suricattus

If I get one more "news" update about Tiger Woods, I'm canceling my subscription to CNN alerts. Seriously, people. It's Not News.

Was up this morning at oh-cold-early and walked to the market to buy coffee and, hey, while I was there, the fixings for chicken stew. Mmmm, stew. Then home, and right into Word War.

[for those of you wondering, or who were interested but forgot, the 'invite' gets posted at http://community.livejournal.com/toonowrimo/. All levels welcome, so long as you're there to work, not goof off. Goofing off is for the break periods]

Morning gave me 1,000 new words, am hoping to at least do that this afternoon, plus Other Writings.

Darling d'jour: "I didn’t ask what the fatae did with their dead; I suspected asking would be rude, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to know, anyway. J always said that sex and burial traditions were where most cultural misunderstandings happened."


Things researched today: cogeneration buildings, CD rates, roping knots, myself (an ego-google to track down pirates). Oh, and I am informed that you can get 25% rebate on ALL HQN eBooks until 12/14 at www.omnilit.com & www.allromanceebooks.com. Yes, I presume that includes Luna titles.

You're welcome. :-)



Meanwhile, clingy kitteh is being clingy (it always amazes people who think Pandora is aloof to see how much a momma's girl she is) and I am informed the UPS man is bringing my Brand!New!Knife! (and cutting board) today. Hrm. I think there may be Cooking, tonight. Or at least, chopping and mincing. Chicken stew, and gingered-squash soup. Yes.

I need an icon for "cozy-in-writing-burrow."

Well, I managed to get my minimum word count today, mainly by sneaking up on it. Stealth writing FTW. But minimum is not much to crow about. It was a good and useful transition scene, though, and got me through to the 10,000 point. I'm not displeased.

I also took possession of the last shipment of wine from California. And yet, I still need to buy wine for Thanksgiving. I'm thinking something South American.

I had thoughts about something I wanted to blog about...but I don't remember what it was. Am working on the agent-and-neurosis blog, though.

Nothing to say about the "Harlequin Horizons" set-up that I haven't already said elsewhere, mainly "RUFKM? Srsly?" If everyone's lucky, they'll find the coffers not filling up, and will shut this disaster down with a minimum of time and fuss. I feel bad for the legit authors who are caught up in the RWA shunning, and for all the folk who work at Harlequin who have to deal, once again, with Corporate asshattery they had nothing to do with. Walking the company line is hard; I remember and empathize.

Other than that... my brain is either broken, or it's working really hard on something it hasn't shared with me yet. No idea which.

Maybe I need to go cook something. And pick a caption contest winner...


EtA: opened a bottle of the Papapietro Perry 2006 Zin. Oh. Yeah. That's what I'm talking about! A nose of faint violets and pepper, the color of black cherries, and a clear, supple flavor of blackberry and plum jam without the thickness of said jam, the front and back taste bringing forward more of the cracked white pepper to liven it up. You can tell what they did with this wine, making it in the Pinot Noir style, and I think it really paid off.

Today, after spending much of the morning dealing with paperwork, virtual and otherwise, I got another 2,000 words done on PSI #3. And then, realizing that I was starting to feel a little "woe and teh sad" about the state of pretty much everything, shut down the electronics and went for a nice long city-hike through what turned out to be a nearly perfect autumn afternoon.

My knee's killing me, but everything else is much more settled.

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Meanwhile, the foul matter for FLESH AND FIRE has been delivered. I know some folk keep it, but that's just not an option for me. Some folk donate it, but I can't imagine anyone, in this day and budget, wanting my stuff taking up valuable storage space.

Anyone want shredding manuscript for the discerning literary gerbil's bed-fodder?

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And, in parting: a favor. If you've read FLESH AND FIRE and thought it was Just Swell, could you pass word along? In your blog, in your reader' group, in your annual holiday letter to the cousins you want to impress... share the excitement, and help spread the viral word to everyone. Sort of like the literary H1N1!

(or, y'know, not like it at all.)

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That is all.

So, Patrick Swayze and Crystal Lee Sutton have both died, both far too early. The rest of the Internet has already weighed in with their thoughts, so I'll just say "good night, and thanks for the good work."

Oh, all right. Wolverrrrrrrrines!


Meanwhile, I have an OMG full day ahead of me, starting with a trip to the Post Awful and ending with my 'Nazi elf in the UN' take on Rime of the Ancient Mariner (no, really) being shredded by the writers group. This may be a full pot of coffee kind of day, oh yeah.

Meanwhile keep voting on the Newsletter or No letter poll -- I haven't made up my mind yet.

Noted, in passing, the best-ever SG-1 fic-title EVEAH: "Like Everything, It Happened to Jack"

(I have no idea what the story itself is, but it almost doesn't matter, after that)
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On side of waffle box: calories per waffle: 90. 2 waffles per serving. Total calories per serving: 190.

