The only commercial fiction new book store on the island--Hastings--is closing!!
Oh noes!! Or, if I want to be a bit more literary, alas and alack! There is another new book store downtown, but it's an independent, and it pretty much carries only lit'rary books, or books about the island, or maybe books written by people who live on the island. It does not carry books that will feed my jones for fantasy, science fiction, mystery, or--most especially--romance.
Yes, both Target and Wal-Mart are on the island. (Yay! It's been forever since I haven't had to drive either 15, 30 or 60 miles to get to one or the other.) But their book shelves lean heavily toward best-sellers, and Target only has one shelf of mass-market paperbacks. They have another shelf-row of trade-sized books, but most of those, I'm not really interested in reading. And the Target shelf is heavy with reprints and really hard, scary thriller-type books. Those are too scary for me. (I've had to stop reading Colleen Thompson's HEAT LIGHTNING for a little while, because it's getting so scary.) Wal-Mart's book section is two to three times bigger than the Target section, but I really don't like going to the local Wal-Mart. It's nastier than most others I've been in...And they still only have one shelf-row of mass market, now that I think about it. They do have a larger selection of romances, though...
I'm not sure how I'm going to deal with this. I used to drive the 60 miles into Amarillo once a week, but I'm crossing the causeway only about once per month, these days. I may be buying more from catalogs or on line. We'll see how it works out.
Meanwhile, I guess I'd better get a Blockbuster card, or sign up for Netflix...We get all our rental movies from Hastings too...
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Monday, March 24, 2008
Beautiful Day
Actually, it was a whole beautiful weekend. Saturday was Absolutely Gorgeous, here in island-land. A cold front blew in on Sunday, but it was still really nice. Just jacket nice, instead of shirtsleeve nice.
Oh, I have to share--I went out one day last week to walk along the beach, instead of riding the bicycle. Wore the flip-flops, since it's been warming up, and did my usual "walk barefoot on the sand, put on flipflops to cross the jetties" trick. The weather was beautiful--just breezy enough to be cool and comfortable. But that water was COLD!!
And I didn't even get into the water. I just walked on the wet sand. Still cold. Cold, Cold COLD!
Interesting tidbit--I was walking along and noticed swirls and waves of what looked a little like those flat-bottomed glass beads you can get at the craft stores to glue on stuff. (They had some on the wall at Tortuga's Mexican Restaurant.) But they weren't beads. They were little bitty, thumbnail-sized jellyfish. Every so often, a big twelve-inch jellyfish would be washed up, but mostly, there were just these waves of baby ones. I was very careful not to step on even the little ones, because those jellyfish can sting like wildfire, and I didn't have my shoes on. There were so many of them, it was kind of hard not to step on them sometimes...
The boy and his girlfriend and the granddog came to visit and they actually went to the beach and got in the water. Brrrr! I have pictures. (Of Dolly the dog, not any people) I'll have to download and post them.
And we all went bike riding. The fella brought the last of the bikes down from the panhandle house, so we had a bicycle for everyone. And I made it past 61st Street before the knees gave out! That may have been partly due to the fact that the seawall sidewalk was very crowded and I kept having to slow down to get around bunches of people taking up the whole sidewalk, but I rode Past 61st Street. That's at least as far as riding past 45th Street going the other way, so I made my goal. Went out the very next day to ride again, and didn't make it that far, so I obviously have more "building up" to do on the legs, but it's a start...
The writing is chugging along. I feel like I'm not getting anywhere, but really, I am. I guess I feel that way because I keep having to go back and fill things in. What I wrote today, I'm worried I may have to take out and condense. I feel like I ought to Know what to leave out and what to put in when I write it...but I don't. I just throw it all in, and then have to slash and burn when it comes time to revise. Less planning, less clothing, more doing.
Onward and upward.
Oh, I have to share--I went out one day last week to walk along the beach, instead of riding the bicycle. Wore the flip-flops, since it's been warming up, and did my usual "walk barefoot on the sand, put on flipflops to cross the jetties" trick. The weather was beautiful--just breezy enough to be cool and comfortable. But that water was COLD!!
And I didn't even get into the water. I just walked on the wet sand. Still cold. Cold, Cold COLD!
Interesting tidbit--I was walking along and noticed swirls and waves of what looked a little like those flat-bottomed glass beads you can get at the craft stores to glue on stuff. (They had some on the wall at Tortuga's Mexican Restaurant.) But they weren't beads. They were little bitty, thumbnail-sized jellyfish. Every so often, a big twelve-inch jellyfish would be washed up, but mostly, there were just these waves of baby ones. I was very careful not to step on even the little ones, because those jellyfish can sting like wildfire, and I didn't have my shoes on. There were so many of them, it was kind of hard not to step on them sometimes...
The boy and his girlfriend and the granddog came to visit and they actually went to the beach and got in the water. Brrrr! I have pictures. (Of Dolly the dog, not any people) I'll have to download and post them.
And we all went bike riding. The fella brought the last of the bikes down from the panhandle house, so we had a bicycle for everyone. And I made it past 61st Street before the knees gave out! That may have been partly due to the fact that the seawall sidewalk was very crowded and I kept having to slow down to get around bunches of people taking up the whole sidewalk, but I rode Past 61st Street. That's at least as far as riding past 45th Street going the other way, so I made my goal. Went out the very next day to ride again, and didn't make it that far, so I obviously have more "building up" to do on the legs, but it's a start...
The writing is chugging along. I feel like I'm not getting anywhere, but really, I am. I guess I feel that way because I keep having to go back and fill things in. What I wrote today, I'm worried I may have to take out and condense. I feel like I ought to Know what to leave out and what to put in when I write it...but I don't. I just throw it all in, and then have to slash and burn when it comes time to revise. Less planning, less clothing, more doing.
Onward and upward.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
New-to-me Bird
Birdwatching stuff--skip this if you're not interested, but I just saw a pair of birds I'd never seen before.
It was apparent they were dove--dove have a pretty distinctive appearance. They were sitting in my driveway when I got off work today, and fluttered up to the neighbor's fence as I drove up. They were quite reddish-brown, but even more distinctive--the outer half of their wings were a rusty red. Even redder than their bodies. And they were small. a fair bit smaller than Mourning Dove and a whole LOT smaller than Rock Dove, AKA Pigeons. So I came inside to look them up, and found that they are Common Ground Doves. You can't see the red wings in this picture, but the color of this guy's beak--that's about how red the wings were. Ground dove mostly live in Mexico, but they come this far up into the U.S. and they don't migrate. Pretty cool, I think.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Adventures in Parent-land
I'm still tired. Went to help unpack the parents. Totally forgot sticky notes, but the sister had them at her house, so my niece made them out for the cabinets.
We worked like mules trying to get boxes unpacked and things put away, at least in the kitchen, trying to get the living room usable and the beds put together so we'd have a place to sleep. The sister and I worked. Mama was having chest pains. (She does that when she gets overworked.) The sister-in-law came over and worked too. She was the driving force to get the living room organized.
The house will be good for them, but it needs more work than I realized. For instance, the master bath was demolished for remodeling, only the remodeling never got done. So the master bath has no walls, no shower stall to go with the shower head, no floor... You get the idea. The other bath works, but it's pretty worn. Then they had sewer trouble the day after I left to go home. And I'm worried about them being able to coordinate things and remembering to get it done. It really needs to be done as soon as possible.
My brother-in-law is disabled, so he's home most of the time, and if the pain's not too bad, he can make phone calls and help them out some. He was there organizing--we had to watch him like a hawk to make sure he didn't try to move anything, though.
Downsizing will be a struggle for them--and we'll be working on some downsizing too, I think, in the next few weeks.
Finished my character interviews this morning, so I'll probably get back into the writing (I hope) tomorrow. This is for Old Spirits. Got to get rolling on that.
Weather's kind of iffy to go out to the seawall today--lots of wind, clouds. Maybe even rain--can't tell through the windows at the newsroom. Maybe just fog or mist. We'll see how it is thirty minutes from now. I do think it's far enough into spring that it's safe to put all the houseplants outside if I put them under the covered porch where the wind can't get them. I just hope the salt fog can't get to them either. It gets to the cars every so often...
