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Well. It was *that* kind of day at work. A good day, in which much was accomplished. I am left with little brain, and so, thanks to the magic of technology, I let others entertain you!

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So You Want to Write a Novel. You’ve probably seen this, but if you haven’t, get on over there!

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Related to the video, Miranda Suri double dog dares you, so I gotta link to that. I mean what I say…as soon as I am done with the novella, I will become the outlining queen. Part of my problem is I write myself into alleys, and I waste a lot of time writing myself out.

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One of my favorite stories from last year is being released in Brazil. If you haven’t read “The Fortuitous Meeting of Gerard van Oost and Oludara” in Realms of Fantasy, I highly suggest you get out there and buy that issue. It’s good.

The only sad thing, of course, is that I don’t read Portuguese.

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And what would a link post be without Fluevogs? I am partial to the Red Cana, but the blacks are great. You couldn’t go wrong with this shoe in about any color they offer. These would look *so* good with a frock from the 40s or 50s.

Maybe this sweet dress:

Brain melting in 3..2…1…

Catherine

It can be interesting, being the person who has divorced their family around the holiday season. Sometimes, you feel it, that lack of not belonging. And then, you suck it up and realize how lucky you are. Witness.

Bryon and I just hit the house with the Christmas stick. The tree is up, the mechanized polar bears are in the front yard, and even the animatronic triceratops has a Santa hat on. Bring on the festive.

Tomorrow I see a good part of my extended family of friends and indulge in a little gift giving. That’s always a good time.

I am married to a wonderful man who complements and supports me, who helps make me the best I can be. If I were to do nothing else in my life but to be fifty percent of this wonderful marriage, I could deal.

As harsh as work has been without Lorna, I work with a great team in the office. My boss is wise and perceptive and cares about her teachers. My teachers really support the college. It may not be a joy to go to work every day, but frankly, it is most days.

Because of work, I don’t have to worry about making bills, paying for my health insurance, and planning for my retirement. It’s a good thing to be employed full-time doing a job I love.

I appreciate knowing people who support my writing. There are a lot of great people who keep telling me to stick it out and be patient. I have a great support group, and I enjoy supporting other members of the group. I enjoy my writing friends. Interchange is wonderful, and I enjoy being a part of the writing community that I have on line and in my personal life.

There are many ways that I am blessed, and it’s always good to remember those things. I hope that the holidays fill you with goodwill and gratitude for your life.

Right. I need to buy a few more Christmas cards. I hope Black Friday is a little less packed now.

Catherine

Ah, Tobias Buckell, little did I know that I would end this day wanting to have your puppies. 🙂

You barely know me, but my soul wants to thank you. Because my brain has been allowing itself to be so distracted by the other stuff to remember that this is the core.

Not of only my writing life, but my life in general.

Eat much turkey. Be happy. And thank you.

Catherine

Split was recommended to me at Kidlitcon while I was there this October, and I have to tell you, this is one of the best books I’ve ever read depicting children of abuse.

Swati Avasthi puts us in the mind of Jace Witherspoon, child of domestic violence. Jace is kicked out of his home after being beaten by his dad while attempting to defend his mom, and rides from Chicago to New Mexico to begin a fragile family life with his brother Christian, who left home years earlier.

Avasthi used to coordinate a domestic-violence legal clinic, which is perhaps why her characters are so credible. Fiction and non-fiction alike feed our desire for the lurid in regard to abuse, but it’s a rare writer who can show the roller coaster of emotion that reside in an abuse victim. Jace both believes his mother will come to him, and at the same time believes that she is incapable of escaping her co-dependent situation. He abhors his dad’s violence and is incapacitated when he finds that kind of tendency in himself.

Christian lives with the guilt of having left his younger brother, and the fear of discovery by his family. Both boys battle their background in regard to what is and isn’t acceptable regarding relationships, both with others and between themselves.

There are no easy answers for Avasthi’s characters. First hand, I know that they will revisit these emotional rough spots over and over. Some days they will be triumphant. Other days they will fail. They will always have issues with their father, an abuser, and their mother, who stays in the situation. It won’t be easy for them, even though they do have each other and some strong supporting characters.

Split is a good book to read. It doesn’t end neatly, but it ends hopefully, as the brothers decide to carry on with their lives. I wish them the best of luck and healing in their circumstances, and I strongly recommend this book for teens and their parents.

Catherine

A very quick reset: Bryon’s Dad is quickly mending. He was behaving like a hellion yesterday, and his doctor finally got to him. The doctor decided it was the drugs he’s been on for the last several months, especially, the steroids, that have been making him increasingly psychotic.

And sure enough, after a quick diagnosis of his lungs and deciding he didn’t need the inhaler, once the steroids were removed, he stopped believing weirdness, like Phyllis had called the police to take him away.

We are all much happier this morning. Bryon’s off to see him.

