water. She couldn't climb back onto the rocks of the jetty--they were too steep, so she swam along the side of the rocks toward the beach, swimming, swimming--I could still see her head. And then legs! White doggy legs. She was standing up and out of the water.

So then, what did she do? Crossed the jetty where all the trucks were driving back and forth. By this time, I'm almost at the jetty, so I climb up to see over it, and I see a pair of headlights in the fog driving toward me...with a little brindle-and-white dog running as fast as she can in front of it. She hauled doggy butt back to me, and wouldn't go anywhere until I put that leash back on her. We are both agreed, no more adventures for Dolly. If she wants to run, she can go run with her boy.

We were both pretty worn out by this time, so we climbed the stairs and crossed the street and went home. Whereupon Dolly went and hid from me in the garage because the last two times we went walking at the beach and she got in the water, I was mean and awful and gave her a bath!

I gave her a bath this time too. It's not good to leave that salt in her fur. But I thought it was pretty funny, how she tried to hide from me. I think I hurt her feelings, because she wouldn't come out and play with me the rest of the day. She has now forgiven me, though, because I let her in the laundry room when it's too cold outside.

I am getting my new computer today! Yay!! And I am going grocery shopping for Christmas.

The writing is still going. I may be almost through the romantic black moment to be ready to begin to resolve it and get into the fantasy black moment and big battle and stuff. This book is the hero's story, I think, more than the heroine's....

Time--never enough of it...

Lights, tunnels and trains

One party down, two to go. Then things may actually slow down up to Christmas. Maybe. Last night was my local RWA chapter party. Good eats, good company, good fun. I even came home with a new handkerchief and a silver-plated Christmas ornament. A pretty one. We're having Christmas caroling at our house tonight. Tomorrow night is the Lion's Club party. That requires another White Elephant gift. Since it's the fella who's a Lion and not me, I have placed him in charge of the elephant.

Today, I drafted the boy (okay, I bribed him with lunch out at Shrimp n' Stuff--I had the 10-shrimp lunch special, and got Twelve shrimps!! Bonus!) to help me cart four boxes down to UPS to get Christmas presents shipped off to various Texas locations plus Pennsylvania. So that's done. The fella wrapped presents and boxed them to ship while I went to the party. He's a good guy like that. Then he cleaned up all the wrapping paper. What a guy! I did have to vacuum and clean bathrooms, but he picked everything up. We are now ready for the party tonight. I even made copies of the words to Christmas carols, so hopefully people will sing. I know at least one other person will sing, so I think we're good.

I need to call the parental units to see what their schedule is and when they might be able to visit, but other than that--and figuring out what to get the man who buys for himself everything he wants--I think we're done till the holiday arrives. The grandboys will come on Christmas day, so That's when things will get busy again. I'm at the edge of the tunnel, if not out into the sunlight...

Which brings us to the writing tunnel. I can see the light. The end is there--and I write and write, and it doesn't seem to get any closer! Days like today do not help, when I write for a couple of hours and realize that the pages don't take me where I need to go. I can use some of the stuff I wrote, but there are too many people present in the scene. I know what's wrong and how to fix that part, but I'm not sure how to set up the scene I need to write instead. Ugh. But I don't have to bake anything or clean anything or shop for anything or mail anything (hmm--may have to mail--we'll see) the rest of the week, so maybe I can figure it out and Get It Written.

I am coming up with some ideas for the next book, which is helpful, since it's due in September. But dang, I got to get this one finished! Wish me luck.

Help! It's December!!

And I haven't done any shopping! I'm not ever sure WHO I need to shop for... I need to call a sister. Or the brother. Or somebody--and figure out what we're doing. And then figure out when I can shop.

In other news, I am Closer to the End than I thought I was! I started the black moment this morning. I still have to resolve it and fight the big battle and stuff, but We Have Reached The Black Moment. YAYYYYY!! I really might actually, maybe, sorta, (crossing fingers and knocking on wood) get this book finished on time.

Of course, as I type things into the computer in my second draft, I am discovering all sorts of driveling crap I need to cut out. Some of it I'm able to cut out as I type in. Some of it is going to take printing out and laying pages out next to each other to see what I need to keep and what has to go. And it may not be as much too long as I fear...

Thanksgiving was good. We had a house full of family and friends. The boy's girlfriend's sister and roommate got to come. (The girlfriend came too.) The other boy's girlfriend got to come, but only after the grandboys had to leave. We did get them for a few days. They got to play in the COLD water at the beach. Unfortunately, their father took them to the beach in their good clothes, not remembering in time that boys + beach = Wet Boys, no matter what they're wearing or how cold it is. (The air wasn't too cold, just the water.) We ate lots of yummy food--all the dishes that have become traditional musts in our family (sweet potatoes with honey-lime glaze, turkey and cornbread dressing, green beans and carrots with bacon and garlic, buttermilk pie and cheesecake)--and lay around a lot. It was wonderful.

And now, Christmas is upon us. The boy's last final is tomorrow, and he'll be home soon, will start classes in town next spring. So he can take the granddog to the vet. Dolly the granddog has probably just strained her leg with all the running and jumping she did while the grandboys and boys and girlfriends were here, but she's still limping more than a week later, so I'd like to get her checked out just to make sure there's nothing else to worry about.

I had to go buy her a sweater/sweatshirt, because she won't come in the laundry room to get warm. She's too afraid of getting in trouble. And her fur is too short to keep her warm. The store had Harley Davidson sweaters and camo sweatshirts, but they were all too small to fit a pit-bull mix dog. The only sweatshirt they had that was big enough, the one that I got, is bright pink. She likes her sweater too. The first time I put it on her, she had that "What are you doing to me?" attitude. The third night I went out, she sat down and put her head in it herself. She'd figured out it helped keep her warm. It doesn't freeze here--or hasn't--but it gets darn cold. When I get my computer back from the shop (or get the new one), and I can download pictures again, I will post a picture. A brindle pit bull in a bright pink sweater is tres amusing.

Now, I just have to figure out what to get for the people in the family. Help! I have a book to finish and I have not shopped!