Pure Annoyance

You know how Saturdays are supposed to be for quiet and sleeping late and hanging out?

Apparently nobody told our building managers that.

The apartment above ours is being renovated or something, and they started at SEVEN THIRTY this morning, effectively interrupting my nice sleeping-in. It's 1:30 now, and they're still going. It sounds like they're ripping up floors and cutting out joists. If our ceiling falls in, I'm going to be even angrier than I already am. Why the bleeding $%@& don't they do this stuff during the week when most of us are at work?!

More later.

Grumble grumble.

Publication Joy

The Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts just e-mailed me the pdf version of my Sheri Tepper article. They say the hard copy version will be mailed out in the next week or so. Yay! If and when I figure out how to attach documents to these posts (or where I can upload something besides a picture), I will let you all see it in all its glory.

More later.

Graverobber

Here's my newest GIMP banner. Based on Repo!, as I said. I'm thinking about building a similar wallpaper.



I vacillated on the text for a bit. It was this or "Graverobber - Sometimes I Wonder Why I Need You At All." I decided shorter was better.

More later.

Stats

Necromancer

New words: 423

Total words: 18,341

Deaths: No

Favorite: none

Mean things: rumors. Mistrust from friends.

-----
And it wasn't even an Askr Draugr scene. *sigh* I sat down with every intention of getting through a new chapter, and then the phone rang. And then it rang again. And then I remembered that I wanted to look for an online etymology dictionary (I'm an English nerd). And then I decided I need to make a banner with images from Repo! The Genetic Opera, which is my new obsession. So there went my writing.

Maybe I can get more done this weekend.

More later

Stats

Necromancer

New words: 2,342

Total words: 17,916

Deaths: a bird (it was the bullies this time, not the Askr Draugr)

Mean things: no joy with the spellcasting. Scaring bullies. Rivalry between friends.

Favorite: The bird exploded from the ground in a flurry of feathers and a croaked squawk. It went after the boy who had been speaking first, rushing at him and buffeting him with its wings. The boys screamed and tried to run, but the alley was small, Akasha was standing at the only exit, and the noise and wind from the bird were confusing them. When they were reduced to crouching against the walls, sobbing, Akasha gently let the bird go, and it settled back to earth.

“Think of that the next time you think killing something might be fun,” Akasha said, and resumed her journey home.

------
That whole scene was great to write, but a bit long for posting here. You'll get to see it when it's published (or when you beta for me, whichever comes first) .

More later.

Oddness, Redux

So, apparently, what happened with that school that says I'm admitted even though I haven't completed the application is this. I've been admitted to the Graduate School. Apparently the (one) bit of the application that isn't yet complete is a requirement of the English department. As soon as the application is complete, they'll send it on to the English department for review and the English department will decide if I'm admitted to their program. This is a bit odd; usually the department decides first and the Grad College does a final review and goes from there, but it's fine. At least now I know what's going on.

In other news, I am writing, though I'm finding the internet very distracting, as usual. I have a goal for this session, but I'm slogging through a scene before I get to the fun stuff--annoying, but necessary.

Also, while I'm waiting for Stars Without Name to reach the top of the queue at Critters, I've sent my query letter to Query Shark for review. I've worked really hard on this letter and it's been read and critiqued by an agent's intern already, but every little bit helps, I figure. Especially since it seems to be the query that's holding me back; the people at Critters keep saying they love my work, but it keeps not getting accepted. I often feel like I'm Robin Hood in this scene, ramming myself fruitlessly against a really heavy, barred door. Every so often, it shakes and I'm like, "Woohoo!" but then it doesn't break down. Sigh.

And that's all the metaphor I have in me for today. I'll post stats when I finish with these next few scenes.

More later.

Writing?

Yeah, I haven't been doing that lately. Somebody smack me on the hand. I've been busy with teaching--which I swore wouldn't be an excuse, but here we are--and with life in general. Tomorrow, I plan not to go to campus since I don't have to teach, and instead clean the house, do some lesson planning, WRITE, work on some German, and maybe play some video games. MAYBE. Oh, and watch Repo! The Genetic Opera which I got on DVD yesterday and am very excited about. But there will be writing. I swear.

After the sleeping.

More later.

Stats

Necromancer

New words: 845

Total words: 15,573

Typos: waited for Daoin to ketchup

Favorite: Akasha closed her eyes and counted to ten, simultaneously thinking up and discarding several choice phrases for those two.

