![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
- 21:34:01: Stayed indoors on a lovely Saturday to pitch web solutions to lawyers. Couple of great conversations made it almost worth it--we'll see.
Tweets copied by twittinesis.com
Leave a comment
Friends
15 November 2009 @ 03:01 am
14 November 2009 @ 11:16 pm
Today: 1,615 words.
Total: 35,960 words.
Today's achievement: even lamer exposition than before!
Total: 35,960 words.
Today's achievement: even lamer exposition than before!
14 November 2009 @ 10:30 pm
(Posted here for reference. At twitter, I'm "yeff")
- 23:21 Math Contest Prep is DONE and I am going to bed. Hey, almost 6 hours of sleep tonight, much better than last time. #fb #
- 20:56 Woo! The entire NYT Saturday puzzle, with NO HINTS (cheats, lookups, whatever). Untimed, but excellent! #fb #
- 20:57 The SACMATH Middle School Contest went well, and I'm not completely exhausted. Win - Win! Now having glass of wine and relaxing #fb #
- 20:58 @StevenGould One day, there will be a secondary market for "moon pee". From Real Moon Water! #fb #
- 21:27 woah nellie! Did Stanford (men's American) football really beat USC 55-21! A-mazing! Go Cardinal! #fb #
14 November 2009 @ 09:21 pm
And we gave out 46 of them today at the SACMATH Middle School Contest.
As before, the contest was a lot of work and a lot of fun. We had a good set of volunteers, who got all the grading done zippy quick and thus helped keep the contest on time. The kids seemed to have fun, the parents and teachers were very appreciative, and there was much cheering when awards were announced. All in all, it went as well as I could have ever hoped.
One contest left: The High School Contest on December 5. I need to plan a little farther ahead for this one because of the Thanksgiving holiday, but now that I've done two I'm starting to feel like I just might know what I'm doing (a little bit). I'm already having ideas for how to change the contests in the future to make them more exciting and bring in more "fun" events.
But for now, it's a glass of wine, a good night's sleep, and a contest that might just be called a success!
As before, the contest was a lot of work and a lot of fun. We had a good set of volunteers, who got all the grading done zippy quick and thus helped keep the contest on time. The kids seemed to have fun, the parents and teachers were very appreciative, and there was much cheering when awards were announced. All in all, it went as well as I could have ever hoped.
One contest left: The High School Contest on December 5. I need to plan a little farther ahead for this one because of the Thanksgiving holiday, but now that I've done two I'm starting to feel like I just might know what I'm doing (a little bit). I'm already having ideas for how to change the contests in the future to make them more exciting and bring in more "fun" events.
But for now, it's a glass of wine, a good night's sleep, and a contest that might just be called a success!
14 November 2009 @ 11:34 pm
- 19:26 B&N FAIL: Wi-Fi not working, guy "entertaining" people with a cello playing Sting tunes, all means I'm at Borders. #
- 19:28 Barista who sells Borders Rewards and tells people the email of coupons is easy to direct to a spam filter is made of win. #
- 19:49 If this were a movie, I'd got take the phone out of that loud-talker's hand and shatter it against the wall. Instead, I bitterly tweet. #
- 21:21 RT @AbsoluteWrite: Has anyone else noticed that writing fiction is sometimes rather like knocking down hornets nests with your face? #
Automatically posted by LoudTwitter and Blogmailr
14 November 2009 @ 08:32 pm
Yes; I'm still in Florida with my folks. Not doing much but hanging out, going out to meals and reading for Best Horror #2. Helped my mom get onto facebook, which means I need to be discreet (hi mom!) in case she actually reads it.
The dial up is better than previously. I hope that by the time I'm here next they'll have wireless throughout the community. Right now, it's only in the clubhouse.
The weather is gorgeous. Sunny, hot, cool in the shade. Eat your hearts out northerners :-).
The dial up is better than previously. I hope that by the time I'm here next they'll have wireless throughout the community. Right now, it's only in the clubhouse.
The weather is gorgeous. Sunny, hot, cool in the shade. Eat your hearts out northerners :-).
14 November 2009 @ 07:55 pm
Salted Poppy Remembrance
(So you can see it better.)
The Maskwood
Working on this one on and off as a "relax and be loose" kind of experimental thing.
