Ink in My Coffee

2007-01-18T10:20:00.000-05:00

January 18, 2007

New Moon

And we've moved!

Visit us at our new home, here.

Site redirect coming soon!

2007-01-17T09:33:00.000-05:00

Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Dark of the Moon
Saturn Retrograde
Sunny and COLD!

Linky, linky, check out these posts:

My regular Wednesday entry is up on The Dog Blog. Today’s topic is: Space.

The latest issue of The Scruffy Dog Review is up, with my column, “The Literary Athlete”. We’re talking about endings here, and the talk includes agent Jacky Sach, editor Kristen King, reader Costume Imp, and authors Chaz Brenchley, Tim Cockey, Tess Gerritsen, Jonathan Mayberry and John Getze

Link:
http://thescruffydogreview.com/uploads/Literary%20Athlete%20Endings%20Formatted.htm

There are a couple of typo fixes I requested, and then I’ll send the links to the contributors.

Today’s Circadian Poem is “Lily” by Wesley Floyd.

Last day of posting on Blogger. Make sure you have the links updated over to Word Press.

Dealt with a good deal of anger yesterday. I struggled with it because I had the feeling that what I responded to wasn’t at the root of the problem, and it was more important to find out the cause than simply react on an emotional level. Not all figured out, yet, but I’m getting there. Trying to take the Saturn Retrograde into account and not make the same mistakes – make constructive choices instead of destructive ones. Mostly revolving around stuff in the city, not the writing life.

With yet more developments in The Situation: The Sequel – it’s not easy.

And, actually, Kristen, you gave me the key in our phone conversation today. I think I’m on the right track. Thank you!

Work was fine. Lots of principal dressing rooms painted, so I had plenty of clothes to haul up three flights of stairs. Was ready to slap one of the dayworkers who started whining that a rack she wanted to put downstairs for dry cleaning was full and I wasn’t emptying it fast enough (we had three hours until the dry cleaning was due). God forbid she could help me move anything if it meant going up the stairs. I told her it would take me as long as it took me, and she would just have to deal. Upstairs, in my work space, we had engineers trying to figure out which shower was leaking and why, and a design assistant in the rooms making sketches for the designer. Believe it or not, it wasn’t all that chaotic, because we were all working around each other with compassion and cooperation.

Printed out some more photos and got them in the book. Sent out two more pitches.

Good morning’s work on Changeling.

Busy day ahead. Good stuff: writing and pitches. Bad stuff: more to do on The Sequel. But guess what? It has to wait until the writing quota is met. I’m tired of losing writing time because of scumbags.

Devon

Chasing the Changeling – 8,842 words out of est. 45,000

8 / 45
(17.8%)

2007-01-16T08:52:00.000-05:00

Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Waning Moon
Saturn Retrograde
Rainy and cold

The revised guidelines are up for Circadian Poems.

I’ve moved both The Thirteen Traveling Journals Project and The Place and Space Journal Project. They both need a lot of TLC and revamping, which will happen in the coming weeks. Both of the new sites have my photos. I love how P&S turned out, but am unhappy with the Journals photo and will have to do another photo session in the near future to come up with something better. Not to mention sort all the problems with journals getting stuck because I haven’t been able to access the email to get the info from the proper people and TO the proper people. Patience, all, it will be worked out. Plus, some new journals will be available in the coming weeks, along with a fresh media campaign.

Spent far too much time yesterday working on a quarterly newsletter that has to go out in early February. But the content had formed itself in my brain, and I wanted to get it onto the page while it was still hot and fresh.

Tomorrow is my last day for Ink’s run on Blogger. Much of it was great, but we all have to move on sometime, right?

Let’s hope all this blog relocation is moving the house relocation energy into place!

Suzanne over at The Working Writer’s Coach invited me to join a Blog Chain this week – very cool. It’s a wonderful, intelligent, diverse group of writers and bloggers – witty, articulate, fascinating points of view. Thanks, Suzanne! I’m having a blast.

I wrestled a couple of pages out of “Illuminated Nude”. I’m getting into the difficult, sticky section now, and the only thing to do is push through.

I dropped back into the world of Real again for a few pages. I’m getting there. It’ll be a great, big mess to revise, but hey, get it all down first, then figure it out later, right?

Chasing the Changeling continues to surprise me in a good way.

Off to the theatre – yes, Kristen, I’m going to Spoiled Brats to look for the toy for Pickles! Don’t worry!

Devon

Token and Affections – 11,592 words out of est. 45,000

11 / 45
(24.4%)

Chasing the Changeling – 7,341 words out of est. 45,000

7 / 45
(15.6%)

“Illuminated Nude” – 3,250 words out of est. 5,000

3 / 5
(60.0%)

Real – 107,000 words out of est. 120,000

107 / 120
(89.2%)

2007-01-15T10:47:00.000-05:00

Monday, January 15, 2007
Waning Moon
Saturn Retrograde
Martin Luther King Day
Rainy and warm

Let’s take Dr. King’s message to heart and each day perform at least one act of kindness/and or tolerance, creating a ripple effect.

Rev up, people, there are links to click:

Today’s Circadian Poem: “Rainy Morn” by Joan Spoon.

A new post on preparing for herbal studies over on Kemmyrk.

An explanation of Hope Clark’s 13-in-Play and information on Kristen King’s Query Challenge 2007 over on Wordish Wanderings.

How’s that for a start?

On the Blogger version of Ink, it’s countdown time. I will only be double-posting for three more days. As of Thursday, when the moon turns, it will all be at Word Press.

On Word Press, I’m trying to fix some typos in links, and I have to talk to them today about some silly preview window they’re giving me when I want to click one of my links, that prevents me from actually getting to my link. I DON’T WANT IT. So, we’ll be having a bit of a chat today.

Yesterday – five loads of laundry at my friend’s place in CT, in trade for cooking dinner. Plus, he had some books relevant to a pitch I’m writing, so I used the afternoon to research.

Lots of correspondence to catch up on, getting started on the next couple of FemmeFan articles, my next SDR column, and getting those pitches out! And, I have to get started on the revision of Tumble, because the month is moving ahead, but my revision is not.

Typed/revised two chapters on Token last night. They’ll need more work, but I need to do some searching on the history of Greenwich Village to do them properly. I sort of know the old stories, but I want to double check them – choose one or two accurate anecdotes about real characters; make up one or two about imaginary people that are in the style of the day and the Greenwich Village myth. That’ll be draft 3.

Rejection on a short story yesterday – expected, but not wanted. There’s another market I think is a better fit (that I found AFTER I sent it out to the first one), but I have something on submission there and have to hear back from the first one before I can send this one.

Sigh.

Ideas for two new novels while I was putting around my friend’s place, reading newspapers and researching. One is historical – turn of the 20th Century. The other is contemporary, an action/psychological piece. Both need very different types of research, and both were triggered from situation rather than character, so I have to wait until the characters evolve before I can decide where to put them in the queue.

Devon

Token and Affections , 2nd Draft – 9,872 words out of est. 45,000

9 / 45
(20.0%)

Chasing the Changeling – 5,925 words out of est. 45,000

5 / 45
(11.1%)

2007-01-14T09:52:00.000-05:00

Sunday, January 14, 2007
Waning Moon
Saturn Retrograde
Rainy and warm

I let up on myself yesterday. It was a gray, cool, rainy day. I can’t seem to shake this virus. Most of the time, I don’t feel that bad, but the fatigue from it really kicks my ass.

So, other than working on Changeling, I didn’t do too much.

I printed more photos, and got all the ones I’ve printed thus far into the book. I’m up to the trip to Mohonk House in New Paltz, which happened in early August. Remember, I took over 100 photos on that one day, so it’ll take me awhile to get them all printed, written up, and in the book.

I ran some errands in CT. I did some more hand washing, including the cashmere. People don’t realize that, once you take something to the dry cleaner, it doesn’t take out the odor. In fact, if you take something stinky to the cleaner, the dry cleaning process SETS the odor – in that, you will never get it out. You don’t immediately smell it because of the dry cleaning fluid stench. But as soon as your body heat warms the garment up again, the stink returns – worse than ever.

Most fabrics last longer (and smell better) if you learn their eccentricities and learn how to hand wash them properly. If you have a vintage garment and want to wash it as infrequently as possible, and the fabric doesn’t water stain, get yourself a spritz bottle. Get yourself the cheapest rot gut vodka in your store. Mix a 1-1 vodka/water solution and spritz the garment, especially under the arms.

It does a lot more than dry cleaning.

And the cheap ass vodka works better than the good stuff. Save the good stuff for drinking.

So I’ve got a front hall full of cashmere on sweater drying racks, sprinkled with cedar shavings. As far as I know, no moths currently reside in my abode, but . . .why risk it?

Of course Iris periodically tests the sweater drying racks to see if they’ll do as trampolines.

They don’t.

They collapse.

Kitty dives under the sofa, and I swear a lot as I put the racks back together.

The seed catalogs are arriving, and I’m indulging myself in garden fantasies. That’s one of the things I’m looking most forward to regarding the relocation: a garden. Flowers, vegetables, and, especially, herbs.

Keep the Jimmy Choo shoes – give me a “Poet” rosebush!

I found out which whale skeleton was which (a blue whale in the atrium and a sperm whale in its own room) in New Bedford, and notated appropriately.

I need to create a cheat sheet for Changeling geography – the geography of an imagined world is much more difficult to look up on the map than is the world of Greenwich Village. The story is taking an interesting twist – and I’m realizing how much place is a character. The pace of Token, set in New York City is quite different than the pace of Changeling, which right now is set in a remote area. It’s interesting. And I’m letting it go where it wants, while still loosely sticking to the overall outline.

Devon

Chasing the Changeling -- 4,800 words out of est. 45,000

4 / 45
(8.9%)

2007-01-13T10:51:00.000-05:00

Saturday, January 13, 2007
Waning Moon
Saturn Retrograde
Rainy and cold

Mark your calendar, folks: when the moon turns to new later in the week, Ink will only be at the Word Press URL.

And the trouble I had with Blogger this morning seals the deal.

I was nowhere near as productive as I wanted to be yesterday. I had trouble with Changeling in the morning – a poor night’s sleep left my brain with mush, and I didn’t even get 1K done on it. So I had to work extra hard this morning.

I ran my errands, going to Old Greenwich and getting more photo paper (buy one, get one free, woo hoo), and other paper. I can’t wait until I have the room to store paper I buy by the case. I did that here for awhile – and kept the case in the trunk of the car, so I had to run down three flights of stairs, through the courtyard and down the street to the parking lot in the middle of the night when I ran out of paper. Uh, no, thanks. I want it in the closet of my office, thank you very much. My HOME office. Also known as The Library. Because my office will look like the library in one of those British Great Homes by the time I’m done with it.

I came home and printed nearly 100 photos, and I’m still only in June of last year. And I have, well, about 800 more photos to print. I took a LOT of pictures.

I have some great photos of enormous whale skeletons from the New Bedford Whaling Museum – two distinct enormous ones. But I can’t remember which whales they are – although I know which skeleton photo is which, if that makes any sense. So I have to go back and find out which one hangs in the atrium, and which one has its own room. The detail in the fin (flipper?) bones are astonishing – they look like oversized finger bones and the bones that fit across the top of the knuckles – wow.

And the photos I took of the Parsons House Ruin at the Nature Center – because someday I want to write a YA mystery and set it there – and the deer I happened to catch in the photo, who peered at us from between the leaves – nice to capture all those moments.

And use them for stories.

Managed to type Chapter 3 of Token (I hoped to type two chapters, but I’m just too tired). I don’t know why I’m so darned tired. I hope it’s just waning moon energy. Found what was a major plot point in Chapter 3 that I completely forgot about and need to wind up in about Chapter 17 or so.

Oops.

Got the cats a new scratching post since the old one was . . .beyond pathetic. They like the new one.

I’m reading one of the research books for the revision of Assumption, and it’s really interesting, but I put it aside last night to chomp on popcorn and read one of Archie Mayor’s books set in Vermont.

Oh, and so much for all the money I spent in August to get my computer “fixed”. Half the time it’s not responding – to anything. Then it began to scream like it was in pain and flashed “keyboard failure” at me – I fixed it, and the keyboard’s fine. And then it wouldn’t give me back my floppy disk, so I had to operate with needle-nose pliers, shouting at it, “Just TRY to electrocute me, you Microsoft piece of ---“ because, of course, I didn’t turn if off the way I should have. We seem to have negotiated a truce for the moment.

I want my money back from Geek Squad. A “fix” should last longer than this, especially when it meant losing all my professional samples.

Late start this morning – I have trouble getting to sleep lately, and then I oversleep in the morning. Ick.

But some decent work on Chasing the Changeling. So now I can start my day.

Devon

Token and Affections, 2nd Draft – 6,936 words out of estimated 45,000

6 / 45
(13.3%)

Chasing the Changeling – 3,300 words out of est. 45,000

3 / 45
(6.7%)

2007-01-12T09:45:00.000-05:00

Friday, January 12, 2007
Waning Moon
Saturn Retrograde
Rainy and cold

Chaz had a great quiz about the Egyptian Zodiac sign on his blog. I did it, and came up with a great answer – but, of course, Blogger can’t support it without losing all my sidebar stuff, so it’s only on WordPress. Hop on over to see it here. Or, if you’re looking at the WordPress version of Ink, just scroll down under this post.

The day absolutely shot by – that happens when you get a late start.

I spent A LOT of time loading my links into the WordPress version of Ink in My Coffee, rearranging stuff, etc., etc.

I spent A LOT of time setting up the new version of Kemmyrk, and I’m very proud of it. It’s as though finding the right look for the site has given it a whole new energy, and it’s finally coming together.

Crossed two more items off the January To-Do list.

AND, I moved Circadian Poems over to Word Press. The new site is here. Check out today’s poem, "The Judgment Within" by Sophia Simpson. And yes, that’s another of my photos in the header. Can you tell I’m getting into the whole Word Press thing?

I’m getting 1200 spams per day in the Circadian address – WITH the Spam filter as high as it goes. I know people are telling me to calm down about spam – but I’m paying the host enough for hosty-poo to filter the poo that is spam. So it’s taking me longer than it should to even find the darned submissions, much less respond to them. My apologies to anyone who’s waiting to hear back.

And if anyone is publishing any poetry, please send me an email with the information, links, etc., so I can include you in the Poetry News segment that comes out on Thursdays. At the risk of generating even more spam, send it here. And put something in the header so I know it’s a press release and not a penis enlargement ad.

WordPress actually makes sense to me, which gives me confidence trying to get up the websites.

I’ve almost made 1300 posts on the Blogger version of “Ink.” Who knew I had so much to say?

Worked on the quarterly newsletter. I’m waiting for one more piece of information; I hope to have it printed and in the mail latest by Monday.

Started typing Token and Affections and I’m doing enough work on it so it’s a legitimate second draft, not a “Draft 1A” which is what my typical drafts typed from longhand are. I put in some more information that’s necessary for all three novellas and fixed some logistical problems. I’ve gotten back into their individual speech patterns, some of which I think I lost in the middle of the first draft, and hope to recapture. And I’m very happy with the work. It’s getting stronger and stronger. Got the first two chapters done.

All in all, I spent nearly 12 hours working yesterday Not too shabby. Too bad all of them weren’t billable hours!

Errands today, and back to the page. I did not fill my quota on either Chasing the Changeling or “Illuminated Nude” and need to make that up.

Devon

Token and Affections, 2nd Draft – 4,505 words out of 45,000

4 / 45
(8.9%)

Chasing the Changeling – 2,050 words out of est. 45,000

2 / 45
(4.4%)

2007-01-11T13:56:00.000-05:00

January 11 Part II

Kemmyrk has a new look, a new URL, and information on working with The Celtic Oracle. Check it out here.

And, yes, it’s another of my photos in the header. I took it in Maine a few years ago.

2007-01-11T10:51:00.000-05:00

Thursday, January 11, 2007
Waning Moon
Saturn Retrograde
Sunny and cold

Yes, all you bright, wide-awake compatriots, TODAY is Thursday. Yesterday was Wednesday, even though I put Thursday at the top of the post. I have an auto day and date thingy, but it got un-calibrated and put in the wrong day, although the correct date. Beyond knowing I had two shows, which should have tipped me off it was either Wednesday or Saturday, I was clueless.

Just heard from my editor – the Plum essay is accepted and she will send the copyedited version in a few days for final approval. Woo-hoo! As soon as I have the details of the finished anthology, I will let you know. I’m very excited.

Finished Hell’s Belles last night, and will write about it in depth at some point over the next couple of days. Short version: Loved it. Go buy it.

Read Dorothy and Agatha, too, a “faction” mystery. I liked the plot and its twists (although, yes, I figured out who-done-it several chapters from the reveal). I struggled with some of the characterizations. So I enjoyed the book, but didn’t love it.

Both shows were fine yesterday, although I had some fumble-finger moments during the second show. Part of it was the surprise at hearing on the fly information that should have been given to me in advance by my bosses. And there’s some other internal politicking and maneuvering and backstabbing going on that I don’t like. However, I realized that I can simply choose not to engage in it. I can see the destruction that one toxic person is going to wreak, mostly on herself – and you know what? I don’t have to be affected by it. Because I’ve been consistent and above board. And if she’s not – the consequences are on her head, even though, at the beginning, it looks like she’s “won”. I know I made the right decision and I was forthright about it, so I can continue on my way with a clear conscience and not be pulled down by someone else’s dishonesty and double dealing. Sorry if that seems obscure, but I can’t go into the details, unfortunately. I have to admit, though, once I realized I could detach if I chose to do so – it was as though a huge weight was lifted of my shoulders. Perhaps I am moving up the learning curve a slight bit, after all.

Artie and I had a wonderful French meal at Pigalle, on Eighth Avenue. The menu is so varied and excellent, we will have to go back often to try one of everything.

Relatively painless commute – trains late, as always, out of power for a few minutes on the way home, leaving us in the dark, but they got it going again quickly, so I actually got home around 1 AM, which is when I was supposed to.

I’m worse again today, but don’t have to go in to the theatre, thank goodness. I think Lara’s right – it must be a virus. And people on the train coughing and sneezing and not making the LEAST effort to be sanitary about it doesn’t help. Plus the long hours and the heavy lifting. I’ll probably do a few extra inverted poses.

New posts will be up later today on Circadian and on Kemmyrk.

I started Chasing the Changeling today, and someone I thought would be an extremely minor character turns out to have a lot to say and push the plot along well. So he’s staying. It was odd to jump from the word of a stranger in New York to a strange world that I have to think through before I write.

I’ll start typing Token today, and do more work on “Illuminated Nude”. I also got an idea last night for a pair of paranormal comedic short stories that need to go on the list, once the required trio of short stories for this month is done.

And, now that the Plum essay has been accepted, I can turn my attention to the requested revision of Tumble.

To help with my goals of getting out more pitches/queries every week, I’ve joined freelance Kristen King’s “Official Inkthinker 2007 Query Challenge.” Check it out. And sign up, if you’re trying to get a jump start on your query process.

I’d like to crawl back into bed, but I’m going to try to be a bit more productive first!

Devon

Chasing the Changeling -- 1,375 words out of est. 45,000

1 / 45
(2.2%)

2007-01-10T08:56:00.000-05:00

Thursday, January 10, 2007
Waning Moon
Saturn Retrograde
Sunny and cold

Hop on over to Circadian Poems to read “Image” by Violetta Ashe.

And check out my essay on “Why Do A Writing Exercise?” on the Scruffy Dog Review Blog.

Supposedly, Blogger had a maintenance session yesterday. Well, goody for them. But now I can’t post any comments to any Blogger account. I just get a blank screen with “Done”. So much for “fixing” anything.

Anyway, Colin, I tried to leave a comment on your article about “Aye, Write!” , but who knows if it’ll ever show up!

More adventures with Metro North. I bought a round trip ticket yesterday, to go in off-peak and come back out during peak (rush hour). So I get on and the conductor punches the “Peak” part of the ticket. I protested – peak is a much higher fare and I’m NOT going to be charged twice because the conductor was careless. So he takes the ticket and scribbles on it that the peak portion is really still good.

Yeah, THAT’LL work.

He “can’t” replace the ticket.

Horse hockey.

So, when I get into the station, I go to the ticket counter and explain the situation, and ask them to swap out the ticket.

The ticket office “can’t.”

Bullshit.

They send me to the executive office, where I have to fill out a bunch of paperwork. But they were very nice and gave me a pass that’s good for one ride on any Metro North train at any time.

All because one of their employees was so busy chatting and cutting up he couldn’t be bothered to read the ticket.

And, had I tried to use the ticket on a peak train with his scribbles, they would have charged me not just the adjustment, but the entire onboard fare, which is markedly higher than a pre-purchased ticket. I wasn’t going to be double-charged for someone’s mistake. As it is, it costs nearly an hour’s union pay for a roundtrip ticket.

After that little escapade, I had to buy some books to recover. I bought Jackie Kessler’s Hell’s Belles, which I was determined to be my first purchase of 2007, and Janet Evanovich’s newest, Plum Love.

Work was fine. They kept me, because one of my colleagues got sick. We sent her to the doctor – she has an eye infection – and I said I’d stay. She called back in later and has to stay out today, too – poor thing – so I’m in for both shows (a 14 hour day).

The show was fine, everyone was happy to see me, the three new leads went in. All good.

Starting reading Hell’s Belles. It’s clever and witty and imaginative and lots of fun. A really, really good book. I’m having a blast with it, and I’m so proud of my friend Jackie, thrilled for her success, and just want to stand up and cheer! She works hard, she’s talented and imaginative, and she deserves all good things!

I finished the first draft of Token and Affections this morning (I did about 1300 words). It came in at 44,574 words. I started it on October 7. Considering I expected it to be 15K that I could knock off in two weeks – it’s certainly grown beyond that. In the revision, I have to reshape and develop the ending a bit more – I glossed over a few things to get to the finish line. But I think it stands alone well in addition to being the first of a trilogy of novellas.

I start typing it tomorrow, as well as beginning Chasing the Changeling.

No work on “Illuminated Nude”, unfortunately, because I stayed to do the show. At least I didn’t have to do a revision on the essay until 4 AM, and I hope I don’t arrive home at 1AM tomorrow to find she needs a revision when she gets in at 9. Keep your fingers crossed for me, people!

I had this lovely To-Do list of writing tasks for today – all out the window, except for the work on Token.

Off to the theatre for a long, two-show day, but at least I get to have dinner with Artie. That brightens any day.

Devon

Token and Affections – 44,574 words out of 44,574

44 / 44
(100.0%)

2007-01-09T09:05:00.000-05:00

Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Waning Moon
Saturn Retrograde
Sunny and cold

Quick, short entry today because Blogger is about to go down for servicing, and I was up far too late last night trying to get the essay done.

Hop on over to Circadian Poems for “New Year” by Bliss Monaghan (which should have gone up yesterday) and a short essay, “How It Feels to Write a Poem” by Brenda Braene.

Hop on over to Kemmyrk for a short essay on Comparative/Competitive Spirituality.

Acupuncture was great yesterday, and I feel better, although I’m having trouble shaking this cold.

Worked on the essay until nearly midnight and got it out at ten minutes before twelve. Oh, well, technically it was still Monday, right?

Some nice work on Token and Affections this morning – I think I only have one more chapter to go.

Off to the theatre – I’m sure it’s a crazy day today – and then back to do some work on “Illuminated Nude.”

Devon

Token and Affections -- 43,421 words out of est. 35,000

43 / 35
(122.9%)

2007-01-08T11:38:00.000-05:00

Monday, January 8, 2007
Waning Moon
Saturn Retrograde
Raining and cooler

Quick, late post.

I’m still sick; didn’t go to the party last night; stayed home in bed. A little better today, but I have to finish the Plum essay and get it off to my editor, and I’m on my way to acupuncture now.

New posts will be up late afternoon/early evening for both Circadian Poems and Kemmyrk.

Devon

Token and Affections -- 42,241 words out of est. 35,000

42 / 35
(120.0%)

2007-01-07T09:30:00.000-05:00

Sunday, January 7, 2007
Waning Moon
Saturn Retrograde
Sunny and warm

I am pathetic. I’m worse than the cats, who are actually feeling much better. The full on cold has hit now, with the congestion, and everything else. Although, I guess the saying is “feed a cold” because it certainly has NOT interfered with my appetite.

The Christmas/Yule decorations are down, but it took most of the day yesterday, and I was too tired by the end of it to put the Mardi Gras decorations up. I don’t have as many as I thought I did – I may have to create some more between now and Shrove Tuesday.

Lots of hand washing, because the metallic fabrics aren’t happy in either the washer or the dryer, and there was no way I felt well enough to schlep everything up and down three flights of stairs and through the labyrinth of the basement to the laundry room.

Instead of stripping everything bare, as I usually do, I did a lot of fabric-switching – switched out the Yuletide fabric for more wintry stuff. So everything still looks warm and cheerful, just in an icier palette.

Of course, we broke records by hitting the 70 degree mark yesterday, but I can PRETEND it’s winter and shake the snow globes a lot, right?

Towards the end of the afternoon, I decided I HAD to have chocolate cake, and I wanted to break in the new mini-bundt pans I bought, so I baked chocolate cake – six mini ones, and one layer of an 8” round. Yummy. And I made lemon-garlic chicken for dinner.

Like I said, feed a cold.

Enjoyed the interviews with Molly Keane and, especially, Rosamond Lehmann in Looking Back. I’ve never read any of their work, and now I’m interested in hunting it down.

Tried to use one of my new yoga DVDs and what does the computer (where my DVD player lives) tell me? That I need to BUY, from Microsoft, a “decoder”. Huh? You mean I can’t get it in a box of Cracker Jacks? Hey, Microsoft – Bite me! I paid you enough money to put this frigging player in the computer in the first place – don’t try to extort more cash out of me.

No work on “Illuminated Nude” yesterday, though scenes are forming in my mind. I just hope they stay there until they get down on paper. I managed to get a bit done this morning.

