Robynettely

Considering what I'm reading now has 453 pages to go, it's unlikely I'll finish anything else in March, so I'll just post this now. Mid-month saw me go to the library one evening and take out two books, having already started Leviathan, and then discovering that I had two more waiting for me in the holds system. And then another one appeared after I'd read two of them. So I finished more books than usual. “World War Z” by Max Brooks. Library book. The Z stands for zombie, of course. This was a good resource for me for thinking about the science of my zombie novel. Also, good for looking at alternative ways of organizing a narrative. This is a series of interviews with people who were involved in different ways with the zombie war, so really it’s a collection of linked short stories. “Mockingjay” by Suzanne Collins. I had to take the boy to an appointment and didn’t want to carry around the big, heavy geology book, so I grabbed this from the pile. Everyone else in t...

Last night while I was supposed to be editing Apophis for I don't know, the sixth or seventh time (I'm not sure it works, but I'm down to messing with the formatting now, so it's time to put it on OWW and hide under my desk), I wrote a post on the bottom of the last page. And then I packed the wrong story in my lunchbag! I guess I'm just meant to work on Bezoar today, that's all. Anyway, this leaves me writing my post from my head, which never goes well, or waiting and doing it later, which never gets done. So here goes. Last night I received the March Locus in the mail (which was a good thing, because it encouraged me to finish reading the February Locus, which had been sitting on the kitchen table for about 28 days, and so I read the Sharyn November piece, which made me want to work on the Karate Zombies, which will make Fran happy, if nothing else). Flipping through (first pass I look at the pictures...) and made some mean comment about Robert J. Sawyer or ...

Yesterday all day I had a plan. When I got home, I would make a pizza (the breadmaker was all set up). Then, I was going to read through The Bezoar and make any last minute changes before sending it out to its first market. Then I would make a pass through Apophis and send it to OWW. And then I would sit down and read 100 pages of Leviathan , and maybe work on that shawl , and then bed. Well, the pizza went fine. I remembered yeast this time (yay!) and I had already made the olive salad for Muffuletta pizza. I made a playlist , and then at around 8:30 I tweeted something like “Pizza made and eaten, blah, blah, time to read through this story and send it out.” I was at the kitchen table working on paper. Ed was watching his stories (Ice Pilots I think). I was on page two when that ended and he went up to run himself a bath. I was on page three when he’d finished his bath. I’d written a couple of hundred new words. I skipped to the ending and I think made it stronger. My characters had u...

First Draft “In a Nutshell”. 35 pages -- first draft finished. Next up will be Limering , And maybe One Degree. Editing "The Rabbits". I tagged all the Thea’s Brain sections to make them make sense, and I need to fix the pacing now. It takes way too long to get to the brain stuff. I’d like to pump the atmosphere maybe, too. "Apophis." Working on fourth draft. Ignoring “Succubus”. Zombies. Troll. Pampelmouse. “Bezoar”. One more draft, I think, and it might be done. “Dowsing”. I need to change the POV (taking what I learned from reading those Caitlin Kiernan stories, actually – she does a neat thing where the main character is not the “special” character, but is the one looking at them. I will try that and see how it works for me.) so that there’s an actual plot, conflict, etc. I think there’s a good story in there. Imp face. Being reviewed Nothing. Again. Knitting Morrigan. Ignoring, actually. Anhinga. Finished. Worn 4x. Very happy with this sweater. Doublekni...

“Tooth and Claw” by Jo Walton . Library book. I believe I read on a blurb somewhere: “Is there anything Jo Walton can’t write?” And it is so true. This is a regency romance populated entirely by dragons. Dragons get bigger by eating one another, and yet the story isn’t really about cannibalism, more cannibalism is just something dragons do. It’s not taboo the way it would be with humans, because the dragons don’t see it that way. The father dragon dies in the first chapter, leaving the understanding that his estate (including his gold and his corpse) is to be divided up amongst his three younger children, with the two established children to take but a token apiece. The eldest son-in-law takes way more than his share and the others sue him. So the message is: be explicit in your will. And stand up for yourself. “Sandman Slim” by Richard Kadrey . Library book, requested several months ago. I missed it over Christmas and had to request it again. I have a notebook where I write down thing...