Snoopy Dance Time

Hit my monthly goals: submitted to INK, submitted to Writers of the Future, wrote 70 pages.

Hit my yearly goal: 601 pages.

2008--Bring it!

When a Writer is a Girlfriend

With my WotF sub safely in the mail as of the 28th and a query shipped off, I'm dealing with some inertia. I should be writing. I even have ideas and a list of things to do.

I have the day off tomorrow. Hopefully some free time without hours of mind-numbing retail stuff to drain me first will help me be productive.

At work a coworker has a girlfriend who is (apparently) a budding writer. I told him to have her email me. This has turned into a big thing for her, apparently, with all kinds of concerns about meeting a stranger and stuff. I suspect the stuff part is having a potentially dispassionate reader tell her the truth about her work. We may have another potential INKer, or she may turn out to be a fanfic (Kami flinches from the many steely knives bared as fanfic writers prepare to defend their craft) writer who will appear briefly in my email box and then vanish cryptically in a puff of lavender smoke. I'll make first contact and see what's what.

This may be a case of her telling her boyfriend that she writes fantasy and he translated this to mean that she actually writes fantasy, if you know what I mean. That would explain the severe shyness.

So here's a word to those boyfriends (and girlfriends) out there who have been told that their person of interest is a writer. There are kinds of writers and writer wannabes and until you know what their type is, think twice before dragging them in the direction of things like critique groups, writer's conferences and such. It may be just what they want and need, or it might be the worst torture you could put them through.

And here's a word to the people out there who call themselves writers. Writer encompasses a huge group, from published authors to folks who like to hand write letters to their relatives, from up-and-coming writers of short stories to closet novelists that should stay in the closet, from poets of every skill level to non-fiction article writers, journalists, bloggers, and the small child who writes their very first essay without really understanding what an essay is. If you're going to tell someone you're a writer, it may be a good idea to go a little further and talk about what you write and why. It might save you some trouble. Then again, it might get you into the good kind of trouble.

I'll always wince when I mention I'm a writer and someone leaps in and asks what I've published. I've got to get quicker with the "and I hope to be published soon."

I've had a new one, btw. I mentioned I spent my evenings writing to one of my bosses and she asked what I wrote. "Fantasy novels," I said.

And her voice did that downturn. "Oh."

It's better than being asked what I've published, though!

Decision to Defer WotF Entry

After long consideration, I have decided to defer my entry for Writers of the Future to the first quarter of 2008 (March deadline).

Basically, this boiled down to number of hours available to complete the work. I had pretty extensive rework to do to get the NaNoWriMo novel-length piece down to short story size and complete the story arc and had been working on it extensively - to the detriment of balance in other activities. Ultimately, keeping up my 1000 word a day habit and delivering on my objective to submit for INK took priority and bumped the later objective.

This schedule modification will allow me to finish the changes to the story and have it reviewed by INK before submitting to WotF.

I'm a bit disappointed in myself, but that is tempered by the submission for the January 4th INK meeting and I'm focusing on looking forward to that feedback. I'm also pleased by having the time to submit the new story to INK and update for feedback before submitting to WotF.

See you all on the 4th!

Going . . . Gone

Done and done.

[Name withheld to protect the foolish] is sitting in the envelope next to me, ready to zip off into the mail as soon as I leave the house. Off to the Writers of the Future contest! My first short story submission since college, my first contest entry since those hapless poems two years ago.

"Another Day in Purgatory" is as close as I can get it and is now sitting in the inboxes of members of INK, ready for dismemberment at our next meeting.

And that concludes the deadlines for today. Until our next deadline, which is fast approaching on Monday to have all my pages written for the month, Good Day and Good Writing!

It's in the Envelope

My sub for WotF is in the envelope and ready to get mailed off to WotF.

I just emailed my first agent query for Masks.

Why does the world feel like it's spinning too fast?

If I'm rejected, I'll feel a small let down.

If I'm accepted, I'll be terrified. And thrilled. And terrified. But also thrilled.

