Robynettely

First Draft “ Limering ”. Around 104,000 words. I am so sick of this. Editing “Selkie Girls are Easy”. As promised, final proofread and sent out. “Wind/Water/Salt”. I have all these notes for myself, like “there was an old woman who swallowed a fly -> Susannah’s motivation.” And “Use the pirates!” These notes aren’t that useful, really. I have revised chapters 1 and 2 so much by now that when this gets published as a book, it might actually be interesting for people to look at the two original pieces of flash that I wrote that wound up leading to the rest of the novel. Some evenings I sit down with this thing and just despair. Can I ever chisel the good bits from all the crap? Connecting Scott Westerfeld and Justine Larbalestiere were at a local Chapters. Circulating 2 I seem to have moved to that level where I get the nice rejections. A reader said there was a lot to like, which is pretty gratifying. Knitting “Ceremonial Arm...

“Afterworlds” by Scott Westerfeld. Gift from the boy for my birthday. After going to his event at Queensway Chapters, I finished up so the boy could read it. Both stories worked, and I liked how you could see the effects of  "real life" on the way the "novel" came out. The struggle with the ending was great, especially. “American Slavery, American Freedom: the Ordeal of Colonial Virginia” by Edmund Morgan. Someone (I thought it was TNH but can’t find it now) linked to an article about how giving out parcels of land in Virginia colony had led eventually to slavery, and in the comments section people were arguing about whether this book (published in 1975) was a reliable source. I love listening to historians argue. Even their bickering is smart. If I was going to do a post-grad degree just for kicks I’d do a history one, so I can learn to think like them. Anyway, the book was available at the library, so I requested it. I was somewhat daunted by the 400+ pa...