Cherie Priest's Blog: It's awards season, so here comes the shameless self-promotion, page 32

I may be viciously unkind

Here's today's progress on my modern pseudo-noir young-adult mystery with murder, medical blackmail, pop culture myth-making, missing persons, and a digital Hail Mary that's become an international sensation:
Project: Princess X
Deadline: January 1, 2014
New words written: 4131 (that's more like it)
Present total word count: 55,011 words



Things accomplished in fiction: Dark, damp quests across the water. Confessions of slimy behavior. Doubt and disorder. But together, our heroes (such as they are) reach the showdown.

Things accomplished in real life: Daily jaunt around the neighborhood with the dog; inbox zero achieved once more; minor around-the-house errands; not much else, yet.

Other: One more big chapter to write, then the wind-down. Well, sort of. I also have to go back and script another comic or two, and then insert a couple of interstitial pieces that I didn't realize I needed until it was too late. But the end is in sight! If I squint!

Four-legged other: We're going to try taking Greyson to the dog park this afternoon - thus the early posting and early work-day wrap-up. It's kind of hit and miss for him; but the cold weather has sent his energy levels SKYROCKETING. So how will this affect his car-training? I don't know. At this point, he's genuinely excited when we all leave the house together; maybe that'll roll over to this short outing, too. If not, we may have to scale back for a bit. (The dog park is only a mile or two away, so we'll risk it. Short trip. Fun times. I hope?)

Number of fiction words so far this year: 160,496

Cause Imma ride or die, whether you fail or fly

Today, let us start off with some links! Why? Because they are links! And they are relevant to the topics at hand! And also because posting nothing but word metrics is kind of boring, right? Right. So here goes:
i09 presents - All the Most Essential Science Fiction and Fantasy Books in November - And Fiddlehead is right there, smack in the middle. Huzzah! I simply cannot wait for this to hit the streets!

Fiddlehead over at Tor.UK - Featuring an interview with yours truly, and a free extract to whet you appetite.

Fiddlehead's first review spotted in the wild - Over at Reading Reality, and it's a doozy. Many thanks to the fine readers over there! Sample quote: "I loved the way that Priest kept her alternate universe moving forward in time, yet still interwove the familiar elements of the history that we knew. U.S. Grant’s final parts of the story are particularly touching in this regard, they both match history, and don’t, and it’s just perfect and heartbreaking."

And finally, yours truly gets dorky with Timothy Zahn - For the Outside The Guild folks. Recorded this last weekend at GMX, and much silliness did occur.

And now, here's the tedious death-marchy word-county bit ... today's progress on my modern pseudo-noir young-adult mystery with murder, medical blackmail, pop culture myth-making, missing persons, and a digital Hail Mary that's become an international sensation:
Project: Princess X
Deadline: January 1, 2014
New words written: 2824
Present total word count: 50,880 words



Things accomplished in fiction: Strange meet-ups, long overdue. Hints and suggestions of ulterior motives. No time to sort it out, just time to shake on it.

Things accomplished in real life: Daily jaunt around the neighborhood with the dog; lunch; dishes; paid some bills; made some updates to the Clockwork Century in advance of FIDDLEHEAD's releaes net week; sent off some interview answers; got myself down to inbox zero. Temporarily, I'm sure.

Other: I'd like to do more, but I'm kind of wiped out today. Afraid I'm trying to get sick, maybe. Here's hoping otherwise, but I got to the end of a chapter and just felt like, "Well...that's all I've got." But another week of this kind of progress, and I'll have the whole draft in rickety - but complete - form. Fingers crossed.

Number of fiction words so far this year: 156,365

Once upon a time, before the rain began...

Before I get to the word metrics, I must admit I've been hideously remiss about blogging for the past week or so. In my defense, it was a very busy week - chock full of Halloween preparations, Halloween execution, and then (first thing the next morning) a jaunt over to Nashville for the Geek Media Expo ... from which I only just returned on Sunday night.

The event was nifty, and best of all I got to hang with some fabulous friends who I don't get to see nearly often enough. PLUS I got to meet an awesome pair of cat/dog besties. AND ALSO I got to snorgle the divine little Miss B, who you may recall from her super-adorable adventures with Greyson this past January.

All in all, a wonderful trip.

As for Halloween itself, we went whole-hog: fog machine, black lights, strobe, purple LEDs, UV-reactive spiders and jack-o-lanterns, and so forth and so on. I was a witch. A cute one, if I do say so myself. My cousin Chelsea came over to help dole out candy, but she kept scaring off little kids for some reason; and our friends Mike and Laura also came over to man the special effects and help us drink all our grown-up candy. Ahem.

