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I am recovering from a bout of total exhaustion this morning after my next-to-last panel…got back to the hotel room shaky and basically unable to do anything but flop down in this chair. At least I got the netbook plugged in before I just couldn’t get up again. Last panel will have to survive without me.
But–ChiCon was fun, and I’m glad I got to meet those of you who were able to come (and who found me–this hotel/convention complex is confusing!!!) The chocolate–both the bar with almonds and cranberries, and the gorgeous box of Latvian chocolate–was devoured with glee (I did share the big box with others, because…well…I’d have felt guilty gobbling it all on my own.)
I will be in the throes of packing as soon as I can drag myself up to full vertical. NOT my favorite thing, on either end of a trip. Things that I finally got squished into the suitcase before coming, and then unsquished enough to look decent on, are now resisting the re-squishing process. In the meantime, a blog post. About…not conventions…but writing.
Those of you here saw that I was knitting a lot, never without my knitting tote. On the trip to Chicon, I added enough to the ribbing of GreenTwo to get both socks off the ribbing, past the stockinette, and start the heel flaps. While here, I finished the heel flaps, turned the heels, and have the A sock connected and onto the gusset. Meanwhile TurquoiseOne has grown from under an inch to about 3 inches on both socks. I did not knit on all my panels, or on all my work sessions at the LoneStarCon3 table…but I did knit at some, and in the other “waiting” periods…waiting to meet with Editor, waiting to meet with Agent, waiting for panels to start, etc.
Sometimes I got through only one needle’s worth: 28 stitches on the heel flap, for instance. Sometimes I got through 1, 2, 3, even more rows. But all four socks–both pairs, that is–are much farther along than they were this time last week. (And what, you’re about to ask, does this have to do with writing? Hang on…it’s coming.) I am most proud of turning the second heel of GreenTwo–the B sock–while sitting at the LoneStarCon3 table–doing it in public, without any directions in front of me, while people were talking, while I was interrupted twice and had to put it down and do some actual work, while making and fixing a mistake in the heel turn. In other words, in spite of difficulties.
Taking socks through different sections, one stitch at a time, has a connection to taking a story through different sections, one word at a time. In my knitter persona, I get tired of a sock (or pair of socks, or just the whole idea of knitting.) String, sticks, loop, string, sticks, loop….SIGH. In my writer persona, I get tired of a paragraph, a page, a chapter…a book. But while writing can seem unreal as you’re doing it (or it does to me sometimes), knitting is a very tangible occupation…with every stitch the project is visibly larger, close to completion. Words on the screen are “there” but it’s not as easy–even with word count–to feel that you’re getting anywhere. In the old days, writing on paper with pen or typewriter, the pages stacked up. Here, the computer screen swallows the words at the top of the page as new words appear at the bottom…there’s no sense of heft, or any way to “feel” them.
Yet the process is remarkably similar. Out of breath and little gray cells, we make words…and fingers twiddle about on a keyboard…and the words become sentences, paragraphs, pages….become people and their actions, places and their feel. A dimension the single word doesn’t have–or many dimensions–words that can grow, in the reader’s mind, into an analog (never quite exact) of what the writer thought and tried to set down. A container, in a way, of what can be imagined.
Out of fat string and sticks (and little gray cells), we make loops in the string, and pull those loops through other loops, and make a fabric that exists in more dimensions (reducing the string to line) and in real space shows what the knitter had imagined (or doesn’t, in which case you pull loops out of loops until you have kinked yarn.) But this thing, this object the knitter makes, can then contain other objects (heads, hands, feet, necks, bodies…or, in some cases, things you carry around.)
It was an idea…it becomes a book or a pair of socks or a house or a Mars rover. And in every case, there’s a stage of step-by-step, one word, one stitch, one line drawn, one stick nailed to another, one piece fitted in, one step on a checklist after another…to get it done. And in every case, I will bet you, there’s a point at which the maker gets tired of the project, however much he or she is committed to it. Experience helps. Write the next word. Make the next stitch.
It also helps with design…I was thinking about that relative a problem that developed in Book V, as I was turning the sock heels. Stories are more like “round thing” in knitting than like “flat things.” More like socks than scarves.