Mean things: rumors

-----
Not a lot done today, I know, but I'm really tired. First day back to class, and I don't get done until nearly 4 PM on MWF. I forgot how much standing for even the 4 hours I had to today could make my legs and back hurt.

On the plus side, I had a couple of kids in my lit class who are obviously very excited about reading Lewis and Tolkien. And my last class is a smallish one that seems like they'll be very upbeat and a good ending to the day.

14 weeks to go.

More later.

Reading

Since tomorrow Winter Break is officially over (though I don't start teaching until Wednesday, and may I just interject here that I'm TERRIFIED--again), so my Winter Break Reading List is coming down and I'm going back to the novel covers since I won't be tearing through them quite so fast.

BUT I want to save that list, so I'm posting it here. Because that was a lot of books.

The Once and Future King - T.H. White
That Camden Summer - Lavyrle Spencer
The Reach - Nate Kenyon
How to Read Literature Like a Professor - Thomas C. Foster
Real Murders - Charlaine Harris
Moving Targets (And Other Tales of Valdemar) - Mercedes Lackey et al.
Redwall - Brian Jacques
Shakespeare's Landlord - Charlaine Harris
A Bone to Pick - Charlaine Harris
The Oathbound - Mercedes Lackey
The Oathbreakers - Mercedes Lackey
Three Bedrooms, One Corpse - Charlaine Harris
Beowulf
Shakespeare's Champion - Charlaine Harris
The Julius House - Charlaine Harris
Shakespeare's Trollop - Charlaine Harris
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight - J.R.R. Tolkien
Exile's Honor - Mercedes Lackey

More later.

Stats

Necromancer

New words: 1, 279

Total words: 14,726

Deaths: a family--two adults and a child

Mean things: growing up

Favorite: The nearest was a jackrabbit, which huddled down, frozen, at its approach. It scooped the animal up, absorbing it and burning it, then cast it aside. Then next living thing was a flock of birds, which took off, wings whirring, as it went after them. With a low, hissing growl like water thrown over a hot fire, it stalked toward the village it could sense in the distance.

-----
Tired. Hungry. Snow. And that's me, not the book. I believe I will go have lunch, then do nothing for the rest of the day.

More later.

Stats

Necromancer

New words: 760

Total words: 13,447

Mean things: missing ingredient for summoning spell

Favorite: When she realized that at no point did the bard actually say the knight’s name, she smacked herself on the forehead with the book in frustration, earning another odd sideways look from the driver.

--------
I intended to write a lot more today, but between people working upstairs--it sounds like they're scraping up carpet--W.E. watching Dirty Jobs and wanting to watch Mirrors, and the Internet, I can't concentrate. But at least I've got this chapter kicked off and I know exactly where I'm going with it. Woohoo.

More later.

Actual Fun Was Had

W.E. and I went out yesterday and spent way too much money, and it was a lot of fun. We haven't had actual fun in so long because of work and grumpiness from work that this was nice.

We started out at Barnes & Noble, where I picked up the last of the Charlaine Harris mystery series I'm reading, the Lily Bard (Shakespeare) ones and the Aurora Teagarden ones, as well as a brand-new (to me) one called Nightwalker by Jocelynn Drake and the second season of Star Trek: The Next Generation (we're planning a TNG marathon for next weekend).

Then we went to Smokey Bones and had some yummy barbeque. During dinner, I had an epiphany about the direction of Necromancer--I'd been stalling on killing the Askr Draugr because I thought that would be the end of the book, but realized that no, it's not; the monster isn't the central conflict of the book and never has been. There's still quite a bit that needs to go on before the central conflict is over. So enough stalling; she's taking out the monster in the next 2-4 chapters.

Then, with two hours left before the movie we planned to see started, we went to pick over the bones of Circuit City and got the first two seasons of Supernatural (I had the third one already--it was a Christmas gift), the newer version of Assault on Precinct 13, and Mirrors at a pretty decent price.

Then we went to see My Bloody Valentine (not 3D, unfortunately). It was much better than I thought it was going to be; I expected something so campy and cheesy that I'd be laughing all the way through it. In actuality, it turned out to be a fairly creepy psycho-thriller. Sure, it had its moments--most of the gore was just hilarious, and the opening dialogue was so stock-horror-movie that it made me giggle--but overall it was really good. And I was proud of myself because I figured out who the killer was about 15 minutes into the movie--psychological reasoning and all.

Not so fun was the proliferation of police cars--and a Forensics SUV--in the parking lot when we left, but it had nothing to do with us (of course), so we left and came home.

