Paksworld

So this morning I turned on the little red netbook and began a several hour struggle to get it to behave.  No luck.   So unless I can find a store on the way down at which to buy something that will give me internet access at WorldCon, I’m out of communication until I return from there next week.

Absence of posts, tweets, etc. means nothing except that I didn’t find a replacement I wanted.    No need to worry.  But for any of you going to WorldCon, you’ll pretty much have to hunt me down.

I was hoping for an easy departure, smooth trip, early arrival.  Not happening.

Today I had a needle biopsy of some masses in my thyroid.   I was not looking forward to it (even Writer Brain wasn’t looking forward to it and kept saying “But I’ve experienced a wide variety of needle sticks before…I don’t need another one to use in stories…and anyway, Paksworld doesn’t have fine needles for aspirating cells, or microscopes to examine them with…”  )  I told Writer Brain that if it could horn in with its questions while I’m trying to cope with a bike wreck-in-progress, it could jolly well use its vampire-like desire for sensory input to track this one, too.

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I may have mentioned in some comment or other that I had an Incident With Bicycle and Pickup last weekend.   I am lucky to be a) alive and b) whole and–barring a somewhat unhappy neck and some fairly impressive bruises–recovered.   The incident was my fault;  though I knew that was an almost-blind turn into a very narrow lane, and that large pickups lived on the connecting street, I failed to adhere to the ABCs of safety: ALWAYS  Be Careful, not “Nearly Always Be Careful…”  Read the rest of this entry »

Story #2, of the new Paksworld stories, the “lightning strikes” post,  is one of those “out of the blue/accidental hits” stories.   Here’s the article I found that started it all:   “The Ghost Cavalry of Gondole.”  Right off the bat, the title begs for a story.   Reading the article and bring up all the pictures…skin-tingling stuff.  It belonged in Paksworld.  It felt right for Paksworld.  But right as background does not make a story…a big fancy gravesite (a real one) is a fact, not a story.

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Did I, or did I not, within the past two years, post a picture or two of my messy office?

If I did, and if anyone knows where it is, I’d appreciate the reference.

Thanks.

Yesterday afternoon, the mother of a good friend died.  This afternoon, the husband of another friend died.    I had met the friend’s mother several times, but not the other friend’s husband.  Nonetheless…I’m in need of a little distance and silence.   I won’t be around for a day; my heart is with my grieving friends.

…or the iron is hot, or preferably both, the writer leaps into action and neglects everything but very firm bodily demands.

Of the two things started yesterday, one petered out pretty quickly…it will take a lot of thought to bring it to life. The other, which I thought had nowhere particular to go, has taken over the day, especially this afternoon/evening.  Read the rest of this entry »

In the gap between sending off the revisions and hearing reactions to them,  I thought I’d discuss a few more things about Paksworld and the series you’ve been reading.  Still no spoilers for Crown of Renewal, though, I hope.

As I mentioned in a comment yesterday,  the series shifted from my original plan for a long story about Kieri Phelan to a consideration of how forced change affects people in midlife.   I began it after we’d had one, and as friends had lost or  were losing their jobs (again!, and several years after they’d just begun a recovery from the previous downturn, at a lower level)  in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.   So I had a lot of direct knowledge of how forced change–even good forced change (because that happens to some)–plays out in real peoples’ lives.   But at the same time, the invented universe I now call “Paksworld”  has its own set of rules and logic–and stories do too.  Read the rest of this entry »

A terrible pun, true.   But also true that revisions consist of more than pulling out the Chainsaw of Correction.   Sometimes revision means noticing that the arm of the statue is on at the wrong angle…and remodeling, molding it, until it looks right.  Both Agent and Editor found things to say about Crown of Renewal that pointed to the need for more remolding than chainsawing and clipping (though those did occur.)

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Well, it’s been an interesting 4 1/2 days, during which a lot of email has gone unanswered, not to mention comments on various venues.  You might think I had used the time saved to d0 useful things like reorganize, straighten up, clean…but you know me better than that.  I kept tinkering with Crown of Renewal.   After all, I couldn’t email it to Editor or Agent…so I began the nose-to-the-floor crawl for clues.

Nit-picking.  Again.    Proving once again that no matter how many times you go through a manuscript, there is always something to fix, improve, re-phrase.     On Saturday (day 3)  I drove into the city to my web-guru’s house and begged the use of her computer to email that version of Crown to my agent, with a note to send it on to Editor if I hadn’t regained internet access by Sunday night.   Which I did, but after midnight his time.    So the finicky changing of words and phrases between about 1 pm on Saturday and now will need to be sent tomorrow morning, if we have a connection then.

Also did some knitting.  The second pair of “short socks” is onto the heel flap of both.   Also did some bike riding in very hot temperatures.   Not ideal, but the mileage continues to grow as the physical therapy has reduced the pain.

I have no reason to over-trust our ISP  and though there are four little lights on our DSL modem (as there should be) now, the four cheerful estimates of time-until-repair that were missed have me a bit twitchy.    I have hundreds of emails to comb through for important business stuff, so another actual post about the book will be delayed even more.  Apologies.