Category: Uncategorized

This was such a great picture that I just had to share it.  That would be my wonderful three-year-old at the fair.  It was his first time on a ride and he had a blast.  He also got to feed a ton of animals and my mother got sneezed on by a large, furry, snotty thing …

I have no idea what this thing was.  My brother actually braved the mucus and fed it.  He said it was like a big, gooey puppy, very gentle, but you couldn’t have paid me to be snotted on.  So when it sneezed on my Mom, she made the most priceless face of disgust.  I wish I’d had my camera ready for it.

We got home Monday evening and I had to hit the grind early Tuesday morning.  Somehow, I managed to get through Chapter 11 of Dead Magic, Chapter 8 of Usurper (don’t ask, I know I’m not supposed to be working on it, but I heard a great song and it stabbed my creative mind with the scene so I had to write it down) and my usual 40 hour work week … on top of school.  It’s a wonder I got a shower in.

Well, this weekend was spent at my mother’s house, relaxing and enjoying the last real weekend I’ll get for the next few months.  With school and everything, I’m bound to be super busy, so I thought it was best to take the time now.  We actually went to the county fair and Hazen had great fun on the rides.  His little three-year-old expression was wonderful when he finally understood what he’d waited in line for.

But, it is time to get back to the grind.  Work, work, work and more work.

… All right. So I’m on my second book for classes and I’m having the same trouble. Maybe there’s an unwritten rulebook somewhere that every nonfiction book needs to have a verbose, fairly dry opening. That way they can differentiate between the “scholars” and the … you know … average Joe.

I sort of feel like becoming an Editor and scratching out all the excess fat in the book. All the “therefore’s” would be cut. I think I counted 8 in the first four pages.

It is not a good idea to have a white noise machine on the “Babbling Brook” setting when you have a freshly potty-trained toddler. They will inevitably wake up in the middle of the night with a wet bed.

Hurray for adventures in motherhood. (Personal note: My white noise machine is now set to “Wind Chimes”, thank you very much.)

Awwww … I get to write a book report.  I think the last one I did was in High School.  Granted, this one is going to be far different from the High School version of a book report, but I’m still pleased to say I get to do one.  I’ll probably have to stop myself from discussing the quality of the prose or hunting for a character arc to discuss like I would in a review.

But!  To writing news!  I’m pleased to say that … yes, I did manage to write Chapter 9 of Dead Magic in spite of the hectic school schedule.  It was challenging, I won’t lie.  But it wasn’t hard in the “I need time to get that done” way … it was hard in the “I’m half thinking about that theology book I’m reading for class” sort of way.  These are two different ways to think and, because it makes me sound smart, I’m going to say that they take up two totally different parts of my brain.  I’ve got the “thinking cap” on one hand and the “fictional thinking cap” on the other.  They don’t play well together.

After getting through the first two chapters of my assigned reading for my first class, I felt quite a bit like a squashed spider. I was walloped by collegiate exposition, drowned in the metaphors used by the authors, and challenged to think beyond the sacred “Three Act” style of fiction writing.

In short, I was a smooshed spider under the very book I was reading, half dead from information overload, but with one leg doing that morbid residual twitch.

Somehow, I’ll re-inflate and start to think like a scholar again.

I realized today that it has been nine years since I read a book with an introduction in it.  I’ve read lots and lots of books, don’t get me wrong, but it’s like I got out of college and the nonfiction part of the bookstore magically disappeared.  Barnes&Noble was suddenly half the size, Borders … did it have nonfiction in it? … The Library … well, aside from going there for researching the Nellis project, I totally avoided the place. (I swear, it smells like learning in there.  If learning had a smell, its right there in between the bookshelves, mingled with the scent of unwashed college students nearing finals week.)

I feel very wimpy.  There’s a lot of great nonfiction out there.  It’s just that, when you’re going through the school years, it’s like the teachers get together and pick the driest, most terrible, longest books possible to torture students with.  For that matter, some nonfiction authors could try to spice up their work.  I’m not saying they should suddenly write about an alien invasion during the Civil War, though that certainly would have perked me up in History 101, but they could try to use some action words.  Verbs, people!  Learn your verbs!

I bought a Kindle.  Finally.  I intended to get it for Christmas this year, but with school next week and half my textbooks available in Kindle format, and with a fabulous sale price, I just couldn’t pass it up.  Hence, my super happy dance.  I’ve got it all registered and my textbooks are on it already (Hurray!).  Also, of course, I planted my own two books on it.  (Pfft, like I could pass up doing that.)

I’ve taken a long look at what my life is going to be like for the next seven weeks (that’s the length of the first major class) and I have come to the understanding that … well … I’m a little insane.  My mother will tell you that this doesn’t come as much of a surprise.

So, it’s official.  All writing deadlines are put on hold.  Deviation can wait until December.  Saboteur is already out, so I don’t have to worry about it.  Usurper’s slow crawl of progress will come to a standstill.  The only one that I will make the effort to finish is Dead Magic, but if I continue my chapter per week there shouldn’t be a problem.  Twenty minutes a day, six days a week, and it’ll still be on schedule (hopefully).

Now, please excuse me while I run off to read on my sweet, beautiful Kindle.

Woot!  I got to see Cowboys & Aliens last weekend and I totally loved it.  The manliness on that screen was overpowering.  Daniel Craig continues to showcase his testosterone in ways that boggle the mind.  I mean, the dude can carry a damsel in distress with inspiring nonchalance.  I swoon, I tell you, I absolutely swoon.  He’s not as pretty as Thor, but he can get the job done without that massive hammer.

All right, I’ll stop gushing.  It’s been a few days so I think I’m starting to surface from the sea of masculinity that is Daniel Craig.

Onward to writing news!

Deviation went through my Beta Reader and I now know what I need to do to change the book from decent to magnificent.  I won’t be able to do anything about it until December, but I’ll be penciling in my changes and highlighting the rough spots until then.  And the reason I can’t do anything about it until December is because I start school next week.

Hurray!  It’s been ten years since I last went to school and I have to admit that I’m sitting somewhere between terrified and ebullient.

Well, when it was all said and done, this move to WordPress was mostly painless.  It was just a lot of copy-paste time and me complaining about having to do it in the first place.  But, it’s done.  And I’m quite pleased with it.  As you can see by the top bar, I’ve even updated the Nellis V Project.

I’ve opted out of putting the archive up here.  The archive was mostly for my own use anyway, so I doubt anyone will miss it.  If you DO miss it and you demand to have all of my research up there … well … email me.  We’ll talk.

I am pleased to say that Deviation is in the hands of one very wonderful, beautiful, perfect Beta Reader.  This means that the book is currently out of my hands and I can breathe.  I got everything done with it that I planned to have done before classes start on the 22nd, so that’s a relief.  (Yes, I really CAN stick to a deadline.  Even self-imposed deadlines.)

Since Saboteur is in the hands of the publisher, this means that the only thing I have to worry about (aside from getting ready for school) are the works in progress.  That would be Dead Magic and Usurper.  Dead Magic is priority.  It’ll be done in December (another self-imposed deadline) regardless of school.  I can write two-thousand words in an hour, that’s how I know it’ll be done.  (Just imagine what I could do with a full 8 hour day doing nothing but writing?)

Story Bibles!  For the first time ever, I’ve had to build a story bible.  This is probably because sequels are still a new thing to me (meaning I’d never written one before Saboteur).  But now that I’m neck-deep in sequels I understand and see why the story bible is so imperative.  I mean, I really don’t want to give the wrong colored eyes to a beloved character.