I'm working tomorrow from 9-6. Hopefully I'll get the part that needs to be mailed in during lunch. Good luck to all of us.

Close Enough for a Banana

Well, I've mucked as far as I want to muck on my WotF story without further feedback from the INKers. It's down to 3300 words from, what was it, 4500? Anyway, with the deadline up this close, it may be time to just move on to the submission package part of all this. I wish that part took zero time, but it always takes me hours, if not days or, in the case of my agent queries, weeks.

Speaking of agent queries, mine is sitting in limbo. Time to add my web page address and ship the puppy off, I think. It's doing no good sitting in my email draft box. So unless anyone up and screams "No, Kami, don't do it!" I'll be sending that off tonight or tomorrow.

The new printer works fabulous so far. It'll be fun to print out my story and cover letter on it.

Good luck everyone! Let's do this thing.

Deading the Line

Thanks to a snow warning tomorrow, I have a slight reprieve on my encroaching deadline.

My brother and all four of his girls were going to visit tomorrow, meaning I'd have very little time free to finish editing [Sorry, can't tell you] for the WotF contest. But he's not going to want to drive the hour or so through snow to reach us and chance getting stuck here, so instead of refereeing the girls I'll have more time to finish [Still can't tell you!]. Kate will miss playing with her cousins, but I'll make up for it by spending time out in the snow.

If it really does snow. One can never be too certain, afterall.

I have spent time on [Shh, it's a secret] today working on the transition from new opening to pre-existing story. I have one more transition to write, based on exposition I had already written so that part of the scene is fleshed out, and then I'll just be tweaking and correcting the rest of the piece. I'm glad to be near the end of bluescreen writing. While I struggle with rough draft writing in general, bluescreen writing scenes to inject into a pre-existing story is like facing undergoing a root canal. I just dread it. It isn't as relaxing as tweaking what's there and it isn't as creative as cutting loose in a rough draft. I'm bound to a text that I have to try to match in tone and structure and plot. I find it tedious to contemplate, though once I'm into the actual writing, the tedium usually falls away as I get back into the story and the characters. Thankfully, or I'd never get it finished.

So I'm looking forward to being finished with the last bit of bluescreen so I can go back to editing. Much looking forward to the plain old editing.

Purgatory is, I think, ready to send out to INK. I'm at the stage where when I read through it I don't find errors but find that the whole piece stinks and should be trashed. That's usually a sign that I need a reader, stat! I don't think it's short enough, but I can't find the obvious places that I know exist that can be deleted. Definitely time for readers. I'll do a line edit tomorrow and spend it off.

With all this gnashing of teeth about bluescreen writing for edits and doubting the veracity of a story, I'm ready to sit down to some nice, non-judgmental rough draft writing. And luckily I have my new short story primed for more words.

Merry Christmas

Yeah, I'm pagan, but so what.  I've celebrated both forever.  The Holly and the Ivy was once a pagan song (with strong references to the Hunt, the Holly King and the Ivy King, Rekindling of the sun, etc.) and was rewritten to suit Christianity.  To me that exemplifies several things, including the writing process itself.  Whether we're writing fiction or non-fiction, we take who we are and use that to rewrite what is ethereal before we touch it.  History.  Fact.  Truth.  Imagination.  Emotion.  We're always reshaping what is or was into what we believe we know.

The holly and the ivy,

When they are both full grown,

Of all the trees that are in the wood,

The holly bears the crown.

O the rising of the sun,

And the running of the deer,

The playing of the merry organ

Sweet singing of the choir.

Merry Christmas, INK, and have a happy new year.

Researching the Market

I picked up the current issue of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. I've been wanting to read short stories in my preferred genre and I know this magazine leans toward noir. Not that I've been writing noir, but I'd like to. Hence the research.

I'm enjoying the magazine immensely. I'm foreseeing a subscription in my future. Having a Hammett short in it was just icing. I haven't read a story I didn't like.

I've also realized that maybe I'm not a noir writer. But that isn't going to stop me from giving it a try. I'm picking up some of the nuances of the genre and as soon as I can figure up a good plot, I'll see what I can come up with.

