WOW!

We've had about 30 inches here, though the Dude is saying it's a bit less than that, maybe.

We have a snow blower, but it's been very slow going all day long. I've been shoveling around the house (once he made the first pass) because we kept getting about an inch an hour until late afternoon.

Weatherdude is pleased. A really well-forecasted storm.

We lost power at 10:15pm last night and didn't get it back until just after 4:30pm today. Oh, life in the country! But our neighbors had power so when we were able to connect to their snow-blown path, we sent Miss E over with her dvd player and DS to charge them up. We're almost ready to drive out by the end of today and that's major. I spent a lot of time trying to take the first inches off the snow so the blower would find it easier to do more in the area where we turn our cars around. My car is buried! But we'll work on that tomorrow. The chickens are fine, just cranky with no light in the coop. They don't do white stuff so even though I opened the hatch, I know they won't go outside. I was just trying to add light...if the light gets too low, they stop laying. Can't have that. A slight problem was finding they had very little water, but I melted some snow and now I've filled a can with water to take down there in the morning.

This is just like the storm we had 7 years ago in Feb...except for the losing power part. That time we didn't own anything but shovels and one of our neighbors hired someone with a front-end loader to dig us all out.

And here I am, happy that the power is on so I can brush my teeth and flush my toilet (no well water without electricity, city-slickers). My hair is all over the place from getting snowed on most of the day.

This was a funky process, but the end result is pleasing because I'm no longer the least bit concerned about any aspect of the bathroom that's pink. It's not a space that gets a lot of sunlight, it's under the pines on the back side of the house. So I was looking to emphasize that in the end. I suspect I succeeded on some level. G-Dude is a whiz with a paintbrush and installing stuff and mounting towel racks, etc. He's also most excellent at covering up my samples and my splotchy messes. Which is why he's the painter. We're both writers, so I can't say 'and that's why I'm the writer.'

Next is to replace the toilet seat with something that matches the towel rack, etc. But I can do that part myself. I still have the funky tile floor and it's fine with this color. The pink-beige side tiles are no longer so offensive.

( Final effect after the intensive therapy that brought the various schisms of my bathroom back together... )

It is now to the point of the comic. G-Dude begins painting tomorrow and I'm still contemplating colors. Well, I think I've decided. Weatherdude helped me yesterday as blues were not cutting it at all and gray-scale colors are too cold. The browns we picked match the tiles around the bathtub and OMG, that's NOT a color I want to see everywhere! The Dude said "repaint it if it doesn't work out." Which was really nice of him.

( my schizoid bathroom for your amusement... )

If you're not interesting in my interior decorating, move along. Nothing to see, it's just potty humor. In fact, until G-Dude is done later this week, there's very little to see, indeed.
( for those who just have to look and read more, comment, etc... )

The first thing you should know about me is that I don't like the color pink.

There. Now that that's out of the way, I can go on to the subject of my post. I've had some mildew and mold that recurs in my bathroom and G-Dude is going to paint it beginning on Tuesday the 19th. I have to pick a color to paint the walls and the trim.

It's currently off-white, leaning toward the green ever so slightly, with a light green trim. So is my bedroom. Boring, I know. But here's the problem. The previous owner of the house was named Rose. So you can guess what her favorite color was. The sink is outside the tiny bathroom and is, thankfully, white. Country white, but white. Meanwhile, in the tiny bathroom, the floor is tiled in a mixture of pink and white little tile pieces. The toilet is pink (though I put a new seat on and it's bone). And even the tub is pink. Yup. A pink tub. As in Pepto-pink.

So given this set of colors, what color range can I paint the bathroom? Never fear, I'll have Miss E do the final color selection. But I don't know where to start. As I understand things, I shouldn't go too dark in such a tiny space. And no, you may NOT suggest pink as a color. Ack! Ack! I shall cough up a hairball in your general direction if you do.

Frog Out

This afternoon I was playing Nanook of Virginia and making comparisons.

