June 30, 2004
One Manuscript -- and a Day Early
Done, and submitted as I write this.
Total word count: 88,109
Total page count: 327
I'm sure you'll all understand if I vanish for a while, now. I'm rather burnt out.
June 29, 2004
Feel Our Pain
Gaming goddess and fellow occult-store-employee type Roo sent me the link to this strip:
Oh My Gods June 13, 2004
It's funny and sad at the same time, because it's true.
June 28, 2004
I have exercised my civil right and performed my duty as a citizen, and I have voted. Was anyone else surprised to find names they'd never seen before on their ballot? There were nine parties listed on mine, four of which I'd never even known existed in my riding.
It's such a small thing - unfolding a piece of paper, picking up a small unassuming pencil, making an X in a white circle, and refolding it. So calm, as opposed to the emotional responses that watching political speechs evokes.
Speaking of emotional -- if I have to deal with one more crisis arising from people assuming things, I will slice my wrists open or something equally inane.
June 25, 2004
Must Sew
Tonight I pick up the sewing machine that Debra is lending me, so I've been going through my bookmarks and notes on all the things I have to sew this upcoming summer. I have at least two robes that I know of, a handfasting dress, severe alteration to do on another robe (HRH has lost over 60 lbs, after all), various doll dresses, and of course I'm dreaming about Hallowe'en as well. With this book out of the way, I now have a life once again, and I've been wistfully wishing I had the opportunity to get crafty recently. (No pun intended, I swear.)
I've also been meaning to make proper curtains for the front window. And Ceri's been threatening to get me to make a quilt, which has always been a mild interest of mine, just not a pressing one.
I'm quite happy about all of this. I go on sewing sprees where I sew madly for about ten months, then can't stand the sight of a sewing machine or fabric for a while. Since my machine started giving me grief two years ago while I made the Arwen riding dress for Hallowe'en, I haven't really had a good sewing spree. I'm looking forward to it.
June 24, 2004
At Last
Today's word count: 3,470
Total word count: 80,473
My gods, it was like pulling teeth today, but I did it, damn it. I did it.
And no, I'm not finished; tomorrow will be polishing bits of Chapter 2, and brainstorming more examples for Chapter 11. But I've passed my contracted minimum, and there will be nothing new going into the manuscript. I'll leave it for two days, then reread it on Monday to check finicky things (like have my references to other chapters been consistent?). And then, I think I might just submit it on Tuesday.
This is vaguely surreal. It certainly hasn't sunk in yet.
Caution -- Beauty Ahead
This is just gorgeous.
Or maybe I'm just a book geek.
New Day
I took yesterday off -- I didn't crack open the laptop or a reference book all day. I severely needed the time away from the manuscript; I think I broke myself on Tuesday. I couldn't string enough words together to make a coherent sentence yesterday, and it was a bit of an Eeyore day as well.
So I read all of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix instead, and yet again, for the third time, I read it too fast and didn't allow the story to breathe properly.
Orchestra was okay, not spectacular but okay, and I slept well (although I dreamed of washing one of my Wicca books in Debra's washing machine, because the pages had begun to go a bit yellow with age). I awoke to HRH sitting on the edge of the bed to say goodbye (yes, he's putting in a half-day today). We talked politics for about fifteen minutes, then he got up to go to work. "Oh, sure," I said, "talk sweet politics to me and then just leave." "Wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?" he smirked, and off he went.
I so love the fact that my husband can now make literary jokes.
In other news, I sat down to finally reserve my plane ticket to Hamilton, and found to my utter disgust that with taxes and fees etc., the cost of the ticket has doubled. So I'm in the process of checking out the cost of train tickets; I can switch to the GO train in Toronto and meet my parents in Oakville, and it will probably be cheaper. (Update: Yup. Cheaper. Plus I'd get there earlier in the day, and it's a ten-minute round trip to pick me up instead of an hour.)
I'm bright-eyed and busy-tailed, and I'm determined to write at least two thousand nine hundred and ninety-seven words today.
June 23, 2004
Bill Gates Big Book of Wicca
1. The book would be called Windows to the Goddess.
2. Iconology was be a major chapter.
3. A revised edition would be released approximately every 6 months without which your magic would no longer work.
4. Your broom would crash at least once a week.
5. Cauldrons would be called recycle bins.
6. A book of shadows would be called the folder of magic.
7. A free high speed connection spell would come with every book.
8. Ever now and then, your circle would collapse and you would have to perform the reboot ritual to get it working.
9. If you used the more powerful MagicNT rituals, the above would happen to all circles within a 5 mile radius.
10. At least once a month, you would have to reinstall your spells into your folder of magic.
11. You would have to use a start ritual to exit your circle. (And cake and wine would only be available after a sign from the Goddess saying it was safe to do so.)
