Blog

Another random note from Jill the other night, and I had a dream the same night that might tie into the story somehow. And I think the only way I’m going to get this thing started is to pick up a new notebook and get to writing. I need a new physical space for it as well as the mental space. The only empty notebooks I have right now are memo-sized, and while it’s tempting to be precious (little notebook for short stories!), I know I’d end up regretting it.

I just finished a session with Calli....

 I think I know why I’m having trouble progressing with Called: A battle seems to be approaching. It could potentially be a big one. I hadn’t really planned for it, but it seems to have snuck up on me anyway. And I hate doing battle scenes. I always have trouble keeping track of everybody and making sure they’re doing stuff. But this book’s been pretty talky so far too. Something active needs to happen. 

 Early morning notes from Jill today. I may have to start this story soon, if only so I can see an end to this sort of thing. So far, though, all I have is a series of weird images without a plot to hang them on.

Jill (I’m pretty sure it’s Jill) keeps telling me little bits of her new story. What’s baffling/annoying me a bit is that she’s telling it in the present tense. It doesn’t fit and it’s not at all my usual. Not sure what to do about it. Maybe nothing yet. This may be my weirdest story/writing process ever.

Some lines came to me while I was trying to get back to sleep around 5:30 this morning. The nature of them was such that I think they start another time travel story. The problem is that they sound more like they were written for Harry Dresden than for Jill. And are they enough to start a story? Probably not. But they're there.

 I’ve been posting the stories from Unlikely Muses to my Ko-fi page, and I think that’s why I’ve been having the feeling lately that I want to write another short story. Or maybe it’s because some part of me wants a break from working on the books? Anyway, I don’t even have an idea, just a want. Maybe I should look through my prompt books again.

So Heather and I had our bit of adventure on Saturday. We wandered the market; I bought a couple of pendants that I really didn’t need. And we had lunch, and visited Overbooked and Emrys Cove. I had a first at Overbooked: found Silver and Blood on the shelf and signed it. Well, I asked first, but it still counts as a stealth signing. And I left my Sampler at Emrys Cove, though the owner was out so I don’t know if it will do any good. I came home with two new books as well – one from each...

The writing is going all right. I had to see Sharrec through another seizure last week. I wasn’t expecting that, any more than he was. But it gave me A) more back story inspiration, B) more specific info about his “curse”, and C) a distraction for [redacted - spoiler]. Action has slowed down a bit in Called; I need to fix that next time I work on it.

The writing is going all right for a change, despite the whole same-plot-points-in-both-books thing. I had one of those Moments the other day. Harry was trying to contact Shane, and I thought the headache she got was from over-exertion. She said no, it was actually the physical-psychic connection thing (there must be a word for that) telling her that something bad had happened to him. A-ha! I said, or something to that effect, because that led to something much more interesting than what I...

Whoop whoop! TDR: Freed has passed 20K words! But as I added some on Wednesday, I’m skipping it today. I’ve been trying to get a writing day going since then. Or should I say, trying to finish one. Most of Wednesday was actually spent sorting beads again. Thursday was too busy with Thursday things, and yesterday was Alyssa Day.

Also I think Calli and Jake may be about to do the deed. The stereotype of The Hero About to Leave on His Quest bit. But unlike some of the books I’ve been reading...

I highly recommend the Sisters of the Salt duology by Erin A. Craig! The first book, House of Salt and Sorrows (2019), is a twisty, fast-paced story, sort of "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" crossed with a Gothic murder mystery/ghost story. As a bonus, there's a romance subplot that doesn't take over the whole story. The second book, House of Roots and Ruin (2023), is a bit slower-paced (at least up to the climactic scenes), but still hard to put down. The very ending made me want another book...

Finished: The Haunting at Blackwood Hall by Barrymore Tebbs. 1 star; book #21 for the year. Okay, new rule: No matter how tempting it is to finish reading a book for the fun of dropping more than four dozen snarky notes in the text (perhaps a personal record), I need to stop wasting my time with crap reads. It was a wholly cliched plot rendered so sloppily that I was astonished to see an editor mentioned in the acknowledgements. The only reason I gave it one star instead of none was that the...

Listening to: “Strangelove” by Depeche Mode, Reveal, “Temptation’s ‘bout to Get Me” by The Rascals

The cold hangs on. I had the time to clean the kitchen today, but not the energy. Now it’ll have to be next week. At least nobody cares but me.

Instead I made a half-dozen kid-size bracelets, and then Heather and I took Mousie to the park. We let it go at the base of the big tree as usual, but instead of climbing up it took off toward the street. Then a crow swooped down on it, which made it...

I forgot to note yesterday that I reached a milestone in Freed. I got to the point where Captive ended. I’m not going to cover the final conversational bits; I’ll just do a little time-skip. At least now I no longer have to worry about two timelines matching up.

ugh. I don’t know if I have the energy to exercise today. It’s too cold for the bike. Maybe I’ll give it a try and just promise myself I’ll stop if I get too tired.

Mousie is fine, by the way – seems to be, anyway. I don’t know if it...

Yesterday was another day of getting nothing done, but at least I had a good excuse this time. And at least we didn’t spend the whole Alyssa Day watching TV for a change. Heather and Alyssa spent some time playing outside, both here and at the park. And I brought out my Sunshine Family dolls; we all played with those for a few hours. It was a decent day.

The other night I picked up (what was going to be) my next read, One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Right inside the...

Listening to: It’s Storytime with Wil Wheaton, and once again trying to get up the nerve to ask Wil if he’d ever consider reading a story by a self-published author. I’m sure I’m not the first one to think about it. Probably more than one person already has. I probably never will.

Finished: Folktales from India, edited by A.K. Ramanujan. 5 stars; book #14 for the year. This was one of the books I got during my first visit to Words to Live By. I think I was expecting some new and unsual-to-me...

I had another weird-coincidence moment yesterday. There was an article in the paper about odd things that have been found in the Red River. It included a picture from the Herald archives showing a car being pulled from the river in 1994. And the tow-truck driver standing on the bank with a rope? Christ Naslund. I recognized the name in the caption, and thought “Is that – ?” Looked more closely at his face and, yep. That doesn’t happen every day, I must say. 40 years after graduation; 30...

Finished: Under Falling Skies by Kate MacLeod. 3 stars; book #12 for the year. meh. A locked-room murder mystery, basically, with sci-fi trappings. Not bad, but not good enough to get me to read the next one.

Listening to: You’re Dead to Me, “Don’t Lose Your Head” by Queen, “Use Me” by Bill Withers

Watched: Desperate Housewives

Hang on just a minute. My bg was supposedly 131 before breakfast, but post-breakfast and post-workout it’s 87?!? No way it dropped that low in like two hours. One of those measurements had to be wrong. And I probably could have had a Pop-Tart for breakfast after all.

Listening to: “Found Out About You” by Gin Blossoms, “A Line Storm Song” by Katie and Jered McKenna, Sideways

Watched: Blake’s 7

I finally found a regular time for junk-journaling! I always end up with an hour or more free after...

Yes, Friday the 13th, etc.

Last night I started reading The Blind Side by Michael Lewis. Decided it wasn’t for me though. I expected something more novel-like, I guess, even though it’s (semi-)biographical. The beginning was just endless blah-blah about football and football players. I suppose if I was at all interested in football it would be different. Ah well; I found it in an LFL and it will go back into one.

Listening to: Inside of You

My bg was 115 before breakfast and 93 after my...