Next on my researching list: a fantasy magazine (might go with Realms on that one) and a romance magazine (Romantic Times might help me find one). And I'll pick up a copy of Glimmer Train to check out the literary market.

Anyone have other suggestions?

A Quiet Pleasure

It's weird to be so pleased with myself when I know Kami and her family are grieving. I feel so badly for their losing Mojo.

So I'm holding back my snoopy dance for finishing my first short story in over two years. Oddly enough, it didn't feel like that huge of an accomplishment. I think because I know I have lots of revising to do on it before it is really close to finished. So I'll save the snoopy dance for when I finish the edit.

I have spent the last two days catching up on missed work. I wrote 13 pages yesterday, which puts me even with my best Nano writing days. For some reason, 13 seems to be the highest number I can achieve in a day, at least at this point. By the 13th page, my brain is mushy, my back aches, and my fingertips are numb. It's no slouch of number, approximating 3250 words of writing. While I'm pleased I got that far along, I really did want to finish the story yesterday, but I had to wait until today to write the last 7 pages of the story.

I was close to my guess on the length of the story, too, which surprises me. I figured about 30 pages and I ended up with 37 pages, thanks in part to a nice little twist at the end. We like little twists that take the story one step further. This one worked out well and kept with the theme that managed to develop in the story.

My plans now are reading Reven, which I haven't started yet (bad me), finishing the [title withheld for sheer perversion] revision to get it ready for the WotF contest, and coming up with something to fill the 28 pages I have left to write for the month. It will be spent on another short story. I have some prep work to do on my current novels before I can pick them up again.

Getting Back on My Knees

I'd say I'm starting to get back on my feet, but I don't think I'll make it that far for a while.  Mojo's death knocked me on my ass.  Working seems to help a little, so I worked on Masks and the website a bit.

The kzmiller.com website is coming together pretty well.  It's starting to look more finished.  Lots more images.  Thanks again for your help, Steve, Carole and Ris, both technical and for cheering me on.

Rory's website is shaping up too, though we haven't had time to sit down and really work on it.  We'll get there.  He has nifty Amazon links.  I'll add some to kzmiller.com soon, when I put up my Gypsies and Space Ninjas page, or whatever I end up calling it.  I anticipate advertising all of INK's published works on that page, so we'd all better get stuff published soon.

I ache all over.  As they say in acting and writing alike, must remember this feeling ... but really I just want him back.

Which One

I have a lot of stories to choose from.  They all have flaws.  I'm having a hard time committing.  I thought I'd go with Comes in Colors, aka Colorized, but now I'm having doubts.  So I've decided to throw this list online, basically thinking aloud, to see what happens.  (In other words, I'm inflicting my thoughts on the universe, not asking that everyone vote, although if you have suggestions I am so, so willing to hear them!)  

It's really hard to judge my own stuff.  I have the same trouble painting.  The ones people gravitate to are not my faves, generally speaking.  I'm only looking at fairly recent stories.  I don't want to dredge up really old ones for WotF.

[Secret WotF sub]:  People remember it.  It's pretty clean (though Ris is right, it could use trimming.)  It has some good visuals.  Overall, though, I'm afraid the idea is not very creative, and it certainly doesn't have much punch.  Even after editing I don't think it'll be a vivid story.

Calling In:  I think it's funny, and it recently got funnier thanks to some tightening and a plot adjustment.  I like that it's very short, the shortest thing I've written.  But, it's humor.  Humor is hard, and humor pieces deserve recognition, but I don't know if this humor piece does.  

Flight:  This is the oldest of the stories I'm considering.  It's also a shorter story.  The tale of the engineered child whose first flight is recorded in JonBenet Ramsey style has some moments that I still think about, but I think I missed the mark with it.  I dunno.

Invaders:  Although this idea of robots being engineered to imitate alien invaders is nothing new, I think having the pov from the robot is unique.  The critique I got from Strange Horizons when I offered it for publication was that it was a near miss but it felt 'slight.'  I guess I didn't go deep enough, or the situation was too cliche'.  I don't know if I'll be able to get out from under that response to submit it to a contest.

