I have two pairs of pants in two different sizes from a mail-order catalog waiting for me to send/take them back because neither pair fit. They were too small. I have pants in both sizes in my closet that fit nicely--one pair has no elastic in the waist, no stretch in the fabric, buttons and zips up the front, and fits very comfortably. The two pair that have to go back have both stretch and elastic, but the buttons won't fasten. They're made by different manufacturers, which is why--even though they're supposedly the same size, they're not.
I cannot be the only person who finds this a huge pain. It's not an issue just for large-size women like me. Even women who wear size 6 have problems because the Lee Jeans size 6 is not the same as the ... oh, Ann Klein size 6. (If Ann Klein makes jeans.) There needs to be some kind of standard--something with a waist/hip/length measurement maybe, like in men's pants. Women's pants would need that extra hip measurement, because there isn't a consistent waist-to-hip ratio. Some of us have larger backsides than others. But there ought to be some way to be able to order a pair of pants--or pull them off the rack/shelf in the store--and have a reasonable expectation that they will go around said backside.
I've dealt with the "high-water pants" all my life--it's incredibly hard for me to find pants that are long enough, especially since I'm not quite tall enough for the "tall sizes" but too tall for "average." I was really hoping these jeans would fit because they were a whole inch longer than the other pants in the catalog--all of which were for "average" height. But they didn't, and now they have to go back.
I do understand the vanity issue, that women like to say they wear a size 6--when they only wear a size 6 in, oh, Ralph Lauren clothes, and a size 8 or 10 in some other manufacturer's clothing. But it's still a pain. And since I was a size 12 from the time I hit my full height of 5'8" or so, I can tell you truthfully that size 12 is NOT fat--especially if you're on the tall side. (We will not discuss what size I am now--but I will never see 12 again...) All I'm asking for is a little consistency.
Why is it so impossible for the clothing industry to come up with a consistent, across-the-board sizing? Anybody out there have a clue?
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Other people's vacations
Summer is vacation season. I like my vacations. Other people's, not so much. This week, the other person at the dayjob who handles the same things I do is out. So I'm having to do her every-day things as well as my own. I have been coming in to the newspaper office in the mornings, doing the "first thing" stuff, and then writing for an hour or two before digging into the regular stuff. And I'm tired. (whine, moan, complain)
The worst part is that my sprained elbow is still very sore. My arm hurts--it has turned spectacular colors all down the underside, and my whole elbow area is green--and it never touched the ground when I fell. I caught myself on my hand, but it's the elbow that's sore. As someone put it--the bruise is "where the pain went." So, since it's sore, I'm holding myself funny, which makes my back hurt too, and my shoulder--I'm just in sorry shape all over. (whine, moan, complain)
I would just like to lie down and do nothing for about 3 days. I might get tired of it after one, but I'd like the opportunity. No laundry. No cooking. No writing. Just vegetating. Maybe a little reading. By the end of it, I might be ready to jump back into the swing of things. Poor, poor, pitiful me.
I'm cranking out one, maybe two pages a day. It's not getting me very far, but it's better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, as my mama used to say. I think I'm going to see about going down to the rec center and getting my exercise in there, instead of trying to walk outside. I keep tripping over stuff, and that's NO fun.
It's still hot. No rain. I wish we could figure out how to do this swap thing...
I'm going to stop now before I depress myself any worse. No more whining! (Today, anyway)
The worst part is that my sprained elbow is still very sore. My arm hurts--it has turned spectacular colors all down the underside, and my whole elbow area is green--and it never touched the ground when I fell. I caught myself on my hand, but it's the elbow that's sore. As someone put it--the bruise is "where the pain went." So, since it's sore, I'm holding myself funny, which makes my back hurt too, and my shoulder--I'm just in sorry shape all over. (whine, moan, complain)
I would just like to lie down and do nothing for about 3 days. I might get tired of it after one, but I'd like the opportunity. No laundry. No cooking. No writing. Just vegetating. Maybe a little reading. By the end of it, I might be ready to jump back into the swing of things. Poor, poor, pitiful me.
I'm cranking out one, maybe two pages a day. It's not getting me very far, but it's better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, as my mama used to say. I think I'm going to see about going down to the rec center and getting my exercise in there, instead of trying to walk outside. I keep tripping over stuff, and that's NO fun.
It's still hot. No rain. I wish we could figure out how to do this swap thing...
I'm going to stop now before I depress myself any worse. No more whining! (Today, anyway)
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Ouch!
Yeah. I fell again. I have GOT to quit doing this. Especially since this time, I hurt my arm. I can scarcely use it. My fingers work, and it bends and such (though it's owie), and I can even press it down on the arm rest or keyboard shelf, but the muscles are strained so I have no grip strength, and can't even exert enough pressure to fasten my seatbelt. (And when I type, after a while, it starts to ache from the muscle movement up near the elbow.) So, yeah. Need to stop this.
I've had offers to trade rain in Sweden (and maybe France) for some of our heat. I would be happy to do this--if I could just figure out how. We could really use the rain.
The city and tree experts have finally decided that very few of the 109-year-old live oaks down the median of Broadway (one of the few streets to have a historic designation) survived last fall's hurricane. They poured water to them after the salt hurricane surge went down, and waited to see if they'd put out new leaves this spring...but most of them didn't. People are all up in arms, insisting the trees are just dormant, and that they'll come back if we just wait. But if they haven't come back by now, it's pretty much "dead" certain that they won't. So now, all those trees have to come down so new trees can be planted. There are also palm trees in the medians. The palms survived the salt water, but not the oaks. I think they're planning a variety of trees to replace the dead ones, magnolias among them.
The magnolias in our yard survived the storm. They don't look real hot, but they have leaves, and they have even bloomed--even the one in the front yard where the storm surge came up to the door. The Norfolk Island pine in the back is doing just fine--though it did lose some leaves. The airplane/spider plants and ferns and sago palms and other shrubs all recovered nicely too. The only plants that died were these pink polka-dot plants that were on the front row of the flower beds--that looked kind of scraggly anyway. I really ought to replace them with something. But my elbow's too hurty today. (whine, moan, whimper, complain--yeah, I'm pathetic.)(But I can still type!)
Anyway, that's what the mention of rain makes me think of. All the trees that died partly because, after Ike, it didn't rain...
Hurricane season has arrived again. Y'all keep us in your thoughts/prayers that all the big ones go somewhere else this year...
I've had offers to trade rain in Sweden (and maybe France) for some of our heat. I would be happy to do this--if I could just figure out how. We could really use the rain.
The city and tree experts have finally decided that very few of the 109-year-old live oaks down the median of Broadway (one of the few streets to have a historic designation) survived last fall's hurricane. They poured water to them after the salt hurricane surge went down, and waited to see if they'd put out new leaves this spring...but most of them didn't. People are all up in arms, insisting the trees are just dormant, and that they'll come back if we just wait. But if they haven't come back by now, it's pretty much "dead" certain that they won't. So now, all those trees have to come down so new trees can be planted. There are also palm trees in the medians. The palms survived the salt water, but not the oaks. I think they're planning a variety of trees to replace the dead ones, magnolias among them.
The magnolias in our yard survived the storm. They don't look real hot, but they have leaves, and they have even bloomed--even the one in the front yard where the storm surge came up to the door. The Norfolk Island pine in the back is doing just fine--though it did lose some leaves. The airplane/spider plants and ferns and sago palms and other shrubs all recovered nicely too. The only plants that died were these pink polka-dot plants that were on the front row of the flower beds--that looked kind of scraggly anyway. I really ought to replace them with something. But my elbow's too hurty today. (whine, moan, whimper, complain--yeah, I'm pathetic.)(But I can still type!)
Anyway, that's what the mention of rain makes me think of. All the trees that died partly because, after Ike, it didn't rain...
Hurricane season has arrived again. Y'all keep us in your thoughts/prayers that all the big ones go somewhere else this year...
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
Hot, Hot, HOT!!
We are not talking attractiveness (for which there is no charge) or awesomeness (ditto), when we speak of hot. (We are fans of Kung Fu Panda at my house.) We are speaking of--when you walk outside the air-conditioned cool of the house or office, the heat smashes into you like a brick. A really hot brick. Yeah, it got hot this week.
I am not surprised. This is Texas. It is summer. Texas + summer = HOT.
The temperature is not that hot, here on the island. It's 89F, (almost 32C) which would be reasonable--if the humidity were not somewhere in the vicinity of, oh, 900 percent or so. Yes, I do realize that technically, it is impossible to have a greater percentage than 100. But it feels like 900% humidity. If you were here, you would agree with me. Walking from the front door to the car door will have the average person sweating through his T-shirt. (Yeah, I know it sounds gross. How do you think it feels???)
So, of course, the crepe myrtles are blooming. They like the hot weather, don't really get to blooming much till the hot as Hades weather arrives. Our little island doesn't have as many crepe myrtles as I'm used to, in other Texas cities. We have oleanders, and the oleanders have been blooming like crazy for at least a month already. I figure they've got most of another month to go. Oleanders bloom a long time. Galveston has lots of oleanders, I'm told, because they are salt-resistant. They are not salt-proof, because the oleanders which were submerged longer and/or deeper in the Hurricane Ike surge have not returned. But most of the semi-submerged shrubs are putting out new shoots, or blooming valiantly on the few stems left living. Those less swamped are solid pink or peach or white with blooms. They're just gorgeous.
