That is the truly lovely cover to my latest ebook release. A great way to end out the year, don't you think?

Less than 24 hours to the end of the year. I'm still fighting my way through a number of things that need to be done. We have an incredible amount of stuff going on over at Forward Motion. And I still have to finish off my final short story. I'm almost there.

It's been an odd year, hasn't it? I certainly didn't expect to find myself starting 2004 with Forward Motion fully in my hands, plus being the science fiction and fantasy acquisitions editor for DDP. And Vision is (as always) going very well. I have a stack of contracts to sign and send off after Friday when we finally get the money in the bank and print out the checks.

And I have a very lovely outline that I'm looking forward to starting in about twenty hours. You know, put that way, I suddenly feel as though I don't have nearly enough time left.

I've told Russ that I intend to only write about half a million words next year, and I think that sounds like a lovely, calm goal. The editing I intend to do will likely drive me mad instead. (grin)

Here's hoping 2004 will be a happier year for all of us. For writers, a productive and published one.

And everyone have fun!

Well this year is going fast, isn't it?

I'm actually doing all right. Haven't finished my final short story for the year... but then if I did I'd just have to write another one in a very short time. So I'm just writing along at a sedate 500-1000 words a day. And then I'll notice it's the 31st and I need four or five thousand to finish it and go nuts. My life works that way.

Vision is closer to finished, too. Not done, but getting there.

I'm amazed, in fact, that things seem to be falling together pretty well. I still have a little bit over two days in which it can all go to hell, but for the moment, it looks good.

Oh, had an amusing round of email with another clueless person. This one emailed to complain about something at the site. I corrected him on it. He then emailed to say that I had no right to email him.

Where do these children come from?

A Very Proper Little Bear
By Lazette Gifford
©2003



The proper little bear arrived at the door at sunset on Christmas Eve. He checked the address again and gave a tentative nod. He and Master Aristotle had been exchanging missives for several months now, and he didn't think he could have gotten it wrong.

But my, it sounded noisy in there! Master Aristotle had said there would be a gathering at his home this night, but he had never expected anything this... loud. No doubt it would end soon, though, and he and the renowned Aristotle Bear would sit down to a proper, dignified discussion.

With that thought in mind, he carefully straightened his blue bow and then tapped lightly on the door -- but of course no one inside could hear above that din. For a moment he considered turning away, but he had come such a long distance to meet the famous bear and he would not be dissuaded now just by mere noise.

So he knocked harder. He heard laughter and music -- and the sound of far too many feet heading toward the door.

"I'll get it!" someone shouted inside.

The little bear straightened his shoulders and lifted his head, the epitome of a proper little bear as the door opened --

And he found himself facing a cat! A very large cat with bright blue eyes and a black nose and ears. The cat looked right and left, perplexed, while the little bear stared rooted on the step, not even daring to breath. Behind the cat came he could see movement everywhere, and the sound of music crew even louder.

"Well, I could have sworn I head a knock," the cat said, his ears and tail twitching. He started to step back, and just chanced to look down. "Oh, there you are! My apologies. Do come in!"

"I'm -- I'm looking for the home of Aristotle Bear," eh stammered, ready to bolt at the slightest provocation from the cat, no matter how undignified running might be.

"Yes, of course," the cat said with a quick nod. "You must be the guest he's expecting. Come in out of the cold!"

The cat stepped back and for the first time the little bear could clearly see inside the room. Bears of all sizes, shapes and colors were gathered in groups about the room. But there were also cats, dogs, birds, bunnies and squirrels! The little bear stepped inside despite himself. So astounded by the sight that he half expected to even see humans, despite knowing they always slept soundly through Teddy Bear Time.

The aroma of fresh baked cookies, gingerbread and mulled cider filled the room. His little tummy rumbled and he felt a flush of embarrassment, even though he knew no one had heard above all that racket.

Oh, surely there had to be a mistake. An important bear like Aristotle couldn't be here in this cacophony of chaos!

"I'm Wind," the cat said, giving a quick bow of his head and a very un-cat-like smile. "Aristotle is over there by the tree, telling the young ones a story. Have fun!"

Aristotle gave a nod of thanks, despite his misgivings about the cat, and turned to the tree. He could see a gathering of young bears, surely too young to be taught any wisdom! He could not, however, see maser Aristotle yet.

Calm, the little bear reminded himself. Calm, serene and above all, proper. He did so want to make a good impression!

So he moved in and around the bears and other creates, his shoulders back and his head high --

"...And that's the story of the Christmas House," a steady, clear voice said.

A dozen smaller voices called out, "Oh, tell us another!"

"Another please!"

"Tell us about the high shelf!"

"And how you found a home!"

"Please, tell it again!"

"Perhaps later," Aristotle said and didn't even reprimand the young bears. Oh yes, a very proper looking bear, despite the story telling. "Oh, don't look so disappointed! TiBearius and CanToBeary, do please go get the boxes. It's time to decorate the tree."

The young bears were not the only ones who became excited by that news. The very proper little bear watched on, amazed and perhaps more than a little dismayed by the very childish reactions of joy and pleasure in every creature in the room.

But still, having come this far... well, he stepped forward to present himself to the esteemed and famous Master Aristotle.

"Sir," he said when Aristotle came close, the young bears still trailing around him. "I am Beartholomew Lucian Bear. We have corresponded, via the mail. I believe you were expecting me?"

"A pleasure to meet you at last, Beartholomew! And I'm so glad you could attend our Christmas Even gathering. I do look forward to a late night discussion with you, once things have -- quieted."

Well, that at least sounded more proper. "Thank you, sir."

"My pleasure. Ah, here they come with the boxes. Do partake of the cookies and cider. They're quite good, as always."

"Thank you, sir."

Aristotle went to work with the others, directing the decorating of the tree. Beartholomew hoped it didn't take too long. He almost fretted at every lost moment he could not have intelligent, quiet -- proper -- conversation with Master Aristotle. Except that fretting would be far too undignified.

As would be eating too many of those truly delicious cookies. He stopped himself at three and sipped the cider while he stood in a corner, out of the way. He thought Aristotle looked his way now and then, and he hoped he made a good impression.

Even the young bears got to help. Wind seemed to delight in letting the small ones climb up on his back so that they could reach the branches. He didn't even complain when they pulled at his ears in their haste, or hung tinsel from his tail in fun.

