So yesterday I cleaned up puke and tried not to get coughed on and I sanitized my hands a lot. No, I don't expect I'll get away without having been infected, but I tried.

I've been working on the proposal and I think I'm liking it so far. I finished the first chapter and I think it came together well. Really well. Now to write two more. Hopefully they come easier. What's hard is deciding point of view. I'm telling this in third person. I didn't want first. I wasn't sure I could pull it off the way I want to. Second, I think I am going to have three point of view characters. This is urban fantasy and that doesn't often happen. In fact, off the top of my head, I'm not thinking of any--do you know any? I am sure I want two of them, but I"m really toying with the third. I think it would give the book more depth and will do a better job of telling the story I want to tell.

I'm really having a hard time getting my life organized. May have something to do with the fact that I'm lazy (as in I don't want to clean or do the day to day things that ordinary people do, including shower, though I hasten to add I may not like bothering, but am aware that I HAVE to). So crap is piling up and I"m trying to ignore it.

The hives are mostly gone. I am mostly not itchy.

It's about to start snowing again and the wind is whipping.

The soundtrack to There Will Be Blood is Amazing. Seriously.

My son has taught my daughter to yell "Oh, my nuts! My nuts!" Because he's a boy and it's fun to say with appropriate dramatic covering of said body parts. This comes up every time he's horsing around. She of course, has no nuts and I wonder when her preschool teacher is going to comment on this. Hmmmm.

That's all for the day.

Sometime this weekend I developed an incredibly itchy rash. Went to the doc today. She said it looks like hives--an allergic reaction. I'm not generally allergic to much, with the exception of poison oak and ivy, and this ain't either one of those. It's all over me. Okay, so far, not on my feet, hands or face, but pretty much everywhere else. Over the weekend I tried oatmeal baths and benadryl. No use. Today I got a shot of steroids and a shot of benadryl, plus slathering myself with Caladryl. The Caladryl at least is having some impact. Reduces the itching to something I can handle. But so far there's no reduction in the actual rash and it's still spreading. I'm hoping that sooner or later the shots will really kick in. But they did make me about pass out on my keyboard this a.m. So I went back to bed.

I started re-reading Patricia Briggs' Mercy series. I'm trying to figure out just what I like about them and how she does it. And I haven't read Iron Kissed yet and wanted to get up to speed with the first two again before I did.

Anybody want to report on good books read this month? I also just got a copy of Flora Segunda by Ysabeau Wilce. It's nominated for the Andre Norton Award and sounded fun.

Well. finished all the revisions and now am cleaning up a problem I made by doing a global change and making sure that I comb for anything out of place. I think it works. I think I may even be happy with it.  Sigh.

There's a writers meme going around. I ain't doing it. Sorry. 

It's about to get really fucking cold here. And by that, I mean, at least -16. Um. Hawaii anyone?

I have nothing to say today of any particular intelligence, except that I was disappointed that when I went to a bookstore last night, the new Carol Berg book Breath and Bone was not there, nor was C. E. Murphy's Urban Shaman. But I have never read Jim Butcher's Furies series and so I picked up a couple of those to start on.  I was there for Patty Briggs' signing. She, incidentally, is one of the most fabulous people on the planet, and so I also got a copy of her new Mercy book, Iron Kissed. We had dinner with her and her husband in which much fun was had and good food consumed.  And that's when I discovered that Patty has an ARC of Anne Bishop's new Black Jewels novel. I had/have an enormous case of envy. I love the Black Jewels books. Though beware, they are violent and dark. But the characters are . . . I  think they are  really amazing, compelling and  I am so glad she wrote another book in that world.

 However, sitting right here to my left is the new Mark Henry book (ARC--ha!) that has been my promised reward for finishing revisions. I'm almost there. Almost.  There.

What are you guys up to this weekend?  Tomorrow will be football for me. And reading of course. Fire in the fireplace, popcorn, frigid outside weather . . . .it will be good.

So a reminder. I'm signing at the Borders on Douglas Blvd in Roseville, Caliofornia tonight from 6-8.

Also, I have a blog up on sf novelists today. It's slightly amusing. Go have a look.



And that is it for now. I shall be back. Sometime. Soon. Promise. I've not been reading the FLIST, so if you've got things I need to know, tell me!

Di

Yep.  I've got fetishes.

I have a friend who can't walk by a flashlight without wanting to take it home.  That's her fetish.

