Florida Bound

My proposal for a paper on the treatment/understanding of maturity in Buffy the Vampire Slayer was accepted for presentation at the 2010 Slayage conference. Yay!

Of course, that means that now I have to write the paper. And then I have to go to Florida. And then I have to read my paper in front of a bunch of people I don't know and may be freakier Buffy nerds than me.

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeek.

Busy, Busy, Busy

I really wanted to get some writing done today. Even just a little bit. Unfortunately, a project for my Chaucer class took up my entire morning, and now my creative brain is shot (I used up all my creative juice for today figuring out how to make the information I have take 20 minutes to relay).

I've been so busy with school and work, in fact, I had to put off a friend whose manuscript I was reading, which made me feel horrible because he read STARS WITHOUT NAME for me, and plowed through it even though he didn't really like it. And I had to send his ms back with only 13 chapters read because I just won't have time to finish before summer.

Speaking of summer, I discovered that during the summer term, Dr. Buffy-Studies will be teaching a graduate level Pop Culture Studies course. I squeed. Unfortunately, if I took it, I'd have to miss two days of class to go to my sister's wedding. I'm not sure Dr. Buffy-Studies will allow that--during a summer course, two days is a lot. So I'm going to ask before I sign up for it. There's also a class on Major British Writers--which probably won't include Tolkien, Lewis, Pullman, or Martin, apparently. Grumble. But, hey, I've got to take something like that sometime, right? And there's still the possibility of a directed reading with Dr. Viking that would include Tolkien, Lewis, Pullman, and/or Martin. And maybe Rowling. So I think I'm covered for summer courses, which is good.

Also, quals. Holy mother of God. I think they will kill me.

Ouchie

The last week has not been fun. Some of you may remember way back in August when I was having severe tooth pain and the dentist told me I needed a root canal? I was trying to save the money for it (I don't have insurance), but the cars breaking down made that difficult. Finally, thanks to financial aid disbursement, I had the money . . . the same day my tooth chipped. Called the dentist--he's closed on Fridays. Mutter mutter, grumble. Called him back on Monday. He was closed for MLK Day. Snarl, growl growl. That night, I made hamburgers, and as I bit into mine, the entire front half of the tooth sheared off.

A long and frantic phone call to 1-800-Dentists later, I had an appointment with a dentist in Nashville (because NONE of the dentists here were taking patients, not even MINE) for an emergency tooth extraction. After x-rays, the dentist informs me that if they'd done a root canal back in August, they could have saved the tooth (thanks for that useless information, Holmes), and in order to prepare my mouth for a bridge, they'd have to do two fillings, and one of those fillings might actually be a root canal. All told, he wanted $4500 to fix three teeth and fit a bridge. Not happening.

So I had the remains of the bad tooth pulled and I have plans to have the next one fixed just so I don't end up in this predicament again, and eventually I might be able to afford a bridge, but not now.

Of course, that same day I had to go to class--exhausted, caffeine withdrawaled, hungry, and sore. Luckily, it was a late class, so the bleeding had stopped and the numbness had worn off. Still wasn't fun.

So that's what I've been doing. Hopefully this is the worst that happens all semester. Other than quals.

Winter Break Reading

This year's list is shorter than most years, but if you consider that I've been working through A Song of Ice and Fire and quals study, it's not too bad:

A Clash of Kings - George R.R. Martin
Fantasy Lover - Sherrilyn Kenyon
The Aesthetics of Culture in Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Matthew Pateman
Heat Wave - Richard Castle
By Blood We Live - ed. John Joseph Adams
The Amber Spyglass - Phillip Pullman
The Subtle Knife - Phillip Pullman
Strip Mauled - ed. Esther Friesner
Changing the World - ed. Mercedes Lackey
Chalice - Robin McKinley
Seven Seasons of Buffy - ed. Glenn Yeffeth
White Witch, Black Curse - Kim Harrison
Valor's Trial - Tanya Huff

Back to the Grind

Classes back in session and my allowed post count on OWW being filled means that writing is slowing down quite a bit. (As does the cat standing on my shoulder and licking my cheek, but that's a different story.) Instead, I'm doing homework (already! I haven't even had a class yet!) and trying to catch up with all the quals reading I didn't do over break. I did quite a bit, just not as much as I wanted or expected to.

