My agent is Lucienne Diver (aka varkat). She is now Lucienne Diver of the Knight Literary Agency (formerly of the Spectrum Literary Agency). What this means for me, I'm not entirely sure. But I'm along for the ride, since, well, she's fabulous and why wouldn't I? The Knight Agency looks pretty nifty and I'm looking forward to meeting some of them (I read their blogs already, muwhahahaha).

In other news, there isn't much. It rained today. Still downing iron. Feeling somewhat better, but I wonder how long it takes to get my blood more normal.

My son had his school music program. Man they were all so cute. They finished out with two kazoo songs. And then he brought his kazoo home.

I got my preliminary schedule today for Miscon. I'm looking forward to that. Looks like some fun panels.

Someone cut a fiber optic line about 40 miles away today and our town lost phones, including cell phones. I had a landline okay, since I bet mine through the cable. It was weird though. Couldn't call anyone here, nor access the campus webpage. It was the last day of the block and semester--imagine all those students trying to access WebCT and email in tests or projects or call their professors in desperation . . . . Nope. All lines read as busy.

So I went to see a doctor yesterday, as many of you know I've not feeling particularly well. I found her through a friend and she's a combo hematologist, internist and oncologist (no I don't have cancer). But the reason I wanted to see her is she is extremely thorough, believes in all sorts of approaches to medicine (she has a guy who does reiki on staff, and a number of others), and she believes in treating the whole person, not just a select bit.. And though my friend warned me how it would be, I wasn't entirely prepared for this experience.

I get there and do the paperwork thing and I have to wait. That's okay. It's late in the day and there are a lot of people there getting chemo and other things and I'm just glad to have gotten an appointment this soon. Then I get called. First things first. The usual height and weight thing. Then a phlebotomist comes and draws four large vials of blood, six medium vials of blood, and three or four smaller ones. And then there was the quick trip for the urine sample. They run off to do tests.  I then start meeting with nurses and doctors who are either getting information from me--and they want to hear EVERYRTHING. Nothing's  too small. And some just want to stop in and say hello and introduce themselves. And then there were Lucy and Sophie the two puppies. Cuties.

Then I met with the doc's main nurse who had tattoos and was down to earth and told me some things I didn't know--she's one of the people who does a lot of the research on things for the doc. She's very very thorough.

Then I met with the doc. For something like two hours. Talked about everything regarding my health. Got back labs. Imagine that. Getting back the labs in the same appointment!!!  Turns out I'm incredibly iron deficient. Which may mean I'm bleeding inside somewhere. Which of course means looking around inside. Can't hardly wait.  Then there's the thyroid. Seems to be a problem there. And then we are going to start doing some tests, especially on some stuff that I've ignored over the last few years because other issues were more pressing. Ignoring no more. We are going to gather a lot of info (did I mention she wanted all the records of all the tests and surgeries and docs I'd seen for the last 10 years or so? She went and got them).  Then had the physical exam.

So the upshot is that I'm starting a very heavy dose of iron, which will hopefully help me feel a lot better, plus starting some other meds and vitamins to help get me more healthy. It's nice to have someone that thorough looking after to me. 

Which all of means I got precious little done yesterday and today. I did, finally, start reading the Kris Longknife series by Mike (Moscoe) Shepherd. I kept forgetting I bought them and decided when I found them the other day they'd be perfect for the 350 roundtrip drive and wait in the doc's office. Probably why the wait in the doc's office wasn't annoying, come to think of it.

Of course, it snowed. it is snowing. It will snow. Whining whining whining.

Nuff said there.

I miss Farscape. I miss Blood Ties. I hate it when they cancel good shows I like.