12. The spells would be called simply "Banish," "Purify," "Dedicate," etc., and these names would be trademarked so that no one else could use them.
13. Everyone would use the spells in the book, because everyone would have it laying around and could assume others knew it too. In an unfamiliar group, you could be sure that everyone knows "Banish," so it would be convenient, and you would get used to it.
14. It would be illegal to let other people cast the spells in your book or vice versa. (Of course, everyone would do it anyway.)
15. The book would be outrageously expensive. Other, cheaper books would exist, and also free ones on the internet, but it would be harder to use them because you wouldn't be familiar with them and you'd have to get used to a whole different metaphor. Most people would think it perfectly reasonable to use Bill Gates' book and pay his fees.
16. If you had questions about the spells in the book, you'd have to call in to an enormous tech support system and pay for "incidents." (Or get your 9 year old niece to show you what to do.)
17. Due to agreements with altar manufacturers, the book would be packaged with every altar sold, and you would have to pay for a new book when buying a new altar. Furthermore, no one would be allowed to use the book they already bought with a new altar, only with the altar the book was purchased with. To use the book with a new altar, it would be necessary to buy a new copy of the book for the new altar, and throw the old copy away (like OEM operating systems).
(Author unknown; various versions exist. I found this one via Butterflies in my Stomach.)
June 22, 2004
Official Book Update
Today's word count: 3,976
Current word total: 77,003
My back hurts, I have lost my ability to spell, and I don't think I could come up with another original thought today if I tried.
I have under three thousand words left. Part of me is suspicious and believes that this is a dream from which I will wake to discover that reality is very harsh indeed. Another part of me is ridiculously gleeful and pushing to finish as soon as possible, because to hand the manuscript in early would further cement my status as saint with the publishing team.
In the meantime, I'm going to go take a couple of Advil and lie down. I might read something that has no connection to my work whatsoever. I might not. I might just stare at the ceiling and pet a cat. That sounds remarkably attractive.
Current word count: 75,133
Less than 5K to go!
They just called me and asked if I would write a little invocation to launch the imprint's sales meeting tomorrow. Nice hook: ties in the New Age thing, the current topic of spells, and gets the sales team in the right mood for the information to follow. How cool is that?
This calls for chocolate.
Urg
Woke up at six-thirty this morning, and half an hour later I had an upset stomach. And I still do.
I hate stupid little things like upset stomachs. They're minor, and yet they sap all your energy. I almost wish that I hadn't done so well yesterday, because now there's a little voice in the back of my head suggesting that I curl up under an afghan with a cat as a living hot water bottle, and not write, because I'm ahead of schedule. That voice is currently engaged in a knock-down fight with my work-ethic voice and my panicked I'll-Never-Get-It-Done-In-Time voice, who are both attempting to repress it.
While that's being decided, I'm going to curl up with tea and perhaps read.
June 21, 2004
Giddy
I found the first ant of the summer in the bedroom. I tried to point it out to Nixie and Maggie, but they ignored it, so I gave up and squished it.
It kept moving. Not thrashing, or death throes; I'm talking moving in a straight line, moving with a purpose and a goal.
I squished it again.
"It's still moving!" I said in disbelief.
"Then kill it," said HRH.
"I have! Twice!"
And then -- I don't know, it must be the heady knowledge that I did over 5K today, or the sugar coursing through my bloodstream -- I said:
"It must be a reven-ant!"
And I giggled. I giggled so hard that tears came to my eyes, and I couldn't find the ant to deliver the ultimate killing blow. HRH looked at me for a moment, then returned to looking for a clean shirt.
"Your mother is nuts," he said to the cats.
"I know. You get used to it," Maggie told him. And off I went, still giggling.
Is That the Finish Line?
Today's word total: 5,189
Total word count: 73,027
The end is in sight. This is slightly surreal.
Home Stretch!
Current total word count: 70,121
And the day's nowhere near done.
