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Mouth to paper.
Dictation is a curious thing. I’ve blogged about it before, but I have some new insight. The hands aren’t improving like I’d hoped, due to a second syndrome that will require another surgery most likely (hooray). They’re not as bad as they were, but I’m still using dictation software when I can, just to give my hands a rest. I’ve trained the program a little better now, and it’s no longer giving me as much trouble as before. Anyway. That’s boring. But what’s interesting is rewiring my brain. Some people report that with dictation software, their output significantly improves. These are people who can talk/think faster than they can type/think.…
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Trying to shoot a clockwork wolf.
I’ve been taking a break from writing. Not a huge long one, but a small one, intended to give my hands a rest and help to jog my brain into allowing me a peek into the last half of the book I’m writing. I’ve been sitting on the same scene for days, and though I wrote about 300 words yesterday, I’m still at a standstill. There’s a wolf in the distance, and the protagonist is trying to stop it from being shot. Which might mean he has to shoot his lover. Did I mention he’s in one of the hells? Right. Um. Sure. It’s the least trippy of the hell…
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Yes, I have been writing.
Dustman progress: And there is proof. See? 39%. No, I’m not cheating with the meter. My original 120 is a little high, I think. More realistically the book is going to be around 110K, maybe even a little less. It’s hard for me to know, but as I’m hitting the halfway point very soon I think I’m about on task. While 10,000 may not seem like that much more, it can be painfully unnecessary. So, yes. The Hand Report: Not so hot. So, the hand doesn’t hurt where the injections went in. But the sides? Holy moly, Batman. Clearly something is going on in addition to the carpal tunnel, or…
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The Future Fire – Queer Science Fiction Theme Issue Up!
The Future Fire‘s newest issue is up, and their theme is queer science fiction. I was lucky enough to be asked along to read some of the stories before publication, and then wrote a little introduction talking about the importance (and responsibility) of incorporating queer themes in speculative fiction as well as a little about the Outer Alliance. You can read the whole issue here!
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Cats, hands, and words
We’ve been looking for a new furry friend for the family since our beloved Minerva (the cat) passed away. We went back and forth between wanting to get a dog and a cat, and after every attempt to get a dog was foiled, we opted for the feline variety instead. I love dogs, and I love cats. But I know dogs are much more work. Our Calliope is a wonderful, special, marvelous dog. But she was a ton of work. I trained her from a puppy and it was exhausting–it was also before I had a puppy of my own (i.e. my son)! I just don’t think we’re up for…
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Needles and other unpleasantries
With the help of an ergonomic keyboard, it’s been typing as usual here. However, that doesn’t mean the wrist pain has gone away entirely. There are still days where it’s intolerable (note the post about pain killers, etc.). So today I went the hand doctor, a specialist sort whose office is covered with lots and lots and lots of hands. He looked, he prodded, he asked questions. Definitely carpal tunnel. I had symptoms I didn’t even notice until he showed me (like loss of sensation on some of the fingers). Then, he gave me the rundown: shots, therapy and a steroid patch, or surgery. The good news is that he…
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I’m a geeky woman role model!
I came home this afternoon to discover I’ve been named the Geeky Woman Role Model of May by the fine blog at Girls Are Geeks. I’m flattered and honored! Thanks you guys! You can read the whole post here!
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You’ve got a messed up conception of happy.
More writing has been done, and I eked over the 30K mark this afternoon. This is good.( I apologize if some of these posts are a little repetitive, but currently I’m trying to track my output and want to be a little more book-centric during the process.) Stuff accomplished in Ardesia, where it’s spring and it’s still snowing, bombs have been falling, knights have been descending from airships and Marna is searching for Dev while Sievert searches for Marna, while Dev is traversing the seven hells, etc., ad nauseum: Almost killed someone, which I totally did not plan to have happen. Out of nowhere. Almost dead–not really dead yet–but now…
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Movin’ right along… footloose and fancy free…
Finally had a chance to do a little bit of writing today. The weekend was horrible, and writing was not an option. I had an epically bad reaction to medication on Saturday (I am a lightweight of unparalleled proportions) and was in no shape to be writing. I mean, I do have a drug addict in the book, and maybe (just maybe) I could have mustered something insightful or interesting. But honestly, just looking at the computer made me feel ill. So, none of that. However, progress is continuing. Not a huge day for output, but just under 4K for the day and I’m not complaining at all. I had…
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Progressy progress, and knee deep in weird…
Oddly enough, Paul Jessup is having a conversation at his blog right now about the (re)emergence of weird, and I happen to be knee deep in it. It wasn’t expected. At its heart, Dustman is certainly Neo-Victorian, with occasional splashes of steampunk–but more and more I’m seeing how much weird it has to offer. Granted, there’s room for it, as one of the main POVs is journeying seven hells for reasons yet unknown to him (but known to me… oh muah ha ha ha ah). So far he’s encountered coffins made out of blood, blood sucking sand, and visions of his ex-love as a teenager. Yesterday things got even weirder.…
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The Novel’s Life
I have said it before: novels have lives of their own. Maybe I should expect it by now, but it still amazes me how a book can simply do things that I didn’t anticipate–often without my permission. Case in point, my current work in progress Dustman. The idea for this book was simple: girl loves boy, boy goes mad, girl gets married to man who promises to care for boy, man loses boy, girl goes on quest to find boy. (Okay, not simple simple, but you know.) For me it’s even simpler, since I’m using a pre-developed world. It just started out with three characters, and three points of view.…
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First Failure
Facebook is constantly trying to connect me to people it thinks I want to know, and most days I ignore it. However, I happened to glance up at the little suggestion box and see author Jane Yolen’s name the other day. Apparently we have quite a few friends in common. But, odd as it is, that Facebook connection goes back a long way, and reminded me of my spectacular first failure as a writer. And, even, technically I suppose, as a spec fic writer. … 1993. I am in the sixth grade. I have just moved from a big school district, where I was in a Middle School where kids…
