Month: July 2009

I know, I promised no more spam, but bear with.

World Con-going writing peeps, this is for you. Apparently there was a SNAFU with writing workshop registration, and people are being asked to announce the troubleshooting instructions.

This has been an Anticipation 2009 announcement, brought to you by writers who care for your revision process.

Catherine

And this entry is the last of three that I wanted to get done today. I’ll try to be quieter tomorrow.

***

As I mentioned last night, I’ve been reflecting on the troll novel. Right now, I’m looking at the word count by the end of chapter 5 to be roughly 22K. At this point, the story is just getting started.

I think it would be possible for me to ramp up the action and description in what I first thought of as part 1 of the story to 60K, which is a respectable size, especially as I imagine this will be marketed as a YA book (the hero is around 16. It seems inevitable in today’s market that will happen).

As such, I think my plans have shifted. My current goal is still have the book finished before January, 2010, if not sooner. I will finish part one, give it another rewrite, and send THE WHOLE BOOK out to Team Rewrite for feedback.

While that’s happening, I’ll write the werewolf thing I have going on, and then, after integrating reader comments and one final pass, I will start circulating this puppy. I have an agent waiting for pages, so I’ll feel better when I send him some. I’m practicing patience because I want to send him good pages.

After I’ve polished and am circulating the werewolf thing, mama’s gonna settle down for some sewing. Because that muse hates me right now. 🙂

That’s where we’re at. I’ve been pounding away on an important scene for the last two days, and have the shape of it ready, if not the ornamentation. I should have chapter five done by the end of the week if all goes well.

That was mostly for me. Still, I thought you might be interested.

Catherine

Because Ambika was frightened of Vyasa when he visited her, and she closed her eyes, the son she gave birth to was blind. This is bad news in ancient Indian culture, because even though Dhrtarastra is the oldest of the children of Vyasa, he cannot rule because of his imperfection.

Therefore, the kingship goes to the second brother Pandu, whose name means pale, because his mother paled upon seeing Vyasa. No, really.

Pandu does something stupid in a hunting encounter, and is cursed to not lie with his wives and have children. Ergo, Pandu cannot have heirs to the throne and he is banished to the mountains with his two wives to the mountains. In spite of his imperfections Dhrtarastra becomes king. We’ll come back to Pandu and his wives next entry.

Because Dhrtarastra is king, he needs to marry. He chooses Gandhari. She finds out that her husband is blind, and in a strange but mythological maneuver, she decides she can’t be higher than her husband and binds her own eyes forever. Some Indian mythologists think this is the ultimate act of passive-aggression.

Pandu and his wives begin to have children (um…yes, that should be impossible, but wait for part 2), and Gandhari becomes jealous. Gandhari, you see, has been pregnant for a year, well before the first child of Pandu was born, and still her children will not come. Therefore, Gandhari does what any impatient mother would do: she has her maid hit her belly with a steel rod. She gives birth to an iron ball. Needless to say, this is disappointing.

However, Vyasa, wise old man that he is, tells the nurse made to break the ball into a hundred pieces, and put each piece in a vat of water. The pieces eventually turn into 100 brothers, know collectively as the Kauravas. Imagine the family reunions.

The most important of the 100 brothers for the story of the Mahabharata are the oldest two–Duryodhana the eldest, and Duhsasana. The Kauravas hate the Pandavas, who we will meet next time.

First up today, for a good cause!

That’s what Jim Hines does. He advocates, and he auctions arcs. And you know you want it.

***

I had the good fortune to receive a copy of the August, 2009 Realms of Fantasy, also known as the resurrection issue. Some of you may have noted the kerfluffle in the field when Realms was canceled. Internet outcry was so loud that Warren Lapine of Tir Na Nog Press jumped in to save the day.

The August issue is solid. Inside its covers, you’ll find reviews of games, movies, and books. There’s an article by SatyrPhil Brucato called Folkroots, which analyzes music and rhythm in the manner of an academic. Michael Hague is featured in a gallery overview authored by Karen Huber. Some of Hague’s fairy tale interpretations capture the essence of the tale while modernizing it. I find his photo of the Owl and the Pussycat one that keeps pulling me in.