And I did more work on Token and Affection. I think I’ve got two more chapters (about 16 pages), and then the draft is done. I’m so close!

The bulk of today will be spent on the Plum essay, which has to go out first thing tomorrow.

I’m supposed to go to a swanky shin-ding in the city tonight, but if I’m not feeling MUCH better, I’ll cancel out. Plus, I don’t want to make anyone else sick. I know cats and humans aren’t supposed to get the same viruses, but it’s a little weird that all of us had the sneezles over the same time period. They recovered pretty quickly, so I’m sure I will, too.

Thanks, EJ, for the photo cropping tip. Now, if I can just figure out what the heck the Geek Squad guy did with my photo editing programs when he “fixed” my computer . . .

Devon

Token and Affections – 41,146 words out of est. 35,000

41 / 35
(117.1%)

“Illuminated Nude” 2,750 words out of est. 5,000

2 / 5
(40.0%)

2007-01-06T08:59:00.000-05:00

Saturday, January 6, 2007
Waning Moon
Epiphany/Twelfth Night
Saturn Retrograde
Rainy and warm

So, there’s the receipt evidence from my boss that the money was paid – yet it’s not in my account. I don’t really care where it got screwed up along the way – I want it fixed. AND, I will invoice the company for any late fees I’m given if any of my bills are late. AND I’m complaining to the union. At least it wasn’t just me – it was everyone on the show. Which is unacceptable, because it happens regularly.

Speaking of complaints to the union, they’ve screwed us on our health coverage yet again. Four years ago, I was proud to be a part of the union, part of the work, part of a progress. Now, health care wise, they’ve bowed to all the crap Bush has done and they’re screwing their membership. Not a happy camper.

On top of it, problems with the Sequel took up far too much of the day.

So I didn’t worry about writing. I dealt with what had to be dealt with and went back to bed with books.

I tried to post a picture on the WordPress version of Ink, just to learn how. Well, I know how – but I don’t know how to edit the photos in order to crop them. Yet. They look darned good, they’re just too darned BIG.

I really like WordPress, and, if I can just iron out this photo thingy, I’ll move the whole thing over by the end of the month. Slowly I’m adding my links over there – but they automatically alphabetize, which I don’t get to read my daily list in the order I like to – but I’m sure I’ll get over it. I still get to everyone eventually, right?

Finished Conceived with Malice and I have mixed feelings about it. It is an excellently written book. Louise DeSalvo’s research is wonderful, her arguments are well-laid out. I simply think that her examples of writers writing for revenge – by choosing ONLY a quartet of sexually abused writers – paints too narrow a picture. I think that there are other reasons writers put people they know, in whatever form, into their work. The book is well-done, but I think it offers a skewed perspective. Also, she’d just finished the book she wrote on the effect of Virginia Woolf’s sexual abuse on her work and life – one would think she’d like a break from the topic. Instead, she gravitated immediately back. In summation, I think it’s a very good book, but I found the scope too limited for the topic.

I’m now reading Looking Back: A Panoramic View of a Literary Age by the Grandes Dames of European Letters by Shusha Guppy. It’s quite interesting, although I can’t say I’m fond of many of her subjects of choice. I found Lesley Blanch far too impressed with herself, and the more self-impressed she grew during the interview, the less impressed I was with her, and I lost my desire to read her work. Lady Diana Cooper prattles a lot in her interview, but, reading along, I got the feeling it was deliberate, and there was plenty to see/hear between the “prat” and the “tle”. I thoroughly enjoyed the interview with Joan Haslip – I think I’ve read some of the biographies she’s authored, and the interview makes me want to hunt down more. I just started the interview with Juliette Huxley – which covers some of the same ground as DeSalvo’s book, but from an entirely different perspective.

I SHOULD be reading the research books for Assumption, but I have a feeling that they’ll be quick reads.

Today will be spent taking down the Christmas decorations and putting up the Mardi Gras decorations.

And the rest of the weekend will be spent doing some more tweaks on the Plum essay as requested by my editor. We’re almost there.

End o’Week Check In:
13 in Play: 10 out there; need to get out 3 more submissions as soon as I can
Pitches submitted: 2 (but, by accident, I stumbled across a really cool company for which I’d like to write, so I’m going to get a pitch out today.

I moved A Biblio Paradise from Blogger over to WordPress – complete with my own photo of a Montauk sunset in the header. Check it out here. I also have a new piece up today about the demise of Coliseum Books, an independent bookstore here in New York, whose loss has shaken me badly.

I did some good work on Token and Affections this morning. I have about two and a half chapters to go – less than 25 pages – and I’m done with the first draft. I like it. It needs work, but I like it.

The next few scenes of “Illuminated Nude” are shaping themselves in my head, so I hope to get them done this weekend, too.

Still feel pretty lousy; but at least the cats are better (except Elsa, who’s pretty miserable) We’ve all been pathetic for the past few days!

Devon

Token and Affections – 40,116 words out of est. 35,000

40 / 35
(114.3%)

If you haven’t received the latest issue of Devon’s Random Newsletter, sign up here.

2007-01-05T10:17:00.000-05:00

Friday, January 5, 2007
Waning Moon
Saturn Retrograde
Rainy and mild

My article “New Year’s Resolutions for Sports Fans’ is up on Femmefan.

Of course, since I wasn’t feeling well, there’s more chaos with The Situation: The Sequel. Can I just say these slime buckets really piss me off? I’d really like to whistle up the Karma dogs, but they need to come on their own.

So, lost a good bit of the morning to that.

I have to say, spending ten minutes every day cleaning off my desk works. I see the difference, and it’s a good one. Even with what accumulates from the day’s work, there’s still progress. And it’s much easier to break it down that way than to get overwhelmed by everything on the desk.

Thanks for the compliments on the WordPress version of the blog. I like it, too. If I can figure out how to work it and the photo stuff, I’ll move there permanently by the end of the month. In the meantime, during the learning process, I’m double-posting.

Went out to do some errands. It was a lovely day, and I wish I felt better.

Caught up on some correspondence.

Should have written some pitches, but didn’t feel sparkly enough to do so. Managed to get one done and out, which I felt decent but not spectacular about.

Did the next scene of “Illuminated Nude”. It’s shorter than the first scene, but, for this piece, I find that working scene-by-scene works best.

I have an idea for my next FemmeFan article, but I think it will take me a week or more to get all the research done for it. I can’t get it to my editor in time for next week’s edition – maybe for the week after.

Rested quite a bit in the afternoon. I wasn't feeling horrible or anything – just scratchy and achy and it’s slowing me down.

I actually felt worse when I woke up this morning; however the bills don’t pay themselves, so I have errands all over the place. And they certainly won’t pay themselves this week – I have direct deposit, and yet the money from the shows/daywork I did last week isn’t in there. Nothing. And it should be a decent chunk of change. The damn show took in over a million dollars last week and they can’t be bothered to pay me correctly and on time? This is a pattern, since I’ve worked there. And it’s not like they don’t have the money. I’m going to start invoicing them for late fees on my bills. NOT acceptable. And the point of direct deposit is so you don’t have to worry about bank holidays, etc. I contacted my boss to find out if he knows anything, and I’ll trace it back from there to find out where the problem is, and to ask for immediate solution.

And there’s one bill that HAS to be paid today, no matter what.

I am NOT amused.

Devon

“Illuminated Nude” – 2000 words out of est. 5,000

2 / 5
(40.0%)

2007-01-04T10:13:00.000-05:00

Thursday, January 4, 2007
Last Day of the Full Moon
Saturn Retrograde

Partly sunny and co0l

Happy Birthday, Chaz Brenchley!

He’s both a wonderful friend AND a wonderful writer.

Hop on over to Kemmyrk for some ideas on oracle study for the New Year.

Worked on “Illuminated Nude” yesterday. Did about 5 ½ pages. Originally, I hoped it would only by 1500 words long, but no such luck. The opening scene was the first 5 ½ pages. However, I really like it – it’s completely different from anything I’ve ever done before, and is as fascinating to write as I hope it will be to read. I’m figuring it will run somewhere between 3-5K. And it’s interesting to tell the story from inside a male protagonist. I moved the location from Paris to New Orleans, in the Metairie Cemetery, which also adds some interesting atmosphere. It’s an odd piece, but I like it.

Wrote and submitted two short articles. Also submitted two short stories. So, it was a reasonably productive day. I may not have 13-in-Play – but I have 10.

I worked and worked and worked on the DE web site yesterday – and carefully tracked and wrote out the things I don’t understand about the process. Look out, Colin, in a few days I’m sending an email your way. Some things are starting to make sense, but some don’t, and if they can be explained, I think I can get it.

If we’re talking about pushing a comfort zone – I’m attempting to learn Word Press, and I made an entry over on that blog – another version of “Ink” with an entirely different look – check it out here. If I like it, I’ll switch from here over to there. If I don’t, I’ll dump that one and stay here. It’s taking me awhile to learn how to deal with it.

Of course, staring when I’m exhausted from a full day of writing probably wasn’t the brightest thing I’ve ever done. I’m trying to decide if I’m going to double post for awhile, or what.

And can I use the word meter bars there?

We’ll find out, won’t we?

Something that could seriously prevent a permanent move is the fact I can’t load many photos. Well, I can load photos, but they have to already be on an URL, or if I upload into the system, it’s only 50 somethings and it doesn’t appear in the blog. Since I enjoy sharing my photos with you, that’s a big disappointment.

I got a late start this morning, because I was up late reading Conceived with Malice last night. I want to finish the entire book before I comment on it. It’s interesting, but I have some questions regarding authorial interpretations.

Had a great morning’s work on Token and Affections – I’m thrilled with the way it’s headed. And I can’t wait to get back to work on ”Illuminated Nude”.

Unfortunately, I woke up with a scratchy throat and a bit of a fever, so I’m going to try not to push too hard today.

Devon

Token and Affections – 38,616 words out of est. 35,000

38 / 35
(108.6%)

“Illuminated Nude” -- 1375 words out of est. 5,000

1 / 5
(20.0%)

2007-01-03T09:40:00.000-05:00

Wednesday, January 3, 2007
Full Moon – Wolf Moon/Cold Moon
Saturn Retrograde
Cloudy and cool

Hop on over to the SDR blog to read the “Nano Now What?” essay.

Got your newsletter yet? If not, sign up here. Just send an email telling me you want to be on the list!

And check out my friend Kristen’s new blog, http://livelywomen.com. It’s got some great ideas for fitness and overall wellness.

I got out an overview packet to a potential client yesterday before I left for the show. Always feels good to get something like that done.

The job postings have been discouraging lately, so I have to find some new lists. It’s not there jobs aren’t listed – it’s just not in the areas in which I’m well versed – or could get up to speed quickly. There are plenty of other writers who are better suited – many of them in my freelancing group, and I hope they gobble them all up! I need to take a look at the kinds of places for which I want to write and create the type of position I want – convince them there’s something they need that only I can provide.

Unfortunately, the places for whom I like to work tend to be non-profit, whereas the better money is in corporate.

Just have to work a little harder, I guess, huh?

Coming home from work, the sky was a gorgeous teal, with that big full moon hanging in it – absolutely lovely!

Work was fine – one of the leads left, and a new one is coming in later in the week. There’s a massive principal exodus at the end of the week, with a bunch of new leads starting next week, so that should be interesting.

As I worked, I set out the territory I want to cover in “Illuminated Nude.” It’s not like anything else I’ve written, and the premise excites me. So we’ll see how it goes.

Went trolling the market listings, and actually found some interesting stuff. So, today, I want to sit down and either write and send a bunch of queries and pitches or make some outright submissions, depending upon the various guidelines.

I mean, hey, I need to get up to speed on both the 13-in-Play AND the weekly goal of 3-5 pitches per week, right?

And I have an idea for a short piece for FemmeFan – but I might be about a week too late for it.

Managed to clear out one of the many email accounts – I had to trudge through over 800 spams. Now the account is down to the six pieces of legitimate mail I actually need to deal with. I’m telling you, 1and1 sucks, big time.

Problem is, I don’t think the other hosts are any better. If 1and1 is this bad and it got the award for best host, what are the others like? Ick.

So much for their highest spam filter, which does absolutely NOTHING, and for the function that’s supposed to dump the spam once a week and DOESN’T.

What, exactly, am I paying for? Obviously not service.

And, on top of that, some dipstick tried to hack into my system again. Fortunately, the MacAfee wall held somewhat, although the whole thing exploded into the White Screen of Death, shut itself down, turned itself back on, ran a CHKDSK, deleted a bunch of stuff, didn’t want to have anything to do with Outlook for about an hour, and then settled down.

I mean, come on, I’m not interesting enough or important enough for a hacking.

A hacking cough, maybe, but that’s about it.

Long list of “shoulds” for today, mostly writing-related. I decided to put off the weekly trip to Trader Joe’s until Friday, so the cats will have to make do with normal cat food instead of their organic extraordinaire food and they are NOT amused.

I meant to comment on the death of President Gerald Ford. I actually remember the whole Watergate thing, and Nixon’s resignation, followed by Ford’s ascent into the Presidency. I was pretty young, but my parents always had me watch the news with them. My father, in particular, wanted to make sure I watched the footage of the Vietnam war so I would never have the mistaken notion that war was romantic. People die, and it’s usually the innocent and the civilians.

In any case, before I go too far on a tangent, my memories of President Ford are that he was a good man who believed in his country and, even more importantly, in the PEOPLE of his country (as opposed to the politicians and the corporations). He tried to do right by us. Yes, most will remember the goofy Saturday Night Live skits lampooning his klutziness, but I always got the impression he was so full of ideas he wasn’t looking at the ground much – sort of like a ballet dancer. The head is up, the eyes are out, there are far more important things than cracks on the sidewalk or tree roots.

Anyway, I remember him doing a lot of good in his few years in office (I thought it was more than a half a term). He was someone who impacted my life in a positive way.

I’m very excited about the gallop towards the finish line with Tokens -some really cool stuff is happening, which makes the piece much stronger than I originally envisioned it, thank goodness!

Devon

Token and Affections -- 37,491 words out of est. 35,000

37 / 35
(105.7%)

2007-01-02T07:52:00.000-05:00

Tuesday, January 2, 2007
Waxing Moon
Saturn Retrograde
Sunny and cold

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

And congrats to Jackie Kessler! Today is the official release date for her book, HELL’S BELLES. Woo-hoo, Jackie! I’m looking forward to reading it.

Hope you had a great start to your year, and that the year brings you joy and abundance in all things.

This post is broken down into the three bits again. This is the daily natter. Below this is my To-Do List for January – a long one, but January’s a long month, and I need to get going, because I lost a lot of time last year. Below that are my Goals, Dreams, and Resolutions for 2007.

I firmly believe goals, dreams, and resolution are different elements of the life, and the GDRs reflect that. Who knows what the year will bring, but at least I’ve got a jumping off point, and something to work towards. I’m like a race horse – I need to know there’s a barrel of oats at the barn at the end of the race, or I’m simply not interested. Well, in my case it’s a box of Godiva and a bottle of champagne, but you get the idea.

Two shows on Saturday took it out of me. Everyone was perfectly nice and happy to see me. But, for some reason, the matinee seemed sixteen hours long. Three of us went out for Vietnamese food, which was lovely. I pointed and it came to the table looking much better than the picture, and tasted even better than it looked Yummy!

And I may have gotten a freelance writing gig out of the dinner conversation. One of my dinner companions is starting her own business and needs brochure copy, business plan, etc., etc. So we’re going to talk more and work something out that works for us both time wise and rate wise.

The house staff had a party between shows, and invited me to join them when I got back from dinner, including sharing their very special punch. Yummy!

Second show flew past, although I broke a zipper during a quick change. I’m notorious for that. But I got the actor IN the costume in the change and OUT of it for the next one, so it was all good. I tossed tourists right and left to get to the train. There was no way I was going to miss the train, wait for an hour, and get home after 2 AM. Not happening!

The train ride itself, of course was a nightmare, in both directions. The temperature was much colder than predicted, so, of course, the train had the air conditioning going full blast. In addition to being late.

On New Year’s Eve, I had trouble getting it together to start for the retreat. I caught up on blog reading; I printed more photos; I read the paper. Plus, I was very sore from the shows, for some reason. Usually, it takes an eight show week for me to feel that messed up.

I finally got going, and was glad once I got there, because I had the chance for some peace and quiet. And writing time.

Ideas from half-baked stories that haven’t worked over the years are now starting to form into something rather coherent. If it works, it will make sense of a lot of fragments with which I’ve played over the years, and would be great. We’ll see. I’m going to let it percolate.

I closed the journal on the past two years, physically and symbolically, and started a new journal book. I love fresh, clean journal books – it always makes me feel that the possibilities are endless, and I like that. When people say there are “too many choices” frankly, I think they’re cracked. There’s no such thing. Choice is wonderful – the more choices you have, the more responsibility you have to take. It’s on YOU, not someone else who only presented limited options. People who are overwhelmed by choices, in my opinion, are actually overwhelmed because they don’t want to take responsibility for those choices. They’d rather make it someone else’s fault.

If you don’t frequently push yourself out of your comfort zone, you get stagnant. You need some restful times – pushing all the time just makes you tired in a way that’s counterproductive – but stasis equals lack of growth, and really, what do we have without growth? Life cycles are about growing, whether it’s children or cornfields.

According to news reports, over a million people celebrated the New Year in Times Square. And the rain held off until about 12:01 AM. All good.

Outlined three new projects, but who knows when I’ll have a chance to write them. Two are definitely adult pieces in the fantastical realm and the third is a cycle of probably about four YA novels. We’ll see.

Printed out what’s left of the 2006 log (since the first part of the year was lost by the Geek Squad Guy), so that I can track projects and make some more submissions this week. On Friday, I’ll see where I am with the 13-in-Play bit. And I have to sit down and do at least three pitches this week. Of course, the trick with that is finding a place to which to pitch. I haven’t been too happy with the listings on the job boards lately – very little that grabs me.

Did a lot of work on Token and Affections, over 3400 words. Considered breaking up the time on different projects, but Token was going so well and I’m so close to finishing that I just stuck with it. I’m over my 35K estimate (considering that, originally, it was only supposed to be 15K), and I’m just going to let it be what it is. The ending will remain the same, but I’ve changed how I get there slightly, in a way that strengthens the piece.

I haven’t done fresh pages on Real or Fix-It Girl yet, but I wanted to start the year knowing where I am with them. Real is a great, big mess and will need massive rewriters. And that editor who had me write the first 50 pages in three days or whatever it was and then quit her job and disappeared with the manuscript has never resurfaced. Of course, what it’s morphed into and what the original vision was were two different things. Again, a big lesson as far as finishing FIRST.

Read Carpe Demon by Julie Kenner and really enjoyed it. I think the character of Kate is just great, and I enjoyed everyone –except Kate’s husband, Stuart. I’m hoping he gets killed off a few books down the line, because Cutter is a much better fit for her. Stuart is annoying. He just makes me choke with disgust. I don’t see any reason why Kate would marry him, or even spend an afternoon with him. There’s nothing enticing or exciting or adorable about him. The he’s-a-symbol-of-security-and-she-was-raised-an-orphan – I don’t buy it. Not in this case.

It’s also great in the positive way it deals with faith. As most of you know, I have very little patience for organized religion, because most of the time it’s used to oppress, manipulate, or as an excuse to commit atrocity in the name of whichever God it pretends to honor. However, in this book, the positive use of faith is strongly depicted, without being preachy or otherwise revolting.

I am going to go out and buy the sequel, California Demon, because the rest of the characters are people with whom I want to spend more time.

The latest issue of Devon’s Random newsletter goes out today. If you don’t get your copy, it might mean you’re not signed up. So why don’t you sign up here? This year, one of my goals is to be a little less random on the newsletter than I was last year.

So I can cross item 10 off of the January To-Do List!

Off to the theatre. Let’s hope some of the tourists have gone home after a happy time in the Big Apple – and we get our city back again and take the time to leisurely stroll to and from work instead of feeling like a linebacker on a – goodness, I’ll have to trust Bailey to come up with the play. Football’s not my sport – thoroughbred racing and ice hockey are.

Devon

Token and Affections ---- 35,741 words out of est. 35,000

36 / 35
(102.9%)

Real –106,500 words out of est. 120,000

106 / 120
(88.3%)

The Fix-it Girl – 61,790 words out of est. 100,000

61 / 100
(61.0%)

2007-01-02T07:48:00.000-05:00

January 2007 To –Do List:

1. 3 short stories (one of which is “Illuminated Nude”) which are due by the end of the month to a market

2. Finish and type Token and Affections

3. Start Chasing the Changeling

4. Finish 1st draft of Real

5. Work on The Fix-It Girl

6. Get Dixie Dust Rumors queries out

7. 3-5 pitches out/week (total 12-20)

8. Do Hope Clark’s 13-in-Play – check status weekly

9. Work on DE site (aren’t you getting sick of seeing that one? I sure am)

10. Devon’s Random Newsletter

11. Quarterly newsletter

12. Start next column for SDR review

13. Circadian Poems

14. Finish typing Shallid

15. After the 29th, begin edits on Assumption of Right

16. Read the two research books to make the edits possible; to interviews as necessary

17. SDR blog – every Wed.

18, Kemmyrk – Mondays and Thursdays

19. Occasional (but more frequently than this past year) entries on both Biblio Paradise and Wordish Wanderings.

20. Requested revision for Tumble

2007-01-02T07:42:00.000-05:00

Goals, Dreams, and Resolutions 2007

1. Take a few minutes to reflect on the previous year. What are you happy with?

I’m happy because I felt my writing took a leap. I met some wonderful people, and strengthened relationships with friends. I became clearer on my own boundaries.

2. What are you unhappy with?

I’m unhappy that I’m not farther along in the transition, even though I know it was mostly due to the pressures of The Situation.

I’m unhappy in that I feel I lost a part of myself that was optimistic and kind in the Situation, and I don’t know if I can heal enough to regain it.

I’m unhappy in that I feel I spent too much time in groups.

I’m unhappy because I feel I got too caught up in the “busy-ness” of the writing “business” and neglected the art and the craft.

I also feel I often got caught up in other people’s “stuff” – which is very different from being supportive of friends who are going through a difficult time.

I feel I often spun my wheels, instead of settling down to do focused work.

3. What unexpected joys did you discover during the year?

Getting to know some wonderful people.
Even sporadically, the time spent in yoga made a huge difference.
Strengthening bonds with some of the people close to me.

4. What were some of the unexpected obstacles that came up, and how did you deal with them? Looking back, would you have done anything differently?

Regarding The Situation, I would have struck back sooner and harder, and worked less from a position of fear. Spent less time in a tizzy, and more time acting. I also feel that I got caught up in a cycle of loyalty again, often with people who did not deserve it, and with that, I worked against my own best interests.

5. What expectations did you find you needed to let go of?

That I have full control over the transition.
That I have as much stamina as I need.
That other people are going to listen carefully and actually respond to what I say/write, instead of skimming it and imposing their own frame of reference onto it.

6. Looking ahead, how do you want to structure next year to support your writing?

Say “no” more
Put the writing first
Not get caught up in the web of what other people say one “must” do to become successful, and follow my own path to my own kind of success.

7. How does the rest of your life support your writing?

Most of the rest of my life does, because I’ve learned to redraw boundaries this year. I need to push harder with the business writing. I need to manage time better and stop making excuses. And I need to worry less about other people not fulfilling their potential. It’s their choice, not my problem. I have enough to juggle.

8. How can you change/compromise on the non-supportive elements?

Hold to the boundaries drawn.
Remove unsupportive people from my life (who are different than the supportive ones who give me a reality check when I need it).

9. What new aspect of the writing life do you want to try next year?

I’m not sure. Every year, I keep saying I want to expand more into travel writing and food writing, and I keep holding back. Maybe this is the year I take the leap? I want to keep playing with cross-genre pieces and write whatever interests me. I want to learn more, listen more.

10. Where do you need to be more disciplined?

Time management, especially with less time on the internet.

11. Where do you need to ease up on yourself?

I need to make sure I leave time for fun, and don’t let writing become a job, even though it’s a vocation. I need plenty of percolation time, which I didn’t give myself this past year. This past year, I had it when I collapsed out of sheer exhaustion and stress. I want to build it in for the coming year.

12. List your goals for the coming year.

--Finish at least three unfinished projects that are sitting around
--Do the first drafts of at least three new novels
--Get the relocation DONE
--Expand the business writing
--Get the websites up
--Commit to both the fitness/yoga practice and redevelop my spiritual practice
--Keep 13-in-Play/Focus on finding homes for every piece
--Not let a backlog of projects accumulate

13. List three positive, active steps to take on each goal to get it going.

--Finish at least three unfinished projects that are sitting around.
Pick one
Work on it every day
Move on to the next one

--Do the first draft of at least three new novels
Go over my notes
Pick what’s pulling the hardest
Work on it every day until it’s done; then move on to the next one.

--Get the relocation DONE
Put the financials in order
House hunt
Do it

--Expand the business writing
Get the websites up
Pitch continually
Stretch with new projects

--Get the websites up
Learn faster
Set aside blocks of time to devote to the learning process
Don’t get discouraged and frustrated so easily

--Commit to the fitness/yoga practice and redevelop the spiritual practice
Create the schedule I need/want and stick to it, without excuses
Follow the study paths that are opening
Realize there’s no such thing as being “too busy” for this part of my life, and be as ruthless with the time management of this as I am in the writing.

--Keep 13-in-Play/Find homes for everything written
More comprehensive lists before I start submissions
Keep track of those lists (don’t put them away and “lose” them)
If something comes back, re-read it, tweak if necessary and send it back out THE SAME DAY.

--Not let a backlog of projects accumulate.
This is tied in to the above – making more complete lists when I prepare to send it out the first time, and just keep moving it down the list.
Really try to match projects to markets more realistically than I have this year.
Keep pieces in motion instead of letting them stack up on the desk.

14 List your dreams for the coming year.

Relocate
Create a secure, peaceful environment for my family and my writing.

