megwrites

Title: Something Worse Than Dragons
Rating: PG-13 (for fantasy action violence described somewhat graphically)
Prompt: Mutation/Physical Transformation
Words: 6500
Summary: Sadie is very different from the other shapechangers around her, and not in a good way. It makes her something of a freak among the freaks, but she's dealing with it mostly. Then, one night, something wicked her way comes.
Author's Notes: This is the first story in the Shapechangers 'verse I've created because I got sucked into

origfic_bingo and never finished my bingo. The prompt for this was "mutation/physical transformation". I only got four out of the five you need for one and so I'm posting the four stories that I have as a WIP. You don't need to know or have read anything prior to this. You can start here. Other stories to come in this same 'verse.

( Shapechangers: Something Worse Than Dragons )

As always, I love when people play along in comments and come up with their own answers to these exercises

From 642 Things to Write About

Tell a story that begins with a ransom note

Turn in your wings or the Devil dies at midnight, forever this time. The note, written in scrawling Sharpie still smelled of the marker. She folded it up and handed the piece of paper to Asariel. His wings shimmered into existence for just a moment, enough to let her know how upset he was. Usually he kept them off the real plane with effortless ease.

"This is going to be painful," Asariel sighed.

"What? You're actually considering this? Come on, why are we so bent on saving the devil. He's the Prince of Darkness and all that. Why not 'let there be light', yanno?" she asked, breaking a smile.

"Because, the Devil doesn't deserve to die and if she does, the world may unravel at the seams. You know so little of the truth about her. You don't even gender her correctly, dammit."

"So she's the good guy here?" She raised both eyebrows and then shook her head. "You're telling me that Satan is just misunderstood?"

"I loathe that name," he commented, offhandedly. "Lucifer is as good as anyone is, angel or demon. Better, maybe. Think of it, if she has all the evil powers that you people attribute to her then why hasn't she used them to take over the world and enslave everyone in a pit of pure torment?"

"God won't let her?" Ellie hazarded to guess with a shrug and a head shake.

"Remember what I said. Your idea of God is a dangerous concept, be careful what you base on it."

"Okay, all right. I got it. All the gods are real and they're not real at the same time. Like you said. Still doesn't make sense, but I got it. What's our plan for saving the wronged heroine here, because I got nothing."

"No, but I do."

Asariel's wings shimmered and solidified into full being and Ellie frowned so deeply her lip quivered.

Taken from 642 Things to Write About. Feel free to play along in comments! I'd love to see what other people do with these!

What can happen in a second?

A heartbeat, a breath, a spoken word, a sung note, a number changing on a microwave. Put them all together and they add. 60 and you've got a minute, 180 and you have the length of the average song and the time it takes to make popcorn.

A houseplant is dying. Tell it why it needs to live

Don't go! You bring color to this drab place where there's so little life. You're beautiful and leafy and green, a real kind of green. What would this place be without you? We'll take better care of you from now on. We'll water you and I'll buy plant food full of nitrogen and potassium. Wouldn't that be yummy? We'll even enjoy you more, show you to our friends when they come over. I'll get you a bigger pot. If you die, I can't get you back. Please stay.

Write Facebook status updates for the year 2017

1. Happy 2017 everyone!

2. Watching the state of the union address. Well done, Madame President.

3. I love my job but I still love weekends more. Now for some wine to kick off the weekend with!

4. My thirties are so much kinder to me than my twenties were. I'd never go back to them.

Well, I got 2152 words out today. Technically, I did most of that Friday in my paper notebook and then I typed it in and added some stuff today. But that's still a big damn deal for me right now.

For Christmas my sister-in-law got me 642 Things to Write About, and in it there's a question: "What does writer's block feel like?"

For me, it feels like I'm a house and someone just took a sledgehammer to a load bearing wall. I can feel myself crumbling without my creativity. So being able to write these words, even if they're the sequel to a novel that will never see the light of day is a big damn deal for me.

