Category Archives: Writing

Constantly And Unwittingly

Argh! Been tagged by a meme!

I rarely do this sort of thing, but here you are:

The Rules:

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog along with these instructions.

Don’t you dare dig for that “cool” or “intellectual” book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest, then tag three people.

The book is The Witch’s Goddess by Janet and Stewart Farrar, because I’m working on references.

“The lover’s unveiling of a woman’s body is a sacred gesture as old as man himself. In our rationalized world, which no longer believes in ritual but which constantly and unwittingly re-creates it, this act has become the strip-tease, an aberrant form of religious worship debased to the level of commercial spectacle” (Markale, Women of the Celts, p.144). We mean it here in the original sacred sense.

If I had arranged my stack of current reference books differently, you might have gotten information on a species of swan, or on medieval technology.

I don’t think I’ve ever tagged anyone in my life, because I’m not fond of being tagged for time-consuming things myself so I don’t do it to others (this was fun, though, which is why I did it.) So with no imperatives involved, I’d be interested in knowing what Meallanmouse is reading, and what books are near Sandman7‘s computer, and I’m always interested in knowing what volumes Dr. Anne has on the go because she is Terribly Smart, and Witty to boot. And frankly, if any of my Gentle Readers are interested in sharing sentences six through nine on page 123 of the closest book, consider yourselves tagged and share!

ESTC Update

Total words, ESTC: 8,054
Total words today: 1,707

Zokutou word meterZokutou word meter
8,063 / 50,000
(16.1%)

Yes, of course I’m having a mild panic attack at the thought of being almost a fifth done, why do you ask?

I had forgotten the joy of typing information into the bibliography when my brain temporarily runs dry. It has to get done at some point, it keeps me typing and looking at books, and has the added bonus of increasing word count.

For the first time while writing a contracted book, I’m not writing directly in the master document. I open a new document file and type the day’s work into it, then copy and paste it into the master at the end of the day. I like it: it frees me up to write whatever I need or want to write without wondering if it’s in the right place, or without being afraid of the permanence of it. I also save the daily file in another folder, so if I need to go back it’s there.

I finally finished reading the contracts and sent them back this morning.

And look, I have enough time before I have to fetch the boy to go lie down on the floor and try to straighten my lower back. It’s really been aching this past week. Perhaps I shall read some more of Son of a Witch as well. Also, I do believe there’s a frozen Mars Bar in my immediate future.

Pleasant weather we’re having.

New Desk!

HRH picked up my new desk from Kino Kid last night. It’s new to me but previously used and loved by her, being the writing desk she had in storage. It has a lovely pine board surface, chunky slightly curved legs, and an antique stain… I love it. For almost eight years now I’ve been using the Ikea clear-varnished pine desk I found in the As-Is and while it’s perfectly serviceable, Kino Kid was looking to find new homes for some furniture and I’d been wishing I could have something less functional and more aesthetically pleasing. So we helped each other out.

My office looks huge. My desk looks tiny and neat and focused. I need a narrower low shelf unit to house my printer and provide a bit more storage, but other than that I’m very happy. A smaller desk means less clutter, and a happier me.

It occurs to me, however, that the cats aren’t going to be so happy now that there’s less room in which to writhe as they attempt to distract me from working. In fact, there’s not a lot of cat-friendly room once the keyboard is put in place. This is not necessarily a bad thing…

It’s Really All The Cats’ Work

A few years ago I was posting insane word count during a NaNo, and someone joked that I had one or more of the cats churning out slush for me.

I’m sure everyone will be grateful to know that Nixie is not, in fact, contributing to this latest book.

(I have a new desk! I’ll be replacing this one sometime this week! Hurrah!)

When Typos Express What We’re Really Thinking About

Ah, subtext.

In essence, Brigid is a goddess of transformation, and smiting is perhaps the clearest example of this.

What, me, annoyed at something? Why do you ask? (Or perhaps that ought to be “still annoyed at something”, or “more of a similar something”.)

Smite is such a lovely word. Of Germanic origin, you know, giving us our Anglo-Saxon word “smith”, meaning “to hit”. Lots. Against something hard. Perhaps I will begin using this word more frequently. As in, “Move or I will smite you.” Or, “Stop telling me you know me better than I do, relative stranger, or there will be smiting.” Or perhaps, “Say one more thing about how I work — or worse, should work — and you will find yourself smitten.”

ESTC Update

Total words, ESTC: 6,356
Total words today: 1,513

Well, that’s about all there is to say about that. Mousme‘s presence kept me writing when all I really wanted to do was lean my head back against the chair, close my eyes, and fall asleep.

I’ve lost my USB jump drive, which is annoying but not a crisis. I carried it in my purse as the ultimate backup of all my novels and NF books, complete or in progress. I have no idea where it’s gone. I’ll need to buy another one soon because even emailing myself copies of in-progress work makes me nervous about the possibility of servers melting down and so forth.

In Which She Politely Warns People Off

I’m not saying much these days because the things I want to say aren’t very helpful to anyone. I’m tired of being the responible person in almost every situation I’m involved with. I just don’t have the energy any more. I’m tired of drama; I’m tired of crises; I’m tired of people taking things the wrong way. I’m tired of people insinuating that they’re annoyed at me doing responsible things, but not stepping up to the plate to do it themselves instead. I’m tired of other people taking and not giving back.

So if you come to me and ask for help or input or anything along those lines and I tell you no, it’s not personal. It’s self-preservation. (And frankly, it’s to protect you too, because I don’t want to lose it somewhere along the line and take you out.)

This is not in response to any one thing that has happened, so everyone thinking “Oh no, this is my fault” can just stop now. This is just me drawing the line out loud.

More writing today. I’m taking Liam over to his grandma’s when he wakes up from his nap, then Mousme‘s coming over to jam. I, of course, will be working. Because that’s all I seem to do, whether I’m in my office or not.