October 31 is calendula_witch

Left Foolscap last night early to go to my daughter's (and her boyfriend's) birthday party.  They had the whole back room at the Spitfire in downtown Seattle.  There were about  80 people there -- all friends and family.

We left early, but Drew's mom came outside and grabbed us and made us come back inside for just five more minutes, she said.

A few minutes later, Drew proposed to my daughter.  Down on one knee, ring and all.  I couldn't stop crying the whole time.

  You've probably already read this discussion of the writing process.

I don't work the same way most writers work.  I work when my memory allows me to.  Right now, I'm stuck on figuring out an antagonist and as soon as I have that click into place, I'll be able to write notes in my notebook for this manuscript and add the corresponding notes to my outline and synopsis.

I already have the book outlined, but I started writing it a year ago and got 40K words without knowing who my bad guy is.  I thought it would come to me, but it hasn't.  I need to pick one and do it soon, so I can get back to writing.

In the interim, I have read lots of other writing, critiqued for people and tried to find writing partners who will help me brainstorm.  It takes someone who is willing to work with a disabled writer, for that is exactly what I am.  I work on the process as I am able and it just doesn't come as easily to me as it does to some other writers.

I'm not just a wannabe.  I have actually finished two full novel-length pieces, one of which was published by an epub a few years ago.  So I know I'm a writer, I'm just a very slow writer.

I've been spending a lot of time over on the Absolute Write forums, in what amounts to basic Writing Avoidance Techniques.

Today, I was directed to a post that lists the books you must have read in SFF in order to know the genre well enough not to stupidly duplicate someone else's work.

Okay, if you know me at all, you know that I probably don't remember what happens after Luke flies his little pod thingie down the chute at the Death Star...so how in the hell could I remember what I'd read, even if I had read all of the several dozen books on the list?

I mean, I think I've read Flowers for Algernon.  I've read Storm Front and The War for the Oaks.  But to say that you shouldn't try to duplicate the greats of the genre?  WTF?  I'd be so delighted if someone said my work was derivative...it would mean that I've gotten close to hitting a mark of some kind.

I got a banner made by a friend in my RWA chapter - feel free to use it on your website as a link to the new Writers' Weekend webpage!

We just got back from a six day trip to Iron Springs, where I learned a few things:

1)  It is not appetizing to be eating a very, very rare hamburger while your sister-in-law explains to her innocent children, in graphic detail, what a Reiver is.

2)  The beds have not gotten any softer.

3) on the way back to the world, you can eat quite decent BBQ at the Ranch House BBQ (fourteen miles west of Olympia), whose Pitmaster Amy has won many awards and appeared on national television.

I went with computer and flash drive, all ready to work on my novel in the same cabin where such notable authors as calendula_witch and jaylake have worked on their novels/stories with such great success, but alas.  I found I'd taken the original, unedited version of my story.  I decided to read other people's books instead of mucking about with work that has already been through a critique by mdhenry and the fabulous South Sound Algonquins.  Now I have to go search around on my computer to see where I put the latest version of the thing.

We have a new website up at www.WritersWeekend.com courtesy of Connie McArthur of ConnieMacDesign (and recently an Iron Springs attendee). 

I'm posting this to ask my f-list for advice.  I know you're all too busy working on your various projects, but if you have a moment, could you help me out here?

I offered to crit a contemporary romance for someone from a well-known writers' forum.  From reading the synopsis, I can tell it's not really a romance - more like women's fiction - and the first chapter was full of punctuation errors and many, many switches in Point of View (which is not typical in romance).  Also, there are at least two, if not three, flashbacks in the first ten pages.  In addition, she wrote it single-spaced and just did a double-space between paragraphs.

Naturally, I line-edited the first chapter.

Now, she sends me the rest of the book and tells me she just wants my opinion on the story, not the line-edits (she feels they're unneccessary).

Here's what I want to say to her:

Dear Wannabe,

As a busy editor from a well-respected publisher you are lucky to have been given the gift of my time in editing your project.  Your book sucks and I have tried to help you figure out a way to make it marketable.  Not only have you not expressed any appreciation for this, you have actually gone so far as to reject my help.  What makes you think I would waste another millisecond of my time on this piece of crap?

Yours,

Obviously, this is not the polite way to express my opinion to this writer.  If anyone can suggest ways to convey the appropriate message, I'd be very grateful.