As I told my therapist, not being able to write in the way I've been unable to write lately (and all the other things) feels like a bomb went off in my brain and now I'm left with unstable wreckage that's creaking and groaning and I'm running around not sure how to clean up the mess or if the roof will cave in or what.

This is why I get mad when people want to insult writers and be cruel about writing, even really bad writing. Now, this doesn't mean I get mad at real and earnest critiques intended to say something meaningful, especially when that bad writing is hurtful and oppressive.

But it is why I don't approve of blatant cruelty and laughing while finger pointing. Because writing is hard, because being able to tap out 10,000 words is an accomplishment, being about to tap out 50,000 words into even a somewhat cohesive whole of a story is really fucking hard.

Right now, I'm barely able to draft a letter to a pretend client for my paralegal class that I'm taking. Right now, it's all I can do to write a letter that will probably come to 500 words and for which I have a preset format and formal rules to follow.

Writing creatively? Writing without formats and formal rules to follow? That's something big. So even if someone does it clumsily and in a way that goes down the same well worn path that others have taken, even if they do it tritely and without subtlety, it's still something.

It's still more than I can do right now. Which hurts to admit, in a way where I wince so hard because taking stock of what I've lost - at least for now - is painful. But you can't rebuild the house without knowing the full extent of the damage.

And this is part of mine.

So, today I went to the library and found a really interesting book called Thanks, But This isn't For Us: A (Sort Of) Compassionate Guide to Why Your Writing is Being Rejected.

I haven't read all of it, but I did find an interesting exercise that I'd love to see other people on my f-list try. Which is:

Come up with five opening lines for books you never intend to write. Use different techniques and try out different genres than you usually would. Just make them as interesting and compelling in one line as you can.

So my five were:

1. "Why won't you let me drive?" Allie asked on the way to their next murder.

"Because you're the only person under seventy I've ever seen leave their blinker on for five exits." (murder mystery)

2. When Sierra was ten she got her first job, kissed her first girl, and got in her first fight all in the space of three hours on the first day of school. (Romance)

3. His queen would be dead by noon if he didn't find a new, less worn out horse. (Historical romance)

4. The President's eyes seemed bright but rheumy that day as he leaned on the podium in the sweltering August heat of Washington. (Political thriller)

5. Hades laid his head down in the gloom and let the dead babble around him, then he raised his eyes to the black vaulted ceiling of the cave and suddenly, the dead went silent. (Mythological fantasy)

--

So, hopefully others will choose to play along. It's an interesting exercise in how to sculpt a first line and it actually got me thinking of new ideas. Let me know what you thought of my first five lines and feel free to leave your own first five (or try just one!) lines in comments if you want.

So, I had a thought while I was singing a cat themed version of "Can't Buy Me Love" to my cat, as you do.

Maybe one of my problems with writing lately isn't so much "oh god, is my work important enough to be worth writing at all", but that I've got some deeper things to think about.

Actually, let me rewind. Before the part where I belted out a Beatles tune at one of my pets, my mental health took an uptick. ( Cut for talk of my mental health and meds and brain stuff and depression/anxiety and brief mention of suicidal ideation. )

So...

All this contemplation has lead me to ask some questions and think of some things.

First, is that I think my writing is stymied by the conflict between wanting to really pour myself into my writing, to really own it and turn it into my writing and the belief that I and my experiences and who I am are not worthy of being in a story much less a story that other people will ever see. That's a mix of depression, I think, and good old fashioned self consciousness.

Second, I think I haven't answered some fundamental questions. One being, "Why do I love what I love? Why am I drawn to write certain things?"

For example: I love paranormal romance stories about sexy angels and their tempestuous, somewhat unhealthy relationships with supernaturally powered women? But why do I love it. Why do I love it enough to want to write my own story of that sort? What is about angels, the supernatural, strong women who kick ass that I love? Or vampires or aliens or whatever?

I mean, what is it that I think is so damn cool, so fucking awesome that I'd want someone to sit down and enjoy said type of novel?

