I'm Dishonorable!

Well, the 2009 Bulwer-Lytton Contest results are in, and I am one of the Miscellaneous Dishonorable Mentions for this finely crafted piece:

On a lovely day during one of the finest Indian summers anyone could remember--a season the Germans call "old wives' summer," obviously never having had Native Americans to name things after, but plenty of old wives, and "Indian summer" in German would refer to the natives of India in any case, which would make even less sense than the current naming system--on such a day, however named, John Baxter fell in the creek and drowned.

Let the accolades flow in!

Getting Nowhere Fast

A couple of days ago, I realized I had to get better organized with my materials for my thesis. Also, I needed to get energized, so I made myself a sign:

I am the queen of the organizers. I will organize the hell out of this shit!

That is taped onto the picture hanging in our dining room above the bench, which has its own signs for the different sections of my thesis. I made piles of materials under the signs, and the best thing is that I can put my piles on the floor under the bench--still sorted!--whenever we need to be able to sit down at the table.

Now if I can just get the sorted materials digested and organized into a coherent structure...

(Hannah loves to read this sign, but she bleeps out the bad words.)

And there was life after all...

I didn't fall of the earth, though it kinda looks like it by way of my postings here. Things have been in an upswing around the place lately and that means the old writing juices are free to flow again. I've been pondering my RANSOM story and might actually get a chance to drag it out and shake the dust off of it this weekend. We'll see how far I get and report back later.

So slow

I got some work in yesterday on my thesis, and a little on an editing gig. Today, I taught 2 classes and then took Hannah back to the doctor about her cast, and then came home and made dinner. Now I am bushed, but tomorrow I'll get back into gear.

Kee--how's things?

You've Got that Squeezy Feeling

I have so much to do, I am starting to feel the first flutterings of panic. *deep breath*

*Deep breathing not helping*

*Fetal position*

Maybe another time with the blogging...

TA DA!

I finished all 15 articles from my editing job! Woo! Now I am just waiting for feedback from the last 4 authors, and this is job is DONE! YAY! And it only took me 82 hours to get through 205 pages. Actually, now that I think about it, that's not so stupendous, but at least it is over.

What's Your Daily Routine Like?

Just came across an interesting blog that details "how writers, artists, and other interesting people [such as the 44th President of the United States] organize their days."

Daily Routines

I've just skimmed through the first few entries so far, but I have enjoyed seeing how other "creative types" structure their work.

Personally, I am not very organized, but I have discovered recently that I can get up, make some coffee and get Hannah out the door, and get immediately to work (on the current editing job). I am going to be screwed if I ever get an office job again. :-P

Imperial

I have reached the point in editing one article that "imperial" no longer looks like a real word.

Words, words, everywhere words

Let me just say that I don't think "hypothecate" is a real word.

Moving on, I have a few hundred pages to edit before the end of the month and many hundred pages to read for my thesis as soon as possible. Why do I get myself into these things?

So if you are looking for me, I'll be trapped under my laptop for the foreseeable future.

Updating me

Just a little note to let you know that I updated my profile info. It was really out of date with the line about me "recently" quitting my job. I couldn't believe it when I saw I had three hundred hits on it. Who'd have thunk?

I'm going to work on Ransom. Maybe I'll have a post soon about it.

BookEnds, LLC — A Literary Agency

I had a minute and look what I found! Look at the 3/24 post...

BookEnds, LLC — A Literary Agency

Have a GREAT rest of the day!

Thesis Update

Not that there's much to update on. I've been reading and making notes, but not nearly enough, which is something I am trying to fix. I am starting to feel the pressure--just a little--especially since one of my professors said he'd like to read my thesis after I turn it in, and my supervisor mentioned my thesis to a colleague, who then recommended a couple of articles/bibliographies for me to check out, but why was she talking about my thesis to other people, and *agggggghhhh*! Ok, time for a deep breath. *inhale, exhale* Better now.

Back to the article I am reading.

Updated Reading List

Well, it doesn't look like I am going to get around to book-reporting my reading list, so I might as well just tell you what I've read recently:

Vile Bodies, by Evelyn Waugh

Most people are familiar with Brideshead Revisited, but since this was recommended to me, I gave it a try as my first Evelyn Waugh. I liked it--terse but absurd.

