anachred

This is a meme; it was more interesting this time around. It's partly that I'm doing better with opening lines, especially for short stories, and partly that I've been doing a lot of short stories.


List the first lines of your last twenty stories. See if you find any patterns. (And flist, I'd love your opinions on patterns you notice.)

1) Harry hated to run away from anything, but he would have made an exception for this garden party. {The Enchanting Miss Tetley}

 

( 2-20, if you're interested. )

Also: My Raven King yarn is done! Come look at it...
 

Frex, I'm fragile.

Hopefully tomorrow at Tokyo in Tulsa I won't be the Shy Mopey Girl, though since I'm not dressing up...
It's harder when I'm not play-acting.

I want to go to meet people, but the thing about this cyber age is that people don't really want to meet other people randomly in person. It's more uncomfortable.

How could you create a T-shirt target that means:
Yes, I'd like to chat intelligently
No, I'm not as young as I look and
Please don't take my default look of whatever-it-is to mean I am an intimidating person

For a Read-and-Knit-Along on A Midsummer Night's Dream, I created this yarn,
representing the character Puck, the Robin Goodfellow who is curiously sane
for the prankster fairy, in a play full of madness.

I have more pictures and rambling about this at my fiber blog.






In other news, I'm doing a copy-edit pass through Sheridan in Charade, the sequel to The Carnie's Con {Poisson}, and enjoying it a lot.

I did find one major bobble, though. Master Mandrake has a Sekrit Lab'ratory!

...and keeps Sherry locked out of the study earlier on, to do a procedure with chemicals.
I didn't know about the attic at the time, but I'm not sure how to fix the bobble. I like the revelation of the magician who loves science being where it is in the story. Right beat, if you know what I mean.

Maybe he'll just have to disappear to do it. Though that feels a little too easy. Dunno...

I am printing a new version of The Carnie's Conspiracy!

This has new material, which significantly changes the feel without being a reconstruction. I hope it will fly.

This story has been a comparative pleasure to work on.
It may just be that the other projects I've tried to revise have been Purgatory, but it's nice to actually be *capable* to edit what I need to, and think I've accomplished something. (Yes, World Dom. 101, I AM looking at you.)


And I've remembered an idea that would fit in the same vein of MG quasi-fantasy that I could begin, as a follow-up.

Gentlemen of Fortune?
It involves a boy expiating his pawn-shop-owning ancestors' sins by helping The Pirates atone for theirs.
Burying gold in wild locales was actually a rite to avert the wrath of their god, see.
But it was only temporary...

I need to dig out the journals again, to find where I had bits of world-building, etc. Because I had some, but that was probably years ago now...


(This is actually one of the fun parts, the flipping through my random journals...)

I think yesterday I had burned through all my nervous energy becoming a submissions fiend, and was left just with the nerves.

Today I have no desire to see Bora Bora, especially not with a stranger.
Instead, I sent a story out for the...nine, tenth time. Wore a baseball hat for the first time in probably 7 years. Started typing in the new scene for The Carnie's Conspiracy.

Do you think it's too early to start actually packing for the trip next Friday?

>,<

(You would not believe the ratio on pictures of me:me travelling)


For Your Entertainment Value:

Editing Letter --a song that not only lampoons the agonies of  revisions, but also music videos in general. (Or at least, in my eyes, it does.)
   ~via Janet Reid?


And, tomorrow night at Cappaccino Corner is Open Mic Night. I'll be there, singing!



Like-a-this.

This is a little banner for my Etsy shop gossamersong, now boasting
7 items, from a "technicolor kittens" Umbridge skein to the Spirited
Away Haku yarn and my Very Pink tribute to the Nutcracker.

Yes, I am striving to make the shop a Guess-The-Fandom Extravanganza!
why do you ask?

(I am inordinately proud of how those three central photos go together.
I am less proud, but at least relieved to be actually working on this again.)



Speaking of work, I submitted 3 poems and a story (two for the first time)
to various places today.

I am less industriously writing a completely new scene for Carnie's Con,
in which Poisson has Molly burgle back a letter. Her only condition is to
not have to go in through a coal-hatch. (Do you know about coal hatches?)

gjules  did a brilliant initial critique for me. I think I need to work on some of the elements a little bit more, but I am ready for some other viewpoints.

The Carnie's Conspiracy, Second Draft!
Anyone interested?