Weatherdude cut wood yesterday and today he was using the splitter. I was issued a Very Strong Hint that I might go out and stack wood. Miss E was (finally) working on her latest novel study. January is SF and Fantasy month. Yes, I know. So many possibilities. But what does she choose? A Really Bad Novel. Based on a Disney cartoon, no less. *sigh* I hope that by not pressing the matter, she will someday discover the really good stuff that's all over the house. The Dude and I gave her half a dozen fantasy novels at her reading level for Xmas. She's at least interested in most of them, though "The Tale Of Despereaux" fell flat. I started to read it aloud and she did get interested. It's a great book for reading aloud and I was stunned by how good the narrative is. But I digress.

Miss E began work on her novel study project and I went outside like a dutiful Bollywood wife, having just enjoyed watching "Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi" the night before. Well, not really. Dutiful wives don't grumble to themselves about how it's cold and how this isn't the way they wanted to spend Sunday afternoon and how it was more of an edict than a request and how... But I digress.

The point is that I went out. Since the splitter is loud, it was impossible to hold even a one-sided conversation with The Dude. (The Dude misses working with my Dad who doesn't talk much.) So I had a running conversation with myself instead, an internal monologue. I do that a lot. As I stacked wood I talked about how cold it was. And how I wasn't really dressed to keep warm. And how cold my feet were. And how cold it must be on Mars, where David Levine is. And how much easier it was to stack wood without wearing an EVA suit. I wouldn't want to be stacking wood wearing an EVA suit. I wouldn't be stacking wood wearing an EVA suit because there isn't any wood on Mars. Where David Levine is. And that in a couple of weeks Virginia will warm up, as it typically does, the winters being fairly mild. But Mars, where David Levine is, won't ever warm up. If I were on Mars, I'd be cold the entire time. I'd never feel warm, no matter what I did. But I'll go inside and build a fire in the woodstove and that should warm me up. David Levine won't have a fire tonight. He doesn't have a woodpile either. This part of the woodpile is going to fall over because the pieces are so short. Especially if the cats keep walking on it. David Levine doesn't have a cat on Mars right now. That probably bums him out. It would bum me out. No cats and feeling cold all the time. But I'm still filled with envy. Even if I don't have to wear an EVA suit to stack wood.

Frog Out

David is posting his reports to lj and they're here on the MDRS site: http://desert.marssociety.org/mdrs/fs09/ Click on Crew 88.

In case you don't know, David Levine (davidlevine) is about to spend two weeks in the Mars Desert Research Station as part of Crew 88. See his entry on December 25th for the mission patch!

David helped out with the Anticipation Writers' Workshop last summer in Montreal. "Helped out" is an understatement. He graciously offered his time and he helped spread the word on his blog when we needed submissions before the deadline. He believes in the process of holding these Milford-style workshops at cons and is an excellent critiquer.

He's a Hugo winner, a graduate of Clarion West, and went to Walter Jon Williams' Taos Toolbox in 2008 (http://wwww.taostoolbox.com, accepting applications for 2010 now).

So far he's only posted about PREPARING for the trip and I'm engrossed in the story. I believe he enters the research station today with his fellow crew members.

Envy. I am made of so much envy.

Go join his blog to follow along.

Frog Out

Fourth Grade studies weather in science. Weatherdude took a day off of work after Thanksgiving and gave a talk to five classes in Miss E's school, about 100 kids, most of whom used to think weather was boring. Weatherdude is really good at making it sound interesting.

They continue, in Miss E's class, to review the weather forecasts. Yesterday evening, she had her father pull up the forecast because, apparently, we were expecting some snow. Weatherdude said it wouldn't amount to anything. Much to his surprise (his eyebrows were raised in my direction, no lie) she proceeded to critique his analysis of the weather conditions and to tell us both that school would be delayed in the morning by two hours. I scoffed maybe one hour, but hardly two, and sent her to bed.

Lo and behold, 1 inch of snow delayed school by two hours this morning. Miss E was quite pleased with her forecast and herself. Not to mention being pleased that her school day was shortened.