The granddog and I went for a beach walk today. It was hot already at 8 a.m., but there was a stiff wind blowing, which helped. Dolly was a very good dog, didn't pull, didn't try to go smell the other dogs or lick the people. The sand was extremely soft and hard to walk in, even where it was wet. We were there right at high tide, so the wet sand was dry underneath, hence soft. Tired me out right quick. So we didn't walk very far, but it was a good walk.
I think part of the reason Dolly was such a good dog is her little "adventure" last week. I went out to go walking one morning, and there was no Dolly in the yard. I made the boy get out of bed (before noon!) and he went to see if she'd gone to chase birds at the beach, and I drove down to the humane society. Apparently, she got out of the yard (a board on the fence came loose) and got picked up as a stray and taken to the humane society. Her boy tends to take her collar off when she's in the yard, so she didn't have her collar or tags. I was able to identify her right then, but we couldn't take her home till later when they officially opened for the day. She looked very mournful when I didn't get her out of the cage right then, all--"Gigi! Don't leave me!" And she was VERY happy when we did come get her to take her home.
Spent the weekend visiting with relatives, seeing the nephew graduate. Nice, snappy ceremony, with eating to follow. Ice cream the night of the graduation, and cook-out with cake and M&Ms the next day. I made myself go upstairs and work Saturday morning, and got almost 6 pages done. That's a lot for one day, the way things have gone lately. It was a good visit.
I am not surprised. This is Texas. It is summer. Texas + summer = HOT.
The temperature is not that hot, here on the island. It's 89F, (almost 32C) which would be reasonable--if the humidity were not somewhere in the vicinity of, oh, 900 percent or so. Yes, I do realize that technically, it is impossible to have a greater percentage than 100. But it feels like 900% humidity. If you were here, you would agree with me. Walking from the front door to the car door will have the average person sweating through his T-shirt. (Yeah, I know it sounds gross. How do you think it feels???)
So, of course, the crepe myrtles are blooming. They like the hot weather, don't really get to blooming much till the hot as Hades weather arrives. Our little island doesn't have as many crepe myrtles as I'm used to, in other Texas cities. We have oleanders, and the oleanders have been blooming like crazy for at least a month already. I figure they've got most of another month to go. Oleanders bloom a long time. Galveston has lots of oleanders, I'm told, because they are salt-resistant. They are not salt-proof, because the oleanders which were submerged longer and/or deeper in the Hurricane Ike surge have not returned. But most of the semi-submerged shrubs are putting out new shoots, or blooming valiantly on the few stems left living. Those less swamped are solid pink or peach or white with blooms. They're just gorgeous.
The granddog and I went for a beach walk today. It was hot already at 8 a.m., but there was a stiff wind blowing, which helped. Dolly was a very good dog, didn't pull, didn't try to go smell the other dogs or lick the people. The sand was extremely soft and hard to walk in, even where it was wet. We were there right at high tide, so the wet sand was dry underneath, hence soft. Tired me out right quick. So we didn't walk very far, but it was a good walk.
I think part of the reason Dolly was such a good dog is her little "adventure" last week. I went out to go walking one morning, and there was no Dolly in the yard. I made the boy get out of bed (before noon!) and he went to see if she'd gone to chase birds at the beach, and I drove down to the humane society. Apparently, she got out of the yard (a board on the fence came loose) and got picked up as a stray and taken to the humane society. Her boy tends to take her collar off when she's in the yard, so she didn't have her collar or tags. I was able to identify her right then, but we couldn't take her home till later when they officially opened for the day. She looked very mournful when I didn't get her out of the cage right then, all--"Gigi! Don't leave me!" And she was VERY happy when we did come get her to take her home.
Spent the weekend visiting with relatives, seeing the nephew graduate. Nice, snappy ceremony, with eating to follow. Ice cream the night of the graduation, and cook-out with cake and M&Ms the next day. I made myself go upstairs and work Saturday morning, and got almost 6 pages done. That's a lot for one day, the way things have gone lately. It was a good visit.
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
Wednesday words
I was trying to think of something alliterative for the title, to go with Wednesday, since I don't really have much to say today. Of course, I first came up with "Thursday thoughts" because I keep thinking today is Thursday for some reason. But it's not. It's Wednesday.
So what goes with Wednesday? Woes? Well, but I'm not really woeful today. It's been a pretty good day for me. Okay, there's a condo fire over on the Seawall, bad enough they've asked fire trucks from Texas City and La Marque and Santa Fe or Hitchcock, or one of those other towns across the bay, to come cover the rest of the city while all the Galveston fire trucks are dealing with the fire--but it's about 40 blocks from my house, and while I'm sympathetic, it hasn't really affected my day.
What else? Wisdom? *snort* Yeah right. On rare occasions, I might stumble over something that vaguely resembles wisdom, but ... Rare, remember?
Words. I am writing words on Wednesday. That's nicely generic, and promises nothing more than that the words be strung together in an order that will make sense. (Actually, it doesn't even promise that, but with any luck, that's what you're getting.)
So here they are. My words.
Like I said, it's been a pretty good day for me today, and that's because of words. As in, I got a decent number of them written today. I need to be writing more, but... I'm getting some done. And really, that's all I had to say. The writing is being written. The story is going. I'm not exactly sure where it's going, but it IS going.
So y'all go look at the fire pictures... 'Cause that's all that's happening around here today.
So what goes with Wednesday? Woes? Well, but I'm not really woeful today. It's been a pretty good day for me. Okay, there's a condo fire over on the Seawall, bad enough they've asked fire trucks from Texas City and La Marque and Santa Fe or Hitchcock, or one of those other towns across the bay, to come cover the rest of the city while all the Galveston fire trucks are dealing with the fire--but it's about 40 blocks from my house, and while I'm sympathetic, it hasn't really affected my day.
What else? Wisdom? *snort* Yeah right. On rare occasions, I might stumble over something that vaguely resembles wisdom, but ... Rare, remember?
Words. I am writing words on Wednesday. That's nicely generic, and promises nothing more than that the words be strung together in an order that will make sense. (Actually, it doesn't even promise that, but with any luck, that's what you're getting.)
So here they are. My words.
Like I said, it's been a pretty good day for me today, and that's because of words. As in, I got a decent number of them written today. I need to be writing more, but... I'm getting some done. And really, that's all I had to say. The writing is being written. The story is going. I'm not exactly sure where it's going, but it IS going.
So y'all go look at the fire pictures... 'Cause that's all that's happening around here today.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Lazy Summer Days
Yes, some of you will doubtless be telling me that it has been summer on my island since--oh, March or so. And given what your summers are like, I will be agreeing with you. However, now summer has REALLY arrived. With a vengeance.
First of all, the tourists are here.
On weekdays, even in summer, the tourists aren't too bad. You can still get into a restaurant without an hour or more to wait, and drive down Seawall without wanting to honk at the sightseers. But weekends? Fuggeddaboutit! (and yeah, I know, we don't sound like that in Texas, but we do definitely know the sentiment.)
The tourists hit Memorial Day weekend. The beaches were pretty much wall-to-wall people, and Seawall Boulevard was wall-to-wall cars. We spent a very lazy few days. We went to see a movie Saturday afternoon (Angels & Demons), went out to the Coastal Living magazine idea house on Sunday and then the fella had to go to Austin (he had a presentation I "got" to proof before he left) Monday, so I made the boy and his girlfriend go see Monsters vs. Aliens with me. On the way back, the traffic was so heavy, we had to sit through one stoplight--on the street most people use to leave the island--about 5 times just to get up to it and go through. Fortunately, we weren't trying to turn left, just go straight through to go home. The boy kept growling "Get off my island." And it hasn't even been his very long...
Actually, we didn't go home, but to one of our favorite, hidden, mostly-locals places to eat. Having lived most of our lives in small-town Texas, we know that the hole-in-the-wall non-chain/local chain places often have the best food. And no, I'm not going to tell you where we ate, because we don't want all you tourists crowding up our favorite place. If you know me, call me when you get to town, and I'll take you there. :) We figured we could get in easily, because everybody was heading home at the end of the holiday. And we did.
Still trying to get some writing done. Yesterday, I was going to go to Starbucks to try to write, but there wasn't a place to sit. And since I don't drink coffee anyway, I went across the street to the Taco Cabana and wrote there for a couple of hours. Today, I had both a dentist's appointment and a doctor's appointment (regular checkups) and that took up all my time--so much that I was very late getting to the paper for the dayjob. But I am getting a little bit done. I need to get a LOT done.
First of all, the tourists are here.
On weekdays, even in summer, the tourists aren't too bad. You can still get into a restaurant without an hour or more to wait, and drive down Seawall without wanting to honk at the sightseers. But weekends? Fuggeddaboutit! (and yeah, I know, we don't sound like that in Texas, but we do definitely know the sentiment.)
