Rushing Towards Whatever
Bright and sunny at the moment, but snow on the way.
My mother is out of the hospital. No heart attack, just an unexplained case of atrial fibrillation. But now, all's clear.
I haven't left the house since February first, which makes eight consecutive days inside. No Outside. The hallways (always) don't count. And, yet, somehow - even though I have worked every day - I am unspeakably behind. The month is wasting away, and I still have a mountain of work, at least a third of which should be done by now. I'm very fucking near to panicking.
Yesterday was spent staring at the screen, or when I wasn't staring at a blank MS Word file I was reading differential geometry, quantum physics, theoretically traversable wormholes, time dilation, Antarctica, and so forth. I finally may have found a title for my At the Mountains of Madness story (but, for now, it's a secret), and I did manage to write an astounding 309 words on the story (a few of which may even be usable). After dinner (spaghetti), I spent about two hours on an interview. I think I finished up about 9:30 p.m.
New rules regarding all interviews not related to Dark Horse. I will answer, for free, no more than five questions. Questions over five cost the interviewer $100 each. This isn't a joke. Also, I will answer no questions relating to The Five of Cups or The Dreaming or hypothetical lunches with famous and/or dead people during which I can discuss whatever I care to discuss. These are the new rules, and there will be no exceptions. Take heed.
Also, yesterday Spooky made a trip to Staples, because she needed a new mouse, and picked up a stylus for me, as my fingers are far too large for the fucking keyboard on the iPad (and most everything else on the iPad). Clearly, Kermit was manufactured with smaller hands in mind. Can we please fucking end technological miniaturization? Please? We got a marvelous care package (thank you, darling Steven Lubold!), which included, among many other things, a copy of the February 2012 Previews. I've not had cause to look at an issue of Previews in well over a decade, but this one has two pages devoted to Alabaster (see photo, behind the cut). Kathryn's Xmas cactus (from a cutting taken from a very old plant in her late grandmother's kitchen, which her grandmother inherited from Spooky's great grandmother) finally bloomed (photo behind the cut, below).
I finally got to sleep sometime after 4 ayem, watching a Nova documentary on Kermit, about Adolphus Greely's disastrous bid for the North Pole during the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition (1881-1884). After about ten minutes, I realized I'd already seen it, but was too tired to look for anything else. And that, kittens, was yesterday.
Thanks to everyone who hit the big yellow button yesterday (below), to donate a few bucks to help offset our overage incurred while filming the book trailer. Or who bought one of kylecassidy's marvelous still photos. Every little bit helps.
And the headaches continue. Tiddley pom. Oh, and tomorrow I'll be posting a scehdule of my planned appearances (so far) in March and April (Manhattan, Rhode Island, Boston). I just realized I'm wearing one black sock and one maroon sock.
My eyes aren't closed. I'm looking down at the catalog. Also ignore the "HORROR" label.
Rushing,
Aunt Beast
My mother is out of the hospital. No heart attack, just an unexplained case of atrial fibrillation. But now, all's clear.
I haven't left the house since February first, which makes eight consecutive days inside. No Outside. The hallways (always) don't count. And, yet, somehow - even though I have worked every day - I am unspeakably behind. The month is wasting away, and I still have a mountain of work, at least a third of which should be done by now. I'm very fucking near to panicking.
Yesterday was spent staring at the screen, or when I wasn't staring at a blank MS Word file I was reading differential geometry, quantum physics, theoretically traversable wormholes, time dilation, Antarctica, and so forth. I finally may have found a title for my At the Mountains of Madness story (but, for now, it's a secret), and I did manage to write an astounding 309 words on the story (a few of which may even be usable). After dinner (spaghetti), I spent about two hours on an interview. I think I finished up about 9:30 p.m.
New rules regarding all interviews not related to Dark Horse. I will answer, for free, no more than five questions. Questions over five cost the interviewer $100 each. This isn't a joke. Also, I will answer no questions relating to The Five of Cups or The Dreaming or hypothetical lunches with famous and/or dead people during which I can discuss whatever I care to discuss. These are the new rules, and there will be no exceptions. Take heed.
Also, yesterday Spooky made a trip to Staples, because she needed a new mouse, and picked up a stylus for me, as my fingers are far too large for the fucking keyboard on the iPad (and most everything else on the iPad). Clearly, Kermit was manufactured with smaller hands in mind. Can we please fucking end technological miniaturization? Please? We got a marvelous care package (thank you, darling Steven Lubold!), which included, among many other things, a copy of the February 2012 Previews. I've not had cause to look at an issue of Previews in well over a decade, but this one has two pages devoted to Alabaster (see photo, behind the cut). Kathryn's Xmas cactus (from a cutting taken from a very old plant in her late grandmother's kitchen, which her grandmother inherited from Spooky's great grandmother) finally bloomed (photo behind the cut, below).
I finally got to sleep sometime after 4 ayem, watching a Nova documentary on Kermit, about Adolphus Greely's disastrous bid for the North Pole during the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition (1881-1884). After about ten minutes, I realized I'd already seen it, but was too tired to look for anything else. And that, kittens, was yesterday.
Thanks to everyone who hit the big yellow button yesterday (below), to donate a few bucks to help offset our overage incurred while filming the book trailer. Or who bought one of kylecassidy's marvelous still photos. Every little bit helps.
And the headaches continue. Tiddley pom. Oh, and tomorrow I'll be posting a scehdule of my planned appearances (so far) in March and April (Manhattan, Rhode Island, Boston). I just realized I'm wearing one black sock and one maroon sock.
My eyes aren't closed. I'm looking down at the catalog. Also ignore the "HORROR" label.
Rushing,
Aunt Beast