Here's some more about it:

 

( Molly and her little brother have run away from the circus. )

And the opening:

 

( Silas Poisson was the most dangerous man in Muldable City. )

I'd like to publicly congratulate myself on finishing the Conspiracy of Cons series, in first draft. ^...^

I wrote the last line of The Return of Mr. Birch this morning at 1.

I probably won't feel the triumph until I've typed it in, getting a chance to reread it a bit, but it feels really good to be freed up to concentrate on the *first* book's heavier editing aspects.
We'll see how long I can hold out before the next book project swallows my life.

I'm working through the end of The Return of Mr. Birch.

This is the last volume of the Conspiracy of Cons...Mr. Poisson's story, but also Alan Birch and Molly Carnie's.

Hoo, boy. If any, this is the book that is going to need to be gutted and rethought and painfully reconstructed.
It's powder-room politics, and mental intrigue and nothing seems to happen but relationships.
And yet, today we are killing the Duke. In a very Birch-appropriate way, which is a relief...

Anyway. Can't be helped. Not until I've written and thought about it.

Tomorrow I think I'm going to review comics for you. Oh Joy!

“Some authors seem to have a fairly specific internal age; very likely it's the age they remember best from their own childhoods. When they write for this age, it sounds right; it feels right. Their characters' thoughts and speech and action feel inimitably their own, which comes both from the author's deep empathetic connection to the characters, and from the respect that empathy engenders.”

~ Editorial Anonymous, a great children's book industry blog


This made me think a bit. Particularly about the glee with which I wrote The Carnie's Conspiracy, to me a Middle-Grade novel.

Realistically, I was pretty much in literacy what I am today by 13. I was not able to write up to my ability to comprehend, and I now enjoy Jane Austen's books and others with a much better sense of nuance and humor.

However. It makes me curious. Have I been writing too old for myself?
...I wrote a picture book the other day.

Randomized Song Response Whoseemawhatsit:

IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY" YOU SAY?
Pressing On

WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
Arch to Achilles

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
Boy on a String

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?
More Love, More Power

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
Simon


( In Which Some Can Make Sense, Some are Humorous, and Some Leave the Imagination Blank )

This crit is more encouraging than not, and lo, I am somewhat cheered up: at Pitch Clinic

Plus, I'm really just smug about being one of the first dozen posted, so obviously among the first to find it (there is a secret link from the Editorial Anonymous blog). There are now like 70 in the queue...

      Well, I certainly didn't intend to spend New Year's Eve day in bed, napping, reading. and watching a lion's share of the BBC miniseries Pride and Prejudice. But I did. It would have been fun, too, if I hadn't felt like my throat was playing Judgment Day and not looking with grace on all my sins.
      (Apparently, my immune system DID notice all that sugar.)

New Year's Day I was generally done with living in my pajamas, and instead wrote 10 pages of The Return of Mr. Birch.
This may not seem monumental, but I'd been going about three sentences at a time before.

It also now sounds like I've been watching too many Austen dramatizations (this is true), but at least the plot's begun to move.

Win some, lose some.



Quick, what do Haku and my yarn have in common?
...too late. Beautiful colors, is what. I love interdisciplinary geekhood.







(Question to ponder: why we can't have a kissing scene
for *this* guy in Sense&Sensibility? Even as a deleted
scene?)
(This is a rhetorical question. The world is just cruel,
I know that.)

I hope you can click on this to get a bigger image.

My sister made this--she's been fiddling with the OpenSource version of Photoshop and the effects for a while now, and this I thought was just gorgeous.

I love how the bloody theme kind of sticks in the coloring, even though it doesn't stand out on his hands so much.

And now...back to work in a funky hat!

Today was my first day to not be sore from dancing,

even though I did practice yesterday.
My face is showing the exercise already, a trait I certainly cherish.
Keep it at it! the mirror says.

I also have sold 2 skeins of handspun yarn in the last two days, my first ever.


(Actually *this* yarn, whereas the feet above...not so much.)

These things (with some other random stuff) seemed to be designed encouragement for me, because there is something else in my life right now that just...whoa. Not good.
A lot of little happy stuff outweighs one hard thing for me, though. I'm cruisin'.

I'm going through Poisson No. 1 in my first sweep. Beware, lures to Beta, soon!