Or for that matter, the speculative genre as a whole. Why fantasy fiction or any kind of SF/F? Also, romance, what do I really love about it? What is about telepathy that I like as a feature of some stories or the "stoic, seemingly heartless and cold person falls in love with someone their complete opposite who brings them out of their shell" trope in romance?

I'm still working on that bit, but it seems to me that maybe there's a lot to be mined there. Not just for my own fun, sport, and edification - but also as part of my writing.

I mean (for example) - if I just really fucking love space ships because I think anything that goes "pffwooooomfffffffff" in a big fiery ball and then goes into outer space is just the bee's knees, then focusing on the big fireballs and the power and wonderment of that much fuel and combustibility being harnessed to launch a multi-ton piece of aeronautics into the black abyss of space without blowing the shit out of everything in a ten mile radius is something I should focus on. Because it's what I'm excited about it. It's something that can be a theme in my work, something that I can bring to the table that maybe I see or think about in a way that's new or surprising to others.

So that's my thought for today. And my excuse for an update. May it serve you well and in good health.

TL;DR: Mental health is getting better. It's important to think about why you write stuff and also to sing to cats. But especially the bit about the cats. No great writer ever succeeded without first singing a beloved popular rock song to a cat. Though I might not advise singing "Mrs. Robinson" to a lion or anything. They're universally known to hate folk-rock. It's Queen or nothing for the mighty king of the beasts. THIS IS A COMPLETELY TRUE FACT. I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP AT ALL.

Did I say July 1st? I mean almost August 1st.

You waited patiently, so here it is. The entirety of The City of the Hand as an e-book, free for download in PDF, Mobi, and EPub formats.

Instructions for Download

1. Right click on the file with the format that you want

2. Select "Save Link As"

3. Select the "Save" button

4. Enjoy!

1. City of the Hand (PDF) - Complete Novel

2. City of the Hand (MOBI) - Complete Novel

3. City of the Hand (EPUB) - Complete Novel

Let me know if anyone needs this in a different format, if the formatting is wonky on your e-reader, or if you have any other questions or concerns.

And for those who want to put into the tip jar (which would be really welcome right now thanks to some medical bills), you can do so:

Also, signal boosting and telling any friends or fellow readers who might enjoy this book about it and where to download it is very welcome. Feel free to share this widely.

As always it's under a Creative Commons licence so you're free not only to share it with everyone you know, but derivative and transformative works (fan art and fanfic, for example) are welcome (hell - loved!) with credit given to the original source.

Thank you to my spouse person, who has been with me this entire time. All those who have encouraged me. The brave souls who read my first drafts (and who get thanked in the acknowledgments), everyone who's signal boosted, donated, or just cheered me on, and to everyone who's read whether I know it or not. You're awesome.

Links:

1. "Malinda has statistics! I have theories!" - via

rachelmanija. Pretty straightforward, relating to Malinda Lo's very telling stats about inclusivity and representation in YA fic, with thoughts on lit YA vs. SF/F Ya. One day, I'd also be interested to see what the numbers come out as if you did this with adult SF/F, especially since a lot of adults want to preach at young folks that "it gets better" - but judging by the shelves it gets worse when you transition to adult fic.

2. Why Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter is the Ultimate White Guilt Fantasy by K. Tempest Bradford. A great read and a fantastic, in-depth analysis of the movie. It contains some spoilers, in case you're concerned about that. Honestly, every moment she mentions is a moment where I rolled my eyes at the movie.

3. A List of (some) PoC SF/F authors - The various genres and formats are mixed here. Some work mainly in short stories, others are novelists, some are YA authors, some adult, some both. I can't vouch for all the works by all the authors, and it certainly is not an exhaustive list. I also acknowledge that the term PoC is a bit problematic/less helpful once you get out of white-dominated countries. However, this list could be a good stepping off point for readers who want to get some less white/Western/Euro-centric SF/F in their literary diet.