From Jana Riess, author of What Would Buffy Do?, an examination of morals and ethics in the Buffyverse:
I was taken in by its clever, rapid-fire dialogue. I was surprised by the depth of the show, and then I thought, "I'm in graduate school! I'm supposed to be a scholar! How can I be loving something with the unlikely name of Buffy the Vampire Slayer?"
Right with you, Jana. Mea culpa as well.
The Joys of Language
I've just been doing a bit of impromptu teaching on the importance of rhythm and scansion in ritual, and I thought I'd bring it up here.
Rhythm in any kind of oral communication is important. The human ear likes to listen to rhythmic speech because we don't have to fight against it. Scansion is also incredibly important in ritual. Lots of ritualists focus on what they want to say, and they get the guts of the idea out, which is terrific. In order to further facilitate the absorption of the idea, however, the form of the delivery of the idea is also important. Rhythm guides energy, and as such, a good ritualist understands that the rhythm of what they speak is a ritual tool. Generally you need words arranged in such a way that they roll off the tongue, flow liquidly and roll onwards, carrying the energy of the ritual along with them. Sometimes, yes, you want to create a ragged rhythm on purpose, in which case something smooth gets energy moving first, then guides it deliberately into a new motion that gradually turns ragged. Either way the ritualist must be aware of how rhythm is and how it is used.
I found two good basic web pages which address scansion and rhythm clearly. The Scansion page from St Edward's University is a good introduction (and if you track backwards through the main menu etc, they have other good basic pages on language stuff). A writing teacher from Portland's Riverdale Grade School has created a Rhythm, Meter, and Scansion Made Easy page which is also excellent introduction to the subject.
There is a lovely bat poem used as an exercise on the second web page. I wanted to post it because my parents have at least one bat as a houseguest each summer. Bat season is now upon us, and so I thought of them:
June 20, 2004
A Long Time Ago, In a Galaxy Far, Far Away...
Kenobi must die.
Vader must rise.
It's all about balance, baby. You may strike him down, but there will be others; the light will return. Nothing's static; the galaxy is an ever-shifting mass of energy. If it ceases its eternal motion, then it's game over, entropy, pssht! -- gone.
t!'s Summer Solstice ritual was The Best Solstice Ritual Ever. And I got to be the tech crew for it. I love being part of a good thing.
A blessed Solstice to everyone. Gather your St John's Wort while ye may.
Coincidentally, what with Vader and all, it's Father's Day. How's that for perfect? Father's Day on the Solstice, the time of the Sun King being at the height of his powers. A happy one to all the dads out there. (And that includes dads of cats, reptiles, fish, and hamsters. You know who you are. I draw the line at dust kittens.)
June 19, 2004
Shoot Me Now
I still have 12K to write in this book (did I mention I passed 67K yesterday? And that was after deleting three pages /about 1K of text), and already I'm thinking about the next one. I keep trying to firmly push the concepts to the back of my brain, but they stealthily snake out of the closets and steamer trunks and insinuate themselves again into my stream of consciousness.
Fine. I'll pick up a pretty blank book when I'm out today and note down the basics. But only the basics. Like thoughts on an outline, a rough proposal in point form, chapter ideas, etc.
This is sad.
Witches Weekly June 18, 2004:
Witches Weekly June 18, 2004: Your Spirituality
1. Do you feel that you are active in your spirituality?
Yes. I'm a teacher of comparative religion, an author of articles and now a book on various aspects of the Neo-Pagan path, an editor of a New Age series of books, the consultant and specialist for a New Age imprint, and a priestess. I'd have to say that my spirituality is a major part of my life. I facilitate other people's spiritual journeys, and I am constantly seeking ways to evolve my own.
2. What do you consider to be the most tedious task in your path?
Erm. If I say teaching, will all of my readers who are also my students give me a moment to explain myself?
I love teaching. I love the dynamic dialogue that is created between student and teacher, and the discoveries made on both sides. I do not, however, enjoy the feeling of us-vs-them that often arises, or the frustration that comes from a class not having prepared what I've asked them to prepare, or not having paid attention to something I have repeated over and over. It's particularly frustrating because I teach adults, who theoretically are old enough and responsible enough to act appropriately, some of whom have children and who ought to be even more aware of the problem.