The tourists hit Memorial Day weekend. The beaches were pretty much wall-to-wall people, and Seawall Boulevard was wall-to-wall cars. We spent a very lazy few days. We went to see a movie Saturday afternoon (Angels & Demons), went out to the Coastal Living magazine idea house on Sunday and then the fella had to go to Austin (he had a presentation I "got" to proof before he left) Monday, so I made the boy and his girlfriend go see Monsters vs. Aliens with me. On the way back, the traffic was so heavy, we had to sit through one stoplight--on the street most people use to leave the island--about 5 times just to get up to it and go through. Fortunately, we weren't trying to turn left, just go straight through to go home. The boy kept growling "Get off my island." And it hasn't even been his very long...
Actually, we didn't go home, but to one of our favorite, hidden, mostly-locals places to eat. Having lived most of our lives in small-town Texas, we know that the hole-in-the-wall non-chain/local chain places often have the best food. And no, I'm not going to tell you where we ate, because we don't want all you tourists crowding up our favorite place. If you know me, call me when you get to town, and I'll take you there. :) We figured we could get in easily, because everybody was heading home at the end of the holiday. And we did.
Still trying to get some writing done. Yesterday, I was going to go to Starbucks to try to write, but there wasn't a place to sit. And since I don't drink coffee anyway, I went across the street to the Taco Cabana and wrote there for a couple of hours. Today, I had both a dentist's appointment and a doctor's appointment (regular checkups) and that took up all my time--so much that I was very late getting to the paper for the dayjob. But I am getting a little bit done. I need to get a LOT done.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Party in Pittsburgh
I've been back a few days, but it's hard work, sitting through 5 hours of graduation ceremonies. (Yeah. 5 hours. Plus some.) The son-in-law walked across the stage in anticipation of completing his PhD in another couple of months, so we went to Pittsburgh to see it. Saturday, when we arrived, was chilly and rainy, but the Saturday night Hooding (when doctoral grads get their fancy hoods) was indoors. The middle grandson got fidgety and was sent outside to the playground with Uncle Bob to play...and when it started raining, he decided the tarp over the sandbox made a good slide and did a Superman leap onto it. He got Really wet and cold, but made it back inside with UB and Granddaddy to see Daddy get his fancy hood. After, we took him home to dry off and have cake. Doodlebug and Granddaddy are both allergic to wheat and milk, though Doodle is more allergic to milk. But there is a gluten-free bakery that makes really good cakes--so Everybody got cake, with really thick fluffy icing.
Sunday morning, all the graduates--from bachelor's degrees through the doctorates--marched into the stadium and got their degrees officially conferred, and had all the speeches. It was COLD! I think the high that day was barely 60 F, (15.5 C)--which is winter weather here in Galveston! I did take a velveteen jacket to wear, so I didn't get too cold. It started off cloudy and threatening, but cleared off by noon and warmed up nicely. Doodlebug went crawling around our feet, but he was really quite good. And afterward, we went to the physics department where they handed out the actual diplomas, or diploma holders for those who hadn't quite finished all the paperwork yet. And all the graduating was done! We went back to the hotel/home, changed clothes, took little naps, and gathered back at the house to be lazy. We spent the evening watching Kung Fu Panda with the grandboy. And eating sandwiches and more cake. (This was a BIG cake...)
Monday, we slept in, then went to join the others. Doodle still is in school, so we went to see the "scary movie." Star Trek. (He probably would have liked all the stuff blowing up, but not the talky parts.) Totally enjoyed it. My favorite characters are still McCoy and Scott, even with the new actors. (Who can't love Simon Pegg as Scotty?!?!! And Karl Urban has all the McCoy mannerisms down, with extra hotness. Sigh.) Then we took the boy to see the Science museum, one of his favorite spots, and went out to dinner by the airport, because his other grandparents needed to go to their hotel to fly out early in the morning.
We still had most of Tuesday to visit. We went to see the dinosaurs, and since Doodlebug (as his mom calls him), was in school, we got to see the mineral exhibits, and the horse exhibit, and even went over to the art museum to look at the art. Had some really cool stuff. Had an Ethiopian lunch. Apparently in Pittsburgh, you either get burger places (with Really Good burgers) or foreign food... Anyway, Ethiopian was interesting, and good, and no, it was not "Eat your twigs and bugs and go run 6 miles." It was good. Spicy. Then, as the daughter was driving us to the airport for our 5 p.m. flight, we had a wreck. It was relatively minor, nobody hurt, but left both cars undriveable. We wound up calling a cab, once the tow truck got there, and the fire truck got there. The police took another half hour to make it, but we had to go to make our flight. Which we did, with plenty of time. And we were home by 11 p.m.--Texas time, which meant midnight, Pittsburgh time. You know, it was odd that they didn't have a lot of steak places in Pittsburgh... Anyway. The weather stayed sunshiny, which is apparently peculiar for Pittsburgh. It's the 3rd rainiest city in the U.S., right up there with Seattle and Portland. Nice that it was gorgeous for us. :)
So, I've been home. Got my copy edits sent off before I left town, so I'm good there. Haven't got back into the writing of the book, much. Sigh. But I did type some in today. Less to have to do later. NEED to write. I'll try to do some tomorrow. So, that's what's doing here. I hope to go to the Coastal Living idea house this weekend. I bought tickets... Need to check how long they'll be open, in case I don't make it this weekend.
And there you have my life.
Sunday morning, all the graduates--from bachelor's degrees through the doctorates--marched into the stadium and got their degrees officially conferred, and had all the speeches. It was COLD! I think the high that day was barely 60 F, (15.5 C)--which is winter weather here in Galveston! I did take a velveteen jacket to wear, so I didn't get too cold. It started off cloudy and threatening, but cleared off by noon and warmed up nicely. Doodlebug went crawling around our feet, but he was really quite good. And afterward, we went to the physics department where they handed out the actual diplomas, or diploma holders for those who hadn't quite finished all the paperwork yet. And all the graduating was done! We went back to the hotel/home, changed clothes, took little naps, and gathered back at the house to be lazy. We spent the evening watching Kung Fu Panda with the grandboy. And eating sandwiches and more cake. (This was a BIG cake...)
Monday, we slept in, then went to join the others. Doodle still is in school, so we went to see the "scary movie." Star Trek. (He probably would have liked all the stuff blowing up, but not the talky parts.) Totally enjoyed it. My favorite characters are still McCoy and Scott, even with the new actors. (Who can't love Simon Pegg as Scotty?!?!! And Karl Urban has all the McCoy mannerisms down, with extra hotness. Sigh.) Then we took the boy to see the Science museum, one of his favorite spots, and went out to dinner by the airport, because his other grandparents needed to go to their hotel to fly out early in the morning.
We still had most of Tuesday to visit. We went to see the dinosaurs, and since Doodlebug (as his mom calls him), was in school, we got to see the mineral exhibits, and the horse exhibit, and even went over to the art museum to look at the art. Had some really cool stuff. Had an Ethiopian lunch. Apparently in Pittsburgh, you either get burger places (with Really Good burgers) or foreign food... Anyway, Ethiopian was interesting, and good, and no, it was not "Eat your twigs and bugs and go run 6 miles." It was good. Spicy. Then, as the daughter was driving us to the airport for our 5 p.m. flight, we had a wreck. It was relatively minor, nobody hurt, but left both cars undriveable. We wound up calling a cab, once the tow truck got there, and the fire truck got there. The police took another half hour to make it, but we had to go to make our flight. Which we did, with plenty of time. And we were home by 11 p.m.--Texas time, which meant midnight, Pittsburgh time. You know, it was odd that they didn't have a lot of steak places in Pittsburgh... Anyway. The weather stayed sunshiny, which is apparently peculiar for Pittsburgh. It's the 3rd rainiest city in the U.S., right up there with Seattle and Portland. Nice that it was gorgeous for us. :)
So, I've been home. Got my copy edits sent off before I left town, so I'm good there. Haven't got back into the writing of the book, much. Sigh. But I did type some in today. Less to have to do later. NEED to write. I'll try to do some tomorrow. So, that's what's doing here. I hope to go to the Coastal Living idea house this weekend. I bought tickets... Need to check how long they'll be open, in case I don't make it this weekend.
And there you have my life.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Beach observations and other news
I meant to post this yesterday, but got too busy. Today's no less busy, but I am determined.
First, want to say thanks for the "Awws" from Catie and Barb. I have decided that I need to walk more often, but not quite so far, because I get tired and don't pick up my feet and trip over stuff. My bruises are better, and my hand is doing that "getting well" itching. :)
I drove down to the beach to walk yesterday, because it's more fun, and because I wanted to spend my walking time actually on the beach, not getting to it. And I didn't take Dolly. I tend to observe stuff more when I don't have to deal with the dog.
First observation: The seaweed has come in. Blankets of it. I was thinking maybe it's a little early for the big piles of seaweed, but maybe not. We're almost halfway through May... I saw some logs that had floated in that looked like they had fur. Greenish fur, but furry, nonetheless. (Yes, I know it's algae. But it looks like fur.) And a tennis shoe that had been in the water long enough that it had those lipstick clams attached to it. Quite a few decent sized ones... I only saw the bottom of the sole, not the top, so I don't know how much of the upper shoe survived, but that sole had been floating around a long time.