You can knit a perfectly serviceable scarf all in one stitch and one color. A flat rectangle. Nothing at all wrong with that. a scarf or a rectangular shawl or afghan or blanket is a useful object and many people knit only flat things of that sort. But a story that’s a flat rectangle is like “I went to the story to buy milk, bread, eggs, and a pound of salami.” It’s not a story. Minimal linguistic skills will get you to the flat-rectangular-knitting level of communication.
If you knit socks (or sweaters) both your knitting experience and your using experience of that knitting will be different. (Yes, you could wrap your feet in scarves…but bear with me on the advantages of socks!) To start with, the sock has to fit the oddest-shaped part of your body. Socks have been knit flat and sewn up, but the best socks (she mutters firmly) are knitted in the round. You need more skills to knit in the round, and you need different equipment. Knitting socks means (for me) being able to plan a sock so that K2P2 ribbing comes out even (multiple of four), decreasing for the stockinette portion of the leg , doing a slip-stitch pattern to reinforce the heel flap, turning the heel, picking up the side stitches of the heel flap to rejoin the top of the sock and start the run to the toes, decreasing to make a neat gusset on each side.
Writing a story instead of a simple narrative (What I did today…) requires more skills and more “equipment” (in the sense of techniques required by fiction) and a story has changes in pace, changes in tone, changes in direction, that are remarkably (to me, anyway) similar to what needs to happen in a sock. Working through a sock feels very much like working through a story, though it’s a lot clearer where the sock ends…when it comfortably covers the foot the sock was made for. Stories were made for readers, and readers don’t always have the same length…mental toes, let’s say. Very few want the overlong story stuffed into their mental shoe…but they also don’t want the too-short story that cramps their toes.
But my hand’s now cramping a bit from typing on the netbook’s tiny keyboard, so ….a question for you: what other metaphors strike you as workable? Writing a story is sorta-like….what?
Comment by Ulrika — September 3, 2012 @ 2:22 pm
Here is an answer to that last question from an almost as tired brain… One activity that has been a lot on my mind lately is pruning (apple) trees. Using that as metaphor might not work, but I’ll give it a try.
So, writing stories is like pruning a tree because you start with lots of ideas, characters, subplots – and prune away those that do not fit your idea of the story. They might not be true to the story or they might just not be a part of the story you want to tell. As you cannot control (exactly) how the tree will grow, you cannot (exactly) control what new ideas etc will appear, but you do have control over what you cut away. Luckily, it is easier to add new things to text than it is to graft new branches to trees. 🙂
This metaphor feels more limited to the editing part of writing, or maybe to the collecting of ideas. Less to the actual “putting words on paper” part of writing. Your kitting metaphor works much better for that!
Comment by Iphinome — September 3, 2012 @ 7:06 pm
Feel better soon your Ladyship. *curtsies* It was wonderful to see you again and thank you very much for autographing my copies of Sassinak and Echoes.
Lieutenant (formerly ensign) Friend handled the last panel for the 15-20 people who were still functional enough to attend.
*Hides the scarf she started during the first panel today* Scarf? Don’t be silly, who’d make a scarf?
Sharing was wise, eating that whole box could give one a tummy ache.
Comment by elizabeth — September 3, 2012 @ 8:19 pm
Ulrike: good metaphor for the editing stage, definitely.
Iphinome: Who’d make a scarf? That would be me, all last year, scarf after scarf after scarf. And one still unfinished, but I need at least three more pairs of socks before I go back and finish it. As for sharing, yes. I looked and looked and considered just hogging the whole box, but instead only ate (mumble-mumble) of them and shared the rest. They were very popular at the LoneStarCon3 table where my co-workers descended on them like a plague of locusts and others came from across the aisle, hands already outstretched.
Comment by Wickersham's Conscience — September 3, 2012 @ 8:30 pm
“What other metaphors strike you as workable? Writing a story is sorta-like….what?”
I have a friend who works in stained glass, and that process has always seemed to me to be a good metaphor for writing. You conceive of a design, sketch it out, go through the available glass for the colors you want to use, from the sketch and your glass selection make the pieces, and then fit them together. The process is iterative: you might adjust your design based on other colors that are available, or in the assembly process decide that a bit doesn’t work. What you have assembled increasingly dictates what your remaining options may be.