15. List three positive, active steps to transform each dream into a goal.

--Relocate
See above

--Create a secure, peaceful environment for my family and my writing
Create boundaries and hold them
Relocate
Freelance full time

16. List your resolutions for the coming year.

--Try to find the kindness and compassion that was stomped out of me during The Situation
--Sew more
--Paint more
--Take more quiet time for myself

17. List three positive, active steps to help you stick to them.

--Try to find the kindness and compassion that was stomped out of me during The Situation
Give myself the time and space to heal
Spend more time with positive people; remove negative people from my life
Return to writing in my journal each night a list of the things/people/happenings during the day for which I am grateful.

--Sew more
The sewing machine’s out – use it!
Work on quilts as well as clothes
Experiment with designs

--Paint more
Get over the “you can’t” I’ve felt all my life
Use it as play time, not serious work time
If it helps, make like a kid again and finger paint!

--Take more time for myself
Schedule long meditations a few times a week
Find a good yoga studio so I can take classes
Book creative/percolation breaks

If you'd like to take another look at the questions, hop over to Wordish Wanderings.

2006-12-30T08:12:00.000-05:00

Saturday, December 30, 2006
Waxing Moon
Saturn Retrograde
Cloudy and cool

I’ve broken up the entry into three parts today, so you can find what you want. This is the daily rambling; below it is the December wrap-up; below that is the year-end evaluation – with the original and mid-year hopes and dreams still in there, to track the changes. The latter was hard to share, because of the emotions it brought up; and I tried to re-read all the year’s entries, because I think I wrote more than I remember writing, but reading through The Situation again was just too painful. It’s still too raw.

I finished the Plum essay and sent it off to the editor, who acknowledged receipt of it. Now I wait, to see if it’s what they want; if they want more revisions; or if, after all this work, they decided not to take it.

Yesterday, I went to White Plains, mostly in search of photo albums. I’ve been taking wonderful photos with the digital for the past few years, and have a few thousand photos that need to be printed and put into albums. Plus, I’ve got photos from pre-digital days that need to be sorted and written up and put in albums so that they can be enjoyed. And photos that need to be removed from cheap albums and put into archival quality albums.

That’s going to take awhile.

Anyway, Target had some good ones, but not exactly what I wanted. I wandered over to Border’s, to use my gift card and see if they had albums. I specifically wanted to get Jackie Kessler’s book, Hell’s Belles – which has an official release date of January 2, but some stores already have it. However, this one didn’t yet, although they promised me they ordered a few copies. I did, however, buy Carpe Demon: Adventures of a Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom by Julie Kenner, because every time I’ve seen it, it reminds me of Lara and Brenda.

Grabbed some sushi from a tiny place in White Plains – and it was awesome – always good to have a handy sushi place. Went to Port Chester to see if Kohl’s had any albums – in spite of my displeasure with them, they usually have good frames, albums, etc. Well, the store was in such disarray, I can’t tell you what they had – things were piled on the floor, glassware was smashed, signs were ripped down and half-hanging, cashiers were shouting at the people standing in line waiting (again) – it was a filthy, awful pit. Even though they’re working with me to compromise on the overcharge from a few weeks ago – this particular store is not somewhere I’d shop again.

So I went to AI Freedman’s – and found exactly what I want. Not only that, I found it on sale for 50% off. So I bought one album for 2006 and one for 2007 – so that I can print and mount photos as I take them.

I came home, started printing photos. Ran out of photo paper. Estimated how many photos I have to print for 2006 (a lot) and panicked, because I knew they’d never fit into the album. Dashed back to the store, bought the last two matching albums they had in the 06 color, dashed to Staples, bought more paper, came home and printed more photos. I’ve only printed around 100 photos, and written them up and mounted them – there are 100 more on this disk, one full disk of over 200 photos, a partial disk, and then half of the disk in the new camera.

Finished reading The Trollopes.

I have to write a letter to my cousin overseas who’s going through a tough personal time, get a few pages done on Token, and then, it’s off to the theatre, for two shows. A friend who’d begged to have dinner with me cancelled too late for me to make alternate plans with anyone else, but that’s fine; it happens, I’ll find someplace quiet and either read or write a bit. The city’s bound to be insane today, it being the day before New Year’s.

I might check in tomorrow before I go on retreat; if I don’t, have a safe and joyful New Year, and I’ll “see” you on the 2nd!

Devon

Need help setting goals for the New Year? Check out questions to help you with your Goals, Dreams, and Resolutions on Wordish Wanderings.

2006-12-30T08:08:00.000-05:00

December Wrap-up:

Complete:
The Merry’s Dalliance
Project roster for 2007

In Process:
Finishing up Token and Affections

Postponed:
Beginning Chasing The Changeling (can’t start it until Tokens is complete)
Tumble revision (bumped for Plum essay revision)

Additional:
Revisions on the Plum essay
Trouble with The Situation: The Sequel
Holiday decorating, baking, shopping, cards
Warmth of the Hearth begun
New series – started series overview/outline
Secret Projects A,B, and C – which I will reveal at a later date

Reading:
Murder at Monticello by Jane Langton. Very Good.
Dark Nantucket Moon by Jane Langton. Very good.
Used and Rare by Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone (re-read). Very good.
Slightly Chipped by Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone (re-read). Very good.
Warmly Inscribed by Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone (re-read). Very good.
When Santa Was A Shaman. Interesting.
A Book and a Love Affair by Helen Bevington. Good.
The Drawing of the Dark by Tim Powers. Outstanding. Superb.
This Must Be the Place by Jimmy Charters with . . .can’t remember. Okay.
French Women for All Seasons by Mireille Guillano. Good; very good recipes.
Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee by Charles J. Shields. Excellent.
Meditations with Tea by Diana Rosen (unfinished). Beautiful.
The Trollopes by Lucy Poate Stebbins and Richard Poate Stebbins. Interesting (in a good way).

2006-12-30T07:53:00.000-05:00

2006 GDR Evaluation:

The first seven questions dealt with 2005, so there was no need to revisit them mid-year. Starting with question 8, we look at 2006.

Blue = original thoughts at the start of the year
Red == what happened/changes – Mid Year Review
Green – final evaluation

8. Looking ahead, what are your goals for 2006?

Edit and begin shopping both Clear the Slot and Tapestry
Clear the Slot is 2/3 of the way through the edit; Tapestry is still resting.
I’m re-evaluating Clear the Slot because I realized I can’t bring it out as the debut novel under any of the names – I need to be in a position with more control, because it is complex. I’m in the process of re-evaluating Tapestry for an interested market as well.

Get all three websites up and running and keep them well maintained
I’ve redone the copy for the DE site, and am working on the copy for the other two. I’m behind.
I continue to be behind and I need to get out of my own way, because the websites are vital to my next steps.

Complete the first draft of three novels (hopefully Fix-It Girl, Shallid, and Periwinkle. Oh, and I wanted all three volumes of Ransagh finished, too, but that’s more than 3).
The first draft of Shallid is done. I’m also 2/3 of the way through the first draft of Real, which took over everything else, and then I need to get back to The Fix-It Girl and Periwinkle.
The first draft of Shallid is done, and I need to type it. The first volume of Ransagh is done, but I still have to do the other two and revise all three as a piece. Assumption of Right’s first draft is done and awaiting revision. Also did the first draft of a play, Julia’s Legacy. The Fix-It Girl and Periwinkle were pushed back, yet again. I thought I did a first draft of another novel, but damned if I can remember what it is. I did do two large projects – Ris an Abrar and The Merry’s Dalliance, and I also started the Changeling trilogy.

Finish the unfinished serials.
Haven’t dealt with them at all.
Simply “finishing” in their current format does me no good. I need to break them down and restructure them in the best format for each of them. Each must be handled individually, with individual decisions based on what’s best for the story.

Expand the business writing.
That’s in process. I’ve landed some good, interesting gigs.
Not aggressive enough in this. In order to get more aggressive, I need to get the websites up.

Teach more workshops
I couldn’t schedule anything, due to The Situation.
The Situation, The Sequel, and working on relocation details meant I couldn’t book anything as far in advance as teaching gigs need to be planned.

Do as much television work as possible
Check.
Three series in one year; two already cancelled. But the checks cleared. One to air in January.

Apply what I’ve learned in marketing and business trends to my work
I did some of that, but not enough.
Completely burned out on marketing. The very thought of it made my mouth fill with bile. So I gave myself a break.

Be steadier in the article and short story work rather than writing them in spurts
I thought I’d been completely unproductive in that arena. However, to date, I’ve published 8 articles and 3 short stories. I have a fourth short story accepted into an anthology, and I’ve written five more as part of the SDR exercises. So, there’s progress, but still not as much as I want.
I tend to write short stories in batches; and I’m fascinated by novellas. I’ve been playing with short story cycles and novella cycles, and I’m interested in seeing where they lead me. Articles – I need to be more aggressive about paying markets, especially in the area of travel and food.

Continue building both Circadian Poems and The Thirteen Traveling Journals Project
Both these projects suffered due to the Situation, but I hope to have them back on track soon.
Both suffered and need strong shots of attention.

Build Kemmyrk into something useful, articulate, and unusual
I’m still playing with this. I haven’t found its rhythm yet.
Getting back into the flow of it, and I think, with ideas I played with around Yule, it should gain momentum over the course of the year. It’s finding its way – it needs to evolve, rather than get pushed.

Work on the tarot book
Fell by the wayside.
Fell by the wayside; I need to re-conceive the tone of it. There are hundreds of tarot books out there. Although the concept of this one is very different, the presentation is still not where it needs to be in order to fly.

Continue the Whaling research
That I’ve actually done.
The encouragement from the research librarian during the PEN event helped a lot; I hope to get this back on track next year.

Resolve The Situation in a positive way for all concerned and be in a better place (yes, on this earth) at this time next year.
I’m hopeful, but wary, in spite of seemingly good news.
We recently discovered that peaceful resolution is not possible. Although I’m in a better emotional place about it than I was last year, now I have to make the physical decisions based on what is best for my family, not a wider group of people.

Not let the Spiritual side of my life fall by the wayside, which happened this year.
Hit and miss. The 100 Days Meditation Group has been a huge help and support.
The last few months, the spiritual suffered enormously, and I need to get back on track with it. The Situation destroyed a part of me that I really liked; although I can’t get it back, perhaps I can work my way to being less hostile.

9. What steps do you plan to get you there?

More self-discipline
More flexibility (no, those are NOT mutually exclusive)
Work harder to learn the HTML stuff
Promote myself in a smarter fashion
Balance the creative work and the business work more, giving each equal weight, instead of see-sawing.
The Situation wiped all of this out.
Getting the spiritual aligned with everything else will be the strongest step. And I have to keep saying “no” instead of being bullied into “shoulds” when I know they are not going to be worth it in the long term. I need to apply skills I learned in The Situtaion to get me where I want to be. I didn’t work as hard as I needed to on the HTML – I worked in spurts, where it needs steady attention in order to make progress.

10. What are your dreams for 2006?
Peaceful and positive resolution of The Situation
Still in question, although it looks more hopeful.
That turned out to be a fantasy – one that will remain unfulfilled.

Help my mother in her recovery
Until the Situation is resolved, she won’t get better.
She’s actually doing pretty well.

Prosperity and abundance in all areas of my life.
Working on it.
Better; I paid off a lot of debt; however, the bank account physical dollars-and-cents needs to catch up with the rest of the abundance in my life.

11. What steps will you take to bring you closer to them?

Do the necessary research, keep a cool head, and realize that the Universe is going to make it happen in ITS time and way, not mine.
That’s been difficult. I don’t like trusting anyone else with my future, even the Universe.
Again, I want to have control over my own life, not turn it over to something intangible.

12. What are your resolutions for 2006?

Commit to my yoga practice
Recommit to my spiritual practice
Ratchet up the commitment to my writing
I struggled with the first two, but am closer to the last.
Getting back to the first; completely lost the second; came to grips with the final resolution.

13. How do you plan to get there?

Attend to each aspect carefully and mindfully every day.
You get neck deep in something like the Situation and see how well THAT works! The past months have been about how to survive the day. It’s been about defense rather than attack.
Pretty much still agree with the mid-year assessment.

14. What changes has the last year brought to your long-term plan?

I’m squeezed tighter financially, but pushed harder in every other way. The three year plan has to accelerate, but I’m not sure how to get there. I have to focus on the result and remain aware and alert to the opportunities to get me there. I also have to say “no” more often to low or non-paying work.
“No” has become one of my favorite words. I’ve paid off one big debt and two smaller ones, and I’m dealing with what’s left.
I feel behind in the tangible aspects, but feel that my skill in my craft has grown enormously. Now I need to apply it.

15. Where would you like to be one year from now?

Living a more balanced and secure life, dedicated to my true vocation (writing).
That’s the plan, and, perhaps now, some more attention can be devoted to it.
It’s dedicated to writing, but not balanced and secure. I lost eight months of my life to The Situation, and even if I could work 24/7, I can’t make that up. Which pushes my transition back by 8 months, which is frustrating.

Overall:
Some progress, but not as much as I wanted. The healing process from the Situation and the reanimation of The Sequel has put everything into chaos. I have to figure out how to extricate myself from the chaos gracefully and move on with the rest of my life, without continuing to be mired in other people’s agendas.

Writing-wise, I feel I fell into some traps that were bad for me, as far as focusing too much on what other people consider “good business” and going against my instincts. I need to look at what I do, and the writers I admire, and how they get their balance, and do what’s balanced for me. I need to learn from others who are farther along and better marketing geniuses or whatever, but remember that their path is not necessarily mine. I need to pick and choose what I believe will work and follow through.

I had a lot of problems with a lack of stamina this year, mostly due to the fact that I had to be in Warrior Mode almost all the time. I’m exhausted on many, many levels, and in order to move forward, I need to replenish. I haven’t really had that time or space.

In the past couple of weeks, by giving myself quiet time every day, I feel that I’m starting to move in that direction.

The question, as always, becomes how to balance that quiet time I so desperately need and still be able to get everything done. What do I cut out? How do I keep from overcommitting? Because I believe strongly that if you commit to another person – be it a project or plans, as I was brought up, the only reason to cancel or flake is death, preferably your own. If you say you’re going to do something, you DO it. Period. No excuses. So it becomes about committing to less, but also doing it in a way that is not hurtful or spiteful towards others, and also does not deprive me of experiences that enrich my life. That’s a constant tightrope.

2006-12-29T08:45:00.000-05:00

Friday, December 29, 2006
Waxing Moon
Saturn Retrograde
Sunny and cool

Joe Konrath had a fun question about the last ten book purchases, how you heard about them, why you bought them and where. My last purchases totaled around 60 books, and, reading through people’s discussions about the importance or unimportance of print ads (the point of Joe’s post), I found I was more interested in the books they actually bought and their journey to the books than the discussion.

So, I’m a book whore. I admit it.

And here are my last few purchases:

Herbal Folk Medicine: an A to Z Guide by Thomas Squier and Gerard’s Herbal: John Gerard’s History of Plants by John Gerard.

How I Heard About Them: I was searching for more herbals and found them via Strand.

Why I bought them: Study/research

Where I bought them: Strand Books

Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee

How I heard about it: I saw it in a bookstore one day while browsing, but didn’t purchase it right away.

Why I bought it: I like To Kill A Mockingbird; I admire Lee’s refusal to conform either in life or to “the business”.

Where I bought it: Border’s, using a gift card.

Rocky Road to Romance and Smitten, both by Janet Evanovich

How I heard about them: They were mentioned in other Evanovicah books I had collected over the past few months as research for an anthology essay I was contracted to write.

Why I bought them: gifts for my mom, because she enjoyed some of the other Evanovich books I lent her.

Where I bought them: Border’s.

Choice Centered Tarot by Gail Fairfield

How I heard about it: It’s the one tarot book I’ve found useful and I recommend it whenever I teach workshops. I’d originally come across it on New Year’s Eve in an odd little shop in Seattle in the mid-1980s.

Why I bought it: A Christmas present for a friend who is just starting to learn tarot.

Where I bought it: Amazon.com – and they tried to extort extra charges from me. I had to threaten to file a complaint against them to get the book on time, even though I ordered it in November.

Standing Next to History by Joseph Petro and Confessions of an Ex-Secret Service Agent by George Rush

How I heard about them: searching for books on the topic

Why I bought them: research for the rewrite of the novel Assumption of Right

Where I bought them: Strand Books.

Off the Leash by Helen Husher

How I heard about it: I was in the Flying Pig Bookstore in Shelburne, Vermont, and picked it up while browsing and talking. Unfortunately, I put it down and forgot to retrieve it.

Why I bought it: It looked like fun.

Where I bought it: Strand Books got it for me.

52 books bought on a trip to Niantic

How I heard about them: I was browsing through the half a dozen buildings or so that make up the complex.

Why I bought them: Because I’m working on various projects, or I’m interested in various topics. Most are out of print history, biography, and memoir. Some are out of print novels.

Where I bought them: The Book Barn, Niantic, CT

Anthology of Vermont Writers, Volume III by various authors

How I heard about it: I was browsing in the Flying Pig Bookstore in Shelburne, VT for local authors, and the owner suggested it.

Why I bought it: I wanted to read local writing and support local authors.

Where I bought it: Flying Pig Bookstore, Shelburne, VT

The Age of Conversation by Bernadetta Craven

How I heard about it: I read the review in the NYT Book Review.

Why I bought it: It sounded interesting, on a topic and a time period in which I’m interested.

Where I bought it: I had trouble finding it, so Strand tracked it down for me; Strand Books.

------------------------
Yesterday, it took nearly an hour to get from Grand Central Station to the theatre – a walk that usually takes 20 minutes. Because there are so many people visiting!

To be fair, for once, most of them were pretty nice – there were just so many that there wasn’t any room on the sidewalks or anywhere else. Everyone was trying to be polite and accommodating – but we made a filled sardine can look roomy!

According to the newspaper, this week 1.25 million people are visiting NYC – a city that, on a normal day, has 18 million people swirling around it anyway. That’s quite a bit. It was like being in town on New Year’s Eve around 4 PM – although it’s still a few days until New Year’s. I haven’t seen it this busy since 1998 or 1999.

Work was fine – I was in the men’s ensemble room with two other people, so we worked and chatted. There’s always a ton to do on the costumes – fix the hooks, snaps, seams; stitch up rips in the gloves; wipe out the hats; work on the tin man costume. But we got it all done.

I was so enraptured by Tim Powers’ Drawing the Dark that I nearly missed my stop coming home. The fact that they can’t be bothered to announce the stops doesn’t help, either. But it’s a brilliant, exquisite book.

The New Look patterns arrived for the yoga clothes – they have nice, clean lines and look simple. Now, I have to get to the fabric store and get the fabric so I can try them out. If I find that they work well, I’ll do them in all sorts of fabrics and colors and be all set for my writing and yoga lives! Now, to get the rest of it sorted . . .

The only post-holiday shopping frenzy I entered was to order a few pairs of pants from LL Bean, that were on sale for over 50% off. They’re not jeans, but they’re not quite dress pants either – kind of midway. They’ll do until I can get proper dress slacks, they were on sale, they’re in nice dark colors, and I know the quality and the fit will be right, so it’s all good. I ordered them yesterday and they’ve already shipped, so they should arrive by Saturday. And Strand shipped a couple of herbals that I need, so . . .packages are a-coming!

Errands today and then back to the page. I’m at the theatre all day tomorrow and then, oh shock, it’s the end of another year. This went fast – especially since I lost 7 out of 12 months to The Situation. I’ll post the month-end and year-end evaluations tomorrow, since I’m going on retreat for Sunday and Monday.

Another break-though in my thinking about The Widow’s Chamber. I’d already decided when I adapted it from serial to novel I wanted to switch from third person to first. Now, I think I’ll make it the letters that Nora writes to her friend Louisa – as in Louisa May Alcott, who appears in the first episode of the serial. I think that’s much more of the right direction for the piece as a whole.

Worked my butt off on the Plum essay last night. Had some good ideas; cut and rearranged material. I think it’s more along the lines of what they want. I have one more topic to weave in, and then I’m sending it off and hoping for the best.

Happy Year End!

Devon

Token and Affections – 33,700 words out of est. 35,000

33 / 35
(94.3%)

Need help setting goals for the New Year? Check out questions to help you with your Goals, Dreams, and Resolutions on Wordish Wanderings.

2006-12-28T09:18:00.000-05:00

Thursday, December 28, 2006
Waxing Moon
Saturn Retrograde
Partly sunny and chilly

Check out the essay on the ritual of last/first books of the year on Biblio Paradise, and why I think New Year’s Resolutions are important on Kemmyrk.

Violet is distressed. The foundation of the building shifted – or something shifted – and the front door won’t stay closed. I have to keep the chain on it all the time, and, when I go out, put on what I call “The Big Lock”, which is a special chain opened by a key from the outside. At any rate, even with the chain on, the door comes open sometimes. The chain keeps it from flapping too much in the breeze, but Violet gets very distressed. If I don’t realize the door is open, she comes and gets me and “tells” me. I have no idea what she does when I’m not there.

Hopefully, none of them will wander out.

Usually, when the door opens, they all fly in different directions and hide, until they’re sure it’s safe to come out and investigate. Let’s hope they do the same when no one’s around.

I’m going to ask the super to fix it as soon as he can.

Usually, the cats DEMAND open doors – but when it comes to the front door, they all seem to want it firmly shut. They want to wander as they wish inside, but expect the front door to keep out the Scary Monsters.

Had a tough time getting started, because I was waiting for the exterminator and didn’t dare to get involved in a piece of work or I wouldn’t answer the door. He was an hour and a half late, so that threw everything out of whack.

Managed to get a little bit done on Token – a big catalyst for Elmira’s character and a big event in the relationship between Elmira and Declan that has a lot to do with Chasing the Changeling and Immortality’s Destruction.

Worked on the Plum essay. It’s one of the most complicated things I’ve ever done, for some reason. Anything pop culture related simply does not come naturally to me, and I have to work harder to understand the “popular” mindset. I simply don’t see the world the way many others do – and I don’t think Evanovich does either, which makes her unique and which is one reason why people respond to her work – but trying to make that fit into the context of a pop culture collection is challenging.

I’m putting together a schematic and thematic overview of the various short stories I’ve done over the past few years. I want to see what, if any, common themes run through them (rather than simply different names using different voices) and see which ones fit together nicely. I didn’t write very many last year, which is disappointing. I love the format – but then, I started working on novellas last year, which is my favorite format, although I’m damned if I know what to do with them once they’re done!

That’s not entirely true – I have my sights set on a couple of markets for the novellas as I work them.

I want to be able to buy novellas at the newsstand on my way to and from the train, or when I get the newspaper. I used to be able to do so at WH Smith’s in the UK – but I don’t know if they still do it. One quid for something just long enough to read on the train. It was delightful.

Brandy commented yesterday that my observations make her not want to visit New York. Let me make something very clear: New Yorkers are fabulous. They are some of the best people you’ll find on the planet. It’s the fucking tourists that are the problem – they come here and think, because they spent money they don’t have to come to New York, they can behave badly and that makes them “cool”.

An idiot is an idiot is a moron no matter how much money they throw around.

All it does is make New Yorkers glad they (the New Yorkers) don’t live elsewhere, and eager for these rude tourists to go home.

New York IS the greatest city in the world – for many reasons. However, it’s no longer a livable city – it’s been transformed into a theme park, catering to these horrid excuses for human beings – the same people who shove the really cool, nice, excited, intelligent tourists out of the way -- which is one of many reasons why I’m ready to leave. I’m sure these horrids are just as horrid at home – unfortunately, they tend to descend all at once in New York, so, where you might have Three Horrids in Podunk and can avoid them, suddenly you have 303 Horrids at Rockefeller Center coming in from various places around the world because they all took vacation at the same time.

I love it when people come in from all over the world to celebrate and enjoy New York – provided they behave like human beings. I’ve seen zoo animals at feeding times and mating times behave better than most of these people.

It costs nothing to be gracious and thoughtful when you travel. And it pays enormously, because you become an ambassador for your hometown. New Yorkers wouldn’t think people from small towns/rural areas were idiots and losers if people traveling to New York from those areas didn’t behave like idiots and losers. All you have to do is be aware that you are not the only person on the street; there are EIGHTEEN MILLION people in the city on any given day. All you have to do is not shove, not screech, not act like you’re the most important person in that eighteen million – there’s enough for everyone.

Look up – but step aside and make sure you’re not blocking the doorway or sidewalk when you do so. Don’t think it’s “funny” to shove someone in front of a bus or play rough on a train platform – it could cost someone his life; don’t walk around with your purse hanging open and your wallet displaying twenty dollar bills – why WOULDN’T someone reach in and take it? Smile and say “thank you” once in awhile. Say “May I” instead of “Gimme.”

You don’t have to know which of fourteen forks to use in any given situation, but you don’t have to act like the worst cliché of Ugly American – or Ugly World Whomever, because believe me, it’s not just Americans who behave badly. Misbehaving is a choice. And, in New York, there are consequences for those choices. If you’re nice and even skimmingly polite, you will be met with the same. If you act like a jerk – New Yorkers have no time or patience for you. We’re BUSY. And we won’t pretend to be nice to you when you wave money around, like they do in LA. New Yorkers will let you know when they think you’re an idiot.

I don’t know about you, but I’d rather be facing the knife (in New York) then getting it in the back (in LA).

On a happier note, I’m reading two delightful books: Meditations with Tea by Diana Rosen, and Mockingbird: a Portrait of Harper Lee, the absolutely enchanting book by Charles J. Shields. I just can’t put it down. In fact, I sat up well after midnight to finish it, which gave me a logy start this morning.

To Kill a Mockingbird is a fascinating and wonderful book. I relate to the fact that Lee was a strong nonconformist all her life and lived by her own rules, and I respect that. I also respect how she, at first, anyway, was open to reporters and interviews, but never got caught up in “the scene”. I think far too much time is wasted by writers who worry more about being visible than turning out good work. There are some writers who can do both, but too much emphasis is placed on the celebrity aspect, and not enough on the craft.