Before we left yesterday I outlined the next two chapters of Necromancer, and I will now go work on those. I'll let you know how it goes.

More later.

Stats (As Promised)

Necromancer

New words: 1,687 (phew!)

Total words: 12,685

Deaths: none

Mean things: self-doubt. Nightmares.

Favorite: It remembered warmth, light, roaring fire. It yearned toward the fire with everything it was, but the fire was no longer its friend. Then the dreams descended into chaos—running, screaming, and dying, with no discernable division between itself and its victims. It died, and killed, and fed, and bled. And it was alone.

----------
All of that, and it's only 6 more pages! Argh. My brain is exhausted now. It might be Final Fantasy time. Or maybe lunch, then Final Fantasy.

I finished re-reading and editing Stars Without Name yesterday, and put the first chapter up for review on Critters. We'll see how that goes. It had been awhile since I'd looked at it, and I discovered that I really liked it. As in, I would have picked this up in the bookstore and read it cover-to-cover in a few days. I'd forgotten about most of the humor I'd thrown in there and found myself giggling (my favorite phrase from this MS is still: "Mogadishu? That's a bad place! That's where Orlando Bloom died in that movie with the helicopters!").

In other news, it's SIX BLEEDING DEGREES (F) outside, not counting wind chill (which has it down to NEGATIVE TWELVE). I never thought I'd miss living in Hawaii for the weather. It's hot and muggy all the time (when it's not nasty, chilly, and rainy) over there, but I'd almost prefer muggy over this.

Almost.

More later.

Oddness

I've been checking my applications at the various universities I'm applying to for my PhD work, and something struck me as odd.

At one of the schools, they have my application status listed as "Decision Made" and that decision listed as "Admission Process Initiated."

The strange thing? I haven't finished that application yet. There's still at least one letter that needs to go in. Their deadline isn't until Feb. 2.

So I'm not entirely sure this isn't a mistake. I don't want to get excited about it. It would be great to know that I've been accepted to at least one college--even if it's not my first choice (though this one is high on the list) and I won't know about my first choice for awhile . . . but I haven't even completed the application process yet!

Now, if they were just so excited about my 4.0 and GRE scores (whatever) that they just decided to admit me, recommendation letters or no recommendation letters, that would be interesting. And kind of make me wonder about their process, actually. (Especially since this is the school that didn't want a writing sample, which is also strange.)

I suppose I'll e-mail the department and ask about it.

After I finish these chapters I'm working on. Darn internet and its distractions!

More later.

Yes, I'm Bad

Okay, so I did no writing today. Or yesterday. I've been tired. This does not bode well, as the semester hasn't even started yet. However, I have outlined the next chapter of Necromancer and have every intention of sitting my butt down tomorrow and writing it. All of it. To make up for my two days of laziness. So I will have stats for you tomorrow, promise.

More later.

Funny, but Painful

Any writers (or non-writers who know something about literature and publishing) who need a good laugh should go look at this post on the Writer Beware blog. And you have to read all of the comments, too. It's hilarious in a painful kind of way (especially the typos).

Enjoy.

More later.

Stats

Necromancer

New words: 260

Total words: 10,996

Deaths: a young couple

Mean things: typical horror fare--the couple was killed in the middle of sex

Favorite: It woke with a sense of vague disquiet, as though something had tormented it in its dreams, dreams that it couldn’t quite remember. It had been long since it had dreamt—since the last time it had fed, at least. With the absorption of life seemed to come the absorption of awareness, and its victims haunted its dreams.

--------
Askr Draugr scenes feel like a cop-out because they're so short.

That is all.

More later.

Rejection - Submission

A Fly in Amber rejected "The Truthsayer" this morning, so I sent it to Allegory. Here's hoping.

Now I have to go do actual work.

More later.

Stats

Necromancer

New words: 746

Total words: 10,735

Typos: sore, watery ize

Mean things: no joy in the library

Favorite phrase: She wandered through the stacks for awhile, poking at dusty corners of both the history and magic sections until her throat was raw from sneezing, her eyes were streaming water yet somehow managing to feel gritty at the same time, and she thought her nose might start bleeding if she had to wipe it one more time.

--------
Resolution: I'm going to stop being lazy in the afternoons just because I've been working hard doing prep work and actually WRITING when I get home, dammit. I can play video games AFTER I've turned out another few pages of work. I don't know that I'm up to Mercedes Lackey's 10 pages a day (after a hard day's work), but I'm going to write at least another scene every day.

