A new block begins today and a new class.  I'm looking forward to it.  Sort of.  Well, if all the technology works (and that's iffy at this point--doing the classroom juggle/installing software thing today to hopefully be ready).  And then too, as a point of reference, can anyone say how bad it is, on a scale of 1-10, to throw up in the classroom?  I shall endeavor not to do it on any students.  Unless they annoy me. 

Already today I have been productive .  Graded a stack of stories from last block's class.  Have not yet finished the papers, but then again, didn't puke on them either this weekend, so I figure it's a win-win.  More grading this afternoon.  Put ARCs in the mail, sent a letter that was way overdue, finished my syllabus and posted it up online along with some other items, made signs saying we are not meeting in the scheduled classroom, come away hither, and now am off to walk through the tutorials in the classroom for the program I am using to teach this class (and yes, I know how to use the program, but it's a matter of this version--I've got one version at home, one in my office, and the campus has two OTHER versions and  . . . . well, at least it isn't microsoft.

And I've contemplated eating.  I had four crackers and apple juice this a.m.  And a half a cup of tea.  I don't want to arm up too much.  Need to give people a chance to get out of the way.

So while working on the book, I have sadly neglected . . . well, pretty much everything.  There are dust dinosaurs everywhere and let's not talk about the drifts of stuff that has accumulated on most every available space.   So today, after swimming lessons in the a.m., and arranging my housesitter and going to the doctor (another thing I've been putting off), I began cleaning.  Tomorrow I keep going with the bathrooms, maybe even dig in the dirt. 

So last spring I taught two freshman classes where I thought thing pretty much were horrible.  Now, I thought they learned things.  I put them through a lot of hard work, but most of them really rose to the occasion and seriously improved.  But.  On the day to day level, I felt like they were deeply resistant and mostly really bored and annoyed with me.  Read my evaluations today.  Turned out they loved the classes, had little but praise to say, and were more than a little aware that when they didn't do well, they had neglected to put in the work.  It was shocking.  But more than that, I felt better because i'd put a lot of planning into those classes.  It was the first time I'd taught them on the block.  And working with freshmen can be difficult.  On the block system, when you've got 3 hours a day, five days a week, three and a half weeks, freshmen get really tired about 2 hours in each day, and then they get really really tired by the end of the third week.  So even with breaks, it becomes hard to keep them going down the path of learning to write an essay or make a speech or what have you.

So it makes me more excited about the fall.  I had one of those spring semesters that make me feel like I completely lost my ability to teach, and mostly because of the resistance level in the classroom.  Maybe I'm wrong.

Di

Hijacked from suricattus

Link: The Which Punctuation Mark Are You Test written by Gazda on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Having read through about half of my page proofs of The Cipher I can say two things.  A) it doesn't suck.  B) all modesty aside (and I do mean ALL), I think it's a really rocking book .  My best yet.  Just you wait until you get a chance to read it!

Okay, return of modesty.

It's 44 degrees, it's been raining without end for the last 18 hours and shows no signs of stopping.  This is actually good, given the drought, but did I mention it's 44 degrees?  I turned on my space heater in my office and tonight there will be a fire in the woodstove.  It may snow tonight. 

My daughter's (she's three) echocardiogram this a.m. seemed to read healthy, though we have to wait now for the pediatric cardiologist to evaluate the readings and give us official word.  (her doctor heard a rather loud murmur and thus the test).  Her seven year old brother lay on the table with her, held her hands and generally completely soothed her.  Apparently mommy and daddy are superfluous on some occasions.

I am still writing The Black Ship.  I am still not done.

Di

More Snow.

Chicken Pox.

On me.

On my daughter.

Itching.

Damnit!

Di

Is this not a fabulous icon?



courtesy of lilithsaintcrow

I picked lilacs today.  I got out of bed.  I am trying to put together all of my ship research into one important scene.  The masts are collapsing. High seas.  Bad storm.  Nasty pursuers.  I wonder what will happen?