I’m of two minds about her choice not to publish another book. She’s a reclusive woman, so for all we know, she might have written several novels and destroyed them or locked them away. On the one hand, if she said everything she had to say in that book, good for her. She went on and lives a full life. On the other hand, if it’s fear that’s kept her from publishing – I feel badly for her. That seems to counter the way she’s lived her life—on her own terms. Because of the way she’s lived her life, I tend to lean towards the theory that she said everything she had to say. If she wasn’t afraid of what people thought before, why would she care later?

It’s an interesting situation, and the only people who will ever know the truth are Lee and her family. And that’s their right and their choice.

Some good work on Token and Affections this morning. I’m happy in the way I’m going towards the end. Once I finish this big turning point scene between Elmira and Declan, I really am galloping towards the end. Elmira threw me a curve ball this morning, which I had to quash pretty darn quickly, or it would turn the piece into a different story and negate the next two sections – which are important. But hey, characters can discuss options just like people, right? It’s just that I can’t allow Elmira to act on this option without jettisoning everything I want for the trilogy – and the trilogy is stronger than this particular option.

Off to the theatre. And then, I want to finish the Plum essay rewrite tonight and get it off either late, late tonight or early tomorrow morning – ahead of the deadline. I don’t want it hanging over me for the weekend.

Devon

Token and Affections – 33,200 words out of 35,000

33 / 35
(94.3%)

Need help setting goals for the New Year? Check out questions to help you with your Goals, Dreams, and Resolutions on Wordish Wanderings.

2006-12-27T09:36:00.000-05:00

Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Waxing Moon
Saturn Retrograde
Sunny and cooler

I need to commit to spending 10-15 minutes each day clearing off my desk. I let things accumulate until I “have” time to get to them – only that never happens. So, by dealing with stuff a little bit every day, maybe I can keep myself from feeling overwhelmed. And that’s in addition to filing everything as I print it, so the printer tray doesn’t stack up. Because, eventually, I simply take everything out of the tray and add it to the pile on the desk to file “someday”.

I also need to set aside a day to work on receipts every week, so they don’t accumulate. I have a stack on my desk – usually, I’m pretty good, and it makes doing my taxes oh, so much easier. But if I work on them on X day each week, maybe I can prevent the pile on the desk.

Staying on top of the paperwork is my most difficult challenge. Other people’s methods just don’t work for me, so I have to create my own.

Hop on over to the Dog Blog today and check out my essay on the “My Space” craze.

Someone’s trying to hack into my computer. The warnings keep coming up on the firewall. Thank goodness I upped my protection. But it’s still annoying.

Trying to clear out various email boxes so that they’re clear for the New Year. I’m trying to find a way to copy the files to CD, so I can keep them if I need them, but get them off the computer so I can start 2007 clean. I have a feeling I have to go to Staples and get some more CDs.

I prepared the 2007 folders for the monthly bills, etc., and I set up the Submission Log for 2007. I have to make better use of the tickler files – it’ll be much easier to track things if I actually put a copy of the letter in the file, and then follow up.

Worked on updating the new addresses I collected during the holidays, and can now put into the Rolodex. Forget keeping it on the computer – I need it on the Rolodex, where it doesn’t vanish periodically.

I withdrew the incorrect submission and apologized profusely to the editor. I hope it’s not held against me; if it is, oh, well. At least I didn’t pretend the story was still available when it’s not, and that’s more important.

Work was fine – got everything done; received some more gifts from people who thought I’d be around over the weekend, but I wasn’t.

The rude, hateful, and presumptuous are flocking into the city in preparation for New Year’s, hiring oversized limos, thinking it’s cute and/or cool to stand up through the sun roof and screech. Nobody thinks you’re cool, honey – we all know you’re an idiot. And we also know that ANYONE can hire a limo for an hour. Shoving people into the street in front of cars isn’t funny or cute – it’s assault, and that cop had every right to ticket you, sweet pea, because you could have cost that other kid his life. AND, low rise lime green spandex still makes you look like a hooker, especially if you’re fourteen. Another thing – no toddler in a stroller should be wearing a full-length, REAL fur coat, especially when it’s 54 degrees outside.

Ideas are percolating and swirling for the new year, and I need to figure out how to schedule it all in without making it overwhelming.

Also, I’m “retiring” the volume of paper journal I have on New Year’s Eve – there are still blank pages in it, but I feel I’m getting caught up in old patterns from the past couple of years – fresh journal, fresh start, so that’s what I’ll do. The Yankee brought up on “waste not, want not” hates the thought of leaving blank pages, but . . .in this case, it’s necessary.

I worked on the GDRs for 2007. They scare the hell out of me, and leave me feeling vulnerable. Part of me doesn’t want to post them, yet I also think posting them is an important part of my process.

2006 was a tough, tough year, but, ultimately, seems to end on a more positive note than it started; the year was about determination and surviving it through sheer force of will. I want next year to be much more serene.

Today should be primarily a writing day – I have some things to clear off the decks, and I’m at the theatre tomorrow.

Devon

Need help setting goals for the New Year? Check out questions to help you with your Goals, Dreams, and Resolutions on Wordish Wanderings.

2006-12-26T08:25:00.000-05:00

Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Waxing Moon
Saturn Retrograde
“Books-ing” Day
Rainy and warm

Yes, folks, that’s what I used to think “Boxing Day” was called: “Booksing Day” – the day where you sit around and read the books you got for Christmas.

Later, when I found out it was really called “Boxing Day”, I thought, “why would people want to go around hitting each other when it’s supposed to be ‘peace on earth, goodwill to all’?”

Yeah, that’s one of the things where I was a bit slow on the uptake.

But I still like the idea of having a “Booksing Day”.

Unfortunately, I have to go in to the theatre today.

The holiday was lots of fun. You get an idea of the feline entertainment value from the Dec. 25 photo sequence. Elsa is the oldest cat in the house; yet she’s still the most playful.

And the food was delightful.

Christmas Eve:
Roast pork marinated for 48 hours in a garlic/red wine/mustard sauce with scalloped potatoes (thanks, Brandy) to which I added rosemary and shredded cheese, red cabbage, and a green bean with tarragon casserole. Chocolate pudding for dessert, with stollen later on.

Christmas Day:
Roast turkey with apples, raisins, parsnips and carrots added to the herbed stuffing, all so tender it nearly fell off the bones. Which is a great taste, but a real pain in the patootie when you try to get it from the roasting pan and onto the platter and it’s falling to pieces all around you. Elsa ran away with a stray wing. I’m sure I’ll find the remains under the couch in, like, March, when the smell becomes unbearable. Mashed potatoes, peas, and my special parsnip and carrot sauté.

Plum pudding once we recovered from the meal.

We narrowly escaped an emergency when I put something in the microwave to defrost. Now, when a plate has marked on the bottom “Microwave safe” – to me, that means I can put something on the plate, stick it in the microwave and heat it up. It does NOT mean that the plate will melt, the frozen thing will burn and melt into what’s left of the plate, and the apartment will fill with toxic black smoke – which is exactly what happened.

Fortunately, we turned off the microwave, opened all the windows (avoiding a visit from the fire department, who would never have let me live this down, in light of Thanksgiving 2002), let the mess cool, then peeled it off the microwave and disposed of it.

So much for “microwave safe”.

This is why I only use the microwave for popcorn.

The gifts were all lovely and thoughtful, and there were books, which always makes me happy – cookbooks, blank journals, and my friend Artie tracked down all three of the Diana Tregarde novels. I’m very excited.

I finished reading the Jimmy Charters memoir. And, while it gave me the inspiration for the short story “Illuminated Nude” – well, those people may have been struggling artists and writers and whatever in romantic Paris, but they were often MEAN to each other. Not good-natured practical jokes, but thinly veiled hostility. I think there are very few I would have liked as people, no matter how much I might enjoy some of their work.

Read most of The Trollopes, which is an interesting group portrait. I hadn’t realized how unhappy Anthony Trollope was, or how set in his Victorian sensibilities he was – caught in his time. For some reason, because of the satirical quality of much of his work, I always thought he was a man outside his time, not mired in it. I have to re-read his work now, with a fresh eye, and see if I agree with the slant the biographers took.

And I moved back and forth amongst the books received, but mostly read French Women for All Seasons. The books truly is mostly common sense – don’t eat like a big, fat pig; keep your clothing simple and tailored; when in doubt, eat chocolate and drink champagne. I pretty much do that already (although I am fond of jeans, both for comfort and because it’s the best thing to work in backstage and on set). There are some spectacular recipes in the book, though, and I look forward to trying them out.

However, that de-tox weekend of leeks-only soup?

No, thanks.

I’ll have a de-tox weekend of champagne and smoked salmon pate instead. With Godiva chocolate for dessert. THAT is MY personal style.

Speaking of pants (and I was, at any rate), I’m in search of dress slacks. Most of my pants are jeans; I had a few nice wool pairs of pants, only I no longer like the style (pleated, which makes it look like I’m transporting a small village just below the pelvic bone), so I got rid of them. And I’ve been in search of decent dress slacks ever since. Unfortunately, most of them are unnatural fibers. The type that make me shriek and drop the offending garment right back in its place on the rack, because it is certainly not going to touch my skin. The fibers and cuts I want tend to be in the $480/pair range and up. Call me weird, but for $480, I can purchase a plane ticket to someplace I’d rather be, and I’d rather do that then spend that sort of money (even when I have it) on a pair of slacks. Especially when I can go to the fabric stores in the garment district and get lovely fabric at decent prices and make myself a (not perfectly, but decently) tailored pair of slacks, lining and all, for about $60.

So now we know how I’ll be spending those cold winter days.

If it ever gets cold again.

And yes, I wrote: worked on both Token and Affection, but mostly, Warmth of the Hearth. The latter is turning out to be much more complicated than expected, from a thematic and character point of view. Makes the piece richer, but prevents it from being a quick holiday let’s-knock-it-out piece.

Made a few submissions and, due to the loss of my submission log earlier this year, submitted a piece that I realized, after it was sent, is NOT available; I have to write to the editor and pull it, apologizing profusely. I feel like an idiot, and it made me realize how dependant I am on that log. And vow to print out a hard copy of it every month, just in case.

Worked on the GDRs for 2007 and finished up the 2006 evaluation. Thank you notes written and will be mailed today on the way to the train. Birthday cards written for the first two weeks of January, and also going out today.

There are lots of birthdays I’m missing, so I’m going to have to track down friends’ birthdays once again. I’ve slacked off the past year and change, but the 2007 datebook has the room to add in the birthdays again, so I want to catch up.

So . . .when’s your birthday? ;)

What a difference a year makes. One year ago, on Christmas, we were frightened and depressed, with thugs pounding on people’s doors on the holiday, trying to terrify them out of the building. A year later, we are dealing with The Sequel, but we’re much stronger, both singly and together, it was a blessedly QUIET two days,

Hope your days were merry and bright, with or without the Christmas being snowy and white.

(With apologies to the song “White Christmas”).

Devon

Token and Affections - 31,325 words out of est. 35,000

31 / 35
(88.6%)

The Warmth of the Hearth – 6,825 words out of est. 25,000

6 / 25
(24.0%)

2006-12-25T11:32:00.000-05:00

Cat Christmas Capers

Violet takes guarding the gifts seriously, although it's exhausting work.

2006-12-25T11:29:00.000-05:00

Unwrapped gifts mean more for everyone to play with; Violet investigates while Iris waits to make sure it's safe.

2006-12-25T11:27:00.000-05:00

Elsa rests after the unwrapping.

2006-12-25T11:25:00.000-05:00

The twins, Iris and Violet, wonder if Santa has to come up the drain, since there's no chimney here.

2006-12-25T11:23:00.000-05:00

Elsa knows how to wait for Santa.

2006-12-25T11:21:00.000-05:00

Christmas morning is all about the stockings.

2006-12-25T11:19:00.000-05:00

The cats have their stocking.

2006-12-25T11:14:00.000-05:00

Time to play with the new toys!

2006-12-25T11:12:00.000-05:00

Elsa loves Christmas.

2006-12-24T13:07:00.000-05:00

Peace and Joy

2006-12-22T08:03:00.000-05:00

Friday, December 22, 2006
Waxing Moon
Saturn Retrograde
Cloudy and cool

Check out “Lone Traveler” by Rachelle Arlin Credo on Circadian. It should have gone up earlier, but I had a lot of trouble with the site for the past few weeks. At least it’s finally up – our last poem of 2006!

In the next couple of weeks, I have to get everything finished up for the first few Circadian months of 2007 – and hope that I have fewer problems with the site.

Busy day yesterday. Work was fine; climbing over tourists was same old, same old.

Getting up at 6 AM again is working well – I have time to do my yoga and meditation, and then I write 1500 words or so before I take my shower and start my day. I’m much more productive all day with that kind of a start. I still prefer to do my yoga before I start writing, even though I reversed it during Nano.

Yule ceremony was lovely and simple – welcoming back the light; trying to get the darkness out of our own cobwebby corners.

Lovely Yule gifts – mostly yoga-related: clothes, mat, block, book, new fitness journal, and also John Matthews’s The Celtic Oracle, which used to be called The Celtic Shaman Pack. So, something new to learn, very cool.

I’m falling behind in Warmth of the Hearth and worried that if I don’t write it in season, I’ll lose momentum.

Ideas for two short stories (I need to write three new stories in January). One, tentatively titled “Illuminated Nude” was inspired by an anecdote in Jimmy Charters’s memoir; the other – well, a character started talking, gave me the first line. Both are in a slightly new direction, and I think will be fun. I want to keep them short. The first, in particular, won’t be light (in spite of the title), but I want to keep them in the 1200-1500 word range.

Muttered over an idea which I originally thought was part of Warmth, but it turns it into such a different story, and the point of Warmth is to be a warm Christmas story. And then, I realized how it was actually part of another story, and was the flashback of two other characters who have nothing to do with Warmth – flashbacks when they run into each other again later in life. Phew. Had a bit of anxiety going there for awhile.

Next week will be prep for a whole bunch of submissions to shoot out on the 2nd of January. It’s silly to send it out next week, in the chaos; best to prep everything well and get it out first thing the following week.

The series which sparked a few days ago is starting to take shape, as well as two shorter-term projects that will be both fun to work on and good kick starts.

I also had an idea for a big, huge project – but don’t know if I can pull it off. I think the groundwork alone would take a year – but I do know that there is nothing quite like it currently out there, which is always a good thing.

Nice morning’s work – a page or two of a tangent between the elf, the angel, and the siren – but it sets up something important for all three. 1125 words for the day. Now I can take my shower and get going with the rest of the day – I need to clear off my desk and get both more writing and more business done.

See what happens when you go upside down in a shoulder stand? The blood goes to your head and you get inspired. Then you go right side up and have to write it down quickly before you forget it all.

The turkey is out of the freezer and in the fridge, defrosting; the pork roast comes out today to do the same (even though the roast is for the Eve and the turkey for the Day – but hey, the turkey’s bigger. I need to get potatoes, and if anyone’s got the JOY OF COOKING (mine’s in storage) – do they have a good recipe for scalloped potatoes, and, if they do, can you send it to me? I’m having scalloped potato trauma. (The cure is a lot of red wine). Four shelves of cookbooks and no simple scalloped potato recipe..

Oh, and the leftover oatmeal biscuits from day before yesterday? Turning into little oatmeal rocks. So, last night, when we had chicken for dinner, we made some gravy and had biscuits with gravy. Once they soaked for awhile, they were fine. But I want to find a way to modify the recipe. I think I’ll take the cream from the cream biscuit recipe and throw it into the oatmeal biscuit recipe instead of the buttermilk and see what happens. Or I’ll double the buttermilk, to make it moister. I wouldn’t dare to take these out to feed ducks. Maybe use them as skipping stones, but that’s it. And they were fine just out of the oven.

Lots to do today, too, and on into the weekend. And I get to take my mom out to lunch, which is always fun.

If I don’t check in before the holiday, have a merry, merry, happy, happy!

Devon

Token and Affections – 30,575 words out of est. 35,000

30 / 35
(85.7%)

2006-12-21T08:24:00.000-05:00

Thursday, December 21, 2006
Waxing Moon
Winter Solstice/Yule
Saturn Retrograde
Cloudy and mild

Check out the Yule essay over on Kemmyrk.

A friend sent me this link (http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110009409)
And asked for my response.

This is what I said:

"Journalism as practiced via blog" is an odd phrase. I don't think journalism CAN be practiced by blog. Journalism is supposed to be something well-researched, presenting both points of view impartially, with evidence to back up one side, the other, or, preferably both -- setting out the smorgasbord of information to help the reader make an informed decision.

That's not the way it's done in practice, which is one reason, I think, that people have turned to the web and to blogs for opinions. Journalism takes time and thoroughness -- both of which have been lost in the demand for the exclusive, which used to be called the scoop.

A blog is a diary, an open letter, an emotional snapshot of the moment.
Rago's comparison to the commonplace book is right on the money -- but he also seems to have forgotten that all-important way that information used to be distributed -- the pamphlet. Pamphlets were big business in the 19th century, and even into the first half of the twentieth century, especially for Socialist movements and Labor movements. Anyone who could scrape together a few shillings could write up something, take it to a printer, and start selling his opinions on the street corner.

He also seems to think that diaries aren't meant to be read -- while they may not be meant to be read "in the moment", most people who keep diaries are writing to their "unknown reader", even that reader is the future self, and many people write with an eye towards the work being someday published (preferably once they're dead and no one can sue them anymore).

I think the technology has made the process more compressed and immediate, but it's following something that's been human nature since people stood up on tree stumps to hear the sound of their own voices.

And there IS a lot of bad writing out there, and people tend to seek out blogs that reinforce their own opinions, not challenge them. Or, if they are challenged, they can't be bothered to fashion a reasoned argument in response -- they simply insult the blogger.

There are blogs that encourage actual dialogue between writer and reader; and there are well-researched, well-thought out blogs. They ARE in the minority, and need to be sought out -- but can be found. They tend to run in tandem with more thoroughly researched work -- sites such as Salon.com or Slate.com.

With the web, the old saying, "opinions are like assholes -- everyone's got one" is all the more obvious now -- although no less or more prevalent than it's ever been.

People who use blogs as the be-all and end-all of news and journalism are both lazy and make the choice of ignorance. They'd make the same choices even without the availability of blogs.

And -- there's always been a lot of bad writing, ever since "writing" became a reality. There always will be. Eventually, most of the worst of it falls away. Many of the bad books from centuries ago have disintegrated -- eventually, most of the bad writing on the web will disperse, too.

It's like anything -- a tool people can choose to use or misuse.

---------------------------------------

Dashed to Mamaroneck to get another good panettone. They were sold out of the traditional ones, so I had to settle for a cranberry one for Christmas morning.

Went over to Pier 1 and found a really cool gift for a friend at work. She’s someone who does nice things for people every day, but, because she never calls attention to it, I feel sometimes she’s taken for granted. I wanted to get her a little something – and then I found a bigger something that’s awesome – so I bought it. And I’m taking it in today.

Baked oatmeal buttermilk biscuits for breakfast yesterday (from The Breakfast Book) because I felt I was getting into a breakfast rut.

Renewed my National Wildlife membership and ordered some excellent-looking patterns for yoga clothes from a new-to-me site. Since the clothes I like are so ridiculously priced (no, I am NOT going to pay $79 for a tee shirt in which I’m going to sweat), I’m going to make some of my own. And, since I like to write in yoga clothes anyway – I should have several sets, and they’ll be yoga/writing clothes. There’s also a pattern for a mat bag – although, to be honest, I mean, you’re making a cylinder with a drawstring, you don’t really NEED a pattern for that.

I figured out what kind of pattern I want to do for the Earth Quilt – it’s not quite a traditional pattern, it’s a little twisted (like you’re surprised). I have to sketch it out, and then figure out how to morph it on the graph paper so I can actually have a pattern I can cut out and use. I think the initial sketches might need to be filled in with colored pencil so I can get an overall idea of the color – but when I buy the fabric, I want to use calicos, to give it more texture.

Sketch it – that’s pretty funny. Stick figures are about as far as I go with the whole sketching thing.

Did a little bit of work on Warmth of the Hearth. Emailed back and forth with my editor on the Plum essay revisions.

Had a nice morning’s work today on Token and Affections – 1625 words. I’m writing the scene in Central Park between Elmira and Declan. It’s going well, and both those characters continue to surprise me in the best possible way.

Off to the theatre, and then it’s time to celebrate the Solstice!

Tomorrow, I’m taking my mother out for a Christmas treat, and I’m excited.

Devon

Token and Affections – 29,450 words out of est. 35,000

29 / 35
(82.9%)

2006-12-20T09:17:00.000-05:00

Wednesday, December 20, 2006
New Moon
Saturn Retrograde
Sunny and cool

Hop on over to the Dog Blog for some ideas on revisions.

Work was fine yesterday. Had to climb over the rude, ignorant, self-absorbed tourists who can’t comprehend the fact they’re not the only people on the street, and there are several million people around them trying to GET SOMEWHERE, probably to prepare the latest tourist entertainment. I’m always glad when people come in and marvel at the city – it’s a marvelous city; however, stop acting like you’re the ONLY person in it! Show some basic consideration for the people around you.

And it only gets worse from now to New Year’s.

I’m having trouble with my MP3 player – the headphones don’t fit in my ears. They keep falling out. The little round discs are too big and don’t fit. And it’s not like I have terribly small ears, either. Plus, when I download music, it’s not notating it correctly – which really isn’t that big a deal, but come on – and, of course, I can’t look up if there’s a way to fix it because the frigging disk they sent with the player DOESN’T OPEN.

So, as fond as I am of the little player, I am less than fond of the Creative Zen company. It’s certainly not a Zen experience.

Finished A Book and a Love Affair. I realized I’ve read her journals from the 1960s and 1970s. I think I liked them better. If I remember correctly, by then she’d outgrown the tendency to trail around after her husband meekly in a way that just makes me want to hurl.

We were talking about something similar at work – how certain “stars” – read “celebrities” – are so “protected” that they can’t dial a phone themselves, can’t handle going to the drugstore, etc., etc. Several people in the conversation felt it was because they were “protected” from the real world, because there’s always a lackey around to deal with it and they “can’t” do it on their own. My position is that if you can’t dial a damn phone by the time you’re forty AND YOU CAN’T BE BOTHERED TO LEARN – well, I have no respect for you. You’re not that special, sweet pea. And eventually, you’re gonna have to learn to deal. Because the majority of these “protected” celebrities don’t have the talent for life-long careers, and they’re going to have to learn to do a whole lot more than dial a phone before they’re through.

And, at this point in my life, there isn’t enough money that can be offered to me to make it worthwhile for me to cater to them.

Hence the career change in the making.

Started reading Tim Powers’s The Drawing of the Dark – and nearly missed my stop coming back on the train. I find his writing to be among the most seductive as far as completely enveloping in his world and enchanting me of almost any other writer I’ve read.

Working on my 2006 Evaluation and my 2007 GDRs. Since I’m taking the Eve and the Day for New Year’s to do a retreat, I want to get the evaluation, anyway, done prior.

Got an idea for a new series yesterday – jotted it down on a scrap of paper. It needs a lot of planning – it’s something that needs meticulous structure and can’t be done blank-page. I may try some of Elizabeth George’s techniques that I find too overwhelmingly detailed for most projects, because I think it just might be what this one needs.

SJ – to answer your question – Strand Books tracked down the memoirs I needed for my research. Strand is my go-to place for research books. They take good care of me, and, dare I say it, enjoy looking for some of the wacky stuff I often need.

I’ll supplement the research with interviews (if I can get any), but I wanted to start with the memoirs, so I know what it is I’m asking.

Had a good yoga/meditation session whose benefits were sorely tested when Elsa decided to throw up EVERYWHERE (narrowly missing my new yoga mat) and then I found out that I was out of paper towels.

But, that crisis was dealt with, I got some work done on Tokens and Affections – I had two big sequences with Elmira and Declan, and then we gallop to the finish line.

Have to run some errands, and remembered three more holiday cards I forgot to write (and a list is good because . . .).

And then, it’s back to the page.

Devon

Tokens and Affections – 27,825 words out of est. 35,000

27 / 35
(77.1%)

2006-12-19T08:19:00.000-05:00

Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Dark Moon
Saturn Retrograde
Sunny and a little cooler – but still to warm!

Darned if I can remember what I did yesterday; worked on Token and Affections; worked on the Plum essay; caught up on some blog reading. Finished When Santa Was a Shaman; ran errands; packed some more gifts; paid some bills.

Tokens is shaping to be the first of an interesting cycle of novellas, to launch this new name next year. The Tokens trilogy focuses on Elmira and Declan – but several of the secondary characters in the piece are interesting to go off and have adventures on their own, and I may explore some of that.

I also found part of a YA I started a few years back – I’d like to go back to it, with what I know now, and work on it. I like the idea of it, the concept, the story, the arcs – but I want to apply my growth as a writer to it.

I’m reading a book called A Book and a Love Affair by Helen Bevington. It’s one of the books I got on the last trip to the Book Barn in Niantic. I wish I could remember – I’d heard of Helen Bevington in another author’s memoir and then found some of her books in the local library. So, I was quite excited to find this one.

The cats were whiny and clingy, so I gave them extra one-on-one time, and I did some paperwork having to do with the building.

Oh, yeah, and did four loads of laundry, and quite a bit of hand laundry – the kind of hand laundry where every item needs 15-20 minutes of delicate handling because it’s silk or cashmere or handmade or embroidered or whatever. Have a lot more of that hand laundry to do, so that will take some time. I have no place to put the sweater racks – the ad claimed they fit over the tub – uh, no – and that they stack – sort of – so I have them stacked in the front hallway. The cats keep jumping over them – and putting their toys on the drying sweaters.

I’m excited to start reading and taking notes on the research books for the Assumption rewrite – two memoirs by ex-Secret Service agents, which should give me more background on procedure.