Oh! The house has azaleas outside the breakfast room window. I've always loved azaleas, but have never lived anywhere they would grow. I'm going to find my clippers and go out and cut some. Maybe a rose, too, if one of them looks good.
We worked like mules trying to get boxes unpacked and things put away, at least in the kitchen, trying to get the living room usable and the beds put together so we'd have a place to sleep. The sister and I worked. Mama was having chest pains. (She does that when she gets overworked.) The sister-in-law came over and worked too. She was the driving force to get the living room organized.
The house will be good for them, but it needs more work than I realized. For instance, the master bath was demolished for remodeling, only the remodeling never got done. So the master bath has no walls, no shower stall to go with the shower head, no floor... You get the idea. The other bath works, but it's pretty worn. Then they had sewer trouble the day after I left to go home. And I'm worried about them being able to coordinate things and remembering to get it done. It really needs to be done as soon as possible.
My brother-in-law is disabled, so he's home most of the time, and if the pain's not too bad, he can make phone calls and help them out some. He was there organizing--we had to watch him like a hawk to make sure he didn't try to move anything, though.
Downsizing will be a struggle for them--and we'll be working on some downsizing too, I think, in the next few weeks.
Finished my character interviews this morning, so I'll probably get back into the writing (I hope) tomorrow. This is for Old Spirits. Got to get rolling on that.
Weather's kind of iffy to go out to the seawall today--lots of wind, clouds. Maybe even rain--can't tell through the windows at the newsroom. Maybe just fog or mist. We'll see how it is thirty minutes from now. I do think it's far enough into spring that it's safe to put all the houseplants outside if I put them under the covered porch where the wind can't get them. I just hope the salt fog can't get to them either. It gets to the cars every so often...
Oh! The house has azaleas outside the breakfast room window. I've always loved azaleas, but have never lived anywhere they would grow. I'm going to find my clippers and go out and cut some. Maybe a rose, too, if one of them looks good.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Stuff
My life is full of stuff. Stuff I have to do. Stuff I want to do. Stuff I want to read. Stuff I have to do something with. Stuff I have to clean or put away or fold up or...something.
I really need to start writing Old Spirits, but I have too much stuff to do. Tomorrow, I'm leaving to go meet the parents at their new house and help them get unpacked and organized. I need to remember to take lots of Post-it Notes to label their kitchen cabinets and drawers, so they can remember where they've put things. A large part of this move is because both of them are starting to have trouble with their rememberers. They did pretty good while it was just Mama forgetting stuff, but now Daddy's started having trouble, so we're happy they can move so close to one of us children. But I really need to be there to help with the unpacking.
However, going to help them means I don't have to go to the panhandle for most of the week. It's either a really long 12-hour drive back to our old house, or a two-day trip, and since the fella has next week of for spring break, he's making the trek to turn the water on and get stuff ready to move the rest of our furniture to the coast. More stuff. And way too much moving. But we're tired of camping out. I want my dresser. And my own bed. (We bought a new queen-size, which will move into the guest room, but I miss my king-size...)
Anyway, there's a lot of traveling and a lot of moving in my future. I have confirmed that I'm going to ApolloCon, the SF/Fantasy con in Houston, in June. I will probably go to RWA National in San Francisco at the end of July (need to find a roomie). I'm still debating whether I want to go to ArmadilloCon in Austin in August. There's a FenCon in Dallas in September, but I have to see if the dates conflict with a potential trip to New York the fella's invited me on.
There is the possibility that Tor will have galleys/ARCs of New Blood for me to sign at the Tor booksigning in San Francisco. I'll let you know if that pans out.
I did get all my RITA books read and judged. An interesting experience, to say the least. I read a lot of books outside my usual reading comfort level--and liked them.
Next week. The writing will begin, next week. Definitely. The fella's out of town. I've caught up on all the stuff. (I think.) I can write.
I really need to start writing Old Spirits, but I have too much stuff to do. Tomorrow, I'm leaving to go meet the parents at their new house and help them get unpacked and organized. I need to remember to take lots of Post-it Notes to label their kitchen cabinets and drawers, so they can remember where they've put things. A large part of this move is because both of them are starting to have trouble with their rememberers. They did pretty good while it was just Mama forgetting stuff, but now Daddy's started having trouble, so we're happy they can move so close to one of us children. But I really need to be there to help with the unpacking.
However, going to help them means I don't have to go to the panhandle for most of the week. It's either a really long 12-hour drive back to our old house, or a two-day trip, and since the fella has next week of for spring break, he's making the trek to turn the water on and get stuff ready to move the rest of our furniture to the coast. More stuff. And way too much moving. But we're tired of camping out. I want my dresser. And my own bed. (We bought a new queen-size, which will move into the guest room, but I miss my king-size...)
Anyway, there's a lot of traveling and a lot of moving in my future. I have confirmed that I'm going to ApolloCon, the SF/Fantasy con in Houston, in June. I will probably go to RWA National in San Francisco at the end of July (need to find a roomie). I'm still debating whether I want to go to ArmadilloCon in Austin in August. There's a FenCon in Dallas in September, but I have to see if the dates conflict with a potential trip to New York the fella's invited me on.
There is the possibility that Tor will have galleys/ARCs of New Blood for me to sign at the Tor booksigning in San Francisco. I'll let you know if that pans out.
I did get all my RITA books read and judged. An interesting experience, to say the least. I read a lot of books outside my usual reading comfort level--and liked them.
Next week. The writing will begin, next week. Definitely. The fella's out of town. I've caught up on all the stuff. (I think.) I can write.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Geeky Fan Girls
There is no age limit. On either end.
Hello, my name is Gail and I'm a geeky fan girl. Woman. Whatever.
So, yeah, I didn't make it by last week. I tell ya, this dayjob is really eating into my time. Along with everything else in my life.
I did get 14 pages of Thunder in a Cloudless Sky written, enough to earn my charm this month. I think I've made it to the halfway point. This book may turn out to be 8oo pages. (sigh)
And I went to Austin over the weekend to try to help my parents get ready to move. They're leaving the big city Austin traffic for a little house behind my sister's in a little town about an hour away. I spent most of my time going through decades of pictures and sorting them into piles according to which sibling had the most kids in the picture. Then we bought photo boxes and put them in with divider cards, etc. Not hard work, in the least, though I did help carry a dining table down the steep driveway to a trailer. (That driveway is another reason for them to move--it's hard to climb up and down that thing!)
It just so happened that this weekend in Austin was the opening weekend of the South by Southwest film festival. SXSW is more famous for the music festival part of it, but the film festival is becoming more important. I think "Knocked Up" had one of its early screenings there last year--maybe its premiere. And this Saturday night, the midnight movie was the world premiere of a film with a villain played by an actor whose career I've been following for a lot of years. And since I was there...
So I trekked downtown to see if I could get in to see the movie. And maybe, just in case, some of the people who worked on the film might possibly, maybe show up. Hadn't seen anything anywhere saying that anybody would, or even might, but what the heck. I was there...
Met up with a friend who's also a fan. Hung out on Sixth Street, listening to music and watching all the wannabes and gonnabes and already-ares mingling. And the guy showed up. And I got to chat with him a bit. And take a picture of us together, just to prove that, yes, I met Tony Curran. I don't care that you don't know who he is. I do. And I was such a totally geeky fan girl, I forgot 3/4 of the things I wanted to ask him. But I was there.
Try to guess what movies he's been in before you go off to look him up on the Internet Movie Database...
I didn't get in to see the movie. They let in people with badges before they let in the peons who only want to see one thing, and there were too many with badges who wanted to see it. At one point, someone came out asking whether there was any more press, and I almost claimed to be a stringer for the paper I work for... And I found out today that I should have, and that the paper would probably have published any story I wrote about it.
I have to go back this weekend to meet the folks at the house they're moving to, so I can help them unpack and get organized. The movie is playing again this coming Saturday night. I could go again, and get in to see it this time, and write an article next week... I'll let you know what happens. I may be too tired. I may go back home to my island.
I saw bluebonnets today, blooming on the island! Spring Is Officially Here. YAYYYYY!!!
Hello, my name is Gail and I'm a geeky fan girl. Woman. Whatever.
So, yeah, I didn't make it by last week. I tell ya, this dayjob is really eating into my time. Along with everything else in my life.
