November 2005

Mostly Writing
Sometimes, it is hard to get to journal entries when I'm focusing so much on my other writing. I dedicated the month of November to finally doing the "final" polish on Regresser's Evolution, a novel I wrote a couple years ago during a NaNoWriMo. It's gone through two rounds of reader critiques so far. This is the third one. Also, as I have not seriously worked on this story for a couple years, I am looking at it with fresher, more experienced eyes. To date, my editing looks something like this:

"Oh my god! What was I thinking here?" *hack*slash*delete* "Adverb? Gone. Another adverb? Gone. Another... what the heck was it with my love of adverbs? And ellipses? And random commas?! If my characters actually spoke out loud, they'd all sound like Shatner!" *edit*delete*rewrite* "Man, Ice was right about the consistency here. M'ris has some really good technical suggestions and man, she's right! What was up with the interior decorator bit?" *edit*hack*slash*edit* "Whoops, forgot to threaten the world here. Sort of loses the whole motivation factor without that."

So on and so forth. It is very interesting coming back to a first (ok, third, but first almost publishable) novel with fresh eyes and a much more experienced editor's opinion. I think by the time I am done, this novel will be worth sending out without wincing. I won't be embarrassed to have my author friends reading it if they want to.

Of course, as I have dedicated this month to "only" to Regresser's Evolution, I have had far too many writing ideas that have insisted on coming out. So, I'm doing that writing at night and not during my morning writing time. I completed "The Chateau de Mons" for Grants Pass and polished it this weekend. I'm not going to send it out to my 1st Round Readers group until I get "The House of Hands" back. Speaking of which, my mom pointed out why I really need an editor and/or a 1st Round Readers group. Lots of little stupid spelling mistakes or words dropped out.

I have emailed all my players for The Edge of Propinquity and cancelled the game. I just don't have time to GM 12-15 people on a weekly basis. I did not think I would get more than 4 or 5 people interested in the game. Maybe in the future, if I try it again, I will specifically invite a small number of players to start.

However, that is not the death of TEoP. You see, I have a Cunning Plan(tm). It is a very cool plan. I will be sending out emails this week to interested authors. Personally, I think it is a neat idea. I hope everyone else thinks so as well. Best of all, it does not put all of the responsibility on me! I will just be in charge of my own stuff and be the chief cat herder.

Oh, yeah, the editor of Savvy Insider contacted me and asked if she could use my "Estate Planning Blues" post as part one of a two or three part series on Estate Planning in the finance section of SI. I'm not sure if it going to be a feature or not. We'll see. It should be published on Tuesday, the 8th.

After reading about how Seattle rental prices are about to spike because of the trend of people snapping up all rental properties, I've decided it really is best if I don't sell my home. It's a pretty nice place and I really do like it. I know the news article was talking specifically about downtown Seattle areas like Belltown and Queen Anne but that sort of thing will spread to the East side soon enough. I figure Seattle rentals will jump up in the next year or so. That means two years for the spike to hit the Redmond-Kirkland-Bellevue area and three years radiating outward to hit places like Woodinville.

Also, I turned down the STE Lead job offer I recently received for a couple of reasons. The main reason was that I didn't like the guy who would be my manager, followed closely by the facts that the job seemed very stressful and there was no VPN for working at home. Here at EED, I have a laidback boss, an excellent VPN system that allows for regular work at home as needed and the whole bullpen thing has turned out a heck of a lot better than I thought it would. Surprisingly enough, I have more privacy now than I did in my old cube that was in a high traffic area. For the most part, the only thing I have to worry about is chatty co-workers in the immediate area and that can be dealt with easily enough with headphones.

So, it sounds like work and home are going to remain the same. I like my home a lot. I like my job a lot. I can always visit Lake Washington (which was VERY cold this weekend) and work at home when I need to.

Tarot Card for the Day: Three of Pentacle, Inverted

Motivation and Progress
This last week was good for me for a couple of reasons. First, I decided I needed a little help in the motivation department on my weight loss. Team Volare (a group of friends who have bonded together over the most politically incorrect behavior possible of which I am an honorary memory) has a history of motivational betting for such things. Though, they usually involve the wearing of silly clothing. I was frightened by this idea but the Sparkle Kitten was not about to back down over a little thing such as silly clothing.

Fortunately for me, after I put the call out for motivational bets, more than my Team Volare brethren responded. Heather bet me a visit, the loser pays for the plane ticket. El Grimm Fandango, the Tango Dancer of Death (AKA Dave, one of the founders of Team Volare) bet me an hour of serving at the convention. I tacked on that he had to wear his Bishop coat. I'm rather fond of it. El Comadreja Llameante (AKA Ryan and not part of Team Volare) threw down the gauntlet in style with a 1000+ word epic poem on the wonderfulness of the winner by the end of February 2006. Monica bet me a bottle of good Riesling to be bought by the loser. Finally, and I'm not sure if he was joking or not, Barry threatened to donate $300 in my name to an odious organization if I lost. If I win, I'm guessing he won't.

