I've been rather worried for some time about the sequel to Sand Sifters. I mean, I know it is a trilogy - but I only have a vague idea about how it will end, and zero idea how it gets there. So I've edited Sand Sifters 1 with the uneasy realization that Mr. Ipsi wants to know what happens next - and I have no clue. Every idea I'd once had for the second was blown away by what happened in the first book.
This dry spell has lasted two years, where I just tried not to think about it. But I worried that my well had run dry before I even got to the second book. So I started a totally new novel in a different world, the Illuminators. Which I'm still excited about, though I am having some major world-building problems.
Then I was out weeding this week when the ideas started flowing. I was thinking about revolutionaries and what sort of person would make a good one, and who would make a poor one. Then I wrote a little sketch of a character talking about why she was not a good revolutionary and admiring someone who was, while the person she spoke to rejected her idea that a good revolutionary could be a good human being. And the second book of Sand Sifters series took form. Now I'm in full-planning mode and my cup it overfloweth with plot lines. And I'm left to wonder - where did it come from? Why didn't these ideas come sooner? What triggered this bounty? The more I write, the more I am baffled by the process that goes on in the brain. It is obvious to me that what I imagine comes out of what I have experienced and what I have learned of humans. But why is it coming together in this instance, when I'd already moved on to something else, rather than the hours I'd spent actually searching for the plot line and looking for answers?
Friday, June 27, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
Done
The Sandsifters first draft edits are done. Now it is time to pass them to a professional for copyediting. I need to start researching agents and publishing houses and thier guidelines. Get a "Writer's Market Guide" so that when the professional editing is done, I will know where and to whom I wish to send it - maybe make a list so I can quickly resend after a rejection.
Also had some ideas for the second novel and wrote 400 words on that. Bringing in some ideas I put forth in the newly added prologue of Sandsifters to incorporate in the second novel.
Other than that - Mr. Ips. told the MIL that he would come down in the Aug. 15-17 vicinity to fetch her since she can't seem to fly by herself and I am still feeling resentful. The creativity I felt on Illuminators has shriveled with the news of her coming and I am trying to regain what little equanimity I possess to help me find my creative center and come back to writing. I wish I were a steadier sort of person with stable emotions. I wonder sometimes what my life would be like if depression didn't rob me of six months a year. Mr. Ips says I might as well wonder what it would be like if I were six foot tall with the shape of a model. I suppose he's right - in a way he has accepted that SAD is as much a part of me as my height and eye color; certainly he's accepted it better than I have. I still sometimes hope maybe I can just kick it or cure it like a habit or a disease. But researchers have found that SAD tends to be more genetic, more of an overall a whole body system environmental reaction than regular depression is - which is why drugs don't tend to work.
My aunt is in from Connecticut this week - I'll probably be heading to the parents in a couple of days. She is one of those really positive, soul-motiviating people who leave you energized after talking with her - so this should be a fun visit.
Also had some ideas for the second novel and wrote 400 words on that. Bringing in some ideas I put forth in the newly added prologue of Sandsifters to incorporate in the second novel.
Other than that - Mr. Ips. told the MIL that he would come down in the Aug. 15-17 vicinity to fetch her since she can't seem to fly by herself and I am still feeling resentful. The creativity I felt on Illuminators has shriveled with the news of her coming and I am trying to regain what little equanimity I possess to help me find my creative center and come back to writing. I wish I were a steadier sort of person with stable emotions. I wonder sometimes what my life would be like if depression didn't rob me of six months a year. Mr. Ips says I might as well wonder what it would be like if I were six foot tall with the shape of a model. I suppose he's right - in a way he has accepted that SAD is as much a part of me as my height and eye color; certainly he's accepted it better than I have. I still sometimes hope maybe I can just kick it or cure it like a habit or a disease. But researchers have found that SAD tends to be more genetic, more of an overall a whole body system environmental reaction than regular depression is - which is why drugs don't tend to work.
My aunt is in from Connecticut this week - I'll probably be heading to the parents in a couple of days. She is one of those really positive, soul-motiviating people who leave you energized after talking with her - so this should be a fun visit.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Just say no
Easy thing to do right? No. You can say it easily to strangers who have no connection to you, no stake in your life. You can say it to partial strangers, though it gets harder when they pull at your heartstrings with causes. People you work with, not so easy because there is an even greater stake - that of respect and career enhancement. People in the dem party - even harder because you connect fully with their causes, can feel the guilt of someone who isn't doing as much. Friends - good lord is it hard to say no. Why? That bond of love, that need for respect and that feeling of helping someone you feel is worth helping. You've chosen them because they are worth taking that extra step for.