I did get 14 pages of Thunder in a Cloudless Sky written, enough to earn my charm this month. I think I've made it to the halfway point. This book may turn out to be 8oo pages. (sigh)
And I went to Austin over the weekend to try to help my parents get ready to move. They're leaving the big city Austin traffic for a little house behind my sister's in a little town about an hour away. I spent most of my time going through decades of pictures and sorting them into piles according to which sibling had the most kids in the picture. Then we bought photo boxes and put them in with divider cards, etc. Not hard work, in the least, though I did help carry a dining table down the steep driveway to a trailer. (That driveway is another reason for them to move--it's hard to climb up and down that thing!)
It just so happened that this weekend in Austin was the opening weekend of the South by Southwest film festival. SXSW is more famous for the music festival part of it, but the film festival is becoming more important. I think "Knocked Up" had one of its early screenings there last year--maybe its premiere. And this Saturday night, the midnight movie was the world premiere of a film with a villain played by an actor whose career I've been following for a lot of years. And since I was there...
So I trekked downtown to see if I could get in to see the movie. And maybe, just in case, some of the people who worked on the film might possibly, maybe show up. Hadn't seen anything anywhere saying that anybody would, or even might, but what the heck. I was there...Met up with a friend who's also a fan. Hung out on Sixth Street, listening to music and watching all the wannabes and gonnabes and already-ares mingling. And the guy showed up. And I got to chat with him a bit. And take a picture of us together, just to prove that, yes, I met Tony Curran. I don't care that you don't know who he is. I do. And I was such a totally geeky fan girl, I forgot 3/4 of the things I wanted to ask him. But I was there.
Try to guess what movies he's been in before you go off to look him up on the Internet Movie Database...
I didn't get in to see the movie. They let in people with badges before they let in the peons who only want to see one thing, and there were too many with badges who wanted to see it. At one point, someone came out asking whether there was any more press, and I almost claimed to be a stringer for the paper I work for... And I found out today that I should have, and that the paper would probably have published any story I wrote about it.
I have to go back this weekend to meet the folks at the house they're moving to, so I can help them unpack and get organized. The movie is playing again this coming Saturday night. I could go again, and get in to see it this time, and write an article next week... I'll let you know what happens. I may be too tired. I may go back home to my island.
I saw bluebonnets today, blooming on the island! Spring Is Officially Here. YAYYYYY!!!
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
BIG NEWS!!!
Nothing has been signed yet, but I think it's safe to share my Big News.
Tor Books has made an offer to buy New Blood and the next two books in that universe. I don't know if they will keep my titles--though I really like New Blood and Old Spirits. I do know that as of right now, they want to bring New Blood out in March 2009. That's right at one year from now.
Then Old Spirits will come out in February 2010, and the third book, which is still nameless, in September 2010. This means I'd better get busy writing Old Spirits pretty quick, because I'd like to turn it in enough ahead of time that I have more than seven or eight months to write that third story. The deadlines will be Feb. '09 and Sept. '09, which makes that last one a little tight. If I didn't write so dang long, this wouldn't be an issue, but... I guess I'd better learn to thin things out a little better.
Needless to say, I am VERY excited. Tor has been one of my dream publishers, because of all the wonderful fantasy novels and fantasy romances they publish. I really like what they do, and I'm thrilled to be in their ranks.
So, there it is. New books from me will be coming. Eventually. :)
Tor Books has made an offer to buy New Blood and the next two books in that universe. I don't know if they will keep my titles--though I really like New Blood and Old Spirits. I do know that as of right now, they want to bring New Blood out in March 2009. That's right at one year from now.
Then Old Spirits will come out in February 2010, and the third book, which is still nameless, in September 2010. This means I'd better get busy writing Old Spirits pretty quick, because I'd like to turn it in enough ahead of time that I have more than seven or eight months to write that third story. The deadlines will be Feb. '09 and Sept. '09, which makes that last one a little tight. If I didn't write so dang long, this wouldn't be an issue, but... I guess I'd better learn to thin things out a little better.
Needless to say, I am VERY excited. Tor has been one of my dream publishers, because of all the wonderful fantasy novels and fantasy romances they publish. I really like what they do, and I'm thrilled to be in their ranks.
So, there it is. New books from me will be coming. Eventually. :)
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
New Toys!!
We got new bikes!
Yep, the fella and me went out last Saturday, and got ourselves brand new, matching, red Schwinn bicycles. The old-fashioned coaster-brake, upright-handlebars, balloon-tire, wide-load-seat kind for riding up and down the seawall. Or wherever.
I think it was a Christmas present. When one gets cash money, sometimes one has to think a while before deciding what to spend it on. Bicycles make good Christmas presents. On the other hand, they could be Valentine's Day presents. Or even anniversary presents, since that's coming up in another month or two. Or maybe they were "just because" presents.
The deal the fella made with me was that "if you get a bicycle, you have to ride it." See, I had a bicycle I never rode. It had a teensy little hard seat that hurt to sit on, and racing-type handlebars that I didn't like leaning over to hold onto. I just didn't like riding that bike. So I didn't. But this one, I already have, and enjoyed it a lot.
Sunday, we went out and rode along the seawall. The weather was gorgeous, people were out everywhere and it was a really nice ride--except I was a nervous wreck for dodging all the strollers-along-the-seawall. Next time we ride that direction, we're going early in the a.m., when there will hopefully not be so much pedestrian traffic. Or else we're not riding on the sidewalk.
I went out again Monday, and my legs are wet noodles. The knees are a little sore too, so I'm going to take today off to let them recover a little. Then back out again on Wednesday. Maybe later in the day, so I'm not so worthless...
I will try to remember to take a picture of me and my bike (which may be named Ladybird... It reminds me a lot of the first bicycle I had, which was a fabulous, well-loved bike, and was named Speedy Gonzales. We will see what name this bicycle answers to.) and post it here for y'all to share.
Until then, me and my noodle-legs will toddle back off to work.
Yep, the fella and me went out last Saturday, and got ourselves brand new, matching, red Schwinn bicycles. The old-fashioned coaster-brake, upright-handlebars, balloon-tire, wide-load-seat kind for riding up and down the seawall. Or wherever.
I think it was a Christmas present. When one gets cash money, sometimes one has to think a while before deciding what to spend it on. Bicycles make good Christmas presents. On the other hand, they could be Valentine's Day presents. Or even anniversary presents, since that's coming up in another month or two. Or maybe they were "just because" presents.
The deal the fella made with me was that "if you get a bicycle, you have to ride it." See, I had a bicycle I never rode. It had a teensy little hard seat that hurt to sit on, and racing-type handlebars that I didn't like leaning over to hold onto. I just didn't like riding that bike. So I didn't. But this one, I already have, and enjoyed it a lot.
Sunday, we went out and rode along the seawall. The weather was gorgeous, people were out everywhere and it was a really nice ride--except I was a nervous wreck for dodging all the strollers-along-the-seawall. Next time we ride that direction, we're going early in the a.m., when there will hopefully not be so much pedestrian traffic. Or else we're not riding on the sidewalk.
I went out again Monday, and my legs are wet noodles. The knees are a little sore too, so I'm going to take today off to let them recover a little. Then back out again on Wednesday. Maybe later in the day, so I'm not so worthless...
I will try to remember to take a picture of me and my bike (which may be named Ladybird... It reminds me a lot of the first bicycle I had, which was a fabulous, well-loved bike, and was named Speedy Gonzales. We will see what name this bicycle answers to.) and post it here for y'all to share.
Until then, me and my noodle-legs will toddle back off to work.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Thinking about titles
Comment from AG:
Yeah. Which gives it a fantasy sound--and then you read it and there's a twist... Maybe.
The first book is blood magic, hence NEW BLOOD, because 1. there's a new sorceress, so she's "new blood" in the magicians council, and 2. blood magic has been essentially lost for 300 years, so it's new. I like that title. (Dunno if it will fly with editors.)
The second book, I want to call OLD SPIRITS, because the hero is a conjurer, so it looks at a different type of magic used in this universe (though in terms of how it mixes with blood magic). And the older a spirit the conjurer can conjure, the more powerful it is and the more magic can be worked. So I think OLD SPIRITS works for that one.
The third book, will have an alchemist, who works magic with physical elements and forces (water, metal, earth, electricity, etc.), and a wizard, who works herbal magic. I have NO clue what to call that one, which is why I thought COLD IRON might work, because there IS magic worked with iron. But there are no faeries.