He seemed a rather nice cat, in fact. No doubt that was the influence of Master Aristotle and being associated with such a famous intelligent bear.

The work of decorating went quickly, and the others sang carols and ate cookies while they worked. Beartholomew watched from his corner, thinking that perhaps another cookie wouldn't be that bad...

"Oh dear!" Aristotle suddenly exclaimed, drawing everyone's attention. "I've made a terrible mistake! I forgot to put the lights on first!"

"Oh my," TiBearius said, shaking his head. "How could we have made such a mistake? Why the lights aren't even in the boxes! I'm certain that's where we packed them last year!"

"I fear I took them out last week to check them," Aristotle admitted. "Well, there is no way we can string the lights now, and it's far too late to take everything down and start over. Oh my. We'll have to do without the pretty lights. I'm afraid the young ones are too unsteady to climb through the tree and all the way to the top, and the rest of us are just far too large, and we'd knocked all the decorations back off and break them. We can't -- unless -- Goodness! Mr. Beartholomew, would you be kind enough to help us out?"

"Me?" he said, fairly squeaking the answer.

"I know it's a terrible imposition, but would you be so kind and string the Christmas lights for us?"

"Oh. Well. Certainly, cir," he said. The famous Aristotle asking him for help had to be a great honor. Even... even in this.

"Thank you!" Voices called out from everywhere, startling him.

Aristotle send for the lights, and all too soon Beartholomew found himself climbing up into the boughs of the tree, a long, heavy strand of lights draped over his shoulders.

Being a bear, the climbing part proved to come naturally. And he found it oddly satisfying to move up each level, carefully arranging the little lights around the other ornaments. Up one bought, across another, and up again. He felt downright joyful as he reached the top and found the spot to plug the star at the very top into the lights.

"There," he said, sticking his head out from among the pine needles. "Perhaps you should turn them on and make certain I've done this all properly."

"Oh no," CanToBeary said. "You must come down and see the tree lit for yourself. It would hardly be fair if you missed the first lighting after all that hard work!"

Voices agreed from everywhere. They seemed a very nice group, really.

"I'm certain you did fine, Mr. Beartholomew," Aristotle said. "Do come down and watch."

Well, if Master Artistotle thought so... He made his way back down, careful of the ornaments, and twice rearranging lights. He did so want this to be right!

When he finally arrived on the floor, a bunny gave him a cookie, and a squirrel picked stray pine needles form his fur. Aristotle held the little switch for the lights, but then he shook his head and smiled. "Mr. Beartholomew, would you do the honor of lighting the tree?"

Beartholomew gulped own a bite of cookie. "Oh sir, surely you should --"

"No, no. Come now. Wind, please get the light."

Beartholomew came and took the switch, feeling quite fluttery and unexpectedly excited. At Aristotle's nod, Wind leapt up and turned off the light.

"Now, if you would, Mr. Beartholomew."

He pushed the little switch.

Star like lights glittered everywhere in the tree, reflecting on the ornaments. The star at the top shown with a golden light. Beartholomew felt his breath catch at the beauty, while others patted his shoulder and thanked him, and said the lights had never been so well placed ever before.

The tree was, he thought the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. And he had helped to make it so.

"Thank you, Mr. Beartholomew," Aristotle said, all very proper --

"Oh, do call me Bertie!" he said, and laughed as the room light came back on. "Mr. Beartholomew sounds far too proper for a night like this, don't you think?"

Aristotle smiled and patted him on the shoulder.

And when everyone gathered around to hear Aristotle tell the story of The Bear on the High Shelf... well, right then Bertie wished that the party would never end.

The End

Happy Holidays
From Zette and the Gang



(Having a nice quiet holiday. I thought I would copy this from my journal and share it with the blog people. Hope you are all having a nice day!)

Russ is flying home today from New York. This is troubling, of course, with all the alerts. As though just the idea of flying in winter wasn't enough.

It has been, as usual, a fast few days while he was gone. I actually got a few things done at the house for a change, at least. I think not having the usual writing rush helped.

I've a few things to straighten out still at FM before the new year. And I'm running out of time on Vision. That sounds far too familiar!

Ah well. Time to get some work done, I think. Either that or nap!

My office looks a little better. Not great yet, but there is a definite improvement in the 'piles of junk' problem. Shelves have even been tidied up a bit, and I will likely get some more done over the next couple days.

My kitchen is starting to look better, too. I may even attempt an attack on the dreaded library, which has become a haven for lost boxes and stacks of video tapes that have not been filed.

It may be more than I can face...

My short story is going fine. I might need to have a goal on it soon, though. The characters have been interesting to play with, but as I often do with short stories, I have no clearly defined plan of action for where I want it to go... and most importantly, where I want it to end. I need to jot that out, I think.

My novel class material is going very well. I may end up with a nonfiction book out of it in the end. That might be fun. I'm not seriously considering that yet, though. I think it will be enough to get the classes done. I'm up to Week 5, although I already have part of Week 6 done as well.

Lady Jane Pudge'ums has found that I've cleaned the desk so she can stand in her favorite spot and head bash me in the shoulder while I'm trying to type. She's so cute!

Beyond that... things are calm and quiet here. Almost all of our snow has melted and it looks as though we won't have any new before Christmas. Odd how that keeps happening.

It looks as though I will have a story in a Best of Anthology next year from Fables. I'm looking forward to that!

So off I go to write more... things.

It's either that or clean house, and I've already done more of that then is healthy, I'm sure. (grin)

Russ just headed out the door going for Omaha to catch a plane to New York. He'll be back late on the 22nd or the early the 23rd. I hate that he's gone the last week before the holiday, especially since we didn't get a bit of shopping or decorating or cookie baking done. I've pretty much written this year's Christmas off -- same as last year. One of these years we'll get it all straightened out again!

So what am I going to do over the next few days?

Vision, Estand, Novel Class, Dare, pages for FM, Back to School material... oh and a bit of writing.

In other words, pretty much the same as usual.


Oh, and check this out!

Hatch Magazine link

Some days my life is just odd...

Nice snow!

We're having a good little storm tonight. I'm glad to say that Russ made it home fine, and in a few minutes we're going to be watching some shows and relaxing.

