The List Continues

I didn't get as much done as I wanted, but I felt that writing after dinner was important, since I didn't do writing the whole rest of the day, and that went on until the bedtime meltdown.  I can't go into too much detail because it's about the girl, but I will say that autism continues and will always continue to affect her life.  The focus of the meltdown was a change from the norm.  She's learned to cope with all kinds of changes, but a brand-spanking new one that she has never dealt with before in another form, that threw her.  No basis of comparison.  She was so shaken up by it, she couldn't sleep.  

The child who can sleep regardless of what's going on at the same precise time every day, even weekends (she does love her routine) couldn't sleep.  

It actually felt really good to play mom in a way I haven't played mom in a long time.  I got her to do three things.  First, develop a mantra.  Hers was, "I don't have to do this if I don't want to."  (The change was an optional thing.)  Second, warm glass of milk, and we talked about the biology behind that.  Third, pick up a book she's read before and loves, and give herself some time to read quietly while the effect of the warm milk take over.

Worked like a charm.

I'm curious how the first airplane thing will work out.  Really well, I think, because she'll be surrounded by familiarity.  She's been to the airport several times.  She's had fair warning, months of it, so she can work it out slowly.  She's going to be with me and her brother, always comforting even when we bug the crap out of her.  And she's studied our destination extensively, with added bonus that we'll be meeting my DH there.  So it'll all be good.

Onward to the poopyheaded list:

done Dishes

done Laundry (especially bedsheets and workout clothes)

done Pack for Norwescon

Finalize itinerary for Ireland (taking with me)

Book the castle stay (at Norwescon)

Put books together if I have time (not gonna happen)

done Practice reading Inner Skull for Norwescon

done Pack bag for workout tomorrow and put in car

done Put Norwescon bags and booze in car

done Get kids to clean catboxes thoroughly

done Put garbage out to curb in the evening

That should have me set for this weekend.  Then it'll be on to next week, which will be probably the busiest and most stressful week of my life, followed by pure and absolute bliss bliss bliss.

License to Yammer

Soon I get to sit in front of some folks and talk about things and stuff.  I noticed on my schedule that some of us have a y in front of our names, and others have a yy.  Dr. Harry Turtledove doesn't have a y in front of his name.  Maybe they do that to newbies to make them nervous.  Or maybe we're slated to wear dunce caps.  Anyway:

The Sketch Book:  Your key to sanity:  This panel is totally misnamed.  It should be, The Sketch Book, evidence that you're not all there.  I have no idea what the other artists are going to say, which makes me almost want to sit in the audience, except given my druthers (big confession here) I'd probably go to a panel on writing instead.  Be that as it may, IMHO, sketch books are for Freedom and Practice.  They also make great sources of transfer art.  Not so big secret of many an artist--doodle around in your sketch pad until you see something that you like.  Cover the back of the art you like with soft graphite (#6 soft works well.)  Place page on archival paper.  Trace what you like in pen.  The graphite will transfer onto the archival paper.  Added hint--you can do this with watercolor pencil for watercolors and when you go to paint, the line can be made to disappear with water and a little bit of mushing about.

Boxers or Briefs?  When is enough information on your character too much information on your character?:  In the beginning, (and I'm as guilty of this as anyone) you gotta have only enough to make the reader care.  My gawd, people, get on with the story!  If you want to slip in info on the fact that Starbuck wears boxers (of course!) then it better be important to reveal something about the character while we're in motion.  On book twenty, halfway through, you may have the luxury of providing unimportant details about your characters because by then you can be pretty sure that the readers are probably interested in your series and would like a little trivia now and then.

Knowing Your Plants:  What are the basics of plant lore that you should know for your story.:  Where to begin?  I wonder if the other person on this panel is a garden geek like me.  I'd say, it depends on the story.  If your character is a plant expert, you gotta know (though not necessarily include it in the story unless it honestly adds something) that plant experts know the latin names of plants and that this allows them to actually bust across language barriers.  A plant expert in China can have a decent discussion with a plant expert in Iraq using latin names and appropriate gestures.  Then there's the deciduous vs. evergreen, fruiting bodies, sexual vs. asexual reproduction, seasonal patterns of growth, yada yada yada ... If you don't know the basics when your characters are out in the wild or they're in a garden, you'll make the silly mistake of having roses in December or edible berries in spring.  Most readers won't notice but those that do will definitely roll their eyes.