Fantasy/paranormal books with "blood" in the title generally are assumed to be vampire books. This one isn't. Not a vampire in sight. So, in that way, the cold iron reference would be a similar twist. The titles I came up with that had something referring to the wizardry sounded squishy. Iron Flowers? Deep Earth? Rooted Deep? The adjective-noun pattern doesn't necessarily have to be followed, but it would be nice if I could...
Sometimes the titles just come (like SPIRITS--Floated up with the opening line and scene...). Sometimes I have to wrestle with them. A lot.
Mini beach report: The seagulls are growing in the black feathers on their heads. No more smudgy-white headed seagulls. They're going back to black. Mating season is at hand.
COLD IRON makes me think about faeries. cold iron is supposed to be one of the things that can really really hurt them, I guess kinda like vampires and garlic, only it hurts the good guys instead of keeping the bad guys away.
It's only really in that context that I've seen "cold iron" instead of just "iron."
Yeah. Which gives it a fantasy sound--and then you read it and there's a twist... Maybe.
The first book is blood magic, hence NEW BLOOD, because 1. there's a new sorceress, so she's "new blood" in the magicians council, and 2. blood magic has been essentially lost for 300 years, so it's new. I like that title. (Dunno if it will fly with editors.)
The second book, I want to call OLD SPIRITS, because the hero is a conjurer, so it looks at a different type of magic used in this universe (though in terms of how it mixes with blood magic). And the older a spirit the conjurer can conjure, the more powerful it is and the more magic can be worked. So I think OLD SPIRITS works for that one.
The third book, will have an alchemist, who works magic with physical elements and forces (water, metal, earth, electricity, etc.), and a wizard, who works herbal magic. I have NO clue what to call that one, which is why I thought COLD IRON might work, because there IS magic worked with iron. But there are no faeries.
Fantasy/paranormal books with "blood" in the title generally are assumed to be vampire books. This one isn't. Not a vampire in sight. So, in that way, the cold iron reference would be a similar twist. The titles I came up with that had something referring to the wizardry sounded squishy. Iron Flowers? Deep Earth? Rooted Deep? The adjective-noun pattern doesn't necessarily have to be followed, but it would be nice if I could...
Sometimes the titles just come (like SPIRITS--Floated up with the opening line and scene...). Sometimes I have to wrestle with them. A lot.
Mini beach report: The seagulls are growing in the black feathers on their heads. No more smudgy-white headed seagulls. They're going back to black. Mating season is at hand.
Valentine's Day
Since I spent Valentine's Day whining about the crud, I thought I would mention that despite both of us being cruddy, we did do a bit of Valentine-y stuff. I got a couple of roses--kinda bedraggled, but roses nonetheless. (One of them has recovered after being put in water, the other I think is a bit beyond hope.) And I got a chocolate-caramel heart and a little heart-box of chocolates. I gave the fella a card. (He doesn't do chocolate--though I did get him a rubber tree one year that he really seemed to like.)
So there you have it. Valentine's Day 2008 at my house.
I've been a total slug about writing this a.m., so-- Yeah.
So there you have it. Valentine's Day 2008 at my house.
I've been a total slug about writing this a.m., so-- Yeah.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
The Spring Crud
Friends all over the states are coming down with the crud. (Crud sounds like a much more realistic name than something mellifluous-ish like flu...) And yes, I've got it too. I came down with a cold just before I started the new job, which turned into bronchitis (colds/flu almost always does with me). I was pretty much over it by the official first day. Then I went to Waco to visit friends and talk writing--and some kind of pollen or something blew in. My friend had an asthma attack, and my allergies flared up. And since I was barely over the bronchitis, it instantly turned back into the same crud.
I've been to the doctor, have new different meds, but dang, I think I may cough up a lung here. My stomach muscles are getting sore. I pretty much always have a deep cough, and it sounds Terrible. The girl at the next desk in the newsroom is a bit of a hypochondriac and my cough has made her nervous all week, because she's getting married this weekend. I'm told I'm not contagious, though.
So, yeah. Pretty much I'm whining online. Poor pitiful me. Even stayed home from music practice tonight because I can't take a deep breath without coughing.
Oh, and the fella came home from his trip to D.C. with the crud. He's going to the doctor in the a.m. Last night, we had chicken and rice--with Ginormous chicken breasts--too big to eat in one sitting. So for the leftovers, we each got individual zipper bags for our piece of chicken and I wrote our names in Sharpie on the outside so we don't exchange germs. Of course, we sleep in the same bed, so I don't know how much good it will do, but...we're trying. He actually tried to accuse me of giving him my crud over the phone. He's been out of town over a week, so we haven't seen each other to share germs, but you know guys. If they can possibly blame somebody else, they're going to try. :)
Oh well. It really is getting better. I just wish it would get better faster. I'm pretty sure you can't build up your abs by coughing.
Hope y'all have had a great Valentine's Day. Except for the coughing, mine's been pretty good. But I'll tell y'all about that later.
What do you think about COLD IRON as a book title?
I've been to the doctor, have new different meds, but dang, I think I may cough up a lung here. My stomach muscles are getting sore. I pretty much always have a deep cough, and it sounds Terrible. The girl at the next desk in the newsroom is a bit of a hypochondriac and my cough has made her nervous all week, because she's getting married this weekend. I'm told I'm not contagious, though.
So, yeah. Pretty much I'm whining online. Poor pitiful me. Even stayed home from music practice tonight because I can't take a deep breath without coughing.
Oh, and the fella came home from his trip to D.C. with the crud. He's going to the doctor in the a.m. Last night, we had chicken and rice--with Ginormous chicken breasts--too big to eat in one sitting. So for the leftovers, we each got individual zipper bags for our piece of chicken and I wrote our names in Sharpie on the outside so we don't exchange germs. Of course, we sleep in the same bed, so I don't know how much good it will do, but...we're trying. He actually tried to accuse me of giving him my crud over the phone. He's been out of town over a week, so we haven't seen each other to share germs, but you know guys. If they can possibly blame somebody else, they're going to try. :)
Oh well. It really is getting better. I just wish it would get better faster. I'm pretty sure you can't build up your abs by coughing.
Hope y'all have had a great Valentine's Day. Except for the coughing, mine's been pretty good. But I'll tell y'all about that later.
What do you think about COLD IRON as a book title?
Friday, February 08, 2008
Living in the Future
Working at the newspaper has had all sorts of weird affects on me. I'm having a WHOLE lot of trouble keeping track of the date. You'd think it wouldn't be difficult, since newspapers are all about dates. Thing is, at the newspaper, it's all about TOMORROW'S date. See, all the stuff that's going in tomorrow's paper has to say "Today," which means that today is tomorrow...or something like that. I'm a bit confused. On my desk is a sheet of paper that says TODAY IS Saturday, Feb. 9, but I know darn good and well that it's Friday, so... well, let's just say that I'm having trouble remembering what day it is, and leave it at that. It's sort of like living in the future.
I have also found myself suddenly very aware/picky about commas and capitalization and word choice. Organizations never "hold" events. They "have" an event or the event will take place. You hold hands, not meetings.
Words are tricky things. Especially English words. So many of our words sound alike. Here and hear, led and lead (the metal). Their, they're and there. And a lot of times, we spell what we hear, knowing better, but the fingers somehow move faster than the brain. I judged a contest entry (or maybe it was a critique I was doing--don't remember off hand) where the author wrote "make due" instead of "make do."
I am terrible about writing ALL OVER the contest entries I judge. (I use black or blue ink pens, so it doesn't look bloody.) I write a lot, because I want to explain why I'm marking what I'm marking. I give the rules for dashes and ellipses. Sometimes, when I want to know more of what's going on inside a character's head, I'll ask a series of questions. What does he think about what she just did? Is he mad? Curious? Relieved? Why? Why not? So most of it's not "You did this wrong and you're a terrible writer." None of it is meant that way, but hopefully, it doesn't come across like that, unintentionally.