But first a few words about people who are so stupid that you have to laugh at them.

Let's take, as an example, a recently banned member of FM. This person has never written a book, or much of anything else except some unpublished poetry. Not a problem -- we all start unpublished, after all. And that's what FM is about -- helping people reach their writing goals.

At least it wasn't a problem until this person decided he was a far better writer than people who had not only actually done the work, but been published. Better, in fact, and far more knowledgeable than anyone else could possibly be. He insulted everyone who didn't agree that his was the only way. I'd never had so many emails complaining about someone in less than a week.

And now he's banned for not only being rude, but for making attacks directly on two members -- me and someone who told him she didn't need his help. Oh, dear! How could she have possibly been so stupid as to think she could write her work without his guiding hand! Of course, the one time she did ask for specific help in one part of world building (his supposed strong point), he completely ignored the question and went off on a tangent that bored the hell out of everyone and annoyed her and me because he would not stop. Kind of a sure sign of his writing ability, too, I'd say.

But you know... when all the transcripts were looked at, and when all the little insulting emails are read... you have to laugh at someone like this. And, of course, use them as fodder in stories, because you can always use a character who is so full of himself that he'll make a great comic relief.

And that's the great joy of the Internet. You get to see people like this in the words they write, and you can see immediately how that kind of material will work for you. The world is full of wannabe writers who are more than willing to tell everyone else how to do something they've never done themselves.

So now he gets to go play in his own sandbox again, and we get to go back to having intelligent conversations in chat that are not interrupted by moronic platitudes about things he's read, but never done.

And at least there he can still pretend he is the Great God of Writing without anyone questioning him. Self-delusion and that inner voice telling him he's great isn't going to get him published, of course... but it's the only company that can likely stand to be around him for very long.

I have lists of things to get done. In fact, at this point, I think I have lists of lists. However, I am working my way through them, and it's looking pretty good over all. Lots of time to the end of the year, and if I get one or two things done a day... I'll be done in plenty of time! In fact, I only have six things out of twenty-three left on my main list, but most of those are big, multiple step projects.

Last night I finished what should be my last novel of the year. I don't intend to get crazy and write another one between now and midnight of December 31st, but with me I can't make a guarantee.

Just one more short story that needs to be completed, and that's it. I think I'm going to do a number of very short stories to fill out the year, though. Nothing drastic, just pieces I can maybe kick out in a couple hours, and just for fun.

It's in the site and the nonfiction side that most of that list work is hitting. Vision, of course, is coming up. I've done my final Back to School material for January. I thought it was going to go over into February, but I didn't have as much material as I thought! And that's fine -- I don't mind getting early. (grin)

The kitties are (obviously) doing well. My older guys are still a little put out, but I've caught a couple of them curled up together. They always look so embarrassed and annoyed when I unexpectedly come around a corner and find two older cats and one of the young ones curled up on a chair.

Russ worked in Omaha today teaching, and went straight from that to another job this evening. He should be home after midnight. In the mean time... time to get a bit more work on that list done!

Busy. Busy busy busy busy.

(Rushes around like kittens looking for toys...)

I rather enjoy being busy most of the time. At least if it's all moving along well, which things are doing right now. I just have a couple minor problems... like the fact the medication I'm on gives me annoying, back of the head headaches. And my cdrom read/write drive died. And it's cold here!

It's the headache that is the only thing slowing me down. I have all the work lined out to do, and if I can just get a good run on it, I don't have any problems. But getting into the work itself is really difficult. I can't think past the headache a lot of times, even when everything is quite easy and wouldn't take much time at all to finish.

But there it is... that sliver of pain that works its way into the back of the head and puts a block between me and what I should be doing. Pick something up and start, and it's going to just leap up and try to stop me. It's hard to believe, sometimes, that the medication is helping -- but it is dealing with other problems that must be dealt with, and I know that, too.

In the mean time, I'm picking away at Book 8 and almost done. I've gotten quite a bit of work on the Novel class done. I'm working on one of my Vision pieces right now, and I've managed almost 600 words.

But I would really like to get a good run on something and even enjoy the work while I do it.

Grumble.

Back to work...

(At the moment my journal site is down, so the pics aren't showing... It does this a lot. I miss my server...)

Busy days...

I'm getting quite a bit done, and I'm closer to finished with the final novel of the year.

And tonight it might snow again. I know those in the US northwest are shaking their heads in despair at the mere thought of snow, but we really do need it. Another county went on drought alert this last week -- and this in the middle of winter is pretty serious. So more snow in this area is not a bad idea.

It is cold here today. We've been having temps well over freezing for a while again, but day it cooled down.

I have been working on the material for the two year novel program at FM. I was going to wait to wait until after I finished Book #8 to start writing out my notes, but I went to work on it last night... and had a hard time stopping. I have so many ideas, and so many books to work with...

It's a lot of work. It's going to be far more work when we get into the actual class, especially for the first few months. However, I think it's going to be worth the effort. I'm glad I have several weeks yet to prepare for this first part, though!

And with that in mind... I need to go write something, I think.

Had trouble getting to my edit page for Blogger today! Doesn't that figure? I don't post for ages, and then when I start up again, I have trouble.

I've done very little writing for the last three days, but I hope today to get my attention back on finishing up the last of the Dark Staff book first drafts. I'm in the midst of the climactic battle, and I think I only have about 3-4000 more words to go in this draft. Like many others, it's running short. But that's the way I work, and I ought to be used to it by now. Once I have the main story line down in the first draft, I have a much easier time seeing where I want to expand and what I want to do.

Next year is looking more and more crowded with edits. I think I'm going to sit down and work out a schedule this time, rather than trusting myself to do the editing early rather than when it needs to be done.

I have one novel outlined to start on January 1 so I'm set for that day, at least. But there is so much else that I need to work on before then! Ack! No time! No time!

(Zette rushes off, fingers flying across the keyboard, trying to get one thing done so she came move on to the next...)

Well, yes, I rested for a couple days. Rested in my own way, at least. I've only written a couple thousand words total, but I did get a lot of site stuff done, and things done for other sites. I'm still behind, but that's not a big surprise.

I also answered questions for an Interview today. That one was interesting. It's part of a larger article, so there's no telling how much of my material will be in there. But it was fun to do!