I made some progress today on the book today. I got through a scene that was hard. Descriptions of the doing of magic are very difficult. I have avoided really talking magic in Crosspointe until now because I wanted the culture to be founded on more than magic. For Lucy, magic works differently than for the ordinary majicar. in this book we dig into the nitty gritty of what happens when spawn are transformed and how majicars manipulate magic. But I wanted a magic system that made sense and yet was a bit different and yet was specific and concrete. i think I pegged it, though I think there may be rather more exposition than I like. I'll clean it up later in revision if so.

I watched The Prestige last night. I liked it. I liked the bitter obsession and the lengths to which they'd go. I felt sorry for the wives. The daughter was loved and so did not sense anything wrong. I don't want to get into spoilers, but it was enjoyable and holy crap! I never would have recognized David Bowie.

The Turning Tide Wordcount update

48691 / 120000 words. 41% done!

Today began in quite a lazy way. We got up late and then pilly-poddled around for a bit. Then I got my hair re-purpled (thank you my kind husband), and then we decided it was so beautiful a day, that we'd go off and do a bit of driving and geocaching. So off to Butte for some Mexican Food and then we found a bed for my daughter (been looking forever for the right one) and then went caching. Climbed some tall hills and really it was huge fun. But the best part was being outside in the sun with a breeze and snow on the ground here about (melting quickly). Oh, and I went into Hastings and signed stock and found this very cool topographic mapping program for Montana. It will be very handy for Bitter Night.   All in all, it was a very good day. 

Yesterday involved cleaning and now my office is quite a bit more workable and less dusty. Still needs some dusting though. But it is better. And the upstairs is less linty and dusty, though I did try very hard to break the vacuum cleaner while doing it (but luckily it still works and this is a good thing). There is still much to be cleaned, but then again, it's warmer outside and the garden calls . . . I bed you can guess which one will win, eh?

I have a problem with The Turning Tide. I have a knotty place that I need the pacing and action to pick up and I am not entirely sure how I'm going to solve it. Specifically a lot of things are converging and have to happen before we can move on, but a lot of it is non-actiony, so I need to figure out how to pick up the tension and pacing. It's coming along a bit in terms of hammering that out. So hopefully I'll be able to get some words strung together tomorrow.

Oh, and I read Ilona Andrews' Magic Burns. Last year I waxed on about how great Magic Bites was, well, Magic Burns is at least as good. It's really really really good. Really. So go read it. Kick ass heroine--super snarky and smart and brave and a good story and excellent world and magic and characters. Top notch Urban Fantasy.

Di

We hied off to Missoula yesterday getting a latish start. The drive was . . . depressing. i was looking forward to slight warmth and NO SNOW and instead there was no warmth and yes, lotso snow. Okay, it's wasn't that bad, but frankly, I'm done with winter and ready for spring.

We ate lunch with a friend and then, because the snow was picking up, we went into B & N where I signed stock and then purchased books. Bought what LAG books I didn't have, Magic Bites, Diana Gabaldon, Anne Aguirre, and  . . . . I'm forgetting. Some non fiction. Unfortunately, there were several not (yet) on the shelves or not carried--the Catherine Asaro someone told me about here recently, the new Jeniene Frost, the new Lisa Shearin. Oh, and couldn't find Mad Kestrel, and then I asked, and then they found it so Score on that one!

Then we went geocaching and found four and the weather had improved enough that we had a nice walk on one. Then off to the hotel to check in and much bouncing on the bed and the discovery that our 'puter didn't like their net and so wouldn't hook in and then to a geocaching party in which much fun was had as well as good food.

Then to bed and waking up waaaaaay too early to my children bouncing on me. They had too much energy. Then some breakfast, quick shopping (though without achieving the main goal of finding b-day presents for Princess Mussolini) and then some coldstone for lunch and off south for the scenic route home. Found some more cashes with some excellent walks and pretty scenery.

We hit this pass just at the Montana-Idaho border. At this point I wanted a rest stop. And there was one. But. Though we saw the sign, the building was ENTIRELY covered in snow. I couldn't see even the roof. So. No stopping. Then back through the Big Hole and eventually home to the bathroom here.

