wordinista

Fifteen days till Yuletide stories are due and... I have not started yet.  Shit.  I AM NOT GOING TO DEFAULT, BECAUSE I AM NOT MADE OF QUITE THAT MUCH FAIL YET.

Also, if you have a holiday card post somewhere on your LJ, CAN YOU PLEASE LINK ME TO IT?

Additionally, if you haven't hit me up for a holiday card PLEASE DO SO HERE.

My last class is tomorrow night, which is good.  I have not yet finished my project, which is less good.

Tora may not be getting a Christmas bonus, which is bad.  (Very bad, holy shit.)

And Bronte has had three accidents in as many days (which is v. v. bad and also unpleasant).

However, I'm not sick, which is an improvement over last year. 

I'm also giving serious consideration to teaching for the college again.  I'm trying to talk myself out of it, but I kind of miss doing something that feels worthwhile, even though I did bitch a LOT about the rampant idiocy.  I... don't know.  The job caused me a lot of stress towards the end there, but that had a lot to do with other things going on at the time.  I enjoyed teaching, and it's something I'm good at.

I also feel utterly detached from just about any sort of fandom these days.  I want to finish OGAM, if only because I ... need to finish it.  I don't like the idea of leaving something that huge left unfinished.  But writing in general has been difficult.  If I write at all, I try to focus the efforts on original fic.  It's like... the OGAM-verse used to be a lot more vivid in my head, and it just... isn't anymore.  I may just try to make the next chapter the last chapter, because... it very well could be -- it'd just mean cutting a lot of extra frou-frou bits.  I don't know.  I... kind of need to make myself give a damn again. 

The same goes for BitR -- ever since Takaya ended the series, I have had zero urge to work on the story, because I hated her ending so very much.  I dunno, might just yank that one -- or figure out how to make it shorter.

So!  Going to walk Darwin, work on my project, and pick out a couple of things to read in order to get myself primed to write my Yuletide story, and ... and I am going to attempt to get into SOME SEMBLANCE OF THE HOLIDAY SPIRIT because, damn, I am no fun like this.

Okay.  I haven't been writing.  And I need to.  I've been doing any number of OTHER things, but not writing.

So.  In the interest of stimulating my muse, I BEG YOU TO MAKE ME DRABBLE.  PLEASE.

But, and here's the part you might not like, I want to drabble for the WIPs I have going.  Which sucks, I admit.  But I need to get myself inspired to work on the things I should be working on, so... there you have it.

WIPs include:  OGAM, A Bump in the Road, and Universal Truths. 

(Actually, I'll drabble nearly anything Furuba, now that I think about it.  I'm having a hard time getting into the FB headspace.)

So... please.  Throw some prompts at me.  I will love you forever if you do.

yuletide story is not only finished and beta'd -- it's uploaded.  Huzzah!!  *cuddles her beta readers happily*

Now I'm going back to bed.  I wouldn't have thought it possible, but I actually feel worse today. I'm not going in to work -- I'm actually coughing until I gag, and THAT is completely not something you want to be doing in such close proximity to kidlets.

And I think my fever's back.

Dash it all.

And my throat's sore again.

WTF, I thought this thing was going away.  (Okay, so it probably didn't help that I got exactly jack for sleep last night because of my lovely cough.  Argh.)

So.  Bed for me.  And possibly another pot of tea.  Not in that order.

So, is anyone on my f-list particularly knoweldgeable about ancient Irish mythology?  Oengus Mac Oc and Newgrange in particular? 

Anyone? 

Anyone?

Bueller?

I know I mentioned the "shoujo sparkles" caricature of Darwin I got done last week.  The scanner's broken, but we were able to take a pretty decent picture of the drawing:

( Here it is! My sparkly boy! )

Thanksgiving was wonderfully drama-free.  The only thing Tora's parents did that was even remotely annoying was monopolize his brother's time so he wasn't able to come and see us at all while he was in town.  Tora talked on the phone with him once and basically told him not to sweat it, and that if he got here, great, but if he didn't/couldn't make it, not to stress.  I, however, am rolling my eyes at their rampant immaturity. 