I am very nearly finished with both my final projects for the year. I'll be filling out the rest of the month with short fiction, articles, and class material. And that's fine. I'm going to have all kinds of fun things to do in 2004, and I would just as soon slow down for the next few weeks.

Besides, I wrote a million words. What more could a person really want?

Now I feel much better again...

Did it! 1,000,000 in 2003 -- just finished about seven minutes ago. I was in chat celebrating. (grin)

512 more words to go.

It's slow, but it's moving. I'm at 38,140 -- I have 1026 to go.

Okay, I am 2026 words short of a million words. I'm going for it. I have the eighth book of the Dark Staff series open (Hope in Hell) and it's at 37140. I haven't worked on this for a while so I might be slow off the start... but I will have a million before I go to bed tonight.

And off she goes!

Early this morning I wrote The End at 153,797 words. Today I am adding in two scenes -- one for each section of the book to cover some details that I want to add, and as long as I have the time today, I might as well do it and add to my word count total before the end of NaNo.

Tomorrow it's back to life in the real world. (grin)

Today is Kid's day, by the way. He's 14. We will celebrate with roast beef from Arby's, I think.

It's kind of odd to be done today. November is such an interesting, intense month. I'd be happier at the idea of December if I didn't have this fear that I'm going to have a lot of work there, too. (grin)

So... off to do some writing. And relaxing for a few hours, I think.


But... did it! And did it well, and now I have a couple first drafts to work with, both of which I really like!

I have finally reached 150,000. I still have two pieces remaining to write. I have three hours till midnight local time. As long as I write the last bits after midnight, I will have fulfilled my goal.

So, back to work!

Odd day. I can't seem to get moving on the story again. part of that is because of distractions that took my attention away first thing. It's hard to turn back to the work now. I want to get to 150,000 today. That's less than 2000 words, and so far I've been lucky to get 100 at a shot -- and I've written less than 500. I've been up for four hours. I haven't really done much of anything else.

Grrrrr....

I really want to have this novel done tomorrow. I don't care if tomorrow means a few minutes after midnight -- but if I don't get a push now I won't be able to do it.

So... write....

Current count: 148,682

Run, you fool! Run!

Oh yes, it's that day. We had a nice quiet day. Never left the house. Probably should have gone to see my parents, but both of us have been totally worn out and just needed some quiet time. I slept late. We still had a nice traditional dinner, and watched a show, and we're both playing with our computers at opposite ends of the house.

I'm working on the novel, of course. Running out of time here -- I suppose I'll have to kick the work back in again to get done on the last day. It might be that I'll spend all of Sunday getting caught up and done... but I think it won't be that bad.

I'm less than 20,000 words from one million, as well. I didn't expect it to go that easily this year. I didn't expect it to go at all, to be honest.

I'm working at new goals next year, mostly to do with editing and submitting novels, which I am woefully behind on.

And having more fun. (grin)

Hope everyone is having a good day. I'm off to commit more words...

Must... slow... down... writing....

Yeah, it sounds odd. But if I want this novel to last to the end of the month, I need to just slow down a bit. So today I did other things. Cleaned up the dining room, did a little holiday decorating. It might be the only decorating I do this year -- it's all I did for last year, after all. But we'll see.

Of course, with three new kittens in the house, I might not like what happens if I put much more out!

Russ should be home soon, I hope.

Right now... well, I'll go to work on the novel for a bit...

I'm just inching up to 140,000 on the novel. I'm also about 22,000 from a million words this year. It's all looking good.

But, not surprisingly, I'm tired. Really worn down.

Oh, and I think I've found the cause of much unhappiness, headaches and unexpected rashes. Turns out the handsoap we are using has sunflower seed oil in it. Ack.

Anyway, I'm working my way up to 140,000. I don't know how much farther the story is going to go, especially since I just hit a sort of detour piece. I just need to get focused on it and write today. Hasn't happened yet, though.

Wonder when Russ will be home...

I'm waiting for the snow to start. It looks like it should be soon. We're having a little bit of freezing drizzle now.

And I am up to about 129,000 words. I was going well this afternoon, and then sort of died off for some reason. I'm not sure if it's lack of food or just lack of concentration right now.

But I am growing closer to the end of this story...

I'm having one of those 'non-focus' nights. I can write about 100 or so words at a shot, and then... I find myself doing something else. Like blogging. The story isn't a problem. I'm at a good spot, in fact, and kind of expected to do better here. But instead I just don't want to sit still... and I think that's maybe the real answer right there. I don't want to sit here. I hope that sometime in the next few days I can get out of the house again for a while (we went on a nice ride the other night), and just take a break from the computer and even the cats.

But speaking of cats -- one of the strays I hadn't seen in quite a while came to the window tonight. He looks very good! He's obviously found a nice home, because no stray has that kind of coat and fat. It's GB for those who remember him -- nice big gray and white cat. Really sweet guy, too. He let me pet him and feed him two whole cans of food -- like he needed that food!

Well, my people are in the city in the middle of a riot, and trying to get to a secret funeral, so I better get them moving again. I've less than 1000 words to go to 125,000 and that was my goal for tonight.

I can do that much!

A bit over 122,000 words at the moment.

And now you know why I haven't been updating this little spot. (grin)

It's going pretty well again. I had a hellish week there with that horrible cold/flu stuff and really lost my concentration and the feel of the story. I did a few thousand words each day, though, and worked my way through it. And now I'm coming closer to the end. I think I can get done in time.

I'm about to get to the point of my story where my MC's life goes to hell for a second time. He just thought he had it bad before this. It shoudl be interesting to write.

And I'm going to go get some sleep now, though, for a few hours. And then back to work.

We're going to go down to the De Soto Wildlife Refuge sometime in the next four or five days -- depends mostly on how Russ's work falls out. But I'm working hard to make sure that doesn't screw up my ending the novel in time. I don't think it will be a problem, but if I had a low count day, I need ot make sure I have made up for it ahead of time.

Almost there!

Well, no, it will not be another 10,000 word day. LOL. I ended up doing all kinds of things, like watching a movie with Russ and working up some items for FM next year. I'm just working up to 2000 words right now.