Basically much fun was had. I need to go back though and do some more research on the area around Missoula and in Missoula. We'll be back in the end of May for Miscon.

The hair is short. Shortest I've worn in about twenty years. Wow. Not sure I like it. I look . . . more adult. I'm not sure I'm ready for that. But we had to chop a lot of stuff off that had become seriously damaged. It's just hair. It will grow. But now I actually may have to (ulp) style it. (yanno, instead of just tossing it up in a pony tail or clip). On the other hand, I have this urge to really color it up with funky color. Purple is still there. But now may have to get some more colors. And then convince my husband to help me. That's the hard part. He's not that excited about that. Or just put a ton of random purple in there. And I figure there's always hats, right? Shorter will be good this summer when I'm swimming with the kids.

Making some small forward progress on the novel. Tomorrow we're sneaking off to Missoula for an overnight. Do some geocaching and visiting friends and research on the next novel. Apparently Hillary Clinton is going to be in Missoula and I have a bad bad feeling she's going to be doing her fundraiser at the hotel next to ours. Which means traffic. And annoyances. And crowds. I still remember the one time I was in a Minnesota airport and Airforce One landed. It closed the airport for a couple of hours. Which meant delays. Sigh. I have to admit I'm glad she and Obama are coming to Montana. Because mostly Montana is one of those states that gets overlooked because we don't have that big a population and so therefore why bother with actually talking to us? But they are both coming this weekend. Bill Clinton is already here doing some campaigning.

I think Snippet Saturday may get postponed for a bit since I won't be here tomorrow. Maybe Sunday? We'll see.

That's it for now.

So first, let me put in this link to fangs_fur_fey  where I replied to some of the questions of the week.

Today began with a call to the plumber to fix the water heater (the bottom element was out so you get about a half-a-shower's worth of hot water and then it's all cold from there. Luckily (and shockingly and amazingly), it was repaired by 11 a.m. So we decided we'd drive toward Yellowstone and do some geocaching.

Unfortunately my sore throat and headache returned and my daughter's hacking cough. That was unpleasant. We stopped in Virginia City, this old mining town that's become a sort of town-sized museum, and found a cache. Then drove on toward Yellowstone.  On the way we saw:

A moose, several herds of antelope, several family groups of mule deer, white tailed deer, two enormous herds of elk, two family groups of big horned sheep (right on the road--literally), several swans, ducks, geese, a single bull elk with an enormous rack (antlers--don't be that way), and then snow. Huge drifts of snow. There are a lot of gates that won't get opened until the melt. It was amazingly deep.

Did another cache along the Madison River in Ennis, had an ice cream cone in West Yellowstone (the entrance there is shut so you can't get into the park except by snowshoe and maybe snowmobile) and then back home. It was a good day. Not much accomplished of course, but what can ya do?

I shall have pics of some of those in the next couple of days. Oh, should mention had very very strange dreams last night. i can't begin to describe them, since I don't remember them that well, but it was a sort of shake up my whole life and psyche and play Yahtzee with them. Weird, bizarre, fun, entertaining, strange. I love dreams like that.

And now, to go be something like productive for a few minutes.

Progress on The Turning Tide:
 

27431 / 120000 words. 23% done!

When leaving Radcon, we made the discover that one of our tires was bald, and another had steel belts showing. And we had a drive of about 500 miles ahead of us. Well, we made it, but took the truck in Monday for new tires. Turns out the ball joints in the steering mechanism are shot and so today, they are replacing and doing a front end alignment. My husband's boss lent him a truck to get to work and back, since we only have one vehicle (and we need a second asap.)

Then my husband arrived home yesterday and said that his boss needs him to work overtime indefinitely. This is actually good, and not just for money. So he's agreed and is going to work at 6 a.m., which requires him to leave the house by about 5:15. Which means that he no longer can help in the a.m. with the kids. Not a problem, except in adjusting the routine and me getting up a little earlier. But it does mean that it feels like the speed of the week is increasing dramatically. And I have to expect him to be flat out exhausted when he gets home. So I want to up my game and take on a little more, especially right now when I'm on sabbatical.