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Last night, Bryon came up with an interesting proposal regarding TSA. If the procedure survives holiday scrutiny, and we are subjected to the choice of irradiation or groping, he thought perhaps civil disobedience might be called for. In the same spirit as Swift’s A Modest Proposal, I give you the lesser of three evils.

Continue reading “Godiva or Blue Fly?”

Tomorrow begins two days of teacher development workshops at Kirkwood. At a normal university, one wouldn’t have to do something that smacks of high school in-service, but we are a community college, which some suggest is high school with ash trays, so it goes. It’s actually a step backward for us, but our new administrative cabinet, coming from secondary education as they do, have lots of odd ideas about how things go. My real vacation starts Wednesday. And I’ll try to keep an open mind about the next two days.

Bryon’s vacation starts tomorrow. He will be heading down to his parents. Bryon’s dad had an episode on Friday night, and the last we heard, he’s not quite in this reality. He may be exhibiting early signs of dementia, and he may be heading into a care facility, as he would be a bit of a handful for Bryon’s mom at the moment. We are waiting and seeing.

On the other hand, our office staffer Lorna has finally gone home. After a month of a feeding tube and ice chips, she’s eating again. And loving it. She should return to us after Christmas break.

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Reluctantly, I’m thinking about putting The Were-humans on hold for a bit. I usually stubborn out stories and bend them to my will. I would rather have some fun for a bit, and get back to the melodrama that is the Klarion series. I can hop back into The Were-humans when I feel like it, and maybe even do the Seanan McGuire trick of writing a couple of things at a time.

Right now, I don’t need a quasi-depressing story about the state of things in backwards Iowa to bring me down. Except in small doses, maybe. The creative process is hard to predict. Now that I’ve said this, I’ll be hit by a lightening bolt of inspiration and finish the thing.

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I’ve given two books high rankings lately: Swati Avasthi’s Split and Kij Johnson’s The Fox Woman. Both are worth talking about. I’ve been reluctant to discuss Split, as well as TSA, because after the Amazon thing, I didn’t want this journal to become all abuse, all the time.

However, I can speak about Split in positive, glowing terms, so that will help. The TSA thing I’m going to have to wrap my mind around when I get ready to travel to Vegas twice in January/February. Groped or Irradiated? That is the question. What a question. I’ll think about that and write something soon (ish).

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My Christmas present was the color Nook. I have downloaded two books onto it. It seems pretty easy to use, and I’m going to enjoy it while I travel. I am heartbroken that Kij’s second Japanese book is not available in eformat yet. Get on that, would you, publishers? There will be a review of that coming up as well. There’s also a VP interview or two in the wings.

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I’m not running out of shoes yet, which is scary. Recommending the gray and blue Inez Sextons, although you yourself might prefer the black.

Catherine

The almost agent bubble has burst.

I use the bubble metaphor a lot when I talk about publishing. It’s the perfect analogy. Everyone talks to you in terms of shininess and promise, but until you have something like a contract in your hand, the bubble is a shiny, fragile thing. If you try to grasp it before things are ready, the bubble pops, and all you’re left with is pretty much nothing. Well, glycerol. Which isn’t much unless you’re under the right circumstances.

The Almost Agent passed on Old Nick.

You won’t find vitriol under here. Nor will you find unbridled optimism.

Continue reading “Mining for the Zen”

Hey there. I’m back from Planet Migraine. It was interesting! While I”ve had several cluster headaches, and one HEADACHE of DOOM (2005, the year to measure stress by), I’ve never had a migraine. I experienced first hand the inability to make the words in my brain come out of my mouth. Good thing I wasn’t teaching, or registering students, eh?

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Were-humans continues apace. Sometimes I am so frustrated by my zero-draft. I know what I’m doing THIS TIME is exploring the world, the characters, the tone of the story. I’m still hoping I can get to what I’ve imagined this to be, but right now it’s…kind…of… BORING! With some awesome gothic small town description that makes no sense in the sea of boring.

Because you know, writing is easy like that.

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Oh, let’s just cut to the shoes. Because they are blood orange.

There Were-Humans wants to be written in a series of snapshots. I write one scene, and then the next scene, which isn’t related to the previous scene, wants to be written. I guess my strategy will be to organize these scenes into some kind of continuity when they’re finished and see what I’ve got.

I wonder if this is a side effect of writing a short story using Scrivener.

Catherine

While you can buy the Babycake boot in a classy black or a striking red, I prefer the compromise of this brown pair. The tooled leather reminds me of my current Danskos.

And while I can’t recommend this as a pairing for these boots, another unique article of clothing has popped up at the Pyramid Collection just in time for the holidays.

Alas, such frivolous purchases are not mine to make until the New Year. If you like, sometime I will tell you the hilarious story I heard yesterday of the college who paid a professor for a course she didn’t teach, and then decided it had to deduct that money from her remaining paychecks by the end of the year. It’s a knee-slapper. Let this be a warning to all of you to not assume that payroll people do their job accurately.

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Writing time. I has it. I should use it.

Catherine