Here's what I did get done:
Reading and notes on Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Twelfth Night, "On My First Son" and "To Penshurst" (Ben Jonson), and about half of the Anne Bradstreet poems. That still leaves me with quite a bit to read before the middle of April, when the quals are now officially scheduled. Eek.

I've also nearly finished the bookmarks I'm making for (late) Christmas presents, as well as the homework for the first day of my class on Chaucer and almost all of the reading for my American Lit class.

I feel like I should have done more, which I guess is what slacking off for a full week of a four-week vacation will do for you. No more slacking now; I'm not going to have time. In fact, it may be time to write up an hour-by-hour schedule again just to make sure everything's done and I have time to work on the big projects and quals reading.

Trying to remind myself that it's supposed to be hard, and it's supposed to be stressful, because it's freaking PhD work.

Darkness and Chaos (Stats)

DEVIL'S PIT

New words: 684
Total words: 6,550

Mean things: no joy on ghost-hunting. Dark. Mine being pushy. Elevator broken.

Favorite: The hike back out calmed him, if only because none of us had the energy to be angry. Tray pushed us hard, and I never really felt that I had my breath. My control over my shields slowly eroded, leaking away with each harsh pant, and the mine oozed its way through cracks, rubbed against thin spots, worked its way under the shields and back into my head.

Music:
"Ondine" - Zingaia
"Montagues and Capulets" - Epica

---
Chapter 6 is now officially done. I'll read back through 5 & 6 one more time, then get them posted on the OWW. It'll be the last batch I get to post for awhile; since I've been nominated for an Editor's Choice award*, I can't take down chapters 3 & 4, because people might want to read them, and I shouldn't take down 1 & 2 so people aren't lost. If I win it, I'll have an extra slot so I can put up 7 & 8 (when they're done), and if I don't, I can take the old ones down then. But between school and the nomination, I won't be able to post more for awhile.

Off to take care of that, then homework. Joy.

*The reason for the strikethrough can be found in the addendum to this post.

Hi-ho, Hi-ho (Stats)

DEVIL'S PIT

New words: 593
Total words: 5,866

Mean things: fight.

Favorite: “We don’t have to search randomly,” David said. “We’ve got the Spark. Ready, Adria?”
“As ready as I’m going to get,” I said, giving my psychic walls a mental pat. Darkness and screaming still eddied and flowed outside them, but for now, I was safe and quiet in my own mind.
I wondered just how long that would last.

Music:
"Time to Bring the Pain" - Krypteria
"I Can't Do This" - Plumb

----
Yesterday was definitely a music thing. I realized a few hundred words in today that I hadn't turned it on, and as soon as I did, everything got easier.

In other news, chapters 3-4 of DEVIL'S PIT have been nominated for an Editor's Choice award at the OWW. I'm quite excited and flattered. I'm sure I'm up against some really amazing writers, though. So we'll just see how that pans out at the end of the month.

ETA: It's been brought to my attention that the Editor's Choice is not actually an award, but means that one of the higher-ups in the workshop thought that people could learn something from a critique of that particular section. Now I'm just nervous about it instead of excited. Oh, well.

Hellishness (Stats)

DEVIL'S PIT

New words: 511
Total words: 5,273

Mean things: men being jerks. No more happy blue light. Mine is mean.

Favorite: I braced myself as the psychic darkness slammed into my senses again like the Red Sea closing behind Moses. A few tears leaked out of my eyes and down my cheeks in reaction to the sudden despair that followed the perfect joy that flowed from the Other Side.
This must be what Hell is like, I thought.

----
Just realized that I didn't turn on any music while I was writing. Maybe that's why I had so much trouble. That, and Pepper insisting on being petted and coddled. And a friend making me panic because she thought one of our classes was on Thursday instead of Tuesday. But I did better than I originally thought. I only got about 250 words written on the current chapter, which sucks, but because I did some tweaking to the first 4 chapters based on an OWW critique, I actually wrote quite a bit more than that. But I really wish I'd been able to push all the way to the end of this chapter. Maybe I'll give my brain a break by doing dishes and junk and come back and see if I can do that later.

