Year: 2009

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Intermission

I almost titled this “sick day” but since I’m still working the Evil Day Job, I thought that’d be misleading.  If you’ve been reading my (mostly sparse) Twitters (because I forget to post), you know I’ve had a relapse of the cough.  It went very barky Monday, and by Tuesday I’d lost my voice.  I mean, it’s SHOT.  It’s still gone today.  My cough is almost squeaky because my throat is so sore, and I’m coughing so hard my back is sore too.  That Man keeps after me to go to the doctor and I’m like why?  It’s a cough and a sore throat.  I have no fever.  I know it’s not pneumonia.  It might be bronchitis, but I don’t have the diminished lung capacity like the last time I had it.  My chest doesn’t hurt or feel heavy or bubbly.  It’s a cough.  Even if I do start to run a fever, it’s most likely viral and they won’t be able to give me anything anyway.

So it’s lots of hot tea and orange juice and a steady stream of decongestant, Musinex, Vicks 44, and Sucrets.

I don’t feel that bad, except I don’t have much of an appetite.  Even coffee hasn’t been that appealing (which is fine, because I’ve got less than half a bag of Caribou yet and I don’t know when my order will get here.  Caribou has been very slow to ship lately.)  I haven’t been sleeping good either, but last night wasn’t the cough.  I was rather loopy — possibly thanks to the medicine — and dreamed endlessly about the short story I’m writing.

Oh, did I forget to mention that?  A friend sent me a call for an anthology, and darned if I didn’t immediately get an idea for it.  It’s not my usual fare, but closer to Letters than my other work.  It’s dangerous and definitely out of my comfort zone, so I’m going for it.  I only need 2-4K, which is harder than a whole novel, I think.

Anyway (yes, I’m still taking the medicine, can’t you tell?), I dreamed the ending for the short story.  Over and over.  It was like a “choose your next scene” book and after the first iteration, it didn’t even make sense anymore.  I kept waking up and thinking Ooooh!  Oh, never mind, that was stupid.  Then I’d go back to sleep and dream another ending.  Crazy.

So no dark & early this morning.  No Revision Xibalba.  I did get up a little bit before work and managed to start the final scene of the short thanks to those stupid dreams, and it’s close to being wrapped up.  The title I’m thinking about is so bad I don’t feel comfortable sharing it here.  Ha.  Like I said, totally not my normal fare.  I keep alternating between “Cool!” to “This is dumb” to “I can’t believe I wrote that!”  *blush* 

Needless to say, I have absolutely no expectation that this story will be accepted, and NO, I won’t be giving it away for free (here) if I don’t sell it.  Although if you really want to embarrass me, you could drop me a line and see if you can convince me to see it.

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RX Day 3

(Starting day counts over for 2009)

Not quite as Dark & Early today, but I still got quite a lot accomplished.  As I hoped, a few more paragraphs enabled me to pick up the next scene from the first draft, which was mostly cut and paste.  Then I polished those pages (it was first draft NaNoWriMo quality!)  So a really good morning so far.

I also started working on a short story last night.  Yeah, I need another idea like a hole in the head, but it’s short.  Target length is 2-4K.  I have no idea if I can pull that off, but I love the challenge.

Today: 2,545

NSR total:  37,622

Snippet:

He tilted his head, his eyes grave as he studied her.  “You can read our writing, yet you haven’t actually walked my city?  You haven’t seen the temple?”

She shook her head, braced for laughter, condemnation, and incredulity.  Instead, he nodded solemnly.  “I see.  That is why you made such a grave mistake.”

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Revision Xibalba

So today, it’s back to Revision Hell, or more appropriately, Xibalba, since this is the Mayan fantasy.  I didn’t plan to do a full “dark & early” schedule this week, but That Man had to be up early for work, so I’m up too.  Unfortunately, we both had a really bad night of sleeping.  Yes, I’m still coughing.  The monsters were up way too late, dreading the return to school, I suppose.  All in all, I’m feeling pretty much like death warmed over, but I did get a little writing done.

I’m still frantic about that notebook.  It had all my character diagrams in it.  For the newer characters, like Dr. Tara Portman and Special Agent Quinn Salazar, those were the only notes I had about their dark secrets.  I think I remember most of what I need, but what if I don’t?  It also held the original timeline paradigm for each act with my notes about each character thread.  I never fully translated those sheets into my Excel doc.  Again, I think I remember most of what I need…but I might not, either.