Um..... Math: ur doin' it rong.
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EtA: Multigrain waffles and aged Kashkaval cheese FT(breakfast)W.
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And...that's all I got. Leverage rocked, but I spent most of my time last night talking/tweeting about the President's speech, and CongressIdiot Rudeniks, so my thoughts are still scattered, and I expect them to be Even More Scattered later on, since I have tix to see A STEADY RAIN tonight.

Yes, the new play staring Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman. Yes, that play. If the acting holds up to what I've heard of the writing, it should be a fascinating, if depressing, evening. I'll let you know tomorrow.

Saturday, and the only thing on my to-do list is a bunch of things that it pleases me to-do (finish the rework of section 2, finish the freelance gig, read a book, make pizza).

Better, is it a cool, rainy Saturday. Rainy summer days and snowy winter days, to me, are the Universe's way of saying "settle down. Relax. Curl up. Be still. It's All Good."

I also -- now that the bookcase situation has been dealt with, need to find a proper sword hook, so I can finally hang Softwing up in the manner she deserves. Oh f-list, does anyone have a source for sturdy, museum-style [not flashy] vertical sword hangers?

A reminder that you still have 3 days in which to enter the contest to win a copy of Flesh and Fire!. Yes, non-North Americans can enter, too! Contest ends midnight 25 August.

And, as we enter into the alignment of Whatevers that identify a Virgo, here's a quick primer to that personality type (aka, Moi)

( Fact or fantasy? Who cares, it's amusing )

Ball 1: Twenty-five pages left of the revisions for Pack of Lies, and then I get to go back and reread it again to make sure I didn't break anything in the fixing of it. Off-schedule for this, due to a mess of factors, but thankfully Madame Editrix is in Australia right now, so she's not exactly tapping her foot waiting on me...

Ball 2: my first reader is going over Vineart2, while I do more research on details I glossed over in the Very Rough Draft. I love this part -- it's like writing, but with less stress. And every new thing I learn ticks over a new possibility, here and for later.

Ball 3: working on cover/copy stuff for the soon-to-be-retitled Daughter of the Sea and Mustang.

Ball 4: Conspiracy of Shadows editorial work.

Ball 5: writing obligatory "dear reader" letters for reprints of Burning Bridges, Free Fall, and Blood From Stone.

Ball 6: trying to stay cool while doing all this...

If you hear a crash and some swearing, send band-aids and ice packs.


How's everyone else staying busy and/or cool today?

The plan: come home from WorldCon, dive right back into work, go to tango class, go to wine tasting, go to family joint birthday dinner, be Awesomely Productive.

Reality: come home, fall over with significantly icky concrud (I'm blaming Nir, who came down with the same thing), lose two days of work, forget about tango, hopefully make it to dinner tomorrow, collapse for the weekend, feeling like a thousand pissed-off fairies went at me with ball-peen hammers.

On the plus side, client work is done, essay due to BVC is done, Mischief has been Plotted with the Magnificent Seven, various if not all e-mails have been responded to, and there's Leverage on tonight. And I have those essentials of being sick: ice cream, oj, and cold meds. Yay.


And tomorrow, I am going to announce A Contest.

1800 new words this morning, and we're halfway through the penultimate chapter of V2-draft1, as per the outline. I think the outline lies.

The heat outside is sapping my brain, even with the a/c. In another life I was a polar bear.

I have a full afternoon of revisions work ahead, and Someone gave me a brainworm about a new short story last night that will need research, first.

The Internet, and the rest of the world, is doing their usual batshit stupid-crazy routines on sex, race, and entitlement. I can't keep up and I lost my scorecard. Text me when someone actually changes someone else's mind, k?

breaking news: Senate panel approves Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to U.S. Supreme Court, setting up confirmation vote by full Senate. I'll call that forward movement, me.

well, it looks as though the voting LJ-public wants a contest involving an ARC. So we'll see what we can do (I may also do one for a Tuckerization, but that will require more thought -- and you'll have to work harder for that one!)

Woke up this morning @ 4:30. In the morning, yes. No, I don't know why, either. It was decent sleeping weather, and the Skelaxin is supposed to make me sleepy. My alien biochem apparently disagrees (non-drowsy cold meds make me nap, too. I am Contrary). Made up my to-do list and was suddenly sleepy, but by then the coffee was done and then it was time to go to the gym, and here we are at Monday 9am.

Some Publishing Stuff:

"Three Amazon inventors set out to correct what they felt was a real problem: that 'out-of-print or rare books ... typically do not include advertisements ... the content is fixed and, therefore, has not been adapted to modern marketing.' Their solution is spelled out in newly-disclosed Amazon patent applications for On-Demand Generating E-Book Content with Advertising and Incorporating Advertising in On-Demand Generated Content.