Frog Out

My instructor's yoga studio was flooded. I suspect burst pipes in our recent round of colder than normal temps. She's abandoning that location because it's the second time this has happened, that water flooded from the floor above to her studio on the second floor and then down to the ground floor. But it makes me sad. The building is an old feed store and has ambiance, windows, fresh air, light, hardwood floors and open timbers. Lots of memories in that room since Labor Day. Lots of private yoga sessions and girl-talk to pass the time. We were going to do a session or two here at Chez Walkabout Farm but haven't been able to synch our schedules yet. My leg has been bothering me again and I've backed off of the more intense workouts. Two weeks off and I'm back to working on stretching.

The Dude and I caught a cold over Xmas break. At first we thought Miss E gave it to us, but now we're not so sure because all five kittenz have had colds. The house is one big sneeze. They've been tossing this cold around since the boys arrived at the end of October. Because both Grady and Phineas insist on sitting on our heads while we sleep and sneeze in our faces on a regular basis, The Dude and I are suspicious of where we caught this thing. Phineas thinks everyone wants a coonskin nightcap and Grady thinks he's some sort of scarf. But Doodledorf Casey (the beige classic tabby) caught it and she was so miserable she was breathing open-mouthed. She managed to get a bronchial infection, apparently. So then we hauled all five to the vet. (The Dude took Doodle, Maralton took Grady, and I took the other three the next day.) All got shots. The vet seemed to think Goliath, Thomas, and PD would be immune at their age, so they were spared the trip. Doodle didn't improve much in 3 days, so yesterday I took her back and she had a steroid shot as well as the antibiotic shot they all got. She's a bit better today.

Anyway, The Dude and I have suffered headaches, vertigo, sore throats, and general crankiness. We're just no fun at all when we're sick. The Dude actually took sick days, that's how bad he felt and he's close to having laryngitis, too. Yesterday he was feeling better, though. He took the back off our front loading washer to discover where the mice were getting in and what they were up to. (Mice, in a house with eight cats!) How did we know we had mice? They pooped in the soap dispenser like it was their WC. He found two nests, at least one mousey body, and a whole lot of cat food. They've been stockpiling it. And we just thought the cats had good appetites.

Frog Out

I am now down to 14 3x5 cards for the story. This means only 2 scenes aren't realized in some way, shape, or form. So why haven't I written them yet?

Well, there's the fascinating flap about Realms of Fantasy doing a themed issue, for one thing. That's all over the blogs. Pick just about any blog, really. Chances are it's somewhere on your f-list right now.

And Jeff Ford (14theditch) posted a simply riveting writeup of shoveling his driveway (and no, I'm not being sarcastic, why do you ask?) as only Jeff can. http://14theditch.livejournal.com/327070.html

But there's also a new interview up at Marshall's Super-Sekrit Clubhouse (marshallpayne1). The very able interviewer was Jaime Lee Moyer (stillnotbored) and the interviewee is David Kopaska-Merkel (dreamnnightmare). David and Jaime are both poets and the discussion is lively and in depth. Go. Read. Enjoy. http://marshallpayne1.livejournal.com/102015.html.

With all of this, how am I supposed to get any writing done?

Frog Out

I originally laid out the scenes for the Gen Ship story in Scrivener 3x5 cards. I like using them. I like being able to reorder them by clicking and dragging. I haven't yet tried doing anything underneath, but I guess I could. Then I wrote out the 3x5 cards on, well, 3x5 cards. In four colors. With no rhyme or reason beyond using each color in order for what I thought was the story's order. There is no "Taos Toolbox Walter Jon Williams' each character or POV in a different color" system to this.

On the drive home from Nahant, the Dude invited me to give him the outline verbally. This was at some point when the weather was clear, the traffic relatively light, and the roads fairly dry. I got out my 3x5 cards. I had rearranged some of the scenes already but in talking it out, I realized I might need to do a bit more rearranging. The Dude felt I hadn't yet got my character wants sorted out, but I had. I then told him the old story synopsis and he agreed that was a very bad dead end of nothing and, by comparison, this was a full story arc.