I did get a rejection on the S&S stuff, but I appear to be in very good company. Nice to have made it to the final cut, and as much as I would have liked to have gone the final step... oh well. That's part of writing life. I keep getting closer, at least.

And Yard Dog Press has made the official announcement about Honor Bound, so that kind of makes up for a lot of stuff. (grin)

Okay, back to writing. Need some words before midnight...

105,084 for a 10,000 word day. This is much better.

I'm going to take a break now...

The penguins of plot have finally gotten their little heads together.

I just topped 100,000.

Obviously after my head exploded yesterday I lost all ability to work. Today I'm picking my way through something that needs to be done now and getting it ready to go back to writing. I want to write again, and not just the little 2 and 3 thousand words I've been getting.

Glares at computer. That doesn't help, of course.

I am at 94,000 words. Time to get back to work...

Site is back. Will consider writing for a few minutes...

Okay, site appears to have gone down.

Head has exploded.

Okay, I admit that I tried to talk Holly into taking a one year sabatical and then seeing how she felt about everything. I'll even admit that I've told her in the past that she needs to back away from the site and the problems it's caused her so that she can get on with her life and her work. So this is not exactly a real shock.

Just bad timing. I'm very ill. I'm barely writing and it's NaNo. I'm going to have to start considering how much of Forward Motion I can even really afford to keep going. The donations link is down right now because I need to do something that goes to me.

I need to find out when we pay for things and how much.

And I need some articles for Vision!

(Head comes closer to exploding...)

(And I've had to edit this four times already. Not a good sign...)

I'm sorry that Holly and Sheila have both shut down their blogs... but you know, you can get tired of having people constantly sniping at you for what you believe, or what you write there, as if it is those peoples' right and duty, just because you said something in your own site. Sometimes the wiser choice is to tell the little bastards to go find somewhere else to play for a while, and you'll get on with the business of having a real career and publishing real books. (grin) I know that they are both going to miss the interaction with the fun people, but -- as has happened in the past -- the bad ones have finally taken their toll.

It's nice to see that many of the people respect that the two of them have the right to get on with their work and do what pleases them -- including dropping blogs that have become time drains and annoyances because of the bastards that they have to keep watch over and edit out or answer and get annoyed at. Holly pointed one important thing out to me today -- of all the writers with serious careers, she is the only one who has this much personal activity on line, from blogs to Forward Motion and her own site. She just does not have the time to do it and keep her career going with all the new contracts she has, nor does she have the energy to waste on the impolite children any more. It would be nice, of course, if we could all guarantee that people would respect her right to say and believe what she wants on her own sites... but we all know that's not going to happen. There have been too many years of proving it differently.

As people grow up and grow older, their priorities, needs, and even what they enjoy sometimes change. People who do not grow up don't understand this, and are likely to be the most problem. They're still playing schoolyard games, and I've noticed a few of them being quite shocked to see the schoolyard closed so that they no longer have that big public forum in which to be impolite and draw attention.

Holly and Sheila have real careers, real families, and real lives -- and having those things is taking priority again.

So, for those of you who will miss seeing what life is like for writers who make a living with the written word, it is a real loss. We're not only not going to be there to cheer on the ending of a book, we aren't going to see the moments of inspiration and change.

A shame there were so many jealous, impolite little children in the world (no matter what their age), but that's part of life as well.

No No NaNo...

This is just not going to go well. Between being horribly ill, having problems with neighbors, and having three different site problems, I've found that I'm just too worn down to even care if I get more on the novel. And I can't find the damn aspirin.

There appears to be a little calm in the storm right now. I have taken a long, warm bath and there are actual words in my head again. Whether I can transfer them to NaNo novel seems unlikely.

I have come to pretty much despise this year as a whole, even though I have had some very nice little bits here and there. November, despite having started out well, looks like it's going to go down hill very fast. I really don't know if I can pull it back out. At this point I'm not sure if it's worth the effort.

82180

I don't think I'm going to get much farther. I had to go lie down again. I think I'm going to have to again, but this time I'm taking the Visor with me.

Bad NaNo day. I hope that I'm feeling better tomorrow.

I have had a lousy few days. Illness has kept me awake through most of the nights, and this doesn't help me write. I'm trying to get a few thousand words done tonight., but I can't seem to move forward on the story. The outline is there. The characters and the plot are moving fine. My brain is not engaged.

Gack.

I'm at 81374. I'll see if I can make it to 82,000...

Crazy couple of days. Whatever flu/cold stuff I've had, it's been an a lousy way to spend NaNo days. I hope that it really is clearing up this time.

I wrote 5040 words today. It's my lowest count so far, but still not too bad. I had planned from the start that 5000 words would be my goal, but I had so much fun the first week that I went way over. Back to earth now, I think. Back to work on a number of other things that really do need to get done!

And what else? I'm testing out an evaluation copy of Office 2003. Just got part of it loaded in today. I'm looking forward to getting the rest of it up and going. The only thing that I'm sorry to see is that they've dropped the Office Shortcut bar. I used that a lot, but I can get used ot using the start button -- just means that extra click that drives me nuts right now.

My journal keeps going down, which is why the pictures don't show. Sigh. I wish I still had my old server. Too be honest, I'm too tired right now (at 4:38am) to go find out what pictures I might have on my sff.net site. So no picture for the moment. Maybe I'll edit one in later, after I sleep. I like having pictures.

The writing is going very well. This is the 7th day, an I hope to be able to keep the 10,000 word average, even though I dropped way off the last two days. Today (ummm... yesterday for those who really live by those clock things) I was very ill and did a good amount of my writing on my Visor, curled up in blankets in bed. But I wrote, and I'm getting to the crux part of the novel. It's going pretty well.

I need to go crawl back into bed, though. I'm still not feeling totally great.

Over 60,000 words and the #1 spot again, though. Hey, if you are going to be crazy and write like this, it might as well count for something. (grin)

I am, for the moment, at the top spot in NaNo.

I don't know how long I'll be there. There are a lot of very strong and dedicated writers this year, and far less of the general bickering than I'd seen in the previous two runs.

All is fun. I'm over 50,000 words.

I'm also dead tired right at the moment.

Thunk...

Wind and Nazir

Ah...

45,844. I'll have 46,000 before too long. I don't know if I'll go much more than that tonight. I'm not that ambitious, I think. Though it would be fun to do that last 4,000, wouldn't it...

