sundries

[rm]

I cannot believe I used to do shit like this all the time -- of course, that was going out dancing, not working through the night. But seriously, I just got up, I'm discombobulated, I have a bazillion things to do and tonight I have to do it all again. That said, I just reserved my room for ISMAC, so it's all good and worth it one supposes. Last night, in the office, waiting for articles to print out, I practiced footwork in the office. Mostly though, I was just cold -- the window was open, and stuck that way.

In other news, I have amazing amounts of dance stuff coming up in February, with EAS Regency and Rennaisance classes, the barn dance, and the two dances I am going to in Boston.

I have to write two Gather articles this weekend, and do laundry and get groceries, which is not, like it is for other people, a local errand. Then I also have to get the first piece finished for my new column (and send them the last of some contract stuff), which really is very exciting to me. I should probably buy my Lunacon registration too, since I've told all sorts of disparate people that I am, in fact, going as an intermittant daytripper.

I did not start novel in 90 when I said I would, but will in this coming, quieter week.

Do you know what I miss? Brunch. I've not gone to brunch with someone in ages.

Have to go into the Grant Wilfley reregistration thing this week, which is a moderate hassle, but they are the people who give me the most work, so definitely worth my time. Must update the resume (and website) first with, among other things, the fencing.

Comments

[rm.livejournal.com]

Magical is good. "Chick lit" worries me, but may also be good. Certainly, you can complete sentences, and so will not force me to make the vicious comments I've made on other entries.

Yup. I have been in their paid entertainment correspondent program for the last two months (hoping it gets renewed) and I'm going to be one fo their new books and writing correspondents starting february 1 doing a column on sci-fi and fantasy lit.

racheline.gather.com

[shalanna.livejournal.com]

I'll go over there and read! Do you get Gather Points when I read and rate your stuff? I have nine Gather Points so far. What good they are, I don't know.

My book has a chick lit tone (think "Bridget Jones," to some extent), but it's really a literary novel. My heroine is very deep, OCD, and ritual-obsessed. But some people read her depth as shallowness. Chris Keeslar at Dorchester said that it was laugh-out-loud, but he didn't buy it. So here I am at the contest.

Many of those entries are not punctuated properly. Many egregious "its/it's" errors and other misused words abound. I can't believe those entries have such high rankings. I just don't have a circle of friends who is available to round up and automatically rank me high.

Would you do me a favor? If you do go over there and rank LITTLE RITUALS, would you leave a comment? That way I know that it took your vote. Some of the votes people have done just have not shown up. Also, they're giving a prize for most insightful comments. Who knows what they think is insightful?!

Have a look at Elizabeth Bear's matociquala journal for some ideas as to what you would write about SF/F literature. Almost everyone who is anyone goes there to read her and make comments. They just had a great discussion about what a first line should do, and my first line does that, so good-good. (GRIN)

[rm.livejournal.com]

Gather Points can be added up for gift certificates or cash, although yu have to generate a lot regularly to get into the cash program. I'm essentially making $25 per article now. Adding peopel to your network, commenting and voting as well as getting comments and votes gets you points/cash.

I started reading the entries precisely because of that contest, and then got, unsurprisingly burnt out. I spent an evening being a bitch and reading al the really crappy sword fantasy crap and saying "your world may not be real, but swords are, please go research."

I will absolutely comment and vote on yours, although perhaps when I am more cogent than I am today (because of this horrible night shift work).

[shalanna.livejournal.com]

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for commenting on my entry! I think the more cogent comments will bring out more sensible people who will comment. I have gotten a lot out of the comments so far--in fact, there are two paragraphs I'll be deleting from the nail salon scene because two people commented on that (the bit about the nasty woman sitting next to her).

Here's a kind-of secret: because they allowed up to 10,000 words per "chapter" for the entries, I just combined the first three actual chapters into one long chapter. I figured that the more readers got to see and comment on, the better. I believe that MOST people who entered the contest did that, as most of the entries are really long. A chapter is typically from 15 to 25 pages, at least for me. There's normally a good cliffhanger/change point along about there. Anyhow, I just inserted scene breaks where the chapter breaks are, and went to the 10K mark, and called that a "chapter" for purposes of the contest. That way, those who liked the book got more of an idea what it's about. But of course now several people have said they think it's an awfully long chapter. *GRIN* I figure that would be easy enough for editors to fix, though, even if I *had* thought that was all one chapter; the problems in most of the other entries, not so easy to remedy.

Interesting that you'd want more ritual up front. Originally, she had the wreck and then went home to meet Elaine and did the little salt-spilling thing and the charm bracelet thing, and then to work, and THEN to the nail salon. I re-ordered the scenes to allow more of a driving-towards-goal feeling, after editor Chris Keeslar mentioned that this might help him want to buy it (he still didn't, but his comment that it was laugh-out-loud funny in spots helped me hang in there.) In fact, in one draft I had the "dwarf" (the guy she had the wreck with) actually disappearing, but that made her seem just TOO seriously mentally ill. I'm still trying to come up with subtle things aside from patting Ganesha, counting to four, etc., that she can do early on. I should try to catch "Monk" on TV, because several people have told me he has OCD!

People do say that the book seems "fluffy," and it's a departure for me. I didn't want to write another dark, brooding, depressing novel. *GRIN* It's funny how I saw her as being pretty deep (if self-centered and an emotional mess), whereas others read her as being shallow. If I can manage to get up in the higher ratings, then more people will gravitate towards reading/rating it, so this is great!

Thanks again! And I'm a night owl, but I still get disoriented when I work all night. Try to get them to change you to a normal shift. Point out the lack of fangs and other indications of being a vampire! (GRIN)

[rm.livejournal.com]

I had a feeling you might have packed several chapters together. I'd have done the same. And considering how many chapters I read where I was like "yeah, but what's this about", it's good you did.

I used to have a close friend with OCD, which in RL wasn't ever really funny, but was often fascinating. I think because of that I wanted more of a sense that this woman has incrediblt brain power, but is largely not using it because it is so focused on the ordering of her world.