Steve Berman (mroctober) called me yesterday. After catching up a little, we started talking about the quotes I've been posting for NaNoWriMo. (And any conversation where the phrase "NaNoWriMo" is tossed back and forth repeatedly is automatically my favorite conversation of the week.) Steve doesn't think I should be encouraging aspiring writers too much; that on the whole, the world would be a better place with less novelists and more doctors or policewomen or taxidermists or whatever you guys would be doing with your time otherwise.

I'll keep my opinion to myself on that, but this poem is for you, Steve.

"The Trouble with Poetry: A Poem of Explanation" ~ Billy Collins

The trouble with poetry, I realized 

as I walked along a beach one night --

cold Florida sand under my bare feet, 

a show of stars in the sky --

the trouble with poetry is 

that it encourages the writing of more poetry,

more guppies crowding the fish tank, 

more baby rabbits

hopping out of their mothers into the dewy grass.

And how will it ever end?

unless the day finally arrives

when we have compared everything in the world 

to everything else in the world,

and there is nothing left to do 

but quietly close our notebooks 

and sit with our hands folded on our desks.

Poetry fills me with joy

and I rise like a feather in the wind. 

Poetry fills me with sorrow 

and I sink like a chain flung from a bridge.

But mostly poetry fills me 

with the urge to write poetry,

to sit in the dark and wait for a little flame 

to appear at the tip of my pencil.

And along with that, the longing to steal,

to break into the poems of others

with a flashlight and a ski mask.

And what an unmerry band of thieves we are,

cut-purses, common shoplifters,

I thought to myself

as a cold wave swirled around my feet 

and the lighthouse moved its megaphone over the sea, 

which is an image I stole directly

from Lawrence Ferlinghetti -- 

to be perfectly honest for a moment --

the bicycling poet of San Francisco

whose little amusement park of a book

I carried in a side pocket of my uniform 

up and down the treacherous halls of high school.

sjday: Your concerns about relationships at work reach a crescendo to... More for Pisces http://bit.ly/7KjVp: s.. http://bit.ly/2LesB1

Email from Anne regarding the revised version of MAGIC BLEEDS.  She loves it.

OH dear Gods in heaven.  Thank you, Universe, thank you noble ancestors, thank you mom, thank you luck of the Irish, thank you, thank you, thank you…

We don’t have to rewrite it again.

Oh my God.  It’s done.  It’s set.  Only copyedit left.

If I wasn’t drinking coffee, I’d be looking for some wine.

Mirrored from One Crazy Dame. Comment here or there

2222 words on Grail today, finished chapter one and started chapter two, and in a minute here I have to eat something and then go swim and then go over to a friend's house and have tea and borrow the fax machine. The days are just packed, I tell you.

Last night, I got about 1600 words on Shadow Unit related material, which I logged for today because I had already posted.

Yep. I am mighty. I have no idea what's happening in this book, except people are sitting around eating and worrying about each other, but I have faith, It'll all come right in the end.

Mean things today: kids grow up, and Tristen never gets to be anybody's daddy for long.

Also, giant freshwater space salmon.

6022 / 100000 words. 6% done!

One of the earliest critiques I have gotten on OWW was from a published writer who said that my plot was good and my worldbuilding was good, but I had one giant issue that would prevent me from getting published unless I did something about it.

My characters were flat.

It was a fair criticism.  My characters were flat.  Even now the character work is probably my weakest point and I spend a lot of time on it.

Here is a bit of Cerise.  (I have looked at the counter some more.  Aaaa!)

( Read the rest of this entry » )

Mirrored from One Crazy Dame. Comment here or there

sixwordstories
Whether you're in the mood for a creative challenge or you're short on time or attention span, this semi-addictive community is perfect for those who find flash fiction way long. Once you get the hang of it, you won't be able to stop. The prince turned into a frog. The girl ran home to mother. Tough to write. Easy to read. It's a double threesome of fun.

dailyfoodie
Delicious, ambitious, and occasionally nutritious dishes make for an eclectic, all-you-can-eat feast. Whether you're searching for recipes for your next dinner party or you're jonesing for a late-night brownie fix, your cravings are sure to be well sated. A warm and inclusive community that welcomes all orientations, from carnivores to vegans, from gourmands to junk-food junkies. Guaranteed bias-free, food-positive, and pan-epicurian.

Hello all. I had some news I wanted to share in the November newsletter, but due to the timing (we couldn't announce it anywhere 'til 11/2), I couldn't share my news there. If it's okay with everyone, I'd love to share it here, especially for people interested in new ways of publishing and how editors deal with slush.

First, the big news: a comic I created with artist Niki Smith, “In Maps and Legends,” is live on the Zuda Comics site!

Zuda is the online comics line from DC Comics, the same folks who brought us Batman, Superman, the Sandman, Justice League, Wonder Woman, and countless other amazing characters and stories.

