Thoughts on Paperback Writer Post

Zette's view on group dynamics.

I don't often comment on other posts, but I thought I would in this case.


Sheila's Post: http://pbackwriter.blogspot.com/ (Post on groups and individuality)


I think the one point Sheila misses is that all of us are both individuals and members of groups at some time, and that you do not have to give up one to be a part of the other. Sure, there are some who will let the group take over their life and dictate who they are and what they should do, but that's a problem with the individual, not the group.

A writer does not achieve success as a writer within any group. They may achieve recognition within that group -- but (for instance) most readers can't tell a SFWA member from one who is not, and certainly can't tell you who the current president is or what he believes in. If you are looking for recognition within a limited group, if you long to be known as one of the important members of SFWA -- well, good luck. But it is not going to bring you success on the store shelves.

Success has to come from individual effort, and no amount of group joining or moving up in the ranks of that group is going to make a writer successful in publishing. It may give them an alternative to that success, but it does not automatically include it. Some writers may find that they have help within the group, but there are still plenty of people outside groups who make it to prove that it's not necessary. And there are lots of people outside of groups offering help, too.

And groups also come in different forms. SFWA is a big group, rife with individuals and disagreements -- just follow any SFWA election. Does that dictate what the writers who belong write? The Internet is filled with groups for writers. Check out the Webrings you can belong to if you fit one criteria or another and they do not affect what the person writes or how.

Going to a convention and meeting with other writers is a very 'in-group' feeling, but often points out the diversity within the group. I have yet to attend a convention -- from small local ones to WorldCons, where I was not present at some show of how different the writers present acted and reacted -- and wrote. There is no group mind within the sf/fantasy/horror genre. There are suggestions and there are always writers (whether part of a group or not) who will tell you that you must do things in a certain way, but for all of that most writers are distinctively individual, no matter how many of the in-groups they belong to.

Some people find it enjoyable to be part of a group. I like to spend a weekend with writers now and then, but that's as far as my participation goes -- well, except for FM. Should I count FM as a group? We (mostly) have a common goal to being published and that does dictate certain aspects of what happens at the site. People do behave in certain ways at the site in order to be part of the group. That still doesn't make them any less individuals outside the site or in their writing.

We are all individuals. We all write our own stories, for better or worse. If we go to conventions and talk to other writers and publishers it can sometimes help to get a better feel for the market -- but it does not dictate if the person will use that knowledge for their work. Sometimes just spending a few hours talking with other writers is a great fun. The only time I go to parties is at conventions, and then almost always only to the Yard Dog Press or Meisha Merlin Party. I don't even go to the company gatherings wherever my husband works -- and he doesn't expect me to. In fact, for years people thought he wasn't married.

But for a couple days out of the year I go and belong to an in-group that consists of other writers. Sometimes they are published and sometimes not. Something they are 'big name authors' and sometimes they're small press and ebook. It rarely matters, unless one 'individual' is annoying. Maybe it's like a spiritual get away for the religious group. I have always come away feeling stronger as writer, but no less an individual than when I went.

Groups are no more inherently bad than individuals are. Groups are not for everyone, but neither is the 'lone writer, working in the attic' good for everyone. Many people do not enjoy group dynamics and would find spending a few hours at a dinner with other writers the worst kind of torture in the world. I, on the other hand, have great memories of dinners with C.J. Cherryh, Jane Fancher, with both other writers and fans present. A really fun dinner a few years ago included Esther Friesner (you know it's going to be fun if she's there), David Drake, Brad and Sue Sinor, K.D. Wentworth, and Russ and me.

There are two types of people who are probably not going to be happy belonging to some groups. The first is the person who is easily intimidated by someone higher up the ladder saying 'this is the way to do things.' More often than not that person is trying to be helpful without considering the individual aspects of how people work and create. There is no one way.

The other type of person who will likely not be happy is the one who feels a need to be in charge. Not being in charge and not having the ability to sway the way others within the group act is going to be a very frustrating experience.

