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February 26, 2004

pure concentrated evil

I wrote a very small bit. Chapter Thirteen is being cranky. I probably just need to skip ahead to the passage out and try and fill it in later.

I still owe a lot of people email.

Sleep sleep sleep. Work work work. Plot plot plot.

I think I'll make lentil soup this weekend.

Posted by sdshaver at 02:00 AM

maximum bob

Elmore Leonard talks about writing, and it's all true.

Of course, the only problem with lists like these is that there's always the danger a writer might take them too far. Everything is a guideline. There are always exceptions to the rule. Unless you think you're the exception to the rule. If you think that, you're probably not.

Posted by sdshaver at 12:38 AM

February 23, 2004

meetings

My latest meeting went from 3 PM to 9 PM. Thank God I recently deposited a stash of frozen entrées in the office freezer or I would have been a raving lunatic by the end of the day.

I missed aikido class. I'm far more upset by it than I should be. It hits the ol' broken promise button, and I have a hard time with that one. Still. After all these years. Heavy sigh.

If the meetings keep up the way they have been, I may need to take a different day to T.A., which (pardon mon francais) would really fucking suck. I love Adam's class. Heavy, heavy sigh.

Shoulders are tight. Muscles hurt. Mood is low. Recent chocolate craving through the roof. Yup, it's that time of month.

(Lucky) Chapter Thirteen is about half done. Some nice unexpected parallels and drunken behavior, plus a little bit of Soulard Market experiences added. If I get more done tonight, though, I'll be surprised. We'll see.

Posted by sdshaver at 11:35 PM

February 20, 2004

hmmm...

It occurs to me that I could use a Wiki to write the book....

No no no. BAD TOUCH.

I have been writing in my work's Wiki all evening, coming up with ideas for stuff and things. I'd tell you what, but I happen to know that my boss not only has the Google toolbar on his web browser, but knows how to use it, so ask me in three years and maybe I'll tell you.

No work on Chapter 12 due to very late meetings (went from 3 PM to 9 PM -- NO JOKE). Had some very positive feedback on my proposals. It's very odd when people like my ideas. Still. Very odd. Here's to hoping what appeals to gamers translates to my fiction ideas as well. Night, kids.

Posted by sdshaver at 12:50 AM

February 19, 2004

angst cats

My cats are very angsty when I don't get home until late. Which has been fairly frequent lately, as my workplace seethes with activity.

Continued work on Chapter Twelve. Two pages to completion. Maybe tomorrow night if I'm lucky.

In 6th grade, I had a teacher who told me I'd be a writer. Would you believe that, all these years later, I managed to track him down again? And he remembers me? And I now owe him a lengthy email response? Yes indeed!

I need sleep. Here's to hoping the cats will behave tonight.

Posted by sdshaver at 01:30 AM

February 17, 2004

les enfants terribles

I would have posted last night, but the beasts were being unusually loud upstairs, which always sounds a bit like someone is creeping about where they should not be. An imagination can be terrible company sometimes.

Halfway through Chapter Twelve. No work on it tonight, though, I'm afraid; must work on work stuff, and besides I spent two hours watching Wire in the Blood. It was time well spent. Very hard to go from that show, though, and working on websites. Very hard.

Hives calming down. And in spite of watching violent British crime dramas, I'm actually starting to go to bed at sane hours....

Atticus Calamity Finch Shaver, one of les enfants terribles.

Posted by sdshaver at 12:32 AM

February 15, 2004

yak butter

One of these days I'll go to one of the local Tibetan Buddhist shindigs and finally get a taste of butter tea.

Until then, though, I just have to write about it. ("Butter? In the TEA?")

Now, a mango lassi I have had, and I must say, it's one of my favorite curious beverages out there. It's also fun to order. ("Yes, I'd like a sweet lassi....")

Three pages down. Memories of New Jersey and the ferry across the Hudson with Mikey. Cold wind on my face, geese on the shore. Some cold wind would feel good right now; my hives have settled, but the skin is now cracked and sore. Hurray for random allergic reactions!