Does anybody know how hard it is to wash memory foam? Even a little thing like a dog bed? (okay, a big dog bed--she's a 90 lb malamute) Wow. Washed it in the bathtub. It was like kneading a really really big lump of ungainly dough. 

And now, a small snippet, because, well, I can. BTW, this is a new project, and though it looks like it in this snippet, not a romance. Not at all. Lots o' blood and happenin's (come on, this is me, what do you expect?)



Oh, on my last question . . . Meat Shield. Oh yes. Thanks Kelly.

Di

I'm faintly narcileptic, however (cold induced) and my eyes may spurt out of my head at any moment, driven by a seething dam of mucus. See what having walking petrie dishes (children) will get you?

Contest winners:  You guys rock!  And it was useful. We taped the interview last night. Probably won't air for months, but it will be on Montana NPR at some point.  Cherie (the producer) promises she'll make me sound good. Oh winners? kaigou   on The Cipher, and mela_lyn   on The Path novels. Send me snail mails, ladies! dpf AT dianapfrancis DOT com.

And then there's this from swan_tower   who needs some help AND it's a contest, so spread the word. She has a short deadline so go to it. The Gist of it is this:

I need people with calligraphy skills or at least nice handwriting to submit potential signatures for Invidiana, the faerie queen in my upcoming Elizabethan fantasy.  Deadline is tomorrow night at 10 p.m. EST, because my publicist gave me no warning on this.  There are prizes.

Sounds like it could be a cool deal. Yanno, if you can do something calligraphy-like.

Incidentally, I will be at Radcon next week end, if anybody is going to be in the neighborhood. That is, weather permitting. Mostly it's a problem if 90 between Missoula and Spokane gets too much snow, and that's mostly in the pass areas. Oh, and they closed 90 up there this week to blow up some cornices and prevent avalanches. So keep your fingers crossed for dry weather.

And now back to trying to be productive. In between naps of course.

Di


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As usual, we will have some friends over to watch the game. I'm rooting for the Giants, if only because they are the underdogs. But mostly I'm hoping it's not a blowout for either team--which is to say, I hope it's a good game. And I hope for good commercials. It's the only time of year I actually watch commercials (you don't know how long I went without seeing any advertisement for Spiderwick, and I wanted to see the trailer to see if I thought my kids could handle it. Still don't know, but I know I want to see it. Maybe at Radcon I'll sneak out to it.)

We always make cheese dip for SBS. It involves pureed jalapenos, velveeta cheese, pepperjack cheese, spicy pork sausage, andouille sausage and we keep some Tums handy. Oh, and some Ancho peppers go into the mix too. So far, it's hotter than in previous years and I'm pretty sure that letting it heat in the crockpot is only going to ratchet up the spiciness more. Should be tasty.  Our friends are bringing chilli and then there's a few carrots and celery sticks to cool things down here and there. Yeah, right.

On another note, I've got a blog up at sfnovelists today.  It begins:

What a writer can’t do–a ramble post

It’s annoying to me that I cannot capture facial expressions and body expressions for characters the way that I want to. Film does that. To do so as a writer the way I want to would be distracting and annoying, even if I could catch the nuances the way I want to.  Click to read the rest

And that's all for now. Off to see if I can't burn the lining out of my stomach.

Di

The Monkey Bread was tasty.  Next time from scratch though.  That will be better.  And a couple of modifications.  Why is it that all recipes call for not nearly enough cinnamon?  I mean, a half a teaspoon?  Puhlease!

I want to be Robin McKinley.  I want to be able to sculpt words the way she does.  I want to make my characters a real, as round, as delicious as hers.  I want my worlds to have the same rich, deep textures.  I want to have such good, compelling stories.  I want to be Robin McKinley when I grow up to be a writer.

