Finished the first draft of The Intentional Writer today. It's a whopping 8,667 words long ( :headdesk: I still write short), but it's done and off to the editor. :grins:
Edited 3 short stories and shipped 2 off to editors. Will be publishing the other 2 promptly (after haranguing covers out of my imagination).
Another one from Rabia, this one on spider silk. What surprises me so much about this fascinating topic is that
- the numbers data scattered over the web is so very conflicting. It's almost impossible to conjecture accurately from the many different variations.
- farming spiders is impossible. From what I can tell, these spiders do not require a lot of personal space if you feed them (30 spiders will share a single tree), and thus there is no reason you cannot cage them separately so they don't eat each other. I feel a spider-silk mercantile center brewing in the world of Breath, and its name is Parphos.[The one I really love though is Theophopes, the white temple spider who talks and considers himself to be a "professor of philosophy and mercantile" and doesn't find it the least disturbing to discuss why he abstains from killing his fellow spiders, even when they are most annoying, or why it is perfectly natural to trust him despite his fatal venom. He's way too fun.]
Last, but not least, I've been awarded! It goes like this:
- Post this happy little icon at right, naming me a Versatile Blogger.
- Link to the person who nominated me. Thank you, Rabia Gale!
- Tell people 7 things about myself (see below).
- Pass on the award to others (see further below).
Seven Things About Myself
- I have not succeeded at finishing the Primary Sources meme, which gives some of the most influential books, films, music, etc. on my life; however, I do know that the movie Hoosiers is on it. The film was released a year before I was even born, but I can wholly attribute my first well-written novel to it and a huge part of all the things I love about intimate character studies and small town stories. The only recent movie I think even comes close is Believe in Me, which I love, but was not particularly influential on my thought processes.
- I am a youngest child. Despite this fact, I'm the only one of us that prefers to be off by myself and doing my own thing.
- My personal favorite nickname for myself is Madame Eclectica. Not because I'm approaching middle-aged (I'm not), but because I have waaaaaaaay too many different interests.
- If it weren't for my unceasing tongue or pen, I think I would be a rather boring person to be around. My idea of fun is to evaluate a language no one but myself will ever speak to identify the exact phonological sounds it includes. (I usually lose my sister around the word "glottal."
- When I was five years old, I broke my wrist—by falling off the bed. Seriously, don't ask.
- I still don't know the purpose of this blog other than to provide a window into my writing and otherwise uninspiring life.
- The best thing I learned from fandom was how to build logical bridges between canonical errors without unwriting those errors. (Though there was that one that simply cannot be reconciled. :glares at Marvel: )
As for Versatile Bloggers, hmm...
Owl and Sparrow: Kayla Olson and her general loveliness blogs at http://owlandsparrow.wordpress.com. I love to read her posts; they're just so refreshing, though at the moment, she's spending more time with baby than internet. (Can't say I blame her.)
Must Use Bigger Elephants: Patty Jansen in her concise scientificness at http://pattyjansen.wordpress.com. I like stopping in for odds and ends and sciency bits.
Character Therapist: Jeannie Campbell and her delightful analyticalness at http://charactertherapist.blogspot.com. So many of my favorite blogs are extremely focused, but she manages to vary things up while remaining ever interesting.
