A Twist of Things to Come

But, it worked out all right. I had Saturday off because I went in on Friday. So, I mostly slept all day. I did get dragged out to the free family movie at the local theater. It was Rango, which we had rented but thought would be fun on the big screen. And it was, you know, FREE. :)

Got up and got my hours in on Sunday, then wrote. It worked out well, because I went from having about three pages of chapter 18 to having 12 pages of fixed content and another five more of fairly solid stuff that still needs to be retro-fitted. (Chapter 18 is a FrankenChapter, in which something that happened in the last third of the first draft is moved to near the beginning of the novel, so all the little details have to change.) I really like the way it is turning out, because I get to introduce a really cool character, like 200 pages earlier than before. And, like most of my secondary characters in this draft, she's much cooler than she was.

***

My Beloved made Taco Feast. *breathes shallowly* I ate too much. It's been a while since I've done that.

***

He also has a like on some contract work. My new employer also offered him a job, but he didn't take it. He has a minimum threshold that they couldn't meet. BUT he also had a meeting with a tech employment agency, and the guy there knows he can place him quickly at his required rate of pay, so it's all good.

Did I mention that he's decided to change industries? This man who has been modding Xboxes and rigging home networks to answer our phones and stuff in his spare time for fun, has finally clued into the fact that maybe he should be in IT. :P This was not as good an idea a few years ago when I suggested it. :P

***

They've added a new product to my list at work, because I had done EVERYTHING there was to do on all the other products they had for me. If they will just start letting a approve some of these things, I will stop annoying them with my constant presence at the end of their desk, like Oliver Twist asking for more. :P

Tomorrow we have a client visit. The client is MontBlanc, and we have to dress business professional. We also cannot leave until half an hour after they leave the office, so I am likely to be caught in traffic hell. Perhaps I should go prepared to stop off in Alpharetta at a short story/novel writing workshop that is just forming. That's not until 7pm, though. What to do between 4:30 and 7pm... Perhaps I will pack my computer and plan to write. :P

The offer came through the employment agency today. They said 9am Monday instead of 10 am, but I figure I can leave way early to avoid the rush hour and hang out at the Panera down the street, revising my novel. That can only improve my overall productivity, and my Beloved can handle getting the kids up and out while I'm training. (My guess is that they will tell me that 10am to 3pm is fine for the rest of the week, but it all depends on when the people who will be training me will be there.)

The point is, I can totally make this work for me.

I'm also a tad impressed by how comfortable I was in the interview process. I was honest and direct, and didn't feel like a fraud at all. I was relaxed, personable and chatty (all but that last one are not usual for me). I looked, felt and acted competent and professional. Even I didn't expect that.

***

Also, I got my eighth review on YWO (plus one by a friend *smoochies*), but the last review by a non-friend was all 5s and one 4 for the eight review criteria, plus some really helpful nit-picks and insights. Super duper! I won't know how it measures up to everyone else until the end of the month, but, well. It was only a thing I was using to distract myself from the major upheavals in my life. So, mission accomplished.

The hubby keeps saying to me, "Everything's coming up Milhouse!" Har, har.

***

In other news, our old college buddy, Phil, is starting a genre ezine for the ereader/Kindle market. This is the guy who comes from a long line of newspaper editors and reporters, with Pulitzer winners and so forth. Anyway. He liked my chapters, and made some helpful concrit comments, of the type that make you smack your forehead and say, "Of course!"

He wants to see some of my short stories for the mag, but I'm not sure any of them are suitable. I know I would be comfortable letting him edit the heck out of a couple of them, if he were so inclined. I just don't think the shorts have historically been my strong suit. Heh.

I have chosen my clothing and stuff, so that is out of the way. Still not sure what I'll do with my hair. :P

I also applied for a job closer to me, but likely with more stress and less flexible work hours. My applications for three possible jobs downtown have not been decided yet. Didn't get an interview for the one in New Orleans, which is just as well under the circumstances. *snicker*

***

My review stats on my opening chapters are holding steady at 4 out of 5 stars on average. Though the genre fans have been slightly more positive, the overall stats are exactly the same on average. I now have 7 reviews and I only need 8 to qualify for the contest, but they have to be assigned by the system and I have to have them before the last week of the month... or something. I'm not really sure about that. I read their explanation, but it wasn't entirely clear.

Honestly, I think I'm just focusing on this contest so I don't run around in tight circles shouting, "Fuck, oh fuck, oh holy fuck." That wouldn't be good for my employment prospects, I suspect. *grin*

It's not that things are bad, mind you. Just incredibly stressful, and this contest is my displacement activity.

But what I really need to do is finish the second draft. :P

***

The boys seem to be doing fine with school. Neither one is over the moon, but things seem to be going well. The big fella rode the bus today, and that went okay. We got them each keys, so that they can get in when we're working and not here. That's going to be a huge change for them, because I've almost always been there when they get home from school. But they are big fellas now.

