9 April 2002

Scott asked me yesterday whether the flyingness of the squid was preparation or species name, and I had to confess I had no idea. So I did a quick google search, and it looks like "Neon Flying Squid" inhabit the Pacific Ocean. I just think that's darn cool.

You remember my comments on short stories and how I have "enough" of them and all of that, don't have to write any more. Well, I finished up "Another Hollywood Miracle" last night anyway, on a break from the NTMB. I only had about 400 words left, maybe 500, and they were easy words. Lots of the's and and's. So...well...what can it hurt, right? And I did get good work on the NTMB as well. Oh, that's fun stuff. I do love this book, and I'm glad to be writing it heavily.

My shoulders are a bit less thrilled, however.

I finished The Beggar Queen yesterday and read Spock's World. Yep. A Star Trek novel, my very first. It was by Diane Duane -- whose Wizard series is quite excellent -- and it came recommended. Meh. It was entertaining and didn't ask too much of me, but I'm going to read the other Diane Duane ST novel we have and the Joe Haldeman (because if Joe Haldeman wrote the phone book...), and then I think that can be it.

Part of the problem I had was one I think would show up in general if I read media tie-ins for media stuff I'd seen/used before: I feel competent to criticize characterization. Usually if the characters are internally consistent, that's the end of that. But here, no. There were a few times when I thought, "There's no way Kirk would say that!" Worse, when there were times when she got comments dead on, they, too, jarred me out of the book: "Oh, yeah, that's very good, very Bones." And I'm not even a big Trekkie, Trekker, or anything else.

So I started reading The Red and the Black, but I think I'm going to read that more gradually, with some breaks for other things when I'm tired. Like The Illyrian Adventure. Evidently it's a Lloyd Alexander week. When I was in late grade school, I installed Post-It Notes in all of my books so that I could note who had read them on which dates. Evidently I never lent The Illyrian Adventure to Hilary or Becca, but I read it for the last time on my twelfth birthday. I have dutifully put date and initials on the Post-It -- why not?

The Red and the Black, incidentally, is about neither the UNL defensive line nor checkers. Which I call misleading, is what.

It's Aunt Dor's birthday. Aunt Dor is one of my other grandmas, my real grandma's younger sister, the mother of my godfathers. And I think if you want to do right by Aunt Dor's birthday, you should color some pictures. Aunt Dor loves to color pictures with the kids. We did this a lot when I stayed at her house during the day in the summers -- we'd watch game shows and color pictures. Before that, she'd mow the yard and I'd read. We had our routines. They were good routines.

Well, I'm going up to David's later this morning. Most of my "to do" list is fairly long-term at this point. I've got cookies to bake once I get more flour. (I had barely enough flour to make them, just exactly enough, which leaves me with not enough to roll them out.) We're having the writing group people here Sunday night, so I'm not going to clean extensively until closer to that. I have errands to do, the things I put off yesterday, but I may put them off until tomorrow as well.

I don't know. I just feel little lately. (Memo to anyone who feels the need to tell me I am little: this is not the time.) Quite overwhelmed. I keep telling people not to worry, and I'll say it again: don't worry, I'll be fine. But those of you who have paid attention in the past will note that "I'll be fine" and "I am fine" are not really the same thing.