As for this business of exhausting yourself, may I wish you wouldn’t? When we are of a certain age, we don’t recover as well, and our immune systems can let us down badly when the body gets run down…
A safe trip back to Texas.
Comment by Mary E Cowart — September 3, 2012 @ 10:42 pm
Have a safe journey back to Texas and home.
I drive when I go see my son in Harker Heights, TX, about a 6 hour drive which I sometime break up is Irving, TX. He is a Captain in the army, and the rear detachement (sp) commander of a company deployed to Afghanistan. Please keep him in your prayers.
Thank you for your writing. Putting Legos or MegaBlocs together could be a metaphor for writing. Someone else has chosen the colors for the blocs, the shapes, and sizes, while you with a detailed pattern get to arrange the blocks to build cars, airplanes, and helicopters; and with some of the very large sets locomotive engines can be built; with some of the sets buildings, such as some of the building from the Harry Potter series, can be built. Someone could probably design and build some of the buildings from your series of books.
Not saying I could, but it would be interesting to try, with leftovers or teardowns from some of my other sets.
Have a safe trip home. God bless you.
Comment by ellen — September 4, 2012 @ 1:06 am
like building a boat?
Too fed up to pontificate.
Comment by Elizabeth D. — September 4, 2012 @ 9:54 am
Taking trains, getting around cons, herding cats… metaphor, or reality? As the sun was hidden from view in most of the con areas and deep underground in most of the meeting rooms, I began to wonder if we were in some sort of dwarf kingdom… certainly not a gnome kingdom, because the escalators could have been much more safe; gnomes would not have put up with the lack of law.
Those who attended the Hugo Awards were rewarded by one single escalator back upstairs, only to face a crowd of people standing still in the elevator line that reached to the escalator (a shout to the crowd to turn aside helped somewhat… I took my own advice, and just sat on one of those benches on the street floor and quietly sang the Byzantine “Trisagion” hymn, until most of the 5000 people had gotten to where it was going.)
Earlier at the con, my daughter Pamela (a.k.a. Cheshire Cat, and who also cos-played Paks) saved a man who was on one of those motor wheelchairs and who had started riding before knowing how to stop and turn. He was headed straight for one of those escalators; she held him (about 400 lbs) and scooter before the deer-in-headlights crowd came to her aid; the scooter was already at the top of the escalator about to push a crowd of people down with it. She is off to pre-surgical testing; she has been scheduled to have abdominal surgery for adhesions Sept. 11th, and I have been very worried about her even before that incident. We also had a scare moment at Union Station in Chicago coming back, needing to take the escalator while holding all our “carry-on” luggage. But is that cosmic revenge for Kris making jokes years ago about being stuck on escalators?
Yes, I attended your panels and autograph session, and you are very gracious, very like Estelle Halveric, with all kinds of skills and knowledge (as we all know). The little I know about the military came from father, father-in-law, and uncles who were military in World War II; my father was assigned to bomb ballistic testing and radar in Florida and Panama. My father-in-law was front lines Philippines as artillery sergeant, and also debriefed the men who were POWs at Luzon. My father tried to make bombing more accurate; my father-in-law did something similar on the ground in combat and earned a decoration. Both only saw a small slice of that war, but that is all anybody ever sees. For a long time, people were concerned about the power politics of MacArthur (my uncle had worked directly for him in the signal corps), but there seems to be much more to worry about now; that isn’t a metaphor either.
Back to the con: We had seen the brothers who wrote a novel together in a previous panel on Ceres and other asteroids; they tended to dominate that, and then on the world-building panel they wouldn’t let others speak, and I heard a few minutes of a philosophy-in-science-fiction panel (again they were there) and when they started praising Ayn Rand, I left quickly before something like lunch might leave my mouth. I wondered if Dorrin would have turned them to dust on the spot. Their fictional world seemed more real to them than reality. If they let life imitate art too much, they might fall into the hollow asteroid they have invented.
So I don’t have an answer really. Unlike some other cons we’ve attended, I felt like an outsider almost all the time, and I tried to figure out why. A few years ago, Kris moderated a few panels at a Marcon; he at least has some academic qualifications, but everybody had to show their three Ph.D.’s and several awards it seemed. Maybe it’s because I’m not an official writer, or maybe it’s the evil Verrakaian libertarians that seem to be invading. Overall though, I had a great time. And my six year old grandson got to ask his question at the particle physics panel, how can a heavier muon go as fast as a lighter electron.