My vehicle blew a hose on the trip, before we had even made it out of Louisiana. Seriously, the border with Mississippi is less than an hour away from New Orleans, and it broke down before I got there. Popped hose, lost water, overheated. BUT I pulled over right away so no major damage was done.( Cut for the disinterested. May include details of the move, plans for the weekend and my putting-the-kids-in-new-schools angst. )

In other news, my friend Andrina had convinced me to join youwriteon.com and enter an opening chapters contest, so I I did. Your piece has to have 8 reviews to qualify for the contest. You earn reviews by reviewing other people's stuff. I've done six or seven so far, and gotten two reviews in return. (So far they are quite positive.) It's a spot of work, and I'm somewhat pressed for time at the moment, but I'm going to get 8 reviews by the end of the month if it kills me.

So, if anybody would like to read the first two chapters of my second draft, you can find them here:

http://www.youwriteon.com/books/samplechapters.aspx?bookguid=e9d5c639-1dd3-40b8-ac67-b77b426011de

The site makes you register, but it is free. If the direct link doesn't work, you can find it by a title search for "Form and Void." If you see fit to review it, I would appreciate it a lot. :)

I'm also my own worst enemy, apparently.

Thursday night I packed up my manuscript, notes and note cards about the revisions. All in a nice handy box, so I could take it with me on my trip and not have it jumbled or on the way. So organized! I go to bed and sleep the sleep of the righteous, congratulating myself on being smart, organized and ahead of the game. (Yes, I failed to use the Oxford comma. BITE ME.)

Of course, I then proceeded to drive to Georgia the next day without putting the box in my vehicle. *repeated headdesk*

Before you ask, yes. The hubby could mail it to me, BUT this trip (even with my papa paying for the gas) is going to have us close enough to over-budget for the month that shipping a box that size overnight (or even two-day) is probably useless. It would get to me in time to drive back with it, anyway.

I am a very clever enemy -- always one step ahead of myself. Heh.

I probably have enough of my plan in my memory (the one in my head, not on the computer where the draft lives) to make some progress anyway. Also it may be better for me having forgotten my notes. You never know.

But still. *head smack*

Well, I DID!

He read the last two chapters I've revised so far, and had a nightmare in which "someone with metal fingers was pulling [his] guts out."

O_O

At first was horrified and felt really bad about it. Then, a creeping happy stole over me. My hubby is a big guy, fairly tough-minded, and something I wrote pwned his subconscious!

Heh.

***

In other news, my Papa (stepdad) offered to pay our expenses to come visit him, as a birthday gift to me. I've missed him so much, and it's been since last August that we got to see him. I'm going to take him up on it, but I'm not sure when we'll leave.

That really is the best present ever. :)

Yesterday, I fed a week-old kitten. Abandoned by its mother and eventually coming into the care of my friend Meredith, this kitten was incredibly tiny. Meredith is the lady who gave us the caterpillars, so as soon as she was settled in with the kitty, she suggested I bring the fellas over for a look at her "newest science experiment."

( Large pictures of a tiny cat under the cut. )

So cute!

Today, I finally posted my interview with "James S.A. Corey" (the writing team of Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck), which I had been attempting to transcribe for-freaking-ever. (I really suck at transcription, and I kept having to stop because it gave me migraines. :P )

In any case, the interview itself was tremendous fun. You can read it yourself at GeekaChicas - Leviathan Wakes: A Chat with the Authors.

It was fun to see how they work together, and how easily they could razz each other. Daniel Abraham's entire body of work has landed right in my To Be Read list. He was very charming, and his list of favorite authors made me very happy. His rants about Urban Fantasy and "weaponized" female characters also had me thinking. His take on the phenomenon I used to call The Buffy Effect helped me clarify my thinking about it.

It also put my protagonist in perspective, too. Lethe is a reaction to the whole "female power through violence" thing, but in a different way. I'm anxious to get back to her.

I am now the proud possessor of a virtual tinfoil hat - useful mainly for this season of Doctor Who, because stuff that happened last week TOTALLY didn't happen. Nope. ;)

***

The hubby brought me grapes and cheeses and part of a toasted baguette for breakfast in bed. It's not our anniversary or anything. He just does that sometimes. Once or twice a month, maybe. I should chart it, to see if it is at all related to other activities/occurrences.

He also took me out last night to find nail polish to match what is on my toes from the pedicure last week. I had no intention of doing that, but when I hinted at putting clear polish on my fingernails it offended his sense of symmetry. :P LOL!

***

Speaking of offended senses of symmetry, I am annoyed at the dearth of preachers proclaiming these horrible storms as the wrath of God upon such godless towns as Tuscaloosa, AL.

Why, yes. I do live in New Orleans. Grrr.