I only saw one seagull. I was out there by 8 a.m., but I think because the sun's coming up earlier, the seagulls are giving up their "standing by the edge of the water waking up" earlier. I saw lots of sanderlings and ruddy turnstones, all of which had two legs. They have a little butt wiggle when they're running away from you...
I also saw a shark that had washed up on shore. It was about a meter/yard long (give or take that difference between a meter and a yard), and it didn't have a tail. I don't know if it died and got washed up because it had lost its tail, or if it lost its tail after it got washed up. It didn't look like any scavengers had been at it... I have no idea what kind of shark it was, though. I've been looking--not a nurse shark. Dorsal fins aren't right. Its nose was really square across, so it's not a pointy-nose shark or a round-nose shark. Hmm. It was gray, with that straight-across nose, one rather pointy dorsal fin, no barbels (catfish-like whiskers), gill-slits in front of its side-fins, and small high-set eyes. Haven't found the right picture for it yet. And having its tail missing takes away another thing to help ID it. Oh well.
In other, more interesting news, New Blood is a recommended read by the Virginia Beach Public Library! It's a lovely review--and they're recommending it!! I'm excited.
I got my copy edits for Heart's Blood (Grey's story), and have finished them up, except for the chunk of 25 pages that got left out of the ms they sent me.
What do you think of Blood from Stone as a title for Harry & Elinor's story? Stoneheart? Heart of Oak? Working on villains for the story... Villains are such a pain.
First, want to say thanks for the "Awws" from Catie and Barb. I have decided that I need to walk more often, but not quite so far, because I get tired and don't pick up my feet and trip over stuff. My bruises are better, and my hand is doing that "getting well" itching. :)
I drove down to the beach to walk yesterday, because it's more fun, and because I wanted to spend my walking time actually on the beach, not getting to it. And I didn't take Dolly. I tend to observe stuff more when I don't have to deal with the dog.
First observation: The seaweed has come in. Blankets of it. I was thinking maybe it's a little early for the big piles of seaweed, but maybe not. We're almost halfway through May... I saw some logs that had floated in that looked like they had fur. Greenish fur, but furry, nonetheless. (Yes, I know it's algae. But it looks like fur.) And a tennis shoe that had been in the water long enough that it had those lipstick clams attached to it. Quite a few decent sized ones... I only saw the bottom of the sole, not the top, so I don't know how much of the upper shoe survived, but that sole had been floating around a long time.
I only saw one seagull. I was out there by 8 a.m., but I think because the sun's coming up earlier, the seagulls are giving up their "standing by the edge of the water waking up" earlier. I saw lots of sanderlings and ruddy turnstones, all of which had two legs. They have a little butt wiggle when they're running away from you...
I also saw a shark that had washed up on shore. It was about a meter/yard long (give or take that difference between a meter and a yard), and it didn't have a tail. I don't know if it died and got washed up because it had lost its tail, or if it lost its tail after it got washed up. It didn't look like any scavengers had been at it... I have no idea what kind of shark it was, though. I've been looking--not a nurse shark. Dorsal fins aren't right. Its nose was really square across, so it's not a pointy-nose shark or a round-nose shark. Hmm. It was gray, with that straight-across nose, one rather pointy dorsal fin, no barbels (catfish-like whiskers), gill-slits in front of its side-fins, and small high-set eyes. Haven't found the right picture for it yet. And having its tail missing takes away another thing to help ID it. Oh well.
In other, more interesting news, New Blood is a recommended read by the Virginia Beach Public Library! It's a lovely review--and they're recommending it!! I'm excited.
I got my copy edits for Heart's Blood (Grey's story), and have finished them up, except for the chunk of 25 pages that got left out of the ms they sent me.
What do you think of Blood from Stone as a title for Harry & Elinor's story? Stoneheart? Heart of Oak? Working on villains for the story... Villains are such a pain.
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
The clumsy gene strikes again
I'm going to have to stop doing this. Yep, fell down again. Tripped over an uneven gravel-concrete sidewalk and hit the ground, face down, stretched full-out. Cut my hand on the exposed rocks. Skinned the knees (again). Aches and pains, scrapes and bruises. Not much more than that, but boy am I moving slow.
I was on my way home after another walk with the dog. She'd worn herself out chasing birds through the surf--probably 17 times back and forth at full speed between the jetties, so she wasn't pulling at the leash at all when I fell. I'll probably have to give her an aspirin later on, for her bad knee. She was limping on it there at the end, but she was running as fast as the birds were flying, most of the time. I've always thought she looks to be part bird dog, except bird dogs don't actually chase birds...
When I crashed to the earth (and it's a wonder it didn't measure on the Richter scale), she came back to check on me, make sure I was okay. Luckily, I didn't fall on her--entirely due to her fancy footwork, I'm sure. I crawled up onto the grass, because I wasn't about to push off those rocks, and sat there a while. Dolly sat there with me. I think she figured if I was going to rest, she might as well rest up too. Thing is--she was still all salty and sandy and kind of icky, hovering by me like that. Oh well. She was looking after me. Or something.
So--no more falling down. Not sure how I'm going to make sure I don't--didn't mean to fall down these last two times either--but that's my intent.
I didn't think I'd be able to concentrate on the new book--but since I just got copyedits for Heart's Blood, that's what I worked on instead. It's pretty clean, which makes me happy. Got to check one thing with the Brit Across The Desk. Of course, I'm only through page 125 or so...
I was on my way home after another walk with the dog. She'd worn herself out chasing birds through the surf--probably 17 times back and forth at full speed between the jetties, so she wasn't pulling at the leash at all when I fell. I'll probably have to give her an aspirin later on, for her bad knee. She was limping on it there at the end, but she was running as fast as the birds were flying, most of the time. I've always thought she looks to be part bird dog, except bird dogs don't actually chase birds...
When I crashed to the earth (and it's a wonder it didn't measure on the Richter scale), she came back to check on me, make sure I was okay. Luckily, I didn't fall on her--entirely due to her fancy footwork, I'm sure. I crawled up onto the grass, because I wasn't about to push off those rocks, and sat there a while. Dolly sat there with me. I think she figured if I was going to rest, she might as well rest up too. Thing is--she was still all salty and sandy and kind of icky, hovering by me like that. Oh well. She was looking after me. Or something.
So--no more falling down. Not sure how I'm going to make sure I don't--didn't mean to fall down these last two times either--but that's my intent.
I didn't think I'd be able to concentrate on the new book--but since I just got copyedits for Heart's Blood, that's what I worked on instead. It's pretty clean, which makes me happy. Got to check one thing with the Brit Across The Desk. Of course, I'm only through page 125 or so...
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Adventures in Dog-bathing
So I took the granddog walking on the beach this morning. Tide was in, and the rainstorm last night had carved the new sand into more cliffs and gullies, so I was either climbing up and down steps (okay, the cliffs were no more than a steep step high, but still!) or walking in the water, because the water was washing right up into the gullies. I had actual shoes on today, because I walked from the house, and it's a tad too far to do that in flipflops, so I didn't want to walk in the water. And it was pretty quiet, so I let Dolly off the leash to go chase birds. She had a marvelous time terrorizing all the little sanderlings and a seagull or two...
We walked back home, and because Dolly had been needing a bath anyway, and I let her chase the birds into the surf and she was all sandy and salty, I got out the dog soap and washed her. Didn't even have to pick her up and carry her this time (though I did have to drag her by her collar...that dog does NOT like baths. Never knew one that did, actually...). Got her all clean, turned off the water, went to put up the shampoo back in the garage, and slipped on the very slippery garage floor with my wet feet (took off the shoes to do the dog washing) and hit the ground very hard. Ouch!
I did manage to get myself up off the ground. I got very wet because I basically sat down in the water from washing the dog. There are a few bruises, a scrape or two, but I'm really sore. I went inside and whined to the boy (who needed to get out of bed for class anyway) and guilted him into picking up the dead bug in the hall I didn't want to pick up (and he did!) and wrote only a little because I was being a whiny baby--and tomorrow, I will have to get back to work!
I am such a wuss... Oh well...
We walked back home, and because Dolly had been needing a bath anyway, and I let her chase the birds into the surf and she was all sandy and salty, I got out the dog soap and washed her. Didn't even have to pick her up and carry her this time (though I did have to drag her by her collar...that dog does NOT like baths. Never knew one that did, actually...). Got her all clean, turned off the water, went to put up the shampoo back in the garage, and slipped on the very slippery garage floor with my wet feet (took off the shoes to do the dog washing) and hit the ground very hard. Ouch!
I did manage to get myself up off the ground. I got very wet because I basically sat down in the water from washing the dog. There are a few bruises, a scrape or two, but I'm really sore. I went inside and whined to the boy (who needed to get out of bed for class anyway) and guilted him into picking up the dead bug in the hall I didn't want to pick up (and he did!) and wrote only a little because I was being a whiny baby--and tomorrow, I will have to get back to work!
I am such a wuss... Oh well...
Monday, April 27, 2009
Anniversarius
Again, a quiet weekend. The fella and I had an anniversary Friday--number 33--and he sent me a gorgeous huge orchid plant with many red-speckled yellow flowers blooming on it. HUGE plant. Good thing, because for dinner, we went to the college pot-luck awards ceremony. I did get the promise to go out again the next night.