I also hate teaching when students make me feel guilty for not teaching them what they think they should know. Other teachers probably understand this as well. My classes are set out in a particular way for certain reasons. I have a couple of students who always thank me for my time and my energy before they leave. It was odd at first, but I've come to appreciate it so much. Even if the class wasn't necessarily on a topic which personally interests them, they still let me know that they appreciate the time I put in to researching and teaching it. I don't enjoy being blamed for a student not hearing what they wanted to hear in a class. They learned something, after all. And in a spiritual or religious environment, the material and information usually has to sit and mature and ripen before it has any effect. I understand the impatience of a spiritual student - I'm still one myself, after all - but sometimes my temper gets a bit short. No, I can't hand you the mysteries of the universe on a silver platter, because (a) possessing them isn't the point, it's learning them yourself; (b) this may come as a shock to you, but I don't know them all; and (c) my mysteries are not your mysteries.
3. What is your most enjoyable part of your spirituality?
Easy: research. (Quick -- to the Batcave!)
I love, love, love to read and think and work things out. I love seeing how other people perceive aspects of their spirituality. I like making connections between different religions. The more I research, the better I understand the concept of an individual expressing spirituality, thanks to the ever-increasing body of lore I build up.
I must say that very close to my love of research is my love of talking to the Divine, and being free to envision that Divine however I choose. But then, I also consider research and making connections talking to the Divine, where the Divine allows information to be passed on to me so that I may consider it and further reinforce/modify/develop my view of the world and of God/dess, so perhaps this ought to have been listed first...
June 18, 2004
Listening to MI2 reminds me of the quote Skippy used last summer concerning superhuman tasks set for the Elder Four:
This is not Mission: Difficult, Mr Hunt; it's Mission: Impossible. Difficult should be a walk in the park for you.
I think I ought to keep that in mind over the next thirteen days.
Inspiration?
Maybe if I put the MI2 soundtrack on, it will spur me into new writing heights.
Meanwhile, for a hit of ultimate cute, go check out Ben.
La Booque
I broke 65K yesterday afternoon. Yay me!
I have a sneaky suspicion that Chapter Two is going to be deep-sixed. At least, that's going to be my recommendation upon submission of the manuscript. It's not bad, it just really doesn't fit the rest of the book. Well, maybe we could rearrange the chapter order. No, no; it just doesn't fit anywhere.
Today I'm going to further flesh out highlighted bits of info that I left for later. Again, I'd like to set down 5K today, just to get to 70K, but I seriously doubt that's going to happen. Today is going to involve research and fact-checking as well as writing, so I suspect that while I will be doing something productive (thanks, Ceri!) and it will yield accurate facts, those prductive hours will not be reflected in word count.
June 16, 2004
Oh my gods...
I finally figured out where I recognise David Thewlis from.
It's Dragonheart. He played Einon.
*choke*
Argh!
I'm always so awake after orchestra. It really gets the adrenaline flowing, not to mention the blood.
We kicked, by the way. Absolutely.
For all you Firefly fans, Nathan Fillon posted an entry on the Firefly Blog about his first day of shooting on the film Serenity.
Speaking thereof, this is the first promotional poster for the film:
(Found via Whedonesque.)
Book Update
Today's total: 2,198 words
Total word count: 63,050
Today was a bit of editing, plus finally a couple of pages of real writing near the end of the afternoon.
I'm 4/5 done. Why, why, why are these last few K so difficult?
(d) none of the above
All hail t!, who through asking me about the programme for the upcoming Canada Day concert led me to discover that the right sidebar wasn't rendering the middle third at all in Internet Explorer.
It's been fixed. The culprit? A tildy in a decorative position. I kid you not.
If you use IE, please, please get yourself something more reliable, and less asinine. I recommend Mozilla's Firefox - quick to download, small program takes up less space, and it's free. If you've never used tabs, be prepared to experience a world of wonder.
Click on the pretty icon and read up on it. Give it a go.
And On
Was anyone else as bored by last night's leadership debate as I was? It did absolutely nothing for me. I usually enjoy the debates, but this told me nothing new, revealed no new information (policy-wise or otherwise), and was in general an exercise in futility.
I did 2.7K on the book yesterday, bringing my new total to 60,852. I was disappointed. I think it's due to the fact that I made the mistake of calculating that five days of 4K each would finish the book, so now anything lower than 3.5K feels like a failure. At the end of the day I look at my creeping total word count and panic.
Besides the number-crunching crisis, I was very happy with the content of the work I did yesterday. In general it was a great day. Ceri gave me preliminary feedback from her reading of the text and it was positive, so that on top of an inspiring book I finished in the morning gave me lots of impetus to dig in and write.
