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!