Sure.  Books.  The obvious one. But another one? boxes.  Not carboard. storage boxes. decorative boxes. Boxes. I covet them. I don't have to have a use for them. I just want. I go to stores and walk down the plastic tub aisles and the little cool chatchke (is that how I spell that?) boxes. All sizes. Don't care. Wantwantwant.

Another one? pens. fountain pens. pretty pens. Expensive pens.  How many pens does any one person need?  Probably not that many.  Don't care. Wantwantwantwant.

how about you? What are your personal fetishes? What do you crave?

Di

The future looks bright.

I will finish the revisions tonight if it kills me. It may kill me. I don't care.  They will be done.

Tomorrow is officially the last day of teaching for this school year. Tomorrow, I officially begin my sabbatical, which will last until August. Tomorrow, I no longer have to check my campus email, no longer have to answer phone calls.  I will be a ghost.  Tomorrow is perhaps one of the most beautiful days on the planet.

In a few days we will depart for the dysfunctional family Christmas (okay, it's pretty functional, but I just broke the news to my mother that I don't really share her religion and she's, well, sorry for me and I'm sure all efforts will be made to bring me round and keep me from tainting my children).  Here's the thing. I like dysfunctional family Christmas. I will be with family and I will get to cook and I will get to hang out with people I haven't see in a long time, and did I mention I won't be prepping any classes for next semester?  Did I mention that?

Right now, I am not stressing.  Not freaking.  Not panicking.  How cool is that?  I mean, given I still have a chunk to go in the revisions and just hit one of those scenes I need to add and it will be a good 4-5 pages scene at least. 

I have mailed no holiday cards, nor given out any gifts to friends I want to share with. I will do that late, in January, and my friends will totally understand and sympathize and more than that, they will not expect any different. After all, January is just as good a time for thinking about and caring about your fellow humans beings as December. Perhaps better. It's more unexpected.

So first, I had a post on Penguin's Blog today, so have a look if you like. 

Second, I'm developing a cold.  I can actually feel it coming on and getting worse.  There's been this tickle in my nose.  I don't get those.  But today I did.  Started sneezing.  Running eyes.  (I don't have allergies to anything but poison oak/ivy/sumac, so I doubt that's what's happened unless I got hit by allergy-inducing pixie dust today). I'm starting to get stuffy and my stomach's not feeling great.  Lovely.  Just wnat I needed. 

On another note, otterdance, in a fit if unparalleled evilness, posted this blog, which takes you here and you can build one with you in it.  Oh. Dear.  I want to.  But don't have time.  That's a saving grace at the moment.  So what do you say.  Want to Elf Yourself?

Congrats to rhonawestbrook on the job.  Go girl!

And now back to sniffling and sneezing and revising  . . .

Remember my editor is blogging this week on the Penguin Blog?  She's very amusing today. 

Check out suricattus on writing blahs and why you keep writing anyway.

Check out the cover for the new Nightrunner book (Lynn Flewelling aka otterdance).  It is totally amazing.  Color me envious.

To counter the various reviews of The Cipher that say it's slow, Locus says it's "breakneck storytelling."  So I'm feeling schizophrenic.

Did I ever mention I have new  reviews up on Score! Music Magazine?

I'm considering baking Rosemary Foccacia this weekend.  We'll see how the revising goes.

That's it.  That's all I've got.  Oh, except for this old joke.  Why does a gorilla have big nostrils?

I've become aware that I need more icons. Mine are getting boring.

I got a shiny new cell. It has bells and whistles. And I found phonezoo.com Um. I shouldn't have found that.

I didn't yet watch Moonlight. But from the, oh, shall we say, commendations? heaped on by suricattus, I dvr'ed and will have to watch. With crackers and w(h)ine at her suggestion. I have watched some new shows this week. Have to say that on the whole . . . been disappointed. Nothing really shiny the way it seems a season opener should be. How about you? Anything that was really good? (Oh, should add I missed SG Atlantis since my dvr taped it and the next 15 hours after and I had to delete it. I wonder if I'll be able to catch it later in the week?)

ETA: Oh, yeah. Snow. Forgot to mention that. Mountains around us are white and while it didn't stick down here, probably will tonight. Sigh. We need the moisture, but couldn't it have rained?

And finally, guess who I get to be?

Link: The Monty Python & The Holy Grail Test written by Silent_Tiger on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test