It's not that it isn't horrible, because it is. One of my sister's friends and co-workers was killed by the storm that hit East Tennessee, and lots of friends-of-friends have been displaced. It's awful.

But when natural disasters happen to mostly white Evangelical places, it's an inexplicable tragedy. When they happen to places that are black/poor/NOT the buckle of the Bible belt, they are divine judgment.

That freaking annoys me. It sticks in my head-craw and makes my brains choke and sputter.

GRRR.

***

Had a lovely talk with narniadear, whose professional singing career is moving on apace. She really is amazingly talented. I hope that after her latest concert she gets a lot more professional work.

I'm so proud and blessed to have so many crazy-talented, amazingly accomplished friends. I'm so lucky to know so many cool people. :) One day I hope to earn my place among them, but for now I'm happy to bask in their reflected glory. :D

***

Also had a talk with the only wise reader to read Form & Void's first draft as I wrote it. She's having a cow (in a good way) over the re-write. She said it was larger than the sum of its parts, which I hope is true. The merging of some characters into new and better characters who serve the narrative seems to be doing the trick.

I'm probably at teh mid-point of the re-write, but the next few chapters will have significant re-structuring. Things that didn't happen until the final act are being relocated to the first part of the second act, which should work better on several levels and deal with some plot issues.

I'm honestly half amazed that the solution came to me so clearly. There was a time when I was almost certain I wasn't going to have an "aha!" moment that would fix the thing.

Magic writer brain to the rescue!

I shall be more trusting of it in the future.

***

I think I'm going to start a Thing a Day project in May, or at least soon. Make or do something creative every day, for a set period of time. All you guys with your photos and things have inspired me.

Forward motion on teh re-write has begun again. I've almost worked my way over the sticking place. The work is much stronger than it was, and I am pleased.

***

The hubby has a line on a permanent job that could have been written for him. The company contacted him, which is always a good sign. It would be local, too, unlike some of the contract work he's been getting.

This is very exciting for us - no relocation! If you're the praying type, please do. If you aren't, good vibes would be appreciated.

***

So, I went across the river and picked up some friends of the boys yesterday, and we went to the Cool Zoo, which is a water park type of place at the Zoo. Then we walked around the Zoo, came back here and they played video games. Fun was had by all. The back seat was full of tween and teen boys talking in fake British accents and generally being awesome. They were very polite and flattering, though. My vehicle was awash in glottal stops and blarney. :P

However, one of teh boys left his swimsuit here. They are leaving tomorrow morning for a camp, so I need to take it to him. It's maybe six or seven miles away, but it feels like a great inconvenience to do this. Weird. Ron used to have to drive that far to work in Atlanta, and it felt like *nothing.* It might be the fact that it's across the river. People treat the west bank like it's a huge deal to go there, and I begin to see why.

I can walk most anywhere I want to go from here. Eight miles is like trekking to Mongolia.

I have become a city dweller. O_O

Due to various life-related hiccups, I'm not finished with my re-write yet. Twelve days is a fairly short time in which to do a re-write of the magnitude I was attempting, so I don't feel bad about it. It was kind of impossible on the face of it really, considering the other obligations I had this week that I couldn't wriggle out of.

The thing is, the attempt was very exhilarating. I think attempting things we don't already know how to do is a fabulous way to learn to do them, provided we shake off the societal stigma and grant permission to fail. I mean, I don't think I'd have attempted it in the first place if I was still truly afraid of failure.

So, now I have a new schedule, one that should work for me, even in the context of me taking care of everybody else and teaching Wee Boy at home. (The first week of my two week odyssey, both boys were on Mardi Gras break, but this week I had to teach Wee Boy, who still seeks a lot of guidance with his work. I think it comforts him to have me watch over everything, even though he is fully capable of self-directing.)

They held the Lusher lottery this week, and Wee Boy did not get in again, though he once again qualified with a high score. Boo, but also Yay. Because I suspect he would no longer be a good fit for a traditional school anyway. I signed him up for the k12 public virtual charter school program, and am hopeful he will get in. I also signed Big Boy up for it, though he seems to want to stay at Lusher. He's just coming out of another period of forgetfulness (doing his homework and forgetting to TURN IT IN) and we had to have a talk about that. All of his teachers talk about how brilliant he is. Most of his work is A work, then he deliberately drops the ball on something simple, sabotaging himself. His History teacher was pulling his hair out, because he failed an open book test. "THAT boy should not have made THAT grade," he said. I had to agree. But if he really wants to go to Lusher next year, he has to do better this quarter, and I told him so.

In any case, I'm still digging through the manuscript and doing the mommy thing at the same time. Should be interesting. I'm right at the part in the MS where all my notes say things like "Condense this" and "This is pointless." So it will be generating new material to get through this spot where the MS really flounders. I've learned so much so far, I know I can do it. About 25 pages a day is a bit more do-able than fifty. To arms!