Saturday, I decided I really needed to write at least a LITTLE, so I sat down for an hour and got 2.5 pages done. Happiness! Then we went out and ran errands. Like getting a birthday present for Idbit (AKA the littlest grandboy)--whose birthday was Saturday, and we had thought about his birthday and a present the week before, and promptly forgot about it until the day before his birthday. (sigh) Typical. We'll hand deliver it.
I tried out office chairs at Office Depot -- the paper is getting me a new one--and then we went across the causeway and got some frames for the two antique map reproductions the fella bought. That took a little time. Also found a frame (finally) for my sunflower-sand dune painting. Then we came home, took naps and went out to dinner at Landry's for our "official" anniversary date. I really love their shrimp Fresca... Then we came home to watch "The Perfect Man" romantic comedy movie and discovered that the orchid I got was actually the perfect romantic occasion gift. Roses are great, but orchids... they're the best. So it's official. I received the perfect romantic anniversary gift. :)
I like orchids a lot. Have one on the back patio that survived the hurricane and the winter... I hope I can keep this one alive too. :)
The writing continues to go. Sometimes I'm not sure where it's going, but at least it's going...
Saturday, I decided I really needed to write at least a LITTLE, so I sat down for an hour and got 2.5 pages done. Happiness! Then we went out and ran errands. Like getting a birthday present for Idbit (AKA the littlest grandboy)--whose birthday was Saturday, and we had thought about his birthday and a present the week before, and promptly forgot about it until the day before his birthday. (sigh) Typical. We'll hand deliver it.
I tried out office chairs at Office Depot -- the paper is getting me a new one--and then we went across the causeway and got some frames for the two antique map reproductions the fella bought. That took a little time. Also found a frame (finally) for my sunflower-sand dune painting. Then we came home, took naps and went out to dinner at Landry's for our "official" anniversary date. I really love their shrimp Fresca... Then we came home to watch "The Perfect Man" romantic comedy movie and discovered that the orchid I got was actually the perfect romantic occasion gift. Roses are great, but orchids... they're the best. So it's official. I received the perfect romantic anniversary gift. :)
I like orchids a lot. Have one on the back patio that survived the hurricane and the winter... I hope I can keep this one alive too. :)
The writing continues to go. Sometimes I'm not sure where it's going, but at least it's going...
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Local Notes
This will be just a bunch of observations about stuff I've noticed around town. Like how, now that the dayjob desk faces the bit window, I can watch pelicans flying by outside. None so far today that I've really noticed, but there were seven of them yesterday...
There were Lots of birds out when I went walking yesterday morning--without the granddog, who loves chasing birds so much, I wouldn't have had a chance to see them so well. (She only likes chasing birds when she can chase them into the water...) There were the usual laughing gulls, and willets and pigeons. I saw a few ruddy turnstones, and a one-legged sanderling that was almost as fast hopping on its one little leg as its flock-mates on their two. It wasn't quite as smooth, hopping up and down, but wow, it was fast! It did take to flying quicker than they did, and landed sooner. I tried to keep enough distance from it so the poor thing wouldn't feel it quite so necessary to fly. The seagulls were flirting. The males--slightly smaller than the females--would give off a rhythmic squawk, as if singing to their chosen lady, while the females stood aloof--but listening. I also saw a pair of tiny terns. Little sparrow-sized fellas.
And then, today, I had to take a cell phone back to its owner who forgot it in my car, and while driving to work, I saw this house that I always think is the neatest thing when I see it, and promptly forget about it once I've passed by. It's an old raised cottage, vintage 1920 to 1940s probably, with the main floor upstairs and the garage below. The downstairs has vertical siding and the upstairs has horizontal--and every slat of the siding, both upstairs and down, is painted in a different bright color. Maroon, blue, yellow, green, orange, pink--every color you can think of. It might have been seriously garish when it was new, but the paint's pretty battered now, especially since Ike, and it just looks...happy. Even battered and peeling. The house always makes me smile when I drive down 39th Street and see it.
After I turned onto Broadway to head toward the causeway (the paper is at the very last exit before you leave the island), I passed by one of the older cemeteries there at 40th St. inside its cast-iron fencing. And it was all dressed up in its Maytime colors with coreopsis blooming like crazy. They cover every grave, crowd up to the headstones and make it look so bright and cheery--believe it or not--with their flashy yellow blossoms. So the cemetery made me smile too. I'll have to go by and take pictures, won't I?
So--yeah, I have lots and lots to do, and I'm not actually getting a whole lot of it done, but the birds are flirting and the flowers are blooming and the weather is gorgeous and... It's just nice to be here. :)
There were Lots of birds out when I went walking yesterday morning--without the granddog, who loves chasing birds so much, I wouldn't have had a chance to see them so well. (She only likes chasing birds when she can chase them into the water...) There were the usual laughing gulls, and willets and pigeons. I saw a few ruddy turnstones, and a one-legged sanderling that was almost as fast hopping on its one little leg as its flock-mates on their two. It wasn't quite as smooth, hopping up and down, but wow, it was fast! It did take to flying quicker than they did, and landed sooner. I tried to keep enough distance from it so the poor thing wouldn't feel it quite so necessary to fly. The seagulls were flirting. The males--slightly smaller than the females--would give off a rhythmic squawk, as if singing to their chosen lady, while the females stood aloof--but listening. I also saw a pair of tiny terns. Little sparrow-sized fellas.
And then, today, I had to take a cell phone back to its owner who forgot it in my car, and while driving to work, I saw this house that I always think is the neatest thing when I see it, and promptly forget about it once I've passed by. It's an old raised cottage, vintage 1920 to 1940s probably, with the main floor upstairs and the garage below. The downstairs has vertical siding and the upstairs has horizontal--and every slat of the siding, both upstairs and down, is painted in a different bright color. Maroon, blue, yellow, green, orange, pink--every color you can think of. It might have been seriously garish when it was new, but the paint's pretty battered now, especially since Ike, and it just looks...happy. Even battered and peeling. The house always makes me smile when I drive down 39th Street and see it.
After I turned onto Broadway to head toward the causeway (the paper is at the very last exit before you leave the island), I passed by one of the older cemeteries there at 40th St. inside its cast-iron fencing. And it was all dressed up in its Maytime colors with coreopsis blooming like crazy. They cover every grave, crowd up to the headstones and make it look so bright and cheery--believe it or not--with their flashy yellow blossoms. So the cemetery made me smile too. I'll have to go by and take pictures, won't I?
So--yeah, I have lots and lots to do, and I'm not actually getting a whole lot of it done, but the birds are flirting and the flowers are blooming and the weather is gorgeous and... It's just nice to be here. :)
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
E-books and such
A number of you have asked about e-book availability for the Rose books and for (I hope) the new one. However, from everything I have been able to find, only THE ETERNAL ROSE is available in an e-book format. It is at Fictionwise, and at the Sony Book store, and at Amazon for the Kindle.
None of the other books seem to be offered as e-books. I've wandered around at the e-Harlequin website--no Rose books there at all. I checked at Tor, and it doesn't look like they do any e-books. I'll ask my editor, but apparently, MacMillan is caught in the stone age. They've bought all their editors Sony readers. They ought to consider that they need to put their books into an electronic format. If y'all send them e-mails asking for them, they might. Us lowly authors don't have as much clout as you powerful readers, aka customers. ;)
Okay, that's all I know to say about e-books.
I don't have much else to say at all. I spent a very lazy weekend, because it was POURING rain Saturday, and I didn't want to get out in it. The boy and his friends, Walter and Lamar (and if those aren't Texas country-boy names, I don't know what are), were in the garage building a miniature catapult for an engineering project. It was very convenient that the daughter gave her brother a book on how to built catapults for Christmas a couple of years ago... So they had plans.
We had to take all the bicycles out and put them under the covered porch portion of the patio so they'd have room to build. They got the ping-pong ball to fly about 15 feet (as required) once they replaced their wooden twister-things with metal ones, so they could tighten the tension enough to get some oomph behind it. Now they have to work on accuracy, because they have to sink their ping-pong ball in a bucket. They were industrious. I was not. I read books.
I have a number of things I need to do, not least, the writing of this silly book. I think I am going to have to try the "Puzzler" method of writing this book, this time. There are scenes I know I need. I think I will just write those scenes and work out the transitions between them later, because it seems to be the transition bits where I get stuck the worst. I have started this particular transition over three cotton-picking times, and am about ready to scream. And I'm not even sure I need it. So, I'm just going to ignore it, and go write the next scene I know about. So there.
None of the other books seem to be offered as e-books. I've wandered around at the e-Harlequin website--no Rose books there at all. I checked at Tor, and it doesn't look like they do any e-books. I'll ask my editor, but apparently, MacMillan is caught in the stone age. They've bought all their editors Sony readers. They ought to consider that they need to put their books into an electronic format. If y'all send them e-mails asking for them, they might. Us lowly authors don't have as much clout as you powerful readers, aka customers. ;)
Okay, that's all I know to say about e-books.
I don't have much else to say at all. I spent a very lazy weekend, because it was POURING rain Saturday, and I didn't want to get out in it. The boy and his friends, Walter and Lamar (and if those aren't Texas country-boy names, I don't know what are), were in the garage building a miniature catapult for an engineering project. It was very convenient that the daughter gave her brother a book on how to built catapults for Christmas a couple of years ago... So they had plans.