And I also got a shipment of secondhand books in yesterday's mail, which included Paracelsus' Archidoxes of Magic and Pliny's History of the Natural World, both of which I've been waiting for to use as sources for various chapters. Now if the copy of Carmina Gadelica I ordered would just arrive, I'd be thrilled.
June 15, 2004
Damn it.
I forgot to eat again.
I've really been trying hard to keep to a regular schedule of food intake, and I've been so good for so long! Only now, after the shakes and dull headache have set in, do I realise that the last time I ate was around seven last evening. And it was a light meal, too.
Huzzah for bruschetta, mozzarella, and fresh bread!
Witches Weekly June 13, 2004:
WItches Weekly June 13, 2004: Rituals - Meditations
1. When performing rituals/meditations, do you associate yourself with the element most closely related to your astrological sign?
Odd; I never noticed until I just thought about it, but I usually begin my meditations next to the sea, a stream, or by a pool of water. I'm a Cancer, which is the cardinal water sign. Coincidence? Maybe. I just love water, and I associate it with purification. I like to symbolically cross water or immerse myself in my meditation landscape before I begin my meditation proper.
As for rituals, I prefer to use fire and earth-based energies.
2. If not, do you associate/align yourself with your moon sign, or something that just "feels right"?
Again, I'm a Pisces moon, so there's no escaping the water influence. Six of one, half a dozen of another. (Yeah, delving into astrology helped explain my hypersensitivity. I added fire to balance my practices and things are better.)
3. Do you follow the typical elements of earth, water, fire, air, spirit? Or do you follow an even more non-traditional association akin to earth, water, fire, metal?
I employ the traditional elements, but I consider metal a very powerful substance. I see it as being a meld of earth, air, fire, and water.
June 13, 2004
HRH received the GGS-RENEGADE from the hands of Skippy this afternoon. We spent a lovely afternoon with my in-laws, and now that we're home... he's plugged it in, popped headphones on, and is playing Alpha Centauri.
So I might as well play NeverWinter Nights, as he's absorbed in his own laptop computer.
Thanks, Skippy!
June 12, 2004
Forthcoming
I was explaining to HRH today that my life pretty much doesn't exist after July 1. It's not that I'm booked, it's just that I'm so focused on July 1 being the deadline for the manuscript, plus my parents will be in town, and I'll be doing the final concert of the season that night (which is the only reason I will not be downtown at the Jazz Festival listening to Susie Arioli) that it's the Big Thing I'm Planning For. Only an e-mail from Debra the other day reminded me that I'm camping July 2-5 at Awakening Isis (which was fortunate). It was while I was relating this to him that I realised that I haven't yet had a birthday this year.
"Yes," said HRH. "Any idea what you want? People are starting to ask."
Know what I want? I can't even remember what day it is, let alone conceive of celebrating the joyous anniversary of my thirty-third year on the planet. And he wants gift suggestions?
So I've updated the wish list, for those who need to know. And I s'pose there ought to be a pub night. Don't ask me when until after July 1, though, okay? Please?
All My Avatars
All My Avatars: The Pagan Soap Opera
Read this only if you have a high tolerance for melodrama, and have moved your keyboard out of accidental spewing reach if you're enjoying an iced tea. And don't say I didn't warn you.
Found at Locus Online:
Laura Freas advises: "When you next see the newest Harry Potter movie, watch for the scene in the classroom where a picture of a werewolf is projected on a screen. They bought the rights to reproduce Kelly Freas' werewolf from his interior for [H. Warner Munn's] The Werewolf of Ponkert."
Cool.
Drat...
At 6 AM I woke up with an excellent way to work "Mabel Figworthy" into a random novel scene, fell back asleep, and now I no longer have any clue what my brilliant idea was.
(Mabel Figworthy, BTW, is one of the proposals for the 2004 Montreal NaNo in-joke to be included in the November masterpieces of participating Montreal NaNo writers. Last year it was a psychic ferret, thanks to Miseri mishearing something I'd said in a crowded cafe.)
June 11, 2004
Book Update
Today's word count: 4,423
Total word count: 56,889
I'm spent. I had crazy dreams of hitting 58K today, but that would mean almost a 6K day, and frankly I think I'd be useless for days if I did that. I'm so close to 57K, but I've been pushing, and pushing, and pushing for so long today that if I push any more something will break. Possibly something valuable like crystal.