Zuda offers an interesting twist on how comics are chosen to be published.

( Read more... )

I was amazed at all of the supportive comments on the previous post.

Thank you so much. I’m floored.

Also, since we have gotten a lot of comments, I installed worpress stats plugin to see how many people read this blog. Just for fun.

Holy crap.

Umm…. What am I going to do with all of you? I should probably write some entertaining, quick, except I have nothing.

Aaaa!

:checks the view counter again:

Aaaaaa!

UPDATE: Aaaaaaaa!

Mirrored from One Crazy Dame. Comment here or there

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.  ~Theodore Roosevelt

Today Caitlin and I hopped into the Cookie Monster for its inaugural jaunt out of town. We headed out to Snoqualmie — not the pass or the casino or the subdivision acres, but to the tiny frontier town with its adorable old train station, museum, and “downtown” strip.

(I don’t use the quotes to mock Snoqualmie’s downtown. The quotes indicate that this strip is pretty much one street. But it’s a lovely street, and I rather like the place. I’ve been there half a dozen times now, just to hang out and poke around.)

Anyway. The main official purpose for the trip was to acquire some new author photos for yours truly. Caitlin has an awesome camera, and she does a most excellent job of photography … and she works for peanuts. Or for lunch and a ride, and a cup of tea — as the case may be.

I’m going to place the results of our pictorial excursion behind a jump, because I’m just not quite narcissistic enough to want to see several big pictures of myself every time I load the page. I know, I know. I must be getting old or something. Anyway, click the link immediately below this paragraph to take a peek at them (or merely scroll down, if you’re reading this via a feed or direct link.)

Read the rest of this entry »

[Crossposted to/from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so either here or there.]

So, after years of looking, I finally scored a bottle of Dogfish Head Chateau Jiahu, yet another Dogfish Head triumph of experimental, molecular, and forensic archaeology and spectrographic analysis. 

If you don't know, Dogfish Head makes several beverages that are attempts to reconstruct the alcoholic drinks of ages past--Midas Touch, a 2700-year-old Egyptian barleywine recipe which is one of my favorite beers; Theobroma, an attempt to reconstruct a 3200-year-old Aztec chocolate brew; and of course Chateau Jiahu.

Midas Touch is available constantly, but the other two are something the guys at the brewery make and release when they feel like it, and I haven't been able to find any previously. But last week I was wandering through a Whole Paycheck, and what did I find?

...I bought a bottle of each (they are wine-bottle sized). And since I am having dinner company tonight, I decided to open the Chateau Jiahu to share.

TBRE and I split a little out into cordial glasses in advance of company. It's interesting. Sweet, as you would expect, malty, not as floral as I would have thought but the note is there. Also, traces of bitterness--I know not whence they come.

It's maybe not quite as well-balanced as it could be, but that's kind of balanced out by the coolness of drinking, dude, Neolithic ale.

2,285 words on Grail, for a total of 3800 words total.

Writer goal for this book: release the ego and just write the book. It will be the best book I can make it, and killing myself worrying will just make it an book that's not good for me.

Today, I got Perceval out of a nice swim in a radioactive river and ruined Benedick's breakfast. Life is good.

Look, it's the return of the progress bar!

3800 / 100000 words. 4% done!

And I guess I'll wander over to novel_in_90 and chart my progress there.

Courtesy of ckd pointing it out Friday night, another entry in Signage: An Occasional Series:




And, I just gotta say: global climate change doubters? New England. Strawberries. In November.



That was my back yard this morning. I'm still getting salad out of it.

0.o

And now, back to Grail.

My language is the common prostitute that I turn into a virgin.  ~Karl Kraus

sjday: Fangs, Fur, and Fey - Happy 3 Year Anniversary contest: http://bit.ly/3ShR8P: sjday: Fangs, Fur, and Fey.. http://bit.ly/a8Xwr

The following FFF titles released in October and were submitted by FFF members for showcasing on the blog sidebar. They're still out there, so it's not too late to pick up copies for yourself or someone else.

To see the November releases (as submitted by the authors), check out the updated FFF sidebar.

Happy Reading!

S. J. Day
( See the pretty covers... )

Thanks to everyone who came out for the book thingy yesterday.

Tomorrow, I start work on the next book thingy. I know you can't wait for the inevitable relentless bitching and cries of dismay that will emanate from my workspace, between intermittent thumping sounds.

I only have to write three books (and a bunch of short stuff) between now and October. Piece of cake, right?

Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment. Full effort is full victory. ~ Mohandas Gandhi

This is my favorite quote. I have it taped to my printer where it's in plain view whenever I sit down to write.

sjday: Even if you have doubts about your recent choices, you are hop... More for Pisces http://bit.ly/7KjVp: s.. http://bit.ly/fHwzM