I must find that notebook.  The problem is, I can’t remember how long ago I had it.  I’m pretty sure I took it in the car with me on a recent trip.  Perhaps over Christmas?  But I can’t remember why I would have done that, unless I thought I might work on the Mayan story in the car.  I knew I wouldn’t really start on it until January, though, so that doesn’t quite make sense.  I guess I’ll start calling people and see if I left it at their house, but surely they would have called if they’d found it.  I already looked in the car, but I’ll check again, under the seats, everywhere.  I’ve been through all my usual places to stash things in the house, and bribed the monsters with a reward if they can find it.

Yet it’s still gone.  :cry:

ETA:  I FOUND IT!  And I can’t even blame the monsters for misplacing it.  It was downstairs on the wrong side of my recliner, underneath a small plastic container of art supplies. 

This morning, I started the next scene.  It should eventually connect with the first draft where I can cut and paste, but so far, it’s all new words.

Words:  920

NSR second draft:  35,077

Snippet:   

“He was a fool to tamper with magic of which he had no understanding.”  The arch of his eyebrow asked whether she was as big a fool.  He leaned forward, his eyes glowing brighter.  “Don’t you understand, lady?  Fresh from Xibalba where they’ve been imprisoned an eternity, they were still powerful enough to kill me.  Meanwhile, each moment they’re free, they’re killing and gaining power with every drop of blood.  I have no magic strong enough to force them back.  They’ll spread rot, disease, death, and torture, from sea to sea, people to people, as quickly as possible.  I can’t stop them.  Yet I must if I’m to save any of our people at all.”

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Prepping

While the New Year has come and gone, it still feels like a vacation/holiday to me until the monsters go back to school.  Tomorrow.  Thank the Lord!  Today is Princess Monster’s 10th birthday, so I took this day off, probably my last vacation day for quite a while.  Basketball starts up this week, and with all three playing, our weekends are shot for the next 8 weeks.

Meanwhile, I’ve been reading (4 books since I finished Return) and watching movies (Hellboy, Princess Mononoke, Seven Samurai).  I’ve also been clearing the slate, so to speak.  Getting Gregar, Mykal, and Dharman out of my head has proven more difficult than I expected, but slowly I’ve been switching gears to the Mayan fantasy. 

Unfortunately, I’ve misplaced my orange folder that has some of my notes in it (e.g. the monsters probably cut it up to make artwork).  I have my index cards and spreadsheets, but now my mind is mourning that folder (even though I can’t remember what’s in there).  I’ve read the nearly 120 pages I’ve polished, but I’m mentally stuck.  I can’t remember how this scene was going to end (note to self:  never leave a work in the middle of a scene without notes.  But what if I made notes and now just can’t find them??)  So I might have to skip ahead or something.

I plan on using this week to slowly work myself back to a Dark & Early schedule, stretching those writer muscles and freeing up those brain cells, building momentum day by day until I’m back to full speed.

I really want to finish Revision Xibalba this month, but after seeing how many scenes I still have to go (some of which haven’t been drafted yet), I may need another month.  We’ll see.  I have the query written and the list of agents I want to target.  I have a bad synopsis that I’ll need to throw out and rewrite, but the proposal package is just about ready.  I don’t have high hopes with the market in turmoil.  Plus, this idea isn’t as fresh as it was when I first came up with it.  I’ve minimized some of the “common” elements and highlighted what I think makes this story unique.  We’ll see if I get any nibbles.

I’m also going to use this slower time to get back into a regular exercise routine.  Nothing too strenuous to start, but after killing myself through NaNoWriMo, my back and knees need to get back to work!  The bright side of two hours of basketball practice every week (two of the monsters have practice at the same time) is more time to walk on the track.  It gets really boring since the track is so small, but it’s better than sitting on that uncomfortable bench.

How’s your new year going?

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Mistakes that Shatter the Illusion

The trick to fantastic storytelling is to let the characters make mistakes that are meaningful and significant to the arc, not merely stupidity elements to advance the plot.  The latter shatters the illusion.

It’s like when Zorro fell off Toronado in the first Antonio Banderas version.  Or when the Batcave was so easily destroyed by Jim Carrey’s Enigma.  Or was it Penguin?  I can’t remember (I blocked it from my memory.)  Or Lord help me, when Scarlett turned her back on Tara IMMEDIATELY in that horrible sequel to Gone With the Wind.  It’s those moments that make you scratch your head and roll your eyes.  No one with true understanding of the character would ever allow that to happen.  Right?  Surely Batman would have had SOME security on the Batcave!  RIGHT?

What does this have to do with the Night Angels trilogy I devoured this week?

