lizvogel

I stuffed myself full of sushi last night, so I finally feel recovered enough to write this. Sushi is magical that way.


The problem with writing a con report is that if the con is good, you're too busy to do it during, and too exhausted to do it after.

Narrativity was a really good con.

And I can say that without feeling like I'm tooting my own horn, because what made it so good was our attendees. We got such great people! They were smart, and insightful, and engaged, and really excited to talk story for three days. We had a lot of fantasy and SF writers, of course, but we also had people doing historical, and erotica, and poetry, and all sorts of stuff. And we had visual artists, and musicians, and editors and readers and people from lots of different perspectives. And everybody seemed committed to learning and sharing and having a good time.

( Me, personally, I had a blast. )

So, I'm NaNoing.

I don't remember being quite this fed up with it this soon, the last time. Day 1 went okay, a bit of slogging but overall productive, but by Day 2 I was thoroughly sick of the whole thing and wondering why I ever started.

Part of the problem has been that the things I've been doing to try to get myself into the right headspace have turned into chores instead of fun. Cramming in Avengers and Doctor Who (Roger Delgado Master, of course) instead of watching my newly-acquired Season 3 of Lucifer, for instance. Listening to Cabin Pressure was definitely on that list, which usually accompanies making cookies, but trying to fit a batch of my insanely time-consuming cookies in with everything else I had to do was, well, insane. It was a huge weight off when I finally decided that no, I didn't have to make cookies before November; but then "don't have to" turned into "not allowed to" and one more thing NaNo meant I couldn't do. And that was just making me resent the whole thing before I even started.

Hence making the cookies after all. For Halloween, which got done November 5th. Yeah. But they'll still taste good.

And Season 3 of Lucifer is coming along nicely, thank you.

So one of the lessons I get to learn this NaNo is how to tell when pushing through is called for, and when taking a break and just having fun is the right approach. This is a tough one, since for me NaNo is all about continuing writing when I feel like I'm done, and finding that second (or third, or fourth) wind.

That, and how to tackle such a large project when the universe seems determined to throw things at me. The car particularly seems to be its instrument: I lost part of a day early on to finally getting the leaky tire fixed; now I need to lose half of another to having a coolant leak seen to. And the usual epic list of stuff continues. Heck, I've been trying to get to this journal post for days.

Also, I voted today. It's discouraging that the "music to vote by" mix I made for... the first Bush II election? maybe the second?... is just as appropriate this time, as it has been every time since.

So, anyway, NaNo. Yesterday I got almost nothing done (should have just taken that nap), and today, while I did a thousand words or so (which is a lot for me), I'm falling behind par for the first time. And yet, I think going to bed may be the right thing to do. I'll probably regret it when I'm trying to make up the wordcount, but I'm not sure slogging for hours to drag the words out tonight would get me any farther ahead in the long run.

Rice Krispies: for when instant oatmeal is too much effort.

4th Street was this past weekend. And I am almost recovered enough to string two sentences together.

It was a terrific con, probably the best one since the first year I went. Pretty much had non-stop good conversations from the moment I walked in until I finally pried myself away from the last few goodbyes. Got very little sleep and definitely over-caffeinated, and I'm not the least little bit sorry. ;-)

I made an effort to pace myself before the event so as not to arrive already exhausted before it even started, despite the overwhelming pressure of the to-do list. Those who know me will appreciate how dubious was my success when I say that I managed to leave without putting maps in the car. Luckily I had my own written directions, and I could probably do the route from memory by now anyway.

Had a great time reconnecting with the Intermediate Writers crowd, even though we didn't officially have a gathering. (Which was only because no one stepped up to coordinate one; guess what I'll probably be doing next year?) And with the consuite crowd, and the smokers' lounge crowd, and assorted other cool people.

The seminar was interesting and well-run, though most of what I came out of it with was the conclusion that I just don't learn well in a seminar format. (And that my process is non-standard and weird, but I knew that going in.) I also came out with what I thought was a good way to ask for help on something I've been struggling with, but I tried it out on two very different groups and it failed utterly, so I guess not. It did kick off some good discussions, though.

My 4th Street tradition continues of there being one or two panels that I don't think I'll be that interested in that turn out to be utterly fascinating, and one or two that I think are going to be right in my wheelhouse that leave me cold. This year, the example of the first was "Large-Scale Structures and Series Planning"; I'm not a big series writer and usually veer away from long tightly-connected series as a reader, but a lot of the stuff about planning and consistency and leaving tools (and toys) for yourself for later was not only really interesting but actually something I could connect to my own work. And the panel on "Writing As A Light Trance State" was deeply intriguing, though I still don't think I came away with an understanding of the difference between trance and just concentrating on what you're doing.