Nah. Tomorrow is soon enough.

And after Wednesday, I will be going back to work on the rest of my life. I have a novel that I have to finish making some changes to and get back to the copyeditor. I think I'm going to have to do a 'carrot' sort of thing -- I have to make X number of page changes before I'm allowed to work on my NaNo novel for a while. LOL. Bribing myself.

Oh! New review! This one is on an anthology I'm in -- From the Mist. Read the review here. Yes, she did spell my name a little wrong, but I've seen worse.

The weather here is cold. We might get snow tonight. I've been watching the radar and it is coming closer, but it might, at the last moment, skirt us on the trek northward.

Okay. Forgot to post this. I'm well over 46,000 now. I think it's time to go to bed. LOL.

...

31150 at the moment.

Very much enjoying the novel, but I am taking a little bit of a break here. Russ should be home soon, and we'll be considering food and such.

Only a bit over 5000 today. Need to bring that up a bit, I think. (grin)

I love November. I love the freedom to fly.

Today should be less frenetic, at least as far as writing goes. I've got a couple thousand words on the day so far, but I've stopped to do some house work, rest my back after the housework, talk to Russ and pet cats.

I'm up to 27,459. It's very early in the day. I have other things to get done, but I figure a few hundred words at a shot now and then... I'll have a nice count by the end of the day.

That's if I can stay awake... (yawn.)

Willow and Pip

Okay, day two ended at 25,374

Good count. Good second day. I've finally gotten really into the story, and I like how it's going. IN fact, I am having trouble stopping tonight.

We're having an intresting ice storm right now. Lots of clicks against the window, and a bit of wind now and then. The babies are just entranced by the noise.

Oh, and Wind attacked to teddy bears today. I think he sees them as rivals in cuteness. He kept knocking them off the desk. This is ogin to be a problem, because I plan to bring another bear out each day of NaNo. I don't know why. It just sounded like one of those odd, fun things to do.

So, I'm off to do more writing, and listen to the storm, and enjoy things.

Tomorrow I'll be doing 'real' work again. Not that you'll really notice much difference. LOL.

Trying an experiment...

I've written about 4,000 words since midnight last night. I don't know if the pace will pick up or not -- not that it really matters much, since that puts me up at 18,000 already. Russ will be getting home soon, we'll think about dinner... and then I'll get back to some late night writing and see where I am by midnight.

I like the story. I like the charaters. It all needs more depth, and some of the logic is a bit 'bouncy' at the moment -- things that should be in earlier turning up in sentences as justifications for things. I'll work that around in the rewrite.

But Mirrors is moving along fine so far.

I'm going to go get my MC into more trouble now...

Okay, good first day. I hit 14,017 at midnight. Then I went and had pizza with Russ, took a nice long bath, and I'm about 2000 words into day two. This is going to be a far less word count day. I did far better in day one than I expected and had a lot of fun doing it, but I'm really only looking for about 5,000 a day this year, if even that much!

Still, I can't complain. I've gotten a feel for my three MCs now. I suspect this one is going to be lucky to make it to 70,000 in the first draft, but after NaNo I shouldn't have too much trouble reworking it and adding to it.

But this is, of course, providing that I survive NaNo. It's fun... but it's insane. (grin)

First half of first day total for NaNo: 5016

I am having plot problems, though. My outline scenes are coming in far too short. Well, as long as I make about 50,000 in the first draft, I won't care much. But I may need to sit down and think out another set of scenes and incidents.

Still, not too bad. I can work with this.

I'm just... tired now!

I think he's so cute. That's Wind.

Tonight Nazir learned that Kwi likes to race through the house. He decided he wanted to race with him. It was really very funny.

Tonight I put up the latest issue of Vision, which makes me very happy! It's days ahead of schedule.

I've had a good day over all. Bits of writing, lots of work on Vision, some great stuff for DDP, and a wonderful busy NaNo chat tonight.

What else? Not much, really. I think I'm going to go rest for a while!

NaNo is coming! What fun!

I just got back from a really good, very stuffing meal. Celebration time for the really good review as well as for some good news about some art work, and a couple other neat little tidbits today.

I've gotten a bit over 5000 words done today on various things. I'm going into straight fiction mode in about 15 minutes, though I'm tempted to take a break and watch something instead.

(That's a sunbear by the way. Looks like a dog with EVIL claws.)

Edit added -- Actually, I've decided to just delete the post. It occurs to me that this really isn't worth the effort of explaining how I felt and try to clear up the misunderstanding. I'm sure we all have better things to do.

Ah, misunderstandings. Maybe posting so early in the morning was a bad idea. If I'd waited until now, I might have reconsidered and wondered if any kind of approach would be good, even one where I felt amused, mellow, or whatever. I get the feeling it's never going to matter what I say. I've repeatedly said Evolution was a good idea, and now apparently saying that I think they're going to grow up into a good site is a bad thing. Or maybe cute is just a bad word these days. And amusement is right out the door. (grin) Okay, maybe amusement isn't good. I guess if you want to be taken seriously, being amused by some small aspect of the site (and that's all posting at FM was, after all) is still going to look like an attack. I'm sorry they misunderstood, but I guess if you expect an attack, you'll find one.

Never mind. It hardly matters in the scheme of things.

And the scheme of things looks VERY good today.

I got a wonderful note from a reviewer last night on one of my books. The review will be up in a week or so. That can cheer a person right up. I've nearly finished cover art for someone, and I'm almost caught up on everything else. My copy editor asked me for a very minor change in The Lost Cause and I can probably have it done today if I just sit down and work on it.

I've got my outlines ready for NaNo, and I think I know which one I'm going with -- Mirrors, the urban fantasy. I think I'm writing it in first person, too which should be odd for me, at least for a longer story like this. The character is interesting, though. I'm looking forward to writing from Skye Emerald McFaelyn's view. I have an interesting background worked out for the magic side, and while I wish the outline had a bit more flesh to it, I can go with what I have.

Oh! And I signed my first book -- the title page for the short story in Wyrd Ravings. Russ was going to go meet with a long time friend who has been wonderfully supportive, so I signed it and sent it along. I would have liked to have been there, but I was suffering cold from hell still and didn't think I could sit through one of the several hour dinners we have with the guy. But Russ said he was just thrilled.