Seriously, you guys. Deep down yes, I KNEW that having a cute little Victorian house was going to be hella-awesome for Halloween shenanigans, but I mean it was DEEPLY HELLA AWESOME. We blew through almost 25 pounds of candy in about 2-1/2 hours. So, you know. Word's getting around.*

Hm. What else?

Oh yes. In other news of the superlatively grand variety, over the weekend I became an auntie to someone new! World, meet Claudia, new baby sister to my nephew Luke. Hooray for Bonus! small people to spoil at holidays!

[:: flings confetti ::]
[:: fires tee-shirt cannon ::]
[:: commences bootyshakes ::]

But now - all delights of the last few days aside - real life must resume, and that means the deathmarch continues.

So with that kind-of weak transition to start us off, here’s recent progress on my modern pseudo-noir young-adult mystery with murder, medical blackmail, pop culture myth-making, missing persons, and a digital Hail Mary that's become an international sensation:
Project: Princess X
Deadline: January 1, 2014
New words written: 4876 (over the last few days.)
Present total word count: 48,056 words



Things accomplished in fiction: Dungeon-crawling. Mud-sloshing. Trust issues. Surprises in castles.

Things accomplished in real life: Daily jaunt around the neighborhood with the dog; trip to post office; visit with nice cable man about adding a new jack or two and some internet/etc.; finished unpacking from weekend trip to GMX; finished laundry; mostly just writing.

Other: Got about 3000 of those words done today. Would've done more, but got a late start late to cable adjustment/installation interruption. (Long story.)

Four-legged Other: Greyson is finally comfortable leaving the house with both of us. The last time or two we've gone walking together, he hasn't dragged us past the car at all - in fact, yesterday he sat patiently beside the vehicle while my husband brought in the recycling containers and whatnot. Nary a fidget. Next step: getting him to hang out inside the car without freaking out. Maybe we can start that later this week. Definitely next week, if not.

Number of fiction words so far this year: 153,541


* We live in one of those neighborhoods that's a "Halloween destination" for a number of area kids. Parents carpool them in by the pack; churches bus them in by the score. We may kind of have a rep for being All About This Shit when it comes to holiday partytimes.

I got the flavor baby, you just give me the time

Here’s today's progress on my modern pseudo-noir young-adult mystery with murder, medical blackmail, pop culture myth-making, missing persons, and a digital Hail Mary that's become an international sensation:
Project: Princess X
Deadline: January 1, 2014
New words written: 4517 (today + yesterday.)
Present total word count: 43,180 words



Things accomplished in fiction: Introduced (or rather, explained) a very important character. Because a little birdie told me to. Heh.

Things accomplished in real life: Daily jaunt around the neighborhood with the dog; lunch with husband; trip to the bank; some basic business/household management things that don't bear a dry retelling.

Other: I wrote about half of that word count yesterday, but for a 2-day total it's still not bad. I'm trying to force a good deathmarch on this one, because I'd really like to have a draft wrapped up as early in November as possible. Best case scenario, I put it down to let it cool off for a few weeks - and start Jacaranda for a change of pace. Until December, when I go back to this one for revisions. Fingers crossed, eh?

Four-legged Other: Greyson is mostly okay leaving the house with both me and the husband now, but he still drags us past the car and up to the first turn (perhaps twenty yards). It's like, once he's out of sight of the vehicle - then it's safe to relax. So, well. Maybe we won't start with the open car door this week after all. Baby steps. (Baby steps.)

Number of fiction words so far this year: 148,665

21st century retreads and overstuffed tweets

So the husband and I watched NBC's Dracula last night. I might have tweeted about it, somewhat peevishly, and those tweets prompted questions, and sometimes 140 characters aren't enough - especially if you've had a couple of drinks and it's getting late, and anyway, you're still sorting through your thoughts.

Therefore, in somewhat less brief format, here are the two most frequently asked queries with regard to my quickie, sound-bytey commentary. (1). Why on earth would you watch it in the first place?, and (2). Why are you griping about this classic retread, when you've been known to endorse and embrace others that appear equally ludicrous on the surface?

Okay. The first one's easy: I watched the pilot because I am an old goth with a huge soft spot for Dracula - and also because NBC demonstrated with Hannibal that it could actually accomplish something that transcends what I typically think of as "network TV offerings." So I knew it could be done, and I wanted to see it done again.

But I didn't.

Which leads into my second answer: Because this Dracula isn't a retreat, retooling, or a reboot. It's Gatsby goes to Carfax Abbey, plus some Illuminati-style something-or-another and a side smattering of steampunk tech. To which I say, "Fine, sounds like fun, hook it up - but fer chrissake, don't slap the Count's name on it."