And we made it back home, sleepless, but intact with all our “carry-on” luggage.
Comment by Iphinome — September 4, 2012 @ 11:29 am
@Elizabeth D It was nice to make your and Cheshire Cat’s acquaintance. Your escalator makes me think that paladins help people and influence crowds to join in that helping.
Iphinome – AKA the other Paks.
Comment by Rolv — September 4, 2012 @ 11:35 am
I’m reminded of the sculptor who was making a statue of a lion from a solid block of marble – “simply” by cutting away everything that didn’t look like a lion. And in the end, if the marble lion roars, you know you’re succeeded.
Comment by Genko — September 4, 2012 @ 11:41 am
I too collapsed in exhaustion yesterday, without your excuses. Maybe it was the full moon. Maybe it’s that I’m doing my best to give up sugar. Maybe it was that 4 hours of driving (2 each way) to do my own minor panel presentation on Saturday. Maybe it’s just the culmination of a week where I constantly felt behind and kept trying and trying to get it all done. Either way, I took a “sick day” (it was a day off, after all), and just stayed in bed with novels and such most of the day yesterday.
Feeling somewhat better today, and hope you are too.
Many years ago I took pottery classes for a while. One of the teachers said that it’s good to do more than one kind of art, as the different ones inform each other. Pottery is interesting in that you start with something that is more or less malleable, shape it to some inner idea of what you want it to look like, put it in a kiln, and it comes out smaller. And may or may not be in the shape you had in mind. Then you do something to glaze it and put it back in the kiln. There was at least one piece I remember that I wasn’t even sure was mine when it came out, it looked so different.
I suppose one analogy there is that there is part of the process that you don’t exactly control (no matter how precise your firing schedule and temperature control might be). That what emerges from the kiln has its own value, perhaps somewhat separate from the original idea. The plot daemon cooks it into something of its own choosing, maybe.
Or maybe I’m reaching a bit here …
Comment by Elizabeth D. — September 4, 2012 @ 11:45 am
Iphinome: It was a pleasure meeting you too, and other fans at the reading, autograph line, and panels. All the books: science fiction and fantasy of Elizabeth Moon have been a great inspiration to many people. (And very patiently, our author-hero sat and signed books beyond the allotted hour; her line was very long. It’s amazing that she added any rows of knitting; sorry that we exhausted you, Elizabeth).
We only brought a few of our books to be autographed, because the “carry-on” luggage was beginning to be heavy enough for only Paks to carry, and our family’s Paks is not supposed to carry more than 10 lbs, and my husband who is ill isn’t supposed to carry anything, leaving much of the burden to me.
I don’t want to embarrass you, Elizabeth, but I had actually hoped that somebody could sell fan tee shirts, posters, and other regalia. (Tunic-tees that look like mail?) Maybe too commercial though 🙂 It was wonderful meeting you.
Comment by Jenn — September 4, 2012 @ 2:03 pm
For a metaphor: anything that involves time, vision and talent to create. I personally and rather biasedly like knitting the best.
Iphinome, scarves are the best thing to knit when one is trying to build a new skill. Think of it as a rather large swatch
Comment by Iphinome — September 4, 2012 @ 7:24 pm
@Lady Moon It was a freaking lot of chocolate, people were made happy, paladin’s quest successfully completed. *happy noises*
@Jenn I’m handy with a crochet hook and a lucet, knitting is not a skill I have yet. I have 2 con panels worth of purple scarf on a small circle loom and a twisted mess of grey Gordian knot on a pair of plastic knitting needles right now.
@Elizabeth D I nominate you for president of the fan club.
You might have felt more at home mornings in the con suite. Morning conversations over bagels and cornflakes were of the more left leaning type, all very friendly and laid back sleepy-eyed people.
Those brothers, I ran into them a couple hours after closing ceremonies while I was doing my share of gopher duty on the breakdown crew, paladins help people and I was still wearing my blue surcote, didn’t think I could refuse. Without an audience they were less… intense. Stopped me asked me if I enjoyed the panels, wished me well. Don’t be too judgmental, worldcon is a crazy wonderful mentally and physical taxing time. My impression is they were just trying to get through it like everyone else.