Not Relevant to Anyone But Me Writing-Mental Health Thought of the Day: Part of my problem re: feeling utterly unable to get past my mental blocks in writing is that I keep asking "why does this story even matter" and "what's the point in telling this story" and I keep getting the chirping cricket noise in my head.

Part of me is searching for justification for my writing, I suppose. When I'm plotting out or writing a story I can't help but ask myself why? What's important enough about it that it merits writing - but then I can't help thinking that by my own rhetoric, 99% of the books I read and love aren't "important" enough to be written. They're not about Deep Social Issues or Important Giant Ideas, they're just...stories. People's stories. Fun stories. Fantasies. Explorations.

But is that enough?

I also think it may help when my meds get switched. I can say that for me, Effexor does. not. work. I can see how others would benefit, so don't take my experience as a recommendation or anti-recommendation. I just know that I need to get off it and I'm deathly afraid of what my brain will do. I once skipped two days in a row of taking it and my brain went into what I can only describe as an epic and frightening electrochemical hydroplane.

As always, anyone who wants to talk brain chemistry and writing, comments are open.

Oh! Oh! Oh! Before I forget: I'm looking for a writing partner(s) who wouldn't mind hashing out raw ideas and taking a look at raw drafts (just a few pages or paragraphs here and there, not a whole manuscript or anything). I of course would want to reciprocate and would do the same for anyone who wanted it!

You can message, comment, etc.

How does one make the different parts of the sidebar (ie - the modules) different colors. Let's say one wanted to make each sidebar part a different color so that it made a rainbow. Which means that the box with the username and userpic is red and the box with the navigation is orange. Because let's say one loves rainbows in all the senses, including the delightfully queer ones.

How would one accomplish this via CSS? I ask because I got a new layout and I like the spacing, I just want to fiddle around with the colors some.

Well, it's been ten weeks from the first posting to this, but all thirty chapters of

cityofthehand are up and available to read. You can now go from beginning to end!

The final ebook file (which I hope to have in EPUB, MOBI, and PDF formats, gods willing and laptop don't fry) should be up and ready for downloading on 1-July. If not, it may be after the 4th before I get it done. But rest assured, if you were waiting for the final ebook file, it's coming.

Seeing as how part of my incentive to reward any who tipped/donated was to give them the full ebook early, I'm now changing that. If you put in for the tip jar, you can either get named thank you on my tumblr, twitter, or DW/LJ sites or you can have me link/signal boost to any site or person or thing you think deserves it.

If you tip in $25 or more, then you can get those things listed above *and* a short story, poem, essay, etc.

I'm actually kind of a little emotional here. I guess these ten weeks have been something I looked forward to. Because every week I had at least one thing I had to get accomplished, and seeing more and more people either friend the various journals where I posted the novel or send me a nice note or two or even put into the tip jar gave me badly needed boosts when I was feeling down.

As I said last week, money is still tight around here and Girlie!Dog had to go and need some medicine this week. Gah, silly dog, not wanting to get contagious diseases or heartworms or ticks. Such a princess this one. Geez. *sarcastic eye roll*.

I'm a bit shy about asking, but if anyone had any thoughts about putting into the tip jar - even if it's just a dollar or two - now would be a REALLY GREAT TIME to do that and I could sure use it.

And if you can't or don't feel like it (fair enough!), dropping a note to say how you liked the book or recommending it to a friend you think might enjoy it is also something that would really be awesome. Feedback - criticisms, critiques, praise, or just "hey, cool book" - is always welcome with me.

Better yet, I know better than to argue with reviews, so feel free to review it as honestly as possible!

So, I want to have a conversation about being a writer who's dealing with depression/anxiety. Or maybe other mental illnesses or psychiatric conditions - but mostly I want to talk about how writers deal with it.

Right now I'm trying to start new things, but I'm having an extremely hard time. It's hard for me to pay attention, first off. I have the approximate focused attention span of an over caffeinated howler monkey. Even with all the usual tricks (turning off internet connection, blocks on "time wasting" sites, getting rid of distractions on my desk), I have a hard time maintaining focus.

