Quote of the Moment

"What's Past Is Prologue." - William Shakespeare

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

May Is Almost Over - Time To Rejoice!

Again, it's been a while since I posted. Let's just say, I'm a bit too pleased that May is coming to an end. I have good reasons for not blogging, really I do.

Oh, if you want the good news, scroll down to the end of the post.

Well, as stated in my last post, I had my wisdom teeth removed. That sucked. About two weeks ago my husband got sick, and in turn, I got what he had, but three times worse. Not over-exaggerating. He had a fever for one day, whereas I had a fever for three days. Just as I was getting over all of that junk (and I still have a nasty cough and some lovely phlegm), it was time for WisCon. I just returned from WisCon yesterday, and I would have posted while I was there, but I again had patchy internet. I swear it's my laptop.

Well, WisCon was fun. I think in future years though I need to make sure at least one friend is there as well. I am socially inept to begin with - wandering through the parties by myself just makes me feel lost, especially since everyone is in their groups and conversations. No way am I bold enough to interject myself into a conversation.

I especially enjoyed the panel "Make Shit Up." It reconfirmed to me that I need to shut up that little voice in my head, which makes me consider what others would think of what I'm writing, when I'm working on the first draft. Nicolla Griffith called it The Parrot. Perfect comparison. I need to make sure I am writing for the shear joy and eagerness to get a story that's in my mind down on paper. In other words, I need to get back into writing for myself first. And hearing that everyone else on the panel does just that made me feel a hell of a lot better. I don't know if it was the two years at Seton, or that I have become a bit more touchy to critiques, but I have been focusing too much on if others are going to like what I'm writing, and it freezes me up, and then I don't finish the first draft.

So, I think I have to set a new rule for myself. No one is allowed to see what I've written until I have a full first draft done. I had the beginning of Daina's Dance critiqued for the WisCon Writers' Workshop. I was so excited with the idea and the novel, and now after the crit I feel as if it is all really pointless and I'm not going to be able to do it the way I wanted to. I am discouraged to finish the first draft even to see where it's all going. Now if I had that first draft done, revisions suck anyway, so I wouldn't need the excitement I need for a first draft to propel me to the end. That make any sense? Hopefully I'll get over it and finish the first draft of Daina in the future. Perhaps I'll work on the sequel to Mind Behind the Mind now, especially since Tessa and Bastian are giving me a headache, insisting I return to them and tell their damn stories. I wish Daina was a more insistent character, but then she wouldn't fit in with my vision.

Goals for this week? Update my website. Figure out how to inform Luna of my change of address, since I have yet to hear back from the query I sent months and months ago. Catch up with my online writing groups. Figure out LiveJournal (only so I can connect with friends and communities on LJ - this blog is still where I will post, and I will never leave it because LJ is already frustrating me with figuring things out). Finish that "Hell" story...I won't call it a short - I might not have typed up all the handwritten pages yet, but it's well over 25 typed pages now I'd say. E-mails - oh man I am so neglectful. And way too many other things.

*** Here is the good news I mentioned way at the top. I know, this should probably have been posted first. It was going to have its own post earlier this month, but that didn't happen. The anthology Modern Magic: Tales of Fantasy and Horror is now available to purchase. My story "Kindled Morphogenesis" is the first one in the antho, among many other excellent stories (and awesome artwork). You can purchase a copy online at Fantasist, Amazon, or Barnes and Noble. Now go buy it. ;)

Okay, that's all for now. Happy writing! :)