Comment by Kerry aka Trouble — September 4, 2012 @ 7:54 pm
Home from Chicon and finally had a minute to check non-urgent emails and blogs. I want to thank you profusely again for going above and beyond and signing all those books for me, Elizabeth.
Saw Iphinome every day, I think – was nice to meet you. Mom asked me if I had made plans for LoneStarCon3. Told her supporting membership for now and that everyone thought it was funny that she would have to drive up from TX so I could drive down to TX. Hope the train trip home is uneventful – unlike the trip up – and you feel rested when you get home.
Comment by Nadine Barter Bowlus — September 4, 2012 @ 8:06 pm
@Genko. In my experience, the act of creating something, going from idea to finished product always includes unexpected inputs from the medium one is using. Sometimes the watercolors, or the fabrics, or the yarns, or the clay, wood, metal, …. want to do their own thing–wait a minute, that’s really interesting, oh! I could use that to ….
Comment by Iphinome — September 4, 2012 @ 8:45 pm
@Kerry aka Trouble
Maybe her Ladyship didn’t flinch but I darn near fainted when I saw that crate of books you had.
I tried to stop in at least once a day to say hi, hope it wasn’t a bother and I did ask to be assigned to you when I got my purple ribbon but they sent me to lug heavy objects around instead. And if it was a bother then at least Friday morning should make up for it. *preens*
Comment by Ruth — September 4, 2012 @ 9:31 pm
It was wonderful to finally see you in person at Chicon! I truly enjoyed the World Building forum that you paneled for a few of them. Great panel and the most involved, engaged, and creative attendees I have ever seen at a Con. I concur that the paucity of escalators and also elevators was extremely annoying. I got tired of standing in lines for the escalator and the elevator. The logistics were very poor but the Con activities were great. I think that because Chicon was the same weekend as Dragon Con there was a slight negative impact as the authors and the fans were split. There were a couple of video streamed joint panels between the two Cons that were fun. Got a big kick out of seeing you knitting and participating in panels at the same time. Looking forward to next year in Austin. Hope you caught up on relaxation on the train. Trains are so much more relaxing than airplanes mainly because you have spacious seats (compared to airplanes) and lovely scenery to sooth.
Comment by Kerry aka Trouble — September 5, 2012 @ 5:44 am
@Iphinome – you were not a bother but I had enough experienced art show staff to not need extra hands except during setup and tear-down, thank you for offering.
At least by getting that box signed here where I could use my own car to get it to the con, I will only have one book I need to bring to TX if I manage to make it to LSC3.
Comment by Gareth — September 5, 2012 @ 10:00 am
Here’s some thoughts for comparison. I run a computer software team. The ‘classic’ development goes through requirements, functional specifications. design etc – but rarely does that produce what is really needed. usually it producing a boring product that no-one actually wants. The latest ‘Agile’ processes make quick prototypes and refine. Better but can lose the big picture. It actually feels somewhat similar with the tension between an elegant overall design (plot) and the bottom up detailed work 9writing each page/paragraph well). Of course the problem is that you usually don’t understand the problem until you’ve worked on it for a while and certainly not until you’ve got inside the heads of the users (who aren’t programmers or writers) so it starts to be a bit more like discovery writing where you have to think as the character. You don’t find out what the users really need until you can start to think their way but still be able to step out and see the bigger picture which might mean they have to do things differently or might mean you’ve got the plot wrong.
You can tell I’m not a writer! Hope that made sense to someone other than me…
Comment by Elizabeth D. — September 5, 2012 @ 2:58 pm
I wouldn’t make a good president of a fan club; there’s a lot to juggle at home these days. However, there are others out there… We can’t just print related art without publisher’s permission anyway (and all residuals should go to EM). However, some funny tee shirts might be interesting; if no spoilers are included, and these are approved. I can think of themes in Paksworld: blind archer, printed mail tee-shirt, Fox colors, favorite sayings, etc. Lots of themes, but my artwork is not the greatest. Hmmm… Paksworld graphic novels, starting at the beginning?????