Me Me Me:  What to do with those minor characters who just won't shut up.  They whine they bitch, and the want to be in charge.  So what's a poor writer to do?:  Well, I'd make them a primary character.  Either that, or if it happens over and over I'd figure out why the heck your pov character keeps getting steamrolled.  Is your primary character a wuss?  Have you run out of things to say with that person?  Believe me, if your main characters are under stress and have a time crunch, when minor characters start acting up they'll be bitch slapped right off the page.  If that doesn't happen, your pov character isn't compelling enough.  Sorry, brutal but true.

Challenging Your Characters:  Do your characters need challenges?  Of course, but when is enough enough?:  When there are so many challenges that it becomes boring.  When it's the same challenge (think James Bond and the elaborate traps the bad guys set for him) over and over again with only slightly different permutations.  When your character is so messed up s/he just can't go on, or when the problem is so big and insoluble that someone else has to come in and save the day (or deus ex machina, or it turns out the big deal wasn't big after all.)  When in order to solve the problem your character has to heal extra fast or shrug off something fatal, or has to be a Mary Sue to pull it off.  It's a pure judgment call, but one that's particularly difficult for genre writers because they have so much latitude with character capabilities.  With the right set up, they can have their characters come back from the dead, so ...  

Drawing Workshop for Munchkins:  If actual munchkins show up for this, I will be quite surprised.  I can deal with children and even non-standard-sized humans but actual munchkins in full regalia might freak me out.  It's supposed to be a magic(al, sic) experience in drawing and art.  I'm not sure I can pull off magical, but we'll definitely have some projects to play with.  The really interesting part of this panel is whether the artists will be able to coordinate our plans.  

There's also an unscheduled panel on Critique Groups:  A 'How To.'  My real goal will be to find out what David Levine's middle initial R stands for.  I'm sad that they didn't use my middle initial, Z.  It makes a potential icebreaker.  Anyway, As Everyone Knows, Clarion or modified Clarion is the rule rather than the exception because it's handier than a handyman, but there are other options and mixes and matches.  Brain storming.  Individual readers used for different kinds of feedback without getting 'polluted' by a group opinion.  Self-editing--fraught with peril but it has advantages, provided that you're honest and experienced enough.  Timing is everything, too.  Although you can get snap reads on rough drafts (how about this for an opening/premise/character intro) by and large if you get critiques too soon your writing will be fearful and restricted.  Get a critique too late (final polish anyone?) and your work will be so refined and interdependent (if you did it right) that if you yank an element that doesn't work the rest might fall apart like a 3D puzzle with the key removed.  Critique groups--form them, use them, love them, but be careful out there, kids, because they do have their problems.

More on this stuff and more, later, on Jestablog.

I got another rejection in the mail(form) and tomorrow is my deadline for getting another query out.  My pile of things to do is starting to look like a pig pile.  Here comes Radcon, and he's six foot seven and 350 pounds.  Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!

The good news with Radcon is that I've been playing with my art mats (which were poorly cut thanks to my primitive mat cutter) and I developed a technique that bevels the edges, looks sharp, and gives me lots of opportunity for expression.  If you're wondering, since I've been working at my day job too, when I get a chance to write the answer is oh, between 11pm and 2:30am when I'm not spending that same window on art.  On mornings when I have to get up with the kids at a wee tad before 6am, this doesn't allow for much sleep (she said, yawning.)  Thank the status quo that I could sleep in this morning.  I still have to work, but I got about six hours of sleep--feels like heaven--and I work a short shift so I can work out at 24 Hr Fitness (maybe soak in the hot tub too,) get home in time to fix a semblance of dinner, finish messing with my last matting projects, and then write.  Oh, and see if I can put together a query.  If I can't, well, I'd rather pay INK a dollar for missing my deadline than turn out another package that will only earn me another rejection.  From the pattern I've seen so far, query letter and synopsis, sharp, opening is torpedoing me.

Day Off

After three days of work in a row (I know, gee Kami, that's not a whole lot) I now get to play catch up.  That means researching and putting together a submission for an agent, getting the Nissan to Les Schwab (within the hour,) catching up on housework, shopping and I'd also like to get some writing in today.

Fortunately I only work two days next week and they're split, so I'll have plenty of time to get my act together then.

I'm really looking forward to the INK meeting tomorrow so I can find out what my fellow INKers think of the next section of Masks.  

Driving My Big Hunkaroo, plus yuckies

It's been a quiet weekend, full of sleeping in, some writing, a great writer meeting/lunch with Ris, and hatching plans to bathe the puppies and get the Nissan fixed.

