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Guest Cat

Karma, that was plain cruel.

I have to relate background. Several years ago, we had a cat that was our outdoor cat, Toby. Toby was a stray that the across-the-street neighbors threw out. Toby lived in our garage for a couple of years. He had UTI, and couldn’t live indoors, because he leaked urine. We gave Toby the best life we could. He died, ultimately, because of complications due to UTI after he was injured and his leg was broken. We mourned, Bryon especially. They were exceptionally close.

A few months later, a stray cat wandered again onto our porch. We have two indoor cats, and I didn’t want Bryon going through anything like he’d been through with Toby. While I cooked for company that day, Bryon spent the day getting to know this cat. We weren’t really impressed with the lateness or professionalism of our rural county’s shelter. However, when the animal shelter folks arrived, Bryon made a critical mistake. He grabbed the cat, and was bitten. Reflexively, he grabbed the cat again, and was bitten again. The cat ran away, and Bryon had the rabies series. We don’t know what happened to that poor cat.

Guest Cat began showing up about two weeks ago. He was a lanky gray and white cat, a kitten really, we guessed only a few months old. He was friendly and trusted people. We still had our indoor cats, but our plan for guest cat was to feed him, keep him outside, and when we thought he was trusting enough, to load him up, take him to the vet, and then to the animal shelter in the city. Guest Cat was an adorable boy, and I know that Bryon was being reminded of Toby, even though they looked nothing alike.

The problem with taking Guest Cat away right away was that we didn’t know if he had owners. He didn’t seem painfully thin. He was interested in our breakfast, but some mornings he didn’t come by for it. We had new people in the neighborhood. We were planning on asking around before taking him away, and thought we had time.

Guest Cat stopped showing up last Thursday. This morning, someone left Guest Cat’s body near our house, thinking that he belonged to us. He had obviously been hit by a car. Bryon buried him today while I was away.

I am furious, people! This was a pointless death. This was a wonderful cat, friendly and trusting, and someone let him wander around outside, unattended to be hit by a car. Or, worse, he was dumped. I’m also furious at myself, for not forcing the issue of taking him to the shelter sooner because of the history with the rabies shots. All Bryon did here was try to be kind and compassionate, and yet again, he has to watch another stray die because there are people irresponsible enough in the world to believe animals can fend for themselves.

Take care of your pets. DON’T let them run outside unsupervised. Outdoors is not a good place for your cat, okay? I don’t care how friendly your neighborhood is or how small your town is.

Just fucking argh.

Catherine

Reunions

I’m at work for a couple of hours this morning, trying to get a few things out of the way before I’m out of the office UNTIL THE 19TH OF JULY!!! Yeah, baybee!

A-hem. This is the time of year that two very important reunions are on my radar screen.

1. Readercon. It’s my first reader con, but I’m going to see, lessee, Miranda, Kat, George, Julia, and Lisa. There will be SIX VP XIII’ers there. That’s damned close to a quorum. There will be MUCH cavorting, I assure you.

Add to the mix several author friends, a chance to meet more VP alums, the VP reading on Sunday, some of the Codex Writers, and a programming schedule that looks really relevant. Also, I get to see one of my oldest costuming friends and my best friend from school in Japan on Thursday night.

The only thing that will be lacking is the husband.

2. Cath’s Family Reunion. I am concerned about our park being flooded, given the constant rain, but we’ll be watching that carefully. If all else fails, it’ll be at our home.

About 40 “relatives” will join us Saturday, July 17th, in a celebration of all things that a family should be. All of these wonderful people, and I get to spend an afternoon feeding them and hanging out.

Everyone should look this forward to their reunions.

So. Tomorrow I may not get here. I have packing, and some advanced writing to do. If I don’t, I will happily see you on the other side, with some Readercon reporting.

Catherine

An In-Between Moment

Hey there.

I’m back from Convergence, where both Bryon and I usually have a great time. This time was no exception. I enjoyed myself immensely, if not always because of the convention, then certainly because of what Minneapolis has available.

We saw Voltaire sing, I had a great visit with Caroline, the Broad Universe Rapid Fire reading went smoothly, and I saw Labyrinth and part of Wrath of Khan in Cinema Rex.