We had to take all the bicycles out and put them under the covered porch portion of the patio so they'd have room to build. They got the ping-pong ball to fly about 15 feet (as required) once they replaced their wooden twister-things with metal ones, so they could tighten the tension enough to get some oomph behind it. Now they have to work on accuracy, because they have to sink their ping-pong ball in a bucket. They were industrious. I was not. I read books.
I have a number of things I need to do, not least, the writing of this silly book. I think I am going to have to try the "Puzzler" method of writing this book, this time. There are scenes I know I need. I think I will just write those scenes and work out the transitions between them later, because it seems to be the transition bits where I get stuck the worst. I have started this particular transition over three cotton-picking times, and am about ready to scream. And I'm not even sure I need it. So, I'm just going to ignore it, and go write the next scene I know about. So there.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Champagne & Chocolate
Okay, I didn't have any champagne. I was driving. I did have a little Pinot Grigio, though, and it was excellent. And the chocolate.... Oh, my.
Last night was the Houston Bay Area Chapter of RWA's Bookseller Reception at The Chocolate Bar in the Montrose area of Houston. And my-oh-my, the chocolate was everywhere! They had chocolate ice cream, chocolate cookies, chocolate cakes, chocolate cheesecakes and tortes and flan and pie and... Well, pretty much anything you could think of that can be made out of chocolate-- they had it.
I drove up from the island and picked up Dawn Temple (who's had a couple of books out from Silhouette Special Edition), Anne Marie Novark (who writes for Wild Rose Press) and Liz Webb, and Liz gave me directions to The Chocolate Bar so I didn't get lost, though it did feel a little squeezy maneuvering my big bus down those narrow streets. They weren't any narrower than Galveston streets, though, so I don't know why I felt squeezed... Maybe because there was even less parking... We carried all our stuff inside, then visited until the booksellers got off work and showed up.
One of them, Dana from the Barnes & Noble at Champions (I'm not real sure where that is, but it's on the other side of Houston from me) pulled My Book--New Blood--out of her purse and asked me to sign it. That really made me feel good. Like, totally wowed! And most of the others knew of my books, which also made me happy. :)
I got a piece of Miss Etta's chocolate cake. This was not any ordinary chocolate cake--though it had all the best things about chocolate cake going for it. It was moist and chocolatey and had gooey, shiny icing, and four (4!) layers, and cocoa dusted over the outside icing (up the side). It was a Huge piece of cake. I managed to eat about a third of it, and had to take a break. I think I ate 3 more bites, the rest of the evening. I also drank two bottles of water and a diet Coke. (I know. Eat huge amounts of chocolate cake, and drink diet soda... But chocolate takes longer to digest than corn syrup.) Anyway, it was fun, I had some Really good cake, and met some cool people. :)
So--there's what I have to say today.
Last night was the Houston Bay Area Chapter of RWA's Bookseller Reception at The Chocolate Bar in the Montrose area of Houston. And my-oh-my, the chocolate was everywhere! They had chocolate ice cream, chocolate cookies, chocolate cakes, chocolate cheesecakes and tortes and flan and pie and... Well, pretty much anything you could think of that can be made out of chocolate-- they had it.
I drove up from the island and picked up Dawn Temple (who's had a couple of books out from Silhouette Special Edition), Anne Marie Novark (who writes for Wild Rose Press) and Liz Webb, and Liz gave me directions to The Chocolate Bar so I didn't get lost, though it did feel a little squeezy maneuvering my big bus down those narrow streets. They weren't any narrower than Galveston streets, though, so I don't know why I felt squeezed... Maybe because there was even less parking... We carried all our stuff inside, then visited until the booksellers got off work and showed up.
One of them, Dana from the Barnes & Noble at Champions (I'm not real sure where that is, but it's on the other side of Houston from me) pulled My Book--New Blood--out of her purse and asked me to sign it. That really made me feel good. Like, totally wowed! And most of the others knew of my books, which also made me happy. :)
I got a piece of Miss Etta's chocolate cake. This was not any ordinary chocolate cake--though it had all the best things about chocolate cake going for it. It was moist and chocolatey and had gooey, shiny icing, and four (4!) layers, and cocoa dusted over the outside icing (up the side). It was a Huge piece of cake. I managed to eat about a third of it, and had to take a break. I think I ate 3 more bites, the rest of the evening. I also drank two bottles of water and a diet Coke. (I know. Eat huge amounts of chocolate cake, and drink diet soda... But chocolate takes longer to digest than corn syrup.) Anyway, it was fun, I had some Really good cake, and met some cool people. :)
So--there's what I have to say today.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
New Space, Nice View
They rearranged desks at the newspaper today. I now have a window view.
There's spider webs and salt crud all over the window, as well as some unsightly bird-poop splatters, and my view is of a drainage ditch with Hurricane Ike debris still in it, with a billboard and the freeway beyond that (there are some fairly nice trees and palmettos in the ditch...), but hey, it's a window!
The editor I work with most closely wanted our desks closer together, so we wouldn't be hollering at each other halfway across the cavern that is the newsroom, and wanted more natural light, so he got us moved near the window. He's got his back to it, I face it, which is actually rather nice. And I got a new non-sticking keyboard, and a mouse with a wheel, so I'm all to the good now.
I was having a real struggle with the book last week. Didn't write for three days, even though I knew I needed to. Because I got stuck. I got my characters into something, and had no idea how they were going to get out of it. So finally, I called my friend and CP in Waco and talked through the issue, and got 10 pages written last week, and 6 more so far this week, which isn't great, but... It's still chugging along.
There really isn't much to blog about--I had a lazy weekend. Read a lot of books. I'm really loving my Sony reader, because I can read lots of books and not have them pile up on my floor. It's great!
There's spider webs and salt crud all over the window, as well as some unsightly bird-poop splatters, and my view is of a drainage ditch with Hurricane Ike debris still in it, with a billboard and the freeway beyond that (there are some fairly nice trees and palmettos in the ditch...), but hey, it's a window!
The editor I work with most closely wanted our desks closer together, so we wouldn't be hollering at each other halfway across the cavern that is the newsroom, and wanted more natural light, so he got us moved near the window. He's got his back to it, I face it, which is actually rather nice. And I got a new non-sticking keyboard, and a mouse with a wheel, so I'm all to the good now.
I was having a real struggle with the book last week. Didn't write for three days, even though I knew I needed to. Because I got stuck. I got my characters into something, and had no idea how they were going to get out of it. So finally, I called my friend and CP in Waco and talked through the issue, and got 10 pages written last week, and 6 more so far this week, which isn't great, but... It's still chugging along.
There really isn't much to blog about--I had a lazy weekend. Read a lot of books. I'm really loving my Sony reader, because I can read lots of books and not have them pile up on my floor. It's great!
Monday, April 06, 2009
Good Friends
Here it is, Monday again. I thought about posting a blog a couple of times last week, but alas, never did. If I think about it again this week, and I'm near/on a computer, I'll do it.
So, my post is about good friends. At least a dozen years ago, when I lived in Whitney, TX, and was just getting started with trying to write professionally, a young woman named Sandy decided the Central Texas area needed a chapter of RWA. I headed down to Waco and helped charter the Heart of Texas Chapter, and I've been a member ever since, even though I don't live there any more.
Sandy, along with the woman who would become Harlequin/Silhouette author Kristi Gold, and I formed a critique group. Later Belinda Barnes (who's had a couple of books published by Harlequin) joined the group and we met every other week for several years--until Sandy moved away.
Sandy grew up in Galveston, and not too long ago, her daughter was reading in the Tor newsletter about New Blood, and told her mom "Hey, isn't this one of your friends?" And something in my bio made her wonder if I was living in Galveston now. Which of course, I am.
She comes back to Galveston often. Her sister lives nearby, her parents are buried here, she has aunts and uncles just around the corner from my house... So when she came down this past weekend, we got together. She came to my house, and we talked. And talked. And talked. Then we drove around Galveston and talked some more, while she showed me all her old stomping grounds, and where she'd pictured us living, and where all her friends used to live, and we talked some more. It was SO much fun. And she's coming back in June. I'm hoping to get some of our Waco friends to come down then so we can hang out.
That was the big event of the week. I went to a baby shower for a friend on Saturday. Went out shopping and barely made it back in time to throw on other clothes, stick the present in a bag and go. It was fun and I even got to do a little book PR, because the new mom and her sister love fantasy romance. And the shopping trip was a good one--Two pairs of pants and a T-shirt, plus printer ink.
That's pretty much all the news I have. I got all of 9 pages written last week. Nothing at all over the weekend. Today, I'm working the dayjob all day, because I'm taking tomorrow off. I was thinking about heading out to the parents' this weekend, but now I think I probably won't. Not enough time. And it's Easter. Hmm. I may have to shop again. I don't have anything new to wear for Easter. Still, all in all, it was a good week. :)
So, my post is about good friends. At least a dozen years ago, when I lived in Whitney, TX, and was just getting started with trying to write professionally, a young woman named Sandy decided the Central Texas area needed a chapter of RWA. I headed down to Waco and helped charter the Heart of Texas Chapter, and I've been a member ever since, even though I don't live there any more.