And now to go wrestle with words.


 

You guys came up with some awesome titles.  For books I want to write.  But in the end, you did give me some ideas.  So the two titles I decided I like the most for this book are:

Magic and Malice
Bitter Night

Does either one appeal better?

I'm feeling very virtuous today.  It was the last day of the block so now I begin grading final stories.  Which are cool.  A lot of great writing in this class.  Today included far too much wackiness in the last workshop (much punchiness I think) which was all good fun and I shall miss all of those students.  Okay, I will have some of them in class this semester again, but for the most part, I won't see them again until NEXT YEAR since I'm on sabbatical in the spring, and that makes me a bit sad

But back to the virtuousness.  Because I'm writer guest of honor at Mountain-con this weekend, and because I begin a new block (the vampire course) this Monday, I have completed putting together the syllabus, schedule and done most of my reading for the class.  I guess I should clarify that.  I've already read everything.  But I always reread everything again.  It makes me feel more prepared.  In fact, I want to re-reread a few things, since I reread them last summer.  Refreshers.  Anyhow, at least I'm all prepared for Monday.  On the other hand, I am not at all packed for my trip, and I do not know what in the heck I'm going to wear to the banquet on Friday night, where we are expected to be all shiny and pretty and I'm not sure I know how to do shiny and pretty.  Gaudy maybe.  That I can always do.

And I must get the purple back into my hair tonight.  Yes.

I also must announce the winners of the ARC contest on my website.  I shall try to do that before I leave, but if not, early next week.

Hopefully I will get to check in this weekend.  Dunno if the hotel has free net, but we'll see.
 

Yes.  I have plague.  Thought I wasn't going to get it.  Thought i was safe.  everybody else got it and it appeared I was in the clear, and then, blam.  So that's why you've heard precious little from me.  And my head still wants to explode.  I have a really cool interview with Lisa Shearin than I will be posting here shortly.  And I have  a post up today on sfnovelists that luckily I wrote a week ago so it doesn't sound as completely thick as I feel.  Do go have a read if you get a second.

And now, I'm going back to being a slug.

Di

This weekend is not merely labor day weekend in my neck of the woods.  It's the big rodeo.  Pro rodeo, and it's huge draw to our tiny town.  Also going on is the fair.  So during the day and into the night we hear the loudspeakers announcing riders and events, punctuated by screeches from rollercoasters and rides.  Then the noise switches to REALLY LOUD karaoke.  Uhuh. Nights of it.  Sunday night will be a concert of country proportions by relatively famous singers that I do not recognize (not being a country fan).  And also going on is the world championship blacksmithing competition.  Love it.  There is currently no smoke in town, though the fires west of us continue to burn higher and bigger. 

Di

It is often said that in Montana, there are 9 months of winter, three months summer.  With an occasionally week or two of spring and fall.  What I have noticed today is that the trees out front of my house are turning yellow.  Yes, folks, we are beginning to get fall colors.  It's still August. 

I.  Do.  Not.  Like.  This.

Oh, watched part of a documentary last night on The Dixie Chicks.  Isn't it ironic how much they were lambasted for attacking Bush a few years ago, and now the rest of the earth seems to have caught up with them?  I wonder how their career is going.

Di

So today I was expecting to get caught up on a lot of stuff, including finishing my syllabus for this next block (which begins Monday) and do a bit of house stuff, maybe some writing, maybe some reading (my copy of Unshapely Things by Mark del Franco arrived in the mail today, for instance and I've got many many other books shouting attention like Horschak to be read).  But.  The plague hath struck my house.

So far I'm still standing.  But my husband has been prone for about two days now, and my daughter . . . well, stuff is coming out of her I just don't want to think about.  Which means, I am caretaking.  Oh, and trying to get a few things done.

