Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Creepy Crawlies

It has been determined that the extra-itchy spot on my side that we previously thought was poison ivy is in fact a rather nasty bug bite. (probably a bug of the eight-legged variety) I figure it couldn't have been one of the really bad ones, or I'd be sick already. It is getting noticeably better today, but still itchy.

Dear Mr. Creepy Crawly, I hope I squished you when you bit me in my sleep.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Post-Holiday Stuffs

Mostly a quick update, 'cause I'm behind on the dinner/dishes schedule for the evening.

The family (read: kiddo & I) are currently battling poison ivy. Kiddo's is clearing up, and mine....makes me want to jump off a roof. It's just one spot, a bit bigger than a 50 cent piece, but it's driving me absolutely batty and I can't seem to find anything to kill the itch. No, we have no idea where we picked it up, but we are choosing to blame the hubby & his brother who are apparently immune to poison ivy and were working in the yard recently.

We went to see Indiana Jones with Gita on Sunday and (even though I couldn't have popcorn *sob*)it was a great ride. Indiana Jones is one of my fondest childhood memories, and I'm glad they didn't tinker with it too much. I'm not sure why other people keep whining about it being a bad movie. If you didn't expect to see Indy be Indy, don't go SEE Indy. Duh.

I hit 30K on Project 3 today, AND got another full request for Project 2 from an agent. Yay!

Hopefully, I'll have time tomorrow to write something longer and more insightful.

Edited to add: And as I sit here, I got another query rejection in too. Guess I'm covering all the bases today!

Friday, May 23, 2008

ElfQuest

And for the record, anyone who loves ElfQuest as much as I do is spectacular in my book. Not to mention, she's a pretty damn fine author too.

Condition: Squid

Richelle Mead, in addition to being an author I enjoy reading, also has a sense of the absurd that would fit in well with my group of misfits, if I do say so myself. Not to mention that she has an eerie physical appearance to my friend Jenn. And today, Richelle has instituted an alarm system to denote when she is under deadline pressure and generally a victim of chaos in her life. She calls this Condition Squid. The stage past this is apparently DEFCON Narwhal.

I think this is an EXCELLENT idea, and everyone I know should adopt this rating system immediately! Why? Why not, I ask you!

No, really. Why not? Ha! You don't have an answer either. See?

Here we are on Friday, and due to unexpected busy-stuff at the Real Job(tm), I still sit here 500 words shy of my 30K goal. That's just....sucky. But, I do have a three-day weekend looming before me, so hopefully I can get something accomplished.

I mean, it's not like I can go out to eat or anything. (this is me, making my forlorn face)

On the submission front: One query reject in the box today. Somehow, those just don't have the power they used to.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Day 3 of the diet from Hell

Needless to say, I did not hit 30K last week. Real life saw fit to intervene. I am hoping, however, that I can hit that mark by tomorrow, Friday at the latest.

My lack of writing desire/time can be directly traced to the fact that I am now (and for the next three weeks) on a rather irritating diet. Ever try to eat a low-iodine diet? Don't. It's not fun.

I have, however, discovered the bliss that is kosher salt. It truly does have a better flavor than regular salt. I am also exploring the wonderful world of fresh veggies (as opposed to canned) and unsalted peanutbutter (dubious at best).

But it's only for three weeks, and then I intend to go hogwild and eat all kinds of stuff that are seriously unhealthy for me.

No news on the submission front, and that's ok. I did realize that yesterday (me & hubby's 8th anniversary) was also the one-year anniversary of the date he and I dreamed up project 2. It's amazing what changes a year can bring.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Dive right in?

So, I am reading Jay Lake's Mainspring and something struck me. (no, not a poodle knocked off a ten-story window. Geez.)

This book begins, literally, at what I'm calling the lynchpin moment. The moment that sets the events of the book in motion. We're introduced to the main character at the very second his life goes topsy turvy.

And I realized that I don't write that way. My own works always have a bit of lead in, a bit of time to get to know the characters in their natural habitat before I yank the rug out from under them.

I don't know that one style is particularly better than the other, but the difference caught my eye enough that I felt compelled to remark upon it. And in case you're wondering, Mainspring is really good so far (I'm only a few chapters into it) and I recommend it highly.

On the submission front: Sadly, my one full request turned into a pass today. But honestly, the agent took a great deal of time to tell me what he found lacking, and he had awesome things to say about my writing (and my future as an author, from his lips to the gods' ears please). He also said that if I find myself revising in the future, to please keep him in mind. This could almost count as a win.