I should go get a Haagen-Daaz ice cream bar. That will help.
I spent six hours working on appendices yesterday, and only managed to add about nine hundred words to the damn manuscript. Bloody appendices. The absence of complete sentences does horrible things to my word count. So I opened a random chapter and expanded something which required elaboration, pushing the day's count just over 1.5K.
I was thinking about a couple of chapters in bed last night as I was trying to fall asleep, and I got up this morning with tentative ideas. I've already added two pages to chapter 8, and I just might start chapter 2 today as well (finally - I mean, it's only been, what, a month and a half?).
Next time, more than two months. Definitely. Absolutely. I may be a goddess, but I'm not stupid.
Apparently the forty-five minutes of restored material in the director's cut of Underworld improve the movie, which couldn't have been hard to do.
*shrug*
June 10, 2004
June 09, 2004
Book Update
Today's word count: 2,544
Total word count: 50,916
If I write only 2K on every working day this month, I'll hit the required target. I feel much relieved.
I sent Ceri home from the writing jam today with an electronic copy of the text so far. I need someone to read through it just to tell me that it makes sense. I'm fairly certain that it does, but I'm so close to it now that I can't be an objective judge. I know I address similar topics in various chapters (i.e. herbs in different uses/formats) and I don't think I repeat information; I'm of the opinion that it flows decently. I just need someone else to confirm it for me. I might also be missing something evident that I take for granted. Ceri will be able to point that out.
HRH says hello to all.
Orchestra tonight! I practiced the Bach today.
Good -- I Need the Shelf Space
Is every book going to be bigger than the previous one?
No, definitely not, or book seven would be around the weight of a baby hippopotamus. According to the plan for book six, it will be quite a bit shorter than 'Order of the Phoenix'. I am not going to swear on my children's lives that that is going to be the case, but I am 99% certain of it.
J.K. Rowling has her own official web site, which I've never known, or even thought to check out until today.
Spellcrafting for Life
Ahem:
Spellcrafting for Life: The Art of Crafting and Casting for Positive Change
by A. Murphy-Hiscock
SHIP DATE: May
PUBLICATION DATE: June
Category: New Age
Trim Size: 6 x 9, 272 pp.
Price $10.95 (Canada $16.95)
ISBN: 1-59337-272-8
World rights
I have an official ISBN. I am grinning like an idiot.
(Later: for those who are scratching their heads, this page from the Library of Congress defines an ISBN. They're unique; that's part of the whole drama.)
June 08, 2004
Venus Transit
Things I was unaware of:
Mention Venus transit, and I'm there. The skeptic in me never adopted the pentacle as a personal religious symbol until I learned its origin: it's a two-dimensional plot of the eight-year Venus cycle. OK, I said those many years ago, now I can begin to understand why this symbol is sacred, and to source it to antiquity and not some made-up-recently, cool-and-groovy, let's-call-it-ours creative moment.
Wow. I knew it had been used by several religions (including early Christianity, where it represented the five wounds of Christ), but I never knew the Venus connection.
(Found via Goddessing. Her original source can be found here.)
Witches Weekly June 07, 2004:
Witches Weekly June 07, 2004: Path, Workplace, and Raising Children
1. What path of Paganism do you follow? (If you take pieces from several traditions, list all of them and why you follow those as well)
Officially Wiccan. My formal trad is the Black Forest Clan, which is based on a blend of Celtic and Germanic practice. I like a lot of the Heathen practices and employ them on my own time.
2. Are you/would you be open about your spirituality in the workplace/school?
Ha, ha, ha. I worked in an occult store for four years. What do you think? It's the one workplace where you're odd if you don't talk about spirituality. (Incidentally, one of my co-workers wears a crucifix along with her witchy stuff, and she often gets odd looks. Talk about when worlds collide.) I also teach a broad curriculum of Neo-Pagan subjects; and now that I'm a professional editor for a series of intermediate New Age books as well as the consultant for a New Age publishing imprint, yes, my spirituality is still central to my work. I know exactly how fortunate I am.