When the dialogue doesn't seem to be leading anywhere, I'll say so, or say something like "This is an awful lot of chit-chat, you might want to focus on your purpose here." But I'm afraid I do tend to get a little impatient when I bump up against chit-chat again and again. Or when the dialogue sounds stilted and unrealistic. Or when I get POV whiplash. And I'm not even a POV purist. I think people ought to be able to change POV in the middle of a scene if they want to, as long as the change is clear. And as long as the switches don't happen every other paragraph. That can give a reader whiplash.
Ah well. I could write more, but I'm out of time, so...
I have also found myself suddenly very aware/picky about commas and capitalization and word choice. Organizations never "hold" events. They "have" an event or the event will take place. You hold hands, not meetings.
Words are tricky things. Especially English words. So many of our words sound alike. Here and hear, led and lead (the metal). Their, they're and there. And a lot of times, we spell what we hear, knowing better, but the fingers somehow move faster than the brain. I judged a contest entry (or maybe it was a critique I was doing--don't remember off hand) where the author wrote "make due" instead of "make do."
I am terrible about writing ALL OVER the contest entries I judge. (I use black or blue ink pens, so it doesn't look bloody.) I write a lot, because I want to explain why I'm marking what I'm marking. I give the rules for dashes and ellipses. Sometimes, when I want to know more of what's going on inside a character's head, I'll ask a series of questions. What does he think about what she just did? Is he mad? Curious? Relieved? Why? Why not? So most of it's not "You did this wrong and you're a terrible writer." None of it is meant that way, but hopefully, it doesn't come across like that, unintentionally.
When the dialogue doesn't seem to be leading anywhere, I'll say so, or say something like "This is an awful lot of chit-chat, you might want to focus on your purpose here." But I'm afraid I do tend to get a little impatient when I bump up against chit-chat again and again. Or when the dialogue sounds stilted and unrealistic. Or when I get POV whiplash. And I'm not even a POV purist. I think people ought to be able to change POV in the middle of a scene if they want to, as long as the change is clear. And as long as the switches don't happen every other paragraph. That can give a reader whiplash.
Ah well. I could write more, but I'm out of time, so...
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Picture for fun
Got into a discussion of whether men without hairy chests really existed. And since I married into a family full of them, in which the hairy-chested sons are exceptions, I thought I'd share with friends a picture of one of the sons and one of the hair-free cousins. It's a few years old, but the chest hair hasn't changed.
(Since hair atop heads is also pretty rare with our crew, these two now shave their heads...)
And yeah, I'll post something else later.
Monday, February 04, 2008
Settling In, Not Down
I don't think my life will EVER settle down. But I'm trying to settle in to things.
Our mattress is still on the floor, and probably will be for a week--unless the fella decides to put it on the box springs and frame on the one day he'll be at home this week. I opened 6 boxes this morning, hunting the dryer fabric softener sheets so I wouldn't have my underwear stuck to my socks. The cable guys came to put in my internet cable (YAY!) but basically re-wired the whole house, and they were here till about 12:50--and the new job starts at 1 p.m. I barely made it.
I typed in about 15 cutlines for "Look what I did" photos--they go in the Applause section, and mostly people mail them in. It was tough remembering all the little codes they want for the titles and this little thing and that, so I kept having to go back and put them in, but it worked. I got them all in. Hopefully, I'll get the hang of things and be able to catch up on stuff. Still don't really know how the phones work there, but I doubt I'll be using them much. And tomorrow, maybe I'll get to be myself. ;) I'm still the girl I'm taking over for, because the computer guy has a new grandbaby. I'll forgive him today, because I know those grandbabies are IMPORTANT!
So. I guess I'd better go finish my judging for this contest. I'm Late! I hate being late. I even worked on these while I was at Mom's. I got them really late, because somehow, my new addy didn't get in the system, and the entries went all the way to West Texas, then all the way back to the coast. LOoooooong Way.
Oh yeah. This was the last weekend of Mardi Gras. The island celebrates--and has for at least 80 years--though since it's a smaller place than New Orleans, it doesn't get quite as wild. But, after we made the son come down from college to help us move (he brought his girlfriend, too, who was great help!), we took them downtown to watch the big evening parade and have dinner. The place we went to eat wasn't crowded, (probably because we got tired of waiting for the parade to show up and went on to eat, and everybody else was out in the street begging for beads from the balconies and getting drunk) and was very good. And we caught a good bit of the parade. And beads. I caught a few strands, anyway. This was the Knights of Momus Krewe parade, and we were standing under the Knights of Momus party balcony, so the people on the floats were all focused on throwing beads to their friends on the balcony above us. But I had some very cool dolphin beads, and caught some other neat strands. I had a hurricane. I ate fish. It was a good day all round.
Keep your fingers crossed. There is interest in New Blood. And maybe Old Spirits too. And...whatever the third book in the story might be called... Deep Earth? The third book will be about alchemy and wizardry--non-living magic (water, rock, electricity, etc.), and living, non-human magic (plants & animals). It will have two magics in it. Flowering Earth? Suggestions are welcomed. :)
Our mattress is still on the floor, and probably will be for a week--unless the fella decides to put it on the box springs and frame on the one day he'll be at home this week. I opened 6 boxes this morning, hunting the dryer fabric softener sheets so I wouldn't have my underwear stuck to my socks. The cable guys came to put in my internet cable (YAY!) but basically re-wired the whole house, and they were here till about 12:50--and the new job starts at 1 p.m. I barely made it.
I typed in about 15 cutlines for "Look what I did" photos--they go in the Applause section, and mostly people mail them in. It was tough remembering all the little codes they want for the titles and this little thing and that, so I kept having to go back and put them in, but it worked. I got them all in. Hopefully, I'll get the hang of things and be able to catch up on stuff. Still don't really know how the phones work there, but I doubt I'll be using them much. And tomorrow, maybe I'll get to be myself. ;) I'm still the girl I'm taking over for, because the computer guy has a new grandbaby. I'll forgive him today, because I know those grandbabies are IMPORTANT!
So. I guess I'd better go finish my judging for this contest. I'm Late! I hate being late. I even worked on these while I was at Mom's. I got them really late, because somehow, my new addy didn't get in the system, and the entries went all the way to West Texas, then all the way back to the coast. LOoooooong Way.
Oh yeah. This was the last weekend of Mardi Gras. The island celebrates--and has for at least 80 years--though since it's a smaller place than New Orleans, it doesn't get quite as wild. But, after we made the son come down from college to help us move (he brought his girlfriend, too, who was great help!), we took them downtown to watch the big evening parade and have dinner. The place we went to eat wasn't crowded, (probably because we got tired of waiting for the parade to show up and went on to eat, and everybody else was out in the street begging for beads from the balconies and getting drunk) and was very good. And we caught a good bit of the parade. And beads. I caught a few strands, anyway. This was the Knights of Momus Krewe parade, and we were standing under the Knights of Momus party balcony, so the people on the floats were all focused on throwing beads to their friends on the balcony above us. But I had some very cool dolphin beads, and caught some other neat strands. I had a hurricane. I ate fish. It was a good day all round.
Keep your fingers crossed. There is interest in New Blood. And maybe Old Spirits too. And...whatever the third book in the story might be called... Deep Earth? The third book will be about alchemy and wizardry--non-living magic (water, rock, electricity, etc.), and living, non-human magic (plants & animals). It will have two magics in it. Flowering Earth? Suggestions are welcomed. :)
Friday, February 01, 2008
Quick, Quick Post
'Cause we're moving. Faster than we might have thought. They turned the water off before we thought they were. Like, already. It was supposed to be just a switchover, from us paying the water to the rental company paying it, but they turned it off. So I guess we're moving a bed, and dirty dishes (because I was waiting till after lunch to wash them), and staying there tonight till we can move the rest of the stuff.
Went in to train at the new job yesterday. I think I'm really going to enjoy it, though there's a lot of technical tricks and style things I'm going to have to learn. Probably need an AP style guide for a few days. Anyway--more later, after we get the internet cable hooked up on Monday.
Went in to train at the new job yesterday. I think I'm really going to enjoy it, though there's a lot of technical tricks and style things I'm going to have to learn. Probably need an AP style guide for a few days. Anyway--more later, after we get the internet cable hooked up on Monday.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Interesting New Development
I have a new dayjob.
It just sorta fell into my lap. I saw the ad and recognized that it would be perfect for me, and saved the page of the paper, but after I carried it into the office, I forgot about it for a couple of days. Until late the night before we were leaving town. So in the morning, after I finished packing, I took a few minutes and threw together something resembling a resume, slapped it in an e-mail and left town.
