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And so it begins!!!

Please think about donating. Because then you can read my writing blog, which is only for contributors. A mere $10, a free live journal sign up, and you’re in.

If you’re a $25 or more contributor, I’ll critique up to 20 pages of work for 3 of you. If you’re not a writer, you might be thinking, what’s in it for me? Non-writers will be entered in a drawing for a copy of Hulk Hercules, which is a great gift for kids going through Percy Jackson withdrawal!

I’d like to thank my first sponsor, Ferrett Steinmetz, who, by the way, is the originator of the Clarion Write-a-Thon blog. You might check out his donation page as well.

At any rate, come and see me write for food a good cause. Live vicariously through me if you don’t have time this year to do it yourself.

FYI, today’s blog topic is the origin story of the Klarion series.

Catherine

Yes! Just in time before the write-a-thon begins! It’s another VP XIII Profile! This time I’m lucky enough to talk to Robyn Hamilton, and I think her picture speaks for itself.

***
Tamago: Why do you write?

Robyn: Really, I can’t imagine not writing. It’s what I do. Editing isn’t nearly as natural; I have to force myself, plan it, make time. But even when I get really depressed and defeated and everything sucks, I can’t figure out what I’d do with my time if I wasn’t writing, so I do it anyway. It’s the best way to make the voices in my head calm down, to write them down.

Tamago: What kind of genre do you like to write best in?

Robyn: The story I took to VP was an urban fantasy, but I didn’t really know that until I read it after it was done. The novels I’ve got lying around (I produce a lot of first drafts) are probably more Young Adult or Middle Years than anything else, though I know that’s not genre. I’ve got the karate zombie novel, which I sort of think of as science fiction (though my beta readers think I’m a bit light on the science), “Pampelmouse”, which is a Watership Down of feral parrots, “Toothbrushing Club” which has fairies, “St. Praxis” is steampunk(ish). I guess I haven’t really chosen.

Continue reading “VP Profile #16: Robyn Hamilton”

Letting you all know that I am here, stateside, safe and sound.

I will be attending to post funeral things tomorrow, and should be back to a relatively normal posting schedule thereafter, trying to post about the trip and so on.

The majority of my work this next month will be for the Clarion Write-a-thon. Yes, I will try to motivate you into donating.

Best not write more. Jet lagging is killing me, but I think I can make it the 40 remaining minutes before bed.

Catherine

And here’s another blog post into the future from me. Today I should be driving back from Minnesota, reunited with Bryon. I wanted to finish up the posts I had promised before the trip.

Earlier, I talked about skin care. I am not an expert, but I did work with a cosmetologist recently, so I could revise the make-up routine I learned as a young ingenue. Here’s what she said. Remember, you’re always starting with a clean, well-moisturized face.

1. Primer is an excellent tool for older women as they work with make-up. It allows for much more coverage than a cover up, and fills in gaps of wrinkles, enlarged pores, and so on. It also makes your skin feel soft and smooth. I use the Mirabella primer.

2. An older woman wants to use a light liquid make-up preferably one that moisturizes and has a sunscreen. Light refers to weight, not coloration.

3. Powder can really show age. Using a powder only where it is needed is wise. I use powder to cover red cheeks, sun damage on my forehead, and occasionally on my chin and nose. Only where it is needed to even out skin tone.

4. Another recommendation is keeping make-up eye emphasis and lip emphasis closer to natural palette. It seems to work in de-emphasizing age. Since I will be playing with vintage make-up styles, I suspect I will be deliberately not keeping with this tip, although I have no intention of looking like clown princess.

5. This time around, I’m using a bronzer instead of a blush most of the time. I do occasionally still use blush, but the bronzer is more modern and it looks again like that more natural palette.

While make-up will make my skin look more even, making it possible for me to draw attention to lips, mouth, and brows, it will not get rid of my wrinkles. I don’t expect it to. I’m okay with that.

***

When I return to my regular routine, it sounds like Margot my hairdresser and I will be playing with some hair and make-up styles. I’ll see what I can do about getting some pictures up as we play around.

Catherine

While I am winging my way home over the Atlantic, I thought I would test out the travel to the future technology of my blog.

This is a small review of X-Men: First Class.

So…the first thing I’ve got to say is that the film isn’t as good as many of the critics have been saying. It’s not bad. However, like it’s predecessors, it’s really uneven.

Like a James Bond film, this film has very little to do with the X-Men movies that have gone before. The premise is that Charles Xavier (portrayed by James McAvoy with hair) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender) meet up in the 60s. They decide to find and help young mutants. You can see where this is going. There is an opposing set of mutants (a sort of amalgam of the Hellfire Club and random mutants from nowhere.) who are the threat, and our mutants go out to fight them.

What is good? Even though the Mystique plot has absolutely nothing to do with the comics or the previous movies, it is an interesting study in being oneself, and is well acted. If young actress Jennifer Lawrence acts this well in The Hunger Games, I’m looking forward to her portrayal of Catniss Everdeen.

