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Dilemma

I find myself in a most unexpected problem. 

Because I’ve been sick, I haven’t had the brain power for hard revision, so Revision Xibalba is very much behind where I wanted to be by mid-month.  I’ve also been reading more blogs and groups to pass the time, which has led me to stumble across several submission calls.

Tempting ones.

Saying no has never been one of my strengths, nor is balance.  I’d really like to do all three of these submissions.  (One is already finished, at least the first draft; the other two, I don’t even have ideas for.  Yet!)  But I can’t do both of these others and get the Mayan fantasy revised like I wanted, nor finish worldbuilding and plotting the other idea I had.

Something’s gotta go.  And I don’t wanna.

And yes, at the root of this dilemma is a reluctance to work on the Mayan story.  It’s a hard revision.  I’m juggling more POV threads than I’ve ever attempted before.  I also realized that I’ve got a serious flaw at the beginning.  (What helped point this out was Debra Dixon’s GMC — although I knew it, I’d chosen to ignore it, thinking I could work around the problem.  But I really can’t.)  I need to eliminate one rather useless POV, or at least rewrite the beginning entirely into Ruin’s POV and put this other one in later.

As I said, some hard decisions that have significant impact on the story.  I’m torn between finishing this draft, and going back to fix the beginning.  I’ve decided to continue forward progress, but that beginning is nagging me like a sore tooth.  I’d hoped to send out a few queries once I’m close to the end of the revision, but I can’t do that if the opening is wrong.

It’s really time to buckle down, press my nose to the grindstone, suck it up, and just do it.  The Mayan story is my highest priority.  So I committed.  So I shall do.  Lord help me if I get solid ideas for the other two temptations.  One, I think I could probably handle.  Not both.

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Oooh, Pretty!

The various imprints of Drollerie Press now have their own websites!  Take a look — they’re very pretty.  Of course, you can find *everything* still at the Bookshop, which also received a new look.

Pen Flourish (Romance & Erotica)

Quadrivium (Science Fiction)

Kettlestitch (YA)

Grotesqueries (horror) (I always think of really horrible queries.  Ha.)

Gauffer (mystery)

Chrysography (literary)

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Catching Up

Sorry I’ve not been posting as regularly as usual.  I’m running so low on energy that it’s an effort to do anything, and this has been a very busy weekend.

Yesterday was not only the first day of Upwards Basketball for all three monsters (all playing at different times), but it was also Middle Monster’s 7th birthday.  All three girls had a great time at the games, and as I went with each kid after her game, waited through the “award” ceremony, snacks, etc. then the three hours on the bench went by very quickly.  The two youngest monsters’ games were scoreless — every kid is a winner — but they do keep score on Princess Monster’s games.  Last year, her team lost every single game (8 weeks) and it was so hard to keep upbeat and positive.  It was a terrible — but great — experience for her.  She had to learn to play anyway, even when there’s no hope of winning, and still do her best, as well as losing gracefully.

This year, she had an excellent game from what I saw of it (she played second, so I missed part of it while helping Littlest Monster after her game).  She made several baskets, and thanks to her height (even though she’s one of the youngest on her team), she made several key rebounds and blocks too.  Her team won their game by about ten points, against some really great athletes we’ve met over the years.

Since it was Middle Monster’s birthday, Papa from Mexico made it down, and then went with us to Branson for her birthday dinner at Famous Dave’s.

She asked for a Build-A-Bear for her birthday — gasp, a trip to the dreaded mall! — and she picked out a Scruffy Puppy who’s adorable.  I’ll try to take a picture later.

We planned to go to church this morning.  We’ve missed a couple of Sundays because I’ve been sick.  Unfortunately, I was up most of the night coughing, this time bad enough that I got up and dozed on the couch so everyone else could sleep.  Three doses of Vicks 44 and half a dozen cough drops, I finally got the spasms down and went back to bed around 4 a.m.  Needless to say, we stayed home again.  My cough is even worse today, very chesty and nasty.  The clinic called to see how I’m doing, and she admittted I still sounded bad, but to give it another day or two.