My daughter spent most of the past week planning the memorial service for Nicole, our almost-daughter, her twin of a different mother.  She was desperate to find a bit of MacDonald tartan (Nicole was not born in Scotland, but her family was from there and she'd been there to visit her relatives a few years ago), but no one had any available.  Nicole wanted a bagpipe to play Amazing Grace at her funeral, so Kendra spent a lot of the past week trying to find a piper, too.  It turns out, it was the weekend of the Scottish Highland Games this weekend... not the easiest time to find an available piper.

The setting was lovely.  We gathered in the shade of some huge fir and cedar trees, in a beautiful garden that Nicole's mother has been building - very Zen in appearance.  There was a small lake nearby, with tadpoles and bullfrogs.  All of her friends had brought pictures of her and they made a kind of altar where we could all stand around and laugh and reminisce.

Just as everyone finally gathered together, a tall, blond piper began to play Amazing Grace from a small hill overlooking the garden.  He was wearing the traditional MacDonald plaid.

You know how some people use their Livejournal to post about their writing progress or what fun they're having?  This is not one of those posts.

My daughter's best friend, a woman who lived with us (and with her, her infant son) off and on over the years was found dead this morning in Arizona.  It's not clear how she died. 

I have a picture of her and my daughter (they're almost like twins, they were so close) hanging in our front hallway.  Whenever people ask me about it, I tell them they're my daughters.  I saw her almost as often as I saw my own child, as she was growing up.

The news is still so fresh, the grief has not yet hit.  But whatever else, I pray she's found some peace at last.

So, the first breeder I called about getting a puppy for my sisters-in-law had a litter of little airedales.  This turns out to be the kind of dog my mother-in-law grew up with and they are among those listed as hypoallergenic (the biggest requirement).  They are not cheap, but they are about half what you'd have to pay for, say, a poodle or a soft-coated wheaten terrier or any of the other hypoallergenic breeds.

They're in Port Angeles and they'll be available for adoption on August 1, right when the family gets back from their summer vacation.  So, my mother-in-law felt it was kismet that they get one of these puppies.

In other news, I'm scheduled for a follow-up mammogram because they found an unusual denseness in my regular mammogram.  I think this has happened to me before, with the followup providing the all-clear.  I'm strangely not worried, mostly because all of my worry is going toward other people, like jaylake  and the brother-in-law of dr_pretentious .  I'm turning it into calm, healing light, which they may accept if they so desire.

I wish I had the cure.  I learned when I lived through the cancer and death of my son that we can only do what we can do and the rest is about being open to the love.  I believe in a spirit with many lives, so that's a comfort to me, but I don't know what to say or do for folks who don't believe in the same things I do.  Maybe it's not my job.

I've been assigned the task of finding a puppy for my husband's little sisters.

They want a smallish to medium sized dog.  Must by hypoallergenic.  Of course you can't even find a breeder with any Irish Springer Spaniel puppies, the breed I'd most likely recommend, because that's the kind of dog the President has.  Everyone is sold out.

A labradoodle is too big.  They don't want to buy a new car to accomodate the new family member.  But a Coton de Tulare may be too small.  And besides, have you seen what they want for one of those little guys?  Somewhere in the two grand area.

I'm not a terrier fan, myself, because they're so energetic.  They need a lot of walkies and exercise.  A poodle is a little too big and a toy poodle is a little too small.  They're also not so much on the cheap side.

Plus, most of the litters of anything at all come from places like Norman, Oklahoma, which makes me think of puppy mills.  I know, I know -- I'm being a regionalist.

Okay, so for no reason I can come up with, except that our friend Kristen is going, we registered for Steamcon for Oct 23-25, 2009.  I overheard some rumor that Jay Lake will be there, too.

What this means is that I will be sewing for the first time in over thirty years, in order to make appropriately Victorian garb.  Because it doesn't come in my size off the rack, natch.

So, we spent much of the past few days looking over costume patterns and frequenting fabric shops.  At one of them, I met a marvelous woman named Susan, who has agreed to help me make up a pattern that will not only fit me, but will also be comfortable.

I've suggested we get together on Saturday evenings to sew, once a week.  Kristen was also interested in doing the weekly thing - she calls it a 'stitch 'n bitch'.

This could turn into something like a social life.

I'm not submitting a story for workshopping at the Iron Springs Writers' Retreat this year, but I am trying to read all of the stories so I can at least participate in the workshops with some knowledge of what's going on.

First, I am astonished by the level of skill these writers have.  I'm reading the stories and I feel as if I've been reading a published anthology.

