Kim Harrison's Blog, page 133

Frosty

 

It's frosty today, and the second time that I've seen my breath when taking the dogs out in the AM.  Frosty and cold, but it's warm at my desk, and I can watch the bird bath steam.  I had my first "bathers" yesterday, which was fairly fast considering it took over two months to lure them in at my last water feature.

Either city birds are less suspicious, more desperate for water, or I am getting better at designing spaces they feel comfortable at.  Either way, the sparrows and chickadees had a good time.

Today I'll be working on some PR I need to move over my desk, but I'll be trying to decide if I'm going to plot out the next book or do another light rewrite on the latest one I just finished.  It's going to get another rewrite before I turn it in regardless, but I'm not sure if it needs to perk a little first, or if it would be better to do it now while everything is fresh in my mind.  I've got a few issues that need hammering out . . .

Good luck to all you NaNoWriMos out there!

Halloween 2010

I had a great time watching the tricks-or-treaters this year!  Even tried my hand at carving my own burning bunny.  ;-)  I think he turned out rather well, if I do say so myself.  I can honestly say that I have never seen so many innovative costumes.  Wow.  I was totally impressed.  354 days, and counting.

The costume / pumpkin contest runs until November 13th, so you can still send in pictures.  I have a whopping amount sitting in my in-box right now, and they will start to go up tonight.  ;-)  I have to thank everyone who is taking the time to resize their photos to within a 400 by 400 px dimension and dropping the size down to 50 KBs.  It takes me almost an hour every night to update a dozen pictures, so any little thing to speed up the process is extremely helpful.  This year's contenders

Halloween 2010

I had a great time watching the tricks-or-treaters this year!  Even tried my hand at carving my own burning bunny.  ;-)  I think he turned out rather well, if I do say so myself.  I can honestly say that I have never seen so many innovative costumes.  Wow.  I was totally impressed.  354 days, and counting.

The costume / pumpkin contest runs until November 13th, so you can still send in pictures.  I have a whopping amount sitting in my in-box right now, and they will start to go up tonight.  ;-)  I have to thank everyone who is taking the time to resize their photos to within a 400 by 400 px dimension and dropping the size down to 50 KBs.  It takes me almost an hour every night to update a dozen pictures, so any little thing to speed up the process is extremely helpful.  This year's contenders

Sleepless night/slow start

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!  Don't forget to send me your pictures for a chance to win a PALE DEMON ARC!

I'm really glad it's Friday, but it's one of those Fridays where the weekend only brings more stress, not less, because I'm taking two days off when there's a pile of virtual work sitting on my desk.  Ouch.  I've got ten hours to shake the feeling, and I will shake it.  I just have to remind myself that I have scheduled plenty of time for everything, even weekends.  The birds that flew in this morning to check out my water feature helped.

I've been working on my waterfall/bird bath for about a month, spending a weekend on the dirt, one on the plants, and two on the water itself, and though it's not pretty yet, it is FINALLY holding water.  The upper fall was leaking, dropping the water level by a gallon an hour.  Turns out the lip of the upper pan was directing a small bit of water to run underneath the pan itself, thereby emptying it drip by drip.  After trying to modify the pan lip, (disaster) and tape to catch the drip and redirect it (effective, but not long-term) I finally ran a screw through the lip to give the water something to run off on into the lower pan.  It worked, and there was no water loss last night.  A fish tank heater should keep it ice-free through the winter.   And today, I had my first avian visitors.  The stress is falling away already.  ;-)

Rough draft is almost turned into first draft.  New Guy is still a little rough, but he's in there.  I've got about two days of work, and then it sits for a bit before I go over it one last time.  Next is Book eleven rough draft.  (Crap, eleven?  Already?)  Plotting is me away from my desk with a clipboard and about 30 sheets of paper.  Very relaxed, very spontaneous.  Timing is perfect.

And now I have to go chase the neighbor's cat away.  My birds have flown.

Sleepless night/slow start

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!  Don't forget to send me your pictures for a chance to win a PALE DEMON ARC!

I'm really glad it's Friday, but it's one of those Fridays where the weekend only brings more stress, not less, because I'm taking two days off when there's a pile of virtual work sitting on my desk.  Ouch.  I've got ten hours to shake the feeling, and I will shake it.  I just have to remind myself that I have scheduled plenty of time for everything, even weekends.  The birds that flew in this morning to check out my water feature helped.