But here's the point about groups that needs to be stressed: Not everyone in the group wants to be a leader. There will always be that part vying to have the higher ranking in the hierarchy, but often those people would be that way no matter what group they are with and what power situation. Some people just want to be in charge, and since not everyone can be, some of those people are always going to be frustrated and angry -- but it is not the group that is at fault.

Some of writers enjoy flaunting that they belong to such-and-such group, Some will even tell you that you must accept, proclaim and protect some tenant that they hold dear to be part of a group. Unless it is that person's group, it's usually not true. Quite often it's more of a case of trying to win converts to her side than any real power. But if that's how you are introduced to the group, you may not realize it.

In the end, though, belonging to a group is only as good or bad as the individual makes it. Groups do not automatically change a person. And sometimes there is even something to be said for the sense of well being that comes with being accepted as part of a peer group. There is certainly little enough good feeling in the world of writers, and it's not like it actually hurts most people.

If you are the type of personality Sheila writes about who has to be in charge to be happy, then you are almost always better off staying out of a group or founding your own. On the other hand, if you're like me, sometimes belonging to a group affords a little fun now and then, but really doesn't have much else to do with your life.

Good Morning

Yes, morning. Again. I'm getting a lot of non-writing work done, but I really need to get back to my night schedule so I can get a novel or two finished! This is just not working out right.

But, I have announcements!


The first DTF book as been released! You can see the information here! This is a very exciting time. I had begun to think we would never get this far. And now it looks as though the second book will be out within a week or so as well.


I am also starting an experiment called 'Dedicated Reviewers.' A limited number of people will be chosen to receive one free pdf version of one DTF book each month on the understanding that they read it and submit substantial (300-500 word) reviews to a number of different places. (I'm putting together a list and could use some help there, too.) To be honest, I'm looking for people who have a good writing style and skill. I'm not going to edit your reviews (except the ones posted on the DTF site if I feel that it needs a change).

If this plan works out then the DDP book releases may be included as well. You will, of course, agree not to distribute the book or pass it around to friends. And yes, PDF is the only version that will be available.

I won't tell anyone that he has to write good reviews for a book, however people who write several poor reviews will be considered a bad match for DTF and dropped.

There is one other odd catch: While you will not have to use your real name, you will need to use a real sounding name for review posts. This is to help make things look legitimate. I tend to take reviews written by someone who signs them 'the Dread Lord of Paperbacks' far less seriously than if he had signed it Michael Smith.

I'm sure there is going to be more details as I get this worked out. If it goes well I might spin it off from DTF/DDP and lure some other publishers in as well. If that happens then reviewers will get to choose which genres they want to review. Right now, since it's just DTF, it will only be fantasy.

If anyone thinks they might be interested, they need to contact me right away.

My new schedule, starting in April

I really have to get control of all the things I'm involved in. I keep finding myself up against a 'oh yeah, that stuff!' wall. So, starting in April I'm going to have a daily schedule that dedicates more time to my writing (and not just the minimum word count I do each day), and spreads the rest of the material out over the rest of the week. This doesn't meant that I won't do some of it on other days if I have to (things come up, after all), but that certain days will just be dedicated to certain areas of my life.

When I started putting this schedule together, it really didn't look so bad. FM, DTF, Vision -- listing them like that doesn't look so bad. But there's so much work to each one that they're taking over my life. Interfering with my writing! NO!


Monday -- DTF readings, acceptances and rejections (This allows me all weekend to read at my leisure and prepare for this work.)

Tuesday -- Zette Writing, Estand

Wednesday -- Zette Writing, FM

Thursday -- Zette Writing, DTF Marketing

Friday -- FM (2YN, B2S, any other projects that need to be updated or changed)

Saturday -- Zette Writing

Sunday -- Vision, photography

I'll write every day, of course. I always do. But certain days are going to be dedicated just to writing. I've started getting too much 'work' going on, and then I feel guilty about not getting other things done -- I need better control.

So why am I not starting this in the last week of March? Because March Madness starts tomorrow, and even though I don't think I'm going to get much written, I still want to leap in and do what I can. And that means not looking at a schedule and thinking about the other things I should be doing.

Am I going to stick to this schedule? Maybe for a while. It's hard to say how effective any of this will be without giving it a try. But that won't start until about April 1.