Sandy, along with the woman who would become Harlequin/Silhouette author Kristi Gold, and I formed a critique group. Later Belinda Barnes (who's had a couple of books published by Harlequin) joined the group and we met every other week for several years--until Sandy moved away.
Sandy grew up in Galveston, and not too long ago, her daughter was reading in the Tor newsletter about New Blood, and told her mom "Hey, isn't this one of your friends?" And something in my bio made her wonder if I was living in Galveston now. Which of course, I am.
She comes back to Galveston often. Her sister lives nearby, her parents are buried here, she has aunts and uncles just around the corner from my house... So when she came down this past weekend, we got together. She came to my house, and we talked. And talked. And talked. Then we drove around Galveston and talked some more, while she showed me all her old stomping grounds, and where she'd pictured us living, and where all her friends used to live, and we talked some more. It was SO much fun. And she's coming back in June. I'm hoping to get some of our Waco friends to come down then so we can hang out.
That was the big event of the week. I went to a baby shower for a friend on Saturday. Went out shopping and barely made it back in time to throw on other clothes, stick the present in a bag and go. It was fun and I even got to do a little book PR, because the new mom and her sister love fantasy romance. And the shopping trip was a good one--Two pairs of pants and a T-shirt, plus printer ink.
That's pretty much all the news I have. I got all of 9 pages written last week. Nothing at all over the weekend. Today, I'm working the dayjob all day, because I'm taking tomorrow off. I was thinking about heading out to the parents' this weekend, but now I think I probably won't. Not enough time. And it's Easter. Hmm. I may have to shop again. I don't have anything new to wear for Easter. Still, all in all, it was a good week. :)
Monday, March 30, 2009
Monday, Monday
It is very Monday-ish today. The weather is warm, but the sky is overcast and of course, I'm freezing in the newsroom. (Stupid vent that blows down my neck.) I have on my sweater and the "blanket" (which is really more of a shawl or cape, but it's big and blankety) to keep warm. And I'm in a Bleah mood. Or maybe it's better defined as a "Don' Wanna" mood, 'cause I just don' wanna do much of anything...and I have a LOT of stuff to do.
I did get the parents' tax stuff mailed off to the accountant today, so that's one thing ticked off my list. The fella spent yesterday working on Our taxes, which meant I was in my cave (I'm tellin' ya, that office is Really Dark--all the light is on one side of the room, the hurricane shutters block most of the outside light, and it's got dark paneling for walls. It's a cave!) putting in the rest of my expenses and stuff in the bookkeeping program. And printing them out 3 times, because I didn't do it exactly to suit him...
But, I'm caught up with all my receipts and royalties now, and we got the taxes mailed off. The fella set aside several thousands of $$ to use for paying them, and we did have some to pay--a little over $20. Yep, twenty bucks. We are all relieved.
I worked on cleaning up Harry & Elinor today. Not literally. I had to tweak an early scene so I didn't entirely eliminate all the conflict, and I had to go ahead and do it now, because if I don't know they're conflicted and how they're conflicted (and I'm going to have to do a major introspection or introspection-and-dialogue scene with Elinor to explain why she's in conflict), I can't write them that way. She may have some serious buyer's remorse in the next little bit.
I really needed to do this, but I NEED to move on too. I'm doing a Book-in-a-Month Writeathon with my friend Anne Marie Novark in April. I am hoping I will get a lot more done.
And maybe I'll post again sometime later in the week, because this is a very Monday-ish post. Mondays are so bleah... At least this one is.
I did get the parents' tax stuff mailed off to the accountant today, so that's one thing ticked off my list. The fella spent yesterday working on Our taxes, which meant I was in my cave (I'm tellin' ya, that office is Really Dark--all the light is on one side of the room, the hurricane shutters block most of the outside light, and it's got dark paneling for walls. It's a cave!) putting in the rest of my expenses and stuff in the bookkeeping program. And printing them out 3 times, because I didn't do it exactly to suit him...
But, I'm caught up with all my receipts and royalties now, and we got the taxes mailed off. The fella set aside several thousands of $$ to use for paying them, and we did have some to pay--a little over $20. Yep, twenty bucks. We are all relieved.
I worked on cleaning up Harry & Elinor today. Not literally. I had to tweak an early scene so I didn't entirely eliminate all the conflict, and I had to go ahead and do it now, because if I don't know they're conflicted and how they're conflicted (and I'm going to have to do a major introspection or introspection-and-dialogue scene with Elinor to explain why she's in conflict), I can't write them that way. She may have some serious buyer's remorse in the next little bit.
I really needed to do this, but I NEED to move on too. I'm doing a Book-in-a-Month Writeathon with my friend Anne Marie Novark in April. I am hoping I will get a lot more done.
And maybe I'll post again sometime later in the week, because this is a very Monday-ish post. Mondays are so bleah... At least this one is.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
On Writing, Blogging, and Editorializing
Now that I've written the title to this blog post, I'm not sure what I wanted to say about those topics. Let's begin with this one: editorializing.
See, my dayjob is at a newspaper. I've always been a newspaper reader, even before I got to college and majored in journalism. I tend to read stuff in them, and then--many times--want to argue with the things I read. Which is kind of a lot what bloggers do. But see, being on staff at the paper, I can't write letters to the editor. However, I CAN write columns. (They're not actually editorials, since I'm not an editor, but merely a lowly editorial assistant.) So, I wrote one this week. About reading books--recommending that if people want to escape from reality a little while, movies are fine, but books last longer and have a lower cost-per-escape-time ratio. They're trying to muscle me into writing a column more often--but I don't know if I can stand once a week. I've done that, and sometimes I wrote some really drivel-y drivel. It may be "occasional." Like whenever I think of something I want to write about.
Blogs are sort of like editorials for everyman. Letters to the universe, instead of the editor. Sometimes they're read by millions--or thousands. Sometimes, they're read by friends and family only. Hopefully the readership of this blog runs into the dozens. :)
Blogs are like editorials that people can write instant rebuttals to in the comments. The technology makes it easy for flame wars to get going, because people can just pop off. And there are no editors to clean up their grammar and turn their gibberish into logical sentences. (I've cleaned up a LOT of letters. What people mail/e-mail in looks a lot like some of the blog comments. Only less coherent, some of them.)
Let's see--so I've blogged about editorializing. And blogging. So. Writing. Peh. (It's like Meh, except more puffy, with a P.)
I've been making fair progress on the writing, since my realization of what the opening scene should be. Even though I have been smacked in the head with another story that has insisted on being written. I write the contracted book during regular writing-work hours, and have been writing the other one during the hours I would ordinarily be reading or watching television. (My current Netflix movies have been waiting for 2 weeks for me to watch them.) So I'm not taking away from the Official Book. It's actually been working pretty well. This other one--I'm not even sure it IS a book. It might be. So I'll see where it goes for a while. Even though I feel guilty, I'm doing okay on The Book.
Well, except for today. Today was a bust. First, I took the granddog to the beach for a walk, and even let her off the leash. She ran and chased the birds into the surf, and ran and ran, and did Not run off across the jetty, or bother the 2 people on the beach, and when she got tired, she came back and let me put the leash back on her. And because she chased the birds (seagulls and willets) into the surf, she got all salty and sandy. So I gave her a bath when we got home. (Mostly because she was stinky to start with.)
Except Dolly didn't want a bath. She so didn't want a bath, that she pulled out of her collar (which she didn't do on the walk). I had to pick up wet, salty, sandy, stinky dog and Carry her to the hose/shampoo. She is not a particularly large dog. But she ain't no toy poodle either...
She got her bath, though. Then I went inside and took one. Between the walk, the dog bath, my bath, the laundry, and all the other sundry things I had to do, it was getting late, I was feeling cranky, so I didn't write today. There. I confessed. Sometimes I skip a day writing, even when I'm on deadline. I am hoping this will help ... clear my palate. Or something. I think I'm about to run down with this side-writing thing. Right now, it's feeling very Mary Sue-ish, so if I can't fix that, it may not turn into a book. And I have A Book to write.
One I am liking, actually. I like how it's going. I need to go back and tweak some of the early stuff so it doesn't erase the conflict, but I think I know now how to do that now. Harry needs to shut up. He's a talky kind of guy, (Some guys are--my oldest grandson is getting in trouble at school for the exact reason his dad used to--talking too much... ) and he believes in laying his cards on the table--but he doesn't need to lay out quite so many of them. And he needs to be just a tad more aggressive.
Speaking of grandsons--they didn't get to come last weekend. Just their dad. So all my boys--the fella and the two sons--had a boys' day out and went Gulf fishing for the day on Friday. They caught two meals worth of vermilion snapper, which is not the same as red snapper, which is not in season. I'll post a picture of the fella's ginormous red snapper he caught. The youngest caught a 28-inch amberjack he had to throw back, because amberjacks have to be 32 inches to keep them. But the snapper was excellent. They invited me, but...
So. There you have it. Opinion, and news. What more do you need?