I'm now out of pre-outlined scenes. I'll have to do some more outlining tomorrow before I can do any writing--at least on Necromancer. I'm still turning "The Truthsayer 2" over in my head, not quite sure what to do with that one. Also still waiting for A Fly in Amber to get back to me about my submission of "The Truthsayer." Should be any time now. I hear the longer they keep it, the better, but sometimes it's just frustrating.

More later.

ETA: I have finally named the Undead Fire Thing. It's an Askr Draugr, which is Old Norse for Ash Ghost, and the closest pronounceable thing I could get to the D&D monster I modeled it on, which was a Cinderspawn.

Coffee!

Just because:


more animals

More later.

Extreme Silliness

More GIMP adventures. I had this great idea for a banner for the Buffy-Boards (the whole reason I'm playing with GIMP in the first place). About the time I started downloading screencaps, though, a friend of mine sent me this one because he thought I'd like it:



Which I do. So that's my signature there. But I kept working on the one I had thought up anyway, and this is what I initially ended up with:



It's not horrible, and I learned a lot about layering (and frustration) while I was doing it, but I didn't really like the text--it didn't pop enough, even with the painstaking white inlining I did. So I started entirely over and ended up with this:



Which I like MUCH better. Without the original second image, which was incredibly white and didn't quite blend in with the other pictures, the font doesn't have to be a really dark color. White stood out well, but seemed too glaring, so I added a faint pink tint to soften it. I know the Colonel looks a bit out of place there--the edges around him are really raw--but I did that partly on purpose to make it jarring, kind of like he is in the Monty Python sketches where he barges in and stops it because it's gotten "entirely too silly."

So that was fun.

More later.

Stats

Necromancer

New words: 798

Total words: 9,928

Favorite phrase: none

Mean things: could have been helping people all along; Necromancy not as intrinsically evil as she thought

----------
Since it's snowing, I'm staying in again today. Unfortunately, that means not getting any prep work done because I left all of that on campus--on purpose, because I didn't want to be guilted into doing work last night after working most of the day yesterday. Now I can't work today, either (well, I guess I could--the roads are clear, after all--but I'm being stubborn and staying in).

However, I did get some writing done, so go me. Now my brain is tired and I'm not even really sure the section I finished is any good, but at least the story's been advanced. That's what first drafts are for, as I often tell my students (usually after they complain that their draft stinks).

Now I'm gonna go throw dinner into the slow cooker and maybe play some video games--not Fable 2; I think I'm getting a bit burned out on that one. Maybe Ratchet and Clank.

More later.

Plans, Schmans

All the stuff I planned to do today? Yeah, I didn't do it. Well, I tinkered with "Truthsayer 2" and did some German work with Rosetta Stone, and then sat and played Fable 2 until I got bored, and then tried to tinker with GIMP, which doesn't feel like doing what I tell it to today, and now I'm sitting here waiting for W.E. to call and tell me he's coming home so I can start dinner cause lord knows I've got nothing BETTER to do.

Might have to get up and actually go to campus tomorrow if I expect to get any actual work done. Blah.

More later.

Don't Wanna Go

This week, it's back to work to get prepped for the Spring semester. I dutifully tromped up to campus yesterday and got quite a bit done, but today it's icky and rainy and COLD, and I'm not leaving my nice, warm, dry apartment for anything. I can work from here. So there.

That said, my plans for today include revising "Truthsayer 2," working on "Hades' Dog Boy," and possibly writing a few more scenes in Necromancer before throwing off all semblance of industry and heading to my X Box 360 for some therapeutic Fable 2 (they're apparently planning THREE MORE GAMES after this one. Be still, my heart).

I'll let you know how it goes.

More later.

Quote of the Day

"Well, in the mideast, as you've probably seen, there's a sinking confidence in this thing that they keep calling the peace process. They process peace over there, boys and girls, like SPAM processes meat!"
-Uncle Jay, Uncle Jay Explains the News

Heh heh.

More later.

Art Lessons

The Buffy-Boards are having an art class for those of us who are brand new to GIMP (or PhotoShop, or whatever). I managed, during the very first lesson, to stumble into the wrong classroom (intermediate instead of beginner), and in the process, made this:



Which is all very nice, but I was supposed to be doing these:



Oops. *sheepish grin* But, hey, I learned something and made a pretty picture. I say bully for me.

More later.

Bannerizing

I've been playing with GIMP more and built a banner for my signature on the Buffy-Boards. Here it is:



It's very simple and no-frills, but I like it. Eventually I'll figure out how to do prettier things, but at least I'm progressing. Yay!

More later.