State of Me, and links
1. It's cold again. Woe.
2. We have a sick chicken. I'm not sure what's wrong with her, though looking up chicken diseases online, there are several dozen different things it could be and they all have the same basic symptom ("Chicken looks unhappy"). I was honestly expecting to wake up and find that she'd died in the night, because she was looking terrible when I brought her in last night -- hunched and fluffed up, labored breathing, eyes shut, unresponsive. But this morning, she was looking around in the cardboard box where I stashed her in the garage, and I think she'd had some water to drink. Maybe she was just hypothermic or dehydrated or something. Here's hoping she's perkier yet when I go home tonight. (Now I'm wondering, seriously: do you have to harden chickens off like houseplants? Can you just take an animal that's been living inside and put it back outside again?)
3. Last week I made my writing goals. Go me! This week is not looking great. The current KCL story wraps up on Feb. 11 and I'm still dithering about which one to do next.
4. Car failed. Car is now fixed. 'nuff said.
5. I really want to do a decent roundup of posts in the Cultural Appropriation/Racism in Sci-Fi/Pro Writer Blogfail, because there's a lot being discussed that's very pertinent to writers of speculative fiction (of any color) and to us as SFF fans and as human beings, but I'm not even sure where to begin. Seeking-Avalon has a timeline of the basic bones of the main argument, and rydra_wong has been keeping an extensive series of link roundups. A few links that I've read lately that had particular resonance for me (your mileage may, of course, vary): kate_nepveu writes an open letter to white people in SFF fandom; coffeeandink presents How Not to Engage in Discussions of Cultural Appropriation (a deconstruction of this post) with interesting discussion following in comments; and nojojojo points out that we worry about it too ("we" meaning writers of color; "it" being cultural/ethnic sensitivity and [mis]representation).
6. I found this post, on breaking a novel down into three "acts", potentially useful as one way of managing a large project. I may try this on the next big project I tackle (possibly the next Kismet book, since so much of it is still unformed). And a link from Elizabeth Bear's blog (which, granted, I feel a bit guilty about linking to, but she does have good writing stuff on there, and yes, I still have her on my reading list): PTSD is not sexy, and survival of violence is not merely an interesting character flaw.
And now, back into my hole to wait for spring.
2. We have a sick chicken. I'm not sure what's wrong with her, though looking up chicken diseases online, there are several dozen different things it could be and they all have the same basic symptom ("Chicken looks unhappy"). I was honestly expecting to wake up and find that she'd died in the night, because she was looking terrible when I brought her in last night -- hunched and fluffed up, labored breathing, eyes shut, unresponsive. But this morning, she was looking around in the cardboard box where I stashed her in the garage, and I think she'd had some water to drink. Maybe she was just hypothermic or dehydrated or something. Here's hoping she's perkier yet when I go home tonight. (Now I'm wondering, seriously: do you have to harden chickens off like houseplants? Can you just take an animal that's been living inside and put it back outside again?)
3. Last week I made my writing goals. Go me! This week is not looking great. The current KCL story wraps up on Feb. 11 and I'm still dithering about which one to do next.
4. Car failed. Car is now fixed. 'nuff said.
5. I really want to do a decent roundup of posts in the Cultural Appropriation/Racism in Sci-Fi/Pro Writer Blogfail, because there's a lot being discussed that's very pertinent to writers of speculative fiction (of any color) and to us as SFF fans and as human beings, but I'm not even sure where to begin. Seeking-Avalon has a timeline of the basic bones of the main argument, and rydra_wong has been keeping an extensive series of link roundups. A few links that I've read lately that had particular resonance for me (your mileage may, of course, vary): kate_nepveu writes an open letter to white people in SFF fandom; coffeeandink presents How Not to Engage in Discussions of Cultural Appropriation (a deconstruction of this post) with interesting discussion following in comments; and nojojojo points out that we worry about it too ("we" meaning writers of color; "it" being cultural/ethnic sensitivity and [mis]representation).
6. I found this post, on breaking a novel down into three "acts", potentially useful as one way of managing a large project. I may try this on the next big project I tackle (possibly the next Kismet book, since so much of it is still unformed). And a link from Elizabeth Bear's blog (which, granted, I feel a bit guilty about linking to, but she does have good writing stuff on there, and yes, I still have her on my reading list): PTSD is not sexy, and survival of violence is not merely an interesting character flaw.
And now, back into my hole to wait for spring.