One of them, as I mentioned above, is my syllabus.  I hate planning classes.  I mean, everything changes once you introduce people into the mix.  So it hardly seems like a worthwhile thing to do.  But I do it, and I even try to stick to it, for the sake of my students who want a roadmap.  But I hate planning.  And I teach this class often.  You'd think it would get easier.  But no. 

So I'm going to plan.  Plot.  Prevaricate.  Procrastinate . . . . uh.  yeah.  Back to work.

We came home a couple of days ago. 
I have ARCs of the Cipher.  I will be giving some away shortly.  More on that later.

Di

First, I've been invited to be Author Guest of Honor at Mountain-Con.  Eek!  How fun! 

Second, about the fourth of July.  I am an American to the core and I believe in all our rights including the ones that allow people to burn flags and to spout what I consider to be nonsense in public places.  I believe in the Constitution and I personally think our president is incredibly corrupt.  Our fault for electing him, his fault for being such a liar and a sneak.  YMMV.  But this isn't about Bush bashing.  I though Clinton was a liar and a sneak too.  But I tear up at the national anthem and today I'm grateful that I get to say that my president is a liar and a sneak and I don't have to worry about being hauled off to jail for it.  I'm also grateful and amazed at the people who serve in the military because they walk in front of bullets for us.  And to the police and to the firefighters who do the same. 

So today, which is not memorial day, but a day of celebration, I raise a toast to the constitution, to democracy prevailing in this country, and to living in freedom without fear. 

And also, farewell for the nonce.  I'll be in Oregon for a couple of weeks and no idea about net access.  Then it's home for a few days and off to CA.

Di

No, I haven't written a word today, why?  Is that a problem?

Okay, so yesterday I scraped up 3009 words.  Not sure I like the chapter, but I don't think I can know until I read the whole novel and see how everything hangs together.

As for today. 
So now I must go write words.  So many words, so little time left.

Di

ETA:  By way of good news (well, so I think anyhow) The Traveling Wilbury's, for a long time out of print or whatever you call it when you can't buy their damned cds, have had a double album released.  Yay for me!

What is about deadlines and important events that make you get sick?  Missed Miscon for Chickenpox.  I mean really.  The end of the school year and my son brings them home now?  Couldn't wait a week or two?  Seriously?  And now as my deadline dangles two weeks away, I've got something else.  I feel like CRAAAAAAP!  Queasy.  Headachey.  But here's the worst part.  Running a low temp.  Have been for awhile now.  Between about 96 and 97.5.  What the freak is that about?  I feel super cold, then super hot, and back and forth like a pinball. 

Got up at 9:30, ate something, promptly felt worse, went back to bed until 2:00, and have been up for 2.5 hours now.  Ate some yogurt and then a little bread and my stomach is considering whether the two should be allowed to stay in the pool or get booted.  I'm hoping for staying, but only because puking is so disgusting and should at least be preceded by drink and fun and plenty of both.

In the meantime, I've started in on my proofs.  So far they are looking good.  I'm adding a couple of lines to the acknowledgements page--to the effect of come to the website for maps because duh, they aren't in the book.  And I think people will want them. 

Proofs, by the way, are essentially the typeset pages.  Making changes can be very bad.  If you take out a word, it seriously dominoes.  Adding words is worse.  The idea is that you should take out as many as you put in.  Luckily, on the acknowledgements page, there is room for additions without creating havoc, so I'm hoping it will not be a problem. 

The rest of the job is to check for typos and other problems.  I found one place I needed to change on account of a WTF?  I mean, everywhere but here in the book I say something completely different.  I should make this coherent with all the rest of the info. 

And now back to work.  Still haven't seen PotC3.  I already know in advance that my local theater cuts of the credits before the end.  So I'll already be pissed about that.  But I really am looking forward to it.  Now to get healthy, get a babysitter, and oh, yeah, get words onto the paper so I'm not completely distracted by guilt.

What are you doing this weekend?

Di