Category Archives: The Boy

Swan Sister Update

There, damn it. I broke a thousand words.

Total words, Swan Sister: 13,045
Total words today: 1,090

And I damn well wasn’t going to get up from my chair until I had. Oh, I fought my own quota with blunted tooth and slothly nail: I dawdled by getting myself frequent snacks, I used Google and Wikipedia for various things, I got sidetracked in my research again, and made myself come back over and over to what I was supposed to be doing — namely, slapping words down so that I had something, anything, to show for working on the damn thing. Even though I didn’t want to do it, I made myself write, and oh look, there’s over a thousand words to show for it. So there, you mopey little Muppet monster of an inner critic.

And by working through the bog of inertia and wrong music, I got things moving in the second part of the book. Introduced the concept of magic (or at least something supernatural) for the first time (gasp). Discovered that the book wants the central character to be the harper, not the miller’s daughter. (I may grudgingly allow them to share the slot of protagonist.) Finally got the swans to be a symbol of Something Concretely Important (not that the reader would know as of this point, but I know, and that’s a good thing).

Liam’s over playing with his godparents today. Thus I’ve had the chance to write, even though all I wanted to do was lie in bed with a pillow over my head (it’s really too hot for that), and the opportunity to make a multiplicity of posts in my neglected-as-of-late journal. We’re tidying things up to go get him now.

Stonewalled

I’ve just realised that this second part of Swan Sister, with its new protagonists and story, requires a whole different playlist. The one I assembled for the first part doesn’t work at all.

::headdesk::

In other news, the reason there’s been no news is because I’ve had no time to sit down, and I’ve been rather weary and melancholy these past few days as well, which doesn’t really draw me to journal that much.

The aquarium score: Still two new fish, and one old fish.

As The Cycle Of Life Turns

Lost a second fish last week. The third is hanging on grimly, currently in isolation.

Bought three new fish yesterday.

One new fish died last night.

The world is certainly determined to teach Liam addition and subtraction at twelve months. Personally, I think it’s the pH of the water that needs to be adjusted.

Leaps And Bounds

New word from Liam this evening: “Ni-ni,” said while waving to his Da as HRH backed out of the room in order to allow Liam to nurse before going to bed.

Today also saw Liam plunging gung-ho into the sorting/putting-things-in-other-things phase. It was mildly surreal to watch him go. Got a block and a cup? Block goes in the cup. Got a bowl and a small ball? Ball goes in the bowl. Got a pile of small blocks and the shape sorter? All the blocks go into various holes in the shape sorter. (Not that these blocks have anything to do with the sorter; they’re just small enough to fit through all the different holes. But if he has the shapes, he can sort those too.)

He also developed his own game of putting a block on the bottom of an overturned container, then covering it with the top of the container, removing the top and placing another block on the surface, covering it again, and so on.

If I weren’t so tired I’d be even more excited about the huge changes that seem to be arriving daily.

Update

Tired, ill, and scheduled six ways from Sunday, so this will be brief:

Family lunch on Sunday? Awesome. Presents all a hit. Liam ate salmon and orzo salad for dinner like the rest of us, and a cupcake of his own for dessert. Pictures eventually.

Liam has another new tooth, for a total of eight.

Reading Charles de Lint’s Widdershins. Good, but I can understand why he didn’t want to write it, because to finish Jilly’s story means putting her though even more crap that’s not fun to read and was probably not fun to write.

I have consultant stuff to do and proposals to finish, and a toddler who doesn’t want to play by himself, which means work I’ve already been paid for and work I don’t get paid for unless the proposal is accepted and no time in which to do it.

The Quebec government hasn’t clued into the fact that we filed taxes for 2004. Duh. The federal government has, and did so long ago. Get with the program, people.

Coven tonight, and despite my best efforts the work that was supposed to be done for this evening is only three-quarters finished (see above about the time thing). I am irritated about this, because I hate letting people down.

Now it is dinnertime. That is all.