Di

Nuther earthquake today.  A couple of years we had a relatively big one up on the Hogback, which is north of town about 15 miles.  It was a shallow fault that no one had known about before and if I recall correctly, was in the neighborhood of a 5.5.  Caused a lot of damage in town--fracture a couple of the towers on old Main Hall on campus, toppled a lot of chimneys, and some other damage.  We were at Worldcon and romping about in England and Scotland at that point, and so missed it.  There have been a lot of aftershocks, of which I've felt precisely one.  Make that two, because today I got to feel another.  There's something really cool in the idea that the earth can twitch and shake its skin like a horse trying to frighten off a biting fly.  Don't get me wrong--there's no way I want to live in LA or SF--I was close enough to SF to feel the 89 earthquake and didn't like it.  No sir, didn't like it one bit.  Still, I can't help but delight in feeling the little one here.

Di

ETA:  On a sidenote--there's a reason I don't tend to allow myself to buy books right as a deadline is coming up.  I have no willpower.  And so thus, I am getting sucked into one of the new books I bought.  And worse still?  SFBC and Amazon are sending me more--the Amazon books arrive today.  So Kate--I have no excuse for not finishing the Crown of Stars books (which I love) because I now will have all of them.  And of course have to reread the first four.  Ah, such a dreadful onus.  And there's a Palmatier book on its way . . . . And that doesn't account for the books I bought in Borders the other day--the new Carol Berg, for instance, and of course the Rosemary Clement-Moore that I bought (she's huge fun too--we got to hang out at WFC). 

I hope I hit my deadline . . .

Read this, because it's funny, and tell me, what five people would you kill?

ETA:  I should probably say at least one of mine.  First, any grocery bagger who puts the bread underneath the cans.  Automatic.  Second, whoever is in charge of not putting trashcans inside the stalls of the women's bathrooms on my campus.  I mean . . . do we have to explain why that's stooooopid?  I'll save the other three for a bit . . .

Di

I have decided not to be annoyed with a certain incredibly annoying person any more.  I refuse to be sucked into the vortex and waste any of more of my life there.  I have decided that I will go do an office supply run tomorrow and buy pretty pens, and and I will eat good Mexican food.  I have decided that I shall write.  I will enjoy the people around me who are enjoyable, and not get annoyed with those who aren't.  I will get another tattoo.  Soon.  I will keep exercising.   I will enjoy the sun and the green and the kids hunting eggs on Sunday.

So, let's talk about something actually interesting, shall we?  One of my students today told me that a pair of shoes slung on a powerline were a message that a drugdealer was close-by.  I do not know if this is true.  However, it is fodder.

I have also received my tentative schedule for Miscon and they are running me ragged.  And yet, somehow, it feels like they've embraced me.  I am delighted.  I'll post it when it's less tentative, but so far I get to be on panels with Patty Briggs, Cindy Ward, Jane Fancher and Gaaaaa!  C.J. Cherryh, among others.

My husband made me a roll-top oak breadbox in his class.  It's lovely.  I mean, wow.  I wonder if I can get him to make me a roll-top desk?

I am also noticing a few new names on the f-list.  Care to say hello and introduce yourselves?

Di

Have you ever had one of those days that was pretty good, right up until the point it sucked donkey dicks?  Well.  Today was one of those days for me.

Sigh.

It was rotten.

Di

My son, who is in Kindergarten, just introduced me to a new word.  Girl-trapped.  Which apparently means to be a boy sitting between two girls.  Hmmm.  I think one day he might like that.  But for now, apparently it means cooties. 

Di

So all went reasonably well with the flying and the landings and takings off and the one delay.  Hotel was fine (though I missed my memory foam) and I read Julie Czerneda's Survival (first of the Species Imperative series) and was blown away and seriously regretting I'd only taken one of them along.  And at home, discovered I do not yet own the third, so must purchase before starting and finishing second--though I have some stuff I have to get done before I can do that.  Great book.  Seriously.   I mean, I knew she was good because I've read other stuff she's written, but you know how it is when you have read somebody and then go awhile without and then find them again?  It's like rediscovery. 