Which led me to talk about my f'ing brilliant opening scene. The one I've edited to sheer brilliance over the past couple of years. The one that Sets It All Up. Only I had this niggling fear that it didn't do that anymore now that I had the arc and the wants sorted out. The Dude smiled at the idea that my scene is f'ing brilliant, but I tell you truly it is brilliant. F'ing brilliant. No scene that I've written has ever been more brilliant. I would say no scene ever written by anyone, but that would be, you know, egotistical of me. I'm sure there are several more brilliantly written scenes out there.

The upshot of voicing this concern was the realization that the f'ing brilliant scene is no longer the opening scene. That it must, in fact, be moved and modified. What was one of my Tiptree-esque openings where the reader was completely in the dark about where he/she was and would remain in the dark for most of the story has been changed. At least the way I'm seeing it now. It could change yet again. I have currently opted to focus on three competing sets of wants and about three puzzle issues and it currently seems better to not obfuscate matters further. Maybe. I reserve the right to change my mind yet again.

And today I'm shuffling my 3x5 cards yet again in light of my realization that the brilliantly-written first scene must be moved. It's windy outside. It's cold outside. But there's a bit of sun, a nice fire going and I have 3x5 cards to play with.

Frog Out

The following youtube video needs some introduction...or none, depending on your perspective. Recently Walter Jon Williams blogged this article: http://www.salemnews.com/punews/local_story_313233045.html?keyword=secondarystory. Go take a look. The unapproved use of the word "meep" may well result in your suspension. While I understand that such a thing could escalate beyond an administration's ability to control it, the promised punishment seems extreme, imo. Back in the day, the random use of "meep" would have been something we did in the halls of my own high school. It would be a branding of who was in the know and who wasn't. And had the administration forbidden it, we would have continued to "meep" anyway, risking suspension. Well, the art room crowd would have. The college-bound might have hesitated, those folks worried about getting into the right school. My Chorale director probably would have included the following in one of our concerts, as a pre-meditated, fully authorized, thumb your nose, use of "meep."



Frog Out

It's a book release and if you click through, the entire book is available on the preview. Have a hanky ready. Seriously.

Press Release from Wolftree Press: 
Whiston Spirn Publications is proud to announce the launch of Eloise Tuell's latest book, Queen of Day, Queen of Night: The History of Mrs. Gaines, in time for Christmas. Eagerly awaited by all fans of the author's first book (Meet Our Cats, Blurb 2008), the sequel features the extraordinary cat and Queen, Mrs. Gaines. This story of life and death, of mousy adventures and successors to the throne, chronicles the life of Mrs. Gaines and sets the scene for future volumes in the series. A tribute to Mrs. Gaines and a product of the love she engendered, this heart-warming book will appeal to cat lovers of all ages and to anyone whose heart can be moved by the inspiring story of this beloved pet.

ETA: If you do preview the book, please add a comment on the blurb.com website. Thanks!

Miss E's latest book "Queen of Day, Queen of Night: A History of Mrs. Gaines" is set to release on Christmas Day. Check back here for a link to the preview where you can see the contents. Miss E will be reading from her new book on Sunday, December 27, 2009 in Nahant, Mass, in a private residence. Inquire in comments or by email if you're in the area and wish to attend as it's invitation-only.

In the meantime, to celebrate the release of her second book, Miss E has authorized a preview of the full contents of her first book "Meet Our Cats" (2008) on the blurb.com website. Check out the chapter on Rainbow Tom and you'll know why I think he's a dangerous regent. Those jolly exteriors can hide a dark soul.

So I was reading my friend Marshall's essay on Story (http://marshallpayne1.livejournal.com/99255.html) the other day and it got me to thinking. For Marshall, a good story begins with character, not worldbuilding, not an idea, not technique. He goes on to describe such a story, in general. And yes, what he describes sounds like a good story.

For me, the very reason I write genre fiction is because of the ideas and the worldbuilding. Which is not a slam at Marshall in any way. I began, recently, to see short stories as a mix of worldbuilding, plot and characterization. Emphasize one and the other two had to be scaled back. I was noticing that in short-shorts, writers were telling me that they used very limited visuals, such as a single room, or in one case, a teapot. Or one might rely on the reader's knowledge of tropes and/or the writer's world in order to scale back on the worldbuilding. The reader has to do some of the work.