Changes

Changes today. First, Maynard took a great leap out the window and is now outside, wandering around and apparently having a great time. I keep calling to him, but he's running around with his tail up. He's chased off one cat so far.

I rather hope he decides that he doesn't like it out after dark and comes back when I feed the others. Silly cat.

The other change is in my main web site: http://lazette.net

I don't know how long I'll stay with this version. It was interesting to put together and helped pass the time while my finger healed since it didn't require much typing. (The injury was a cut -- nothing drastic but right where I hit it on the keys and was just annoying me too much to do more than my minimum amount of writing. And, all in all, I think it did me good to get away from the 'work' side of things for a couple days.

I'm back to it tonight, though, with the second DTF book about to be turned over for final production. The first one should be out tonight or tomorrow.

I, in the mean time, am just trying to get a few more things done. I've been up forever, it seems. Maybe a nap would not be such a bad thing right now.

Hottentot Teals

Yes, another morning. So far I've gotten some site work done and cleaned up part of the bathroom. I'm feeling more and more normal each day. I have got to stop this.

I need to get as much done on Dancer as I can over the next couple days because I'm going to have Ada Nish Pura back on the writing table by Monday. Yay! I love working on that novel, and I'm really looking forward to getting it done. There is a lot of work ahead.

I love Sheila's post today! I admit that I haven't read Pride and Prejudice, but you really don't need to to follow the logic of the post, since she explains it so well. (There are a lot of important works that I haven't read, and a lot of odd works that I have and most everyone else hasn't. Some day I might get to it. You never know.)

I'm not sure where I fit in the line. My general feeling is that if I'm going to work this hard, I might as well enjoy it. And you know, I've done a lot better at it by following that route than many of the 'you must suffer for your art' and 'oh look at me, aren't I just clever, you must worship me now' people. I'm making my place, I'm happy getting there.

Today I'm going to be bouncing between writing and trying to get some housework done. It must be this spring thing that's coming up. Or maybe it's mornings. At any rate, both will pass.

The Loss of Andre Norton

Andre Norton was one of the first two sf authors I read, the other being Heinlein. When I learned she was a woman it changed how I saw my future. Teachers giving me bad advice aside, it was Andre Norton's work that made me want to be a science fiction writer and kept that dream alive. I loved her worlds, her people and her sense of adventure.

In 1999 my friend Rosemary Edghill was writing a book with Andre Norton -- the Shadow of Albion. She wrote me in as a minor character. It was the closet I came to Andre Norton, and one of the most wonderful moments of my life.

There are a lot of women writers in sf today. But I remember when they were rare, and she was the crown jewel -- or maybe the shining star that reminded us, every time we looked up, that even women could dream about the stars and the future.

Dalight... ACK!

Alligator People

Today I am experimenting in 'life in the real world' stuff. I'm up in the morning, and actually after having slept through part of the darkness. This is a rare occasion for me.

It's bright out there. And not particularly pleasant looking. My cats are very much confused. And I'm hungry.

I'm also starting in the work on the Illuminated Manuscripts material. I'm still looking for more stories. Here's the link:

http://www.zettesworld.com/DT/illuminated.htm

It's odd trying to work during the daylight. There are far more distractions than at night. I can hear (and see) birds outside, which makes me want to grab the camera every couple minutes. Russ is home (though next door), and I keep getting up to go talk to him about one thing or another. I have managed to stop myself each time since I know he's working.

I can see the house more clearly. I've already started cleaning. (grin)

But mostly I keep looking at the clock and wondering why it's not closer to noon and lunch time. I feel like I'm back working a day job. This just is not going to work out well.

Thoughts on book piracy

I've read Katherine's March 12th Entry and I agree with a lot of what she says about ebooks. That's not a surprise since a great deal of my life revolves around the ebook industry. I think ebooks should take their place in the line up with the other formats -- hardbound, trade paperback, mass market, ebook and audio book. Just another format available for the reader if that's what they would like, and just as not all books are brought out in hardbound versions, not all ebooks would be brought out in print versions.

There is one section in her entry that I very much disagree with, however, and that's the dismissal of book piracy as trivial and something that should be ignored in the hopes that the person will then go and buy the book.