What, I haven't mentioned that my car, fresh from the shop, went kaput again?  Believe it.  I've had people tell me it might be a strut or a shock.  All I know is that the driver's side rear corner dropped several inches.  The tire still has plenty of clearance, but considering I heard a couple of bangs the last time I drove it (I pulled over and couldn't figure out what was wrong, so I just took her home) I'm pretty sure it's not terrifically safe to drive.  So I'm truckin' around for now.  I love the truck.  It's so manly and rugged and scarred up.  As we all know, chicks dig scars.  The only thing I don't love is the gas mileage.  Thank goodness it takes unleaded and doesn't insist on beer or whiskey.

No single malt for you.

I'm taking the Nissan to Les Schwab in the hopes that it's something simple that they can deal with.  It's close, and it'll probably be less expensive than going to the mechanic.  Failing that, it's a shorter distance to have it towed from there to Vancouver than from my place.  Now I just have to get it down the hill safely.  Think safe driving thoughts on Thursday for me.

In other physical news, I've had my girly check up and everything looks great.  I passed all my tests, including a retest of my blood counts (though my red blood cell count is still low on the normal scale.)  I didn't even have to study!  They're going to try to reduce my icky girly pain and slow the massive outflow of precious red stuff, which would be great and will probably take care of my anemia, or at least mitigate it.  I have another general exam tomorrow, and my very first mammogram at the end of the month, and an ultrasound in February, and I should be good for tests until they decide they need to take a peek at my colon.  Really not looking forward to any of these tests, but hey, they're better than unpleasant surprises.  

Time Warps

Man, my schedule has been eating me alive lately. Not the work schedule--that's staying nicely at 3-4 days a week with quite a few stretches of two days in a row off. No, it's how I've been arranging, or rather not arranging, my days. It seems that no matter how I focus my time, something gets neglected. Yeah yeah, I can't do it all. But lately I've been trying to achieve a rhythm where at least the most important things get done, and it's not happening. Grr. Grr I say!

Anyway.

Late summer feels more like autumn around here. There's no rain, though. Sometimes there's a chill in the air, but it doesn't quite have that zip that autumn mornings do. Still, we're getting that autumnal/harvesty/winding downess in the veggie garden (go, my zucchini minions, go!) (winter crop planting time rapidly reaching critical end zone) and some of the trees are getting color in protest of the dry, not-August-hot weather.

In kitty news, The Wiz seems to have an abcess or a bite or something on his flank. The hair fell out (which is normal and good) and it looks--well--it looks terrible and yet it's dry and appears to be mostly healed. This morning, as if proving that there's no need to haul him off to the vet, he was tearing around the house like a maniac. So, we're keeping an eye on him. But not a close enough eye that he licks the eyeball. I hate it when that happens.

In goatie news, we're getting close to breeding time. The gestation period of a goat is roughly in the five-six month range, closer to five. The plan is to breed the girls so that we're not delivering baby goats in February or sooner. The trick is that prime breeding time is (in my understanding) around September/October as far as goatie hormones are concerned. This is probably because in nature (this is my guess) that the babies will be on mommas milk while the grass is still dead, and about the time they're ready to get weaned, poof, there's tons of green grass with the spring flush.

But I don't want them running around in the cold, and also I definitely don't want to be lying on dirty straw in freezing weather at 2 am messing with assisting a goat birth for the very first time.

Any chance they might breed in, say, January for a nice June birth?

I didn't think so. Oh well.

Well, it's back to work time. And this time I won't neglect anything critical. Really.

The Afterglow

I finished writing the first, and possibly last love scene in Masks, and it was fun. And that's all I'm going to say about that.

I spent a lot of time today weeding when I should have been working inside the house. The flowers are grateful, at least as much as flowers can be. The war for complete domination over the earth has swung in their favor, while the weeds must gnash their teeth and sing dirges tonight. It's all a very grim affair, the green carcasses piled high in the compost heap. Meanwhile, the bees hum happily among the blossoms, only occasionally put out when I work too near them. The hummingbirds continue to play flinch. I'm not sure how many hummingbirds we have now. I haven't counted them lately.

It's all very distracting, having so many enjoyable things to do. What's better to focus my time on--writing or painting? Gardening or tiling the office? Priorities get muddy when they're all worthwhile.