Walking the Earth:  This rambling story about an alien born on Earth after his ancestors crash landed here has some fun moments, but plot-wise it verges on a mini-novel.  It's a classic Kami short story in the sense that I had a novel plot and tidied it up enough to fit into a short story.  I've had cleaner ideas but I really like the characters in this one.

[Secret Future WotF entry]:  A story about a general who switches to the losing side of a war.  I like that she dies at the end, and how that happens, but the opening starts on one of Diedre's nits--with a bloody fight.  I suppose I could change the opening.  It wouldn't even be that hard.  Despite being last on my list, this is the one I'm closest to considering submitting to WotF instead of [The Current Actual Entry.]

I just realized that I could submit Comes in Colors one quarter, and Causes another.

And I really need to start writing more short stories if I'm going to be submitting to contests.  Sheesh, you guys, I'm a novelist!  I'm not even supposed to be here!

Yay, I don't have to spam to get an agent!

I got a huge boost out of the meeting, especially a fresh burst of enthusiasm (she said, using cliche's to describe her experience.)  My favorite was the caution about sending out too many queries at once, because you may get feedback from the rejections that will change your query.  Four or five a month makes so much more sense to me, not only because of the feedback thing but because frankly, I don't think I could put together a large number of queries without making them the equivalent of spam--generic, annoying advertising with the appropriate or sometimes inappropriate names pasted in.    

This put a certain self-published author's experience into crystalline perspective.  She said that she sent out 295 queries to agents and got back nothing.  Well, if she'd sent out that many in a very short time, they couldn't possibly all follow individual submission guidelines, or even have had anything but the right email address on them.  

I think I'm bad in the exact opposite way. I've been wrestling with my first query since December was in the single digit days.  It's now December 17th and I still don't have it put together.  Total length?  Probably around 200 words, maybe less, including a bio.  I should be faster than this, but I'm cutting myself a little slack because it's my first one.  Hopefully each one will be easier to write, and I'll have things to cut and paste as I progress--teasers, full length synopses (thank you internet for finally providing me with a plural of synopsis, assuming it's correct,) bios of various lengths, a website that's professional enough in appearance that I won't be embarrassed to include a link, etc.  

Agent queries aside, I got a huge amount of help for my ailing website (thank you Steve, you're a god!) and great support from my fellow INKers and a sense that yes, this is possible.  I can become a published author.  And Jay, you're beautiful.  Thanks for everything.  See you at Radcon!

INK Meeting Report

What an encouraging meeting we had last night. Jay Lake was kind enough to share his time with us and we plied him with many questions about writing and publishing. Carole did a wonderful job working up a list of question beforehand and keeping us on track since we had a time constraint. I believe we covered all the questions we had put together before settling in for picture-taking and book-signing.

The other INKers can chime in on what they found the most helpful among Jay's many useful comments and observations on the craft. For my part, I was heartened by his adapting his writing methods as he evolves as a writer so that he continues to grow as a writer, because he has already achieved what all of us in the group aspire towards: publication. It was just another reminder that publication is not a finish line. I was also encouraged to finish my works-in-progress before I start new projects, having now limited how many I'm working on at a time. Much of what Jay said reinforced the hard-won knowledge I'm taking out of this year's attempts at learning my writing habits.

Jay, Kami, Steve, and Carissa (photo by C.S.)

Kami and Jay discuss books while Carissa looks on (photo by C.S.)

After Jay's departure, we gathered in the library (our usual meeting hang out) to continue the discussion of writing, specifically what we learned during the past year, which Carole so aptly described as a the year of growing pains. We are coming out of this year of growth with fresh perspectives and a new dedication not only to INK but to our individual careers. And I believe every one of us is now focused on the idea that writing is our career.