I'm not super thrilled with the previous chapter, but I'm hoping in a few months when I go back to it I'll have something better for it. Until then, I'm just leaving it where it is, cuz I can't do anything better with it.

Posted by sdshaver at 01:46 AM

February 14, 2004

the black cauldron

Having watched the truly awful Black Cauldron for the second time in my life (the first time was when I was nine, when I thought it pretty good) I find myself wanting to take a crack at Lloyd Alexander's books. I can't imagine the idea of an oracular pig came from Disney writers, and I also can't imagine disliking a book that features porkomancy.

Where is it written in the Big Book of Fantasy Clichés* that the home base of the badguy must always dissolve like a sugar sculpture out in the rain the instant said badguy is dead? It seems to me like a great opportunity for a joke. "Is Foul Lord Halitosis dead?" "His castle collapsed after I stuck him with a sword, so he must be!"

Also, I ate at a place called Nacho Mama's today. Yes, really!

But now I must go to...Wal·Mart. Ugh. And when I come back I may make cornbread in my new cast iron skillet, and even if I don't I'll still be down at some point to write. Ta!

* I'm sure Diana Wynne Jones probably addressed it in the sublime Tough Guide to Fantasyland. I'll have to check.

Posted by sdshaver at 07:04 PM

February 13, 2004

itchy eyes

Chapter Eleven is done for now. Chapter Twelve is just barely started.

Bedtime for ol' itchy eyes. Stupid hives.

Posted by sdshaver at 01:01 AM

February 12, 2004

two paragraphs

I only got two paragraphs done last night, and that's probably a good thing, cuz this is one of them:

That's me and my funky word-blurring. My brain jumps ahead to the next word, and ends up rolling it into the word I'm writing at that moment. So "instead" became "installed" because of "rolled". Make sense? Sure it does.

More writing tonight, though my toes are freezing. Freezing, I say!

Also: New playlist.

Posted by sdshaver at 11:25 PM

February 11, 2004

hope and dreams

couple pages done. hopes and dreams addressed. Sleep now.

Posted by sdshaver at 01:53 AM

February 10, 2004

why I'm not sleeping

Scene: Bedroom in a house Somerwhere in the City of Saint Louis. Our AUTHOR is lying in bed with the covers pulled over her head, trying to sleep.

MYR

(in AUTHOR'S head, or sitting on top of it)

I had dogs, you know.

AUTHOR

Shaddap you. You can't talk yet.

MYR

I am the Myr who exists at all points in the timeline.

I can talk.

AUTHOR

...crap.

MYR

And the Myr you're writing about now?

She had dogs.

AUTHOR

YES, I know that. But I can't write about dogs right now.

MYR

I mean, what kind of country girl doesn't have dogs?

Not just any dogs, either.

AUTHOR

I'll get it on the second edit.

MYR

Big dogs.

Wolf dogs.

AUTHOR

I won't forget, I promise.

MYR

Dogs are very important to me.

AUTHOR

I get that.

MYR

Cats, too.

AUTHOR

(snores)

Posted by sdshaver at 01:25 AM

February 09, 2004

sisters

My sister is 38 as of Saturday. We talked on the phone for a while about life, boyfriends, kids, and books.

Whenever I talk to a family member -- from parents to cousins to sisters to uncles -- the question inevitably comes up: "So. Are you still writing that book?" It's the query I see most often, and I don't disdain it. I have always been a somewhat superstitious lot, never really talking about what I'm writing until after it's bought. So naturally, they have no clue what's going on. I don't tend to tell them. Most of my family doesn't realize I've started That Book about twelve times, and that That Book I'm writing now is not the book I was writing ten years ago.

But yes, I am consistently amused by the "Oh! You're still writing?" response I sometimes get. That's me. I write. I don't have a choice. Being surprised that I still write is like being surprised when a cat meows. That's what cats do. That's how they talk.