A large component of Realms is devoted to fiction, and Realms continues to deliver memorable, technically brilliant stories. Tanith Lee’s Our Lady of Scarlet is a lyrical story that pulls us in with rhythmic words and poetic phrases, a macabre tale of death that conjures Poe. Ian Creasey frontlines the moral dilemma in Digging for Paradise, with an obvious and charismatic Machiavellian upfront, and a less-than-certain narrator unsure of his intentions and how to deal with them. The psychology is real. Bruce Holland Rogers Well and Truly Broken paints the woods in vibrant colors.

For me, the story that stands out in the collection is Healing Benjamin by Dennis Danvers. Danvers focuses on ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. The narrator resurrects his cat Ben accidentally when he is a teenager. The story focuses on Ben’s longevity, and the narrator’s power in juxtaposition to his love for a woman. It is a personable story with pop culture references that flavor, but do not overwhelm, and the emotions between narrator, love interest, and cat are genuine. It was easy to fall into this story.

Overall, I would say that Realms of Fantasy has returned, and is as strong as ever. I look forward to future issues and excellent stories.

Catherine

The Drollerie Blog Tour returns! Last March, I had the pleasure of hosting Meredith Holmes . Next Monday, Meredith returns with a write up about summer. Look forward to it.

Meanwhile, I’ll skip on over to Heather Ingemar’s blog, if you want to find me.

***

On the horizon: I’ve received my free copy of Realms of Fantasy for August. Expect a review. Tomorrow.

AND

some announcements about the troll story. Are you surprised that it’s turning out to be longer than I supposed? That means some modification of plans for it. Stay tuned, beta readers. It actually means you may get the whole thing rather than just part one, because part one may be the whole thing.

Catherine

This is cross-posted from my personal journal, so I’m sorry some of you are getting this in stereo. I thought there would be some curious friends here as well…

FYI, new Blood is Thicker than Water is up!

***

Well, that was a fine weekend.

As many of you may know, I decided to have my own family reunion this weekend. NOT with my family, which many of you know I have discarded, but with my family of choice. There’s been a lot of getting ready and prepping for a big cookout which we had Saturday night, but it was so worth it.

Special shout outs to: Dan for working his fingers to the bone grilling veggies and meat; Diana who, along with Bryon, toted most of the stuff for the picnic around with me; and the English department office assistant Lorna, who lent me all sorts of stuff that made the cookout possible.

It was the best family reunion that I’ve ever been to, and that includes any put on by Bryon’s family. As you choose friends, sometimes those choices are made on commonality, which means we have things to talk about. I was so pleased to see so many interesting people I know talking to other interesting people I know. About 40 people attended.

People were super nice to me. Everyone seemed to know that giving up my biological family was a tough decision, and most folks were determined to see that I had a good time. I bounced around, and I was pretty shot yesterday, but I was in my element. I talked to everyone there, and tried to have some quality interaction.

People are also enthused about doing it again. At this point, I think the incarnation will be a cookout again, with the addition of a gift game (often done at family Christmas parties.) And, of course, if you’re in town, let me know. We’re hoping for some long lost relatives next year.

I’ll admit (emo alert!) I was a little sad when I was driving back at 10:30. It did make me think that this was what families should be like, and mine isn’t. All those people loved seeing each other and meeting each other. Their enjoyment of each other, and me, was palpable. I am very glad I traded my old family in for a new model, but I think it’s only natural to feel sad for them, and what they’re missing. Not just me, but the whole package.

Thank you all, chosen family, for celebrating with me, and appreciating me for who I am. Remember, no one parties like people in recovery!

Catherine

Well, I’m getting ready for my fake family reunion, with my family of choice, so today has been about buying a massive amount of meat, and cleaning my house. Because of that, I have no sage words of wisdom, so I’m cheating, and sharing some of Renee Sweet’s sage words.

Coaxing the Story from Renee Sweet’s journal.

See you in a couple of days.

Catherine

ETA: Really, this is all tongue-in-cheek. I have no secret agenda that I wish to inflict upon other writers, or some secret superiority that I’m suggesting with any of these speculations.