Close to midnight, we all made the choice to submit a short story to each quarterly contest held by Writers of the Future. It started with our goading Carole to submit one of her pieces and somehow turned into a "hey, we should all do that" sort of decision that is typically for us. So for the next two weeks we will all be in the stages of completing, revising, and polishing a short story. It will be fun to see what story each of us submits.

We also have updated our pictures for the blog (re: side bar), added some new material, and are all now accounted for here (welcome at last, Steve!).

In all, it was a motivating, encouraging, and energizing meeting even beyond what our normal get togethers produce. Jay's contribution to the successful meeting cannot be emphasized enough and we are so thankful he spent the time with us.

*Agenda items completed from the previous meeting: updates on the blog, group e-mail created, business cards ordered and distributed, meeting reminder e-mails engaged, yearly goals spelled out.

*Up next on our meeting agenda: the group submissions to WotF, submissions for the next meeting, building a FAQ for the group, and an invitation to a possible new member.

Absolution

The wonderful Kelly McCullough over at Wyrdsmiths has given a blanket absolution to anyone gnawing the fingernails of guilt over unfinished projects. I really needed to read that today, since I have been struggling with my decision to shelve the newer projects that weren't working for me.

Now that the guilt is behind me, I can channel all that energy into completing my newest short story. "The Wrong Side" is going very well. I have 11 pages on it now and I know where it's going to end up, which is a good feeling. I'm leaving the ending open in my head, so if any more surprises come up, I can let the story follow them without wrecking the mystery of it. It's rather fun not knowing myself who exactly 'did it.'

It's a murder mystery, btw. Guess I should have mentioned that.

I also spent some time this morning editing "Purgatory," an older short story in desperate need of a new title. I have several title ideas.

It's an odd story because I feel like it works just like I want it to, but I have the feeling that my fellow INKers will pick it apart. I'm curious to see how it will hold up under a critique and if my opinion about the story will change, but right now, I rather feel like I'm almost ready to send it out. I just need to know if the ending works like I want it too. Might be too vague. It will most likely be my first submission of the new year for INK to critique.

And I might just start research a market for it. I have no idea exactly where I might send it, because it isn't a genre piece. That will involve more research, but also a couple trips to the bookstores to check out some of the literary journals. Might be right for one of those. I honestly can't say at this point, but I'm curious to find out.

It would be a riot if this was the first short story I managed to publish in a professional market. My one non-genre piece. Not that I'd be disappointed. Oh goodness me no!

The Dreaded Bio

I've been struggling with my bio.  Part of the issue is that some of the things that have influenced my writing are things I did only for a short time--five years or less--and haven't kept up with, and none of them are formally recognized by orgs or institutions that I can point at and say see, they know me.

Paragliding--This is an expensive hobby that I played with for several glorious months with Rory.  I think I went on only one class/play day without him, and that was one of the high altitude flights I took to deepen my certification.  Any time I talk about a character or creature flying, I draw from my experiences in paragliding.  Sometimes it gets in my way, like when I mention rotors and experience frustration that hardly anyone in my audience will know what I'm talking about.  The sensations of flight as well as learning how to read something invisible by a combination of touch and indirect observation and educated guesswork has opened the world of flight to me.  The stories I heard from our instructor also influence my writing.  The failures, the humor, the commentary about early paragliding and the hazards of other types of unpowered flight molded my opinions about what flight is and should be.

Caving aka Spelunking--I hardly ever go, though this is one of the things I do end up doing once a year, usually.  The smells, sights (and darkness,) feel and sounds of underground, the emotional sense of earth--I wouldn't have a good grasp of it without my caving experience.  My particular experience deviates a lot from folks who tour caves because there's so much climbing and also crawling in very tight spaces as opposed to walking around on metal walkways with handrails and do not touch signs.  I learned to not touch by example and the obvious respect that my instructing spelunkers showed to the cave environment.  And to get back to the dark part--cave darkness is just so palpable, and I'm not sure anyone can identify with false sight (where your brain makes up things it thinks it sees in perfect darkness) unless they've experienced it for themselves.