And, as always, I was trying to figure out what was wrong with my own writing-in-progress because something was stopping me in certain stories, such as the gen ship story. And along with talking to The Dude about it, I also emailed frostokovich and said that I knew I had characters, conflict, subtext, style and worldbuilding. And something was still wrong in several WIP and my editor self couldn't put my finger on it. I thought my cues to the reader might be wrong. Or something else about the meta aspects of the story.

And frostokovich responded that yes, I had my characters and my worldbuilding down. That if he had to point to something, he might suggest that I focus on desire. That what my characters wanted/needed was getting muddled by the end of the story. That I didn't seem to lack it at the start of the story. Just that somewhere in the middle it gets lost and when my story works it's because I've picked up that thread again. And The Dude said he was spot on.

And a lightbulb went on. Click. Desire could mean a lot of things, some big, some little. If I had paid Frost a dollar for every time he told me about desire driving a story, he'd be like a bazillionaire by now (with compounding, of course). 'Cause, like, Frost and I have been emailing back and forth about writing for a very long time (He taught at my Clarion in 1996).

And then I thought about how this made perfect sense, that in the gen ship story, my character is busy opening hatches, or trying to, and she (and I) have no idea why she's doing this. And that was why the whole scene went flat on me and I couldn't move forward. I could skip over it and outline the scenes that follow it, but again, most of them are a bit vague because I still haven't settled in my head what's driving the characters to do what they're doing.

And it also makes sense in terms of the mouse king, where I need to edit down to the desire and keep it focused through to the end, carving away the unnecessary bits. Which is what I was told to do two years ago and I misinterpreted that to mean 'cut out all the scenes that don't involve character y.'

And I was excited. Epiphany moment. So I babbled about it to klingonguy who was nice enough to listen and then told me an anecdote about another writer having a similar realization after hearing the same thing over and over and wow, it wasn't just me.

And I thought to myself, gee, why didn't they mention desire at Taos Toolbox? You would think Connie Willis and Walter Jon Williams would know all about this desire thing. So I pulled out my notebook and read my notes.

"July 16, 2007 [first lecture of the second week, a Monday] WJW Lecture on Character," my notes read.

"The single most important thing you can do for your character is tell us what your character wants."

Doh.

Desire in a single sentence explanation.

My notes go on: "Story is 1) how he gets what he wants; 2) how he doesn't get what he wants; 3) how it changes." And it went on from there, in wonderful detail.

Gee, I guess we did talk about this at Taos Toolbox (http://www.taostoolbox.com now accepting applications, btw). I just wasn't ready to hear and understand what Walter and Connie were saying.

Now that I've had this sudden insight into things that I've been told over and over, it's up to me to get it internalized and apply it. And I think that's why I agree with both John Kessel's point and Greg Frost's comment on Marshall's post that you can write stories for a number of years, publish them even, and still not have figured out what makes a good story. It doesn't mean you're always writing crap. It means that when you write a good one and an editor recognizes it as good, you don't know how to do it again with another story, except by trial and error. Me, I'd like to be doing it on purpose as much as possible.

'Scuse me while I go and make sure I know what my character wants so I can tell the reader.

Frog Out

That's a photo of me, taken by kellyoyo at Taos Toolbox in 2007. Don't I look happy? I think I had a grin on my face for two weeks straight. Ok, that's not quite true. I was looking pretty grim when my two pieces of writing were up for critique, but I always react that way to the crit circle.

Taos Toolbox, http://www.taostoolbox.com is a two-week workshop in NM, led by Walter Jon Williams and this upcoming year, Nancy Kress. In 2007, it was co-led by Connie Willis, in 2008 by Kelly Link. The focus is on novels, but when I went I was writing short stories exclusively. It didn't matter, because both leaders can write short stories/novellas as well as novels. They understand storytelling, which knows no length.