I don't know if this is depression or a symptom of something I've suspected I might have had for a long time (some form of attention disorder). It may explain why books are so damnably hard for me to read, even when I really want to read them. Right now I'm fighting my way through a book by an author that I like, a lot. It isn't that I'm not interested. It's that I can't make myself stay attentive to the words on the page for more than a few pages at a time.

Even as I'm writing this entry, my brain is telling me to get up and do a bunch different things (read that book! vacuum the living room! oh, a drawing we could be doing! call that appointment thing we're supposed to do! clean the desk! look up recipes! check email! make a list of things we need from the grocery! download that new album you wanted!) and I'm fighting it just to keep my thoughts together. Fighting hard.

Worse than the attention span problems are the "wow, this piece of writing is worthless, I am worthless as a writer" feelings which fill me with such utter despair that I can't find a reason to fight against the avalanche of inattentiveness to keep going. I think to myself, "This is so uninteresting, no one will ever want to read this" or "everyone else has done this idea and done it better". I become convinced that my story is so unimportant, bland, plotless, and unworthy that there's no use in continuing on with it.

And I realize some of these feelings are normal for a writer. Before my depression went to Defcon 1 and took a wrecking ball to my life, I had them. But back then I had these coping skills that seem to have vanished. Or I left 'em somewhere or they got lost in the move to North Carolina or ID-effin'-K, dude.

But to the point where I cannot even face writing, where I get in such a state of despair that it becomes a spiral of sadness, anxiety, and self-hate that it escalates into worse things...that's not normal. That's not okay for me to be doing. I don't want that.

I can't tell my editorial voice, which has legitimate reasons to say, "This scene is a bit boring, let's do something better here, what if they fought!" or "umm, I think every book in the genre has done this, why don't we change it up?" from my depression!voice. I know that those thoughts are helpful. Those are things that are my instincts letting me know where I can better tell the story I want to tell.

So for those out there who deal with these things, how do you deal? What are your coping strategies, how do you keep your writing and creative life on track even when your brain chemistry wants to derail ALL THE THINGS?

I’ve now posted the next three chapters of City of the Hand on Dreamwidth (

cityofthehand) and Livejournal (

cityofthehand!

It’s up to chapter twenty-one and just a mere THREE weeks away from the conclusion. So if you haven’t got to catch up, now's a great time.

Not to mention that anyone who donates any amount of money (any!) in the tipjar gets the complete ebook file upon request!

And if you donate more than $25, you get a short story, poem, essay or other written work. Want to know more about a character or revisit a place in the world you just couldn’t get enough of? Want some history about the City of the Hand? Just chip in and make your request!

I hope you’ve been enjoying reading thus far and I hope you’ll keep reading! Thanks so much to all those who have followed, given feedback, donated to the tip jar, and supported me. I love you all!

I post this mostly as a cautionary tale to any eager beaver new authors who want to get into the self-publishing game and also as a warning, in general, of how not to approach people.

Three days ago, a person I didn't know came up to me, held out three one dollar bills (US) and wanted to pay me to download his self published books from Amazon.

( The tale of the most awkward attempt to shill a book I've ever seen in my life. )

Yes, it's the beginning of NaNoWriMo all over again. It comes but once a year, so enjoy it this year (if you're participating).

If you want to add me as a writing buddy on the NaNoWriMo site: you may find me here.

I have no idea what the heck I'm going to be writing about except that it involves space and space! princesses! And more space! Anything more than that I'll pulling out of my....er, um...brain. Yes, that's it. My brain.

Whether you're writing a novel you hope to get published, just getting some words out, or writing the Great Fannish Novel, I salute you and I'll be cheering you on whenever I look up from the keyboard.

So, have fun and remember: as long as you write, you win. Everything else after that is just gravy. Or icing. Or a fruity topping of your choice.