I never think it is wise to purposely undercut the only power that writers are granted in the publishing world -- the copyright. Allowing others -- encouraging them, in fact -- to copy books that are under copyright seems to me to be saying that we, as writers, really don't need it. If anyone can copy a book and distribute it, that makes copyright useless. It throws away our only hope of controlling the distribution of the material by which we make a living.

And that's what book piracy is -- distribution of work without paying the author or acknowledging the author's right to control the process. This isn't a case of someone copying a book for himself -- after all, if he has it, he doesn't need a copy -- though a few might do that with library books. However, the book piracy situation is people copying material and making it available to anyone who comes to the Usenet community. If you have been to any of those sections, you know that this isn't a handful of people. There are thousands of them -- and for some writers that could be a significant part of their income.

Allowing and encouraging book piracy means having no control at all over how that material might be changed or modified, and still passed off as the author's original work. It also encourages people to believe that writers shouldn't be paid for their work -- that what we do is not worth it. Just words to download.

Writers need to make a stand against book piracy. We also need to respect other authors' rights as well, and not encourage or collect pirated books of our own.

I wouldn't encourage a kid to steal candy from my shop in the hopes that he would come back and buy some next time. I just don't think it's a good practice for writers to encourage readers to steal books, no matter what the format.

Lovely writing

I've had three very good days of writing -- all topping 4k -- and now Dancer is sitting at 12,016 words. (Other words on other projects, as well.) This is the first novel this year that I just ran with and it is just what I needed to get moving on other projects.

See, when I can't write -- when it's slow or I have other things that keep me from working on stories -- I get into this sort of odd cycle that makes everything else take twice as long as it should, and means I have even less time to write, and more annoyed that I can't get to the stuff I want to do... that sort of thing.

But the last few days have been great. I've not only gotten a lot of writing done, but I'm getting caught up on the non-zette-writing stuff as well.

The only problem I'm having is that my sleep cycle has gone odd, even for me. But hey, it works, and I'm getting a lot done. And Russ gets to sprawl in the bed for hours and hours of restful sleep before I come in and start tossing, turning, and snuggling.

Anyway, the novel is just going wonderfully. My three characters are forming a nice bond that wasn't there in the first version, written oh so long ago. Far more depth to the story, too. Some great conflict between my two villains as well. It doesn't feel like the original story at all.

Overall, I'm less than a hundred words from 126,000 for the year so far. I might reach 130k by the end of the day if I can keep at this work. I admit that I keep getting side tracked by the list of things that I really do need to get done today. Later today.

Back to writing!

Maybe it's just my day/week for odd email

Yesterday I got something through the DTF email system asking how much we charged to publish someone's work. That's not an uncommon question, unfortunately. I answered and when I explained that we don't take payment from the author, but that we look for material we think will sell, and then the author gets paid out of the profits, I recieved a rather strange reply:

I will never trust a publisher who says they'll take my work for free. You get what you pay for, and obviously anyone who says they work for free are trying to scam me and others. I'm reporting your business.

Well, this is a new approach. I wonder to whom she's reporting us, and what the reaction will be when they explain about publishing and self-publishing.

Very odd.

To state the obvious

A lot of jelly fish!

If you are going to tell others that I am talking about people in private posts on my journal, do make note that I am on Blogger, not Livejournal. No locked and friends only posts here, people. Duh.

And, quite honestly, I likely wouldn't do it anyway. LOL. If I have something to say, I say it up front and people are free to counter it. I may not give names, but the people involved generally know who I'm talking about. I guess I grew up with the old-fashioned 'if you can't say it to their face (so to speak), don't say it at all' morals. So I put things right out in front, for good or bad. It's who I am.

So the rest of you can calm down. I don't own an LJ. No secret posts.

(That sound you hear is Zette laughing.)

And more good work

Protector of the Woods

Another great writing day! I hope they continue like this for a while and allow me a chance to get caught up on my writing and still get other things done. Of course my sleep schedule is all screwy, but I don't mind right now.

Did I mention that the Kansas City Zoo is using two of my pictures in their newsletter?