I should also say that I would totally stand in line to watch a movie called Magneto: Nazi Hunter. That part of the plot is flawless.

What is iffy? Besides the cheesy young X-Men interactions, I find the idea of Kevin Bacon’s plot a bit problematic, and I can’t tell you why without spoiling the movie. The portrayal of Emma Frost is sort of frivolous and doesn’t do the character justice. Why is Moira MacTaggart a CIA agent? Because, you know, she was a scientist. One and on.

What is weird? Get this. I am not a shipper or a slasher, and yet, I could see Xavier/Magneto slash fiction. There’s some pretty good subtext in there that would indicate more than meets the eye. Eyebrow raises, playful attitudes, double entendre, tender moments that could be read with that subtext.

I dunno. Been hanging out with fans too long, I guess. Don’t expect me to be writing any slash, but I just had to say I was tickled to see it.

I have no plans to see the new Green Lantern film, but I think I will see the new Captain America film that comes out over July 4th weekend. I hear it’s better than Thor. Well, we’ll see about that.

Catherine

Eleven hours remain until I head for the airport.

I slept something like 12 hours yesterday, and felt pretty good this morning. But grief, he is a sneaky devil. We went into St. Johann’s Church, and that’s all it took to wear me out. I lit a candle for Neal, and tried not to lose it. Proud to say I didn’t lose it, and we carried on with the rest of our afternoon.

But I am bushed now, and I will probably spend the evening being very low key and resty. Well, it wasn’t like I was going to go out and disco the day after Neal’s funeral, anyway.

The vacation has not been without features of interest and merit, but it goes without saying that this time I will be glad to get home.

Let’s talk about something else.

***

I did mention, some time ago, that I will be participating in the Clarion UCSD writing write-a-thon. Here’s my page for your donation consideration. There are several writers I know participating in both Clarion and the Clarion West write-a-thons this year, and I’d like to encourage you to give to any of them. It’s not who you give to, but rather that you support the efforts of young writers by donating to those of us slogging it out for them.

That said, if you do donate to me, a $10 donation will enable you to see the writing blog that I will be keeping over the course of the write-a-thon. It will be called Klarion/Clarion and will have insights about what I’m doing in a variety of scenes. All contributors who donate $25 or over will be eligible for a drawing in which they will receive a free story critique (3 winners, and a max of 20 pages each).

So think about donating, if not to me, then one of the many other worthy writers on these lists.

Yes, you will be seeing a lot of pimpage for the write-a-thon for the next six weeks. Because that’s the way we roll.

***

Just in time for the write-a-thon, I mentioned that I had a trance sort of night about the Klarion series a couple of nights before I found out about Neal’s decline. My last night in Helsinki belonged to a fever dream about the major antagonist in the series, and how everything fits into the overarching plot. I took some notes the next day so I wouldn’t lose everything. It’s nice to see how everything fits together. It does make book 3 problematic inasmuch as it no longer can stand alone, but that’s a problem that we can work with.

The gift of time for a writer can not be overstated in the case of the Klarions. The embryonic version of the third book was written in 2002-2003 and I would guess that around 20K of that book will be useable, if that much. As I have worked on this series in the intervening times, I’ve learned a lot about the style, the characterizations, and the tensions of the series, my strange love child of Edward Gorey and the Addams family.

I would never have heard from Lucia if I’d never heard from Errol. And I would never have heard from Errol if J.K. Rowling hadn’t made me ask the question, “How do you build a Snape?” Stephanus has come a long way from his build-a-Snape origins. Always believe that other writers can influence your work in the best way.

The next time I talk to you all, I will be stateside. Until then, keep well.

Catherine

I dunno. Life always turns in ways you don’t expect. You set out on a journey expecting one thing, and life gives you something else.

I’m very tired today. This is the first day I’ve grieved. I have been at a low level of mourning since I found out two days ago, and I must admit to dozing on and off through my trip to Balestrand. However, there is a stave church here not far from where I’m staying, and one of the hoteliers, thinking it would give me comfort, advised me to go to this morning’s church service.

Well, it did give me comfort. I had words with the minister after the service. That’s when I lost it. I cried and cried and cried. As a result, today I’ve been very gentle with myself. Catrina and I met up for lunch and coffee. She’s out sketching and taking pictures. I’ve been out watching films about Balestrand in the winter and taking my own pictures, and resting in the room.

***

The view? Look, I could talk to you about the view. Catrina took pictures of the amazing trip we took through the mountains.

Yesterday our train was stopped at Al, because a fire in the mountains collapsed one of the tunnels, so we couldn’t take the trip via train. We were upset initially. We’d had quite a morning of unfriendliness trying to get to Oslo station, and this was a second straw. It could have had the domino affect of getting us late to one destination, and then later to the town where we had to connect up with the ferry to get to our village.