Rock climbing--man I love this sport, but I haven't gone since we've moved.  What makes it even more annoying to include in a bio is that I've only gone rappelling in the big outdoors.  All my most meaningful rock climbing has been indoors.  There's something primal and kewl about holding your entire weight by your fingertips and toes, sometimes just the tips of toes.  And I love the challenge provided by overhangs.  Oh, hey, I'm ten pounds lighter now!  Maybe I can get my ass over that four foot overhang--but I digress.  When I write about climbing and exposure (height and danger) I'm remembering all my climbing happy places and also my appalling failures (I'm terrible at regular outdoor rock climbing.)  And yet, I can't call myself a rock climber.  I just did it for fun when we had that gym membership where they had a fun wall, a stretch of a mere two or three years.  We've had memberships at other places with walls, but their walls sucked (small, uncreative, too easy.)  The biggest difficulty with a small wall is that there's no place to traverse (go sideways) and so if you're alone, and you actually obey the rule where your feet can't go three feet above the floor unless you're on ropes, there's nothing to do.  In my favorite room, on the other hand, I used to do laps.  Wee!

Well, I guess I'd better go back to working on the bio.  Bleh.

Emotional 180

Inquiring minds want to know what an emotional 180 is.  I think we've mentioned this before, and Mark may remember as soon as I mention scene arch, but it bears repeating.

There are lots of ways to approach story writing.  Although I'm one of those touchy-feelie 'let the story unfold as it will' types that shrinks away from outlining, I do prefer to use technical devices as much as possible, especially when I'm doing something that's not my favorite thing, like editing.  One of my faves, and I do it mostly when editing although like Ris when I'm stuck I try to do it while writing too, is to make a 180 degree change in the scene.  

An emotional 180, therefore, would be with the pov character or the emotional tone of the scene starting out, say, sad, but by the end of the scene (or story) the character or tone is happy.  Other 180's:  You can also begin with action, and end with reflection (or sleep,) start with dreary rain and end with sunshine, start with broad narration and end with tight, focused pov or dialogue, or all visa versa.

When push comes to shove, though, even if you're playing with setting or plot when you're turning these 180's, you're making emotional impact on the characters and therefore (hopefully) with the audience.  Without changing the emotions in scenes and stories, the work ends up reading like a monotone.  

The stronger the emotional changes, the more vibrant the work is, so it's worth your while to seek the opposite whenever you can.  

If you only make it partway toward a major change, that'll do.  It never works to force something.  But often that 180 comes about naturally because of the climactic cycle.  The climax in a scene or a story is also called the turning point, and that turning point has to have major emotional impact to be effective.

Virus Non Grata

I think I caught Carole's cold through the internet. Anyway, thanks! I was missing that sore throat. But the cold ease is helping. As are my vitamins and pain meds. And lots of cold water.

Funny thing, hot drinks never have helped sore throats for me so much. But cold, as cold as I can manage, does wonders! Bring on those shakes and smoothies!

Not much has happened in writing this week, what with the cold and putting together Kate's birthday party. Except I do know the next couple of scenes for my short story and I think I know how I want to end it. I got a little stuck trying not to let it turn into a novel, then remembered the trick I've been using in my Nano novel--that emotional 180 in the scenes. I decided to apply that to the whole short story and that got me out of my stuckness. I have a bit of a theme going now, I think. I'm hoping to get a few pages written on it tomorrow and then more on Sunday. Maybe not enough to make my quota for the week, but better than nothing.

I am looking forward to Kate's party. She is too.

In other news, INK business cards arrived today. I guess that means we can be all official!

Masks Lost and Found

Yesterday I had one of the best days ever, because the night before I had a bad, bad moment.  I couldn't find the last half of Masks anywhere.  I made this unpleasant discovery about 11:30 and I was up until after 2a.m. trying to locate it first in my transfer files hoping it was in an odd folder under an odd name, and then on Snape.  That's the danger of changing computers, and not having hard copy backups.  It felt like half of Mairi burned and sank.  I thought I put a pretty good game face on at the time, telling myself that I wrote it once, I could write it again and make it even better.  That it would only take until January if I really put my mind to it.  