Then you get to family. Siblings - how they have a grip on you! They know just what to say to get the guilty juices churning; or to get the sympathetic tears crying. And, if you are lucky, there is that lifelong bond of love that makes you want them to be happy. And of course we are up to Parents. They raised you. They protected you. They love you for who you are while trying to get you to be the best of who you are. In some cases it was pure, amazed, "I can't believe this wonderful person came out of me" love. If you have siblings - it is a little easier - brother or sister can often take on causes you don't feel qualified or any way up to dealing with. The brother plays tennis with dad while you help with insurance letters. To each his or her own strengths.
Why all this silly contemplation over the hierarchy of saying no? My mother-in-law wants to come up and live with us again during prime Florida hurricane season. And we all know how much I enjoyed that last year. And thus we get to the tangible instead of the theoretical. My husband grew up an only child with a very difficult, controlling father. His ally was his mother. His protector was his mother. The person who loved him and still loves him with all her heart - his mother. His father is dead, his mother has mental health problems and he has no siblings to help carry the load.
I am big on family. I am really very close to mine, though they can drive me crazy when all together in a big group. I know that my parents will (and have) drop everything if I have an emergency. I know that I will and have dropped everything to go help them. Ditto with my siblings. And yes, I know just how lucky I am. And I know that having a close family like mine comes with duty - and accept the duties of love with just a few grudging reservations that I get over and do anyway (like family vacations!).
And there is the conundrum. I believe strongly in family. I believe in taking care of my family. Through marriage, my MIL is my family. I can't stand her.
But she and Mr. Ips. are close. She is his mother and thinks he is a thousand times better than sliced bread. She has no one else.
There is no "NO" in this situation. There is compromise - not for nine weeks, for six or seven weeks. That doesn't mean she will get to sit on her ass the whole time like she did last summer. She will be in the guest room this time, not the master bedroom. And we will all be unhappy. But we will still be a family and I will still respect myself.
Then you get to family. Siblings - how they have a grip on you! They know just what to say to get the guilty juices churning; or to get the sympathetic tears crying. And, if you are lucky, there is that lifelong bond of love that makes you want them to be happy. And of course we are up to Parents. They raised you. They protected you. They love you for who you are while trying to get you to be the best of who you are. In some cases it was pure, amazed, "I can't believe this wonderful person came out of me" love. If you have siblings - it is a little easier - brother or sister can often take on causes you don't feel qualified or any way up to dealing with. The brother plays tennis with dad while you help with insurance letters. To each his or her own strengths.
Why all this silly contemplation over the hierarchy of saying no? My mother-in-law wants to come up and live with us again during prime Florida hurricane season. And we all know how much I enjoyed that last year. And thus we get to the tangible instead of the theoretical. My husband grew up an only child with a very difficult, controlling father. His ally was his mother. His protector was his mother. The person who loved him and still loves him with all her heart - his mother. His father is dead, his mother has mental health problems and he has no siblings to help carry the load.
I am big on family. I am really very close to mine, though they can drive me crazy when all together in a big group. I know that my parents will (and have) drop everything if I have an emergency. I know that I will and have dropped everything to go help them. Ditto with my siblings. And yes, I know just how lucky I am. And I know that having a close family like mine comes with duty - and accept the duties of love with just a few grudging reservations that I get over and do anyway (like family vacations!).
And there is the conundrum. I believe strongly in family. I believe in taking care of my family. Through marriage, my MIL is my family. I can't stand her.
But she and Mr. Ips. are close. She is his mother and thinks he is a thousand times better than sliced bread. She has no one else.
There is no "NO" in this situation. There is compromise - not for nine weeks, for six or seven weeks. That doesn't mean she will get to sit on her ass the whole time like she did last summer. She will be in the guest room this time, not the master bedroom. And we will all be unhappy. But we will still be a family and I will still respect myself.
Sunday, June 08, 2008
We're back
Hiked and played with nieces. Decided to hike to Alum Cave Bluffs Friday with just Mr. Ips and I. It was 2 1/2 miles up.
But we got there after just an hour, and I thought there must be something better around the corner. I just wasn't tired yet and neither was the Mr. so we kept going. Then we found out there was water to replenish our own if we went all the way to Mt. LeConte (elevation 6,593 ft - third highest peak in the park). So we went another 2 1/2 miles straight up. It was grueling - the gnats and biting flies were out in full force at the top. I have blisters on just about every toe from the 5 mile descent back to the car- but it was worth it!
Believe it or not - there is a lodge up there they bring supplies to on Llamas. No electricity, pit toilets, but very old and weathered and cool. Would love to bunk up there some day!
But we got there after just an hour, and I thought there must be something better around the corner. I just wasn't tired yet and neither was the Mr. so we kept going. Then we found out there was water to replenish our own if we went all the way to Mt. LeConte (elevation 6,593 ft - third highest peak in the park). So we went another 2 1/2 miles straight up. It was grueling - the gnats and biting flies were out in full force at the top. I have blisters on just about every toe from the 5 mile descent back to the car- but it was worth it!
Believe it or not - there is a lodge up there they bring supplies to on Llamas. No electricity, pit toilets, but very old and weathered and cool. Would love to bunk up there some day!
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