I want to do it all, and yet, I want to nap. I think that's because after writing a scene I've been thinking about a lot and stressing over, I have as much a sense of afterglow as poor Mark. And I get that with any accomplishment. For an undetermined period of time afterward, I'm pretty worthless. Finished a painting? Time to sit and drink wine. Got some tiling done? No housework for two days. Write a complete, pivotal scene in a novel? Sitting on the deck and doing sudoku sounds about my speed. I wish there was a way to harness that happy glow and use it to spur on even more work, but I guess we all have to rest sometime. Wouldn't it be nice, though, if after finishing a project, I get so excited I just go straight to the next one?

Staying Cool

It's another hot hot day here in SW Washington. The thermostat says 100 degrees on the button. The soaker hoses are so fantastic, I'll let them sing their own praises.

[sounds of seeping]

It's like the Sound of Silence, only better. Well, the plants think so, anyway. I'm not completely free of hand watering, not even close, but at least I can water most of the garden (the hoses all run through shade so there isn't too much loss due to evaporation) while I'm inside doing Other Things. Today, that means sewing curtains for our side windows, which let the sun in for about an hour in the late afternoon. Not too bad, all things told, but today it annoyed me, and I have all this fabric just laying around ...

Of course we've hit 5:30 pm, which is nap time. My sleepy brain goes round and round and doesn't get anywhere. The only landmark is a side alley that when my brain looks down it, we see a nice, comfy bed in the dark. Mmmmm. Around we go again, thinking about this chore and that, and there's that side alley with the bed again. I think there might be more than one identical side alley, as often as I think about it.

But, I must not succumb. If I do, I'll continue my badness pattern of staying up until one or two a.m. writing on Masks. That is, it's good to write, but bad to write late. Bad Kami, bad. Good Kami, good! Bad Kami, very bad. Why is it bad? Because early in the morning, it's cool enough to work outside, and if I stay up, I'll stay in bed until at least 8am if not later.

When it cools off tonight (and it will cool off, won't it?) I'll quick connect the hand watering wand and go play in the garden. So far, no casualties that I've found among the plants, even the pot-confined ones. I'll have to post a pic of the wild garden soon, assuming photobucket works for me still. They're in full bloom, and there are some blossoms that I've never seen before (and can't identify.) It makes walking around the garden a small letter a adventure, looking for and spotting things that have come up from seed that I've forgotten or never known because it was part of a misc. mix. Alas, still just the one tiger swallowtail butterfly. But it sure is pretty, especially when it sits on the huge purple butterfly bush plumes.

Note to self: water the butterfly bushes.

Part time work means never having to say I'm available

Before I start, heh, I love the Moody's comment about a period agricultural event. If only ...

And doubly before I start again, I apologize for the repost. This was meant to be posted here and ended up on INK due to some weirdness of Blogger. Eh, I'll live with it, because I'm essentially lazy.

I've been griping about my work schedule for a couple of days now. Apparently part time has been translated into Kami working six days in a row, getting one day off (Wednesday) and then working some more followed by getting Saturday off. Okay, yes, I'm looking forward to the ensuing fat paycheck. But dang! I have stuff to do, people! Once again I'm facing an unhappy chat with the manager which may not become necessary if, on the upcoming Thursday, I look at the schedule and see a heap of days off in a row. Problem solved. Normally I make excuses for management along the lines of so-and-so is on vacation or what's-her-name is sick so we have to fill in, yay checking account. In this case, though, a managerial type is on vacation and there is no such thing as filling in from the ranks for that position. Other supers fill in, not us grunts. They even pulled a super from another store to help. So what gives??!!

What gives is someone who doesn't like to do scheduling, or any paperwork for that matter. Rather than deal with the issue by making everything as automatic as possible (by making the schedule almost identical each week, shuffling people around only as needed to cover vacations, etc.) the manager has chosen to just fill shifts with qualified personnel in pencil apparently at random until all shifts are covered and then tack the schedule on the wall. Which is followed by us recipients of said schedule looking at it and scratching our heads wondering WTF. This negates such niceties like being able to say with fair certainty if you can make the picnic in two weeks or the Friday meeting down at the local burger joint that happens every other week. There isn't even a pattern as to shift or post. Nor is there much advance notice--it's posted week by week, one week at a time Sunday-Saturday on Thursdays, period. How in the world can people plan weekend stuff with their families if they only know if they'll get the Sunday after the Saturday off two days in advance? I've never seen a schedule done this way, dartboard style. I hope to never again. It's terribly inconvenient for everyone, including the schedule maker, although he probably doesn't see it that way. For him, short term, it appears to be the least stressful way to fill positions.

He'll be retiring soon. I like the man, and yet, yay!!

He needs to retire. In the meantime, apparently working part time means never having to say I'm available on a given day. Boo, drat.