Off to the bank this morning, then back to the page for an hour or so, and then, it’s off to the theatre. I’m “Auntie” to my friend Artie’s cats, and I’ve put a little something for them in the gift bag – only I had to take it back out and hide it because my cats kept trying to get at it.

Sigh.

Devon

2006-12-18T10:02:00.000-05:00

Monday, December 18, 2006
Waning Moon
Saturn Retrograde
Rainy and too darned warm!

Okay, Neptune just HAS to be direct by now, even though they missed it on the calendar. It’s going retrograde again in May, so it must be direct. I hereby decree it.

Can you believe how many exclamation points I used the other day? Too much sugar!

I am now officially DONE with Christmas/holiday shopping. I don’t want to set foot in another store until February. I don’t like shopping out here in the ‘burbs because people are so darned rude and strut and push their way around with this misplaced sense of entitlement. Driving a Lexus SUV just means you’re too stupid to spend your money on something worthwhile! It does NOT mean you’re allowed to act like a jerk. It also means you care too much what other people think, so get this – I think you’re an ass!

I can’t believe that Christmas Eve is next Sunday. And that Yule is on Thursday. Wow. Where did the year go? Granted, the first few months were lost to The Situation, but still . . .

I’m trying to bribe myself to finish the cards – for every ten cards I write, I’m allowed two pages on one of my stories . . .

I admit, though, other than worry about The Situation: The Sequel, this has been one of the least stressful holiday seasons I can remember.

Why?

Because I made the choices to make ME happy, not other people.

Choices that make me happy:
Decorating
Writing cards (even though I’m poky about them lately)
Baking cookies
Giving gifts
Observing years of holiday traditions while continuing to craft my own

Now, I realize that most of the stuff on this list is the stuff that stresses other people out. But it’s the stuff that makes me happy and appreciate the holiday – so I’ve said “no” to a lot of things other people think I “should” do in order to fit in with their agendas, and I’ve cut back on a whole bunch of other stuff.

When I tell someone I’m not available by phone during X hours – I don’t answer the phone. I’ve even extended that to problems in the building. I’m not answering the door unless I expect a package or someone’s made an appointment. I try to do my shopping early when people are still trying to get their act together and drink their morning coffee. I try smiling at everyone and saying “please” and “thank you.” (I don’t always succeed on the latter, but I try). For instance, as annoying as some of these suburban idiots were today, I was walking around with a goofy grin on my face (for reasons there’s no need to specify) and it was amazing how many people began smiling back in return.

But the big thing is learning to say “No.”

“No”, I’m not going to commute for an hour and a half when you have someone five blocks away who can fill in;

“No”, I am not going to five holiday parties in a single day because people think I should be “seen” and “network”. This year, I’m only spending time with the people I want to spend it with;

“No”, I am not going to clean up YOUR mess because you can’t manage your own time and think it’s okay to screw other people with your inefficiency. Your disorganization is NOT my problem, and I refuse to take it on.

And the key to the “no” is also not to explain. I simply say, “No” and that’s it. I don’t explain. “No, I’m sorry” or “No, I can’t.” I don’t have to justify it. A question was asked and I answered it.

If the response is “why not?”, my retort is, “Because I can’t.” I don’t owe these people a detailed explanation. “No” means “no.”

I don’t even feel guilty any more when I do so (I did, initially, but I’ve outgrown it). I even turned down an interview – I said I was not available by phone because of my current schedule, but would be happy to do the interview via email. No response. I would have liked to do the interview, but, by phone, there was no way I could do it within the interviewer’s time frame unless I ended up jettisoning work I both wanted and needed. So I didn’t do it.

I finished re-reading Used and Rare, and then re-read Slightly Chipped and Warmly Engraved, all of which I enjoyed. I also started re-reading When Santa Was A Shaman, which is an interesting take on all the origins of Yuletide myths, legends, and traditions.

Wrote nearly fourteen pages of The Warmth of the Hearth. This is definitely a Christiane Van de Velde piece, with all the food in it.

Dropped back into the world of Token and Affections and I like it there.

Finished the cards – out they go this morning.

Have to run to Trader Joe’s because I’m out of organic cat food and organic vegetables meant for humans – so much for staying out of stores!

I’ve planned the menus for Christmas Eve and Day, and am trying to figure out what to do for New Year’s. I’m going to do a meditation retreat again this year to bring in the New Year (with two shows the day before) – but the cooking is still up to me. I might poach a salmon with horseradish cream sauce for the Eve, and then think of something interesting for the Day. We have to eat herring before midnight (ick) and pork before noon the following morning (yum) for good luck, and have to burn bayberry.

Off to the grocery store, and then back to the page.

Devon

The Warmth of the Hearth -- 3,325 words out of est. 25,000

3 / 25
(12.0%)

Token and Affections – 27,250 words out of est. 35,000

27 / 35
(77.1%)

2006-12-17T11:22:00.000-05:00

Sunday, December 17, 2006
Waning Moon
Fourth of Advent
Saturn Retrograde
Cloudy and mild

Yesterday, after completing my holiday shopping in the Hell that is Suburbia, I gave myself the rest of the day off and read whatever books I wanted to read.

That’s all.

Devon

2006-12-16T17:03:00.000-05:00

Don't worry -- I'll get back to writing about writing soon!

I'm simply enjoying the rest of my life right now as well.

2006-12-16T16:52:00.000-05:00

Cookie platter

2006-12-16T16:49:00.000-05:00

The wrapped cookie platters, ready for delivery.

2006-12-16T10:20:00.000-05:00

Saturday, December 16, 2006
Waning Moon
Neptune Retrograde
Saturn Retrograde
Sunny and pleasant

First of all, Happy Hanukkah to those who celebrate! Last night was the first night, and I want to extend my best wishes for the eight days and beyond. Peace, joy, and love!

SJ and Dru, thanks for stopping by! Hope you don’t mind me adding you to my “daily blog reads! Dru, I tried to comment on your blog, but can’t because of the Beta thingy – ME Ellis can make it work with “other” – but I can’t. Sigh. Nice to meet a fellow Pisces AND fellow quilter!

So. . .yesterday was a running around day in the city. New York is lovely during holiday times, even if you have to step on many tourists. I admit enjoying the entire families that come in for the day, dressed up – the girls have velvet dresses with coats over them and big red bows in their hair, the boys are in suits – very nice! They’re trying to be nonchalant, but there’s just too much cool stuff to look at and experience!

Off the train, across 42nd Street and down to 41st street to drop off a platter at Rent – even though I haven’t worked there in months, I still adore them and miss them and want them to know that I’m thinking of them during the holidays. Then up to 44th Street, to the Broadhurst, where the revival of Les Miz is playing – I know most of the crew from other shows. Caught up with a few people there. And a quick stop at Sardi’s and some of the restaurants/coffee shops/regular hangouts on my way up to 51st St. and Wicked, where I dropped off a bunch of stuff and ran away before they could figure out a reason to keep me for the day!

On up to the Time Warner Center to pick up a few things and get distracted by L’Occitane, Godiva, Borders, and, of course, Williams-Sonoma. Can I just say that I must never be allowed in that store unsupervised?

Across the bottom of the Park and down Fifth Avenue. Pretty, but everything they sell there is irrelevant to my life unless it comes from Tiffany and Co. I mean, if I’m going to spend that kind of money on an evening dress for an event, I’m not getting it from Bergdorf or Bendel, where there’s a whole rack of them! I’m going to hire someone from the theatre to create something unique!

Picked up a few more things, took the train back out and had a million more things to do once I got out here.

However, I managed to get ideas out to my editor – they should have gone out earlier, but I’ll spend a lot of time on the piece this weekend and submit it early, so whatever.

And, of course, it’s never just dropping something off. It’s “how’s your life?”, “What’s new?”, “I heard . . .”, “Oh, it’s only 11 AM . . .okay, I’ll have a martini”, “I’d love to stick around and have a peppermint latte”, “a glass of merlot is lovely.” And then it’s six hours and a bottle of Tums later.

Can I just say the Attorney General’s office in the State of New York rocks? Good news from them on The Sequel, and that’s all I can say right now.

And then I had to run some errands out here, which is fine, except you know I have morphed into the cliché of a pathetic suburbanite; because not only did I move the car three times in the parking lot of the same mall because I was too darn lazy to walk the length of it . . .I forgot where I parked the darned thing and ended up wandering around like an idiot for longer than it would have taken me to keep it in one spot.

And I really, really, really need to stop finding cute things to put in my friend’s gift bag or I’ll have to hire a truck to get it to him!

And, and, and . . .I got to have panettone for dessert last night. A genuine, delicious, Italian panettone! I love it, but so often here it’s prepared like glorified fruit cake and it’s dry and icky. This one was perfect!!!!! I was in heaven.

Can you tell I’ve had WAAAAY too much sugar the last few days? You’d think I was a yappy Chihuahua or something, when in reality, I’m more like a cross between a very stubborn terrier and a Doberman (Doberwoman)?

What about the damn writing, huh? I mean, this is supposed to be about writing, and I’ve talked more about eating lately. I haven’t even eaten that many cookies lately; I’m just obsessed with baking them. It’s gotten so bad they’ve taken away my butter and my flour so I can’t bake anymore for a few weeks! ;)

Okay, so check out the Dog Blog (the post is “What Do You Want?”) and check out Kemmyrk (“7 for ‘07”), and check out Biblio Paradise (“Gift Ideas for Writers”), all of which have fresh posts. New posts. “Fresh posts” makes it sound like I’ve changed the cat litter or something and added to the compost heap. So go check those links. Wordish Wanderings will keep the 2007 GDRs as the top post for awhile, because it’s easier for people to find them there.

I only wrote 11 holiday cards last night – I kept getting distracted. I did work on the holiday piece, a bit (two of the main characters are stuck in the snow on the side of the road), and played around with ideas for the Plum essay rewrite.

I also read Mary Jane Davidson’s Undead and Unappreciated, which is funny and imaginative, and started re-reading one of my favorite books about books, Used and Rare, by Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone, telling how they were drawn into collecting books.

More errands today, and the clothes hamper is spitting the clothes back out, so it’s time to do umpteen loads of laundry. You have no idea how much I envy those of you who have laundry in your house. I’m sick of lugging my laundry down three flights of stairs and over to another section of the building, half the time to find there aren’t any washers free, and have to lug it all back up and wait. I am grateful it’s in the building, but I’d rather it was part of my own living space.

You realize when I buy my house I’m going to go nuts buying the Uber-Appliances for everything just because I can!

Off to errands, and then face the Wash Monster.

Writing plans: Token and Affections, the Plum rewrite, the holiday piece.

And work on more cards.

Devon

2006-12-15T08:12:00.000-05:00

Friday, December 15, 2006
Waning Moon
Neptune Retrograde
Saturn Retrograde
Cloudy and warm

Not much writing done yesterday. Not much thinking about it, either, except for the Plum essay.

Drove to Hartsdale to look for buttons and additional yarn for the coat my mom is knitting me. We found both – surprising, especially yarn-wise. I looked at fabric for the Earth Quilt – but, come on, calicos at $11/yard, when Jo-Ann’s sells it for $3? Same manufacturer, same pattern? Guess where I’ll head after the holidays. I know the color palette – greens, browns, and creams – but I want to sketch a design before I actually shop for the fabric.

Stopped at a Chef store on the way – oh, my gosh, was I drooling with all the cake pans and tart pans and woks and steamers and . . .you get the idea. I was pricing, not buying today. I could drop 10 grand in that place without blinking. If I had both the 10 grand and the kitchen in which to put everything.

In the future . . .

Took an alternate route home because the highway was backed up, and it was quick and pleasant.

Put together eighteen cookie platters. It didn’t take as long as I expected, and they look pretty darned good, if I say so myself. Delivered 11 of them locally; will take the other 7 in to the city with me early this morning to get them where they need to be. I’m going to get more bags – I still have cookies left, so I can make more platters as I think of it. There are definitely other people to whom I’d like to give – I just wasn’t sure I’d baked enough, and these eighteen were the utmost priority.

Believe it or not, that took up the whole day.

The cats were actually very good and kept out of the way, although Violet did run around when the platters were all lined up and ready to go, and undid ALL the ribbons, so I had to go and retie them.

Vegetable frittatas for dinner – nice and light. With all the heavy food for the holiday season, sometimes, as Elizabeth David says, “an omlette and a glass of wine” is the way to go.

I got a little more than half my domestic cards done last night. So, tonight, I’ll try to get some more done. I think I’ll have to split the second half into halves and do some today and some tomorrow.

Great yoga session this morning – amazing how much it improves my outlook.

Too warm, though – I’ve been in sleeveless tops for the last few days, and, in December in the Northeast, that’s just WRONG.

Today, I’m in the city – hopefully not too long, although I may give myself a treat. And then, it’s back to the page.

Devon

2006-12-14T14:23:00.000-05:00

Mini lemon bundt cakes

2006-12-14T14:21:00.000-05:00

Molasses spice cookies

2006-12-14T14:19:00.000-05:00

Oatmeal cookies with raisins and chocoalte chips

2006-12-14T14:17:00.000-05:00

Decorated sugar cookies

2006-12-14T14:15:00.000-05:00

Nestle's Toll House Cookies

2006-12-14T14:11:00.000-05:00

Ginger cookies

2006-12-14T09:08:00.000-05:00

Thursday, December 14, 2006
Waning Moon
Neptune Retrograde
Saturn Retrograde
Cloudy and warm

So I sent Blogger a strongly-worded email, voicing my displeasure. I should NOT be forced to have a Google account, when they claim I can use my Blogger account to comment. I should NOT be refused access to commenting on Beta blogs because I don’t want a Google account. I should NOT have to sign in to Blogger every single effing time I want to leave a comment. Once I’m signed in, I should stay signed in for the whole damned session.

Using “other” or “anonymous” to leave comments on Beta doesn’t work. It simply keeps telling me I’m not signed in/I didn’t type in the anti-spam letters properly. It is complete and utter bullshit.

I am not amused, and I am tired of Blogger and Google wasting my time and trying to coerce me, violating my rights.

Anyway, since I can’t comment on the Beta blogs, I’m commenting here:

Jungle Jim: Pass me a beer and congrats on the chili cook-off.

Anita: Don’t go to grad school just because you want to go to grad school. It’s too much time, money, and commitment. If you are absolutely, obsessively passionate about something you can ONLY get in grad school, other than a piece of paper, then do it. Otherwise, skip it. You can always take classes in particular areas you like for credit and keep the credits to use in a transcript when you’ve decided on what you want to focus.

Kristen: In addition to the style guides you’ve mentioned, whenever I’m editing one of my own novels, I also re-read THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE from cover to cover, which, to me, is the penultimate of perfection, style-wise. The other style guides are pretenders to that throne.

Amazon.com can bite me, too. I ordered a book as a Christmas gift for a friend back in November, and now they’re telling me it won’t ship until January – unless, of course, I cough up some extra cash for expedited shipping. Originally, they said it would ship in 5-7 days. I told them it was not acceptable and called it for what it is – extortion – and let them know either they get it to me when I need it, or I’m filing formal complaints –using the term extortion – with the BBB, the Attorney General, etc. If it’s happening to me, I’m sure it’s happening to other people. They tried this a year or so ago, and I ended up losing a freelance job because they held a book hostage, wanting additional shipping costs. I’m not putting up with this crap again. They USED to be a good company. No more.

I am taking the thousands of dollars I spend on books elsewhere. It’s actually cheaper to order from other independents, including shipping, then dealing with Amazon now. Yes, they “offer” a discount, and claim they’ll give you free shipping over X dollars – but then they hold the materials hostage until you pay more than you would had you paid full price. No, thank you.

There are plenty of independent booksellers who will treat me better. Like Strand, who does so on a weekly basis.

I made the little lemon cakes – 21 little ones and 2 medium-sized ones, out of two batches of full-sized cake batter. They are cute, and, when sprinkled, should be perfect. Tomorrow morning, I can start putting together the platters and getting them the heck OUT of here!

Delivered some gifts in the late morning/early afternoon and caught up with a few people.

The order from Strand arrived last night (shipped the previous day, I might add), containing the two books I need to read before I do the revision of Assumption. Also, a package arrived with one of the gifts for my mom. Now I have to dig up a box and wrap it properly.

I woke up this morning and wandered into the kitchen to feed the cats – and found one of the medium-sized lemon cakes unwrapped, on the floor, with bites taken out. Elsaaaaaa! It had to be that one – and I guess I should be grateful she only unwrapped and snacked on one, instead of all of them.

Off to do some work on Token and on the Plum essay now, and then more errands (some of yesterday’s were postponed because it rained so hard some streets around here flooded) . . .and then it’s putting the cookie plates together and delivering the local ones.

I didn’t get anything up on the Dog Blog yesterday, so I’ll try to make sure it goes up later today (I actually have something to say this week).

Oh, and some beginning writer of whom I’ve never heard contacted me, demanding that I give her my list of contacts at magazines (she “doesn’t have time” to look through Writer’s Market or read sample issues); walk her through the doors of agents and publishing houses because she’s written a couple of books her husband likes; since I’m published I “owe” unpublished writers; and, after all, spelling and grammar don’t really matter, because they have editors there, don’t they?

There’s a word for people like her: Delusional.

Cranky post this morning, isn’t it? I wish the temperature would drop and we’d get a dusting of snow, just like a bit of confectioner’s sugar, to make it seem more wintery. Right now, I’m in cotton yoga pants and a sleeveless shirt. Wrong clothing for December!

I’m going to try to get in about an hour of yoga later this afternoon and maybe a good meditation. I’ve let the meditation slide and I’ve noticed the negative difference.

It’ll be nice when the cookie plates are delivered, and there aren’t tables of cookie tins reaching to the ceiling!

Although, I have to admit, I enjoyed the baking process. Thus far, I’ve gone through 15 pounds of flour, 8 pounds of butter, 3 pounds of white sugar, 5 pounds of brown sugar, and I don’t want to even try to count how many pounds of chocolate chip morsels!

And I have more recipes I want to try, but I think I might wait until after the holidays to experiment.

I gave up, again, on getting “Christmas Treats” out for the season. I’m getting supposititious about it – every time I work on it, something bad happens. So I’m putting it away until next summer again, trying to find a way to break the hex, and maybe next year, I’ll write a comic Nina Bell story instead to distribute to friends for the holiday.

The other Christmas story thingy is pulling at me – so I might do a few pages of that later today and see what happens. Once the cookie plates are done.

Devon

2006-12-13T09:55:00.000-05:00

Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Waning Moon
Neptune Retrograde
Saturn Retrograde
Warm and rainy

One of these days I’ll get back to writing about writing. It seems everything else is influencing my writing life lately.

However, I was happy to get “The Merry’s Dalliance” in the mail yesterday. Whether or not they like it is something else; I kept worrying about it all day, wondering what else I could have done differently. The truth is I like the world of the piece, but I’m not sure it’s the right fit for the anthology to which it’s submitted. If they like it, great; if they don’t, I’ll rework it to MY guidelines, not the anthology’s, and send it elsewhere.

But I’m tired and drained, and was logy at work yesterday. My responses were slow and off the mark.

Fortunately, everyone in the city seemed to be in a mellower mood – people are tired of rushing, and they’re meandering a bit more, and wishing each other good cheer and holding doors for each other, so it was a reasonably trauma-free day.

All I wanted to do was sleep, but you can’t do that with a hot steam iron in your hand.

I’m going to adjust my yoga practice for the winter – the newest edition of YOGA JOURNAL has some good ideas that I want to implement. It’s about getting more energy for the winter months, but the poses, such as backbends, are those that open the chest, and I have the side effect of emotional resistance from that, because right now I want to pull in, not open out.

What I really want is four months’ worth of hibernation time to just write and not deal with the world at all.

Thought a lot about the Plum rewrite; playing with ideas, which I will jot down and send to the editor today or tomorrow. And I’m going back into the world of Token again, which is a good thing. I have to figure out how to drop a nugget of information into the tangent so it serves the plot of Token and isn’t just a tangent, in order for the whole piece to come together. I’m also starting my 2006 GDR Evaluation and working on 2007.

Not too bad for a tired brain.

I did some yoga this morning – stretched out some of the kinks, but, pretty much, everything still hurts. I’m starting to think that the only way to fix the problem under my shoulder blade is to shove a knitting needle or an ice pick into it and leave it there constantly, like a great big acupuncture needle.

Did some work on Token this morning – I’m getting back into it. The final housemate stepped in to help out in the attack – I have to tell a bit of her story, and then I can do the sequence in Central Park and the sequence in the West Village bar – and then we gallop to the finish line for this novella. I’m not sure if it’ll come in at 30K or 35K. But I like the way it’s shaping up, and I think the trilogy will work well. Plus, some of the peripheral characters are interesting enough to go off on their own adventures.

I miss my characters from Assumption of Right, and look forward to getting back into those edits in January.

The GDRs and plans for next year are also consuming me. I have to be much more ruthless in guarding my time than I was this year.

A million things to do today, including some running around, holiday cards, and baking the bundt cakes.

I’ll blog over at the SDR site later today, but that probably won’t go up until tonight.

I want to get the ideas for the Plum essay revision out to my editor today.

Devon

Token and Affections -- 26,500 words out of est. 30,000

26 / 30
(86.7%)

2006-12-12T09:35:00.000-05:00

Today, I can't comment on any blogs that switched to Beta, because, according to the screen, my password is incorrect, they can't sign me in, and I don't exist.

Blech to that.

Apologies to my friends -- I really did try to comment on all your blogs today.

2006-12-12T07:47:00.000-05:00

Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Waning Moon
Neptune Retrograde
Saturn Retrograde
Cloudy and mild

Yesterday was all about cookies. I have been a gosh darned cookie factory – a friend toted it up, and, since last week, I’ve baked over 700 cookies. Today was the sugar cookie day – first mixing the batter, then chilling it, then cutting them out, then baking, cooling, and decorating. And packing. Don’t forget the packing.

See, this is why most people don’t bake cookies year-round – they OD during holiday time and it takes eleven months to recover and gear up to do it again.

I just have the mini-bundt cakes to make tomorrow, and everything’s ready to create the plates.

And get them delivered, so that the apartment doesn’t look like a mail order house that’s behind on the mailing.

In and around the baking madness, I got everything to the post office, got a few last minute shopping things done, wrapped more presents, and got screwed by Kohl’s. I so hate shopping there. First of all – two checkers, over 40 people. They get more checkers to registers, and then one or two of the checkers start screaming at the customers – now, the customers weren’t being rude, they were waiting patiently and quietly to be called to the next available checker. And the checkers are standing there, screaming, being abusive. Not acceptable. Then, even though the lid I bought for my pan was cookware marked 50% off, they refused to check the price, refused to give me the discount, and gave me attitude. If I hadn’t absolutely needed it, I would have whacked the bitch upside the head with the lid and walked out. As it is, I complained to customer service on site – who didn’t want to deal – and complained via email, which will get me nowhere, because they’re horrid – so I’ll have to file with the BBB.

I hardly ever shop at Kohl’s anyway, because most of the merchandise in the store around here is awful, but any time I do go, it’s a bad experience. So why shop there? The only reason I did was because it was my last resort to find that particular lid.

Now, I’m suffering from Icing Digits – my fingers are sore from using the icing accoutrements. And it’s hardly high art, but the cookies do look pretty. Yes, I took pictures. I’ll post them, eventually.

AND, in and around all of the above, I had to get out the information for the special meeting for the tenants on Wednesday night, where those who were given incorrect leases with incorrect rent increases are walked through the paperwork so they get the correct leases and reimbursement for their overpayment.

Pitched for a couple of writing jobs. It never ceases to amaze me how I have to tweak even some of the best samples so that they’re more aligned with a particular gig.

Wrapped presents, and got some more of the packages that have to go out on Wednesday packed.

I think next year, I’m going to try to have all my deadlines met by the first week in December, so the final three weeks can just be about holidays, and not about deadlines.

Yeah, we’ll see how that goes.

So, I’m tired for awhile. I can deal, especially if it’s happy tired, not cranky tired. The holiday traditions are important to me. Things like baking, cards, etc., are important to me. “I don’t have time” is not acceptable in my life at this point for those things – I’m unhappy if I don’t do them, so I’m just going to keep going around the clock if necessary to get everything done, and that’s the way it is. I’ll see what I can learn to apply to next year – and then write it down somewhere so I don’t forget in the interim. The trade-off of not doing all these holiday traditions is making myself miserable. I’d rather be tired than not get things done.

While searching in adventurous corners for more tins, I got a snout full of some sort of dust that left me congested all evening – ick. I put eucalyptus oil in the burner, and that’s helped a lot, but I didn’t think a bunch of dust could make me that uncomfortable. I mean, it’s dust, not nuclear waste. Although, with the way corporations flout the environmental regulations, who knows, right?

Did another draft of “The Merry”. I’m happier with that draft. It’s getting there. I slept on it, and did another draft first thing this morning. Plot and character were all there, but it’s language – finding the word with the exact shade of meaning, rearranging them so the overall piece has a distinct rhythm. And now I’m on my way to the post office to get it out, and then it’s off to the theatre.

Devon

2006-12-11T08:04:00.000-05:00

Monday, December 11, 2006
Waning Moon
Neptune Retrograde
Saturn Retrograde
Cloudy and mild

How tired am I?

Tired.

Good tired, but tired.

Unfortunately, I had horrible dreams again last night. Hate it when that happens.

Errands yesterday morning, including getting the paper and a few last minute bits for the baking. Then off to White Plains, where I did the bookstore run and looked for certain objects at Target, without finding what I wanted at the latter; doing better than expected at the former.

Back home, where I made three batches of molasses spice cookies and two batches of ginger cookies. I would have made three batches of the latter, but I ran out of molasses – twice. The first time, I dashed back out to the grocery store, but I miscalculated and was not about to go out again.