I finished up book 3 tonight and in my most humble opinion, it was the weakest of the trilogy.  Instead of finishing at a crashing crescendo, it shattered the illusion.  Kylar did something really dumb and it bugged the hell out of me.  His great weapon/gift, the black ka’kari that made him the immortal Night Angel, failed him.  Or he failed it, I’m not sure.  Surely this incredibly powerful artifact that enabled the previous Night Angel to live nearly 700 years would have a few security alarms in it.  Surely the great wetboy I’ve come to admire after well over 1000 pages would notice if someone stole his SWORD?  (while he was wearing it, no less) And replaced it with a fake?  And by the way, his sword was another incredibly powerful artifact. 

It had to happen for the plot, but it shattered the awe-inspiring illusion the story had carried up to that point.  Until then, I would have said this trilogy ranked as one of my all-time favorite reads.  After that stupidity element, the magic was broken for me.  I finished the book and was pleased, but it wasn’t the same.  The veil had been pulled aside, ever so briefly, and I couldn’t forget.

I know.  I’m not a very forgiving reader.  I can’t help it.  Except for this one thing, it was a fantastic series.  Thereafter, a few other tricks/surprises were stretched too thinly.  Because my trust in the illusion had already been shaken?  Very likely.  The surprises just didn’t have that same oomph.  They weren’t as well supported and hinted at, more like TADAH! moments that I didn’t quite buy.

Still, a great trilogy.  I would definitely read more by this author.  But I ended the trilogy not as emotionally invested in the end as I hoped.  Guy Gavriel Kay’s Finovar Tapestry’s final book had me SOBBING.  I read that book at least a decade ago and still love it.  Just thinking about it can make me tear up, my heart aching with all the wonder and magic, agony and suffering, love and victory.  

Beyond the Shadows left me muttering if only…if only… if only.

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Shadow’s Edge by Brent Weeks

Beware, I have entered the Reading Twilight Zone.  I will not come out until I’m finished.  Hence, the perils of letting myself read when I’m supposed to be writing.

I finished book 2 of the Night Angels trilogy last night and it was as good as the first book.  Third book is well underway already this morning.

I’ve always loved assassins (e.g. Gregar), and Kylar doesn’t disappoint.  In this world, assassins are something to be sneered at, and he’s much, much more than even the standard “killer for hire,” aka wetboy.  He struggles, he dies, only to return to life, and only now has he learned the cost of those lives.  The characters aren’t strictly white or black, but a blend of mistakes, honor, morals, beliefs, and confusion.  People die (although this isn’t as bad as a George R.R. Martin wedding, snicker), and there’s a cost for everything.

I think the third book is suffering just a bit because of the demise of the Godking at the end of book 2.  There’s more inter-character conflict than any single antagonist to fight, and characters are trying to work out some of their mistakes.  It’s still good, just not as bam slam thank you ma’am action and surprises as the first two books.  The surprises were excellent.  I mean, when a character isn’t afraid to die, the surprises have to be intense.  Now, Kylar knows the cost he has to pay if he dies and comes back, and now, he’s going to have to face that fear.

I should finish book 3 today and I’ll post my final thoughts.

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The Best Read of 2009

As for reading pleasure, 2009 is starting off with a bang.  I just finished The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks.  Note the time of this post.  No, I don’t have the day off tomorrow.  So I’ll be dragging myself up in a matter of hours for the Evil Day Job, but it was totally worth it.

The dang book was so good I had to read the bit of book 2 at the end even though it’s so late.

I’m too tired to wax poetic about the book’s qualities.  The book is dark.  It opens with children suffering, abusing each other in dismal poverty.  But Azoth took my heart and wouldn’t let me stop reading, and Logan, Jarl, Elene, Uly, Mamma K, and yes, even Master Durzo Blint, took another piece of me.  Azoth’s training as a wetboy was engrossing.  No blow was spared.  Even the terrifying Godking is an incredibly interesting character.

So if this is a sign of all the great stories I’ll be reading in 2009, my giddy reader’s heart shouts bring it on!  Book 2 in this series is next, and I have Stay the Night by Lynn Viehl winging its way to me, too.

Meanwhile, my writer’s heart is feeling rather guilty because all I finished today was a single chapter in the Mayan story.  But I did touch it, and I made some hard cuts.  I need to focus the story better and concentrate on the original concept that’s more unique than what seems to have become rather run of the mill. 

Now it’s an Advil for my eyestrain headache, and off to bed, with visions of lots of hot coffee in the morning while I plug away on my big project at work and steal lustful looks of longing at my stack of books and my waiting story.

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Passionate Pen Anniversary

I’ve been a fan of Jenna Petersen and her Passionate Pen website for years.  Her Agent List is one of the first places I check before sending out a new query.  Celebrating ten years of providing all sorts of great articles and information to aspiring writers, Jenna is having an incredible year of contests.  This month, enter to win a three chapter critique by Jenna’s own agent, the fabulous Miriam Kriss!