Speaking of which -- I wrote three pages today, good pages, and I'm now going to have to consider where I'm going from there. There's a lot of dead time between the next big event and where the characters are now. I either say: "Three days passed." or I find something to do in those three days. I admit I don't like the "...and time passed." approach, but, y'know, sometimes time just passes. But then I'm haunted by Elizabeth Lynn's writing, where she manages to make every moment interesting, and I think...can I do that? Or will I just come off as a Robert Jordan wannabe?

And now I go to bed, because it's late, and I have to be up so very early. Sleeeep....

Posted by sdshaver at 01:59 AM

February 08, 2004

"you're welcome"

[Angel rant on]

What the hell? That's our last shot of Cordy? Y'know, someday I'm going to meet Joss Whedon, and give him a noogie.

Still, it was a very sad/fitting tribute to the actor who played Doyle, one of my favorite Whedonverse characters. And it was a good episode. But damn. Normally I exercise my bizarre Whedon-prescience and know what's going to happen next, but this episode caught me off guard. Probably because David Fury wrote it. Damn you, David Fury!

[Angel rant off]

Uh, so, y'know what? I am not terribly skilled with swords. In fact, I'd argue that as far as weapons go, swords and me don't cooperate well. Just one more thing to work on. I like sticks. Sticks are fun. Swords just get me all tangly.

And now, I dive into the book. Yay, book! Don't worry, Mark. I'll go to bed at a decent hour.

Posted by sdshaver at 12:52 AM

February 07, 2004

"i only speak the truth"

There are two kinds of people in the world: People who loved Moulin Rouge and people who hated it. Count me in the "loved it" camp.

But that is not what this entry is about. The ultrarough version of Chapter Ten is done! One more chapter to go until Defiance, one chapter in the city, and then three chapters to the first oasis. There are a few things I just realized I may not include that were always in the original version of the story. A whole gypsy scene that, now that I ponder it, may not be as cool as I used to think.

Everyone in my book is exhausted, and so am I. My skin is awfully dry from the winter weather, so me and a bottle of almond oil are going to go upstairs and soak in a hot bath.

Tomorrow: market, bokken/bokuto class, and much cooking. Possibly another chapter. Things are picking up. I'm actually on top of quite a few other items as well...very proud of myself right now. The consequence, no doubt, of putting a moratorium on travel for a few months, and coming to grips with the whole house break-in thang....

Posted by sdshaver at 01:51 AM

February 06, 2004

little details

I should be in bed so, so bad, but I had to write this stuff. Kaiji now has a cool physical problem, and all because I have a not so cool physical problem (hypoglycemia) which has yet to endanger my life, though it does make me very cranky and angry and shaky. Do not fuck with Steph when she's hungry. Just take my word for it.

Little details for the cursed boy. Wheee!

Posted by sdshaver at 03:38 AM

February 04, 2004

little grey cats

More work on the delicate opening to chapter ten. Done for now, but it took a while. On to easier fare: the resulting effects of blood loss, field surgery, and carrying the crew to Defiance.

My little grey cat has taken to sitting in my lap while I write. Little grey cats are wonderful. Little stripey cats, however, are complete bastards.

If I ever end up writing the book of miscreants, I will be sure to base Slayne's personality off of Atticus "Calamity" Cat.

Posted by sdshaver at 01:57 AM

February 03, 2004

musings on the book

So, Chapter Ten, eh? I'm reckoning that I'm either 1/3rd or 1/4th of the way through the story now. Not sure. Can't say till it's done. Seeing as I'm rapidly coming up to the furthest I've gotten in the yarn, it's hard to know just how far it's going to go.

Short of death, dismemberment, or other unfortunate and unspeakable things, I am 100% certain I am going to finish this iteration of the book. I'm not certain how marketable the finished protect will be. I'm hoping very -- I'm hoping I'll finally sell something novel-length and kick my career in the ass -- but I can't know until it's done and I start schlepping around to publishers and agents.

I was thirteen when I made my first sale. Lots of people say that makes me professional. I don't know if I agree. A story sale is not the dividing line between me and my next meal.

