stillsostrange

My WorldCon was an unexpected whirlwind of delights. The obvious highlight was when matociquala and I presented the Campbell Award and I got to give the tiara and brand new scepter to an astronaut. Then Jessica Jones won a Hugo for "Smile," which filled me with violent, vicious glee. But I think my true favorite moment came during the Losers Party, when the band struck up the Time Warp for the second time. I don't believe I've ever been to a two-Time Warp party before, and I'm very grateful to grrm for providing that experience. I also participated in great panels, and had a blast with new friends and old friends and random passers-by. I am making every effort to attend in Helsinki next year.

And if you happened to see my Hugos dress, which I hope someone got a good picture of, I'll let you in on a little secret: Jobst: It Stays. I bought a backless bra to wear with that dress which completely failed to function. So in a moment of panic I borrowed matociquala's sock adhesive and glued myself into the dress. Everything stayed where it was supposed to for ten (10) hours, perfectly comfortably, even through the aforementioned two rounds of the Time Warp. Sorcery!

My agent sent me her notes for The Poison Court just before WorldCon. Now that I'm beginning to recover from the excesses of the con--not to mention driving to Minneapolis and back in four days immediately afterward--I will buckle down and turn those around. I also need to get cracking on another project, and figure out the three short stories I have in various degrees of completion.

Dreams of Shreds & Tatters is loose in the world today! I'm so proud of my little book.

And as a lovely book day present, Tor.com says nice things about it.

The "Recent Entries" tab mocks me with inaccuracy.



Progress continues! Pieces fall into place!

In other exciting news, today I made anticuchos de corazon for the first time, and it was delightful. Although I'm not sure how you mess up anything as lovely as beef heart.

Also also, today my story "Snakebit" went live at Strange Horizons. I was so enamored of hearts I nearly missed it. There is also a podcast! This is so fancy!

"Snakebit"

Words today: 532
Words total: 6680
Reason for stopping: THE END
Darling: THE END

It is a draft with many drafty problems, but I have finished a short story! It's been a year and a half since this happened, and I was starting to disbelieve in the possibility.

Now it's time to dig through the more folders and see if there's anything else that wants to be finished.

Tonight I sent a 5.11. I sent it with the help of a serious power belay, so there is salt to be taken, but still. I hauled, pushed, and scraped myself up the wall. Between this and Run For Your Lives, I declare Project Valkyrie a wild success. Right now I'm only short one goal, which is unassisted pull-ups. But I start weight training again in January, so I am pretty confident it will happen.

I have lost the ability to write coherent essays, so I will break up my thoughts with bullets instead.



( Spoilers, of course )

Originally posted by squirrel_monkey at Circus: Fantasy Under the Big Top

My mother read(s) mysteries, so I grew up in a house surrounded by Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, Ngaio Marsh and others. We also watched a lot of Murder She Wrote and Columbo.

And while typing the above paragraph, I was also googling Tracy Grant, since someone on LJ recommended Daughter of the Game years ago and I adored it, and subsequently loved Beneath a Silent Moon. And what should I discover but a third Fraser book on ebook, and her Teresa Grant series. So I stopped typing, jumped in the car, and rushed to B&N to buy the latter fifteen minutes before they closed, and have now downloaded the former*. So, yay!

If I could make a niche for myself writing fantasy mysteries and spy thrillers, I would be a happy mammal indeed. I could get a lot of mileage out of dangerous women in fabulous hats that way. (I'm writing one now. Shh.)

I don't have a clever mystery tag. I should think of one.


* If I can ever open the damn thing. I appreciate that my Nook app is free. I would appreciate it more if worked.

In a display of wonderful timing, Trent Reznor has made the Karen O cover of "Immigrant Song" available for download. It's like he knows what my book needs.

The Winter Road (The Ashen Throne? I can't decide! TWR is a better title, but TAT is more pertinent to the book.)
Words today: 1633
Words total: 12229
Darling: To be safe, she brought her boot down hard on his sword hand, feeling the crunch of bone through leather, and kicked the weapon away with her toe. I'm not happy with the construction of the sentence, but I love it when Isyllt is a bitch.
Mean things: Two weeks without a bath, assassins in alleys, gunshot in an enclosed space, watching your boyfriend get shot. (Isyllt isn't the only bitch here.)

Downum's Law: The time spent writing combat scenes is inversely proportional to actual combat time. But after spending hours on a five minute scuffle, I stumbled over an unexpected twist. I may rethink it, but a moment of auctorial nastiness could serve to leave Isyllt alone and off balance, and allow me to conserve characters.

When you find yourself giggling and clapping after shooting someone in the lung, writing or serial murder are really the only life choices left to you.

The Bone Palace is up for a Spectrum Award! As are handful_ofdust and many others. Woot!