Of This and Other Worlds

I'm not supposed to be working on Touching Indigo today, but I keep getting ideas just the same... this must be a good sign. And speaking of ideas, I'd like to acknowledge those of you who've sent me links to stuff about synaesthesia -- thanks! I really appreciate it.

I was kicking myself all day Friday for staying up so late Thursday night, especially since I'd made my word quota by just after 11 and still didn't get to bed until 12:30. However, it's a good thing I did stay up, since the fangs_fur_fey contest started at midnight, and they got way more entries than they'd anticipated -- so if I'd waited until morning to send my hook, I might very well not have made it in. As it was, though, my number is 92. We shall see what the judges make of it when they post their comments in a week or so. In a fit of optimism, I plan to rewrite the first five pages of Indigo this week, so they'll be ready in case I'm one of the fortunate few (well, sixteen) to make it to the next round.

In other news... uh, I got nothing. *hides*

Crossposting from a comment on jmprince's Fast Draft Express thread:

Well, I've done three days' worth now and exceeded my total every day. Today was harder than the last two days since I was breaking new ground -- but I managed to exceed my quota by fifty words even so. My total now stands at 6690, hooray!

Unfortunately, I forgot about the Easter weekend, which is likely to screw up my quota like whoa unless I can grab some extra writing time between now and then. And I have a few other obligations coming up that are going to make things a little difficult. But I think I should be able to stay on track if I just discipline myself.

I've found a neat trick for preventing myself wasting time online: I can check my e-mail and read LiveJournal and forums if I like, but only during non-writing hours, and I am NOT ALLOWED TO SIT DOWN when I do it. That forces me to keep my computer time brief, because it's really not very comfortable bending over a keyboard from a standing position! And less time spent on random browsing means that I'm more mentally fresh when I finally sit down to write again.

My biggest challenge right now is not stopping my writing to do research. I have yet to master the skill of leaving myself little notes that say "[INSERT PLAUSIBLE-SOUNDING PSYCHOBABBLE/TECHNOBABBLE HERE]" instead of trying to figure out the logistics of the psychobabble or technobabble and squandering my writing time.

But all that is as nothing compared to my deep and abiding love for Martha Jones. Seriously, after seeing the Doctor Who season premiere I am totally amped for the rest of S3. ( Spoilers )

This is more like it, I say. Not that I hated Rose (well, S2 Rose was pretty annoying at times, but then so was Ten in S2), but she was a bit pathetic at times.

Come back, RTD, all is forgiven. This week, anyway.

I got a bicycle for my birthday! A shiny new bicycle from my husband, who is wise in the ways of cycling! Yay! I think this may be the first new bike I've had in my life. And it's certainly the first one I've owned in over fifteen years. *huggles it*

My other birthday present: spring weather! It was positively mild today, and the snowbanks are rapidly shrinking. Dare I hope that by next week they will be gone?

In other news, I fail at writing today -- only 572 words so far. But my head feels like it has been stuffed with cotton wool, and I just can't seem to get my thoughts to cohere. So I have been using the time to do character maps, timelines, and other useful things. At least that will keep me from feeling completely unproductive.

It's embarrassing to admit how hard I have to think to do a timeline, though. I'm constantly counting things on my fingers with my tongue stuck out one side of my mouth, trying to figure out how much time has passed between on event and another -- and even after I've done my best, I'm sure I've got it wrong. Why do numbers hate me so?

I also fail at intuition. I really thought that by now I would have some word from Agent E. about Knife. However, no news is at least potentially good news, right?

Overheard from my spotty four-year-old, this morning: "I think my chicken pox needs some distracting."

This is going to be a bit of a lame LJ post, I'm afraid -- I lack the mental energy to be clever or interesting. I have sixteen books to wrap (some of which, sadly, I have not had time to pre-read), a house to clean, Christmas dinner to plan and prepare, and two itchy, fretful kids.

I made snickerdoodles yesterday, however, and they turned out to be the best batch I've ever made. kizmet_42, I think I have to disagree with you about them being best warm from the oven; I find them a little acidic-tasting that way. Once they've cooled and had a day to mellow, however, they're sublime.

Meanwhile, back at the stove, the carrot pudding is steaming merrily. I think it will probably turn out well, too.

I am still waiting for my number to come up on Miss Snark's Crapometer, which will likely happen tomorrow. I expect to be eviscerated for vagueness, cliches, and lack of narrative voice, and probably not asked to send pages. However, on a happier note, I've received confirmations from all but one of the folks to whom I submitted Knife, so at least I know those packages arrived safely. They both said they were "looking forward" to reading the book even though it might take them a few weeks to get to it, so that was heartening.