I did less writing than I would have liked in the quiet moments I had, but at least some.  I'm tired though.  Not a lot of sleep (again, missed my memory foam) and back to work today.  While I was gone, there was a break in at the university and a number of offices were robbed.  Which stinks on ice, since this is such a small college with a sense of family surrounding it.  Now there's a real sense of suspicion and distrust.  I also got to see a former student who has become a friend on my journey and that was fabulous. 

And if I seem a little lacking in details of what the trip was for and about, there's a reason and maybe one of these days I'll be more specific.  I'll update you as I can.

And . . . on the way back, I met this guy who builds houses out of this really cool green (energy conserving and environmentally friendly) stuff, and now I know how I'm going to build the house I want (whenever that is, but one day).  The materials are more, but the labor is less, so the house ends up costing about the same, but this stuff stands up to tornadoes and to earthquakes.  There was one in the Kobe earthquake and he had a picture--all around was rubble and the house still stood.

And so, now, I 'm off to pick up the boy and return home to do more work stuff. 

Di

On the night before my flight, I get a phone call that I can't leave on the first leg (of a three-legged flight) because something about necessary crew rest.  So we have to drive two hours to the next airport and catch the next leg.  Welcome to Montana.  Like I wasn't already stressing about this trip enough. 

And apparently I'm the wimpiest geek because I get weepy well in advance of leaving my family.  yeah.  Dorcas wasn't just the name of a chick on 7 Brides for 7 Brothers.

So look for me to speak again in a few days.  I may even be coherent.  But until then, remember, wherever you go, there you are.

Di

First, Neil Gaiman is coming to Montana, of all places.  He'll be in Helena, MT Saturday, April 28 for the Montana Library Association conference, and is also doing a public book signing and talk at 2:30.  Here's the link.

Today I got a lovely gift from my husband.  He's taking a woodworking class and built me a beautiful tabletop bookshelf.  It's raised on one side and tilts, so it holds books in place by gravity, and it's perfect.  I've got this enormous stack of current research that I want within reach, and while I have shelves nearby, it requires me to stand.  I know, boo hoo, could use the exercise.  But when I'm deep in writing, just that much can take me right out of the flow.  So this puts them up close and personal, and I can grab what I want when I want.  He made it entirely by hand--wasn't allowed to use any motorized tools at all.  I'm thinking he should start making these for profit, because let me tell you, this little shelf is so handy.  Next he's building a breadbox--though I believe he actually gets to use motorized tools. 

Okay, yeah, I got all hot and bothered for bookshelves.  Sue me.

Finally, thanks to all who read and commented on my snippet.  It didn't require compliments, mostly had this bizarre feeling of talking to an empty room, and lately in my life, I've needed voices from people to remind me that I still exist in a community and am not entirely alone.  Now don't go thinking I'm sinking into depression or anything like that, it's more that sense of isolation that comes from living in an incredibly rural area, and following a winter that only increases the sense of isolation because you can't travel anywhere, and then on top of that, working a schedule at a job that doesn't bring you in all that much contact with friends.  So every so often I feel like hollering Marco!  and seeing if I get a Polo! back.

Yeah, a white russian sounds nice right now, why?

And now, adieu, for I must be constructive.  Or at least nap.

ETA:  Almost forgot.  Pink Raygun has an interview with me, if you're interested.

Di

Being double jointed (aka hypermobil) may allow you to do cool (and sometimes creepy) party tricks, but in fact can seriously damage your joints, cause you a lot of pain, and f*** up your back.

Some kids get very serious ear infections but the pain doesn't show up until about five days after you should have had them on antibiotics.