You know, I really should have more to talk about today. I know I had several things in mind when I started this, but I've already taken a couple breaks from it to do other quick things, and lost all thought. LOL.

Okay, I give up. Maybe I'll get to bed before 6am. Barely. (grin)

Other thoughts

Well, I've written nearly a thousand words more and put in a query to a publisher. Amazing how that adrenaline will get you going!

I think I may have missed my point (not surprising, since it happens so often with me) about posts, links, reading other journals, etc.

I expect that if I say things that people agree with or take exception to, that they will comment on it. They may or may not put links to the weblog in it. They may not say it is me. It's the idea of what's been said, quite often, that has the emotional resonance (for good or bad) that gets people talking. I find certain attitudes annoying. I'm sure people find mine annoying as well. It's expected. We are obviously not all on the same wavelength.

I think one of the most important aspects of blog/journal reading is that we can each disagree in our own place and have our says, and no one can tell us no. I don't do it often, but sometimes an attitude or a statement gets a reaction from me. Others do the same. It's part of how we define who we are; not just our actions but our reactions.

AAIIEE

In the incredibly stupid and lucky acts of life....

I wrote over 4k words tonight. Then I went to do some DTF work. Forgot to save Dancer. Closed things, got messed up, and closed it without saving.

4k words, gone.

Much wailing and pounding head on wall for being stupid. Woke up husband to tell him how stupid I had been. And suddenly remembered IPAQ was syncing to that story. If lucky....

Came back, grabbed the IPAQ from the cradle and found the story -- and had all but the last couple lines.

Of course now I'm not nearly anywhere as tired as I had been.

Time to write, I guess.

Good Writing Night!

Frog Fish

Ah yes. That's better. 4298 for the day on Dancer. I thought this novel should move if I gave it a chance. Looks like it's going to run between 90 and 120k, which is a good number. I had a bit of trouble off the start, then took it back one more step and the story fell into place better. I can't say the opening is really right -- are they ever? -- but it did get me moving. Yay! I hadn't expected it, to be honest. Nice change of pace tonight. Put me in a better mood, too.

I have 40 chapters outlined for this book. Some of them will be very short pieces. I wonder how fast I could write this book if I really put myself to the work. If I didn't have other things, I might get it done in ten days or so. Somehow I suspect that will not be the case.

Mainly because I have the final version of the first DTF novel in my hands. I'm making the last clean up of the format. I need to talk to Deron about the cover. I think the author and I both had about the same idea, so that's cool. It's going to be great to have the first book out!

Beyond that.... hmmm. A note on the previous posts. If someone has an odd sense of humor they ought to be willing to accept the same in another person. Personally, my friends and I often make jokes about angsty wannabe writers who will do anything but write. I don't expect that most people would get the jokes, but it's sometimes funny. Sometimes not as funny as we think they are, but hey -- that's the nature of humor, right?

Should I have commented on a blog I was not going to link to? Why not? Is it against some blog/journal law that you have to link to everything you comment on? I have a personal opinion that if I don't agree with someone I can say why, but I don't have to include a link to something that I don't like. Maybe that's silly, but I figure people either know what I'm talking about, or get the point with my comments anyway and will agree or disagree with what I'm saying. If they don't know what I'm talking about, their not going to care much anyway. I rarely point to something I find distasteful or annoying, but I may write how I feel about it. After all, this blog is about me. LOL

So why do I read some of the other stuff? Sometimes because the person is interesting. I don't have to agree with what she's saying. In at least three cases, I am amused by the on-going antics that seem to be leading from one disaster to another, and the people remain totally oblivious. In others there is often something interesting and writing related posted, and I'm fascinated by the way in which others work.

They're all great character studies because people do often put a lot of themselves into the notes, even when they don't always realize it. It's amazing what you can find for characters if you just scan a lot of blogs. And, of course, for everyone you read the wider your knowledge of the world becomes. We all live in our little shells of some sort. I read blogs that transend boundaries and age groups, as does anyone who reads even a half dozen blogs.

Sometimes I even comment on them, for good or bad. That's part of my personality. So get used ot it or move on. It's not going to affect your life, or mine, one way or another. We will all still have our opinions on things we read and post them. What you do on your end is your own business. What I post here is mine.