Spoilers of the mild and not-very-interesting kind to follow.
Click away - or stop scrolling now, if you'd rather.
Got it?
Right.

The point of comparison that several readers (and my husband) brought up, was BBC's Sherlock - in the sense that it's a modern re-imagining of an old and well known story; but let us leave aside the fact that thus far, Dracula is a source-material-contemporary revamping (you see what I did there) of an old and well known story. That's not the important distinction between the two. The distinction is simpler, but bigger than that: Sherlock still holds the shape of its source material; Dracula is virtually unrecognizable.

Or to break it down further, ahem:"Brilliant asshole with addiction issues fights crime because it's marginally more interesting than generating it, with the help of a beleaguered codependent sidekick whose company he secretly enjoys."
That, my friends, is the shape of Sherlock Holmes - immediately recognizable via the 21st century BBC or even America's Elementary (which I'm no fan of, to be honest; but a lot of you really like it, so, each to her own I say).

And this is the shape of Dracula, as it should be immediately recognizable to even the most casually informed consumer: "Monstrous but compelling supernatural predator comes to town pursuing power and delicious minions; but a small band of desperately outmatched heroes - aided by a wily academic - mount an effort to thwart the monster before it can wreak further havoc upon their city or their loved ones."
Oversimplifications? Yes, on all counts. And by no means definitive, for that matter. But you see what I'm saying, yes? There's a shape to it that you recognize, and to deviate too far from that shape is to change the story into something else entirely.

So, look - here's what we see playing out on NBC (judging by the pilot, so, like, don't yell at me if this turns out to be ultimately incorrect in some fashion): "Wily academic resurrects pretty, ethically ambiguous creature because 'my enemy's enemy is my friend' - and they bear a mutual grudge against a secret society run by evil rich people. Now with Bonus! reincarnated love-interest storyline from Coppola's movie, but that's not even Stoker-derived, so it scarcely counts. But okay, I guess."
I mean, no. That's not Dracula. That's some other story! Merely shoe-horning the names of basically every player in the damn novel within a 50-minute spread does not successfully marry the two. There's a tipping point, you see - where "ironically subverting expectations" becomes "building something new from the ground up but giving it an old name for street cred." That's just stupid. And it's not fooling anyone.

The sad thing is, I can see the bones of something really interesting going on in NBC's Dracula - but by forcing it sideways into the old familiar mold, sort of, it just looks like a hot mess to your average old-fashioned fang-enthusiast.

It's hard to escape the sense that someone, somewhere, had a totally cool idea for a vampire series - but couldn't get it green-lit without duct-taping the Count to the front like a sexy, confused figurehead.

Well, congratulations. It's sexy and confusing. But so far, not terribly compelling.

I'll give it the three episodes I'll give almost anything that piques my interest - even if it's piqued in a train-wreck way. (Hell, I gave The Following three episodes, and by the end I just wanted to throw lawn darts at the TV. Or my own head. Whichever.) But given that first taste, all I really expect is two more hours of me yelling, "WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST CALL THIS SOMETHING ELSE???" while wondering how cool it might've been, given the room to breathe in its own sandbox.

Big hands I know you're the one

Here’s today's progress on my modern pseudo-noir young-adult mystery with murder, medical blackmail, pop culture myth-making, missing persons, and a digital Hail Mary that's become an international sensation:
Project: Princess X
Deadline: January 1, 2014
New words written: 1664 (better, but not great.)
Present total word count: 38,563 words



Things accomplished in fiction: Busted open an urn's resting place with a little pink hammer; ignored some phone calls that they really should've answered.

Things accomplished in real life: Daily jaunt around the neighborhood with the dog; phone calls; trip to eye doctor re: getting fitted/tested for some new contacts, because my eyes have been fifty shades of gross for the last few months; went to Ace and got birdseed, air filters; went to Walgreens for meds.

Other: Another "meh" word count, but I started the day earlier than intended - and I've been dragging ever since. Still, I do think we've finally solved the problem with my contacts: it seems that either my eyeballs have expanded slightly, or I've been wearing the wrong size. I've now had everything measured again (or whatever) and the new samples are working out well. Tentatively. For now. I hope. I like my new glasses, but I'd love to wear sunglasses again. [:: sigh ::]

Four-legged Other: This morning, Greyson wigged out for about a block before he settled down. He played wildly with his dog friend "Avery," tried to meet a new kitty (with limited success)...and so the gentle conditioning continues. Maybe by Monday, it won't worry him in the slightest, when both "mom" and "dad" decide to come along for his walk.

