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Well, gang, the revisions of Substance of Shadows are in full swing. I’ve decided to treat both of my muses, and I alternate my spare time every other day between revising the book and sewing, and it’s keeping me pretty energized when I’m not working. I’m pleased.

There are a couple of changes you should be aware of. The Balthazar and Morsten characters have been folded into one character, Balthazar. He gets some really psychologically interesting dialogue with Erasmus in the prologue of the story, and he is the bridge of the Klarion family. We next encounter him at Esme and Errol’s birthday party, and it will become eventually apparent that he is the same character as the story unfolds.

Hathersage and the surrounding area are just full of magical types, as well as normal types. If you take a book series like Harry Potter, the magicians sort of exist in parallel space. Not so in this universe. What is known and isn’t known sort of depends on who you are. So there are magical families, families that aren’t magical who know a bit about magical folks, and people who live normal lives and are clueless. Everyone has to know a bit about the world at large, how to operate a digital camera, things like that.

If you’re interested in reading stuff, let me know. Be aware that you might care to wait until we have an entire reading experience for you, rather than one that will seem like a constant rewind and revisitation. Reading it at this stage won’t give you the entire enjoyable book experience. 🙂

At any rate, it’s coming along. My goal right now is to edit this draft into something submittable, and then grapple with revising Blood is Thicker than Water into something that is a little bit of a better read than it was before.

Sure. One book at a time. Okay.

Catherine

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

There appears to be related to the plugin we’ve been using to display books and whatnot down the side of the site. That problem caused the site to not display at all. We are currently investigating the problem but for now have disabled the plugin.

Sorry about that. 🙁
Mark, Site Admin

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.

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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