***

It’s the last day of Bryon’s chem guy workshop, and his last workshop for the summer. Getting away to the curriculum bunker clearly worked for me, and after completing my real world tasks, I’ve turned out to have a mini-vacation. During this one, I’ve been reading, writing, AND exercising. For the first vacation in quite some time, I bought exercise gear with me and used the hotel’s work out room. Not skinny (did I tell you I went to my favorite college pizza place for lunch yesterday? Mmm, whole wheat crust and super cheese poundage!)

Today I’m sitting in the Caribou Coffee in the middle of campus, plugged into a wall, writing. Scrivener is open, and I’m warming up by writing to all of you. I *look* like a writer, but the actuality is that, until I stop dinking around on the Internet, I’m a poser.

***

Which makes me think about this: do you have to work with your text every day to be a writer? Well, no. There are days when your subconscious needs to do some work. It does seem to be a question of balance, however. And so, here are some questions I think about sometimes.

Do you write more than you dink on the internet? Do you revise more than you think about writing? Do you have confidence enough to actually put crap on paper (and I mean crap not in the sense of things, but crap in the sense of stinky prose.) , or are you afraid of the blank screen?

Do you not only talk to other people about your writing, but also let others see it, give you their opinions, and not take them personally? Are you okay with revising your writing if the observations are reasonable? Are you capable of taking or leaving information, because in the end it’s your story and your call?

Would you rather Wii than write? And do you write, in spite of the fact that you’d rather Wii? Are you afraid to cut words, or are you capable of looking at the story holistically? Could you start over if someone told you it was crap, and it was?

Do you send your work out? Do you pick yourself up after rejection? In the end, do you find personal satisfaction in your work, regardless of those rejections?

How do you feel about butt in chair? How do you feel about ramen as a life style? Or, if you choose to work, how do you feel about kissing your free time good bye? Will giving these things up to write something make you satisfied, or do you just like thinking about sunglasses and autographs?

Would you rather critique, work on your web page, play Wii, or dink around on the Internet rather than get back to the manuscript? Is being thought of as a writer cooler, than, you know, writing?

Can you live without writing? Does writing make you feel better at the end of the day? About being alive? Would you rather avoid the bad vibes of sending work out? Or do you want to get battle scars to cherish?

Do you day dream about your break? Do you hope it will come with your first manuscript?

Do you know that you are a writing genius, better than all other writers in the world? Do you know that your writing sucks, and you wonder why you do it? Do you have both of these ideas in your head at the same time? Are you neurotic enough to write?

***

I have no answers to these. You could be a writer or a poser, based on any answer, because there are no right answers. My insecurity is as tiny as a mustard seed and as vast as a Midwestern landscape.

Which might, in the end, make me a writer. But if I were a poser, I would never tell you. 🙂

Catherine

ETA: Today, not a poser. Chapter 4 is done for this go round.

Back in the saddle with today’s two scenes of the troll story. Here’s today’s clip:

Tom flung the card on the table. “Far be it for me to suggest that the business card isn’t legit, but doesn’t everyone know the devil uses Nick Scratch as an alias. I mean, if this really were the Prince of Darkness, couldn’t he have come up with a better pseudonym?”

Quartz picked up the card. There it was, the infernal magic she couldn’t pin down early. “It’s not a question of pseudonyms, Tom. Your choices are often made for you when you are a character in a story.”

“Huh?”

“Nick Scratch is what the locals call him. Or Old Nick. I don’t imagine the devil could walk into a Norwegian town and do anything else.”

That scene actually wrote itself pretty easy, which felt good. Later, I finish the chapter up with Sigfried and Sigurda talking to Janetta. Looking forward to writing that one.

Here’s the scene count. Notice we’re one scene less, as I combined a couple of Manuel’s scenes.

20 / 52 words. 38% done!

This owly-eyed post brought to you by the completion of ELA Curriculum time lines and reading lists.

Now, we just gotta get the rest of the L1 and grammar materials in, neither of which are my responsibility. The copy shop is gonna get hit hard next week too.

So, the rest of work should manage to stay at work now. Matters like cleaning and organizing my office, assembling curriculum packets, norming tests, rewriting the coordinator’s manual, and getting ready for fall should take care of the rest of the summer.

This journal is going back to Trollsville, with a slight detour into short story land.

Catherine