8 October 2004

So I finished it. Do you know how strange it is to wake up in the morning and not have more of this book to draft? Well, do you?

I even printed it out. The office smells like rain and ink, which is a very, very good thing. Thermionic Night and Sampo are sitting there cheerfully in their ominous black binders, not two feet from my hands. Less than that when I use the mouse. They are large and messy and mine. They are lovely. And I am not touching them today.

Here's what else I'm not doing: finishing the sequel. Writing the prequel. Starting a short-story-a-day week. Spending a ton of time at the computer. Typing a lot. Yep.

Today is C.J.'s birthday, and we're going to have dinner out with a small group of people. Should be good: not too social for those who aren't feeling social, but social enough to be festive. I have to finish shopping for his birthday present -- well, I suppose I don't strictly have to, but it'd be a nice idea. I also have to bake, and that is a strict requirement, since I told people (including His Birthdayness) that there would be bomber bars. I'm contemplating baking other things, too -- oatmeal raisin cookies, apple bread, Karina muffins -- and Timprov demanded that if we had any Karina, I should not use her to flavor muffins. He's very picky sometimes.

I read Kim Harrison's Dead Witch Walking yesterday. I was entertained but not impressed. It was an okay story but felt very done to me. Now I'm reading Lisa Goldstein's The Alchemist's Door, which is the last of her books I hadn't read, unless she's got something hiding out there. It's got Dr. John Dee and Rabbi Judah Loew in it. I do not give the proverbial rat's patoot about John Dee any more. Okay, people? No longer fascinating. Now very trite. If I already love you, I will still read your fantasy novel even if it has John Dee in it. Even if it has John Dee and Shakespeare in it. I may even like your fantasy novel with John Dee and Shakespeare in it. But if you have the choice -- if you're picking fascinations -- avoid the John Dee. Please please please. Do it for the children.

Anyway, it's yet another book for contract work, and I did like Lisa Goldstein's other stuff, more or less (some more and some less), so it's not the most painful thing ever to read. I'm just bored to death with John Dee. Mystical and mysterious, blah blah blah.

In other news, just in case you were sitting around wondering, Marissas do not, in fact, like box elder bugs.

Okay. There are all kinds of non-book-writing things that need to be done. Many of them do not even involve the computer. For the sake of my hands and shoulders, I think this is a good thing. As long as I can make myself stop typing other things. You know the bit where Chris Knight (Val Kilmer) is calling to Ick about the ice: "You were just joking about the explosion, right, Ick? Ick?" In that tone of voice, my mind keeps going, "So I get my brain back after this, right, book? Book?" And to skip forward in the movie, "That remains to be seen, but we are having this conversation."

Ah, "Real Genius." It rivals "The Princess Bride" for quote-anytime movies.