Author: Catherine Schaff-Stump

I made the NaNoWriMo 50K. I know this is no way to write a book really, but it has helped me reestablish a writing routine, and I’m pleased about that.

I’m currently working on getting about 80K out of the Klarion story, and expect to revise heavily in January. Then I expect rejection to roll in.

Still working on syndication issues.

Catherine

Prologue and Chapter 1 are finished! That’s about 37 pages of fairly good revised writing and/or new material. I have begun Chapter 2, which will borrow much less heavily from what has gone before.

Right on schedule for National Novel Writing Month. Feeling pretty good, too.

Catherine

I am working that whole Substance of Shadows thing.

To see excerpts of what I’m posting, go here.

http://www.nanowrimo.org/userinfo.php?uid=86444

I’ll be posting pieces every week day.

So far I’ve been making my word quota every day…and loving it.

Catherine

Signed up for Nanowrimo for November. Plan to produce about 210 pages, give or take.

Well, I thought a goal would help.

Catherine

Onto something diffferent. As I was (trying!) relaxing on the way to work this morning, I was thinking about what it is that I miss the most about writing, that no other aspect in my life, not evening costuming gives me.

It is…escape. Coincidentally, it is the same reason I read the works of my favorite writers and writer friends, although it actually works better for me, this escape, when I write.

Some of you approach writing like I approach costuming. It’s this thing you do to crank out a product that may or may not sell, may or may not merit prestige, may or may not be a goal or accomplishment. I costume for recognition and for the fun of pretending. Those elements my writing and costuming have in common, but honestly, the latter far outweighs the former for me.

How can I describe what happens to me when the writing is working, without it sounding like a nerve disorder? I get tingly and adrenaliney, endorphines released into my system, magic permeating my core. I live an adventure. There are, of course, things about my real life that I adore (Bryon, my friends, increasingly the family I have as they begin to behave). Writing seems to take the best experiences of my real life and multiple the feelings I have when I experience wonder and joy there.

I would NOT like to live the life my characters lead. I am very cruel to them, sometimes. Inasmuch as their highs are higher, their lows are lower. BUT there is some sort of magic there. I can feel it, and I guess my readers feel it too, because as I look at my work, it is often simplistic. Yet, those poetic images, the pacing, and the dialogue keep me coming back. The characters keep me coming back. And the plot. Man, am I good with plot! I suspect somehow that I can conveny that sense of story with words somehow to you, because you often come back with a similar sort of reaction to my work.

For me, it can never be about the money, or the prestige. These may or may not come. It’s like the lottery, this part, although three are tricks that you can use that will help you publish, like there are tricks that you can use that will help you win the lottery. It’s about the magic, the transportation, and the escape to another place.

That’s pretty much it. That’s probably why I need to get back to it, even when I’m tired. I think when I’m tired I want write well. Like exercise as of late, I often forget that writing is one of the things that re-energizes me.

Catherine

Reminding all of you that I will be reading from the Klarions work at the Witching Hour in Salem, Mass very soon. I’m thinking about recording it for those of you who might have interest.

September 20, 2020

When one looks at the group of Mythic Realists during the early part of the century, it is interesting to see that all of them at once are weathering a dark time, personally, a wide variety of trials, errors, and circumstances which harshen their personal lives. The effect that the Dark Time, as scholars have come to call it, had on their writing is profound. Each of these writers and artists can be examined in turn in this regard, but in all of their work, it left a vein of shadow that juxtaposes itself in the humor of pit_viper, the nurturing of bucketgirl, the anger of scieppan, and so on.

Most of the Mythic Realists are well supported by each other and those in their nonvirtual lives, and it is my belief that they balance and marry the most positive and negative parts of the human experience inescapably at this time. These qualities deepen their work, rendering it graphic and three dimensional, underscoring examination of self with the cross hatch of realism and shadow, and the decorative coloring of joy. Many of the writers, particularly those who focus in the fantasy, folkloric, and mythical realms, like chrysantza and awelkin, can not transcend the harsh reality that exists for their characters, actually making these creatures of imagination seem as though they could come through your door, yet make this heavy work seem full at the same time of joy and hope. Both good and evil transcend in these texts, unbelievably sometimes in the same characters. As the cover art, or graphic story telling of minoukatze show, the multiple dimensions of these characters, the complications, the archetypes, and the simplicity leave the reader shell shocked about what happened, but clear that they have witnessed in a moment any number of things.

***

Well, the guy writing IS a graduate student, so cut him some slack, okay? 🙂 I guess the point is that I expect that we will all make it through this, and it will enrich us in ways we have yet to imagine. Hard to say die if you’re an optimist.

Catherine

I don’t usually do this in my writing journal. I usually save opinions, book reviews, information on costuming (my other muse), angsting, and so forth for my friend’s locked live journal. People are welcome to go there by knocking, and I usually friend them back.

However, recently, I’ve finished Terry Pratchett’s A Hat Full of Sky. Innocently disguised as a children’s book, the philosophy’s underscoring the tome are exactly what I needed to hear at a time when my new supervisory position has swallowed my writing time whole, and has knotted my soul up with spiritual discontinuations (today’s new vocabulary, bought to you by physical therapy). It validates what I’ve been doing in my life in trying to reform the English Language Acquisition program at work (people are the soul and center of being a witch, and of being a teacher). It also makes me okay with the magic (writing) not working like it should at the moment because of this. (It isn’t what should be. It is.)

Much as I credit Bruce Campbell earlier this summer for reinforcing my maverick perspective on fame, I credit Terry Pratchett for sending me what I need right now. I know the universe has a role in lining you up with what you need too, but Pratchett put it out there for me, so I must be grateful.

Fall starts next week, according to my contract, and students return one week after that. I hope and wait, sometimes patiently, sometimes not, for a more balanced life, and I hope to return to productivity, rather than drops in a bucket, sometime in there. Like the Iowa ground this summer, the writing muse of me feels parched and cracked and thirsty. I’ve sewn and enjoyed it this summer. I’ve travelled to escape. Mostly I’ve worn the harness of work, and it’s cut into me hard, and there’s plenty more to be had.

But as a wise friend said today in one of his musings about his life, it’s good to live your life the way you want. I’ve taken back somethings. I’m no athlete, but I’ve taken back the gym. I’ve taken back my beauty, regardless of my weight. Now, I want to take back my mind, and give them back their stress.

Thank you, all of you who have known my work from before, in its limited venues and runs, thank you for waiting for me. I appreciate it, and your interest. Without an audience, there is a reason to tell the story, but I like to share. A life worth living is, after all, one with people in the soul and center of it.

Catherine

Spent a little time last night writing up character descriptions and the first page of Dead Girl Adventures, which is something that came to me after Coley’s suicide a couple of weeks ago. I’m hoping that Cat can turn it into something small pressy or graphic novelly.

We’ll see.

This is more episodic, and doesn’t mean I won’t be working on the novels. I just expect this to pop in every now and again.

Catherine

Yup. Thursday’s looking good. Maybe even as early as Wednesday.

Catherine