Herr Bello und das blaue Wunder, by Paul Maar and Ute Krause ("Mr Bark" and the blue miracle)

A kids' book about a dog that drinks a mysterious blue potion that turns him into a human. Hijinks ensue.

Lord of the Flies, by William Golding

I remember that the other advanced English class in 12th grade read this, something I resented at the time, but obviously not very much, because it took me 18 years to get around to reading it on my own (and it has been sitting on my bookshelf for probably 4 years). The writing didn't really do much for me, but I was totally hooked for the last 4 or 5 chapters, racing through to see how it ended.

Schepper, by Iris A. Otto ("Rattler" (of bones))

A girl has a skeleton for a friend, who may or may not be imaginary. I thought the girl was pretty obsessed with death--the story starts with her great-aunt dying--but Hannah, who has also read the book, disagreed.

Now I am reading a book about archaeology and the Anglo-Saxons.

I wouldn't have believed how much a difference broadband would make to this dial-up hold out. Buts I gots to say...wow. I'm lovin' it. And it sweetens the deal that we got in with a *guaranteed* lifetime rate of less than what I paid for the dial-up. Yeah, I know. One, it was a great deal, and, two, *guaranteed* lifetime is not saying a whole lot these days...but we'll ride it as long as it lasts.

Anyhoo...the writing will have to wait a wee bit longer. I am having to work on my taxes. There's a bit of a situation and so it takes top priority. Of course, this top priority has already been interrupted with the procrastination bug, hence the visit to the blog that I have only looked at twice in the last 4 months or so. But said procrastination is taking so much less time with the already mentioned wonderful broadband..woohoo!

Hopefully, next week will see me zipping through some long pent-up writing ideas.

Time for a kick

I recently heard from Kee that she is pretty well settled into her new job, AND she got broadband, so there are no excuses for no updates from her. *hint, hint* We want to hear some writing progress, pronto!

Mini-Book Report: Krabat, by Otfried Preußler

I forgot to mention earlier that the city library is closed until June for renovation, which is one reason I decided to work on my book backlog. But I am not limiting myself to my own personal books; Hannah has lots of books—especially English and German classics—I haven’t read, so they are also fair game.
After Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, I picked up Krabat, by Otfried Preußler, from Hannah’s stash. It won a lot of international awards and was even made into a movie last fall. Interestingly enough, Hannah’s class was reading it at the time, but they couldn’t go to see the film as a class because the minimum age to get in was 12, which meant a bunch of the sixth-graders were too young to be admitted without a parent. John read it when Hannah was done with it, and now I’m reading it.

I saw where it was published in English under the title The Satanic Mill, which would probably be a big turn-off for American parents, but the story is a lot more subtle and unsettling than such a blunt title might suggest.

Krabat is an orphan who finds his way to a mysterious mill after having the same dream 3 nights in a row. Things happen repeatedly in threes throughout the book, and this ratchets up the suspense. Krabat is taken on as an apprentice at the mill; he realizes things aren’t exactly what they seem, but only later does he discover that milling is only part of this training. He and the other 11 apprentices are also taught black magic. Most days pass uneventfully, but at midnight during the new moon, the apprentices must work feverishly in a secret part of the mill, grinding who-knows-what for a sinister being whose wagon leaves no tracks in the snow.

Reading the book, there is an almost surreal quality to the events that occur. The apprentices rarely speak openly to each other, from the fear that the master will discover it. They realize that even their innermost thoughts are not safe from him: Krabat has a series of dreams showing the futility of trying to run away from the mill.

In the end, the master’s power is broken and the apprentices are set free, but it is love, not magic, that has the power to save them.

Otfried Preußler wrote a lot of children’ books* that are considered classics in Germany, and the ones Hannah doesn’t already have, I will definitely be adding to my to-read list once the library is open again.

* Krabat is one of the few YA/juvenile books Preußler wrote.