That afternoon, I got a call from the lady, and by the time I hung up, I was pretty sure I'd been hired, although nobody ever quite said so in those exact words. However, when I talked to her again on Friday (again on the phone), we made arrangements for me to take the required drug test (I have caught a cold, and between that and my regular meds, there's no telling how that will turn out) and to come in for training.
What will I be doing that makes this job so perfect? Basically, I will be a glorified typist. With clean-up duties. It's a part-time position at the local newspaper with the grandiose title of Editorial Assistant. (Newspapers are good at handing out grandiose titles. When I worked years ago as the only staff on a weekly paper (except for the guy who did sports), I was called "Managing Editor." But I still had to develop all the pictures I took myself--plus write all the copy and cutlines and whatever else needed writing.) I will type into the computer all the Community Bulletin Board items people turn in, so they can be laid out on the page. And whatever else needs doing.
I pretty much get to set my hours, which means I'll still be able to write in the mornings, and I won't have to stand on my feet twenty hours a week. For a gramma--er, Gigi with bad knees, that's a plus. Now maybe I can support my conference habit. :)
In other news, I have caught a cold and did not go to any Mardi Gras activities this weekend.
I am halfway through my RITA books. Four more to go--unless they send me a second panel of books, which they have done in years past. (I do volunteer for them.) I also need to judge this other contest I volunteered to help with.
And I need to send some pages to critique to my cps. We haven't critiqued any in the last few years, and I've missed it.
This means I need to get back into the writing. But I have to go cough up a lung or two first. (Hack, hack, wheeze)
It just sorta fell into my lap. I saw the ad and recognized that it would be perfect for me, and saved the page of the paper, but after I carried it into the office, I forgot about it for a couple of days. Until late the night before we were leaving town. So in the morning, after I finished packing, I took a few minutes and threw together something resembling a resume, slapped it in an e-mail and left town.
That afternoon, I got a call from the lady, and by the time I hung up, I was pretty sure I'd been hired, although nobody ever quite said so in those exact words. However, when I talked to her again on Friday (again on the phone), we made arrangements for me to take the required drug test (I have caught a cold, and between that and my regular meds, there's no telling how that will turn out) and to come in for training.
What will I be doing that makes this job so perfect? Basically, I will be a glorified typist. With clean-up duties. It's a part-time position at the local newspaper with the grandiose title of Editorial Assistant. (Newspapers are good at handing out grandiose titles. When I worked years ago as the only staff on a weekly paper (except for the guy who did sports), I was called "Managing Editor." But I still had to develop all the pictures I took myself--plus write all the copy and cutlines and whatever else needed writing.) I will type into the computer all the Community Bulletin Board items people turn in, so they can be laid out on the page. And whatever else needs doing.
I pretty much get to set my hours, which means I'll still be able to write in the mornings, and I won't have to stand on my feet twenty hours a week. For a gramma--er, Gigi with bad knees, that's a plus. Now maybe I can support my conference habit. :)
In other news, I have caught a cold and did not go to any Mardi Gras activities this weekend.
I am halfway through my RITA books. Four more to go--unless they send me a second panel of books, which they have done in years past. (I do volunteer for them.) I also need to judge this other contest I volunteered to help with.
And I need to send some pages to critique to my cps. We haven't critiqued any in the last few years, and I've missed it.
This means I need to get back into the writing. But I have to go cough up a lung or two first. (Hack, hack, wheeze)
Friday, January 25, 2008
Life, Interrupted
But then, isn't interruption life's constant?
This week has been the pits as far as getting any writing done. I think I got a page on Monday. Maybe two. It was a holiday for the fella, and he didn't stay gone as long as I thought he would. Tuesday, he had a meeting in Austin, so I went to visit the aging parents, and shopped for fabric with Mom for my costume for the Victorian Christmas festival.
Mom is getting forgetful, and kept saying things like "Oh, that will be so hot." Whereupon I had to remind her (several times) that no, the festival is at Christmas, and it won't be hot, but might be warm, which is why I picked a pattern with a jacket, so I could take the jacket off, if it was warm. We looked at a bunch of stores and a bunch of possibilities--black, seafoam green, a pinkish lavender (really nice suiting wool), and even a gorgeous satin in royal blue with embroidered silver butterflies. I figured I needed to pick the jacket fabric first, then pick the fabric(s) to make the dress to go with the jacket. And there wasn't enough of the only fabric that I really thought would go with the blue and silver to make the huge, hoop skirt. (Good grief, I'm probably going to have to make a hooped petticoat too, huh?)
So, my costume is going to be red. Not a bright red, more of a dark cranberry red. The jacket is a jacquard upholstery fabric--the kind with texture in a floral pattern. But it will work for jackets too. The skirt is a darker red, almost maroon--I kept having to explain to Mom that no, I didn't want a white or cream skirt, even though that was what the pattern showed, because this festival is outdoors, and I didn't want to be dragging a white skirt through the streets--and the bodice will be an old-fashioned pink rosebud stripe (pink stripes alternating with pink and green rosebuds on off-white), so I think it will look very mid-Victorian-ish. The construction is VERY complicated, which is why I'm starting now. I've got eleven months to finish it. I've got six weeks to cut it out, before I can go get my sewing machine. So this is my project for the year, even though I haven't finished projects from previous years. I will probably be putting in the miles and miles of hem the Friday night before the event, knowing me.
Ah well. Now I'll have to give a regular "costume report" too... (It's lined, both jacket and bodice, and interfaced, and there's supposed to be boning in the bodice, which I don't know if I will put in, but we will see...) Seriously, y'all, wish me luck.
I did actually think about the writing while I was there. The aging parents are getting ready to move--even though they haven't actually put their house on the market yet--and have been going through their books. They found a copy of my old Master's thesis on China missions, and I read through most of it, checking on my research. A couple of things I thought I remembered, but couldn't confirm, I found in there--like the city on the Yangtze usually referred to as Wuhan is actually made up of three cities on 3 sides of the river (it's very river-y right there), Wuchang, Hanyang and Hankow--I don't know how they'd be spelled in the current transliteration, though. Anyway--I could remember Hankow, but couldn't remember what the other two cities were. And they had a huge world atlas where I looked up the maps of China to check on city names and geography of my story, etc. So I did think about it. Just didn't do any. Also judged a contest.
Haven't done any writing today either. Had a dentist appointment this a.m. and now have very clean teeth, and no need to go back for more work. (YAY!!) Other things are developing--but I'll share when I know more.
Think I'm going to stay in out of the cold nasty wind and rain (mostly drizzle, but it rained hard on me when I ran into the post office) and coddle the cold I'm trying to get so I can sing Sunday a.m. Good thing I essentially sing bass. I have never (knock on wood) completely lost my voice, but it has been known to drop into the cellar. I used to scare my Girl Scouts when I got hoarse, because my voice got so deep and rough. And maybe I'll try to get a newsletter out. I've owed one to my subscribers for a while now...
This week has been the pits as far as getting any writing done. I think I got a page on Monday. Maybe two. It was a holiday for the fella, and he didn't stay gone as long as I thought he would. Tuesday, he had a meeting in Austin, so I went to visit the aging parents, and shopped for fabric with Mom for my costume for the Victorian Christmas festival.
Mom is getting forgetful, and kept saying things like "Oh, that will be so hot." Whereupon I had to remind her (several times) that no, the festival is at Christmas, and it won't be hot, but might be warm, which is why I picked a pattern with a jacket, so I could take the jacket off, if it was warm. We looked at a bunch of stores and a bunch of possibilities--black, seafoam green, a pinkish lavender (really nice suiting wool), and even a gorgeous satin in royal blue with embroidered silver butterflies. I figured I needed to pick the jacket fabric first, then pick the fabric(s) to make the dress to go with the jacket. And there wasn't enough of the only fabric that I really thought would go with the blue and silver to make the huge, hoop skirt. (Good grief, I'm probably going to have to make a hooped petticoat too, huh?)