At any rate, those two types of cookies filled a bin able to hold 21 quarts of . . .stuff. I had a tin crisis and had no place to put the cookies, so I got one of those 21 quart Tupperware type things for cat food or birdseed or whatever, scrubbed it out, lined it with wax paper, and put 21 quarts of cookies into it.

I decided that the linzer cookies need a test run –something in the recipe doesn’t sit right, but I need to experiment – no time to do that before the gift plates have to go, and the thumbprint cookies, the same. So, I’m only making one more type of cookie for the plates, a basic sugar cookie, tomorrow, and then the miniature lemon bundt cakes on Wednesday, and I’m putting together the plates on Thursday. I want to move them all out and deliver them by the end of the week.

In case you’re wondering how I’m eating through all of this, I had pizza margharita for lunch yesterday; smoked ham, peas, and pasta in alfredo sauce last night; bacon and eggs for breakfast this morning; forgot lunch; chicken biriyani for dinner. So I’m cooking!

Also managed to write the overseas cards last night, after the cookies were safely packed; have to finish addressing them this morning and take them to the post office, then get started on the cards to Canada and the domestic cards.

Thought about the “Merry” revisions, although I didn’t do much, and wrote notes on two other story ideas. One is a Christmas/holiday one that I should write “in season” even though I can’t market it until at least next year for the following year; the other is an interesting experiment on themes I’ve been thinking about for awhile. We’ll see; deadlines first, everything else has to fall into place behind it.

I have to finish “The Merry” revisions today, because it needs to wing its way across the country tomorrow morning, if it’s going to arrive by Friday. I’m getting a little spoiled with being able to email most things by deadline – having to submit it via regular mail is upsetting my planning. So I have to plan better.

Hard to think about swashbuckling on the high seas when you’re literally up to your eyebrows in molasses, flour, and confectioners’ sugar.

Realized how to fix something that’s been bothering me on Token, so that should help.

On today’s agenda: More baking, revisions, and wrapping the last gifts that have to be mailed domestically – because those have to go out either tomorrow or Wednesday. The butter is softening as I type this.

Could I please have six more hours in the day, to only be used for baking and writing? Thanks for taking care of that. Appreciate it.

Cats running around in all directions, yelling, for no discernable reason. Just another a.m. at the old homestead.

Devon

2006-12-10T09:07:00.000-05:00

Here are a few more images of holiday cheer Chez Devon. The little village was a gift from my mother's father many years ago. Over the summer, I have to restore some of the paint. The tables were set up for a gathering a few weeks ago. The red-clothed table stays up -- that's the one the cats tend to forget has stuff on it and everything goes flying.

They're really good about the tree because I have a set of ornaments around the bottom and a set of toys under the tree that only come out during the holdiays, so that's the only time they have them to play with them. Iris likes to take ornaments off one section and put them in a pile, so we go through that ritual once a day -- her taking them off, me returning them, her removing them again. But, for the most part, they're very good. I don't use tinsel at all because I know it's dangerous for them.

I have to admit, in the stores yesterday, I behaved just like my cats -- anything shiny and dangling caught my attention and there I was!

2006-12-10T09:01:00.000-05:00

Sunday, December 10, 2006
Waning Moon
Neptune Retrograde
Saturn Retrograde
Sunny and warmer

I only had the computer on once, yesterday, for about five minutes, to do a quick email check. Far too much to do otherwise.

A good bit of Friday morning was taken up, again, with The Sequel, and the State’s instructions on how to proceed. We will get the information to the tenants, but they are each going to have to take personal responsibility and file the correct paperwork, not just sit around and do nothing because they’re “too busy” or “don’t want to put my name to anything”. You want a roof over your head? Start being pro-active.

Had to brave the bitter cold to get to the post office and get some bread – not enough time to bake a loaf, so I had to buy one. The wind chill brings the temperature way down.

I just noticed, on my calendar, that the Solstice is the day after the New Moon. How perfect is that?

I tried to do the Blogger switch on Friday – even remembered Colin’s advice and saved all the links, just in case. Of course, it didn’t work. They tell me to switch, then tell me my blog’s not one of those that can be switched. Whatever. I’m perfectly happy to keep it the way it is; however, the beta is annoying because it takes at least six screens now to leave a comment AND I keep having to type in the code because even though I type it in exactly as it appears, it’s not accepted. It took me SEVEN TRIES to get a two or three word comment up on Ovations. And three to four tries on everything else. Frustrating.

And why do the legit commentors have to do all the work? We shouldn’t have to do extra work because of spammers – figure out a better way!

I finished Draft 1A of “The Merry’s Dalliance” Friday afternoon before I had to leave for the theatre. Came in just over 7K.

I let it sit yesterday, and revisions start today – it needs to go out Monday or latest Tuesday morning. Most of it I think it good; some is merely good bones and needs to be fleshed out.

It’s definitely part of a bigger world, so we’ll see what happens. I think I’ve structured it strongly enough to stand alone for this outing, but to whet the appetite to know more about these people.

I also realized I’ve been referring to Token and Affections as “Tokens” in the plural, instead of “token” in the singular. It’s the latter, and it’s an important part – one token, several affections.

Friday was, shall we say, interesting, at the theatre. I get in to do my pre-set. One of my actors broke a shoelace, so I left the shoe out on the table, with a note, asking for the lace to be replaced. Not a big deal, no brain surgery, get another shoelace from the supply cabinet, thread it in, five minutes, right?

Well, Daywork Chickie took the shoe downstairs to shoe repair – which is silly, because it’s a shoelace, for crying out loud, and anyone can do it, it’s not a major repair requiring shoe expertise – several people saw the shoe come down – and it was nowhere to be found.

Shoes in a show are specialized, and it’s not like there are doubles. If a shoe goes missing, there’s nothing to replace it. And it’s not like an actor can wear any old thing in his size or wear something of his own.

The assistant supervisor, several other dressers and I tossed the building, looking for it. We went room to room, in case it got returned to the wrong place by accident. We tore the place apart.

No shoe.

Then, one of the principal dressers comes in and said, “I have your shoe. I ran into X on the subway; she’d put it in her bag.”

Would have been nice if she’d called to let us know she had it, you think? Accidents happen, but this was just waaaaay too out of control, when all that needed to happen was a replacement of a shoelace.

But the shoe was back and got on the actor’s foot in time, so it all worked out.

More changes went into the show, which completely rearranges my sequence in the middle of the show. It’s fine, it’s not a problem, it’s just a case of getting it in my body and figuring out what happens when and where.

Train this and that in both directions, but I eventually got where I needed to go, so, whatever.

And the actors on my floor say they’ve heard I’m taking the track permanently, since that dresser isn’t returning from her leave of absence. No one’s talked to me about it, and I don’t feel I can take a permanent slot with everything going up in the air. I was completely tongue-tied when they asked – didn’t see that coming, at all. If I WAS going to accept a permanent track, I’d want that one, but I don’t think it’ll come to pass. As my friend A. said, “You have a house to buy, and it’s nowhere near here.”

Saturday, I hit the ground running, early, to wrap and send out the last of the overseas packages. Then, it was off to Mohegan Lake, to the fabric store – a lovely day for a forty minute drive. I didn’t find the buttons for the knitted coat my mom’s making me (from my design), but I did get cookie tins for a neighbor, fabric for the chair covers I’m making as part of my mom’s Christmas present, and I can’t remember what else. We decided not to stop in White Plains on the way back because the traffic was so awful, but went back to Port Chester to Party City, so I could get what I need to create the cookie plates.

Then, I baked three enormous batches of oatmeal/raisin/chocolate chip cookies – there were tables with plates of cooling cookies set up all over the place. I’d never used the recipe before (my standards are in storage, unfortunately), and the first batch was a little more crumbly than I wanted. But I discovered that if I mixed in some of the ingredients in a different order than stated in the recipe, and cut back the oats by a ½ cup, it came out perfectly. Also, if I formed the cookies with my hands instead of spoon-dropping them, they were better.

Before the Sanitary Mom Police get on my case, two things: first of all, I keep a clean kitchen and a clean person when I work (and yes, it was secured as feline-free). Second, moms who claim this military germ-free obsession no longer have any credibility anymore, since one of the most militant ones I know, just yesterday, was giving The Germ Lecture, stopped to wipe her sick, coughing toddler’s runny nose with her bare hand, and went on to handle food not meant for her family. If you want to keep your snot in your own family, fine with me, but don’t behave that way and expect me to take your germ lectures seriously. Ewwww.

I have to brave the crowds of White Plains this morning, finish writing the overseas cards, bake three batches of another kind of cookie – and do the revisions on “The Merry.”

I better hop to it.

Devon

“The Merry’s Dalliance” -- 7,028 words out of est. 6,500

7 / 6
(116.7%)

2006-12-08T09:54:00.000-05:00

Pictures of
some of the holiday decorating.

2006-12-08T09:50:00.000-05:00

Friday, December 8, 2006
Waning Moon
Neptune Retrograde
Saturn Retrograde
Cloudy and COLD

Plugged away on Tokens and Affections yesterday. I’ve reached a difficult section, but I have to plow through and get to the next complicated section. I did a tiny bit this morning, and need to do more before switching back to “Merry.”

The editor of the Plum essay requested some revisions, so I’m going to think them through for a couple of days and then email her my ideas on them before I start, so I don’t go off on the wrong track. The revisions are due Jan. 1.

I started work on the revisions of “The Merry.” I realized that, if it has to reach its destination by snail mail on the 15th, I have to get it out early in the week. So I need to get it typed and revised this weekend.

The show was okay. Climbing over tourists during the holiday season is always annoying. New York gussies itself up beautifully for the season, and I’m glad tens of thousands come in to enjoy it, but please: It is NOT cute to walk arm in arm six across on the sidewalk, purposely going slowly so that people can’t pass you; it is NOT cute to go through a revolving door and stop as soon as you’ve reached the outside – clear so the next person can get through; it is NOT cute to stop in the middle of the sidewalk for whatever reason – it is a side WALK, not a sideSTAND, if you want to stop, go to one side or the other so that those of us who have someplace to be – a place you’ve probably prepaid to attend, can actually get there and make it happen.

There are all sorts of changes going on in the show, and what I’ve seen so far are, in my opinion, diluting it and dumbing it down. Technically, I have no right to have an opinion, but, of course, I do. And one of my favorite people in the show is the victim of a poor creative decision – he deserves better. It just makes me shake my head.

People were glad to see me and pleasant, which is always nice. And it was nice to be away from the stresses on the home front for awhile.

The retroactive pay from the new contract was in this week’s check – not much, but hey, every dollar makes a difference, right?

The temperature dropped about twenty degrees during the evening. Even with the cuts and changes in the show, I got out nearly ten minutes LATER than I ever have before, and had to scuttle for the train. It was darned cold – and guess what Metro North did? They had the AIR CONDITIONING on! It was colder inside the train than outside of it, which is completely ridiculous, but completely typical. By the time I got home, I was so cold I wondered if I would ever warm up again.

I need to get my writing resume updated and get some packets out this weekend for pitches.

The word count for Tokens reads 100% today – I’m trying to motivate myself. I hit the estimated word count, but it’s not enough. I’ll push back the word count tomorrow, because there’s a whole big chunk of the plot that still needs to happen. I feel disconnected from Elmira right now, and having trouble getting back into the world of the story.

Devon

“The Merry’s Dalliance” – Draft 1A – 3,149 words out of estimated 6,500

3 / 6
(50.0%)

Tokens and Affections – 25,500 words out of est. 25,000

25 / 25
(100.0%)

PS I’m being “told” that I should switch to the New Blogger – let’s see how much aggravation that entails!

2006-12-07T14:02:00.000-05:00

Welcome!

I bought a real, plain wreath a couple of weeks ago and decorated it.

It smells wonderful when you enter or leave the apartment.

2006-12-07T09:19:00.000-05:00

Thursday, December 7, 2006
Waning Moon
Neptune Retrograde
Saturn Retrograde
Sunny and cold

Got a tiny bit of work done on Tokens and Affections yesterday, and a bit more this morning. Didn’t get anything done on “The Merry”. Very frustrating.

I’ve taken a slight tangent for ten or so pages in Tokens, which reflects and refracts on the main story and sows the seeds for something else. I have to be careful that it doesn’t pull focus, and doesn’t feel like it has nothing to do with the main story – because it does, and it reflects character traits that are important farther down.

I managed to start the holiday baking – three batches of Toll House cookies – five large tins’ worth. I’m baking one type of cookie at a time and “tinning” them, and then putting together the holiday plates towards the end of next week and delivering them. I wanted to start on the cards, but, again, distractions regarding the Sequel happened, and it just didn’t get done.

I need to do a smidge more Christmas shopping at the bookstore this weekend, and then I am DONE. I also need to get to JoAnn’s for a couple of things.

Back to the page – I want to get some more work done on both Tokens and “The Merry” before I leave for the show.

Even though it looks like Tokens is almost done, word count wise, I’m simply trying to boost my ego by letting it hit 100% and THEN pushing back the count.

Oh, yeah, and there’s no hot water in the building today – again.

Devon

Tokens and Affections -- 24,750 words out of 25,000

24 / 25
(96.0%)

2006-12-06T11:37:00.000-05:00

Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Waning Moon
Neptune Retrograde
Saturn Retrograde
Cloudy and cold

Didn’t get much writing done yesterday, so I have to make up for it today. I’m starting with Tokens and Affections, and then beginning the typing/revisions for “The Merry’s Dalliance”. I have to fix the ending of that one.

Still upset, depressed, and stressed over The Situation: The Sequel. There are always a few people who choose not to respond until past deadline and then pitch a fit because we didn’t wait around until they happened to “get around to it.” Well, here’s a round tuit for you! It’s not that their reasons for not responding are invalid – sometimes life gets in the way. But you can’t put over 100 people’s lives at risk because a couple of people have to deal with other priorities in their lives. That’s why there’s a committee, an organization, so that all the work doesn’t fall on one person.

Work was fine yesterday, and some more dates were booked, which is a good thing before the holidays. The Universe decided to have an interesting character cross my path, who provided some information that was much needed. Don’t mean to sound mysterious, but can’t go into detail.

I have managed to get some reading done over the past few days. I read two Jane Langton mysteries: Murder at Monticello and Dark Nantucket Moon. I enjoy her writing, and she always manages to surprise me.

I was sent a book for review yesterday, which I started, and I’ll probably review over on Kemmyrk, because that’s the most appropriate.

And I need to get started on the Christmas/holiday cards. A batch of packages went out yesterday, and I managed to get my friend A. the belated gift I wanted to get him (although I didn’t wrap it).

Last year at this time, with Saturn retrograde, the Situation had begun. I was at the theatre, prepping clothes, crying because I didn’t know what to do or where to turn or how to get through it and protect my family.

Saturn is the planet of life lessons, so I have to seriously look at both the mistakes and the growth I made last year at this time, and make sure I don’t repeat them.

I started by being too passive. I don’t think I’m too passive in regard to the Situation now. I felt alone; now there’s an entire organization of people working on it, along with the City Council and the State. I’m still having trouble with loyalties and boundaries. And I’m not where I need to be financially. Setting the correct boundaries will help me gain the stamina and energy I need in order to gain the work I need to smooth out the finances. I’ve paid off debt in the past year and am working to clear the whole thing out, which is positive.

Last year, before the Situation hit, I was trotting along at a leisurely pace, in my three year plan. Not pushing too hard, but trying to do steady turtle work. This year, I feel trapped and that I’ve missed something somewhere that would let me take a leap instead of making a transition. I’m also behind in the transition because of the months and months and months I spent on The Situation – which also included enormous amounts of stress, not eating, not sleeping, not being able to concentrate on my work.

So, I’m trying to sort all of this out without getting my ass kicked too badly during this Saturn return. Anybody want to start taking bets? ;)

Most of the morning has been eaten up by the Sequel, and I am now determined to get back to the page. After all, Elmira and Declan are waiting. And Declan’s not been the focus for several chapters, so he’s eager to get back into the mix!

On an aside, I’m going to say, once again that I think the show Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip is brilliant. The acting and the writing is all outstanding, but, as usual, Bradley Whitford’s choices and nuances stand out above all the rest. I can’t get enough of that show.

Devon

2006-12-05T06:58:00.000-05:00

Tuesday, December 5, 2006
Last Day of Full Moon
Neptune Retrograde
Saturn Retrograde
Cloudy and cold

Saturn goes retrograde again today. Saturn is the planet of life lessons. Any life lessons you didn’t learn last time it went retrograde, about a year ago – you’re going to get your ass kicked. So I’m being cautious.

Exhausted.

Almost the entire day was spent on The Situation: The Sequel except for the time at the acupuncturist.

I fell into bed after 11 PM.

I have more to do on The Situation: The Sequel this morning before I go to work, and I want to get in some work on Tokens and Affections. I have to start typing and revising “The Merry” tomorrow, if I expect to make next week’s deadline.

I plan on going to bed early tonight.

Boring post, many apologies.

Devon

2006-12-04T08:37:00.000-05:00

Monday, December 4, 2006
Full Moon
Neptune Retrograde
Cloudy and cold

Finished the first draft of ”The Merry’s Dalliance” in the afternoon. It comes in at 6375, a bit more than I expected, but with cuts and tweaks and revision, I think the final version will be a solid 7K. I need to add some more tension into some of the action in the rescue scene – this is more of a sketch, a skeleton, too much buckle, not enough swash. But Kit and Luthias are pretty wonderful, and Peter the ghost threatens to run away with the story.

As much as I felt worthless and useless, which spilled over into the beginning of the writing, with me thinking, “why the heck do I think I can do this?”, once I sat myself down and wrote a few hundred words, I got back into the flow of it and I felt much better. I took Janet Evanovich’s advice to “ignore the suckiness and push on.” (How I Write, p.199).

I also did some work this morning on Tokens and Affection.

After I do my relocation, I want to take a few months of hermit time (which I desperately need now) to simply write and not deal with exterior life unless absolutely necessary.

But right now, all I can do is the best I can do.

And, of course, although I specifically asked for revision on the materials in time for me to actually review and change them, they’re coming in this morning and people are arguing.

Devon

“The Merry’s Dalliance” -- 6375 words out of estimated 5,000

6 / 5
(120.0%)

Tokens and Affections – 24,000 words out of estimated 25,000

24 / 25
(96.0%)

2006-12-03T12:25:00.000-05:00

The Advent
Table

2006-12-03T12:21:00.000-05:00

Sunday, December 3, 2006
Waxing Moon
Second of Advent
Neptune Retrograde
Sunny and cool

Yesterday was a lost day. I’d been up most of the night, working on material for The Situation: The Sequel, to get it out and give people time to think about the material and respond. I was upset, which triggered the health problems I’ve been dealing with; I couldn’t concentrate on anything productive, nor could I settle down enough to sleep.

I’m tired of feeling victimized. I’m angry because I’ve allowed these predators once again to strip away my joy for the holidays – I still have gifts to wrap, cards to write, baking to accomplish, and I don’t feel up to doing anything. I’m ill, exhausted, back to not eating or sleeping, resentful, and keep wondering what else can be done, how did the efforts fall short, what could have been done differently to keep from things flaring up again? And those concerns make me feel completely worthless. I feel like a failure in several areas of my life right now, including this one. I’m not saying any of this is logical – but it’s the emotional spiral. Wallowing in it doesn’t help – action helps, only I can’t see a clear, logical, positive way out. Believe me, I’ve envisioned quite a few illogical scenarios, none of which, in the long run, would solve the problems. They’d only make it worse.

I finally managed to go to bed in the late afternoon yesterday, dozing off and on for most of the evening.

A bright spot in my day (other than the cats sticking with me, determined to make me feel better, which, actually did help a great deal), was, believe it or not, a TV show. I was awake enough last night to watch two hours of a new show I’d wanted to watch but been unable to during the first broadcast. It’s called My Boys, created by Betsy Thomas, and it’s terrific – clever and funny, and I can relate to the main female character, who finds herself rejected by a guy she really likes because she won’t play the girly games. It supports my theory that many men don’t want to be challenged intellectually when they get home and don’t want an equal partnership – they want pretty, they want shallow, they want game-playing and manipulation so they can whine to their friends over beers, they want clearly defined roles. A lot of the younger guys coming up are less like that, because they’ve been raised by single parents and have a more balanced point of view. And, in the show, I appreciate the fact that her friends, who are mostly guys, encourage her not to change who she is, but also explain why she’s having problems. It’s nice to have a show where realistic depictions of the genuine friendships that develop between men and women are portrayed. I hope the show sticks around – it’s well done.

This morning, I slept in, still feeling lousy, but managed to do some work on "The Merry’s Dalliance". I’m working on the big action/rescue sequence, and that’s a bit complicated. I’m almost at the point of digging out my old Fisher Price people from the toy box and setting them up to move around and make sure I have the logistics right.

I’ll go back and do some more work on it, and try to get some baking done this afternoon, before doing another draft of the Situation: The Sequel materials and getting them out. We’re on a time crunch, and I have to hold up my end of the time frame if I expect everyone else to respect it.

Devon

2006-12-02T13:01:00.000-05:00

The cats love to "help" with the holiday decorating.

2006-12-02T09:40:00.000-05:00

Saturday, December 2, 2006
Waxing Moon
Neptune Retrograde
Sunny and cool

So, yesterday, I already fell back into old, bad habits. I blogged, surfed, et al BEFORE doing my quota for the day. Naughty, naughty, naughty! What’s the point of learning from Nano if I don’t apply it????

Of course I didn’t get to apply anything this morning because I was up all night working on a letter for The Situation: The Sequel.

Yesterday, I honed, polished, and tweaked the Plum essay and sent if off by noon. My editor acknowledged it, will read it next week, and let me know what revisions she needs. I’m so worried it’s not the type of thing that they’re looking for – although I managed to make comparisons between Plum, the tarot, Le Morte D’Arthur and Lost. I was absolutely tied up in knots by the time I sent it out, even though I said what I wanted to say in it. But the Doubt Demons always kick in at this time, whenever I turn in the first piece to a new (to me) editor. I hope I’ve captured the tone and style they want, because I’d like to work for them again.

The radio and television folk kept warning everyone to get inside and go home early because of the storm blowing through. “Get you weekend liquor early!” They warned. “Get inside and stay safe this afternoon!”

I really, really, REALLY want to go back and finish Angel Hunt. The piece has been pulling me, off and on, for the past few months. I always assumed I had to go back and finish the last few serial episodes before I could transform it out of serial format into novel format, but perhaps that is simply not the case. I need to go back and re-read what I have, see where it’s gone off the rails, take extensive notes, and think about it.

As for GDRs for December, I’m keeping them light, with holidays and all:

Complete, edit, and submit “The Merry’s Dalliance”
Complete the first draft of Tokens and Affections and let it rest before edits
Begin Chasing the Changeling (the second part of the Tokens trilogy)
Complete the requested revisions for Tumble and get it back to the editor
Decide on the rotation of the big projects for 07

I got a disappointing rejection yesterday for “To Die For” – the editor was very kind, and it was one of the nicest rejections I’ve ever gotten. But it was still a rejection, and I need to take another look at the story and restructure some of it.

I’d like to get some sleep – I’m a complete wreck. But there’s still a lot to do today, and I just . . .I don’t know. I do not want to lose another eight months to a year of my life again. But if we don’t, as a group, stand our ground, we lose our homes. So there’s not much choice.

Devon

2006-12-01T17:10:00.000-05:00

The two Advent calendars from my childhood that I still love.

2006-12-01T17:07:00.000-05:00

Advent calendar of the Angel Tree that appears at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC.

2006-12-01T17:04:00.000-05:00

Advent calendar purchased at Flying Pig Bookstore, Shelburne, VT.

2006-12-01T08:18:00.000-05:00

Friday, December 1, 2006
Waxing Moon
Neptune Retrograde
Rainy and cooler

Can you believe it’s December already?

December means that every morning I run around to all the advent calendars in the house and open the window appropriate to the day. I LOVE advent calendars. I think they’re the best.

Today is also the last day of my daily missives to my Nano adoptees. I am so, so proud of them. I had 9 First-timers this year, plus I sent the daily essays to two other colleagues doing Nano, and one friend who wanted to test-drive without signing up for Nano this year, but will sign up for it next year. So, including me, we were 13. Out of my Nine, I think that only one quit – got behind in the first week and just gave up, which is disappointing and makes me wonder what else I could have done to help, but, ultimately, it’s not my choice, it’s the writer’s. All the others, whether they hit 50K or not, kept at it and hopefully learned a lot to apply to other projects, whether writing or anything else.

The next batch of gifts arrived from National Wildlife Federation. I’m packing up the overseas ones to go out today and tomorrow. And I’m hitting the card list. Of course, if I actually sat down and wrote the cards instead of hitting the list, it would be more productive.

Yesterday, it felt weird not to spend time with Simon and Morag of Assumption. As difficult as it was to get into the piece in the beginning, I managed to immerse myself in the world of the story, and these characters grew important to me. Now, we have a vacation from each other until nearly the end of January.

It was very, very difficult to sit myself down and finish the Plum essay yesterday. And it’s not because I don’t enjoy it. I do enjoy the piece, and I like my editor a lot, and all of that. And it’s on deadline. It’s simply a completely different mindset to write non-fiction from fiction. Fiction is an easier planet for me to inhabit. Non-fiction is a different type of challenge, using a different part of my brain. It’s good for me, but I find it tougher to coax the words onto the page in a voice that sparkles. Early drafts tend to be dull – plodding, full of information and inference. The personality has to be layered in. Whereas in fiction, because I start from character, the personality is THERE and the rest gets layered in.

Also, when I finish a big project, my desire is to sleep for about three days and then start the next one. However, that’s not an option in my current life, so I get up and soldier on. I always think of Anthony Trollope at times like this – who wrote every morning before heading out to his civil service job. If he wrote “The End” within his writing time, he simply pulled out a fresh sheet and started a new book.

The Situation: The Sequel continues to eat up hours of time and energy each day. Many thanks to those who say “turn the phone off and don’t answer the door”. As you well know, in most situations, that’s what I do. However, when your home is under attack and you are under threat of being tossed into the street at any moment, every attempt at intimidation must be answered immediately and forcefully, and, as one of the heads of the organization, it goes with the gig – I don’t get to be ever off call.