See, my dayjob is at a newspaper. I've always been a newspaper reader, even before I got to college and majored in journalism. I tend to read stuff in them, and then--many times--want to argue with the things I read. Which is kind of a lot what bloggers do. But see, being on staff at the paper, I can't write letters to the editor. However, I CAN write columns. (They're not actually editorials, since I'm not an editor, but merely a lowly editorial assistant.) So, I wrote one this week. About reading books--recommending that if people want to escape from reality a little while, movies are fine, but books last longer and have a lower cost-per-escape-time ratio. They're trying to muscle me into writing a column more often--but I don't know if I can stand once a week. I've done that, and sometimes I wrote some really drivel-y drivel. It may be "occasional." Like whenever I think of something I want to write about.
Blogs are sort of like editorials for everyman. Letters to the universe, instead of the editor. Sometimes they're read by millions--or thousands. Sometimes, they're read by friends and family only. Hopefully the readership of this blog runs into the dozens. :)
Blogs are like editorials that people can write instant rebuttals to in the comments. The technology makes it easy for flame wars to get going, because people can just pop off. And there are no editors to clean up their grammar and turn their gibberish into logical sentences. (I've cleaned up a LOT of letters. What people mail/e-mail in looks a lot like some of the blog comments. Only less coherent, some of them.)
Let's see--so I've blogged about editorializing. And blogging. So. Writing. Peh. (It's like Meh, except more puffy, with a P.)
I've been making fair progress on the writing, since my realization of what the opening scene should be. Even though I have been smacked in the head with another story that has insisted on being written. I write the contracted book during regular writing-work hours, and have been writing the other one during the hours I would ordinarily be reading or watching television. (My current Netflix movies have been waiting for 2 weeks for me to watch them.) So I'm not taking away from the Official Book. It's actually been working pretty well. This other one--I'm not even sure it IS a book. It might be. So I'll see where it goes for a while. Even though I feel guilty, I'm doing okay on The Book.
Well, except for today. Today was a bust. First, I took the granddog to the beach for a walk, and even let her off the leash. She ran and chased the birds into the surf, and ran and ran, and did Not run off across the jetty, or bother the 2 people on the beach, and when she got tired, she came back and let me put the leash back on her. And because she chased the birds (seagulls and willets) into the surf, she got all salty and sandy. So I gave her a bath when we got home. (Mostly because she was stinky to start with.)
Except Dolly didn't want a bath. She so didn't want a bath, that she pulled out of her collar (which she didn't do on the walk). I had to pick up wet, salty, sandy, stinky dog and Carry her to the hose/shampoo. She is not a particularly large dog. But she ain't no toy poodle either...
She got her bath, though. Then I went inside and took one. Between the walk, the dog bath, my bath, the laundry, and all the other sundry things I had to do, it was getting late, I was feeling cranky, so I didn't write today. There. I confessed. Sometimes I skip a day writing, even when I'm on deadline. I am hoping this will help ... clear my palate. Or something. I think I'm about to run down with this side-writing thing. Right now, it's feeling very Mary Sue-ish, so if I can't fix that, it may not turn into a book. And I have A Book to write.
One I am liking, actually. I like how it's going. I need to go back and tweak some of the early stuff so it doesn't erase the conflict, but I think I know now how to do that now. Harry needs to shut up. He's a talky kind of guy, (Some guys are--my oldest grandson is getting in trouble at school for the exact reason his dad used to--talking too much... ) and he believes in laying his cards on the table--but he doesn't need to lay out quite so many of them. And he needs to be just a tad more aggressive.
Speaking of grandsons--they didn't get to come last weekend. Just their dad. So all my boys--the fella and the two sons--had a boys' day out and went Gulf fishing for the day on Friday. They caught two meals worth of vermilion snapper, which is not the same as red snapper, which is not in season. I'll post a picture of the fella's ginormous red snapper he caught. The youngest caught a 28-inch amberjack he had to throw back, because amberjacks have to be 32 inches to keep them. But the snapper was excellent. They invited me, but...
So. There you have it. Opinion, and news. What more do you need?
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
A Minor Tire Crisis
So, yesterday was my local, land-based RWA chapter meeting, about 40 miles away up on the mainland. I always leave work early, because there's some serious construction on the freeway around NASA, and there's some serious rush hour traffic leaving the island at "regular" quitting time, and I hate rush hour traffic. So I was driving along, maybe 10 miles off the island, and I noticed I was having to pull the steering wheel really hard to the right to keep the vehicle straight on the road. Bad enough I realized something was seriously wrong. Then somebody pulled alongside me, pointing at my left-front tire and mouthing things like "flat tire."
So I thanked them, and pulled over to the right lane, hunting for an exit--which was very close, as was a business driveway I could pull into. It was thumping really bad by the time I got stopped. When I got out and looked at it--eek! The tire was shredded all the way around.
Of course, I'm off the island. I have no clue what's around me or any place I can call, so of course, I call the fella. As I am talking to him, this young man pulls up and asks if I need help. Those of you who know me--or have been to my website and seen my picture--know that I am so white, I practically glow in the dark. Even my hair is white. (Okay, it's more silver, and it looks even silverier in photos, because it reflects the flash...) The two guys who stop, because a second man stopped before the first one could get out of his car--a young black man, and a biker. Okay, the biker worked for the local hospital, but still...
Chris and Gary worked and worked to change the tire on my massive beast of a vehicle. (Yes, I drive an SUV. I drive the least of anyone in our family, so I get the beast.) I didn't even hold the lug nuts. Just watched--and okay, I did unwrap the spare. It was all zipped into a carpet cover. Otherwise, it was all them. They were true gentlemen, and I appreciate so much what they did for me.
I drove on to my RWA chapter meeting, listening to the road thumps all the way there, praying I didn't lose another tire, and trying to remember whether they'd replaced the spare too, when they recalled the original tires... (Never did remember.)
At the meeting, Kimberly Frost, author of Would-Be Witch, spoke on "Scene and Story." And it helped me out with this book I'm working on, the third blood magic universe book.
See, I started the story with one scene. And then I decided a different scene--even though there are no monsters--might be a more dynamic opening. So I set the original opening scene aside, and wrote this other scene as my opening to the book.
But then, Kimber said that our opening scene needs to connect with the main conflict in the book. So, of course, I started thinking--does it?
And I realized that the Original opening scene Does, while the New Opening scene does Not. See, the working title of this book is Harry & Elinor Fight Monsters. And the Original scene has Harry and Elinor fighting a monster. The New scene has them dealing with a secondary bad guy, and it's mostly Elinor, not Harry & Elinor together. It's an important scene, because it creates a lot of complications to the story. But it's not the Main conflict. So-- I flip-flopped the scenes again, and now I'm up to 50 pages along. I'm still tweaking the opening, but at least it's only tweaks now, and not trashing and completely re-writing. (Though I wouldn't have trashed it. Just moved it to later...)
And that's where I am today. The older son and grandboys may get to come visit tomorrow. Cross your fingers. :)
So I thanked them, and pulled over to the right lane, hunting for an exit--which was very close, as was a business driveway I could pull into. It was thumping really bad by the time I got stopped. When I got out and looked at it--eek! The tire was shredded all the way around.
Of course, I'm off the island. I have no clue what's around me or any place I can call, so of course, I call the fella. As I am talking to him, this young man pulls up and asks if I need help. Those of you who know me--or have been to my website and seen my picture--know that I am so white, I practically glow in the dark. Even my hair is white. (Okay, it's more silver, and it looks even silverier in photos, because it reflects the flash...) The two guys who stop, because a second man stopped before the first one could get out of his car--a young black man, and a biker. Okay, the biker worked for the local hospital, but still...
Chris and Gary worked and worked to change the tire on my massive beast of a vehicle. (Yes, I drive an SUV. I drive the least of anyone in our family, so I get the beast.) I didn't even hold the lug nuts. Just watched--and okay, I did unwrap the spare. It was all zipped into a carpet cover. Otherwise, it was all them. They were true gentlemen, and I appreciate so much what they did for me.
I drove on to my RWA chapter meeting, listening to the road thumps all the way there, praying I didn't lose another tire, and trying to remember whether they'd replaced the spare too, when they recalled the original tires... (Never did remember.)
At the meeting, Kimberly Frost, author of Would-Be Witch, spoke on "Scene and Story." And it helped me out with this book I'm working on, the third blood magic universe book.
See, I started the story with one scene. And then I decided a different scene--even though there are no monsters--might be a more dynamic opening. So I set the original opening scene aside, and wrote this other scene as my opening to the book.
But then, Kimber said that our opening scene needs to connect with the main conflict in the book. So, of course, I started thinking--does it?
And I realized that the Original opening scene Does, while the New Opening scene does Not. See, the working title of this book is Harry & Elinor Fight Monsters. And the Original scene has Harry and Elinor fighting a monster. The New scene has them dealing with a secondary bad guy, and it's mostly Elinor, not Harry & Elinor together. It's an important scene, because it creates a lot of complications to the story. But it's not the Main conflict. So-- I flip-flopped the scenes again, and now I'm up to 50 pages along. I'm still tweaking the opening, but at least it's only tweaks now, and not trashing and completely re-writing. (Though I wouldn't have trashed it. Just moved it to later...)
And that's where I am today. The older son and grandboys may get to come visit tomorrow. Cross your fingers. :)
Thursday, March 12, 2009
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!
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!
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