A couple of the more interesting panels I saw were an anthropological examination of Steampunk, and a Dr. Who writer’s stories about working for Russell T. Davies.

Went to see Last Airbender Sucked all the joy right out of it, and sort of missed the point of the original. I hypothesize that if you haven’t seen the original cartoon, you’ll be scratching your head a lot.

All ready signed up for next year’s Convergence, and took the time to register for North American Disc World in Madison next year as well.

Yes, I am still writing for the Clarion Write-a-Thon. This is the week of chapter six. Why don’t you send in some money? To any of us? Even me, if you like…

Catherine

Status of Submissions

It’s been a while since I wrote up something about the works in progress. This is more for me, but if you like, you can read along. I’ll hide it after the first one, so you don’t have to, either.

The Winter the Troll Danced with Old Nick: Undergoing 3rd rewrite. Will be finished and ready to go out at least by August 7th. Damn it.

Continue reading “Status of Submissions”

Writing, Reading, and Reading Out Loud

The English front office is weird today. I’m…the only one here. Which I did not expect, and which makes me wonder if I should get trained in how to contact all these folks if there is no one here.

We interview our last job candidate today. I hope the rest of the committee turns up. I baptized myself with about a third of this morning’s latte, so at least I’ll smell like Grandma’s kitchen for the interview.

***

Write-a-thon: Why yes, I have finished chapter 5. Yes, that is four days earlier than planned, thank you. So, right now, I’m reading through the first five chapters and ramping up the description factor. Sunday begins chapter six. So far, on schedule.

The Writing Process: I think I’ve covered what I do for revision, but I haven’t talked about proof reading. I do have to confess that I am the worst proofreader of my own stuff in the world, and I often default to good friends who are awesome proofreaders (my friend Lisa can spot a misspelled word from across a crowded room). It’s important, no matter how lazy, and/or type A you are, to put the work down for a couple of days and look over spelling, punctuation, and spacing. Don’t be like Grandma Cath. Do this carefully. It’s important.

CONVERGENCE:

Because I’ve been focusing on writing in my spare time, I’m not doing any panels. However, I am doing a reading. That would be the Broad Universe Rapid Fire Reading with me and Kathy Sullivan, and it would be Friday from 3:30-4:30 upstairs in that literary place it always is. I will be reading the Augean Stables bit from Hulk Hercules, O-Taga-San, and if there’s still time, the Hephaubot scene from HH.

I like reading at conventions. I’ll be doing it next week again at Readercon. I think I might do a post on how to ramp that up, eventually.

One more thing to post for today, and then I’ll move on.

Catherine

Rhythm

Update for those following the write-a-thon: My current goal is rewriting a chapter a week. Last night I breezed through a great deal of chapter 5. I have one more scene to add in tonight, and then I can move forward. That was faster than expected.

I’d like to talk about one more aspect of revision before I let that topic go, and that’s rhythm. How many of you take the time to read your work aloud after you’ve completed the basic story? I think it’s a very important step in making sure that your writing sounds good and that you don’t have those evil sentences that begin and end with the same words. If you like the way words sound, I think it’s almost indispensable.

How do you handle the flow of your sentences?

Catherine

Busy-ness

That was a blindingly busy weekend. We had dinner with friends on Friday, moved the in-laws to a more accessible apartment and had another dinner with another friend Saturday, and saw that most cultured of films, Jonah Hex with a third friend on Sunday. The evening was polished off with a psychedelic movie about Revelations.

And…I got my line edits for Crystal Vision (the next Swill, coming out in August), and had to respond to a series of interview questions for the local paper Iowa Source about Hulk Hercules.

So, yes, I am going to spend my evening catching up for the Write-a-thon, as I need to make up some time for yesterday.

Great big and all kinds of shout-outs to Catrina, Shannon, and Brent, who have already sent lovely money. Remember guys, every bit helps a fledgling writer.

Gotta go get a shot, buy some spaghetti, and get my butt in a chair.

Catherine

Character Background

Many authors advocate for working with their characters before they begin to plot their story. Revealing information about the characters is helpful with main plot and subplot. A standard in the writing world is a heuristic that asks you all sorts of questions about the character. They are as numerous as books on writing. A quick Internet search reveals a character profile, as well as a good column from The Lazy Scholar.