So, my costume is going to be red. Not a bright red, more of a dark cranberry red. The jacket is a jacquard upholstery fabric--the kind with texture in a floral pattern. But it will work for jackets too. The skirt is a darker red, almost maroon--I kept having to explain to Mom that no, I didn't want a white or cream skirt, even though that was what the pattern showed, because this festival is outdoors, and I didn't want to be dragging a white skirt through the streets--and the bodice will be an old-fashioned pink rosebud stripe (pink stripes alternating with pink and green rosebuds on off-white), so I think it will look very mid-Victorian-ish. The construction is VERY complicated, which is why I'm starting now. I've got eleven months to finish it. I've got six weeks to cut it out, before I can go get my sewing machine. So this is my project for the year, even though I haven't finished projects from previous years. I will probably be putting in the miles and miles of hem the Friday night before the event, knowing me.
Ah well. Now I'll have to give a regular "costume report" too... (It's lined, both jacket and bodice, and interfaced, and there's supposed to be boning in the bodice, which I don't know if I will put in, but we will see...) Seriously, y'all, wish me luck.
I did actually think about the writing while I was there. The aging parents are getting ready to move--even though they haven't actually put their house on the market yet--and have been going through their books. They found a copy of my old Master's thesis on China missions, and I read through most of it, checking on my research. A couple of things I thought I remembered, but couldn't confirm, I found in there--like the city on the Yangtze usually referred to as Wuhan is actually made up of three cities on 3 sides of the river (it's very river-y right there), Wuchang, Hanyang and Hankow--I don't know how they'd be spelled in the current transliteration, though. Anyway--I could remember Hankow, but couldn't remember what the other two cities were. And they had a huge world atlas where I looked up the maps of China to check on city names and geography of my story, etc. So I did think about it. Just didn't do any. Also judged a contest.
Haven't done any writing today either. Had a dentist appointment this a.m. and now have very clean teeth, and no need to go back for more work. (YAY!!) Other things are developing--but I'll share when I know more.
Think I'm going to stay in out of the cold nasty wind and rain (mostly drizzle, but it rained hard on me when I ran into the post office) and coddle the cold I'm trying to get so I can sing Sunday a.m. Good thing I essentially sing bass. I have never (knock on wood) completely lost my voice, but it has been known to drop into the cellar. I used to scare my Girl Scouts when I got hoarse, because my voice got so deep and rough. And maybe I'll try to get a newsletter out. I've owed one to my subscribers for a while now...
Thursday, January 17, 2008
TIME!
As in, I need more of it! It's running away and I can't catch it!
Actually, I think it's dribbling through those cracks in the sidewalk. Or something. I'm not sure how it gets away from me. Hmm. It may soak into the white space on the pages of books...
ANYWAY. Life has absolutely NOT slowed down. Made a mad dash trip to Fort Worth last week for a nephew's Eagle Scout court of honor. It was great. Everybody in this picture, except the guy behind the guy in the red shirt, is a relative. And all the guys are Eagle Scouts.
Now see, to me, that is what constitutes an Alpha male. Eagle Scouts are quintessential alpha males. They are leaders and protectors, but they're not arrogant SOBs, because most of the time, you can't be a real SOB and get people to follow you. There's a difference between expecting and inspiring people to do what they're supposed to do and browbeating them into doing what you want or controlling their every move. Admittedly, I've met a few Eagle Scouts who tend to get a little controlling, but very, very few, especially given the number of Eagles I know. In order to become an Eagle Scout, not only do they have to earn the requisite number of merit badges (which isn't an easy thing), but they have to plan and lead others in a service project, which can range from painting fire hydrants to demo work on old, dangerous church playgrounds. They're not supposed to do the work themselves, but organize the troop and the community to do it. And believe me, teenaged boys aren't going to put themselves out for an arrogant jerk. If a guy can get past his "jerk" phase as a teenager, usually he's not going back to it later on.
Okay, there's my segue on what I think makes an alpha male and why I tend to write about good guys. I know too many of them. :)
So. I got back from the trip north and labored mightily to get back into the writing. Monday, it was a real, true struggle. I just want to get my 25 pages on Thunder written for this month, and it seemed even my own brain was conspiring to keep me from it. I wrote a grand total of 3 pages. Tuesday was better. I wrote 7. (Yay!) Then I drove across the causeway for my RWA chapter meeting. (I DO love being in a town where I can actually attend monthly meetings.)
I have to go early, because if I don't get across the causeway by 4:30 at the latest, I can't really get across till around 6:30 because of rush hour traffic. I barely made it out in time. And it was raining. But I spent my time usefully. I picked up a pattern for my costume for next December's Victorian Christmas festival. (Knowing how slow I am, yes, I have to begin now.) I bought some fabric remnants to use for "green" Christmas wrapping. I bought some books. And of course, when it was time to head to the meeting, it was still raining, and there was a wreck backing up traffic. (sigh) Anyway, it was a great meeting. Colleen Thompson gave a terrific talk on emotional impact from the very beginning. And then I went for a "nightcap" with some of the other members. I didn't get back to my island before midnight. (It is a pretty long way to where we meet...) But, since it was still raining, and a lot harder than it had been, I got wet coming in the house, and stayed up a while to finish my book and dry off.
So I was up really late, which made me next to worthless during my Wednesday writing time. (See, there was a point that tied back to my main point, which has to do with time.) I was pretty much worthless all day Wednesday. The only thing I accomplished on my daily list of things to do (very low tech, kept in a little, fat notebook) was to write four pages. At least I did get four.
So today, I had a LOT to catch up on. Updating the website. (It is updated! With new pictures!) Making a dentist appointment. (I think I have a filling coming out.) Paying RWA chapter dues. (I'm a member of 6 chapters. (Ack!) Three land-based and three online.) Buying caffeine free Dr Pepper for the inlaws visit starting tomorrow. Joining the Art League. (I haven't painted a thing in 5 months, and I miss it!) I even handwashed all the dishes, because the dishwasher still isn't repaired. Oh, and I also got 6 pages written.
I had to persist and crank and make myself not look stuff up in research books, because even on the days I got more written, I caught myself procrastinating. I would realize that I wasn't writing, I was looking at a map of the island that just happened to be sitting on the card table where I write first drafts. (We haven't moved the desk down yet.) Or pick up a research book to look up a name and catch myself reading the parts of it that I hadn't read and that didn't really apply to my book. Today, I did a little better, but it was still tough, because I finished the scene I knew about, and didn't exactly know where to go next, but I kept going anyway and made junk up. That's what writing is, right? Making junk up.
So, I have 5 more pages to write tomorrow to earn my charm. I have to write 5 more than that (10 total) to make my goals for my "procrastination" loop, and I don't know if I'll make the ten. With company coming, I won't really be able to write over the weekend, and I'm planning a trip to visit my forgetful parents next week... I don't have time for a dayjob!
Okay, so all I can do is gut it up and keep working. Think "Buy" thoughts at all those editors out there for me, okay?
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Catching up
Oh! Hey, look--I'm on somebody's "Top 20 list"! :) How verra cool!!
In other news, everybody has gone home--even the boy and the granddog. My brain is beginning to function again, and I'm trying to get back in the swing of writing and running errands.
We did So Much during the holidays. We went to the submarine and the destroyer at Seawolf park over on Pelican Island. We rode the ferry over to Bolivar and back--it was a pretty good deal--free, and it had an outside walkway upstairs that the grandboy could run track on and mostly not escape. He did look at the boats and the water now and again--lots and LOTS of boats heading into and out of the ship channel. The Bolivar ferry crosses the main strait there. We even saw a few dolphins--not that the little boy looked, but the big kids got pretty excited to see them.
We went out to the beach on one of the warmer days--which was still darn cold, especially since the wind was blowing like crazy out of the north. You can see how the sand was blowing--like snowdrifts, toward the water.
And of course, the grandboy had to run along the water's edge...and then turn and run the other way. And then run back the other way. And he kept getting deeper and deeper and deeper into the water. And BOY, was it cold. He was turning blue and red and other not-boy colors, but he LOVED the water, and did not want to get out, even though he eventually got up to his waist in that cold, cold water.
He had to be carried, kicking and screaming, out of the water. So, anyway, we had a great time. (We even took him back to the beach on another, warmer day--water was still cold, maybe colder--and he had to be carried out of the water then too.) But it was really busy, and in the middle of it all, the dishwasher gave up the ghost. It just flat DIED. And with six people still here, that meant a lot of cooking, and a lot of dishes to wash.