An actual post about writing! I know, it seems like I hardly make those anymore.

I got a bit inspired by reading a rather good post by

kateelliott on how to create deep, vibrant characters within a story, which I do recommend reading. I think that any writer at any level can benefit from this post, either as a lesson or just a refresher course on what does and doesn't work. I especially like that she says:

Aside: That I am a big fan of the adage “Show, don’t Tell” doesn’t mean there are never appropriate times to use Tell as one of the tools in your writing toolkit. There are. You just need to know when and why it works.

This is the essence of good writing advice. Remember that stories are as varied as people, so there is a time and a place for just about everything. It's just that knowing that time and place for things is 80% of human wisdom when it comes to writing.

So keep that in mind. What I'm about to say also is something that's conditional, and dependent upon what's going on in an individual story.

( Thoughts on helpfulness of the fictional variety and why I think it can really hurt a story )

As much as it pains me to admit it publicly, I am somewhat watching the American Idol auditions. In my defense my husband is the one watching (he apparently likes having his faith in humanity smashed to bits) and since we only have one TV and a really small apartment...

Point being, it strikes me that the auditions that the contestants go through have some parallels I think writers can learn from. And yes, I know I'm hardly the first to draw this comparison.

One thing I've noticed is that the successful contestants have some things in common.

One, they've all been at this a long time. Most all the ones going on said that they've been singing, and getting training in singing, since they were quite young or at least for several years. Even the very young ones have said that singing has been something they've done even before they thought of making it a career.

Two, the really good ones come in with a real sense of humility. Sure, they're confident and they have fun with the judges, but there isn't a sense of entitlement. In fact, many seem surprised to be picked at all. The really horrible auditions come from those who seem to think that yellow slip ought to be handed to them just for showing up and singing really loudly.

Three, the great ones love what they do beyond the contest. You could see that even if they got four straight nos, they would go home and polish their craft and keep singing and keep loving music. The bad ones seem like they only came in because they thought they could get quick, cheap, easy fame and fortune out of it. For instance, the guy who came in and looked like he was a few seconds away from taking a gun to the top of a clock tower because he had to wait for three hours in the waiting room. I laughed and said, "Don't ever become a writer, kid, because waiting for responses will snap you like a twig."

Four, the good ones got honest opinions from people who knew their stuff and listened very intently to the feedback the judges gave. It was nearly universal, when the judges spoke, the good contestants were practically holding their breath so they didn't miss a word. The Anime!Girl, on the other hand, asked how she could get turned down when her family and friends and her voice coach all said she was wonderful. I find myself doubting that her voice coach said that, and if that coach did, they should be fired. And then set on fire for bald-faced lying. Others as well noted, "But my family says I'm good!"

Five, the great singers were all themselves - but the best possible version of themselves. The worst ones seemed to think that rolling out of bed and showing up would suffice. The great ones had found the aspects of their personality, their looks, and themselves that could appeal to the judges. They found a line between being themselves and being accessible, likeable, marketable.

Seems to me that the writers who make it and do really great work are a lot like great contestants, and those beginners who progress onward to a professional career come in with the same humility, polish, and honest talent that the great singers do.

So while I'm wincing over the very bad auditions, I'm also reminding myself not to be those bad contestants. Not to feel entitled to a yes from an agent/editor, not to step up unless I know that I'm putting my best foot forward, and not to forget that while the career aspirations are nice, it's still about the writing.

Because here's the thing - even if I get nowhere, I'm still going to write. I'm still going to tell stories, because I love this. I love books, I love literature, I love fiction, I love writing. I want to make a career of it because I think I've got some wonderful tales. Are those tales ripe at the moment? Maybe not. Maybe I need more work, more polish, more practice - if so, full steam ahead. No one owes me a career or a chance, so it's important that I have something worth giving a chance to.

Which means listening carefully to criticism, always polishing my craft, and continuing to love what I do no matter what.

