"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.  Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure."
   ~ Marianne Williamson

   “What is the honor of a warhorse,” Swift said, “but to see your fate, and your fear, and yet go charging straight towards it?”

Well.  The alchemy of multiple write-ins, chocolate, faith, perseverance, a competitive streak, an obsession with bar graphs, heroic music and some truly epic sleep deprivation has led me to this:


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Lately my evenings have fallen into a routine.  Dark house, music on headphones (must be epic and sweet and aching, like the story inside my head), sometimes a mug of tea if I think of it.  It could feel solitary, but I do most of my writing in a deep, comfortable crate chair, and the cat likes to curl up on the cushion behind my head.  Tonight, ( Read more... )

...but because the world was so beautiful & life was so short."
         ~ Brian Andreas

Haven't done one of these in a very long time, but it seemed like a good idea... I want to remember this summer not by the hardships, but by the small moments of happiness.

Things I'm Loving This Week:


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Goodbye, June 2011.  I don't think I've ever been so glad to see a month go.  For all of my dreamy expectations of this summer, it has been one disappointment after another after another... sometimes LARGE things, sometimes small, all piling up and squashing my usual optimism.  I think I've hit the point where I should be laughing about it all.

Case ( Read more... )

Idea stolen, somewhat indirectly, from jaeyn :


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In Which Nenya Rants at Length About the Unfortunate Tendency of Snow Days to Squander Themselves, and Other Matters of Concern:

I really thought it would be easy to write 35k this month.
I spent much of December making up for my forced fantasy deprivation of the previous month.  I watched LOTR.  I read Green Rider.  I stockpiled epic music.  I ( Read more... )

Most likely, only my writing friends will understand this one.

There was a death in the family tonight.  His name was Neil, and I've known him since NaNoWriMo 2008.  He's in his mid-forties, a breeder of fine warhorses in a time of peace, and a caring, if occasionally distant, father to his son, Sean.  He was trying to do the right thing, and I ( Read more... )

When I was about fifteen or so, three influential things happened:

1) I discovered good fantasy.  I devoured Tolkien and Harry Potter and Earthsea in a gulp.
2) I read a lot of really crappy fantasy.
3) I read a quote (incidentally, by the person who led me to discover Livejournal.)  He said, "The truth is that the books I want to read are really the ( Read more... )

I swear I'm going to update this thing soon.

Really!
I have lots to say.

But tonight, the novel is getting finished, OR BUST.
Preferably before I fall asleep...