Yay! Comments are working again!

It takes so little to please me these days. (grin)

Oh....

And the trouble with some literary fiction people is that they just don't have a sense of humor. Maybe Shelia is right in her humorous post about giving up the X-Files tee-shirt and bunny slippers. (grin)

Different Writers, Different Ways

I had a nice birthday, despite fighting off this flu stuff again. Russ has gone to get me some soup tonight, and I'm just going to curl up and get what I need to do finished up. I started Dancer yesterday -- a slow start to the work since I can't seem to get the feel for the initial meeting. I think I need to push through this scene and move on, and then go back and fill the meeting with portents about the rest of the novel.

This is a rewrite of something very old. I took the original last year and wrote an outline based on it, and I'm working from it. Whatever I saw in this new opening isn't quite clicking again now, but I think I can work with it. But overall, I think it will work better. Just need to get the feel.

We went to a wildlife refuge yesterday. I got some nice eagle pictures, but really haven't had time to go through much yet. I mostly slept today.

RANT:

I just read four different blogs -- two of them explaining the way in which the authors approach writing and offering books to editors and publishers. Both of of these people are successful at their own approaches. I tend to go somewhere in the middle -- not really good at writing out the 'pre-selling' stuff like Sheila, and more like Tamara's approach. I prefer to write the book before I sell it, but I haven't made any huge sales yet, either. Who knows if I ever will, but I'm happy to find people who offer the way in which they have made those sells.

Both of these women are successful. Far more than me, of course, and it's wonderful that they take the time to explain how they work. Being able to read both shows that there is no one way (my motto these days), and that there is something to learn from all the different approaches.

So then there are the blogs where the people are bitching because Sheila offered her version of how she sells and they don't like it. This current bitching over the fact that she's successful and offers anyone a look at how she does it is probably the most childish reaction I've ever seen.

And, as can be expected, the bitching is from people who have never sold a single book. Probably never even finished one. That tell you something? They hate the fact that Sheila not only writes a lot, she also sells. She's in demand by publishers who know that she can turn in a work on schedule and that it will be popular with the readers. She has so many contracts she can afford to turn some down. She is good at her trade and she makes money at it -- and even better, she obviously loves the work. (And, as an aside, I suspect that Tamara Siler Jones is really at the same level, just with fewer works.)

Sheila is a professional. That, obviously, just bothers the hell out of some people.

So when some of the rest of you start selling anything at all, when you offer help to other writers rather than just bitching because someone is doing something you can't do, then be sure and let everyone know. I'm sure everyone will be a hell of a lot more polite about it than you ever have been.

I gave myself a present

In the Woods

That's the small version of the picture. The larger version can be found here (click on the picture to get the larger version).

This is my birthday present to myself -- a lovely little free program that allows me to do all kinds of odd things. You can find it here: http://www.daz3d.com/index.php The program is Daz Studio. I recommend it for anyone who ever thought they would like to do something artistic but don't have the ability to draw. I downloaded the program yesterday. This was my second attempt at a picture. I did a 'print screen' of the rendered picture and took it over to my beloved Corel Photo Paint and added the glowing balls.

The Daz people have all kinds of neat things for sale at the site. I went there looking for Bryce which I have always lusted after. I still badly want that one too, as well as a lot of the fun little additions that you can buy at the site. I was considering Bryce for my birthday, but it doesn't look likely.

Ah well, it would probably be far too distracting. Though it helped today. I had lost my voice this morning (better now), and had that general 'yuck' feeling for part of the day. I did a good amount of writing on the next class and then I just threw myself into this.

It was a lot of fun.

Last for the night

49,942 And 130 out of 172 pages. I think I missed something I need to add in -- just a line or two. I'm down to the final confrontation and the clean up afterwards. That worked pretty well. I think I'll have this draft done before my birthday after all.

And now....

Page 122 and 50,292 words.

I'll only go for a little longer. I would like to get below the 50K mark, and I'm very close. I also have about 51 pages left in the novel. It will keep dropping as I cut words. Over all, it's going well.