Baked brownies for the PEN event, tried to help one of the Maine bunch with sources for his term paper, and, of course, worked on the Plum essay.

So, last night’s PEN event: I had a three-hour round trip commute to spend an hour and a half there. But it was worth it. A group of us wrote cards to the writers imprisoned in various countries that PEN has in its case files – holiday cards with quotations and other positive greetings. I wrote to writers in Cuba, China, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam. It seemed like so little to do for them – a personal message in a card. And yet, just from days when I’m blue, a card can mean a lot. So – provided the cards ever get through – maybe it will make a difference to someone. Also, looking, really looking at one of the addresses in Vietnam and seeing “Labor Camp” in the address – gave me a chill. This guy is in a labor camp. For being a writer.

By the way – the home-baked brownies were a hit.

Getting there was an adventure in itself – Metro North actually kind of sort of worked. But then I’m on the platform at 42nd Street and the announcement comes on that, because some train somewhere has a malfunctioning door, there’s no downtown service on the N, R, or W. So they stick us on the Q which kinda sorta takes us in the general direction where we need to go. And, fortunately for me, I get to hop off only two blocks from my destination before the train crosses to Brooklyn. And getting back – well, I was reminded why, here in New York, we nickname the R and the N trains “Rarely” and “Never.”

Peter Kalikow has to go! Just because the man played with trains as a small child doesn’t mean he’s qualified to head a transportation system!!!!

I could do a better job. Hell, my CATS could do a better job, even though they aren’t interested. They’d still be better than this bozo.

Came back to yet more chaos to be sorted out in The Situation: The Sequel. Okay, these guys are really pissing me off. Can we please spank them, and I don’t mean getting in Ms. Domintria in her black leather outfit. They’d enjoy it too much.

Kept working on the Plum essay until nearly 1 AM. I’m searching for a couple of additional quotes to punch it up, and then I’ll do the final polish and off it goes. I hope the editor likes it. I started to rev up with it again, and I made some connections I hadn’t originally seen as I worked on it.

Keep your fingers crossed for me! I hope I’m giving them something they want and like!

I decided to wait before going back to Fix-It Girl and/or Real for a few days, so that I can clear off The “Merry”, Tokens and Affections, and the rewrite on Tumble, all of which are due in the coming weeks.

And I need to start scouring the job boards for more paying work – there are bills coming up and the holidays. Everything was about Nano and the Plum essay in November, and I didn’t hustle the way I should have.

Continuing with the alternative therapy and had a second night in a row of good, restful sleep. I’m starting to feel human again, which is a step in the right direction.

Off to write now.

Devon

2006-11-30T08:07:00.000-05:00

Thursday, November 30, 2006
Waxing Moon
Neptune Retrograde
Cloudy and warm

Exhausted.

Western medicine has failed me yet again, so I’m trying alternatives. And I actually feel a little better this morning.

Delighted that I finished the first draft of Assumption of Right. I’m pretty sure it’s not a “Devon Ellington” book, though – I think it’ll go out under one of the two new pseudonyms that launch next year.

Several of the characters in this book: Phineas Regan, Bonnie Chencko, Amanda – are interesting enough to wander off into their own books. Diana might even get a story of her own. Simon and Morag need some time together without writerly interference, but the others still have stories to tell.

When I start the revisions for Assumption, I think I’m going to do all the Morag chapters in a block, then all the Simon chapters, instead of doing them in the alternating chronology. I think that will keep their individual voices stronger.

Joe Konrath began an interesting conversation on his blog about whether you “tone down” your writing to reach a broader audience, or if you reach a broader audience by being more controversial. Reading some of his responses to the comments, my interpretation (and I could be mistaken, which is why I’m being specific that it’s MY interpretation of his comments) is that he doesn’t hold much truck with “being true to the story” – which, to me, is the ultimate answer.

I believe that writers should write what they want/need to write about. If the writer is true to the integrity of the story, it will shape how it best needs to be told. Granted, that shaping may happen through quite a bit of revisions and poking by an editor. But if you remain true, as Elizabeth George indicates in Write Away, to how the book feels in your body as you work, it will dictate its own tone/shape/controversy/graphic content.

And when a good writer is true to the STORY, that writer reaches the broadest audience possible for that particular story. There are plenty of writers who I recognize are technically good writers, but I do not enjoy their work, and therefore do not read them. They’re still good; they have every right to write whatever they want; I’m glad they make a living; there are plenty of people who DO respond positively to their work, and good for them. I don’t, and I don’t have to. There are enough different storytellers to please everyone, and they don’t all have to appeal to the same type.

At the same time, when I read a book and I can feel that the writer has manipulated me because the writer is “writing to market”, I feel used and also stop reading that person’s work. One can argue that all writing is manipulative, that writers choose certain details to reveal or hold back to evoke a particular response. However, I want to be a participant on that journey, a companion, not feel I’m being pushed that way for the SOLE REASON that the writer wants to make a buck. I have no problem with writers making lots of money – I think that’s a positive. But I want to be seduced, not forced, into the writer’s world.

There are definitely some writers, who sell a lot of books and make a lot of people happy – good for them -- who, in my opinion, write the same book over and over, using “global replace” for character names and place locations. Those books don’t interest me.

I’d much rather see, from a writer, what Virginia Woolf attempted – to thoroughly reinvent the wheel with each book.

I think, realistically, most writers need to balance the two – once they’re established, write “sure things”, but also stretch and experiment. Writers shouldn’t stop writing what they want because some marketing person is incapable of the creativity to sell it. Look at all the ads bombarding us all the time – a truly creative marketing person is able to initiate a lively campaign to sell ANYTHING. For crying out loud, they sell cans of air.

I also think the rapport a writer creates with the readers will set the tone for whether or not the readers will go with the writer on experimental journeys and remain loyal even when a book doesn’t work. Because a writer should have the right for something not to work once in awhile.

Since publishers have forced writers to carry, in my opinion, an unfair share of the entire business at this point, writers need to turn that into a positive through direct contact with readers, bookstore folk, libraries, et al, and build the type of personal interactive relationship and trust so that readers will go with the writer on various journeys, not just the safe ones.

November GDR Evaluation:
Complete:
Assumption of Right – both Nano goal and first draft complete
Started “The Merry’s Dalliance”
Worked on Tokens and Affections
Kept up daily with my Nano adoptees
Prepared for the holidays
Came up with the 2007 GDRs

In Process:
Plum essay – which actually will be complete today, so technically it should get into the Completion category, but it’s not complete by the time I posted this.

Not done:
Work on Periwinkle or Middle Marie – which was optional anyway.

Additonal:
Untitled Whatever

Successes:
I can write the entire first draft of a novel in a month.

Disappointments:
The Situation: The Sequel
Unreliable people
Bullies

What I learned:
Yes, I can do a complete draft of a novel in a month, but little else gets done. Why I should think this is news is beyond me, but there it is.

Reading:
Valley of Silence by Nora Roberts. Interesting structurally; raised some interesting questions.
Eleven on Top by Janet Evanovich. Very good.
Twelve Sharp by Janet Evanovich. Very good.
Full Scoop by Janet Evanovich and Charlotte Hughes. Cute.
Full Bloom by Janet Evanovich and Charlotte Hughes. Cute.
Manhunt by Janet Evanovich. Cute.
This Must Be the Place by Jimmie Charters as told to Morrill Cody (unfinished). Very good.
Girl’s Guide to Witchcraft by Mindy Klasky. Excellent! Outstanding! Funny! Why aren’t you reading this book right now?!!!

Off to finish the Plum essay. And tonight, I have an event with PEN.

Devon

2006-11-29T14:27:00.000-05:00

Nov. 29 Part III

Done.

The first draft of Assumption of Right is complete. 24 chapters. 77,369 words, short of my original estimate of 85K, but that’s what I needed to tell the first version of the story.

It will now rest for two months and then go into revisions. It definitely needs a lot of work, but I’m happy with the overall structure and story.

Met both the Nano goal and the completion goal.

I now know I can write a complete novel in 30 days.

Assumption of Right – 77,369 words out of 50,000 (Nano goal)

77 / 50
(154.0%)

Assumption of Right – 77,369 words out of 77,000 words – complete

77 / 77
(100.0%)

2006-11-29T08:40:00.000-05:00

Here are some questions to ponder for 2007, building on the questions we answered in 2005 and 2006:

Goals, Dreams, and Resolutions 2007

1. Take a few minutes to reflect on the previous year. What are you happy with?

2. What are you unhappy with?

3. What unexpected joys did you discover during the year?

4. What were some of the unexpected obstacles that came up, and how did you deal with them? Looking back, would you have done anything differently?

5. What expectations did you find you needed to let go of?

6. Looking ahead, how do you want to structure next year to support your writing?

7. How does the rest of your life support your writing?

8. How can you change/compromise on the non-supportive elements?

9. What new aspect of the writing life do you want to try next year?

10. Where do you need to be more disciplined?

11. Where do you need to ease up on yourself?

12. List your goals for the coming year.

13. List three positive, active steps to take on each goal to get it going.

14. List your dreams for the coming year.

15. List three positive, active steps to transform each dream into a goal.

16. List your resolutions for the coming year.

17. List three positive, active steps to help you stick to them.

2006-11-29T08:38:00.000-05:00

Assumption of Right -- 74,639 words out of 50,000 (Nano goal)

74 / 50
(148.0%)

Assumption of Right -- 74,639 words out of 85,000 (completion goal)

74 / 85
(87.1%)

2006-11-28T08:44:00.000-05:00

Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Waxing Moon
Neptune Retrograde
Cloudy and mild

You know it’s bad when I’m too sick to read the job boards. I had a bad reaction to the medication for the stomach problem; so I’m back to over-the-counter (thinking of buying stock in Imodium) and ginger.

Most of the morning ended up in dealing with The Situation: The Sequel. Here we go again, right? It cannot take up my whole life again.

And, no doubt, that’s part of what’s keeping me sick. The whole situation makes me sick and the emotions it triggers contributes to not being able to recover. That and the phone ringing every few minutes with yet another emergency.

And trying to keep on top of everything while feeling lousy causes depression because one can’t do it all, which in turn, makes it harder to recover. So it spirals.

Which, of course, is the hope of those who cause The Situation, because they’re hoping to sicken everyone into Giving Up.

Bite me.

Hard to tear myself away from Assumption of Right. I’m so close to the end here that I want to push through and just do it. But I’m afraid that’ll blow my deadline for the Plum essay, and I’m not sure I have enough energy to push hard on both. I’m simply not feeling well enough to get it all done simultaneously. I have to prioritize – and he who pays the most at the earliest deadline gets the most attention!

But, of course, I cheated and wrote Chapter 21 yesterday afternoon and Chapter 22 this morning. Only two more chapters and I’m done. I’m so close I can taste it.

Got a bit of work done on “The Merry”. That, too, is getting more difficult as I’m getting closer to the end. Eventually, the “Merry” will either morph into a novel or a series of connected stories –but, for the anthology, I’m focusing on one escapade which can stand alone.

Since it’s unseasonably warm and I felt unseasonably awful, I decided to drive the mile or so and take a walk on the beach. It was an interestingly hazy November afternoon – mild, but with that gray, flat quality of light that means winter’s coming. It was nice to be out and about, and I was quite cheered up – until I ran into yet another group of developers crawling around the building when I returned.

I had to cancel tonight’s plans because I’m still sick, but I can’t get out of work today, so I’m going to force myself in and push through it. Oh, well. La la la holiday time, right?

Happy writing!

Devon

Assumption of Right -- 71,451 words out of 50,000 (Nano goal)

71 / 50
(142.0%)

Assumption of Right – 71,451 words out of est. 85,000 (completion goal)

71 / 85
(83.5%)

2006-11-27T08:49:00.000-05:00

Monday, November 27, 2006
Waxing Moon
Neptune Retrograde
Cloudy and mild

I did another chapter on Assumption this morning, which gave me the opportunity to plant a red herring I didn’t think I’d get to plant, and then I uploaded the entire novel and got my certificate.

Last year, I thought we had a few days into December to complete the upload, but this morning, I noticed that the verification had to happen by Thursday night. Since that will be a crazy upload day, and I’m over 50K, I decided to do it today.

I only have about three or four more chapters, and I’m done. Will I hit the 85K in this draft? I don’t think so. But that’s okay. There are other drafts to be done.

Yesterday was a bit of a nutty day. Most of it was spent cleaning up in preparation for the night’s meeting. Okay – so most of the day was spent hiding stuff so that it looked like the place was clean. The living room looks pretty nice, especially with all the decorations, but I have to go through everything I’ve stashed and toss or file it over the coming weeks.

I love the holidays, and I love decorating for the holidays. I know people get frenzied and caught up in the “keeping up with the Joneses” aspect, and, as far as I’m concerned, that’s their problem. Except when they run over my foot with a shopping cart. Then, yeah, it’s my problem.

What I love about decorating for holidays, especially for the Yule-time holidays, is the sense of connection to the past while building future transitions. Every ornament has a story attached, a memory connected. Even the new stuff – the garland I bought and decorated this year – any time I put it up, I’ll remember sitting in the store, telling lost children stories about Max the reindeer. Every year, when I take out the ornaments, I can tell myself its story again – almost like an oral history project – that jockey ornament comes from Churchill Downs, when I went to Kentucky to watch my friend ride at Keeneland in Lexington and we got a day trip; that ornament was given to me by the hairdresser on Miss Saigon because he knew I collect ornaments; that wind-up Santa has been in the family as long as I can remember, and even though he’s threadbare, I like to have him out every year; that ornament was bought in Scotland, at the little shop in a small town whose name I can’t recall, but the owner gave us a tip on the local pub with the best food; the collection of Nutcrackers that grows every year, because people learn I collect them, and keep giving them to me – each one has his own story. I stay out of the bulk of the shopping frenzy. I get to gussy things up and cook and do all the things I like to do.

There were years, especially in my mid-twenties, where the holidays became no fun anymore, but, fortunately, I grew past it, and, for the most part, I’ve managed to find ways to take joy in the season without making myself too much crazier than I already am.

Just prior to the meeting was a glitch. The head of the TO called to bail because of a family emergency, and then told me he’d emailed a bunch of other people in the building about the meeting – without checking with me first – so I had absolutely no idea who was coming or how many. Needless to say, I was not amused. However, I always fix enough food to feed a small army (because we are an army that marches on our stomachs), so, food-wise and drink-wise, I knew I could deal. It was seating wise I’d be screwed, especially since so much space is now taken up with decorations.

Fortunately, only those who were invited by me came – and we got a lot done on The Situation: The Sequel in a positive atmosphere. I can’t go into the details here, for legal reasons, but we’ve got another fight on our hands. Both sides have learned from the previous one, so this should be interesting. And I, for one, am not going to live in type of fear that we spent months living in – jumping at every step on the stair or knock on the door.

And the timing, AGAIN before the holidays – smacks of malicious intent.

I have bills to pay and some paperwork to generate today on various items, but the bulk of the day must be spent on the Plum essay. It’s due at the end of the week, and I’m committed to a PEN event on Thursday night, so there will be no last-minute push for me!

And, one of these days, maybe I’ll start feeling better!

Devon

Assumption of Right -- 64,923 words out of 50,000 (Nano goal)

64 / 50
(128.0%)

Assumption of Right – 64,923 words out of 85,000 (completion goal)

64 / 85
(75.3%)

2006-11-26T08:40:00.000-05:00

Sunday, November 26, 2006
Waxing Moon
First of Advent
Neptune Retrograde
Cloudy and mild

So yesterday was an, ahem, interesting day.

I would have enjoyed it more had I not felt like crap, but it was still pretty funny.

It started with the need to run errands, once I’d done my quota on Assumption. I started at a craft store, one town over. It was absolutely overwhelming – ten foot tall displays of every possible type of decoration for what seemed like miles. Most at 60% off. So I wandered around, avoiding the frenzied shoppers mowing people down with their carts, and picked up what I need for this year’s decorating.

I also ending up accumulating a bunch of toddlers. Not permanently, thank goodness, but there were all these small children wandering around, lost, crying, frightened, and many of them got tangled in the lengths of garland that hung from various displays, which scared them even more. They’re lost and crying for their parents, and not an adult in sight.

It was like something out of Little Shop of Horrors, only with faux pine garlands instead of Venus flytraps.

I kept untangling small children, and pretty soon there were too many of them to keep track of, so I finally just sat down in the middle of the aisle, gathered them around and began telling them a story about Max the Reindeer (Rudolph’s second cousin on his mother’s side – work with me here).

Several rabid shoppers zooming down the aisle screamed and swore at us. I flipped them off, hoping that most of the toddlers don’t know what that means, where they would know what the words mean.

Finally, this boy of about ten saunters by and says, “You look like you need help.”

“No kidding, Sherlock.”

“I’ll get my dad.”

So when “Dad” stopped laughing, he got the store manager, who got on the PA and started rounding up parents. The most disgusting thing of all was that so many of these parents were so busy chatting on their damn cell phones they “hadn’t noticed” that their kids were missing.

Now, I was with these kids for probably close to a half hour. How could you misplace your kid for that long and “not notice”? I’m beginning to think licensing parents is not such a bad idea.

I finally made it out of there, with my bags of stuff, and then headed over to the pharmacy to pick up my mom’s prescription, where I was assaulted by dancing mechanical penguins who felt like they chased me up and down the aisles, accompanied by a dancing mechanical Santa doing an Elvis impersonation. And this is a good idea because . . .?

I popped into a grocery store beside the pharmacy to pick up some wonderfully scented candles only carried by that one particular place and managed to get in and out unscathed.

I meant to go to another grocery store, but took one turn too soon and found myself at Home Depot, so I picked up the wreath for the front door –and ran into the kid and his Dad. We ended up going to a nearby place for Chinese food. Turns out he grew up in this town – but went to private school, not public, which is why our paths never crossed. He’s recently divorced and came back with his son to spend the holidays at his mom’s. The kid is pretty funny – very smart with a very dry sense of humor.

Then I braved the other grocery store, which wasn’t that full, but those that were in there were lethal – especially an elderly woman who just got a new motorized chair and didn’t know how to use it yet. She knocked over a display of toy cars, and she passed me going through the meat aisle yelling, “You better get out of the way, because I don’t know how to stop this thing!” It was pretty funny. She seemed to enjoy herself, and I don’t think anyone got hurt.

To the wine shop next to pick up a few things for today’s meeting, and then, finally, back home.

And then the decorating began. Until nearly ten o’clock at night. It’s still a work in progress, but the bulk of it is done, including the tree up, all the fabric on the different surfaces that are “fabricked” the Advent table done, etc., etc. Technically, I should have waited until today, the first of Advent, but I was afraid to get called in to work today and then it would be chaos when everyone arrived for tonight’s meeting.

However, I realized by mid-evening that there was no way I could work because I felt too lousy, so I let work know I wasn’t able to come in today.

Of course, in addition to being sick, everything also hurts from hauling boxes and ironing and doing all the rest.

I’m doing the food prep for tonight’s meeting (not that I’ll get to eat any of it, but hey, they will, and that’s what counts) and try to get the rest of the place in good enough order so I won’t be completely embarrassed to have people in.

Because, of course, all the stuff that was on the tables that now hold holiday festivities has to go somewhere. And I haven’t figured out where yet.

Did another chapter on Assumption this morning. A Morag chapter, overlapping a good bit of the previous chapter. I realized, structurally, the book shaped itself by alternating POV chapters that did not overlap initially, but grew more and more so as the story progressed. It’s interesting how that happened organically.

Again, proof that it pays to trust the story.

Off to get things done for tonight and then get back to work on the Plum essay. December 1 is coming up fast.

Devon

Assumption of Right -- 62,428 words out of 50,000 (Nano goal)

62 / 50
(124.0%)

Assumption of Right -- 62,428 words out of 85,000 (completion goal)

62 / 85
(72.9%)

2006-11-25T09:23:00.000-05:00

Saturday, November 25, 2006
Waxing Moon
Neptune Retrograde
Sunny and mild

Back from a really good trip, unfortunately sandwiched on both ends by illness.

Tuesday work was not fun – not feeling at all well, stomach problems, short of breath, etc., etc. But I got through it and got home. I figured it was triggered by the fear/reluctance of facing Metro North and their problems yet again, and the fear of being stuck on the train for countless hours and then bashed by another train. But, although the train was typically its forty minutes late (which, in my opinion, is still too late), I got home relatively in one piece, although I still felt like crap.

I came home to find that I’ve entered the 21st century, music-wise. An early Christmas present arrived – a Creative Zen V Plus MP3 player. Very exciting. Too bad the CD was faulty and wouldn’t install. I finally (after over three hours) got enough installed so that I could figure out how to take music I copied from CD to computer and then download it to the Zen, and then play it. I put a bit of a charge into it, but not the full six hours – there weren’t six hours left before I had to leave.

On top of that, I can’t get into the instructions on the CD. The so-called ‘instruction book” simply says to look it up on the CD – but, since the CD is faulty, I can’t. Now, the point of an instruction manual is to teach me how to do things – not tell me to look somewhere else that’s inaccessible.

I had a few choice words for Zen’s customer service.

Didn’t feel much better the next day. Up at 5 AM to get on the road early, before all the crazy holiday traffic. Nothing like a long drive in the car with a dodgy stomach. Other than being uncomfortable, it wasn’t all that bad – it’s not like we had to stop every 15 miles or whatever. In fact, by the time we hit Massachusetts, I started to feel better.

Two hours into the trip, we realized we’d forgotten the cake we bought to bring up as our offering. There was no way we were going to turn around and go back for it.

We stopped in Newburyport, a lovely town in Mass. Tess Gerritsen recommended the Jabberwocky Bookshop to me there – told me if I was ever in the area, I should check it out. So I did. Of course, I hadn’t been to Newburyport in years, so I parked at the wrong end of town to reach the bookshop – but it’s a lovely town with a great vibe, and it was nice to take a walk.

The bookshop itself is wonderful – enormous, with a wide range of material, a terrific children’s and YA section (Heather, add it to you list of shops you MUST visit when your book comes out), and a wonderful staff. Basically, everything a good bookshop should be.

I bought myself a lovely book on herbs.

Next door, there just happened to be another lovely shop, the Nutcracker Bakery and Creperie. We went in, and I told them that I’d been stupid and left the cake in the fridge, and was there anything left that was unspoken for that we could buy? They had several things, one of which was an enormous banana cream pie. So that’s what we bought. They were so nice.

Newburyport is such a lovely town, with a great vibe, everything I need – and lots of real estate available. We took a flying look at a few places, and it’s one the list of top choices for towns to which to relocate, along with those on the South Shore below Boston and Shelburne, VT.

We headed on up, making our usual stops in Kittery (who can drive by the Lindt outlet without making a stop?) , and then on to York, for another stop at the Stonewall Kitchens. Again, everyone is so lovely, and the quality of their products is outstanding. We picked up a few things, and headed on further. We stopped at the Maine diner for lunch (lobster club – delicious). Perfect service, very busy, friendly staff. I love the place because it’s busy all the time, with a solid mix of people passing through and locals. The staff knows about 60% of the people who eat there by name. That’s always a good sign.

The Book Barn in Wells was closed, so we didn’t stop there, but hopped back on to the Maine Turnpike at Kennebunk and completed the drive to my Grandmother’s. We got there much earlier than we expected, which was a good thing.

I felt better, but not great, but now I had the primary care of three senior citizens, two over the age of 90, not just one. Part of my “job” when I go up there is to take some of the daily details off the rest of the family and pull my weight, which I’m happy to do, but it’s always more difficult when you’re under the weather. And I didn’t want to say anything, because I didn’t want anyone to worry. So I shut up and dealt.

But I was ready for bed by about 8:30.

Up early the next day, to get the morning started. Helped get the breakfast done; after breakfast, helped get everyone ready for the meal. I tried to get some work done on the “Merry” – I think I got about three pages or so. It was hard. Even using the Zen (which is a big help – how cool to only have songs in that you want to hear and be able to rearrange them however you want? I know, I know, I’m so behind the times), it was distracting.

And then, it was time to leave for the hall with Aiorig about to be burned at the stake, Luthias tied up to be forced to watch, and Kit Erskine waiting for the distraction to happen so she can make her move.

The dinner itself was great. I only get to see these people once a year, at Thanksgiving, and there’s much catching up to do, meeting the new people brought in, trying to recognize everyone’s kids who change so much, year to year (friends who are writing YA – your numbers will be up in Maine, just from my family). Everyone pitches in to set up and cook, and everyone pitches in to clean up. The meal was fantastic, as always, and it was nice to catch up with people. I was rushing around I forgot to take pictures of the hall – sorry – but I think we had a shade under 60 people there this year, although I’m pretty sure it was more than 50.

My mom drove my grandmother and great-uncle back to the house pretty soon after the meal, because they were exhausted, and I stayed to help finish the clean-up. Another well-loved family member drove me back after, and it was nice to get some one-on-one time.

They’re all very eager for me to leave New York and move closer.

We got home just in time to meet friends of my Grandmother’s who stopped by. Her friend of many, many years is 98 this year – and determined, in true New England fashion, to make it to 100. One of his daughters and her husband were also there. We’d never met, but we’ve all heard about each other for years, so it was nice to finally have people to match to names. And it turns out that the daughter’s husband grew up in this town – a few houses up the street from where my mother currently lives!

Talk about synchronicity – because I don’t believe in coincidence.

We had a good long discussion about the town, about The Situation and The Situation: The Sequel, and about the need to move to “The Commonwealth.”

A long day, but a good one.

Headed back on Friday, because of The Situation: The Sequel, which made me uncomfortable being away too long. We stopped again in Newburyport, at the Nutcracker. The woman who runs the place/bakes remembered us, and we assured her that the banana cream pie was a hit. We stopped and had a snack – she makes the best turnovers I’ve ever had in my life – and then headed on.