In the article, LS suggests that not only are character profiles a good way to get started, and not only are they are a great resource when you’re slogging through the middle, but that you can also employ them at the rewrite stage. It’s an excellent continuity check, as well as a measure of consistency of actions.

I don’t use them too much. I could see the need in a more complicated story. What I often do is write about my characters when an issue about their past is something I want to know. This piece won’t usually make it into the story, but, like the zero draft, this is my way of figuring out who they are, to place them in situations and see what happens, or have them tell me stories about where they’ve been and what’s important to them. These pieces often don’t have plot, but they are very helpful to me because they reveal motivations, emotions, and priorities.

How do you work with your characters? How do you revise them when needed? Do you ever decide to cut them? How do you do that?

Catherine

Clarion Write-a-Thon

Let’s talk for a moment. Frankly.

What does a workshop mean to a writer? What does it mean to a writer that they can work uninterrupted on their craft? What does it mean to a writer to gain insights from professionals in the field to help them on their way to a writing career? What does it mean to a writer to be in a classroom setting that believes in genre fiction, and takes it SERIOUSLY?

To this writer, it meant a lot. I was very lucky that my college (Kirkwood Community College, gem of the Midwest) paid for my trip to Viable Paradise so that I could meet wonderful people, receive invaluable instruction, and feel that I was taken seriously as an author. Now, it’s time for payback.

UCSD Clarion is sponsoring their first annual Write-a-thon this year. The timing is right. I will be finished with teaching on July 1st, so there’s only about a week of overlap. The money goes to scholarships for writers who can’t afford Clarion else wise. I’m participating.

Other people I know are participating too. I don’t care if you sponsor me or them. The point is that you sponsor someone, that you give an emerging writer who might not be able to afford this experience a chance to study and gain support for their work.

If you’re interested in sponsoring Catherine Schaff-Stump, just click on my name. If you’re interested in sponsoring other writers, this link will get you there.

Notice that not only is Clarion UCSD having a workshop, but so are Clarion West and Clarion South. Your choices are abundant!

What is my writerly goal? To finish the troll novel rewrite 3, to get that baby out to agents and publishers. I was going to do this anyway. Now I’m doing it for a good cause.

Thanks for your help. In the future, the book shelf you line may be your own.

Catherine

The Outline: Friend or Prohibitive Foe?

Let’s talk about outlines for a moment. I used to be outline phobic. I had the misconception that outlines locked me into plans I couldn’t necessarily follow through on. Now, I use outlines in a whole ‘nother way.

Whatever a writer uses to get them through the story is a useful writing technique. Notice how I’m talking about ending the story. Most stories start promising, hit some mud in the middle, and die an ignoble death in the tar pits of fiction. (Some resurface as fossils. Others become word petroleum. Yes, it is true.) We have to persevere and wade through the swampy middle to get to the end. Remember, revision is our friend. We can clean and sharpen.

So (rolls up sleeves) the writer has a first draft. The writer has asked questions, received feedback, and now it’s time to revise.

These days, the first thing I’m likely to do is OUTLINE my story. I go through it, chapter by chapter, scene by scene, and look at the action. There are many ways to do this, some low, some high tech.

1. Recipe cards. After you’ve written the main actions on the card, you can divide them up, shuffle them around, and throw some cards away. You can even notice gaps where you need connections.

2. The spreadsheet. Some people like scenes all in one document.

3. Scrivener (not a paid endorsement). Scrivener is for Macs (similar software is out there for pc). With Scrivener, you can shuffle hi-tech postcards, or you can do what I do, which is pop whole scenes in and out of chapters. I also keep a file for scenes I trim, just in case I decide to throw them back into the story, or reference them later.

I use the outline mainly for plotting. My stories center on character and action. Sometimes I’ll do an outline for a character story arc and write that straight through. If I do several of these, I have a master story outline of several character story arcs. I do have to build interactions among these, and you guessed it, I figure out the best places to do that among the outline.

I am, in the case of the first draft, what they call in the trade, a pantser. As I revise, I am definitely more of a planner, and all the way through, I am intuitive about what feels and sounds right for my characters.

Should we talk about how to get to know your characters? Probably. That’s another topic.

I’d also love to hear how you organize your plot and novel structure as you revise.

Catherine