I think the death of the dishwasher was kind of the last straw for the fella. They are fixing it, but it's the timer that's out (the thing won't even drain), and it's taking a while for the part to come in--and the first time it came in, it didn't work. Anyway, a new rental opened up in one of the nicest parts of town for very little more money, and no stairs to climb to get in the house. So we're moving again at the end of the month. And moving all our furniture down here probably during spring break. Going to be lots of distractions in the weeks ahead, so I have to write, write, write. Or try to.
This week, I've started typing in Thunder in a Cloudless Sky, the WWII/China story, to get my head back into the story. Next week, I'll start writing on it again. I'm going to have to decide what story I want to complete this year and which partials I want to try to revise. I do want to finish a partial for the futuristic, Time Catch... I'll just have to see what happens, I guess.
Beach report: I went out to walk on the beach, but turned out it was high tide, and the tide was so high, there was no room to walk. It was almost all the way up to the seawall. So I walked along the sidewalk a ways, and when I got back to the house, my hair had been waved into ripples by the humidity. Yesterday, I had to drive back and forth down the seawall a couple of times, and there was a fog rolling in off the gulf. You could hardly see past the surf, and cars and stoplights were pretty dim, and yet the fog was really bright, because the sun was shining. And only a few blocks away, mid-island, maybe, there was no fog or mist at all. It was really kind of cool.
I'll leave you with a picture of the "pirate ship's" sails.
In other news, everybody has gone home--even the boy and the granddog. My brain is beginning to function again, and I'm trying to get back in the swing of writing and running errands.
We did So Much during the holidays. We went to the submarine and the destroyer at Seawolf park over on Pelican Island. We rode the ferry over to Bolivar and back--it was a pretty good deal--free, and it had an outside walkway upstairs that the grandboy could run track on and mostly not escape. He did look at the boats and the water now and again--lots and LOTS of boats heading into and out of the ship channel. The Bolivar ferry crosses the main strait there. We even saw a few dolphins--not that the little boy looked, but the big kids got pretty excited to see them.
We went out to the beach on one of the warmer days--which was still darn cold, especially since the wind was blowing like crazy out of the north. You can see how the sand was blowing--like snowdrifts, toward the water.And of course, the grandboy had to run along the water's edge...and then turn and run the other way. And then run back the other way. And he kept getting deeper and deeper and deeper into the water. And BOY, was it cold. He was turning blue and red and other not-boy colors, but he LOVED the water, and did not want to get out, even though he eventually got up to his waist in that cold, cold water.
He had to be carried, kicking and screaming, out of the water. So, anyway, we had a great time. (We even took him back to the beach on another, warmer day--water was still cold, maybe colder--and he had to be carried out of the water then too.) But it was really busy, and in the middle of it all, the dishwasher gave up the ghost. It just flat DIED. And with six people still here, that meant a lot of cooking, and a lot of dishes to wash.I think the death of the dishwasher was kind of the last straw for the fella. They are fixing it, but it's the timer that's out (the thing won't even drain), and it's taking a while for the part to come in--and the first time it came in, it didn't work. Anyway, a new rental opened up in one of the nicest parts of town for very little more money, and no stairs to climb to get in the house. So we're moving again at the end of the month. And moving all our furniture down here probably during spring break. Going to be lots of distractions in the weeks ahead, so I have to write, write, write. Or try to.
This week, I've started typing in Thunder in a Cloudless Sky, the WWII/China story, to get my head back into the story. Next week, I'll start writing on it again. I'm going to have to decide what story I want to complete this year and which partials I want to try to revise. I do want to finish a partial for the futuristic, Time Catch... I'll just have to see what happens, I guess.
Beach report: I went out to walk on the beach, but turned out it was high tide, and the tide was so high, there was no room to walk. It was almost all the way up to the seawall. So I walked along the sidewalk a ways, and when I got back to the house, my hair had been waved into ripples by the humidity. Yesterday, I had to drive back and forth down the seawall a couple of times, and there was a fog rolling in off the gulf. You could hardly see past the surf, and cars and stoplights were pretty dim, and yet the fog was really bright, because the sun was shining. And only a few blocks away, mid-island, maybe, there was no fog or mist at all. It was really kind of cool.I'll leave you with a picture of the "pirate ship's" sails.
Monday, December 31, 2007
2008 Looms!
So. It's New Year's Eve, 2007.
I remember when I was a little girl, looking ahead to the Year 2000, I thought--"Oh, I'll probably be dead by then."
Then I did the math. Turned out, I wouldn't even be 50 years old by then, so I probably wouldn't be dead. And boy am I glad I was right. Or wrong, whichever statement you choose to go by. I'm exceedingly glad to be here for the ringing in of 2008.
The Texas grandboys have gone home. The Pennsylvania grandboy will be leaving tomorrow. (With their respective parents.) The house will be (mostly) quiet again. I say "mostly" because our youngest child (and the granddog) are still here--but he sleeps so late, it's Mostly quiet.
The holiday was wonderful, however. Lots of cool presents. Lots of great food. Lots and lots and lots of fun. For instance, the big boys had some puppet fun with their Christmas stockings. We laughed a lot--especially when the fingers came through the holes in the crocheted stocking to make teeth.
The littlest guy fell out of the tree. The middle grandboy poured all his candy out on the floor and went swimming in it. I don't remember what the oldest one did, but I know he was cute. He read some of his books for me. He found the pictures I've been trying to paint of him and his brother--and actually recognized who they were. So, even unfinished, I guess I'm doing okay.
We went to the candlelight Christmas eve service with the whole horde, and the little boys did really good. The middle boy (the autistic one) saw all the candles and made the connection with Jesus' birthday, and started singing "Happy birthday, Jesus" (to his own tune) right at the end of the candlelighting--when it was very quiet--and so the pastor just went with it and had the congregation sing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus, while the boy's parents quietly blushed with embarrassment. Nobody else had a problem with his song, but they were embarrassed. I thought it was cute.
So now, it's the New Year. Back to real life on Wednesday. Sending the last of them home tomorrow. I'll try to get back here before then to update all the other fun stuff we've done, but for now--I have to go get ready for the black-tie party we're fixing to head off to. (Yes, FIXING--I'm a Texan. Deal with it.)
I'll show off the fancy duds and the necklace the daughter made for me as soon as I can get around to it.
I remember when I was a little girl, looking ahead to the Year 2000, I thought--"Oh, I'll probably be dead by then."
Then I did the math. Turned out, I wouldn't even be 50 years old by then, so I probably wouldn't be dead. And boy am I glad I was right. Or wrong, whichever statement you choose to go by. I'm exceedingly glad to be here for the ringing in of 2008.
The Texas grandboys have gone home. The Pennsylvania grandboy will be leaving tomorrow. (With their respective parents.) The house will be (mostly) quiet again. I say "mostly" because our youngest child (and the granddog) are still here--but he sleeps so late, it's Mostly quiet.
The holiday was wonderful, however. Lots of cool presents. Lots of great food. Lots and lots and lots of fun. For instance, the big boys had some puppet fun with their Christmas stockings. We laughed a lot--especially when the fingers came through the holes in the crocheted stocking to make teeth.The littlest guy fell out of the tree. The middle grandboy poured all his candy out on the floor and went swimming in it. I don't remember what the oldest one did, but I know he was cute. He read some of his books for me. He found the pictures I've been trying to paint of him and his brother--and actually recognized who they were. So, even unfinished, I guess I'm doing okay.
We went to the candlelight Christmas eve service with the whole horde, and the little boys did really good. The middle boy (the autistic one) saw all the candles and made the connection with Jesus' birthday, and started singing "Happy birthday, Jesus" (to his own tune) right at the end of the candlelighting--when it was very quiet--and so the pastor just went with it and had the congregation sing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus, while the boy's parents quietly blushed with embarrassment. Nobody else had a problem with his song, but they were embarrassed. I thought it was cute.
So now, it's the New Year. Back to real life on Wednesday. Sending the last of them home tomorrow. I'll try to get back here before then to update all the other fun stuff we've done, but for now--I have to go get ready for the black-tie party we're fixing to head off to. (Yes, FIXING--I'm a Texan. Deal with it.)
I'll show off the fancy duds and the necklace the daughter made for me as soon as I can get around to it.
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