As to the brothers who wrote books together: I thought they were fairly interesting until the Ayn Rand endorsement. As I said, I kept things civil (by quietly exiting the room, and I had an excuse, because my husband wasn’t feeling well and had left a few minutes before). In the past I was tolerant of many viewpoints in friends, but with some of the rhetoric coming out this year, I have to struggle a bit. I avoided all political discussions at the con, but I also found that I was shy to strike up conversations.
Often the con suite didn’t have anything that my grandson or husband could eat (such as brie, which tastes great, but is a no-no for cancer patients, and yuck for kids). We mostly ate out, and the “ped-way” cheaper eating places were closed much of Sunday and all of Monday, which means that the cost was too much to be able to repeat this next year; we have giant hospital co-pays every year, and this con cost much more than what we expected. At other cons when we drove, we also packed non-perishable food. Perhaps that’s one reason it seemed that we were outsiders looking in. My level of exhaustion is high without all the caregiving and costs.
Comment by pjm — September 5, 2012 @ 9:31 pm
Gareth
I like the programming analogy in a lot of ways.
I think you ideally want a program to be written by somebody who would use it, for others to use. Otherwise it would be like a story written by somebody who does not understand the genre.
Peter
Comment by Richard — September 7, 2012 @ 2:30 am
Elizabeth,
A different timescale, but how about, as an analogy, driving a long outing to somewhere you very much want to go but have never been before (so you’ve a general idea which way to go, but not what the road looks like along the way)? Old-style driving, not multi-lane dual carriageway. A long enough journey to need refreshment stops along the way. With “are we nearly there yet?” children [blog fans] for in-car entertainment. Then the return journey can represent all the work through Editor’s comments, copy-edits, proofs to publication day.
After LoneStarCon3 comes off you’ll be able to tell us how much organising a convention is like writing (apart from being more of a collaboration?)
Comment by elizabeth — September 7, 2012 @ 11:14 am
Wow…a lot of comments I’d missed here. Starting at the bottom: Richard, you won’t find out anything about organizing a convention from me–I stay far away from that end. Not my skill set.
It’s interesting to see what metaphors people come up with…not all work for me, but if they work for you, that’s great.
Elizabeth D: Sorry I didn’t think to tell everyone about Bockwinkel’s, the small but superb grocery just a block from the hotel. I look for local groceries and eat self-made meals a fair bit, if I can squeeze out the time. This one had good produce, good cheeses, good deli, and premade meals as well (and a jar opener that made opening the club soda–far cheaper than other sparkling water–easier.)
It’s no help to you now, but in future, for anyone who can, traveling with a few essential tools (knife, fork, spoon, jar and can openers, scissors) and finding a grocery in easy walking distance makes it possible to eat more healthy food for less money. I usually get some good multi-grain bread, a hard cheese that doesn’t require refrigeration, apples, limes, club soda. If the room has a fridge, then deli meats or pasta salads & such. My friend Kris and I spotted the grocery store in a walk-around the first day. She had a fridge; I didn’t (and we were in opposite towers, far enough up that elevator wait-time was a problem.)
Comment by Elizabeth D. — September 7, 2012 @ 2:10 pm
Thank you for the idea; that’s usually what we do, eat grocery foods and bring some utensils. It would have been much smarter. Often we bring a small saucepan and a small one-pot burner too, so we can cook a rice combo. We didn’t have a refrigerator, even though we had asked ahead of time and again when we got there, and there wasn’t even a “Mr. Coffee” in the room, so we couldn’t have made cous-cous.
When Marcon in Columbus used to be at Memorial Day weekend, the Hyatt there had more refrigerators because the hotel competes with the Drury Hotel, which has them in every room, as well as free breakfast and evening snacks.
I think that I’m just a bit anxious about my family though; my daughter’s upcoming surgery and the state of my husband’s health is on my mind. The anxiety made it more difficult to explore the neighborhood, and Kris couldn’t walk very far.
You were very gracious to everybody, and I am very glad that I brought a few books instead of utensils, but the lack of utensils enriched the hotel.
Comment by Ginny W. — September 11, 2012 @ 2:35 pm
Perhaps writing a story is like settling into a house. You pick something with a general structure you like. Then you try to fit what you own into it. Then you change the colors, or the fabrics, or you acquire something to fit in this odd corner. And projects completed, almost completed, pending time and energy or begun in error pile up. Then an event happens and leaves an imprint. In time something that is uniquely “my house” emerges.