Mini-Book Report: Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, by Susanna Clarke

The year is 1806. England has forgotten its magical past, reduced to fairy tales and myths. There are some who claim to be magicians, but neither the swindlers nor the academicians can actually perform magic. Until a retiring, nervous little man—Mr. Norrell—is discovered. He has devoted his life, in the quiet of his private library, to the study of magic, and after proving his abilities to the theoretical magicians, he sets out to ensure his role as the sole practitioner and protector of magic in England.

Jonathan Strange wants to get married, but he knows that his inheritance won’t impress his beloved as much as his having a vocation. Through a strange series of events, he hits on the idea of becoming a magician, and for the first time in his life, throws himself whole-heartedly into his studies. He eventually finds his way to Norrell and convinces him to take him on as his student.

The reader follows Norrell and Strange through English history—trying to cure mad King George, helping Wellington to victory at Waterloo—and through alternate history, as well, as they restore magic to England, to their own detriment.

Maybe I am the target audience, but I enjoyed every one of the 1006 pages of the paperback edition of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. It has *footnotes*, people; footnoted fiction—it was love at first sight. The language made me think of Jane Austen and Henry James, and the humor was deliciously dry. And to top off the enjoyment, I didn’t notice a single typo, something that has marred my enjoyment of many a text, fiction and academic alike. I found it an all-around excellent read!

I have never gone back and reloaded my bookmarks* from when I weaned myself from the teat of the Internet while I was studying for my exams. That means that if I want to look at blogs, I have to 1. remember the URL, or 2. make the effort to dig my bookmarks out from where I’ve hidden them on my hard drive. I am a lazy person at heart, so I’ve stuck with method 1 for a while; I just wish I had a better memory. The other day, though, I had to look something up for John on his computer, which contains my core bookmarks from back when we were a one-computer family. The lure was too great to resist, and I found myself skimming my old bookmarks. Aha! I thought. Let’s see what Mr. John Scalzi is up to.

Now I am thinking of giving up writing.

It was this article that really did it for me. Does this main character/story-line ring any bells, Kee? Does it remind you of a certain short story I was working on last year?

Last time something like this happened to me, I thought, Hey! My story ideas aren’t total crap! Someone else out there thought it was a publishable idea. This time, my confidence has taken a bit of a beating.

I guess I know the saying, beat by Miss Snark into her readership, that ideas are a dime a dozen, but the real test is in the execution. But that doesn’t make me feel much better. I guess I thought my idea was unique, but apparently someone else’s brain works similarly to mine.

What’s really stupid is that I didn’t even have any plans to publish my story (I don’t *think*, but the brain is a treacherous organ).

Also, I hadn’t written a word on it in months and months, even though I had recently dusted it off mentally and was working out some necessary revisions. Maybe that is why I felt like someone had pulled the rug out from under me. If my story were still buried in a box in my closet or in a file on my hard drive, it would have been like finding out that my one-of-a-kind tchotchke was actually part of a set. As it is, it feels more like discovering that someone cloned my child and gave her a better upbringing—complete with private tutor and pony—than I could.

Maybe I should just get over myself. I mean, look what happened to this guy: When he wrote a book from the point of view of an ogre, Shrek came out. When he wrote a book about some kick-ass princesses, Shrek 3 came out. And yet, he didn’t let him get it down, and those books all got published.

* Yes, I know there are sites where you can store your bookmarks online, but I haven’t had a chance to look at them yet.

Let's see:

Today I read a chapter on child development and a chapter on cognitive linguistics and wrote a page of notes for my thesis. It's not a whole lot, but it is a lot more than nothing. I think I will aim for that amount as my minimum every day.

And what's up with you?

I had a very productive day--minus my bus not coming and therefore being late for the class I was scheduled to teach. *d'oh!*

I typed up a plan for my thesis and sent it off to a potential advisor, who wrote me right back and said yes. Yay! Except, I am supposed to turn in a form with her signature on Thursday, and she is sick at home (in a distant town--she commutes). I'll drop it in the mail to her tomorrow and run by the exam office with a copy of her email to let them know that I won't have my paperwork in on time.

I found a couple of books to use for my thesis. I'll start reading them tomorrow and will enter them in a database of materials.

I read about the corpus I want to use for my research.

So, baby steps and all, but progress!