14 November 2009 @ 04:36 pm
While visiting a book warehouse going out of business and selling all books for $2, I found a very interesting thing: The Stress of her Regard by Tim Powers. What is so interesting about it? I found an unread, first edition hard cover copy from 1989. No remainder mark. The cover work is horrendous, I've never heard of the story and only thought that maaaybe I knew the author's name. But a first edition, unread, unremaindered copy from 1989? For two bucks? How could I pass it up?
This is the cover:
Sufficiently cheesy, no? But it was 1989, so all is forgiven. (Forgive me, artist as I have forgiven you!) Considering it's been reprinted a few times since then, I am hoping it's as fun to read as it is to own. Now I have to stop buying books. I bought five for myself last week when they were all $3 each, another 4 this week. I also bought myself four Patricia McKillip books from Amazon second-hand. I think if I added up all the $ I spend yearly on books, I would faint at the sight of the tally.
What can I say? This sort of thing thrills me. One day, when I am old and sufficiently eccentric, I will be known as the woman who lives in the woods reading her thousands of books to her hundreds of cats. It is my destiny.
This is the cover:
Sufficiently cheesy, no? But it was 1989, so all is forgiven. (Forgive me, artist as I have forgiven you!) Considering it's been reprinted a few times since then, I am hoping it's as fun to read as it is to own. Now I have to stop buying books. I bought five for myself last week when they were all $3 each, another 4 this week. I also bought myself four Patricia McKillip books from Amazon second-hand. I think if I added up all the $ I spend yearly on books, I would faint at the sight of the tally.
What can I say? This sort of thing thrills me. One day, when I am old and sufficiently eccentric, I will be known as the woman who lives in the woods reading her thousands of books to her hundreds of cats. It is my destiny.
14 November 2009 @ 01:36 pm
I'm bogged down in this middle grade story, which is really being written for Miss E, herself, because her Mom usually writes for grownups. It's a good exercise, I think, because it's not so much coming from me opening a vein or from one of my previously developed universes. But that makes it tricky as well because I've not spent much time with these characters. Well, actually, they're under my feet every single day, but I haven't spent time with them as FICTIONAL characters.
So there I was, beating my head against the 20k mark when I should be sprinting for the 25k mark, and I had very little plot and characterization and lots of writing my way in for this story #3, the middle grade one. And Miss E walks in the room and says "Do you think we could marry one of the girls [female kittens] to Thomas [who is very fat and 6 years old] so he can keep on being king?" Plot! OMG, Plot! Piling more Bad Things onto the characters!
Oh, and Miss E was not in any way discussing my current story being drafted. Because she's unaware I'm writing it. I've only told The Dude about it because it needs to be edited before she sees it and who knows how long that will take me. So Miss E is talking REALITY. Yes, she's got this elaborate monarchy going among the household cats, beginning with Mrs. Gaines as the queen, now deceased. (Ummm, plot? world? yup.)
And no, I have plenty of characters in this story, almost too many.
Announcing it here for the first time anywhere in print, Walkabout Farm now houses 8 cats. Yes, I said eight. It's going to be an interesting winter.
May they all become primarily outdoor cats by spring.
Frog Out
So there I was, beating my head against the 20k mark when I should be sprinting for the 25k mark, and I had very little plot and characterization and lots of writing my way in for this story #3, the middle grade one. And Miss E walks in the room and says "Do you think we could marry one of the girls [female kittens] to Thomas [who is very fat and 6 years old] so he can keep on being king?" Plot! OMG, Plot! Piling more Bad Things onto the characters!
Oh, and Miss E was not in any way discussing my current story being drafted. Because she's unaware I'm writing it. I've only told The Dude about it because it needs to be edited before she sees it and who knows how long that will take me. So Miss E is talking REALITY. Yes, she's got this elaborate monarchy going among the household cats, beginning with Mrs. Gaines as the queen, now deceased. (Ummm, plot? world? yup.)
And no, I have plenty of characters in this story, almost too many.
Announcing it here for the first time anywhere in print, Walkabout Farm now houses 8 cats. Yes, I said eight. It's going to be an interesting winter.
May they all become primarily outdoor cats by spring.
Frog Out
14 November 2009 @ 10:51 am
I recommended Megan Whalen Turner's The Thief to my agent and my husband this week. By the time Mr daw had read about five pages, he said I was right. It was an interesting book, though he couldn't say why. Yay! Another convert. And Turner has a fourth book coming out in March.
14 November 2009 @ 07:03 am
If you practice a martial art, what is it, and why do you like that particular one?