What else is going well?

Classes are set up for next month, and that looks good! I got to ask for the full manuscript to something for DDP -- another really nice feeling.

And we're supposed to have snow this weekend. I think I'm amused by that idea. It's a bit early in the year for it, but still -- it should be pretty.

Yes, all in all, not bad.

(Deleted the post because it's been misunderstood, and really, not worth the effort everyone is putting into making it into a big attack.)

Six days to NaNo.

I have more to do now than I did four days ago. I'm sure that's not right.

But I have my outlines, I have my charactes (named them all, too, finally!), and I will be standing at the starting gate when it hits midnight November 1.

Of course I won't have everything else done. I never really do. But in some ways having all this work gives me something else to focus on so that I don't go nuts waiting for November. I'm working on a really light bit of writing fluff right now, and that's all I'm going to do until November 1, at lleast as far as writing goes. Oh, I'll tweak my outlines still and probably change names a couple times... but really, I'm ready.

This is going to be fun!

Hey, not bad. 3pm and I've done the dishes, cleaned up after the cats, posted the county agenda, and did some posts over at NaNo and FM. Next on the list is to go through a couple Vision articles and get them ready. I'll do that for the next hour, and then feed the herds.

You know, I actually feel as though I might get somewhere today. Amazing.

I went to the zoo yesterday. It was just what I needed. I came home exhausted (I'd only slept three hours the night before), and woke up today feeling great. Well, except for the sore legs. I'm not used to being on my feet for six hours, and trudging up and down hills.

The odd thing is that I woke up today feeling far less harried than I have for days, even though I'm farther behind. I still have to get the pages set up for Back To School for Busy Writers. I have to finish Vision. I have another novel to read for DDP.

On the other hand, I have another 170 some pictures from the zoo to go through. And there is that writing stuff to do.

I did get three outlines done, though. They're not as full as I like, but I think I can go with them. I'm looking forward to it.

Okay. It's 2:30. I'm going to mess around on the boards for a few more minutes and then start doing some real writing work. It looks good.

Had a busy few days. Not a lot better today, mostly because of a blinding headache that's make it very hard to work. I really do hate days like this. I need to get things done. I'm not getting anywhere.

Ack. Ick.

I have, at least, the basic outline for Mirrors done. Which is a good thing because I can't make my hands type for more than a word or two without stopping. They don't want to remember words. They hurt.

Time, I think, for a break.

The good news today is that book 3 of the Dark Staff series, Crystal and the Stars, will be out this week. Yay! I just got the cover art and it looks very good!

Forward Motion is hosting a NaNo chat party on the 15th. We'll see if anyone is interested in showing up. It's an interesting little experiment anyway.

Beyond that... Got a few more notes done on one of the outlines, but I have to organize and type them into something coherent still. That seems daunting. If I could get at least one outline done, though, I would feel a lot better going into NaNo.

Although, quite honestly, I could go with any of the three I have right now. I know the basics of the stories, and I write well enough without any outline. I just like doing something like NaNo without any of the pauses that come from not knowing exactly what's going to happen next. Having a good outline will save me from that.

The question is still which one to do:

Journey to Winter (Traditional Fantasy)

Mirrors (Urban Fantasy)

Farstep Station (SF)

I should probably be thinking more about getting the other things done rather than focusing so much on NaNo already. Vision is coming together well -- we have some very funny and fun articles this issue. Great for ending out the year! I have a couple more pieces to go through for DDP, and I do need to look at two things to get ready for my own submissions in November.

Everything else looks very good!

Things are going well!

We have a very good turn out for NaNo this year from Forward Motion -- it's good to see all the people from the site who really enjoy getting into the fun side of writing. Yes, yes. Warped, silly, and only crazed people like us would really think something like this is fun... but there you are. I never clamed to be anything but crazed, and it's pretty obvious that I'm not alone.

There's been a lot of people showing up at FM, new ones finding us for the first time (to the tune of 50 or more a week again) and long time members wandering back in and getting involved in the aspects of the site for which it was created -- writing. I'm glad to see it happen. We've got a lot of really great stuff going on again, and people who are interested in writing really ought to take advantage of it.

I put out two submissions today and wrote a short story, and did some work on Badlands. I've had the first word from one of my beta readers on Glory, and so far so good.

(Nazir just came up to me and I gave him a kiss right on the nose. He's been a bit standoffish, but he's getting over it. The little girl is doing sligtly better too. She actually stands by the chair and has been known to climb up on the edge of the desk.)

Tonight I found the old synopsis to Badlands, and I'm going to go over it and see what I think. Actually, I found two versions, which seems odd. One must have been for Ace and the other for Baen. Maybe their guidelines called for different types. Or maybe I just didn't know which kind I should write and did them both. I do things like that, even with those dreaded synopsis things.

And I sent a bio off for my chapbook, Honorbound. I've had an email from the cover artist and a couple very nice notes from the publisher, including the one that said Jane Fancher and C.J. Cherryh said they will do cover blurbs for it.

Oh my. I am, of course, in heaven. Two of my favorite writers. Can a person get more lucky than this?

I believe Honorbound will come out sometime in or after January.

What else? Pip is sitting here with the two Siamese less than a foot away from him and everyone is calm and quiet. I've had the door to the office open all day and there hasn't been more than an occasional hiss in the entire house. The three new kits are not happy about the dog yet, but they'll get used to her. She so badly wants to just meet them.

And that is my news tonight. Time for me to get some sleep, I think.

It's going well...

Now, is that just too cute or what?

I have, unfortunately, created a monster in the house. A 'hold me, pet me, pay attention to ME monster named Wind. He's adorable. It's hard to believe this kitten could ever have been wild. But it's getting difficult to work.

There's only one answer, of course... food. Which I have to do now before I go nuts.

Let's see... feed herd outside. Feed herd in rest of house. Feed herd in office. Don't forget to feed dog...

Glory is done!

Oh sure, there will still be some cleaning up and fixing... but it is done at 115,743 words.

I am pleased. I am tired. I am going to bed soon...

Okay, yes they are goofy.

Chances are very good that I'm not going to the zoo tomorrow, but I should have another chance at it in a couple weeks. I'll be sorry not to go -- I don't get many chances and I've only been to the zoo once this year. However, since I'm having trouble with my leg, it's probably not that bad of an idea to wait.