Instead it turned out to be a boon. We took a bus through the mountains and into the Sognefjord. Every twist and turn was another postcard moment. You will see pictures when Catrina gets them loaded. And believe me, you’ll look at all those pictures and you’ll nod, and go, “Isn’t that pretty?” I would have done the same.

I’ll probably never do that again when I look at a nature picture. Because now that I am here, I’ll realize that what I’m seeing is only an imitation of what is real. That words like “awe” and “majestic” do have real meaning and your soul can be transported solely by something beautiful that you see.

But if you see those photos later, and you close your eyes, and you think about how tiny you are against a giant stone troll, slumbering under the ground, the trees layered on top of him, his face visible in the twists of rock on the side, and if you look into the ever changing sky and light of your imagination, and never, ever see the same view twice, if you can do that in your mind’s eye, you will begin to have a sense of what this is like. It’s not anything you can hold in your hand and flip through. We try though. We can’t always be some place like here.

If God created heaven and earth in his image, and you take this as an imitation of what heaven would look like, just as photos are an imitation of where I am, I have faith that Neal is experiencing awe like this on his new voyage. That gives me some comfort, that we could be feeling the same thing at the same time.

And if you prefer that there is no afterlife, then maybe we are both sharing this here, in my imagination and my memory. And that will be sufficient unto the moment.

Neal’s obituary

Catherine

Because I know some of you want to know:

My father-in-law Neal Stump died peacefully in hospice this morning at 4 am.

Catherine

Bryon writes to say that his dad is dying peacefully. He’s in a hospice room, they’re giving him morphine, and he hasn’t been conscious since Tuesday. His bodily functions have stopped except for breathing. His lungs are filling up, and they think it will be any time. I’ve had my opportunity to say goodbye before the trip. When you know someone is terminal, you wisely take those last moments about every chance you get.

Bryon doesn’t think I could be of much use right now. And he’s probably right. When you love your spouse, you try to do the best you can by them. Thanks to the Internet and Catrina’s phone, he has my words and my love. He’ll have my presence soon enough. This is hard on both of us now. It will be over soon. I will be home soon.

I will do what I can with the rest of my time here. It’s taken some of the zip out of my vacation, obviously, However, this is what being an adult is. Life is full of these sorts of things, whether they are minor or they are game changers. We do the best we can with the circumstances we’re given every day, and we try to answer them with measured, intelligent responses. This time Bryon and I have decided that the emotional comfort gained by my return would not offset the further fiscal outlay for the trip.

That seems cold to me. When I was young, I would have struggled to embrace the drama of my situation, money be damned. But yes, my presence changes essentially nothing about this situation, and I will be there for the important business of helping Bryon and his mother grieve when I get home. Being grown up and practical sure does sting.

I’m sure there’s a story in this some where that might be cathartic. Which could be all right. A little cathart, that is.

Just so you know, I am doing the things I came to do. Catrina and I spent part of yesterday at the Norwegian Folk Museum. The trip has been great just for catching the aspects of what it means to be part of this culture. We will visit the National Gallery and Akershus Castle tomorrow.

I think all of the natural beauty of the next two days at the fjords will really help me with the heart of the next troll book, as well as the condition of my heart right now.

It goes without saying that the troll book rewrite and its sequel will be devoted to Neal and Phyllis now. I’m sure that doesn’t mean anything to anyone but me, but it is enough that it means it to me.

See you all stateside soon.

Catherine

Last night, I received an email or two about Bryon’s father. I don’t know if I will be cutting this last part of the trip short or not. Neal is unresponsive, in the hospital, and the family is there. Except for me, because I chose an unfortunate time to schedule my vacation. I know with a terminal disease it would be morbid to stay at home and be on death watch, but I wish this had happened when I was in Minnesota, say, or Madison later this summer.

At any rate, I am certainly appreciative of my good travel friend. Catrina has been very supportive and I think it would be a lot harder without her here. After her Iceland antics early in the week, she invested in an international phone, so at least I can call later tonight, and see how Bryon, his mom, and the rest of the family are doing.

***

At the same time, while I was out here in the field, I have an acceptance on a short story I just wrote, The Turtle of the World. Pending a rewrite of the last super explicit sex scene, which tends to overshadow the subtle sexuality of the rest of the story, it will appear in Cucurbital 2 from Paper Golem Press. I know easily how to rewrite it so it’s not quite so explicit. Just waiting on word from the editor about any other edit notes he might have.

***

And I’ve had a big breakthrough with the Klarion books. One of those waking dreams which kept me from sleeping the other night. I took notes, so I will sit down to write and recapture that at first opportunity. Which isn’t today. Today is all about folk research for the rewrite and sequel to the troll book. At least I will have that much for sure out of the trip.

***

See you guys later. I have a bus to catch. And things to think about.

Catherine