I think I can say that I am properly motivated to reach my goal weight by Feb 16th, 2006. In fact, I have started on my changes this morning. Instead of going to the café and getting my usual double tall white chocolate mocha with whip, I brought in spiced cider. This will save me about 400 calories and $3 a day. I've been meaning to make this switch for some time now but, the mocha is very tasty, the caffeine wakes me up and the morning ritual was kind of nice. Overcoming the inertia and shifting the morning ritual hasn't been fun. I've been yawning all morning. When the lack-of-caffeine headache hits, I have my Excedrin waiting.

Lunch ideas are shaping up to look something like this: V8, 100 calorie Pringles snack pack, a slice of Swiss cheese and, if I'm still hungry, some deli ham. Dry roasted almonds for an afternoon snack. Dinner is going to be the interesting option. Especially if I'm having a bad eating day (the band, she is a fickle bitch). I'll stick to the meatball and veggie or soup and popcorn options. I'm really happy to discover I can eat popcorn. It satisfies the mind, the taste buds and the tummy.

The Edge of Propinquity website is starting to shape up. Rory has made the changes I wanted him to do so it looks like what I envisioned. Now, time to get the bio and world information from the other authors. I am very excited by this project. It makes me wonder why I didn't try to do something like this soon. Probably because it never occurred to me that other authors might actually want to create something like this with me.

Tonight, we had our first TEoP meeting. It went really well. Four of the five core TEoP members were there and we got all of the necessary information out of the way. It was a good talk and I think I got everything across that I wanted to. It's not easy being the Chief Cat Herder of a bunch of creative people but so far, so good. Everyone is enthusiastic and I like it.

Editing Regresser's Evolution is moving along at a good clip. However, there is something I really must get off my chest in the style and spirit of my friend Heather.

Dear Novel,

What the hell is it with your protagonist constantly going to the extremes in emotions? That girl is up and down like a friggin' pogo stick. She doesn't do anything half way. It's like watching a manic depressive on speed. The chick is a couple centuries old, so, she wouldn't immediately be on the edge of panic at the first sound of an alarm. Oh, sure, it might startle her but people don't freak out immediately.

You know what happens when I hear an alarm? "Ow. That's loud. Fire drill? Fire drill." Ok. Get the purse, phone and iPod. Lock the computer, put on the jacket and follow the herd outside. "Damn. That's loud." That's it. No edge of panic. No moving around to for the "need to do something" and it does not take a "burst of inspiration" to consult the computer to find out what a "type two" emergency is. Especially when she had just spent the last bloody hour using that computer to figure out things about the ship! People are slow to panic. Most people do not spend their days in extreme emotion. So, please, tone it down.

KTHXBYE,
The Author

As you can see, I have been doing some serious editing. I suppose, when I wrote this, everything went to emotional extremes because it was "dramatic." Right now, it's just pissing me off. I've put the protagonist on sedatives so she can act a lot more like a normal person would. Not to mention, filing off some of her smugness. I was very surprised when one of my reader critics mentioned that he felt nothing for the protagonist but was far more interested in the secondary characters. Now, I see why.

Tarot Card for the Day: Four of Pentacles

Projects & Stuff
I have a lot of personal irons in the fire right now. Probably more than I should have but, at least it is keeping me busy and moving forward. Most of these are writing based. I suppose that's because I'm so writing focused right now. I know if I have ever been so focused in such a productive manner before.

Regresser's Evolution - Active - I'm on page 110 of 140 for editing with less than 10 days to finish. I'm starting to feel the pressure but I know that I've improved the quality of the novel a thousand fold. I have finally figured out where to put the additional chapter that will shore up plot and information holes. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to write it during the month of November but I will get it done in the beginning part of December. That puts me sending out my first query letters sometime in January. Frankly, that last thought is terrifying.

Grants Pass - Active - I'm two-thirds the way to my minimum word count goal. Stories are still coming in at a slow but steady pace. I want to be sending out the query letters to publishers by Spring of next year. Hopefully, one of the bigger publishers will be interested in picking it up. If not, I've got some leads on some good small press companies. I'm still poking at the big name authors I can get hold. Maybe one of them will bite soon. I suppose after the experience of writing query letters for RE, this should an easier task.

The Edge of Propinquity - Active - I'm very excited about this webzine. We've got the authors, the listserv, the LJ community and a lot of the over all tech decisions done. I suppose December will be mostly focuses on TEoP, getting it all set, doing research on my own set of stories as well as writing the January story. I really can't wait to see what else I get from everyone. When I'm not thinking of RE, I usually thinking of TEoP.

Kendrick - Mostly active - My goal of getting my backlog of Kendrick stories written and in circulation continues, slowed as it has been by my month of editing. My TEoP story arc for 2006 is set in the Kendrick world and I intend it to be the kind of story arc that glues a lot of the different Kendrick signature places and characters together. In the meantime, I just got back another story rejection from Strange Horizons. Le sigh. But, that means when I finish the final polish on House of Hands, I can send that in for consideration.

