Musing: January 2008 Archives
I don't make a habit of talking about non-fiction-writing related work, but it's a special occasion.
Essentially everything I do to make a living has to do with writing, but each project is either more or less creative, depending on context. The editing and the fiction is far and away my preferred work, but the adult learning development and change and communication management has earned a soft spot in my heart by (in short) paying well. Certain lesser aspects of my affection can be bought, apparently.
To my point: due to the labyrinthine rules that large companies and small consultants observe in order to meet and exchange mutually beneficial products (read: "cash" and "talent", respectively), the company I'm currently ensconced within has discovered that they have to end their association with me in a few months or potentially suffer arcane legal indignities for retaining a contractor for too long.
The upside: I have loads of forewarning and a great deal of good will and support from my current employer.
The downside: the timing is terrible. (That said, I'd be hard pressed to think of a point in time where these kinds of situations would be welcome.)
So, while agentry conversations and wedding plans move along at a brisk pace, there's at least one more thing looming on my horizon. At least with that point of reference, I know exactly where I am.
(not the same as revisions, but we have some of those too)
I'll be in NYC this weekend for various reasons, the most writerly of which include a weekend lunch with my agent to go over the last round of revisions and meeting up with Matt Cody, author of the upcoming Powerless, to coo over his newborn son. I'm told his amazing wife will be around as well, so that's a bonus.
The primary reason for the trip is, of course, to finish packing up the last of my fiance's things in anticipation of her move out to Denver next week. I can't describe how happy I am that we're finally at that dream-like future place that was always there and never here, and describing things is what I do for a living.
I've been under both the weather and a number of deadlines this week and the site -- as the least-squeaky of any of my wheels -- has suffered neglect.
Most of the Casa household is sick in some fashion or other, regardless of age or elevation on the evolutionary chain; dispensing the various medicine dosages every 12 hours takes a quarter hour assuming everyone's cooperating. Most seems to be on the upswing, though.
Revision deadlines are coming up for Hidden Things: my agent's posed a couple of questions about various characters and happenings in the story and asked that I sneak the answers into the text 'somewhere'. I generally don't enjoy revisions, but the questions are good, the answers are interesting, and the sneaking-in part is fun. I'm enjoying this particular process, and I like the way my agent sets out the task.
"I'd like to know more about what Walker... what he is, I guess."
"The background, how he got that way?"
"Sure, that could be part of it."
"Oh, well I was thinking [insert off-the-cuff exposition that could go on a few minutes, but is mercifully cut short]."
"Hmm. That's interesting. You should see how that works and work it in... you know, somewhere. Or try something else. Whatever you think."
She asks just enough to get my mind gnawing at the problem then releases it into wild and asks, politely, if it couldn't go track it down. (As if by that point I could do anything but go after it.) Challenging and freeing at the same time.
Finally, still working on the new look for the site. I've muddled through about half the templates and pages that need muddling -- with any luck I'll have that wrapped up by the end of the month as well.
A literary mode rather than a distinguishable genre, magical realism aims to seize the paradox of the union of opposites and is characterized by two conflicting perspectives, one based on a rational view of reality and the other on the acceptance of the supernatural as prosaic reality.Magical realism differs from pure fantasy primarily because it is set in a normal, modern world with authentic descriptions of humans and society and involves the amalgamation of the real and the fantastic. It offers a world view that is not based on natural or physical laws nor objective reality, but is not separated from reality, either.
I've been using this term for a while now because I dislike "urban fantasy" as categorical heading -- a feeling that shifts to outright loathing when it tries to associate itself with stories I've written.
As I may have mentioned, I got most of the expansions available for Catan during the holidays, and we've had a chance to play a couple times since then.
Current tally:
- me: 1
- kate: 1
- champagne: 2
I hope everyone had a happy New Year's Eve Arbitrary Calendar Event Celebration. We had Kaylee, so the evening was a relatively quiet one spent at home, working on a Super Secret Web Project, and then curled up on the couch to watch the extended director's cut version of Return of the King until well into the night (Denethor was taking a flaming header off Minas Tirith when midnight rolled around).
There are worse ways to see in the New Year.
Tomorrow, it's back to the grindstone, not to mention a new agently-originated series of revisions for Hidden Things. Evenings, I suspect, are going involve more work on the kitchen/family room project, which ended up being much more involved than we'd anticipated. More on that (with videos!) later.