Second, I'm reading them very slowly, so I'm not sure if I'll have them all done by the time we leave next Thursday to go to the coast.

I'm trying not to panic at the level of unpreparedness I feel for the actual retreat.  All I have to do is cook food for 12 people and you'd think I'd have it all under control, but...no.  I do have a couple of batches of muffin mix already in gallon-size Hefty baggies.  All I have to do is add the appropriate amount of egg, milk and melted butter, then bake. 

And we started to make up a pre-made mix for the Daal, when we realized we were out of Warm Spice mix, which takes around 30 minutes to make, if you have all the ingredients, which we do not.  So, we have to go shopping in order to make Warm Spice, so we can prepare the mix for the Daal. 

It's a good thing we discovered this now, rather than 8 miles from the nearest possible store, which likely does not have whole coriander seeds in its shelves, anyhow.

Several of the attendees have not responded to my request to sign up in advance for meals and what they're bringing to the potluck, so I'm going to count them as coming and bring enough food for everyone.  Because that's how I roll...

Went shopping this evening for victuals for the retreat - got a great deal on some mac & cheese for Gareth.

Stopped in the Barnes & Noble closest to us (the one that's also closest to Microsoft) and bought blackaire 's Street Magic.  It was shelved, faced out in the New SF section, but her other books are all faced in the regular SF section - because if they hadn't been, they would have been by the time I left.

Also got Green, by jaylake which was shelved, faced, in the New SF section.  I was a little concerned because none of his other books appeared in any of the regular SF section, which probably only means that they've sold out.  There was one faced copy of Escapement in the New SF section.

We also got a nice, laminated map of Seattle for dr_pretentious to use while they are trying to find their way around Seattle next week.  I have been thinking of using a crayon to map out a direct route to the SF Museum, but so far I have maintained.  ('Maintain', in case you aren't aware, is a term from the late sixties that means 'to chill, to not act out on the obsessive thoughts running through your braincase').

So, Kristen came over today and cut out the fabric to make a sideless surcoat.  She will wear this over a chemise at an SCA event this weekend.

I'm a little ashamed at how much of my life is lived vicariously through my friends.

I did do some actual cooking today - I made salmon and new potatoes with mustard sauce.  I am deeply embarrassed to admit I got the idea from reading a Nora Roberts novel - Born in Ice, to be specific.  The heroine is a B&B owner in Ireland and she loves to cook.  This meal sounded good!  It turned out well, too.  We had the salmon and potatoes with new asparagus, fresh from the Kirkland Farmers Market.  I had fresh cherries for dessert.  All for only 14 points on Weight Watchers!

Yet again, another one of my former critique partners has sold a novel.  This one is called Wild Hearts and will be released by Kensington in November.  The author is Lori Brighton. 

I wonder if I can take credit for this?

I went out to lunch with Kristen today.  We wound up walking from the Kirkland library parking garage to the waterfront park, where there was a Farmer's Market going on.

Kristen called up her friend who brought his two yellow lab/golden retriever puppies to the park.  We stayed out there in the 90 degree hot sunlight for almost two hours.  It's practically impossible to get through a crowd with two cute puppies in tow.

I bought some apples, asparagus and a jar of raspberry vinegar.  I haven't walked so much in years and I am burned to a bright pink crisp.

Okay, so I'm staying awake nights at this point, trying to make sure I'm not forgetting to plan out every detail of the Iron Springs weekend.  dr_pretentious is coming to stay with us for a couple of days beforehand and I'm really excited.  We're gathering up toys for her toddler and making sure we have extra guest pillows and so forth.  Unfortunately, I can't go take them around to all the touristy things in Seattle, but I can make them a list of places I'd go if I could and print out google maps directions for them, at least.

I have a few people I've taken the responsibility for feeding for the weekend - there are a couple of dietary restrictions to think about.  Since the food is potluck, I could hope that everyone else brings something these folks can eat...but instead, I'm planning out how to cater to a non-red-meat eater and a lactose intolerant person - and the answer is! Chicken!  So, I'm going to make vegetarian lasagna and have  side order of spaghetti for the one who can't eat dairy.  Then on Friday we're going to have Saag with Chicken and Daal (wtih rice).  On Saturday, I'm making vegetarian chili - it's a recipe I've made recently and it turns out very brightly colored and tasty.  With that, we'll make some homemade cornbread, too.

If I have sandwich stuff and salad stuff and lots of fruit and veg, with the obligatory chocolate chip cookies, I think we'll all survive.