Current Mood: researching
Current Music: refrigerator hum
14 November 2009 @ 03:01 am
Tweets copied by twittinesis.com
13 November 2009 @ 10:30 pm
(Posted here for reference. At twitter, I'm "yeff")
- 17:34 final prep things for the SACMATH Middle School Math Contest tomorrow morning! #fb #
13 November 2009 @ 09:44 pm
Today: 1,120 words.
Total: 34,345 words.
Not an impressive day. On the bright side, I think I have no discovered a new strategy: when in doubt, give someone a new superpower. This will probably cause problems later on, but for now it's working like a charm.
Total: 34,345 words.
Not an impressive day. On the bright side, I think I have no discovered a new strategy: when in doubt, give someone a new superpower. This will probably cause problems later on, but for now it's working like a charm.
13 November 2009 @ 11:15 pm
I've reached the point of this book where I have room in my head for other stories to fit.
This is also the point where one is throwing cues around and hoping for an exit strategy... The significant lack of plot is going to be fixed soon, though. I just have to wait until the time zones align and then--WHAMMO.
Freedom's problems go nuclear mutant.
This is, in any case, the theory.
Today there is climbing of trees, and silver headbands. Also, reappearance of eyeliner angst.
Nano Count: 23802 (total MS count: 40387)
The greatest thing about this book is that it's full of girls--they talk all the time!
The worst thing about this book is that it's full of girls, and...
This is also the point where one is throwing cues around and hoping for an exit strategy... The significant lack of plot is going to be fixed soon, though. I just have to wait until the time zones align and then--WHAMMO.
Freedom's problems go nuclear mutant.
This is, in any case, the theory.
Today there is climbing of trees, and silver headbands. Also, reappearance of eyeliner angst.
Nano Count: 23802 (total MS count: 40387)
The greatest thing about this book is that it's full of girls--they talk all the time!
The worst thing about this book is that it's full of girls, and...
13 November 2009 @ 11:57 pm
- 00:31 Mike's Harder Lemonade is...harder. #
- 11:56 Word docs take first few words as suggestion for file name, but always cuts off at punctuation-even characters allowed in file names! why? #
- 16:50 "All in the game, yo." THE WIRE-100 Greatest Quotes bit.ly/2xdoXX #
Automatically posted by LoudTwitter and Blogmailr
13 November 2009 @ 11:47 pm
- 00:31 Mike's Harder Lemonade is...harder. #
- 11:56 Word docs take first few words as suggestion for file name, but always cuts off at punctuation-even characters allowed in file names! why? #
- 16:50 "All in the game, yo." THE WIRE-100 Greatest Quotes bit.ly/2xdoXX #
Automatically posted by LoudTwitter and Blogmailr
13 November 2009 @ 11:36 pm
- 00:31 Mike's Harder Lemonade is...harder. #
- 11:56 Word docs take first few words as suggestion for file name, but always cuts off at punctuation-even characters allowed in file names! why? #
- 16:50 "All in the game, yo." THE WIRE-100 Greatest Quotes bit.ly/2xdoXX #
Automatically posted by LoudTwitter and Blogmailr
13 November 2009 @ 04:01 pm
So I'm getting lots of rejection letters.
I take this as a good sign, because it means I'm sending lots of stuff out, and as long as it's all moving around, I'm pretty happy.
Better than that, lately they are all Encouraging Rejections. Which means they are all personalized, and they all say "No on this, but please send me more." Which is really good stuff, very encouraging.
The problem is, the lizard part of my brain (the one that likes gratification) is whining at me, saying, "But how come they ALL get rejected, if all these people like them enough to ask for more??"
But my forebrain knows I'm getting luckier all the time.
I hope.
I take this as a good sign, because it means I'm sending lots of stuff out, and as long as it's all moving around, I'm pretty happy.
Better than that, lately they are all Encouraging Rejections. Which means they are all personalized, and they all say "No on this, but please send me more." Which is really good stuff, very encouraging.
The problem is, the lizard part of my brain (the one that likes gratification) is whining at me, saying, "But how come they ALL get rejected, if all these people like them enough to ask for more??"
But my forebrain knows I'm getting luckier all the time.
I hope.
13 November 2009 @ 02:50 pm
Tomorrow's my 46th birthday. I'm looking back over the last year, in which I learned and did a good bit. Here's some of the things on the list:
( Read more... )
( Read more... )
Current Mood: 
contemplative
contemplativeCurrent Music: Akron/Family - Lumen