I don’t know how I can possibly work if I’m not sleeping.  I’m exhausted today, despite sleeping in this morning.  I guess I’ll see what kind of night I have again.  I hate calling in to work for a sick day because of a “cold” but this is getting ridiculous.  Even though I won’t infect anyone (I telecommute from home), my brain power is just not there for the level of work I need to be doing right now.

Writing has been beyond me, but reading has been fine.  So I finished the paper-pass on The Road to Shanhasson and got that back to my editor today.  I’m reading a critique for a friend today while watching football.

And trying not to cough up a lung.

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Doctor Visit

After so many of you advised me to go to the doctor — and That Man kept nagging me — I went this afternoon.  It was an utter waste of time, though.  You got it — it’s viral.  My lungs are clear, my sinuses and ears are unaffected.  She told me to quit taking Mucinex since the congestion had gone out of my sinuses, and that if I had difficulty sleeping at night thanks to feeling wonky after decongestant, to take Benedryl instead.

So basically a $20 copay to be told to take Benedryl. 

On the bright side, my blood pressure was good, and it was nice to get confirmation that it’s not pneumonia or bronchitis.  However, I am starting to run a low-grade fever now and I feel “sick” where before I just had a cough and no voice.  This is some “cold” let me tell you.

I’m sure I’ll feel even better after sitting through three hours of basketball games tomorrow.  :wink:

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Book Chat with Cindy Lynn Speer

Continuing our chat about The Chocolatier’s Wife and Beautiful Death, here’s the next questions I asked Cindy and her response.  Head over to Cindy’s blog for my questions/answers re: BD.

How long have you been writing, and where does TCW fit in your bibliography?  And what’s in the works for you next?

I’ve been writing since my teens…about 20 years.  The Chocolateir’s Wife is my third completed book.  Of my first two, Blue Moon is, ironically, my second book.  The first I wrote, Balancing Act, will be out in a year or so.  I’ve also written a lot of short stories and poems.  I wanted to write longer works, but when I was a teen I was more interested in expressing myself…my emotions, what I was going through…in a descriptive way, and I loved poems because I could finish them.  Then I did short stories…when I finished my first novel, it was really a relief! 

And since I missed a week or so over the holidays, I’ll post another.

What’s next for the world of Chocolatier’s Wife? 

As for what’s next for that world…I have several plans.  Someday, I think William is going to have to face the sea…I imagine a mystery, perhaps, happening while he and Tasmin go on a voyage, perhaps to visit cocoa plantations?  I’m not sure.  But I am working on a story set in the “enemy” empire of Pandroth.  I don’t know if I ever will truly write about William and Tasmin again…but I love them so much, it gives me comfort to think I might just.   

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Calling All Gregar Fans

All these threats of making me go to the doctor might be helping me feel better.  Or maybe it was simply eating the first real food of the day.

Or maybe it’s just getting some excellent news!

Tomorrow, “Prometheus Unbound” will be included in the weekly newsletter at All Romance E-Books.  This is a great opportunity to reach new people and let them see a bit of the Mythomorphoses world.  Hopefully they’ll be intrigued enough to come visit Athens with Isabella. 

In pulling together my backlist and coming soon items for the newsletter, Deena and I agreed to target: 

The Road to Shanhasson, March 2009

Which I often called “Gregar’s Book.”

I’ll be making my final pass on paper tonight to make sure all the loose ends are tied up now that I know exactly how the trilogy ends, and then I’ll work with Deena the next few months to ensure the story shines as brightly as Gregar’s ivory rahke.

Oh, and over lunch, I finished the first draft of the short story, which came in just under 2,400 words.  Yes, Virginia, it is possible for me to write something less than 100,000 words!

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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?