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In Progress -- July 2023

  Wind/Water/Salt  Chapters 39-51:   Still n eed to take up comments and revise.  Persephone  (probably not its real name): Nothing but thoughts.  Short Stories:  As I mentioned last month I had a dish-washing epiphany on a story that wasn't going well. I'd already changed the POV character, but I knew that wasn't enough because I had no ending. It has an ending now.  Critted  4  Got back  0    I really need to post something new. Submissions  0  Out there   0   Rejects   1 Knitting Tay Tartan cardigan  (Martin Storey). Finally finished the danglers and minor seaming and chose buttons, then had to wait to block because the space I normally block in needed to be cleared, and this would be very disruptive to my work, so I waited to block it for the night before I went on vacation. It would appear that the finishing of this sweater took 4 months, which may be a new record. It fits for the most part. Yay!  Cathar  (self). Started the month just about done with the body edging.
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What I read: July 2023

 LHC #216: "The Braver Thing" by Clifford Jackman. Audio book. Canadian. About 18th century sea-pirates. I felt like the accents slowed it down, but considering that I was tying in loose ends of Tay Tartan sweater for the bulk of the listening, that didn't matter much. I was not surprised it was written by a lawyer. It would have been like a half hour shorter if the narrator hadn't made some kind of annoying choices (I eventually dealt with this by speeding up to 1.15x). I was thinking it would have been nice to have a list of characters, except everyone's roles change so often that it would have inevitably given something away. At least it had a good ending.  LHC #217: "Poets and Pahlevans" by Marcello Di Cintio. Hard copy. Persians and a martial art (wrestling), totally my research jam. It was exactly what I wanted it to be.  LHC #218: "Everyone knows your mother is a witch" by Rivka Galken. eBook. The voice of this one was so great, very en
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In progress -- June 2023

Wind/Water/Salt  Chapters 39-51:   Still n eed to take up comments and revise.  Persephone  (probably not its real name): If I can trick myself into opening it, I can often easily write 400-500 words.  Short Stories:  Desperate to get something on OWW because it's been months and months and I feel bad for never having anything new there, I came up with a system: No more of this 15 minutes thing. That's great for Persephone, but I need to have a 2-hour block to sit down and read a story through and make whatever changes need doing, and I need to do this a maximum of four times per story. Like, I have no trouble immersing myself in it and coming up with things to change, but then I never actually make the changes, instead I write them in my notebook. And nothing ever gets finished. No good!  I did write a little thing, 400 words, and I worked on another one, where I had the usual dish washing epiphany, so maybe I'll be able to finish a draft next month .  Critted  6  Got back
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What I read: June 2023

  LHC #213: "Deep Secret" by Diana Wynne Jones. I read the first chapter and was dubious, but then I got on a roll and it was a delight. Weirdly fat-phobic, not sure what to make of that.  LHC #214: "It's complicated: the social lives of networked teens" by Danah Boyd. I started off kind of jaded. What, these kids are requesting a video camera from their school? How 2001! Somehow Deep Secret seemed more modern to me. it predates Covid, DJT and Tiktok, things I think have shaped current socials. But I persevered, and this book was really good. I incredibly relate with DB's perspective on youth. More people should read this book.  But then, I love teenagers. So I would say that.  "When women were dragons" by Kelly Barnhill. I got this for Christmas. I got three copies, so my sister took one, and she read it a couple of months ago. Half-way through, she was loving it. Then she got to the last quarter, and she said it kind of fell apart. Boy, was she
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What I read: May 2023

LHC #209: "Pre-industrial societies: anatomy of the pre-modern world" by Patricia Crone.  Hard copy. Really good, I liked the voice, sometimes a list of things would end in "or whatever" which I always feel like I'd get in trouble for.  LHC #210: "The hummingbird's daughter" by Luis Alberto Urrea. No clue why it was on the list. If I knew anything about 1880 Mexico it might have been an easier read, or if I knew any Spanish. Still, I got the idea and it was very good. Somewhere inside my head I had decided this was in translation. Probably racist of me.  "What Strange Paradise" by Omar el Akkad. Office book club, hard copy. I would never have picked this on my own, but it was outstanding. Loved the ending. Though I think Vanna is supposed to be 15 and she seemed kind of 10?  LHC #211: "A Declaration of the rights of Magicians" by HG Parry. Much funner. I was reading along and thinking how unrealistic it was that William Pitt was
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In Progress: May 2023

  Wind/Water/Salt  Chapters 39-51:   Still n eed to take up comments and revise.  Persephone  (probably not its real name): I did write some words, but everything took a back seat to the tax prep project.  Short Stories:  I was using ChatGPT to research because Google sucks (what's a good poison for my location and time period, what's the cure for that poison in the time period, etc.) and then I asked Google for a cure for Arsenic poisoning, and Google told me garlic and onions! Which I thought was an appalling answer, until I thought about it, and if you're diagnosing your As poisoning via Google, then you're not going to be chelating yourself or hopefully not treating yourself with activated charcoal. If you really think you have heavy metal poisoning, see a medical professional! Not in 1880, though, they'll probably bleed you until you die.  Critted  5  Got back  0  but also posted nothing.  Submissions  1  Out there  I think the one I had out there missed the bo
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In Progress -- April 2023

Wind/Water/Salt  Chapters 39-51:   Still n eed to take up comments and revise.  Persephone  (probably not its real name): This 50-word minimum thing was great and then I fell off the wagon again. And also, some days I would write 62 words and just watch this Bucimis video for a while (the last minute is the greatest thing ever). I also found a playlist on Spotify that is nothing but different versions of this song, and printed out the sheet music, but I'm not obsessed. I suppose it's a nice change from the 20 different mixes of Unholy (Sam Smith) that I also listen to?  Short Stories:  worked more on it, never finished.  Critted  5  Got back  0  but also posted nothing.  Submissions  0  Out there  1  Rejects  0 Knitting Tay Tartan cardigan  (Martin Storey). Worked on danglers. Still not done. I estimate 12 more hours of danglers. Can that be correct? No wonder it's not done! Then buttons, and blocking, and FIN.  Cathar  (self). Started the month just about done with the bo
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