Tricked Out Like Saturnalia in November
November 25
9:55 a.m.
The last morning of the Longest Weekend, and I've got Radiohead (Amnesiac) on the stereo, and two scribbled reviews to turn into well-scrubbed literary luminescence. Within an hour, preferably, so I can go get some breakfast.
La. Here goes.
10:46 a.m.
Well, I'm happy with the Knuckles and Tales review. Short story collections are difficult to review; there's not room to discuss every story with any degree of depth, so you have to pick and choose... the Demons review shouldn't take as long for me to write, since it's a novel (or, actually, an omnibus of a novella and a novel-length sequel).
But, before I dive back into that particular sea of words:
So, the Longest Weekend. Thanksgiving day Heather and I mostly dawdled around the house. I worked on revising Raveling, and read some of Summer of Night. In the afternoon we went to see Harry Potter, which wasn't bad-- too long, but entertaining enough. Then we went up to my boss's house for Thanksgiving, tra la. Had a wonderful time. Great food, great conversation, lively and interesting personalities... Heather had a really good time, too. The only bad part was when I got drafted into helping clean up after the meal, and so had to carry an enormous heavy table down narrow stairs all the way into the basement. Which wouldn't be so bad-- I brought the table up last week, after all-- but I was on the other side of a few glasses of wine, and stuffed with lots of food, so that made the process more unpleasant.
Friday we got up and went to Santa Cruz to have our second Thanksgiving, with Scott. We arrived in the afternoon and commenced a meal of Saturnalian proportions, eating intermittently for about five hours-- appetizers, artichoke dip, hash brown casserole, green bean casserole, cheese biscuits, mashed potatoes, gravy, rice, chicken... Scott is a phenomenal cook. We had ice cream and Heather's amazing dutch apple pie for desert. Add some wine and gin and tonics and coffee-with-Bailey's and Blind Russians (a drink of Scott's invention) and, well, you get a very merry Thanksgiving indeed. We sat around talking and groaning... Scott's one of my favorite people; it's so easy to talk to him, about politics, history, science... always fascinating and thoughtful and fun. Heather got a bit sick, but that passed before bedtime.
Saturday morning we got up and had pie for breakfast and leftovers for lunch, sitting around on couches indolently, watching TV. D. and his girlfriend came over and hung out with us for a bit. We went to Pergolesi, drank coffee and talked, and then Heather and I left, around 4. We got home and put up the Xmas tree (la!), and I worked on revising Raveling some more (I'm about one-third finished with the book, hurray). Also started reading Wild Life by Molly Gloss, which is wonderful so far.
Let's see. Had a rejection from The Third Alternative, a please-send-more form. I think that's the only real movement on the writing front.
My lower-left wisdom tooth got cranky this weekend, and started hurting, much to my dismay. My other three wisdom teeth grew in straight and fine, but this one is at least slightly impacted. I don't have dental insurance now (though getting some is a new priority). Anyway, the tooth stopped hurting on Saturday, though the gum is still tender. I'm observing the situation carefully...
Today, I plan to have breakfast at Mama's, read more, write more... and probably write here more. Nobody much reads my journal on Sunday anyway, so I'll wait and post this late tonight, in case I have anything more to say.
11:35p.m.
Both reviews are written, and I also revised several more pages of Raveling. Revising a novel is tiring, and this one is harder to do than Genius was. I wrote Genius in 1999, and Raveling in 1998, and I was simply a better writer in '99; there were fewer line-by-line things to fix in Genius. But I think Raveling is probably a stronger (and is certainly a more ambitious) book... I have high hopes for its final degree of coolness.
Today was nice, very low-stress. We ate lunch at Mama's, and I did Xmas shopping online, and read, and went to the tea bar to revise a bit, and lolled about with Heather eating corn dogs (veggie) and french fries and such. We watched bad television and worked on our Secret Project (which nears fruition!). We're both turning in, soon, as we've had a very full long weekend.
Let's say you wanted to send me something. Something nice. Xmas cards. Books I'd like. 'zines. Your demo tape. Birthday gifts. Amusing postcards. For whatever reason. You could send them to:
Tim Pratt
P.O. Box 13222
Berkeley, CA 94712-4222