Classes technically start this week, but since I don't have class/work on Thursday or Friday, and Monday is a holiday, I don't have to be on campus until next Tuesday, which is nice. But it means I have one more week in which I have regular writing time, one more week to power through as much of my quals reading as I can. And I already have homework for my Monday class since we're not meeting next week.

I can't wait until summer.

Crossing Over (Stats)

DEVIL'S PIT

New words: 368
Total words: 4,762

Mean things: ghost knows nothing.

Favorite: As he squinted at the wall of the mine, a bluish-white light exploded into the tunnel. I shaded my eyes, trying to see through the light to whatever lay beyond, but as always, I couldn’t see anything. Blurry shapes moved behind the light, made even more unfocused by the water streaming from my eyes. Randy stared into the light, a beatific smile on his face, and moved into the tear between our plane and wherever that was. As soon as he was through, the tear closed and darkness reigned in the mine again.

Music:
"Boom Boom Ba" - Metisse
"Nobody Loves You" - Garbage

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I used most of my writing time today reading enough stuff on OWW so I could post chapters 3-4 up there. I'm closing on being done with chapter 5.

Flicker, Flicker (Stats)

DEVIL'S PIT

New words: 494
Total words: 4,371

Mean things: back into the mine.

Favorite: He shoved his hands into his pockets and flickered out of sight for a second. David had explained that phenomenon to me once; since spirits weren’t really on this plane, they tended to look like a skipping film reel, perfectly solid-appearing one second, then gone, then back. Older spirits even appeared in black-and-white or sepia tones. I was fascinated by the phenomenon, but it wasn’t my specialty, so I didn’t know exactly why it happened.

----
Not a whole lot done today. I blame it on the heater repair man, who came in to replace our thermostat, and Molly, who I had to take to the vet to get her rabies shot.

I hate it when I decide I'm done for the day, then realize I've left a whole chunk of important stuff out of what I've already written. Grumble, grumble, note to self, off to read a few things at OWW and post the next two chapters.

Back into the Mine (Stats)

DEVIL'S PIT

New words: 766
Total words: 3,883

Mean things: must go back into the mine. Scared. Snippy foreman.

Favorite: I joined him in nodding emphatically. Billy was in a very uncomfortable position, knowing that there were more things in heaven and earth, etcetera, but not sure just what those things were. Or how many of them there were. Or how they would affect his life. Every one of us with the Spark had gone through the exact same thing at some point.

Music:
"Could've Gone Mad" - Poe
"Survive" - Lacuna Coil
"The Other Side" - Sirenia

----
About 350 of those words are from the cuts I made yesterday.

I wanted to finish chapter 4 today, but between the kitten being home (and fine; she's all spayed and while she's being a bit ginger about moving around, she's not in any distress) and hitting a sudden wall where I stared at the last line for 20 minutes with nothing happening, I gave up. I'll finish tomorrow and get chapters 3 & 4 up on OWW.

For now, I think I'm going to do laundry and watch The Fellowship of the Ring with the commentary on just because I've never done that before.

Rescue (Stats)

DEVIL'S PIT

New words: 963
Cut words: 350
Total words: 3,115

Mean things: pushy, angry mine. Couldn't save all the miners. Dirty, smelly, and tired.

Favorite: Gritting my teeth, I shoved at the mine, and it subsided with a faint mutter. The rush of clarity was like the first bite of mint-chocolate ice cream, blessedly cool and clean. I took a deep breath of the dusty air and began picking my way toward the fall.

Music:
"Last Girl on Earth" - Supreme Beings of Leisure
"Requiem for a Tower" - Escala
"Dead Man's Reel" - Suidakra

---
There was one particular conversation that gave just about everyone on OWW trouble no matter how I tweaked it, and I decided that the place I had it was not the right time for that conversation to take place. I'm going to push it into chapter 4, which I haven't even started yet, hence the cuts.

Writing was a chore today, not because this section is boring or anything, but because I had to take the little kitty to the vet to get spayed, and I'm worried about her. I know spaying is a very routine surgery and she'll most likely be fine, but I can't help it. I even kind of miss her habit of jumping up on my desk and batting my pens onto the floor.