I've been working on my waterfall/bird bath for about a month, spending a weekend on the dirt, one on the plants, and two on the water itself, and though it's not pretty yet, it is FINALLY holding water.  The upper fall was leaking, dropping the water level by a gallon an hour.  Turns out the lip of the upper pan was directing a small bit of water to run underneath the pan itself, thereby emptying it drip by drip.  After trying to modify the pan lip, (disaster) and tape to catch the drip and redirect it (effective, but not long-term) I finally ran a screw through the lip to give the water something to run off on into the lower pan.  It worked, and there was no water loss last night.  A fish tank heater should keep it ice-free through the winter.   And today, I had my first avian visitors.  The stress is falling away already.  ;-)

Rough draft is almost turned into first draft.  New Guy is still a little rough, but he's in there.  I've got about two days of work, and then it sits for a bit before I go over it one last time.  Next is Book eleven rough draft.  (Crap, eleven?  Already?)  Plotting is me away from my desk with a clipboard and about 30 sheets of paper.  Very relaxed, very spontaneous.  Timing is perfect.

And now I have to go chase the neighbor's cat away.  My birds have flown.

Slo-o-o-o-ow but steady

Yesterday was one of those days where I try to take three ideas and mash them into one coherent, smooth chapter.  It's confusing and frustrating on the best of days.  Three different files open on my desk all day until I finally pushed back at ten, but it's done, and I can move on to the action.  Today should be very fast as I race to the end.  I'm still not happy with the chapter I worked with yesterday, but all the pieces are there.  Mostly.  Something still feels like it's missing.  -grin-

Don't forget to take pictures of your pumpkins!  Costume contest is going full out.  Costume contest.

Slo-o-o-o-ow but steady

Yesterday was one of those days where I try to take three ideas and mash them into one coherent, smooth chapter.  It's confusing and frustrating on the best of days.  Three different files open on my desk all day until I finally pushed back at ten, but it's done, and I can move on to the action.  Today should be very fast as I race to the end.  I'm still not happy with the chapter I worked with yesterday, but all the pieces are there.  Mostly.  Something still feels like it's missing.  -grin-

Don't forget to take pictures of your pumpkins!  Costume contest is going full out.  Costume contest.

My chair

Let me just say that I have about four heated dog beds scattered around the house.  Little dogs and cold floors don't mix, and both Xander and Aleix appreciate the extra warmth, mixing and matching their beds with no particular claim on any of them.  However . . . when I moved one of the heated pads that they were previously ignoring up onto Guy's chair yesterday, it became the "place to be."

Aleix isn't mad in this picture, but she is thinking, trying to find a way to get Xander to jump down so she can be there instead.  She's a wicked little thing, and has even resorted to whining in another room or enticing with a toy to get Xander to move.   Xander usually goes to check it out, whereupon Aleix takes the warm spot, one she probably was ignoring until Xander got in in.  Xander doesn't care, which I think hilarious.

My chair

Let me just say that I have about four heated dog beds scattered around the house.  Little dogs and cold floors don't mix, and both Xander and Aleix appreciate the extra warmth, mixing and matching their beds with no particular claim on any of them.  However . . . when I moved one of the heated pads that they were previously ignoring up onto Guy's chair yesterday, it became the "place to be."

Aleix isn't mad in this picture, but she is thinking, trying to find a way to get Xander to jump down so she can be there instead.  She's a wicked little thing, and has even resorted to whining in another room or enticing with a toy to get Xander to move.   Xander usually goes to check it out, whereupon Aleix takes the warm spot, one she probably was ignoring until Xander got in in.  Xander doesn't care, which I think hilarious.

lettered pages

And at long last, after almost a year of talking about it, I've got a lettered page for the Hollows Graphic Novel for you to look at.  I picked this one to show you because it has the marvelous colors of the coming sunset that I've been enjoying.  There isn't a lot of action in this page because it's the first of a new chapter, and just like my regular prose, I usually take a bit of extra time to set the scene.  When writing, it's about four paragraphs after an initial bit of dialog.  With a graphic novel, it seems to be an extra large panel.  I'm sure it will evolve, as everything does.  Enjoy!