Today we're thinking about taking Darwin to the park.  Tora's a bit resistant to this plan, because he's such a nervous "dad" whenever we go to the dog park. He's so afraid Darwin will get hurt, or hurt another dog.  I love watching him play with the other puppies, and as long as the other owners are keeping a watchful eye out, I've found there's usually never a problem.  I'm going to keep trying to get Tora to come around (though my only problem with the dog park is that Darwin is usually filthy afterwards, and he just had a bath on Tuesday, argh).

Things at Sylvan are settling into more of a routine.  I went through training to tutor basic math, and the only thing I have next is training for writing, which will take me no time at all, I'm sure.  (I'm wondering why they had me do math next, instead of writing, but I'm figuring they might need math people more than they need writing people, or something.)

And all of you sniggering about me teaching math... well, keep sniggering.  I'm sticking to basic math, up to a 5th or 6th grade level. I've told them not to trust me with algebra or geometry or anything of the sort. 

The work is actually quite enjoyable, for the most part.  Sometimes there are challenging students, but nothing I can't handle.  There's an element of time management/multi-tasking that I need to get a handle on, but everyone's assured me that that's a skill that comes with practice.

Writing has been going... pretty well, actually.  I got quite a bit written for OGAM and Bump, and I've been working a bit on my original fiction (things have been so stressful lately, the fact that I can write ANYTHING is a major relief).  UT is stalled for the moment as I try and figure something out (the focus seems to have shifted away from the two main characters and onto two other characters, and I didn't want that to happen -- so it needs figuring out).  I've also figured out a plot for a different thing I'm working on (*cough*vampires*cough*), and that makes me happy, because until this week, there had been an utter LACK of plot.  Just a bunch of nifty characters hanging around my head all, "You should totally write about us!"  So that's good.  I'd really love to start on my Yuletide fic sometime soon.  I thought I had my plot settled, but I realized something problematic, so I have to reconsider a few things, dammit.  I'm not going to start panicking until Dec. 1.  That's usually when I start freaking out if I haven't started writing yet.

....And I just realized that I have an economics paper due in something like two weeks.  Crud.

I'm usually very, very, very careful when I ask for a critique of my original work.  I make sure I ask for it when I'm relatively confident in its quality, and when I'm ready to hear bad things about it.  For instance, if I've revised one chapter -- no joke -- eight times, rewriting it over again at least once in the process, I'm not gonna send it out for a critique immediately, because I know I'm not mentally or emotionally ready to hear someone tear apart what I've just finished slaving over.  I need a little time and distance, and then -- then I am probably one of the most gracious recipients of criticism anyone will ever encounter. 

So, it's been about two months since I did my last revision of the first chapter of Universal Truths. And I found a crit group online (found it through Miss Snark's blog), and I submitted it.

I got a lot of really good advice.  Some really, really helpful stuff, and I plan on tackling the chapter this weekend and doing the revision I said I wouldn't do.

However.  There is one tiny thing that's annoying the snot out of me:

The first ones to comment on the chapter mentioned the fact that it was too wordy (and it is -- you'll get no argument from me there).  So, I got, like, five critiques that said I needed to tighten things up, and not force the reader's eye, as it were, and cut the unnecessary descriptions.  And it's good advice.  And I'm going to follow it.  That said, the next ten commenters said the exact same thing -- completely reiterating what was said before.  So by the time I got to the end of the comments, my attitude was more like, "Yes, I GET IT.  It's TOO WORDY.  I KNOW. FIND SOMETHING ELSE FOR ME TO FIX PLZ."

I mean, I hate complaining about it after I asked for the critique. And when you ask for a critique, you really shouldn't bitch about it, because... well, you asked for it.  And, really, it's been a positive experience, because the comments are (mostly) very helpful and useful.  But after getting to the 19th comment and being told, yet again, how I need to cut my descriptions...yeah.  I wish they'd tell me something else -- tell me something I don't know, because, trust me, after hearing the same comment over and over and over again, I think I'm going to get the hint.  Maybe.

