On the book-buying front, I got two new ones this weekend: Letters from Mexico and The Nahualli Animal Oracle. The later comes with a deck of divining cards, and apparently my nahualli is a coyote (perhaps the 3-legged one that I sometimes see in the field behind my house? Having a disable leg certainly hasn't slowed it down.).
The muse is biting and clawing to get to writing, but I'll have to muzzle him for a little while, so I can write a query and see how my protag's motivations hold up. Then it will be off to another rewrite of the outline. Plus, it was recommended that I take a look at The Mists of Avalon, since I'm doing something similar in that I'm taking a myth (not a really well-known one, but the most well-known of that particular culture's mythology) and telling it from an alternate character's POV, so I bought that yesterday and plan to read it (this is the first time I've ever bought a novel with the intent of studying it in hopes of helping my own writing.).
And in other good news, the Zokutou word meter is back up and running again. Quite pleased to see that.
This is more of a curiosity than anything, but after running a quick spell check on the outline yesterday, to add the accent marks into my characters names after transferring my text from yWriter into Word, I noticed it scored an 12th grade reading level on their little Flisch-Kincaid reading level. The novel itself only scores a 6.5 level, so I'm curious about what constitutes the difference. How do they measure this anyway? Not that I need to know; just curious.
In other news, I'm planning to buy Duran Duran concert tickets this morning. They're going to be here at the new Wells Fargo Theater at the Convention Center May 12th.
But in the meantime, back to the outline.
So today's plan is to start working on the rewrite of "The Hearts of Men" for the polish challenge over at LH, and get at least one story back out to market after a couple rejections over the weekend (the other two I'm waiting for markets to open up again.). I also saw that my editor over at Sorcererous Signals has nominated my story she published for the Million Writers Award this year, which is cool (and the second year in a row that I've had something nominated).
So, enough ranting already. Time to get to work writing so I can some day become a cranky old pro rather than just a cranky semi-pro:).
Finally powered past the difficulties and I feel good about how things are unfolding (part of my problem was that I wasn't too terribly sure I was doing the right thing with the changes). Hoping for another good day.
My last copy of Codex Florentine finally arrived on Wednesday, this one the volume on rhetoric, and it's freakin' awesome! I'll have to read it and see about incorporating some uniquely Nahuatl sayings into the novel. The book basically covers prayers to Tezcatlipoca, ritual speeches the ruler would say when taking the Office of Revered Speaker, how one is supposed to address the ruler based on class, ritual speeches related to weddings and the birth of children, parental speeches to children about proper behavior based on gender, then of course the section of sayings. And while at B&N the same night, I bought a children's book on Aztecs, Incas & Maya, a DK Eyewitness book with wonderful pictures of textiles and artifacts. I love books that show everyday items like these rather than just focusing on art.
David de Beer
Aliette de Bodard
Tobias Buckell
J. Kathleen Cheney
Brian Dolton
Jim C. Hines
Tony Pi
Eric James Stone
Mary Robinette Kowal
Nancy Fulda
Tom Pendergrass
Ruth Nestvold
Vaughn Stanger
Eugie Foster
Steven Utley
So it's a pretty big book. Some of these authors I've read and enjoyed, but most I've never read anything by them so that's why I chose them. The one thing that would make this anthology perfect was if there were interior illustrations available to buy with the stories, though I'm sure the logistics of commissioning artists to do illustrations for specific stories could be difficult (it would be even cooler if there were several different illustrations to chose from for each story). Overall though I'm impressed with the quality of the book and I feel good about the amount of money it cost. I'm looking forward to sitting down and reading it.
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81,751 / 150,000 (54.5%) |
So there's Friday's progress. Jeff's working this morning so I'm planning to work a bit this morning. Another volume of the Florentine Codex arrived yesterday, this one on the Aztec gods. Interesting spots so far: Sahagun calling Topiltzin Quetzalcóatl a minion of the Devil and claimed he was sent to Hell by God. This is snicker-worthy because there's other Spanish friars who attempted to find evidence that TQ was actually Saint Thomas, and the Mormons believe TQ was actually Jesus visiting the New World.
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65,950 / 150,000 (44.0%) |
Another fine day of progress, and planning another one today.