You don't have to have been to Clarion or Odyssey or taken any writing classes to apply. You may be self-taught or have worked with online critique groups such as OWW. You may never have published, or maybe you have. Don't worry about that. Walter and Nancy will know if you're the right fit for the group they're putting together. I was amazed when I looked back at how well my group had been put together in every detail, down to rooming assignments. We were a mixed bag of ages, but all pretty much at the same level, needing a push to reach the next level. Life always intervenes, but I can say that most of my group *has* reached a higher level since TT, including myself. I credit my Analog sale to TT. I didn't workshop the story there, but what I learned helped me understand the pro critiques I had received at LAConIV. I came home, fixed the story and sent it out, about two months later.

Go ahead and send Walter a sample of your best work. Best money I ever spent.

Frog Out

As promised, early in November...

In order of arrival:
Mrs Gaines (now deceased), the Queen
PD, a guard cat, 12 years old
Rainbow Tom, the Regent, almost 6 years old
Goliath, a guard cat, 13 years old

Kittenz:
Shy Ozzie (girl)
Doodledorf Casey (girl)
Phineas (boy)
Ferb (boy)
Grady (shy boy)

What's amazing is how distinctive the kitten personalities are, even at 6 months old. And, as The Dude says, not a dud in the bunch. Each one has his/her charms and foibles. Thank goodness for living in the country and in a fairly open house plan. Eight cats is not something you want to try in a more limited living space. All of them can now go outdoors...pity the weather's getting colder already.

( Lots of kitten spam behind this cut... )

The holidays are sneaking up on me. Aieeee!

I drifted around the past week after NaNo was finished. Well, not quite. I finished up several household things that needed doing, tax things, taking people to airports and doctors, etc. It was truly weird not having the pressure of generating word count hanging over my head.

I took stock of my writing inventory, listing out what's done and what's not done and where the issues might be in finishing some of it. I've segregated out the two NaNo pieces that are meant to be longer. And (drum roll), I've segregated out the faery stories into a separate Scrivener file. There are now four of them. I feel ready to tackle the Mouse King again, get that into its final shape. That's a good intro story that leads to And From His Lips, which leads to The Mouse King's Revenge (drafted this NaNo). The fourth story is from earlier and is a story I began years ago but never finished. I had it in the NaNo pile this year, but my drafts went in other directions.

While in NaNo, I discovered more about the faery stories and family structures, naming conventions, etc. The Dude helped me get LOTS of weather names. Rebecca may be pleased to learn that one of the fairies is named "Virga." And somewhere in all of this is a noodling idea that SunDog will have his own story, too. And Blossom will need another one as well. Now there's a pair that would have interesting conversations. Hmmmm.

Frog Out

There is nothing quite like a Lipizzan. They are incredibly bright and highly attuned to humans. Aliens in horseskins that intersect with our physical plane. Something like that. Hearsay has it that Anne McCaffrey's dragons with their swirling eyes were based on Lipizzans.

If you know dressage riders, please pass along that some of the most wonderful horses on this planet (no, I'm not prejudiced, why do you ask?) are up for sale: Judith Tarr's Dancing Horse Farm's Ephiny, Tia, and Khep. If you've followed the Horse Camp posts, you've read about them. I've watched Ephiny and Tia grow up. They're young and they'll be amazing horses when they're mature, they have the raw material to be top-level dressage horses. Or just beloved riding horses. Khep is older and is a wonderful ring and trail horse needing a good rider, which I'm not.

The details and some photos are here: http://dancinghorse.livejournal.com/231250.html.

Drop by and drool. And then tell all your friends.

Frog Out

Ok, so I'm sure that all of my f-list that did NaNo for the past 30 days are now wondering what to do with those words they generated. Someone pointed to Dean Wesley Smith's blog where he suggested putting the ms. in an envelope and mailing it off immediately. That might seem a bit premature, but the sentiment is right. Don't put it in a drawer.

And here's what you should do instead of putting that ms. in a drawer. Go through it once, twice, or no times at all, and then stuff some part of it in an envelope and mail it off to Walter Jon Williams. That's right. Walter wants to read it. His blog says so http://walterjonwilliams.blogspot.com/2009/11/taos-toolbox.html. I say so.

It's December 1st and Taos Toolbox has opened for submissions. http://www.taostoolbox.com for details and the PO box to send your excerpt to.