As mentioned here earlier, Borders has decided to give Amazon a run for the money. And they're doing it the smart way -- by being inclusive. Until recently in the United Kingdom, people wanting to buy an electronic book-reading device had little choice of machines. This week, the bookseller Borders launches its own e-book reader, which promises to ignite competition at last.

Of interest to only a few here: Penguin UK is cutting about 100 people, and Helen Fraser is retiring. *blink* Huh. Innneresting, said the former Penguinite. Not indicative, necessarily, but interesting.

And y'all know that the government is looking into the Google Rights Grab Settlement, right? I have no predictions either way, except that ain't nobody looking out for the authors 'cept the authors (and their agents, natch)

1. We have had a Popcorn Incident here at Ch. Felidae. The felines are moderately traumatized. I knew I should have gotten chocolate instead.
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2. Meanwhile, cleaning up files and found an interview I'd done for a site but the person doing the interviews had to step down and it kinda got lost in the cracks. So y'all can see it here -- a little late, but hopefully still interesting/amusing/enlightening.

( Wren and Sergei talk about BLOOD FROM STONE )
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3. and, on a much less silly note, been on a Bruce kick the past few days, for some reason. But in light of events in Iran, "Worlds Apart" really kicked me in the gut.

( lyrics behind the cut )

2600 new words on V2. 500 new words on Mustang. Accepted two new freelance projects, started on a pending one. Cleaned the apartment (because my office looked like, well, like a writer in the middle of a massive deadlines lived there). Exercised. Prepped stuff to be mailed.

And, finally, put together the notes from Monday's tasting. It was a madhouse, and I was in full hey-howarya mode, so my notes are a bit sketchy...

( this way to za Germans! )

Meanwhile, elsewhere I was asked to participate in a meme, and came across this question:

10. What's your philosophy on life?
My answer: "Think it through, but don't hesitate."

How about you? What's your philosophy/motto?

First: galley slaves who are ready and able, let me know -- we've got more for you to read!

Second: it has come to this -- we need a scorecard to keep the damn books straight. So, until further notice:

( name and rank only )

Third: although I now have clean clothes and towels, I've been driven to kitchen sink stir-fry for dinner. I think this means it's time to go grocery shopping...

Fourth: I also stepped forward to help cat-herd a new project, and raised my hand to write two new stories with undefined but probably semi-soon deadlines, for two different projects. To quote mizkit, "meerkat, you dork."

and Fifth: I have a freelance thing I really need to do tonight. Oy. I think I'm going to crack open the new bottle o' Scotch and pour myself a wee dram of enthusiasm....

There is too much, I cannot even sum up. But I will try.

Thursday night, as already recounted, we went off to the Olde Stomping grounds to see Springsteen. The very next morning at Oh Fkcu Early, vincam and I made our way to the Amtrak station, and thence to Baltimore(Jules) and DC (moi). I was in DC to take part in the BookView Cafe presentation via the Library of Congress lunchtime gatherings. We had a smaller than usual crowd, due to the holiday weekend, but it was still a lively and interested crowd, and I think we got across the joys traumas and expectations of being an author-driven e-publishing co-op. Plus, our multimedia worked like a charm, including all the video files. Yay!

www.bookviewcafe.com if you want to check us out yourself.

From there, Sue Lange and I braved the traffic and drove up to Baltimore, for Balticon, where in addition to two more Bookview Cafe presentations, I was on some damned good panels (the "Good and Evil" one had an amazing turnout for Monday at 10am!) and saw old friends from the area and elsewhere, and met new friends, and put faces to known phosphors, and generally it was A Convention. I also taped an interview with FastForward that will appear at some point in the future, and even managed to get some work done, although not as much as I'd hoped. Oh, and I gave blood, due to perfect timing of not being sick, having had a good meal, and an hour to spare when the Heinlein Society-sponsored bloodmobile arrived. I missed my last usual donation because I was sick, so it was good to catch up. Does anyone know if there will be a blood drive at Anticipation or not?

Then home, via a very crowded not-my-train (ours was canceled due to mechanical problems) and I've been trying to play catch-up ever since then, aware that this Friday is the start of BEA, and I'm scheduled from 11-2 with Author stuff, and then again at 3-4 with editor stuff, and social obligations in the evening, and I've extracted myself from social things on Saturday because the work, it still waits and not patiently at all, damn it...

if I owe you e-mail, I apologize. I'll get there eventually. After the laundry.


And I leave you with the following:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4GniJYzGa8

(safe for work, but may cause you to lose all ability to speak for a few minutes)


And under the heading of "taking things out of context," I give you this gem from this morning's word war chat:

"jut, knot, and harden sound like a pair of Scandy triplets in an erotica."