My first volume of the Codex Florentine arrived yesterday, and boy is it a treat. Nice cloth-bound book that looks like a library book, and some of the entries make for rather amusing reading, particularly Sahagun's descriptions of "evil women" and their "friction-loving vulva." This particular volume (10) includes an encyclopedia of Nahautl terms for the parts of the body and native cures for ailments as well as detailed explanations of various careers available to both men and women in Pre-Conquest Mexico, and some history of the Toltecs and Mixtecs, so I think I will find this particular volume quite useful in fleshing out details for my novel.
Got a new book from Amazon yesterday, and it's totally kicks ass! It's an illustrated book about Aztec warfare, weapons, armor and tactics. It includes photographs of reconstructions of uniforms and weapons, in the materials they would have been originally made in. I totally should have gotten this for you for you birthday
![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
aliettedb, because I'm sure you'd find it very useful for your Acatl stories. You can see info about it here, and I believe some of the used dealers ship from the UK, so it probably wouldn't be too expensive to get a copy.
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131,746 / 150,000 (87.0%) |
Only about 2k done today. Was never quite able to buckle down and I had to take Gaaron to the doctor today for an infection that's put a blister on the membrane of his eardrum. Poor kid.
In other news, I believe I've finally secured copies of both Interzone 212 and 213. I'm just waiting to hear back that they're indeed on their way. I'm jazzed because I was having a heck of a time finding anyone locally who was selling the magazine at all.
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129,318 / 150,000 (85.0%) |
Just under 5k done today. I had to write some pretty emotionally difficult parts today, which is probably why I found it difficult to sit down and write for any extended period of time. I'm about a chapter away from finishing part 4 and starting the last section of this novel (which is the first book in a two book series.). I'm looking forward to this last section, because everything else has naturally been leading up to this point, and my protag is also going to fall in love, which wasn't part of the original outline (or the novelette the story's based on), but almost as soon as I introduced this new character, it was obvious to me that she would end up falling in love him. It should be interesting, since he's the son of the main villian and he was also involved in the murder of her father in the first part (though he was just a boy at the time).
On the sub front, got back a rejection from Murky Depths on a story they'd held for a while and really liked, but felt it just wasn't original enough. I also got back a strange email from Space & Time tonight, which was blank, so I'll have to email them back tomorrow to make sure that it's indeed a rejection and not some email snafu before I go send the story off some place else.
I also ordered some books recently, History and Mythology of the Aztecs: The Codex Chimalpopoca, Quetzalcóatl and the Irony of Empire (which should be useful for the MSF), and another book on Aztec military garb, which hasn't arrived in the mail yet but looks cool.
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6,563 / 8,000 (82.0%) |
So I actually had a pretty decent writing day yesterday. I'm one scene away from finishing, and I could probably get it done in 7500 words, but I'm going with 8k just because.
Today I go downtown to school to do my little talk about submitting stories to markets and to have lunch with one of my former professors and fellow spec-fic writer (she teaches the science fiction writing workshop there). Should be good fun, so long as I don't freeze up and start stuttering (I've got awesome notes this time, so there should be less risk of that happening. I was never particularly good at public speaking.). This morning I trucked up to Newsland to see if they had Interzone 212 and was told that they're not going to carry Interzone anymore because the distributor has screwed them over once too often. The only other place I can think of in town that might have it is The Tattered Cover, and if they don't, then I'm going to have to order it online, which sucks but oh well (I'll also have to order 213, since
aliettedb's awesome alternate history/mystery story is supposed to be in there. Maybe I should just get a subscription and call it done.).I don't know if I'll really get a chance to write today, since I'll be gone most of the day, but I'm aiming to get at least an hour in once I get back home, make a good start towards getting the ending done. Tomorrow though is a free day, with no kids and no babysitting, just me and writing time, so I'm looking forward to that.
I spent some time this afternoon looking up references for Filipino mythology for a story idea that's just beginning to simmer. It's historical fantasy, inspired by my grandmother's experiences living in the Philippines during the Japanese occupation. I always thought her story was an interesting one, and my grandfather recorded her recollections of those years in his book Another Side of Hollywood, which is his autobiography (for those who are new to the blog, my grandfather was an actor, mostly westerns and television. My great-grandfather was also a silent film actor and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Someday, when the scanner is fixed, I'll dig up the picture of me and Dana in front of the star and post it.). In recent years she's fallen victim to Alzheimer's disease and she hardly remembers her own children let alone her grandchildren, and I think it would be nice to honor her life with a story about her and her experiences. It might take me while to get it right, but however long, I'm going to do it. It's also a nice opportunity to learn a little more about my Filipino roots, which I feel very distant from. Just a cursory glance over the mythology stuff I found on Wikipedia, to get me started, presented quite a few potential story ideas, so maybe I'll also be able to mine a few more stories out of this research. I haven't seen much WWII fantasy that takes place in the Pacific Theatre, but if anyone's familiar with any, let know where to find it because I'd be interested in reading it.