I really need to have a different tag for Alan Birch. But I don't. Sorry,  Alan...   {fictional character, in case you wondered}


Good News of the Week:

I got my second rejection, for a different story, that encouraged me to keep submitting to the publication!
*squee! squee at 5-past-waking-up, people!*
I had a feeling my mail would have something good in it. Granted, I think that way more than it's true...

Peeve of the Day:       (okay, actually, this is something to diffuse the tension of all the peeves I shouldn't mention online)

I just realized I have the warm fuzzies for the word "pearl", of all things. ?0_0?
I have a long-term hatred of the word "caress", though.
Somehow this seems odd.

Progress of the Era:

I commenced The Return of Mr. Birch today. It is to be the last (as far as I can see) of The Conspiracy of Cons, a direct sequel to Charade*whathaveyou. I didn't think I'd want to go right into this next book, but I do.
So I am.
There's Mr. Birch in it.
Whom I have a crush on, I admit, though it's lame to crush on your own characters, but my crushes tend to not be highly rational things.
That's all.

Chyaaa!
The book is done!

And for an image that really expresses my feelings:



(This picture thing is in the tradition of my previous blog--
I'd forgotten about it, but now I'm reminded there is no escaping!)

Today I got my first "please submit more" for a story rejection. ^_^

Rejection has never made me happier. Oh, Beastly, where shall we pack you off to next?

Now to go write today's quota of words in an amazing hour and twenty minutes!

Writing Quantifications for The Day--

Trace Elements on Manuscript: Breakfast Fusion Green & Black Tea Blend (with lemon & hunny) I know, right? Yum...
Though I put tooooo much honey in, it's like the spoon could hold up to jig in it, and it's more like a dessert than a drink.
( Etc with the pretty graphs... )</div></a>31032 / 50000 words. 62% done!

General Mood to the Effort: determined. To not sit in front of a notebook for 12 hours!

Current Outlook: Fair Sunshiny</div>

Media Influences: Anberlin*, Kung-Fu Panda"There is no secret ingredient!), Batman Beyond: The Last Resort (reform school story)

* Guess who found out their newest favorite band is considered em0? *sigh* There is not a well-mocked facet of modern culture I have not endorsed...
** !Hott Villain Alert! Though his voice is a disappointment--but we can't have little girls loving scary kung-fu murderers. They must have learned that lesson after Shere Khan. (Not that he did kung fu, in case you were confused.)

Prologue: Procrastination

Watching a AMV of LotR footage, to the Nightwish song "End of All Hope" made me think--Yeah. I want to watch those again.
    I mean, I'm always up for it, but I've kept thinking of  trying and deciding it was too much bother for too long a movie to try and make time for.
I probably need to get onto reading that book to my sibs again, too. {Slacker.}
    (The AMV is really good, if you can stand that kind of thing. I think these are such a manifestation of the Noveau Geek culture. Go and see it!*)

Chapter One: New Book Love

This next book, Charade, is a more talky, thinky book than Silas Escapes. First of all, it involves a magician apprenticeship. Second of all, it involves a plot where the master is backward-talking to get his apprentice to stop all his attemps to obey the queen and kill Poisson. So yeah.
     the Diet we are on:
~ FullMetal Alchemist comics (I have rediscovered a love for these. Or, actually started liking them. Not sure.)
~ The Face in the Frost....I want to read that again
~ GothMetalAnthems: This is apparently getting hard rock soundtrack treatment. I tried to go from the classical out with the music on my computer, but it was just not working. So. Another morning poking around YouTube. {Lamest musical searcher EVAR, yes}*

Um. Is this novel trying to say something to me about the cozy intrigue image I had for it? As far as I know there will be no limb-rending, world-questing, or angst. Sometimes I work best with contrasting soundtracks, I dunno...


Footnote:
*I started with Evacuating London, went to Dream On (Aerosmith), the Nightwish song in search of the End themed soundtrack song for LotR, and who knows where it will go from there. Currently? Within Temptation's Pale, discovered courtesy Faramir/Eowyn AMV

It was 22838.

For my Half-Birthday, I have both Dressed Up and Done a Good Deed.
(deed: convert a dear friend to a certain steampunk webcomic. CHECK.)

I wondered about Batman's ears being stiff enough to dig into the ground and get him stuck, a few episodes ago.

They're for breaking through glass ceilings before his skull hits them, as proven in episode 13 of Season 2. I don't know why I didn't think of this myself.

PS this entry has half as many tags as it does total words. This is, yes, sad.