3 THINGS MAKE A POST

One

I don't have any photos of the hot wax and wire sculpture of the rib cage that I made in high school. It was awesome, one of those things where you finish, stand back and say, "I cannot freaking believe I made that. Also, why don't I have any fingerprints left".  I don't even have the sculpture, since my dad found it in the garage and was like, "wax ribcage; useless" and tossed it. So, thank you for the inquiries, but I just can't share it with you.

Two

As you may have noticed, since I've been babbling about it constantly, I have a book coming out. A novella under a pen name (please see Books page for details). I'm going to be busy with that, and trying to whip the sequel into shape, for the next couple months. My posts here will be fewer, but I will be back. If you want to track me in the meantime, please follow the blog o me pen name for the interim. "She" would be happy to have you.

Three

Joss Whedon, what have you done? Is The Cabin in the Woods a slasher film with a complicated sci fi twist? Why yes, I believe it is.

WINTER THROWS DOWN THE GAUNTLET

We lost Internet connectivity at our house this weekend, for about 18 hours, and it was terrible! We didn't lose power, which a lot of people did. Nor did we get stranded miles from home in blizzard conditions, which was solely a matter of luck since we collectively drove several hundred miles over the weekend.

Now we've got eight inches of heavy, wet snow on top of a melted and refrozen road system that resembles a particularly sadistic washboard. Very hard to drive on, let me tell you, though I confess the challenge was fun. Although, I couldn't figure out why nobody was using their turn indicators until three coworkers separately told me they were too scared to take their hands off the steering wheel.

So much for the cold, dry winter we'd been told to expect.

SPREADSHEETS!

Spent the morning cleaning and trying to figure out what to do with several large items which all need to be in the same place, including one treadmill and one Christmas tree. Have given up for the moment and retreated with tea to my underground lair*.

I'm graphing this afternoon, building a spreadsheet to break down my chapter lengths, plot escalation and character involvement in the story. I know I have a deficiency, but I want to see exactly how big it is. And, while I write with an eye toward balancing active scenes (whether they are fights/chases, a lot of movement, or intimate) with periods of reflection and/or exposition, some scenes come out scrawny and others bloated. Lines and dots and numbers help me to analyze what I can't see when I'm in the middle of all the words.

If anyone's interested, I'll try to figure out how to import graphs to show you how my WIP - currently titled Messenger II - looks.



*Also known as the first-floor spare bedroom I have claimed in the name of Spain**.

**And, by "Spain", I mean for my writing office.