Because, luckily, writing differs from American Idol in that you don't have to be a perky, pretty blonde 16-year-old girl with an angelic voice. You just have to have a great story, patience, and a cast iron will.

fashionista_35 has some very interesting things to say about writing "the book of your heart" as opposed to just writing "what sells" and self-censorship.

I have to confess that I agree with the principle, but I sort of hate the phrase. I agree that you can't just write something on the sole basis that it'll sell.

( I have so much 'but' face beneath this cut. Reasons why I like the principle but hate the phrase. )

Agent Nephele Tempest posted about what makes a book "unputdownable" for readers (and agents).

( Thoughts about her advice and writing advice in general under the cut. )

I've sort of decided what I want out of life. Well, one of the things.

I don't just want to be a published author. I want to be a published author who is a part of a vibrant, diverse but tight knit literary circle who's works define an era of literature for ages to come.

I don't ask for much, do I?

In further news, I now have a new project in my head that involves monkeys, rabbits, dragons, and an excuse for someone to say "Jesus Christ it's a lion!". Details as they become available. But I have a really cool working title for it. Or at least the loose amalgam of stuff that this idea consists of. It's sort of a big floating amoeba of a thing which could, one day, evolve into a novel or perhaps even more than one.

Also, I'm ambivalent about whether I should continue to use the "writing" tag. Because that's sort of the point of this entire journal/blog/LJ/thing. Maybe it's redundant, Y/N?

Current Mood: blank
Current Music: Andrews Sisters - Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen

It's very good that I live in NYC and the Book Barn hasn't opened a branch in the city, because frankly, they'd have to ban me from that place. They'd have to tell the people there that I am addict and they should not enable my insane need to collect books, whether or not I'll ever have time read them.

I go to that place and suddenly feel like, yes, I could in fact develop an interest in something as obscure as civil war tractors or the habits of nocturnal bugs from Thailand - if only I had this book!

The Boy and I retired a few reads, and I returned a few books that I'd tried getting into but knew I wouldn't be able to finish. Because life is too short for books that give you headaches (and more shelf space for books I love or at least haven't read yet!).

This visit netted me a surprising few books, but the following finds are:

Not Flesh Nor Feathers - Cherie Priest
The Borders of Life - G.A. Kathryns
The Orchid Thief - Susan Orlean
Kimono - Motoko Ito & Aiko Inoue
A Separate Peace - John Knowles
The Island of Lost Maps: A True Story of Cartographic Crime - Miles Harvey
The Raspberry Tree - Stoddard King

I think the reason for this was that I was still feeling blech because I'm battling the last remnants of the Sinus Infection from Hell which hit me like a heavyweight boxer. If I'd been in my usual ebullient mood when visiting, I'd have come back with a larger selection.

The only bad thing about having a bunch of sick days is that you're too sick to use them to write or do anything useful.

Although, hopefully, in a few weeks, I'll have some spare time in which to really dig into the Tower!Guy novel which badly needs my attention.

Current Mood: awake
Current Music: The Ten Commandments on TV

I dug up an old poem that I wrote a while back, and I'd figured I'd share. Because what good is a livejournal if you can't torture your f-list with horrible old poems?

( The Desert Has Teeth by Meg Freeman )

Current Mood: stomach-achey
Current Music: Creedence Clearwater Revival - Who'll Stop the Rain?

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I declare it personal WIP amnesty day/weekend/indefinite time period

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Writing Exercises.

It was a big deal for me

I'm starting a meme, join in!

In which I say some stuff about writing and mental health

The City of the Hand - Full Ebook File (the wait is over!)

Brain soup - like context but less coherent!

The last and final update for the novel

Writing and depression

City of the Hand, updated!

How NOT to gain readers and influence bloggers

It's that time of year again!

Thoughts on helpfulness (of the fictional variety)

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Serious writer stuff.

Another linky thing I forgot

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Book Barn!

LiveJournal: Helping People Make Jackasses Of Themselves Since 1999

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