A couple of the comments had a kind of condescending tone that made me bristle a little, but I was able to get over that.  And a couple of people gave no criticism whatsoever -- they just said they didn't like it and thought it was boring and, oh, by the way, they're probably not in my "target market," so I should take what they say with a grain of salt.  Bzuh?  That's... not even really criticism, constructive or otherwise.  But whatever -- I'm going to overlook the not-helpful stuff, and focus on the helpful stuff.

Even if it's stuff I'm getting told ten and twelve times.

There is a "wrong side of the bed" and I got out of it this morning.  From the start.  The first words out of my mouth this morning weren't bitchy, but the second ones sure were.

Not sure what my problem is, other than Darwin seems to have a case of the stupids (every time I've taken him outside to do his business  [twice, so far, in forty-five minutes], he's distracted by the local stray cat, ducks, the dog barking across the canal, so I end up following him around the yard for twenty minutes while he figures out where he doesn't want to do his thing); I'm tired -- SO tired, because I wasn't able to fall asleep until 1:30 in the morning and then got woken up at a few minutes before seven; our bank account has less money in it than I thought it would (because someone is making charges and not telling me, so I can't keep track); and... well, that's it so far, but I've only been up for... not even an hour.

I am actually in a position to go back to bed for a little bit.  I think I might try it.  Because I'm not sure it's normal to swear this much first thing in the AM.

ETA: The day, she is turning around. I did in fact crawl back into bed and got a little more sleep. I then got up, had an onion bagel and made some coffee (something about coffee in the morning helps when I'm trying to do any writing -- it's like performance-enhancing drugs for my brain). As I was making coffee, The Best Dog in the World brought me his favorite ball to throw (he kind of... held it in his mouth and pushed it against the side of my leg to get my attention). We played a little indoor fetch, and I had a late breakfast.

As I'm finishing up my coffee and contemplating taking Darwin swimming, I get an email from Tora about some marketing stuff I wrote up for his boss as a favor (since they're a start-up company and have no marketing department). Incidentally, Tora's boss also happens to be "R" of the "R and C" duo with whom we spend a great deal of time. (I watched their kids while C had the baby, we get together for LAN parties, NCAA football parties, we go out to dinner together, and they were the reason Tora and I suffered no major meltdowns before the wedding.) I told R I didn't mind helping, as it'd take me no time at all.

Here is what the sales guy had to say about what I wrote:

Please find attached suggested revisions to marketize the text of the HEDIS document.

Whoever wrote the original did an incredible job and I love the way they write as it really shows their command of the material. The suggestions on the marked up version are just to marketize the text. Please feel free to keep what you like, remove / restore original text to your satisfaction.

There are now noises being made about possibly hiring me to be their one-woman marketing department.

I looked into joining the Florida Writers Association today.  It looks... I don't know.  It'd probably be a good thing to do, and might be a good way to network, and the yearly dues are really quite reasonable.

But their webpage?  Sucks.  Seriously.  I could design something better, and that's not saying much.

I'll have to think about it.  Don't really have the extra money right now, anyway, after Bronte and Darwin's vet visits over the past few weeks.  Bronte's got another one Friday.  *crosses fingers that her big, black puddin' is producing adequate numbers of red blood cells*

In the long run, it couldn't hurt.  I'm just not sure how much it'd help.

*Dives back into working on Universal Truths, which is undergoing yet another round of edits, whee!*

( O-fic ramblings... )

( Writing in general... )

( Life with the menagerie... )

ETA: Okay, what is it with my dog making a liar out of me? We went to Petsmart, and aside from some crazy, spazzoid behavior upon first walking in, for the rest of the time, he was better than I've ever seen him behave. (I wonder if it had anything to do with the fact that on this visit, I was pushing a cart as well? I don't know.) And of course he had to "stand up" and put his ginormous paws on the counter as I was checking out. I like not to encourage that, but it still amuses me every time he does it.

OGAM's chapter 55 is written and has been sent off to my sexy beta team.

I know most of the people on my f-list don't care, but this makes me very happy.

And... okay, I can't really say "only" four months since my last update, but... yay?