Stopped in Sturbridge, MA, at one of my favorite stores, Earth Spirits, to stock up on herbs, oils, and incenses for the holidays. And there’s a great restaurant just around back of it, where we had a nice lunch.

The drive from Sturbridge back on down to New York was awful. The traffic was a nightmare, and we were driving into a sun that looked like it would set, then bob back up again like a yo-yo. We were glad to get back home.

We took a slight detour to Old Saybrook to a favorite store and found some old-fashioned wooden Christmas ornaments. Some of them need a bit of TLC, but it shouldn’t be too hard to restore them and put them on the tree.

The cats were furious with us – although they’d been well-cared for in our absence.

And, by the time we got back home, I was feeling absolutely awful again. I’m going to make a doctor’s appointment. I’ve felt off for weeks now, and it’s gone to downright terrible most of the time.

Managed to write Chapter 18 of Assumption this morning. I realized I’m almost at the end of the piece – don’t think this first draft will hit 85K, which is fine. The story is what it is. Chapter 18 is from Simon’s point of view, ending with Morag’s stabbing. Chapter 19 will backtrack a bit, being from Morag’s point of view to get us to the same place, and then we can move on.

I have a ton of things that must be done TODAY, no matter how I feel, because I might have to go in to work tomorrow, and then there’s a TO meeting here tomorrow night, so that has to be set up before I go to work. The work has to get done, no matter what.

And that December 1 deadline looms over me – if I don’t have to go in to the show tomorrow, the bulk of the day needs to be spent reworking that.

Trip photos posted soon.

Devon

Assumption of Right -- 59,122 words out of 50,000 (Nano goal)

59 / 50
(118.0%)

Assumption of Right – 59,122 words out of 85,000 (completion goal)

59 / 85
(69.4%)

2006-11-21T09:27:00.000-05:00

November 21 Part II

Time Management.

I’m wondering if my desire to leave various forums over the past few months has more to do with a need to pull back in than anything else. I suspect that I’ve allowed myself to get caught up in “over-networking” and part of sending out a “Kick Me” signal is the fact that I’m spending too much time wasting time.

I am well aware how imperfect and flawed I am. I try to work on my flaws and inflict them on others as little as possible. Sometimes I fail.

Perhaps I am not taking enough positive action that I need to take to make the necessary changes, and therefore, I am attracting the negative in order to get to the same place.

Which means I have a heck of a lot more work to do!

Because, let’s face it, it takes TWO sticks to make a fire, not one. Even a lighter rubs against a flint.

Devon

2006-11-21T08:07:00.000-05:00

Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Waxing Moon
Neptune Retrograde
Sunny and cold

Oh, it’s so nice to only have a single retrograde going on! Enjoy it while you can, we have another one coming up next week or so!

With this Nano, I changed my routine slightly. Before, although I “wrote in the morning”, I made my coffee, had my breakfast, checked my email, blogged, etc., etc., etc. before I sat down to write for the day. That “start” got later and later the past few months, and it was more and more difficult to get down to it.

For Nano, I decided to get up early and write my day’s quota BEFORE I did any of it. I feed the cats, make coffee, and sit down to write. Once my quota is done, I shower, eat and do everything else.

Let me make something clear: I HATE to write while wearing my pajamas. I want to be in “writing clothes”. I hate writing without showering. To me, it feels like part of last night.

But I’m more productive.

So I want to holdover that lesson from Nano, but maybe put the shower in first – shower while the coffee percolates.

But after feeding the cats, because nothing in this house happens if there are hungry cats!

The other thing I noticed is that, upon finishing the daily quota, I get depressed. I’m just warmed up. I want to keep going.

So I hope that moving the shower earlier in the process will negate the letdown. I do the quota on the “Primary Project” and then either keep going on it or switch to one of the other projects.

Nano is a learning process, and I want to take away ideas I can implement in my regular writing routine.

Yesterday, I ran some errands and picked up the cake I’m carting up to Maine. Then I spent most of the morning wrapping presents. Because I’d shopped piecemeal, I hadn’t realized how many gifts I bought until I sat there, with the cats’ help, to wrap them! BIG bag going in the trunk! But it’s fun. I love to give people presents.

I was so happy with the order from National Wildlife Federation that I reconstructed my gift-giving list and put in another big order. Now, except for one gift for a friend, a few things for my mom, and stocking stuffers, I am DONE.

That means the gifts for Europe go out at the beginning of next week. Latest.

Camera 1 returned from Canon. Some tech guy thought it was cute to load in a photo of some sort of yellow and black bird to appear every time I turn it on and make the damn camera chirp every time I push a button – whether it’s to turn it on or to take a picture, or whatever. Not! So I’m off to email Canon to ask them how to turn it OFF.

I’ll take Camera 2 to Maine – the quiet one.

Lori tagged me for 5 things – you mean I have to find 5 MORE things that are interesting? Um, well, um, well . . .I’ll try:

1. Eating raw carrots gives me the hiccups.
2. I prefer silver jewelry to gold.
3. I’m also more of a Moon Girl than a Sun Girl.
4. Speaking of jewelry, my favorite gems are sapphires, emeralds, and my birthstone, aquamarine. Set, of course, in silver.
5. I believe you can never have too many books.

Tag to: Artie (if I haven’t yet), Lauren, and Dorothy.

I lost yesterday’s afternoon writing session due to Situation: The Sequel, which really pisses me off. But at least I’ve made my position clear. They want a fight? They got one.

My heart still hurts about the situation at Backspace. Several colleagues brought up a good point – not letting a problem with one person ruin my relationship with everyone. It’s in the administrator’s hands now, I guess. Gerald, thank you so much for taking the time to stop by and comment. I appreciate it. And I will take your words to heart.

And it’s a good reminder that I need to be more cautious online. I’ve avoided a lot of pitfalls, simply because my interests don’t lead me to many trouble spots. I don’t visit dating sites and I hardly ever enter a chat room. It’s not my thing. And I hit one here, and have to deal with it in whatever way is best for my emotional landscape and health. Someone attacked, acted towards me with deliberate malice, because I don’t fit that person’s definition – well, I don’t fit anyone’s definition, so too bad. Not everyone’s going to love each other, not everyone is going to get along, and some are going to be downright mean. You hope people can agree to disagree and continue in peaceful co-existence and/or tolerance – oh, wait, I forgot who’s in charge of the country, right, that’s no longer an option.

Live, learn, and hopefully apply it to the next situation.

I have acquired enormous personal damage on many levels due to the events of the last year and few months. I need to develop a thicker skin. I also have to deal with the fact that I often feel that I am supposed to accommodate everyone else’s damage, and yet, when I say, “this is mine, please respect it” or “this is my experience in such a situation”, it’s not respected because it doesn’t fit the aggressor’s definition and because I’ve been willing to accommodate others. But if I’m supposed to respect what’s outside of my definitions without judgment, so should they. It has to work both ways.

Twice now, I’ve been blindsided by aggressors when I was particularly vulnerable. So, obviously, both times I sent out some sort of signal that I was prey. And THAT needs to stop.

The choices are not to put myself out there at all, with anyone (which, as a writer, is really not an option), or do it, get burned, and try not to make the same mistakes over and over (so I keep finding different ones).

I’m trying to figure out a way to find a “bright side”, giving myself psychobabble pep talks. They’re not working. I just need time away.

A few days in Maine with no internet access will help me gain perspective.

And then I’ll decide what’s best for me in order to protect and support the work. If the writing is supported properly, everything else falls into place.

Better do it quick – Saturn goes retrograde next week and that’s about life lessons – if you make the same mistakes, you get your butt kicked!

My choices are to wallow in depression, doubt and upset, throwing me off my game. Or keep writing. Guess which option I’m pursuing?

I’m off to the theatre – the thought of getting on that damn Metro North train is, literally, making me nauseous.

I’ll be off line for a few days, because it’s the big family gathering in Maine, and there’s no internet access for me up there. I wish everyone a happy and joyful Thanksgiving!

Devon

Assumption of Right – 55,981 words out of 50,000 (Nano goal)

55 / 50
(110.0%)

Assumption of Right – 55,981 words out of 85,000 (completion goal)

55 / 85
(64.7%)

2006-11-20T20:37:00.000-05:00

November 20 Part II

I’ve left Backspace.

A member publicly accused me of lying about a health problem when said person had no access or knowledge of my personal, not to mention private, medical history.

I was only on there a few months, and I met some terrific people. Hopefully, they will stay in my life.

But I won’t stand there and say it’s okay for someone to make those kinds of accusations.

Well, put yourself out there, deal with the consequences, right? I put myself out there, hoping to connect and support fellow writers and I got burned. Live and learn.

I have to stop now. I’m crying too hard to continue.

Devon

2006-11-20T07:31:00.000-05:00

Monday, November 20, 2006
New Moon
Neptune Retrograde
Uranus DIRECT
Cloudy and cool

Can anyone tell me when Neptune is going to turn direct? I can’t find it on any of my calendars, and it’s bugging me!!!

If I could maintain the Nano pace, I could finish the first draft of Assumption in 14 days. If I drop back to 1500 words/day, I can finish in 23 days.

But I have to keep going, every day except the days I’ll be in Maine.

And if I try to maintain Nano pace, I’ll shatter.

I hate everything I’ve done thus far on the Plum essay (due Dec. 1) and am tossing it all out and starting over. Non-fiction is so much more difficult for me than fiction.

Yesterday was all over the place – grocery shopping and newspapers in Port Chester, getting the rest of the Maine-bound gifts in White Plains, cat food shopping in Larchmont – there went the bulk of the day.

Messing in the kitchen with a new recipe. Now, I have three full shelves of cookbooks (here – I have six boxes of cookbooks in storage, including two potato-centric cookbooks). How come NONE of the ones here have a basic potato au gratin recipe? I finally pulled bits and pieces of three different ones, and made some adjustments of my own – mainly adding in a mixture of salt, pepper, rosemary, sage, thyme and paprika with the final handfuls of cheese over the top for the last thirty minutes. Pretty darned good. Unfortunately, I wanted to balance the seasoning of the chicken, so I used sage. Unfortunately, using sage in both flattened out the taste of the chicken. I probably should have used a lemon pepper or some sort of citrus zest.

Oh, well, I’ll know for next time.

The clothes are packed for Maine, and I’ll pack the writing bag today. Assumption, the Plum essay, the “Merry” and Token and Affections are all going up, and we’ll see what I actually get to work on. And I have to pick a few books, too, or I’ll go nuts.

Hard to get started on Assumption today. Now that I’ve met the Nano goal, I want to take time off, and I can’t do that until I reach MY goal. However, once I get past the first half page, it gets going again. An interesting plot twist occurred which I didn’t see coming. It works, ratchets up the tension now, in preparation for the next big event, and sets up some more possible threatening theories. The target is not the person everyone assumes, and I want to set the red herrings up well so that when the actual target is hit, it’s more of a shock. 3037 words today.

I needed some fun, relaxing, no brain reading, so I started This Must Be the Place: Memoirs of Montparnasse by Jimmie Charters as told to Morrill Cody, and it is fun. Kind of difficult to have a rollicking memoir when you’re keeping the confidences given you over the years, but Charters does a pretty good job.

I need to pack a lot in to just a few hours. I’m at the theatre tomorrow and then it’s on the road.

Devon

Assumption of Right – 54,415 words out of 50,000 (Nano goal)

54 / 50
(108.0%)

Assumption of Right -- 54,415 words out of 85,000 (completion goal)

54 / 85
(63.5%)

2006-11-19T09:05:00.000-05:00

Sunday, November 19, 2006
Dark Moon
Neptune Retrograde
Uranus Retrograde
Cloudy and cool

Yesterday was a mixed bag.

On the good side, I went back in the evening to Assumption, after my morning session, and I wrote Chapter 15, just barely passing the 50K mark. Ironically, I hit 50K on the 18th last year, too.

Also nice to hit that goal as the moon wanes.

I want to make sure I don’t burn out and sluff off. I can drop back to a saner pace, but I still want to finish the first draft before the end of the year.

In other things, I put together another bookcase to get some of the recent additions of editions up off the floor. It aggravated the neck problems caused during Metro North Hell, so I’ve been very uncomfortable all day.

And, I got a heads up that we’re about to be plunged into the Situation again.

I am not holding back and playing nice and “taking the high road” this time. I’m going to hit hard, and I’m going to hit fast. I will not lose another eight months of my life again, just when I’m starting to feel human.

And I WILL NOT let them ruin everyone’s holidays again.

Lots to do today, writing and non-writing, especially when it comes to finishing up the gifts that go up to Maine.

I got up this morning, and, although I felt like indulging myself after hitting the 50K goal, went back to work, beginning Chapter 16. Wrote 1353 words, about half of it. Phineas Regan IS important to the piece, and he’s pretty funny. I think he might wander off into a book of his own at some point, too.

Devon

Assumption of Right -- 51,378 words out of 50,000 words (Nano goal)

51 / 50
(102.0%)

Assumption of Right – 51,378 words out of 85,000 (completion goal)

51 / 85
(60.0%)

2006-11-18T23:24:00.000-05:00

Assumption of Right -- 50,025 words out of 50,000 (Nano goal)

50 / 50
(100.0%)

2006-11-18T10:06:00.000-05:00

Saturday, November 18, 2006
Waning Moon
Neptune Retrograde
Uranus Retrograde
Sunny and cool

I still feel like I was hit by a truck from the Metro North hell. My neck is in terrible pain (they had an engine “push” the train for awhile, and while they warned us there would be jolt, it came 45 minutes after the warning and we weren’t prepared, and I think it threw my neck out).

Metro North’s response to my complaint was completely unacceptable, filled with excuses, and, basically, the subtext was that they can leave us stranded any time they want without consequence.

Not in my world.

I wrote a rant for my own purposes, filled with vile language, and, from that, I am crafting a logical, well-argued complaint for the local, state and federal agencies, as well as the newspaper pieces. Enough. This train service has been screwing its customers and putting their lives in danger daily for nearly thirty years. It’s gotten exponentially worse since Kalikow was appointed by Pataki as the head of the MTA.

And it needs to stop.

I had to photograph some headstones yesterday and run other errands, so I finally got to bed at 2:30 in the afternoon. I’m still a wreck.

But, this morning, I got up and I worked on Assumption of Right. I broke one of my own rules and went back to Chapter 10 to write several pages of an insert. It turns out a character that didn’t even have a name in Chapter 10 is important in Chapter 14 and beyond. So I named him and wrote the first scene between Phineas Regan and Simon. Then I went back and finished Chapter 14. So, I wrote 2799 words today, not bad.

I have to do some tidying up today – the place looks like it’s been ransacked. I also have to do some serious work on both the Plum essay and “Merry.”

I’m within striking distance of my 50K and hope I can hit it by the 20th. I’d already reached it by this point last year. Oh, well.

At least I passed the halfway mark in the completion goal. I was getting the blues about not reaching that.

Tomorrow, I have to get the last few presents to take to Maine next week (I bring up the Christmas presents when we go up for Thanksgiving). The box from National Wildlife Federation arrived yesterday. So I’ve got almost all the cards and can get started on those when I return from Maine, and the bulk of the Christmas shopping is done. I need to get a couple more things for my mom and then the stocking stuffers. Hopefully, it’s under control enough so that I don’t have to stress and I can actually enjoy the holiday season.

I have to run some errands, and then it’s back to the page.

Devon

Assumption of Right -- 46,791 words out of 50,000 words (Nano goal)

46 / 50
(92.0%)

Assumption of Right – 46,791 out of 85,000 words (completion goal)

46 / 85
(54.1%)

2006-11-17T10:16:00.000-05:00

Friday, November 17, 2006
Waning Moon
Neptune Retrograde
Uranus Retrograde
Mercury DIRECT
Cooler and cloudy/sunny

Metro North’s increasing incompetence is going to cost the unnecessary loss of thousands of lives when there’s a terrorist attack on New York’s transit system. And there’s no “if” about it – it’s “when”, and everyone who lives in the area knows it. The lack of initiative and the inability and/or unwillingness to make the most basic commonsense decisions is not acceptable. Peter Kalikow must be removed from the MTA NOW – not after a preventable tragedy happens. He needs to stop his obsession with measuring the size of his dick against that of the union president and start running a transportation system. Although, in all the years he’s been the head of it, he’s never given a damn about the actual people who pay for the railroad – the customers, so I guess he figures, why start now?

You do not leave a train full of people stranded at midnight for hours with no ventilation, no power, and no information, while other empty trains pass on both sides. You take off the passengers and put them onto the next train immediately and then pretend to fix the problem on your own time. You do not refuse to open the only windows that open on the train because of “policy”. You do not walk back and forth on the train refusing to tell the passengers what’s going on, or giving incorrect information. When I call the customer service emergency number, you do not tell me that the train is running when I am sitting on a train that has not moved for over two hours.

Getting in to the city to get to the show was a nightmare – there were actually people walking that were faster than our train – but getting out was worse.

And I’m filing formal complaints with agencies and politicians on the local, state, and federal levels, as well as sending complaints to all the local papers. The MTA must be held accountable for the increasing daily abuses committed against their customers.

I’m enjoying Assumption. The first few days were tough, and I had to slog. Now I’m eager to see what happens next, how what I outlined comes to life, along with the surprising bits that come spontaneously.

I am getting more and more convinced, however, that it won’t come out under the DE name, but one of the others. The tone and content are different.

Because of what’s happened between Simon and Morag in Chapter 13, the stakes between them are raised in Chapter 14, as it should be. And it hits them even harder due to lack of sleep. I think I’m going to make both characters a bit younger, though – their responses are slightly less mature than they would be at the ages I have currently set.

I want to go back and re-read what I’ve written so far on Assumption, but I’m not letting myself do so. That will only derail me, and I’m too close to my goal. And I want to take what I learned from last year and apply it to his year, not make the same mistakes.

4 and 1/3 pages on “Merry”. A walk-on character who died in the swordfight, Peter, has come back as a ghost – unexpected, but interesting occurrence. I was going to give him a more exotic name, but he insists his name is Peter, so that’s what it is. He’s a petulant little bastard. I decided to lift out a particularly active incident from all my notes on the Merry to use as this one particular short story. It will stand alone, but it will also lead into future adventures.

Fretful and depressed every time I got up away from the page. That’s what I get for agreeing to go in to the show to do one of the most stressful tracks there is when the writing is going well. There’s no one to blame but myself.

Only got about a page and change done on Tokens before I had to leave for the luncheon.

Which, by the way, was a big fat bust. One person had cancelled this morning and the other person just never damn showed up. She later emailed me (I got the email at 3AM, after I’d returned from the Metro North debacle), saying she got a call from work and was late getting to the restaurant. Considering how long I was there and that I had the time to eat a leisurely meal and drink two pints of beer, yeah, I’d say she was late.

Same day cancellations do not cut it with me, nor do no-shows. I am a freelancer. There’s no such thing in my life as “free time”. That means, whenever I make plans with someone, it costs me money – that time could be used on a paying gig. In other words, this two-hour no show cost me a couple of hundred dollars in lost income.

Not canceling within a reasonable amount of time is disrespectful, and I don’t waste my time or my energy with people who don’t respect me. My time is too valuable.

First time, shame on you. Second time, shame on me. I won’t be making plans with these people again. They’re not worth it.

Oh, and, by the way? Just so you know: the “sick” excuse doesn’t wash with me. I’m well aware that 90% of the time someone calls in “sick” or claims someone in the family is “sick”, it really means the person has mismanaged their time and expects me to compensate. And I’ve spent my entire professional life in the theatre, so I can usually spot bad acting. The person who canceled on Tuesday was either telling the truth or should be on Broadway, and is an exception to this rant. Otherwise, until I know you really well, if you use the “sick” excuse, I assume you’re lying. I’ve been burned a few too many times to take it seriously.

My parents always said the only excuse for not keeping your word is death. Preferably your own.

I almost envy people who are on salaries and get to call in “sick” whenever they want and still get paid. Or get to come and go as they please, and it doesn’t affect the take-home pay. I only get paid when I actually do the work.

However, I wouldn’t want to be stuck in someone else’s office again, so I’ll deal.

On the positive side, I picked up the big present for my grandmother and great uncle, and part of my great-uncle’s smaller present. I had a great meal at one of my favorite pubs, and I did a lot of prep work for the next two chapters of Assumption. So all was not lost.

The show went fine last night, in spite of the fact it was a lead track I hadn’t dressed in months and I hadn’t worked with this actress before. She said she was happy with me and wanted me to cover again.

It won’t be tonight, though. Eventually, I’d like to go to bed and get some sleep. I just emailed the show and told them I won’t come in tonight.

And my word count this morning on Assumption was shot to hell – I only wrote 1055 words.

Devon

Assumption of Right – 43,992 words out of 50,000 (Nano goal)

43 / 50
(86.0%)

Assumption of Right – 43,992 words out of 85,000 (completion goal)

43 / 85
(50.6%)

Token and Affections -- 22,575 words out of est. 25,000

23 / 25
(90.3%)

“The Merry’s Dalliance” – 3083 words out of est. 5,000

3 / 5
(60.0%)

2006-11-17T03:28:00.000-05:00

How many Metro North employees does it take to screw in a light bulb?

Twenty-seven.

Only none of them will actually do it. They'll walk around with flashlights saying they're doing the best they can and remain in the dark.

URGH!!

(getting home at nearly 3 AM because Metro North did jack for a stuck train for two hours).

2006-11-16T07:39:00.000-05:00

Thursday, November 16, 2006
Waning Moon
Neptune Retrograde
Uranus Retrograde
Mercury Retrograde
Rainy and cool

The question becomes: do you write yourself out each day or do you keep a steady pace?

I want to push hard, harder on Assumption to the exclusion of everything else and get the darned thing done. But I also know, from my yo-yoing last year, that I run the risk of burning out.

It’s an extension of the question: Work on one project or several?

And has to be answered case-by-case.

One of the Big Love/Sex Scenes takes place today in Chapter 13, a Morag chapter. I find interesting that it is that particular chapter, considering the theme and context of the book. And this particular love scene is a pivotal catalyst in the book.

No such thing as coincidence.

The subconscious at work again, leading us where we need to be without us cognizant of the fact until later.

And I managed to do 3224 words today, more than I thought I could on such a stressful day. But I like the way the book shapes itself – there will be plenty of revision, pruning, fixing, deliberation to come, but it’s flowing, and I like that.

At the risk of jinxing myself, I find this year flowing more smoothly than last year. Part of it was doing preparation each day from the day I had the idea, keeping it fresh and exciting. Part of it is where I am in my transition process. Last year, I WANTED writing to be my priority. This year it IS.

And yet, looking through my archives, last year on this date, I’d hit 42,952 words on Fix-it Girl, just slightly ahead of where I am today. I hit the 50K on November 18, and 55K by the end of the month. And stalled. I don’t think I made it past 56K in the months beyond. Scrolling back, I see that I broke 61K before The Situation completely derailed my life.

So why do I remember last year as being so much harder?

Managed to write six pages on Token and Affections. It’s starting to flow again. Phew! I was afraid I’d lost Elmira and Declan there for awhile. Declan, in particular, is quite endearing, even though he can be dangerous. He has a strong personal compass of integrity, even if it doesn’t always fit in with other people’s. But then, he’s not human, so it makes sense within the context of what he is.

Having trouble with “Christmas Treats” for several reasons. One is that it’s hard to work on a happy, cute story when there’s a funeral looming in the next few days. Another is that because it’s a happy, cute fable, I question its worth. Now, if someone else had written it, I would applaud it within the context of holiday spirit. Happy, cute fables are just as important, if not more so, than dark, dreary tales. But because I wrote it, I’m questioning it. I need to get out of my own way.

Started the “Merry.” Got just over 8 pages done. I’m sketching the bones here, piecing together the skeleton. It’s action-packed, funny, good dialogue, and a hint of romance while still keeping to the PG-13 rating requested by the publisher. Okay, maybe it flirts with R, but in a way I’d be comfortable with any of my godchildren reading. Innuendo rather than explicitness. I figure the first draft will come in at 5K and then, when I bring in the lush sensory description it needs, it will end up at 7K. I actually start the action prior to the original notes, introducing Luthias to Kit in the first scene and setting the seeds for the subsequent relationship. It makes more sense then introducing her and having him come in halfway through. Plus, he’s more interesting and surprising than in the outline. I’m letting him be himself instead of an archetype, and it works better. And Kit always refused to be set in any mold, so . . .it’s all good.

Called a couple of friends, rented a studio space, and we choreographed the first sword fight for “Merry”. Wrote it all down move-by-move so it makes logical sense. Then came home and cut out all the boring bits and put in the smart-ass dialogue. The scene reads well.

Having fight choreography friends when you write swashbuckling or other action scenes is invaluable.

At least we were using the basic type of longsword one would wear on a belt instead of a claymore, or my shoulders would hurt even more than they do! I am out of shape.

But I wrote over 25 pages today, spread across three important projects, and that’s a good thing.

Someone I know and have worked with had a new series debut last night. I knew I should watch the show – but I didn’t really want to. I wanted to write instead. Someone else with whom I worked last fall, whose show debuts in January, has a nice article in the December Elle. I hope the show is his big break. He deserves it – talented AND a great person.

Incredibly busy today – writing, Nano lunch in White Plains, and then I’m dressing a lead on the show with whom I haven’t worked before. I was up at 6:30 AM; if I’m lucky, I’ll get home by 1:30 AM tomorrow.

Devon

Assumption of Right -- 42,937 words out of 50,000 words (Nano goal)

42 / 50
(84.0%)

Assumption of Right – 42,937 words out of 85,000 (completion goal)

42 / 85
(49.4%)

Token and Affections – 22,250 words out of est. 25,000 words

22 / 25
(88.0%)

“The Merry’s Dalliance” -- 2,000 words out of est. 5,000 words

2 / 5
(40.0%)

2006-11-15T14:19:00.000-05:00

November 15 Part III

Guess what I found?

The notes for “The Merry’s Dalliance.”