I do probably focus on the art and craft of storytelling more than most normal folk, and that may be where professionalism comes in. I am fascinated by cultures, by speakers, by the effectiveness of a good yarn.

It's been more than fifteen years since I started taking note of writing styles and effectiveness; what's been preserved in my own writing is hard for me to see. I know what's changed, but I can only take a blind guess at what's remained. I don't tend to re-read stories I've written after they're published. If it makes any sense, once a story is told and released, it's "dead". It's lived its life. It is done now, and I want it to rest.

Some authors say their stories are character driven, some authors say theirs are story driven, I like to think I approach things from both angles. There's a story -- and in my case, there must always be twists in the story -- but it's nothing without compelling characters who you either really really really want to make it out alive, or who you wish would curl up and die.

There are more characters in this iteration of Sword of Shades than in the original (which I started when I was 21). In fact, in the original there were only two characters left by the end of the story; over the years, I've stretched things out and found more aspects of the tale I wanted to reveal.

At some point I want to write something more airy, more fairytale like. The original SoS was like that, but the more I pondered it the less I wanted to write those characters in that way. I prefer that they be human, faulty, but heroic in spite of that. The same is true for the so-called villains.

A lot of my current understanding of aikido is in this book, even though the martial art itself is completely missing. Most people will likely miss it. A few won't. And that evolved over the last year; it wasn't there, originally. Now it is.

And there's also a great deal that is me. The singledom I've lived with the last seven years, the changes that's brought on me. Two of the main characters have to deal with that, as I've dealt with it.

Ah, anyway...this started out as having structure, but now it's just babbling. So there you have it. Ten chapters since August! That's two chapters a month, though I don't know if I can count December since it was such a hellacious month. Let's aim for three chapters a month this year, shall we? Yes we shall!

Posted by sdshaver at 12:42 PM

bridges

Chapter Nine is finished for now, with a moment at the end that I wasn't expecting but glad I wrote. (I still remember the warmth of the sun and the creak of wood behind me as he approached.)

Chapter Ten -- dead guys! Finally!

Oh, and you always wanted an online resource for bridge terms, didn't you?

Knew you did.

Posted by sdshaver at 01:04 AM

February 02, 2004

conversations with men

Dialogue between men is difficult for me because I tend to write with a woman's voice ("DUH," she added.). But that's why I have male friends. So that when one male character asks another male character a very important question, it is not done in the manner that a woman would do it.

So anyway, six pages tonight, and some very heavy duty stuff about things and love and respect. But no dead people! What's up with that?

There are two more pages to write for this chapter. Perhaps dead people then?

But I need sleep for now. I have a code in my node, and sleep is what it needs.

This poem that showed up from the Writer's Almanac for today couldn't be more apropos (re: my life) if it tried.

Posted by sdshaver at 01:32 AM

February 01, 2004

play

And for no reason whatsoever, here's the playlist I have on while writing.

No way am I showing you guys my desktop image, though.

Posted by sdshaver at 09:33 PM

nautical

Why, why, why do I keep putting nautical stuff in my books, hm? It's not like I've spent all that much time on a ship. I did grow up by the ocean, though, and I now live between two major rivers. Running water is very important to early cultures. Not just for drinking and cleaning; predictable flooding and swift waters carry prosperity with them (in the form of agriculture and trade).

I have been playing way too much WarCraft III lately...it's influencing how I'm building up Starmaiden in my head, and I'm not sure how good that is, but it is what it is. Just so long as I build with the Human units, I guess. Orcs could pass as Human, I suppose, but Night Elves would be dodgy, and Undead are right out.

There is a wonderful song called "Inner Universe" from the Ghost in the Shell TV soundtrack featuring one of my favorite singers (Origa) and it is really very good for what I'm writing now. It is no surprise I like this song so much -- Kanno Yoko did the music, and as anyone who knows me knows, she is da bomb.

Posted by sdshaver at 08:30 PM