Unfortunately, "The Tropes of Emotion" was one of the latter category, mostly because they did a lot of high-level meta discussion and very little granular, boots-on-the-ground how-to. Which is a pity, because I'm working hard on a bit of how-to in the current revision pass, and I'd have liked some pointers. The other one that left me cold was the That's a Different Panel, which this year ended up being "Clues And Signaling" -- basically, how do we tell readers things -- the very topic I most hoped they'd choose. It would probably have done more for me if they hadn't spent half the panel going on about paratext -- because I am functionally blind to paratext. (No, really. One of the books they cited was one that I read fairly recently and remember well, and they went on and on about the ways paratext was used, and I have no idea what they were talking about.) And what wasn't about paratext was again high-level and meta, not practical and how-to.

(I've realized that when it comes to writing stuff, I do not learn well from getting the big-picture view and trying to apply it to specific usages; I'm much better off with using a specific example in my own work, and reasoning from that to the general principle. I'm not sure if that's how I learn non-writing things as well, or not; I'd need a specific example to consider. Which may answer the question right there. ;-) )

The cookies went over well once again. The dinosaurs were even more popular than I expected (I suspect it was the glitter), and the "writer's toolbox" joke went over well. (Oddly, it seemed nobody wanted to eat the hammers; they were always the last to go. Don't know why.) For future reference: I made 4 batches of dough, but only ended up decorating about 3 batches worth. 3 batches was plenty, enough to stock Friday evening, Saturday mid-day, and Saturday evening, and still have a few left by Sunday. Next time, figure on making ~18 of each shape; that's enough to cover breakage and a few to share pre-con, and still have a dozen+ for the consuite. Which actually is enough, if you're making enough shapes to use up 3 batches of dough.

Drive there was good; the threatened thunderstorms didn't materialize, and I actually took breaks when I was getting dozey, and pulled over for the night when I was tired but not exhausted. Only trouble was that there still isn't a sign for a Caribou/Starbucks/etc. for about three hours past the point where I need one, so I once again arrived at my traditional gas-and-lunch stop rather desperate for coffee. But still overall a nice trip.

The car turned 200,000 on the way, which was cool.

Drive home was much the same; I turned the need to stall for a while to avoid Madison rush hour into a nice long lunch break, and pulled over for a walk and cold beverages when it seemed like a good idea but not yet a dire necessity. Got home around 2am, tired but still functional.

The cats were happy to see me. :-)

And now it's time to get back to normal, although I'm hoping to reboot "normal" to a slightly more satisfactory version. One that involves more sleep, writing, and exercise, and less unrelenting to-do list.

So, there was 4th Street this past weekend. It was a real roller-coaster of a con for me... but the high points were awesome. I'll try to go into more detail later -- there are some ideas I want to explore more fully -- but that'll have to wait until I can brain for more than five seconds at a time. ;-)

The cookies went over very well, including one comment that pretty much means I'll be making them every year as long as there's a 4th Street to take them to. And they absolutely vaporized, so no, three batches wasn't excessive.

Turns out "fun-size" Hershey bars are exactly the same size as a quarter-section of a graham cracker. Coincidence?

Clearly, I was mistaken.

Spent a decidedly uncomfortable night, and still feeling not quite the thing today. In spite of this, achieved quota, par, and goal yesterday. And I'm well on the way to the lowest of the three already today.

The ironic thing is, I'd just started the scene where one of my characters gets poisoned. Life need not imitate art quite this directly, in my considered opinion.

You know it's not going to be your most productive day when you decide that the perfect breakfast to accompany your morning Red Bull is a Hostess cupcake and a stack of Pringles.

There needs to be food today. Warm, cooked food. Omelettes are always good.

One of the things I love about omelettes is that they can be as complicated or simple as you want them to be. You can whisk the eggs in a separate bowl until they're frothy, mix in milk or sour cream or yogurt or batter to make them fluffier, carefully measure and chop and blend other ingredients and spices, adding them all at just the right time and carefully constructing an edible art piece. You can also crack three eggs into a frying pan, slop them around a little with the spatula, toss in some salt and pepper and grate some cheese on top of the mess, and serve up something that's one step from scrambled eggs but still tastes pretty darn good.

Today's was a comfort omelette, so minimal fuss; some salt, pepper, and chervil (I like chervil); with Monterey jack and a bit of cream cheese for coziness.

There are better things in the world than omelettes, but few of them can be tossed together with minimal tools and a single pan in ten minutes. Nom.