On another note, I found a place in town that specializes in magazines and today I bought the current issue of Interzone, with
aliettedb's story in it, the latest issue of RoF, and issue 100 of Space and Time (which I'm really pleased to see them coming back from the grave and giving it another go.They're suppose to reopen to subs soon too.). So I've got some reading ahead of me.
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3,483 / 7,000 (49.8%) |
The draft is coming along nicely, and today I'm not nearly as ill-inclined towards what I'd written yesterday as I was. I anticipate cutting a bit of it, for the story does seem a little slow starting and I've only now gotten to the action/adventure section. And I certainly don't want this to be another 10k monster, like "Love, Blood & Octli." (Nor does it feel like it needs to be, based on plot alone.).
In sub news, got a rejection from Paradox today and I'll be sending that story out to RoF once I go over the beginning and clear up a technical point that aparently led to a completely off-the-mark interpretation of who one character was (interestingly, editors seem to think that Tezcatlipoca is actually in the story as more than just a mention when he's in fact not in the story and isn't one of the other characters in disguise.). I also decided that since I wasn't going to renew two of my magazine subscriptions this year, I went ahead and subscribed to Realms of Fantasy. It's been at least four years since I last read an issue, so it's time to give it another look (I'm starting to feel good about the market in general, so that played into my decision to get a subscription as well.).
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31,961 / 35,000 (91.3%) |
Not a whole lot of progress on this front today. I'm actually struggling a little bit with this most important part of the story, so it's slow going.
A couple rejections came in today, one a form, the other a nice personal note (it's time to start thinking about what to send to that particular market next, or if I need to start planning to write the next one.). I sent one story off to Talebones, the other I'm going to work on the end a little more (the pacing feels a little off at the end, a little rushed, and I want to do a few things with a couple characters.). I'll probably send it then off to F&SF in the next couple of days.
And just when I thought I'd bought all the Aztec-related books there was to buy, I bought 2 more today: Indian Women of Early Mexico and a novel called Feathered Serpent by Colin Falconer, which is about Malinche and the Conquest (and supposedly so full of sex that it puts Gary Jennings to shame. We'll see.). Some day I should really pick up The Luck of Huemac again, as well as Inca, though I've been reading Needful Things the last couple of days and enjoying that (and absorbing just how awesome King is at creating characters.). So much to read, so little time....
On Sunday we took a bunch of our old stuff over to the annual Boy Scout garage sale (Jeff's dad is a pack leader and they do this every year to raise money for the summer camping trips) and while browsing the books, I found a hardcover 1st edition of Gary Jenning's Aztec, complete with dust jacket (with only a small tear on the back). I immediately snatched that up and bought it for a mere 20 cents. And a quick jaunt over to Abebooks, Ebay, and Amazon show it goes from anywhere from $2-$100, with copies in the same condition as mine being in the upper range. Not that I'm interested in reselling it, but it makes me feel really good about spending only 20 cents to get it. It's finding little treasures like this for super cheap that reminds me why I liked going out to garage sales so much when I was a kid. Some people just don't realize what just how much some of their stuff is worth.
Probably not going to get much done today. I'm getting a late start since I found myself unable to get to sleep until after 2am this morning because of the heat. Later today, I have an appointment to take Gaaron in for an echocardiogram. He was born with a small hole inside his heart, between the atria (I think), and while it's not all that unusual for children to be born with this condition, the doctor can still hear a murmur and so wants it looked at again, to make sure it's not getting bigger. Apparently they usually seal up on their own in a couple years but his is still there. I'm of the mindset that I'm certainly not going to worry about it until the doctor tells me there's something to worry about, so I'm not stressed about going in today or anything; it's just procautionary. So we'll spend a couple hours at Children's Hospital this afternoon. I'm planning to start reading a story I'm supposed to critique this morning after breakfast but probably won't get any writing done.
aliettedb's unicorn story so I can determine if it's something I can read to her or not.Profile
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- T. L. Morganfield
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