Month: May 2009

I’d prefer not to think of this as a whining post. I’d prefer to think of this as an “intellectual examination of the authoring process.” Look, I’m an English professor. I have a license to euphemism!

I read a lot of people who are working on finding an agent, and I find myself thinking about playing the game as a writer. Writers send out queries to agents, agents read and make their subjective judgment, and rejections, partials, fulls, and even occasionally successes come from there. That’s pretty much the process.

Things get weird on the writer’s side because of

1. Entitlement
2. Insecurity
3. Anger and bitterness
4. Patience

Things get weird on the agent’s side because

1. Writers don’t understand that an agent’s call is also subjective.
2. Writers are sometimes impolite.
3. Writers are unprofessional in representing their image.

It sounds like I can only find fault with the writer. Is that the case? Is this to say when you are looking for an agent that an agent is never unprofessional? No, it’s not, although I can’t understand why an author wouldn’t be happy to have found that out about the agent right away, so they can move on.

Continue reading “Discomfited Part One”

Tonight’s two scenes were all about the elves. The exiled elf and her human grad student flunkies were introduced. I didn’t know what to expect from Tom and Stan, but I know them now.

Sigfried and Sigurda established themselves at Luther. I predict a quite unpleasant scene between Quartz and Sigfried soon. They have romantic history.

Tomorrow! Now that I am (finally!) done with grades, finals, and ELA graduation, and I’m almost done with the summer staffing I need to do, I am going to take a little time off this week, since I start the curriculum race on Monday.

Tomorrow morning is going to be ALL about writing until noon, when I go into work. I hope to make up a lot of words then. Similarly, I will have Russian lessons Friday morning, and then ALL WRITING until I pick Bryon up at 3:30. I hope this helps me get some good, less sketchy stuff.

Although I have no trouble with sketchy. Every story must start somewhere, and I’m liking the plot.

25930 / 90000 words. 29% done!

12469 / 50000 words. 25% done!

8500 words behind or 2208 per day

Catherine

Right. Today I was in the mood to shore up some travel arrangements. So…

I have made arrangements for our accommodations for Nordic Fest Friday night. I am currently planning on staying in the dorms of Luther College, so I can get a look round the place, for you know, the book. That’ll be the 23 and 24 of July.

And…I’ve booked my World Fantasy plane ticket to San Jose, arriving Thursday, leaving Sunday. I’ve done everything I can. I’m looking forward to seeing so many of you there.

On a personal note, I need to call the brother-in-law about the Disney trip. Probably tonight. I predict Christmas travel for that one.

I suppose I will have time tonight to be a writer instead of an author, as the last few posts have indicated.

Tomorrow night is a Sarah Prineas and Dori Butler Magic Thief: Lost! gig at Praire Lights! I’m looking forward to it, especially after a couple of hours of directing Kirkwood open house visitors through the language lab.

Catherine

Instead of writing tonight, I put together the postcards I’ll be using for Sister Night, Sister Moon promos at conventions. Here’s the front:

This image is by the very talented Catrina Horsfield. I didn’t use this version with text. I like it better, but it’s harder to read:

Finally, on the back of the postcard is the cover of Needles and Bones, the anthology. Deena Fisher did the cover art for this.

Enjoy all the pretty pictures!

It’s a goals-oriented day here in Professorland, mostly because we’re into finals week, so excuse the perfunctory nature of the post.

Here’s this week’s Blood is Thicker than Water.

And I’ve sent that handout out to the print shop for Your Friend Academia.

***

You may have noticed that Things that Go Bump in the Night is out at Drollerie Press.

Please remember that Sister Night, Sister Moon has been moved out of there! You can buy it anyway. I’ve seen some of the stories, and I think you’ll like it, especially if you are of an urban fantasy persuasion.

Nope, I’m in Needles and Bones, and the word is that it’s supposed to be out at the end of the week. So, yes, we’re still waiting.

Back to it. Hope you are all well.

Writer’s wisdom at this stage in one’s career: Not meant in anyway pessimistically, but assume the answer is no. When it is yes, be delightfully surprised.

Troll stuff: Wrote and wrote and wrote tonight. Mostly about trolls turned to stone, and younger troll plans. Hey, I’m only at 6438 words behind where I should be! If only I were still on steroids!

24766 / 90000 words. 28% done!

Count for MayNo

11305 / 50000 words. 23% done!

That’s a wrap for tonight.

Catherine

Mark tells me that we changed servers over the weekend, and as a result, everything from May 8th onward is gone from Writer Tamago. Temporarily, or permanently, I can not say.

However, live journal still has all those posts, so this is a cheat until if and when the posts return.

Now, I’ll go adjust my anthology page again, because of the Drollerie changes.

In other news, the Wonder Woman paper for Wiscon is off, due to a clerical error. That explains why I hadn’t heard, and actually, I’m okay with that, because it means that I’m really about one day away from being ready for Wiscon, instead of one week away at a very busy time of year. I’ll take it.

Catherine

Earlier a lightening storm kept me from writing until the zapping stopped. Forward march! I finished the Manuel and Wort scene, added substantial wordage, and Mexican bakery terminology to introduce Perdita, and looked over the godmother introduction and the adult troll examination of the barrier. That’s a lot of progress in revision, if not actual verbage.

Here’s hoping for some more movement forward this weekend. And now, some filler sentences to get this entry to show the bars!

22623 / 90000 words. 25% done!

9162 / 50000 words. 18% done!

That’s better.

I didn’t get my 1708. I did write about 2100, but I whacked about 600. It’s all good. It’s not so much about the word count, but it’s about the story coming together.

I wrote three scenes tonight: Manuel’s intro, Professor Quartz’s intro, and more to develop Sigurda and Sigfried. That one’s rough, but it did help me explore character.

I also started Manuel meeting Wort, but I just pooped out. Still, most of the stuff I wrote tonight is usable, and is more about the characters. It will need revision, but I’m okay with the forward movement.

Here’s the count.

22094 / 90000 words. 25% done!

8633 / 50000 words. 17% done!

Little Dorrit, here I come!

Catherine

Okay, Viable Paradise, I have the money for you. The college awarded me my Professional Development funding for the workshop. Go, Kirkwood!

Of course, now the trick is to get into you, Viable Paradise. If I don’t, the college gets the money back, and I’ll come up with another purpose for it. I’ll probably use it to pay for my plane ticket to Viet Nam in two years. It’s all good. The world is my oyster with several kinds of sauce.

However, I’d like to use it for you. If you can see your way clear, I’ll see you in Martha’s Vineyard. Where there are clams instead of oysters…

Maybe I should be talking to karma. Nevertheless, cross your fingers for me. Toes, whatever.

Catherine