TT is two weeks with a group of about 15 other yeoman writers in the beautiful (and delightfully cool) Taos Ski Valley. You will be inspired. You will network. You will be high on the lack of oxygen, the hot tub, the creative conversations pinging off each other. It's different from Odyssey or Clarion, but has some similarities, too. You'll critique two pieces of writing by each member of the group. You'll learn a lot about ways to write and ways to tell stories.

Best money I ever spent and I've threatened to go back and do it again. Contact me if you want more details. I'll go on and on about it.

But srsly, dudes and dudettes. Put that NaNo ms. to good use by stuffing it in an envelope and sending it to Walter. Don't let it just sit there gathering dust. And if you didn't do NaNo? That's ok. Walter doesn't insist it be a NaNo ms. Any piece of writing will work.

Frog Out

:::drum roll::: (Scrivener and Word have differences of opinion. Quick insert another 15 words.)

We are finished. We are done. My cheering section was simply amazing, in and out of livejournal.

I officially finished. I have story drafts to edit, from this year and from last year. I discovered things about myself and about process. I learned that I could generate one heck of a lot of words when I had this strong image of where I was going and what I was doing and wasn't paying any attention to an editor. I could not have done this last year, when, in fact, I generated 25k and 3 story drafts.

The loot:

1. Cumin's story is in full rough draft at 11k. His fans will heave a sigh of relief. (Now it would help if I edited the Mouse King into its final version first, since that story predates Cumin's.)
2. I finished a fairy tale that was based on some feelings I had about 4 years ago. I finally settled on an arc for it.
3. I drafted a goofy middle grade piece about our cats. I have no idea where I'm going with that. Richard III meets Walkabout Farm.
4. I drafted a romance that I suspect could be ebook length, something I've never done before. It feels very unfleshed out and unfinished at 12k, unlike most of my stories. It was fun writing without worldbuilding for a change.
5. I drafted a longer fantasy piece that may also be appropriate for an ebook market. At 13k, it feels as if I could do a lot more with it.
6. Miscellaneous dribs and drabs that never amounted to something from my notes. False starts.

What really boggles the Oz mind is the idea that I might be able to generate content at ebook length, sustain an idea and work it through to its conclusion.

Frog Out...Stone Cold

49,898...about 150 words to go for cushioning.

Actually, I've reached a logical stopping point, but as I never had a discussion that needed to be had, when I go back and find a way for the characters to discuss it, I should cross the magic number of words.

Frog Out

49,050. Cooking with gas.

And to all those people whose word counts I never understood, tonight I understand why you might post them. I'm in a race against myself now. Myself and the validation clock.

Frog Out

Family is chatting. Kittenz that need to go to bed with Miss E. People who say I should have done this in the morning when I had a client meeting and couldn't. People who ask how it's going when my head is with some pirates on some uncharted island. I stop to talk about my pet hobbyhorses. Lose time. I stop to recharge a bit. I'm told that if I'd just copied and pasted those IM conversations into my drafts from two weeks ago, I'd be done by now. I give The Dude "The Look" as in, that's so not funny. Now the background is of dishwashing and more chatter about cat toys from Miss E, who has said five minutes ago that I'm doing a good job. She also checked my NaNo buddies list and was impressed that almost all have already crossed the finish line. Serious sneezing accompanies my attempt to figure out what the next scene looks like. Not my sneezing. Not cat sneezes. And The Dude has begun doing yoga about five feet away from me. At least that's a quiet activity. Except for the heavy breathing part.

Oops. This is taking too long. And I'm getting tired. I normally go to bed about 9pm. Not tonight, I guess.

48,572 and typing...

Frog Out

Word count: 47,775 at 3pm. I have family obligations that will take me offline for 3+ hours, but after that, I shall be back at it, trying for that brass ring. I have a fun story to tell and I think that will carry me through. Another update later tonight...