The one thing that really interested me was that he felt my main character wasn't three-dimensional enough, but that my plot was well-constructed. All along with project two, I felt my character was the strong point, and that my plot might be a bit weak. Just goes to show that it all depends on your perspective.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Goals ahoy!

Ok, my goal this week is to break 30K on project 3. To do so (since I started today at 24,400 words), I need to write 1,120 words a day (Monday-Friday). Today, I wrote 1,156, so mission accomplished!

I also feel rather accomplished because hubby and I finally got the lawn mower out of winter storage, and the yard is beginning to look less like a jungle and more like a yard. Granted, we still have an entire forest worth of downed tree branches from the storms that keep popping up, but think baby steps here.

No news on the submission front. I sent a poke to one agent-with-partial (after doing valiant battle with her spam filter), and another one has promised via her blog that she will have all submitted partials read by the end of next weekend. I harbor secret fears that agent-with-full will once again have to fish my e-mail out of his spam filter (see a trend here?), but I'm trying not to succumb to technology paranoia.

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Random Randomness

I wrote almost 1,000 words today, but you'd never know it from my progress meter. That's because I also deleted a huge chunk, did some shuffling and rearranging, etc. The deleted section has gone in my scrap pile, to see if I can find a place for it later. (yes, I'm a packrat in real life AND in writing. I never get rid of anything if I can help it)

Thanks to a lovely stomach bug kiddo dragged home from the daycare, I was unable to go to Denver with Gita for her mother's funeral. Considering the condition I was in when she left, she's probably very glad I did not. I did, however, lose four pounds in one day. (NOT a weight loss method I advocate, by the way)

There is no further news on the submission front. I am contemplating giving a status poke to the one agent who has had my partial for 8 weeks (tomorrow). Part of me also fears that by doing this, I'll get my rejection that much faster. Theo keeps telling me to think positive, that this is THE ONE (please please please let him be right) but I've decided I'm a pessimist at heart. Actually, I'm a pessimist AND a cynic. "Glass half full or half empty? What glass! The bastards stole my glass!"

It's also possible that my blood sugar is still a bit off from my two-day adventure in not eating, so take anything I babble with a grain of salt.

Monday, May 5, 2008

Life and other events

My best friend & beta reader Gita lost her mother today, so please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

For my own events today, I wrote 2,100 words on project 3, finishing chapter 8. I also came home to find a request for a full manuscript on Project 2 from a brand spanking new agent.

Somehow, it's hard to be appropriately jubilant in light of the event mentioned previously.

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Teh Crazy, It burns!

So...yeah, I'm a loon. Still convinced I had a rejection winging its way to me (and since I was home on Friday because the kiddo was sick), I stalked the mailman. Really, that just consisted of waiting til I saw the truck drive past my house, then running out to the mailbox.

Only to find that during the storms that slammed the Midwest on Thursday night/Friday morning, something had hit our mailbox and bent the latch shut. So, because the mailman couldn't get the mail, he left us none. Arghhhh!

I grabbed my handy-dandy hammer (yes, I have my own hammer) and bent the latch back, then Saturday I did a repeat stalking performance. The mailman came...he stopped at the bank of mailboxes that contains ours... and he drove away. And I ran out to the street to see what nugget of depression he'd left me! And... I had junk mail.

Yeah, I know, I deserved it. I'm well aware that I'm just about one loose screw short of a straight jacket. Oi.

Oh well, tomorrow, I promise to start writing again. And maybe I need to ban myself from agent blogs until I'm done with this submission process.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

No News is No News

I shamelessly stole this from the Absolute Write boards, but really, what else is there to say?

For some reason, I was absolutely convinced that I would have a rejection from Super Gonzo Dream Agent waiting for me in my mailbox today, but it wasn't there. I did, however, have junk mail, alleviating my worries that the neighbor kids are stealing my mail again. (please, Dream Agent, just e-mail me even if it's bad news. I don't trust the hellions across the street)

I elected to ignore Project 3 today, since it's currently a source of much frustration and angst. I did peruse project 4 again though (what little I have written, and my notes) and you know, it still sounds pretty good. It's more of an urban fantasy-ish thing, and I'm starting to wonder if I'm destined to write urban fantasy exclusively. My fantasy stuff always seems to stall (usually because it's not meeting some vague self-imposed high standards I've set).

Note, when I say "always" I mean really the two things I've seriously attempted (Projects 1 & 3). I'm fairly certain this isn't a large enough sample to accurately see a trend, but hey, why get picky?