Sometimes you have to wait. And wait. And wait some more. You could call, you could email, but it would serve no good purpose, and the bad purpose it would serve would be to seriously annoy the people who you least want to annoy. Dammit.

Sometimes things of the stupidest nature fester even when you tell them not to.

Sometimes scheduling yourself to panic later doesn't work.

Di

I read, I think on Andrew Wheeler's blog (editor at SFBC) that the new Harry Potter book will cost $34.95.  Ouch. (can't currently find the post though).  Any confirmations out there?

Di

When I was a kid I read just about everything in the house.  We had a huge collection of fairy tales and folk tales, not to mention novels, encyclopedias, and whatever.  I also used to listed to the Disney animated films on records (yes, you read that right).  One of the stories I remember reading was Bluebeard.  I took it in stride.  I mean, didn't seem that bad. 

But now, looking back, i think, huh?  When I was in second or third grade I read this story about a man who kills his wives and keeps their bloody, shredded bodies in a room where there's a flood of blood.  Then when his new wife finds out, he is stopped from killing her just seconds before he chops her to bits. 

Yeah, that was appropriate.

But here's the thing.  I love that my folks let me read anything I wanted.  Even scary stuff.  And let me tell you, if you've ever picked up any actual Grimm's fairy tale, Bluebeard wasn't the only inappropriate tale.  I read Jack Chalker in 5th grade.  Bizarro stuff.  I don't remember that much about, but it was bizarro.  I read all the Tarzan and John Carter books when I was in 3rd or 4th grade (and yeah, all the nancy drews, and hardy boys, three investigators, black stallion books, marguerite henry books, and on and on).  I read for my age, below my age, and way way above.  But I don't think it scarred me.  i think it made me a story teller, certainly, but also made me someone who thinks (I hope) and who was curious about the world, about life, and who didn't rush to judgement.  I know it did bad things for my religious inclinations (if only because my mom let me read in church because it kept me quiet and when you have three kids and the other two fight like the proverbial cats and dogs, well, my reading was a blessing). 

So I was thinking about whether I'd let my kids read the stuff I was allowed to.  Yeah.  I think so.

Di

The title of my friends page is Trooping Faeries.  So I figured you might want to know why.  Here's why:

William Allingham. 1824–1889

769. The Fairies

UP the airy mountain,
Down the rushy glen,
We daren't go a-hunting
For fear of little men;
Wee folk, good folk,	5
Trooping all together;
Green jacket, red cap,
And white owl's feather!
Down along the rocky shore
Some make their home,	10
They live on crispy pancakes
Of yellow tide-foam;
Some in the reeds
Of the black mountain lake,
With frogs for their watch-dogs,	15
All night awake.
High on the hill-top
The old King sits;
He is now so old and gray
He 's nigh lost his wits.	20
With a bridge of white mist
Columbkill he crosses,
On his stately journeys
From Slieveleague to Rosses;
Or going up with music	25
On cold starry nights
To sup with the Queen
Of the gay Northern Lights.
They stole little Bridget
For seven years long;	30
When she came down again
Her friends were all gone.
They took her lightly back,
Between the night and morrow,
They thought that she was fast asleep,	35
But she was dead with sorrow.
They have kept her ever since
Deep within the lake,
On a bed of flag-leaves,
Watching till she wake.	40
By the craggy hill-side,
Through the mosses bare,
They have planted thorn-trees
For pleasure here and there.
If any man so daring	45
As dig them up in spite,
He shall find their sharpest thorns
In his bed at night.
Up the airy mountain,
Down the rushy glen,	50
We daren't go a-hunting
For fear of little men;
Wee folk, good folk,
Trooping all together;
Green jacket, red cap,	55
And white owl's feather!