3. If you were in a marriage of separate faiths, how would you raise your children?
I'm not fanatical about my kids following my precise path. I'm lucky that my husband is Pagan as well, but if he wasn't, then I'd bring my kids up with thorough education regarding religions of the world, with lots of emphasis on tolerance, respect, and the understanding that all those religions are just different ways of talking to God. (All of which I happen to believe, and is precisely what my kids will be taught anyway.) If they decide to become Muslim, Buddhist, Christian, Jewish, whatever, I'll be happy that they've chosen a spirituality that they personally connect with. But they'll have done it after lots of education about the various religions of the world, and with the knowledge that everyone has the right to choose their own path. (It's the teacher in me talking. You teach comparative relgion for three years and see what happens to you.)
June 07, 2004
Spoiler-Free Film Review
This is the first chance I've had to sit down at the computer since I saw Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, so here's my spoiler-free, four-word review:
Awesome. Best one yet.
June 04, 2004
What, the Weekend Already?
Today's word count: 3,079
Total word count: 48,372
I've done about 12K this week alone. I'm feeling much better about this. Now the second half of the manuscript feels like it's all downhill and gathering momentum, instead of an exhausting climb against gravity.
In four-ish hours I'll be sitting through the opening credits to Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, hurrah! And tomorrow I get to go play in the store because someone is ill. Not being there on a regular basis means a shift once in a while constitutes fun, as opposed to work. Besides, I need a day off from this book.
(d) none of the above
In a quiz to determine which Angel character I most resemble, my answer turned out to be (and to no one's surprise, I'm sure):
"You are Fred! Sweet, sensitive, and a little quirky. Though incredibly smart, you have a tendency to confuse people. You are well-liked, but can be a little clingy. When you are brought out of your shell, you really shine!"
So, what; on a bad day, does this make me Illyria?
Wesley is dead. I am feeling grief for him. I can't seem to control it. I wish to do more violence.
Good News!
I got my contracts! I got my contracts! I got my contracts! I got my contracts!
Coincidentally, this is my 1000th post.
June 03, 2004
It's Thursday
Yesterday was an Eeyore kind of day. Nothing seemed very exciting, things were a bit gloomy, and the progress I made on the manuscript was much less than I'd hoped it to be. Part of that was my own stupidity; I opened the file with the complete text to look at something and a single chapter file as well, and forgot which one I was working on, so I ended up writing new material in both. I then took an hour comparing the two screen by screen to standardise them. I now have a twofold new strategy: (a) only open one file at a time (duh), and (b) all new typing will be done in a red font. That way new stuff shows up very clearly, no matter where it is.
Ceri started a new novel yesterday in my presence. She also brought coffee and chocolate croissants with her, which was terribly generous for someone who intended to take the new-novel-plunge. She wrote over 1300 words, which beats some of her NaNo 2003 days hands-down. (It also beat my word count yesterday, but she consoled me by pointing out that I was doing research and editing too. Editing that could have been avoided, of course, if I hadn't lost track of where I was working. I just can't believe my stupidity. Anywhats.)
I went out to one of the local pubs with a friend late yesterday afternoon, where we talked about religion, compared the Anglican and Catholic churches, mused about the basic beauty of the Christian faith and mourned the bureaucracy that has crushed the original teachings, and talked about the sex of God vs the gender of Christ (very, very interesting). We were marginally hit upon by the two gentlemen sitting two tables over, which made us both raise our eyebrows and smirk a bit at one another - she's been married almost four years, I've been married almost five. It's good for the ego. We had two rounds plus some nachos to nibble, and when we finally left I thought it was eight-thirty. Turns out it was nine-thirty (eep!), which meant that HRH was trying manfully to rein in his raging instinct to call out the troops to search for my broken and bleeding body in a ditch somewhere, and her husband had been waiting at his place of employment to be picked up for an hour. Oops. See, God is just so fascinating; this is what happens when I talk about religion and drink cider at the same time.
I wanted to go downtown today and wander through secondhand bookstores, but I feel so guilty about not accomplishing very much yesterday that I'm staying home.
Did I mention I'm over halfway done this book? I'm trying to be impressed, but all I can see is the half not done and due on July 1.
June 02, 2004
Book Update
It occurs to me that I haven't posted my manuscript update in a few days. As of the end of yesterday's session, the total word count stood at 41,837. Various words were added afterwards in different places as I did a general read-through, and I didn't do a final check on the word total; I figured they could support today's word count instead. (Nothing like doing a word count before you start writing and realise that you're already ahead of your last recorded total! It's terribly encouraging.)
More Costumey Goodness
This fabulous action shot was taken by our own Poison Ivy. (No shot of the legs, but it does prove that both sides of the skirt were slit all the way up to there.) Another source picture is next to it.