Frog Out

I was able to crunch out another 5k of unadulterated drivel on the drive south today before my battery gave out. My word count is still behind, at 43k and change, but OMG, this thing is doable. With 2 days to go, more than 50 hours left, I have 6.6k still to write. What I also have is 2 stories in draft still, which can easily absorb that word count. What I have learned is that I could do this NaNo thing, I really could. Last year, I couldn't. This year I could. It would be a shame to be so close and not complete the task.

Frog Out

PS Grey days are best for typing in a car. Sunny days with sun in your face, not so much.

I do want to start some part of this now. Can't wait. (Which means I'm procrastinating NaNo, but I'm still going to do it.)

I would like to thank people who have provided fundamental inspiration. They don't necessarily know what they've done, they didn't necessarily mean to do it. Doesn't matter. It's not about writing, so those of you who inspire my writing are still, and always, my writing buddies and my writing inspiration and people I love dearly. I'm not going to try to list those.

First up: valverdi. Don't try to go see her LJ. She doesn't post. But some of you know who she is. She remains one of my important guiding lights because where she's going, I seem to be following.

Second up: scottedelman for reasons of a discussion we had at Capclave. Another rock in my life, not because he's doing it on purpose, but because he's a living example. Go read the title for his LJ. "Ever Tried. Ever Failed. No Matter. Try Again. Fail Again. Fail Better." I'm starting to get that. And again, for me right now, it's not a writing thing.

Third up: Luc Reid's willpowerengine. Luc has been there, done that. These posts are sometimes behind where I am, sometimes ahead. But they make me think and they provide that incentive to keep going.

Fourth up: kellyoyo and planetalyx for 2 years of change and maintaining change and supporting each other through it all.

These five are proof positive that change is possible. That even though I've been there and done that, I should try to do it again. And again. Until I internalize change.

Frog Out

Probably only amazes me, though.

36k, which is definitely behind the count, but not impossibly so. Philcon was a bust this year for writing. Last year I did really well, finished a story. But this year I was 'on stage' and that seemed to occupy my time pretty thoroughly. Tom Doyle wasn't all that helpful, either. He did a great job of creating distractions from time to time. Others are also to blame.

The lack of writing created a burst of writing on Wednesday during the drive to Boston. 5100 words written before my battery died and I could have kept going. We were only at the Tappan Zee Bridge, halfway in terms of time on the road. A new story came pouring out of me. Alas, I'm now having trouble grabbing at the energy of that story again. I don't really want it to be one of my 'broken' drafts that never gets finished.

I had no idea I could pour out that many words in one 'sitting.' I'll have to do it again on the way home to have a shot at the brass ring of 50k of fiction to be edited later.

Learning things, I am. Next up, teaching my editor to edit. But as for the blog, I have new and different things to post about: kittenz and some personal journey stuff and yes, I shall go back to talking about chickens at some point. I think the next time I drive to a con, I'll post an egg sale. I was only able to shed 3 dozen at Philcon and another 3 here in Boston. There are still about 7 dozen in the fridge at home.

Frog Out

Yes, apparently you can have two Ozzes in one physical location without spontaneous combustion. Here I (Oz Drummond) am with my counterpart (Oz Fontecchio) who wanted to know what "Oz" is short for in a woman's name. Why, it's short for "Osbert" of course!

Vickie Janssen (oracne) thought the idea was so funny that she needed to take a pic. Thanks, Vickie!

In another of the continuing series of smashing interviews in the Super-Sekrit Clubhouse, marshallpayne1 has just released an interview with Dr. John Kessel, Nebula winner twice over. Drop on by and leave a comment, would you? Especially if you've ever had him as an instructor or writer in residence. http://marshallpayne1.livejournal.com/96692.html

John co-taught my final two weeks at Clarion with Jim Kelly in :::cough, cough::: 1996, so I'm partial, but I think he's a brilliant writer. But don't take my word for it. ABC dramatized one of his stories in "Masters of Science Fiction" a year or so back and he's traveled all over as an honored guest.

Marshall's interviews always draw something special out about process or the field. All you have to do is go back and read a few: Mike Allen, Jim Kelly, Greg Frost, all of them, in fact. So drop in, put your feet up. The drinks and munchies are free and you're always welcome in the clubhouse. Until we kick you out.

Frog Out