Finally, it is a remarkably lonely lot, creatively speaking, to be an evangelical Christian with no interest in the religious publishing industry, a fantasy/SF author with conservative views, a Canadian with primarily English sensibilities trying to capture the interest of American editors and agents, and someone whose creative background and connections are mostly in fandom. I keep looking at various writing discussion boards like a kid with her nose pressed to the window, not knowing where to begin to introduce myself. I feel like I don't fit in anywhere. And even though I have all this fannish background, I am no longer active in any fandom now, so even those ties are increasingly tenuous. If it weren't for you I think I might fall off the edge of the virtual earth.

Some days I really miss the old FidoNet WRITING echo. Sigh.

ETA: What kind of title is that? I think from now on I'm going to refer to Book Seven as "Harry Potter... FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE!!!"

That's it, I've had enough, I'm deleting my LJ and leaving the fandom.

Ha ha! Only kidding. (And half the list is still going, "...which fandom?")

Actually, I'm just headed off to camp for a week. Cozy cabin, handy swimming pool, all meals provided in our air-conditioned dining hall etc. And this time I am borrowing my husband's laptop from work, so there's a possibility I might actually get some work done on Knife if all goes well.

Take care, everybody! See you when I get back!

I'm not dead! I'm only editing. Up to Chapter Five now, and almost back on schedule. Only problem is, to make my deadline (which is purely self-imposed, but necessary for my own mental discipline) I'm going to have to start getting more than one chapter done a week -- and since the next few chapters are going to involve a whole lot of rewriting from scratch, and I've also got a bunch of graphic design work to do by early September, things are not looking so good.

*whimpers*

But anyway, just so you know I'm still around. I also owe mistraltoes a ramble about May/December and kalquessa one about defending original characters, so if I make especially good progress on the book one day I may pop in here and do that.

I'm still working on refining the ideas stated in the previous post and tying in various bits of data as people remind me of them, including ( spoilers )

, so hopefully nobody will mistake the ideas I've stated so far for a proper systematic essay on the subject.

When I have time I hope to set things down more clearly and answer the various questions people have raised, so it might be a good idea to wait until I've made that post before linking to it (as several folks have asked if they could do).

However, if you want to go ahead and link now, that's fine as well -- just so anyone coming here realizes that what they're looking at is basically me thinking out loud and working my way through the evidence in bits and pieces, as opposed to a well-rounded and coherent argument of the sort I hope to present later.

Thanks to everybody's who's thrown in their questions, additions, agreements and objections so far! I haven't had so much fun in HP fandom for a long time.

And now I shall be gone all day, so those waiting for more info will have to wait until Monday, I'm afraid. Sorry!

I'm off for the weekend to a women's conference, won't be back until Sunday night, and if anyone spoils me for this week's Doctor Who before I've had the chance to watch it, I shall be Very Put Out, so do keep that in mind, won't you?

Which reminds me, I haven't reviewed the last two weeks. Uh... "The Unquiet Dead" was not nearly as bad as I'd feared, and actually had quite a few charming features, but definitely creepy as all-get-out. Oh, and I totally called ( spoiler )

"Aliens of London" I didn't like so much, although there were some great bits in it. And now I really have to go RIGHT NOW, so -- have a good weekend, all!

So I popped off all the keys and cleaned my keyboard thoroughly with rubbing alcohol, and then I gave it a few hours to dry. Tonight I decided to test it out by typing "the quick brown fox".

The result looked like this:

wx

No, I'm not kidding. It's really that bad. *weeps*

Right now I am typing on a cruddy old keyboard borrowed from my parents, but it also happens to be the only keyboard they have for their computer so I may have to return it at any moment. Meanwhile my beautiful Microsoft Natural Keyboard lies face-down over the register, in a last vain hope that all it needs is just a little... more... drying. I don't hold out much hope, though.

Anyway, all of that is to say, if I'm not around quite as much as usual the next couple of days, you'll know why.

Merry Christmas to me,
I have Windows XP,
My brother, 'twas he
Who installed it for me,
Ho ho ho hee hee hee,
Merry Christmas to me!

I would have something serious and thoughtful to say, but I have company and I have neglected them shamefully, plus I must prepare for our big Christmas dinner tomorrow, so... happy holidays to you all!