All that pretense went away when I found it in the morning on Gypsy.  I whooped and danced about like a crazed fool.  The whole day turned into a joyful blur all because of 66,000 words.  My spirit felt like I'd been on a dozen rollercoaster rides and then drank the best milkshake ever.  I put my various Masks files (there are three altogether) into one mega file and emailed it to my fellow INKers immediately.  Tragedy averted.  Now, back to my tasks, which are to edit and send out the next section of Masks to the Lucky Labs and to INK, and then to work on more query letters.

Woot!

Masks on Fire

So I've been working on Masks in a way that gets me motivated to get those marketing letters in the mail and email.  So far I've fixed the opening (I hope) so that Bainswell is more of a threat.  Around the 5000 word mark, Mairi is on fire.  I hope that's soon enough.  Next, I realized that the scene in the snow will be far more interesting if he starts assessing on a very deep level the life he's tolerated so far, so that it makes more sense that he would never go back  In the new version he has a moment of wondering what kind of person his beloved Gutter really is if he can put a small boy's hand into the hand of a man like Lord Argenwain.  Also, I created something for Mark to lose when he ditches the horses.  Horses, you say?  He has two now, and two sets of saddlebags, and the weapons.  He's going to have a helluva lot to carry, and he's going to lose a bunch of it.

Once he's in the port city he's going to be so exhausted he'll let things happen that shouldn't, and in the morning he's going to try to cover up his trail.  This is much more fun for me.  I just hope it's more fun for the audience and doesn't start quite so slow.

BTW, it still opens with Mark in bed, but he's staring at the ceiling, avoiding the waking up trope, and I don't mention the mirror in the bathroom.

Can you tell I'm having fun editing?  Do you know why?  Because editing has changed work stations.  It's now no-longer in the Not Writing station, but right next to both the Not Writing Cover Letter and the Researching Agents stations.  By comparison, editing is a gas and I could do it all day.

Steampunk? Steampunk!

Just when I think a particular project is out there all alone, I learn from a chance email that a setting that Ris and I have been working with falls on the outer fringe of an entire subgenre.  Rather than our technology rotating around steam power and difference engines, we toy with an age on a world that is definitely not Earth that might have resulted if the many inventions that a Tesla-like person may (or may not have) created had become the general tech upon which all technology rests.  

I think it's not accidental that we end up with nods to the Island of Dr. Moreau and a world of fine dresses and fancy hats with a monarchial/noble society being pressed by new ideas about the needs and rights of the common man.  

We're not quite steampunk, but were not *not* steampunk either.

This is kewl.  Nothing new under the sun ...

Kami's website goes live, sort of

Okay, there's no "sort of" about it.  If you go to kzmiller.com my website will be there.  I'm still having some issues with the iPower interface, including one that I'm trying to fix even as I'm typing this.  I'm on hold, and will be for a long, long time.  I think I spent four hours on hold, not all at once but on three different calls, yesterday.  The one I'm having now involves me not being able to edit some things, including prices on books that shouldn't have prices.  :-)  It's one of those things that Rory saw and I hadn't noticed when I went live, but when I tried to go back and fix and publish the fixes, I get an error message.  Grr.  I'm sure it's something super simple, but I can't figure it out.

Rory's site is up.  www.chirontraining.com  All the errors and weirdness are mine.  At about 1:30 am I called it quits and went live.  At 10:00am the next day I was reading it and realized it made absolutely no frickin' sense. Well, one page in particular.  But Rory can go in and fix it and edit at his leisure when he has time.  I think it looks okay for now.

Everything is backwards from how I'm used to feeling.  Normally I feel fairly computer savvy with no business presence.  Now I'm starting to feel things slide the other direction.  I'm starting to have a small business presence, but as if I have only so much 'stuff' to work with and I have to give up one for the other, I'm losing my ability to interface with the computer in the ways I need to.

It's all in good fun though.  I hope this generates some interest in my work!  That would be fabulous.

WS?

Where art thou, WS?