Website revamp - Sort of Active - Some of you may not know it but I've had my main website since 1994. I never really had a plan on how to set it up. I just sort of cobbled it together, letting pages and branches build on it haphazardly until it has become this Frankenstein monster of hard coded links, outdated documents and random image placement. Believe me when I say that it needs to be completely torn down and redone in a much simpler, logical manner. This means I'm going to have to literally rewrite it from scratch. I'm thinking about how I want to set it up and I've been mucking about it with designs. I think I've come up with a test design that I like. Of course, I liked the last design I came up for about three weeks before I decided it was too fussy. I'm going to let this one stew a bit before beginning the long arduous task of rewriting my site. There is so much that is going to be cut away.

Estate Planning - Sort of Active - Well, I bought the fireproof, waterproof lockbox. It's still in its packaging. I haven't looked at the paperwork in weeks and I know I should. Maybe over Thanksgiving. I don't really want to look at it but I know I need to, if only for the cat.

Dream tome - Less Active - I finished up 1999 and stalled. Stupid reasons (the table isn't cleared enough for me to work) and general laziness. I haven't been disciplined in my work habits on this project. I might be too distracted by the writing I've been focused on. I need to figure out a good system for this.

Dead tree project - Not Active - This is a project I've been thinking about for a while. I would like to print out all of my stories and file them. All of them. The bad gamer fiction. The random flashers, poetry and aborted stories. I don't know why I want to do this but I do.

In other areas of life, work is going well enough but my 'innocent' QA based questions about the current project has opened one heck of a can of worms. So, now, it appears that, if nothing else, I am spearheading the investigation in to the performance testing of our product. Note: I have not perf testing experience. This is going to be interesting. But, you know what? It needs it and I have the desire to see it get done. If nothing else, we can do some basic baby perf tests and beef them up with automation.

Also, I'm going to be adventurous tomorrow night. I will be visiting the local sex positive BDSM club for their "Drop In" night with a friend of mine who has been patiently asking me to join them for months now. There will be no play involved. At least, not on my part. I just want to go and get a feel for the place. See if our vibes resonant or not. I'm hoping so because I'm constantly semi-joking about needing a good beating. We'll see. I'm being brave. You all should be proud of me.

Tarot Card for the Day: Four of Pentacles, Inverted

Off the Hook
I got called for jury duty for the 28th and 29th. Basically, as they say "two days or the length of one trial." The trial I got stuck in the pool for on Monday is going to be really messy, emotional and sucky. I really, really did not want to be on the jury for this one. But, I prepared myself to do so and perform to the absolute best of my ability because I absolutely believe in civic duty. This means voting. This means serving on a jury.

However, this trial took two and a half days to select the jury and it is scheduled to run from today to the 16th of December. That's because it is a theft-kidnap-rape trial. Complex and messy. After all the questioning is done of the potential jurors, each side gets a certain number of challenges. I was dismissed from the jury by the skin of my teeth. I was literally the last jury member that could be dismissed. I watched the Defense lawyers look between me and another guy for a very long moment. It was close but I think I was just a little too sharp and opinionated during the questioning for their taste. I kept countering them.

Lawyer: You believe X with this added caveat.

Me: No. That's not what I said. You added a caveat to the end of that statement.

Lawyer: And I am allowed to do that.

Me: Then, I am allowed to call you on it.

Lawyer: Does that change your answer?

Me: Yes. If it is the situation as you originally asked it, I believe X. When you add the caveat, I believe Y.

Lawyer: So, you believe it depends on the context of the relationship.

Me: Yes.

Lawyer: Fair enough.

I'm just glad I'm not on the jury for this trial. It has played merry hell with my writing schedule and I never thought I would be longing to be at work instead of reading. (I read 2.5 books in the last 3 days.)

Speaking of writing... today is the 30th and I am not done editing Regresser's Evolution. I'm on page 128 of 140. I might be able to get the editing done tonight but I'm not sure. Hopefully. Technically, I do have until December 3rd because that's the end of the week. However, I had wanted to spend the rest of the week writing up the additional chapter between Araquez and the Captain I have to add in order to fill in some informational gaps as well as correct a couple of misconceptions. I've added about 3000 words so far in the edit despite the thousands of words I have deleted as crap writing. Ah, well. I guess January, instead of December, will be my query writing month.

Continuing the writing status, Strange Horizons rejected another one of mine while Peridot Books bought The Komatsu! I'm really happy about this sale. The Komatsu was the first story I sent to my new 1st round readers group. It seems to prove their value and necessity. Also, Peridot Books was one of my personal "Big Three" to get my speculative fiction published in: Strange Horizons, Black Gate and Peridot Books. I think I need to find some other prestigious magazines/webzines to shoot for as well. I know some off the top of my head but this would need me to get over my fear of doing hardcopy submissions.

In further news, I explained what TTF was to an author friend of mine and he thought it was a very, very cool idea. Thus, pounding another nail into the coffin of "Must Do" projects. I will find time. Really. Honest. The RE edit is almost done. Sure, I can fit another 70K+ word project into my schedule. No problem.

Oh, yeah. My birthday is coming up. December 9th. It's a Friday and the premiere of "The Chronicles of Narnia." I really want to go see that on my birthday with friends. Anyone else interested in coming with me?

Tarot Card for the Day: Five of Pentacles