I'm glad I could finally get some focus on it.

One hour later

It's been an interesting hour for the story. I've had to cut, rework, cut, and meld and cut -- and ended up adding far more words back in than I wanted to. Nonetheless, I think it's going well.

Page 108 and 51468 words (cut nearly 1000!)

Going for another hour.

I will get this done....

I had intended to have this draft of Farstep Station done before my birthday (the 8th), but there has been so many other things slowing me up that I'm farther behind than I should be, even without that goal.

Tonight I'm sitting here wrapped up in a blanket, drinking tea (sometimes) and trying to convince myself that I really don't feel miserable. I have Farstep open and I'm back on page 97 again, trying to make this section flow properly. I still need to cut about 5-8k, but I have over half the novel left still to go through, so I'm still not worried about that part. I'm just worried about getting anything done at all.

No. I'm good with goals. I'm just miserable with this on-going cold that's been lingering for weeks, and the fact that I can't concentrate. But okay. I'm going to get at least 20 pages before I go crawl back into bed again. (That's not so bad. I've slept so much the last two days that I'd just toss and turn and keep Russ awake right now, so I might as well be doing something productive.

Oh and I just found a HUGE plot hole. Good to catch it here. It just means changing the time frame of when one group showed interest in the station. Not a problem. Amazing that the time factor just slipped past me until that moment.

Okay. I'm on page 97 (52,359) at 2:15AM. Let's see where I am in an hour.

Slow work....

I'm taking things slowly for the next few days. Sort of a birthday gift to me because February was way too hectic. I might go as far as the tenth before I really leap back into work on anything, site, DTF or writing. Oh sure, I'm doing a little bit of writing every day, but it's mostly been odd stuff. I'm creating more myths for my future book, for instance. Doing a few pages on Kinship, though I hope that one picks up a little. Editing Farstep Station as well.

But mostly, I'm relaxing. Sleeping far more than usual, and quite content with that right now. I can't remember the last time it felt so good just to stretch out in bed and relax. (Yawn)

In other news:

A few people have turned up at FM who haven't been around for quite a while, some of them just looking for a calm place to discuss writing again. If you are interested in the site and focusing on writing (even if just for a short while each day -- I don't expect people to live at FM!), then you are more than welcome back (with a couple exceptions -- and I don't expect them to want to return anyway). All I ask is that you leave the problems from elsewhere off of FM, and don't bring up past problems either. Most of the people at FM have no idea what happened when I took over the site, and I don't see any reason to recreate the situation. It's past, the site is still what it was then and if that suits you better now then it did a year and a half ago, then give it a try. Just as back then, I don't expect anyone to give up belonging to other sites. We're just there if that sort of focus suits you right now.

FM is still the site it was, and the rules still apply -- but some of you now know why we have those rules. It's not an attempt to run others' lives or tell anyone what to believe or how to live. It's just to make sure that everyone has a spot they can come to where it doesn't matter what else is going on in the world, they can still concentrate on writing.

Of course it still won't work for many people who left, but if you want to come by you're welcome to stop by and join in the fun again.

Okay

Obviously it was just a momentary brain glitch. I've now written a couple thousand words today, and even got back into Kinship, as well as editing a couple pages of Farstep Station.

We can all breathe easier now. The world will not, after all, end.

Work?

I have been working like mad for the last few days, getting Vision done, getting FM updated. I got quite a bit of work done today and I'm quite happy about it all. I still have a few more things to do, but I'm mostly done on that front for the day.

But here's the problem. All day long I've been working away at things with the 'as soon as I'm caught up I'm going to work on this... and this... and write on this... and edit this....'

And you all know what happens. I get down to 2:30am and I can't think of a single thing I should be working on. Oh, I know they're out there. Unfinished novels left and write, the opening to a short story I started early today before I began the other work, even some nonfiction material. But here I sit, without a single WIP actually open and thinking about all the other things that I should get gone instead. And another part of me just wants to open up the zoo pictures and work with those.

I must write! I'll go mad if I don't get at least another 400 or so words done! This can't be me, looking at anything but writing. Oh my God, I should have seen it!

I'm a pod person!

I wonder when it happened.