Rats and Earthquakes

February 11

Does this make up for all those zero-word days?

Late last night I got an invitation to join the Web Rats ring, and gladly did so. There's some lovely journals in there-- when you grow weary of Tropism (as you doubtless will), you can wander in those whiskered glades.

I got up early today and wrote for a bit on the Bicycle story. Then I went downtown to check my mail, and wandered for a while in Bookshop and Logos. I bought Sourcery (the next set of three Discworld reprints are out-- Sourcery, Mort, and Wyrd Sisters, which means we're closer to the reprinting of Witches Abroad and my consequent and great happiness). I also bought The Perfect Host, Volume 5 of the complete stories of Theodore Sturgeon, because it contained the highest percentage of stories I hadn't read out of the available volumes.

After that I came home and wrote a bit more, then went to Pergolesi for a reading-break. Read some Sturgeon and a little Charles de Lint (I'm still not quite done with Greenmantle). Then back home for, yes, more writing.

I experienced my first earthquake today! A little quake, a 4.0, though I noticed it. Big trucks often drive past my house, making things rattle, and I'd sort of assumed that an earthquake would be similar to that... but it was oddly, qualitatively different. Less a rumbling, and more a push. Like a team of elephants giving one good hard shove against my house, or like the whole house sliding an inch back. It was short, there and gone, and I wondered for a moment if I'd imagined it-- then saw the pictures swaying on my walls, and my lampshade wobbling.

Wowza. Does this mean I'm a Californian, now? Is the initiation complete?

I watched part of a truly awful old Nicolas Cage vampire movie with Scott this evening. The character had this bizarre, in-and-out, affected accent-- I say affected because at one point Cage's character says he was born and raised in Philadelphia, then moved to New York. Which at no point explains where he got that French-Liverpudlian-on-the-Rhine accent.

The movie was awful for many other reasons, but the accent was the funniest.

Scott went to work, and D. came over to watch Sunday night cartoons. Then I chatted some with Meg, and dove back into the phosphor-dot mines to finish the Bicycle story (which is called, I think, "The Witch's Bicycle"-- at least until someone recommends a better title). I think it's good. I know it's long. This thing is almost 13,000 words in length! What's up with me writing these novellas? The Bathtub story had better be short, at least. If only because I can't put up with 10,000 words of that kind of vileness.

I'm back on track for the Dare after today-- I'm even up by 89 words! Hooray!

Well. If February had thirty days, I'd be on track. I'm actually a bit behind. Ah, well. Such is life.

Total Word Count: 22,089

Today's Word Count: 8,589

The Daring Darlings:

Jim C. Hines

Hilary Moon Murphy

Nicole Montgomery

Melanie Miller Fletcher

Karina Summer Smith

Anne Hutchins