Back to the writing part of life... I'm about 60 pages from finishing Glory, and that is going to be my focus for today. I think I can get it done if I don't get too side tracked with other material. It will need at least one more read through/clean up. I also have to do a timeline track for the days because I kept changing the dates and stuff.

I'm on page 61 our of 553. I'll report as I go along.

Just shoot me now.

You're going to be reading that a lot for a while....

A few days ago Nonny wrote me to say that Robert had a troll and wondered if it might be the same one that I had trouble with in the emails. Today I had some time and I went to check things out.

First, I seriously doubt it's the same person. Robert's Troll could at least write real sentences, and posted on-line rather than anonymous letters -- obviously someone just in it for the thrill of being read. Which is kind of pathetic when you consider his subject matter. The posts were filled with 'oh, look at me, I know the names of real authors' and other silliness rather than 'I'm going to destroy your site/career' stuff. Why what Robert does bothers this person is beyond me. I really don't understand the motivations of people like that. What possible affect could Robert, his blog and his writing have on this other person's life?

Then I hit the post where someone accused Holly or me of being the troll.

And then I got angry.

I started to write a post there, but it wouldn't be fair to Robert to start up that sort of behavior in his blog (or live journal -- can't remember now).

So, let's talk about it now for a moment.

First, about Holly... Have any of you ever known Holly to hide behind anonymity? If she has something to say, she says it and puts her name to it, popular or not. The accusation that Holly would hang around Robert's journal to post nasty little remarks is sickening.

As for me, I've not hid behind anonymity either. For instnace, I had some disagreements with Nonny over things she did in the past. I told her so. I've said it publically. I think the group's handling of 'come away to talk secretly about a new site' was badly thought out. But I still think that Evolution is a good idea, just as I thought the erotica site was a great idea. And like the chat-related 'secrets,' I thought the people involved in the last problem ought to at least be aware of how badly timed it looked, not posting anything at all and then showing up for trouble. Was it intentional on their part? Probably not, but that didn't change the truth of the timing.

Guess what? I've had disagreements with a hell of a lot of people, and so has nearly everyone else in the world. It just happens that most of mine are on-line. I've disagreed with people before and I will again. I've always done it upfront and without pretense of being someone else.

I am not Robert's troll.

And the worst thing? Until this point I had never said or done anything to the accuser to make them think I would do such a thing. I wasn't even aware that she had left FM.

On the other hand, maybe I ought to be amused that someone basically said they can't tell my writing from Holly's. I guess it might be time to go professional after all... (grin)

Yes, that is my name on the cover. Print and download versions at Echelon Press

I'm actually a couple days behind on this because I am working so hard at getting things done before November and the dreaded return of NaNoWriMo. Things are looking good so far, so I expect total disaster before too long.

One of the things I want to get done is Glory. I pulled it out tonight and began to work, and it went very well. I think I'm finally ready to do the last 127 pages. I'm excited about it, in fact. I intend to get down to at least 125, if not 120, before I go to bed. I started at about 139 earlier tonight.

The word count, when doing this kind of thing, is naturally low. But the work is good.

The three kittens are still living in my office and really starting to get into trouble. I had forgotten (after nine years) how much kittens can get into. I just had to go save the statue that CJ Cherryh gave me from the black and white little girl, who suddenly leapt to ehvery highest shelf in the room. Oh dear. (Looks up and tries to decide what else to save at this point...)

The guys will be leaving the room just as soon as all three of them are calm enough to be petted. I don't want them loose in the house and too wild to come to us. They're getting there.

Okay, 3am. Time to go get the rest of my editing done for the night and get to bed!

Russ is home! Well, not exactly home at the moment because he had a class to teach tonight, alas. But he's back from New York.

One of the kittens came over and let Russ pet him, so that was good.

I'm about 500words short of 3000 right now, too. It's going very well tonight. Except that my cable keeps going down, so I'm going to post this and hope for the best!

Three new friends...

I have them in the house. They are doing remarkably well -- better than me in some ways. They're stretched out and asleep right now, mostly in places I can't quite reach them.

My office is an absolute pit from having them in here. Food scattered everywhere, boxes stacked in odd places to keep them away from wires and such. I've taken down all my glass stuff. I thought the room should look better. It doesn't.

But we have calm today. No one has thrown themselves against the window this time.

I'm keeping them away from the older cats for a while. Russ will be home tomorrow, and we'll start looking at introductions then. I'm not doing it alone in case there is trouble.

Work?

Yeah, actually. Doing quite well. I have a short story about to be printed up and ready to go out tomorrow. Hope in Hell is about 1/4th of the way done, maybe more. I have outlines for three novels in hand, two of them mostly done. I have not finished the editing on Glory, but I did that on purpose. I feared I was going to try and rush it, rather than taking the time it needed. I'll have it done and out in October -- I think. We'll see.

October is looking like an odd month. I'll be doing synopsis, outlines... and not a lot of 'real' writing. Well, unless I take one of the three outlines and do a novel then. (grin)

At any rate, all is going well. The kittens are asleep. I think I'm going to go find some food for me, and then come back and do more work.

I've been busy the last couple days. A Hope in Hell is up to 17,789 words. The three kittens are very nearly tamed. I think they'll come in for good about the time Russ comes home. I'm too chicken to do it when I'm the only one here, in case there is some serious problem. I can imagine them getting into fights with my older cats. Or panicking and trying to leap out a closed window. I had one cat go through the pane of glass on a french door once. It's way to easy to imagine something worse.

Right now the window is open. Two of the kittens (and one of the older strays) are sitting inside. Actually, it turned out to be all three. The little black and white had climbed up on the books where she likes to rest, and I didn't even realize she was over there.

I had to chase them out (Yes, they didn't want to go) so that I could leave the room for a cuple minutes. I won't leave the window open if I'm not here, and I didn't want to panic them by closing it down.

I have a new idea for yet another novel. I've started doing the notes up for it as well. I don't know where all these ideas are coming from, but that's all right. I like doing the outlines and then having stuff ready to go later.

Anyway, time to get back to work. As soon as I get a chapter done in the book I'll start typing in the outline for the new novel...