Under Hill Yet Older Still

December 10

Two days until my birthday. I'll be 26. So old. So very very old. I know, not in any absolute sense, but... wow. Over halfway done with my twenties. Headed down the slippery slope.

What can ease the pain of my spiraling decrepitude? Good wishes. Gifts. The usual.

I've been thinking a lot lately about the symbolic power of winter, of the end of the year, resolutions, casting away the errors of the old year, setting the tone for the year ahead. It's getting close to time to examine last year's resolutions/goals, and figure out what to focus on in the coming year. I suspect the next year will be all about novels -- trying to sell Rangergirl (which I think is far and away the most sellable novel I've written), and writing another book, though I haven't decided which book, yet -- either my Frog novel about Marla, with the mad Aztec goodness, or a Mr. Li novel. I'm leaning toward the Marla novel, if only because it's more fully realized in my mind. I want to do more with Mr. Li, but I think I can do a short story to satisfy that urge... In the meantime, I'm working on another short story, one of the oldest ideas I have, which finally became more than a one-line joke and became something that could be rich and resonant. Call it the Fish story. I've been starting a lot of stories without finishing them for the past couple of months, but I suspect it was because the novel was diluting my focus. I'm ready to concentrate on something short, now. I wrote about 800 words of the Fish story during lunch today, and I'm very into it already, the characters and their troubles are sharp and clear and real in my mind, the fantasy element is complex and pleasingly ambiguous, and I have a lot of strong images to hang the story on. It could be good.

In other writing news, I'm just hanging fire, mostly. In the past week I've sent back two rewrites, and am now waiting with a suitable imitation of patience for final decisions. I have some revisions to do (including a rewrite for Realms, which I should get busy on!). I got my payment for "The Scent of Copper Pennies" from Far Sector -- I'm so glad that story's seeing print! It's very personal, and means a lot to me. I'm checking the end-of-year "Best Stories" lists and noting with no real surprise that I'm not mentioned anywhere. So it goes. I'm also waiting to see what the year's-best anthology line-ups look like. Before last year I wouldn't have thought twice about it, but getting a double-dip last year with "Annabelle's" has made me hyper-aware of the joys of anthologization, but I'm unlikely to be so fortunate again, I know, I know... I just got a new toner cartridge, so I can print out my novel and send it off to a fellow writer who's agreed to read and give feedback on the condition that I send him a hard-copy. Because I'm so damn poor I'm single-spacing and double-spacing... with luck I'll be able to fit it all in a priority mail envelope and get it to him soon. I like providing people with holiday reading...

Sweet Heather and I watched 13 Conversations About One Thing tonight, and I must echo Gwenda Bond's conditional recommendation. It had some nice moments, and a couple of my favorite actors put in good performances, but about an hour in I remarked to Heather that the film would be a boon to people with terminal illnesses, because it had remarkable time-dilating properties; I felt like I'd been watching it for about three hours -- both because of slow pacing and emotional wrenching -- and it was only halfway done.

It looks like I'm going to get my car hauled away! I found a charity that does super-fast pickups in California, so I should even be able to get a "charitable donation" write-off for this year's taxes, la! This is especially fortunate, since I'm filing as a writer for the first time, and have made a surprising bit of money off my writerly endeavors this year (about the equivalent of 6 weeks pay at the day job, and that's not counting a check from Realms which might come before year's end). I don't have much in the way of write-offs, either, and it would suck to get stuck with a big debt to the IRS. Writing off the car should help.

Good night, all. Happy writing and reading!

Words written since February 1, 2002: 189,200

Words written since last entry:
800

Buy Floodwater via PayPal! $5, includes shipping. Or send a check payable to Heather Shaw to the PO Box below.