 

Guess what came in the mail yesterday?  My copy edited manuscript, aka CEM.  It used to be on the last three books, that I turned in my mansucript, got an editorial letter back and then did rewrites, and then either it was accepted, or a couple places were rocky and there was some more tinkering.  Then when that was accepted, it would get one last run through by the editor and off to copy editing.  Copy editors do a lot of different stuff.  Some of it is telling the typesetters what to do--italicize this, center that, use a chapter heading here, whatever.  Pretty basic stuff as far as it goes.  Then there is checking for grammar, spelling and mechanics.  Now that's a little tougher, because they also have to play with house style, which isn't always necessarily the traditional grammatical way of doing things (i.e. in the Path novels, Juhrnus in possessive should have been Juhrnus' but was instead Juhrnus's and that's a house style thing).  Then there is finding places where the author made silly mistakes--like for instance, I was flipping through and noticed a question where the ce asked me about this piece of jewelry that I described as being a new moon.  um.  Did I mean crescent moon?  Well, as a matter of fact, I would like the moon to actually be something that's visible.  Doh!  Okay, ce fact checks, looks for inconsistencies (and in fantasy novels, that must be a real job because let's face it, there's so much that is odd looking in language and etc., that it's hard to know if the same oddness is on page 400 as was on 2.)

For more on that, check out deannahoak's blog.  She's a fabulous copyeditor and you can learn a lot about the process there.  Okay, so all that said, there was a step added this time.  Prior to going to copy edit, my editor sent my manuscript back to me electronically so we could go through any little nitpicks and get them all fixed.  The goal was to get a cleaner copy for typesetting.  So finally, my point.  This copy edited manuscript looks so clean.  There are questions, sure, and places where there are corrections and so forth, but really, it's clean.  I can turn this around fairly quickly.  Thank goodness.  So I wondered how useful that extra step would turn out to be, and turns out, pretty damned useful.

Also today, I had somebody come help me clean (it felt hideously decadent, but between the two of us, we got about half the house clean in a few hours and I might be able to get the rest done this week, and then, oh, find stuff when I need it.  And stop breathing in clouds of dust.)

Superbowl tomorrow.  I'll be rooting for the Colts.  (Don't forget I lived in Indiana for 7 years and was there when Peyton Manning first arrived).  I'll be fearing the Bears though.  No sense of complacency on my part.  A lot depends on whether Manning decides to throw the ball to his team or to the other team.  We'll see.  And I watch the commercials.  Yep.  The only time all year that I do (I love DVR).  And my husband makes this incredibly spicy cheese dip once a year (tomorrow) and we eat decadently with friends who bring more spicy food and there is much gastro-intensitinal heat.  And celery.  Because apparently hot wings and spicy cheese dip require celery. 

This is getting to be a terribly long post, with far too many parenthetical asides, so I'll sign off now.

Di

So I watched the second episode of the Dresden Files, and I'm noticing something that doesn't thrill me.  There's nothing wrong with it per se, but simply I was hoping for something else, something more.  It seems like the show is already falling into a typical episodic pattern.  Some carry over (read threat of high council and bad uncle history), but mostly we have some recurring characters, and a new bad thing each week to solve.  Nothing really wrong with that.  But the problem that I fear is that this will mean little to no character development.  It's a very Star  Trek Next Gen sort of pattern--occasionally you had relationships between characters, but mostly they were relatively meaningless episode to episode.  Whereas Bab 5 was written in an ongoing story arc where the episodes wove together toward a larger end, a larger goal. 

So, with Dresden Files, I'm looking at it in terms of story telling, and what I feel right now is that it's more thin than I want.  Can I judge that after a mere two episodes?  I don't honestly know.  They could always have plans that I don't know about.  But you know how you read the beginning of a novel and you can kind of predict certain things--patterns, plot arcs, and so on?  Well, I'm feeling that at the moment.  I'm hoping it gets a little past the episodic--and keep in mind that I realize episodic has done well over many years and allows shows to be shown out of order and for people to join a show whenever and not have to watch constantly.  But.  Look at Heroes and look at Lost.  The thing that's making them successful is developing the depth.  That's one thing that makes novels successful. 

Just saying.

Di