Impending Halloween Other: Got my fog machine queued up, a black light ready to go, and a strobe on deck. In other news, it looks like my experiment with UV-reactive paint on the big fake spiders and skeletons is a winner! Greyson will be a Hell's Angel this year. (For as long as he can be persuaded to wear his cute widdle motorcycle vest.) The kitty would sooner slice out my eyeballs than wear clothes, so, well. She'll be a spooky black cat.

Number of fiction words so far this year: 144,048

You've been in the house too long, she said...

Here’s today's progress on my modern pseudo-noir young-adult mystery with murder, medical blackmail, pop culture myth-making, missing persons, and a digital Hail Mary that's become an international sensation:
Project: Princess X
Deadline: January 1, 2014
New words written: 1199 (meh.)
Present total word count: 36,899 words



Things accomplished in fiction: Went hacking, collected tools, planned a little tomb-raiding.

Things accomplished in real life: Daily jaunt around the neighborhood with the dog; a number of phone calls; did the dishes; went out for a nacho lunch; went on a second round of dog-walking; swore at my computer a lot.

Other: Not my finest word count, no - but it's nobody's fault but mine. Long story short, I realized that I'd done something really, really stupid in my previous round of new material...and it took me half the day to undo it to my satisfaction. Oh well. Onward/upward/etc. Tomorrow is another day, and so forth.

Four-legged Other: This week, the husband and I launched a long-range effort to gently condition Greyson out of his car phobia. The plan is to tackle one small step at a time, over weeks or months as needed. We were going to start by sitting inside the parked car, hanging out and eating cheese and cookies for a few minutes every day. However, this plan has not survived contact with the enemy. So to speak.

Four-legged Other - redux: Turns out, Step One is "leaving the house with me and my husband at the same time." Apparently he's come to interpret any "family outing" as code for, "OH GOD NO they're taking me someplace in the CAR!" So this week, the spouse and I have both come along on his morning and afternoon walks. (Usually, I take the morning shift, and the husband takes afternoons.) We've seen significant improvement in his anxiety level already, and with any luck, we can graduate to Step Two next week. If not, that's okay. We are patient, and we will play it by ear.

Note: We're not looking for suggestions, thanks. We've done our research, consulted several professionals, and we know our dog very well. This is a plan laid out for us by our veterinarian, who swears by it. Whatever you want to propose (meds, pheromones, ginger, bribery, outerwear, fun party-time dog outings, sharing car rides with car-loving dogs, etc. etc. etc.), I promise you, we've tried it already. Now we're trying this.

Number of fiction words so far this year: 142,384

You promised me the ending would be clear

Here’s today's progress on my modern pseudo-noir young-adult mystery with murder, medical blackmail, pop culture myth-making, missing persons, and a digital Hail Mary that's become an international sensation:
Project: Princess X
Deadline: January 1, 2014
New words written: 105 (ha.)
Present total word count: 35,700 words



Things accomplished in fiction: Didn't get killed, got coffee instead; made it home in one piece with another big piece of the puzzle; failed to realize the extent to which the shit has hit the fan.

Next up: OMG mayhem.

Things accomplished in real life: Daily jaunt around the neighborhood with the dog; several loads of laundry; gave my cousin a thank-you-for-house-sitting-the-other-day present, and took her to the grocery store; went to Target and picked up about 15 pounds of Halloween candy (among other things) because hey, we burned through 20 pounds last year and the prices were good.

Other: That word count, up there - the really crappy one - I'll have you to know that it's wildly misleading. In fact, I did a couple thousand words today, despite all the errand-running. But when I went back and did my reboot/revisions to third-person POV...I lost about 5000 words. (I'd hoped I'd get lucky, and keep most of my word count. But this wasn't my lucky revision.) Therefore, I've been playing catch-up for the last little bit, while simultaneously being mired in travel and house renovations. But today, at long last, I caught back up to myself. By 105 words.

Bonus Other: I know, I know. It sucks that I have no good way to count the 5000 words I've lost and re-composed on the word meter bar, but such is life. I can let it go. And also, I can make note of those 5000 words in the running total at the bottom of these posts. HA.

Other finds a new lease on life: Now that I've got this bad-boy all plotted out (which is unusual for me, actually) things are back in gear. Ladies, gentlemen, and the otherwise affiliated...it's time for a good old-fashioned word-count death march. Hooray!(?)

Number of fiction words so far this year: 141,185

The oncoming train

It's no secret that I've had trouble getting my young adult WIP to really gel - but I think I might've finally hammered out the kinks on this thing. I haven't been terribly productive from an overall writing standpoint lately, no,* but I've had my trusty legal pad at the ready - jotting notes, fiddling with the structure, noodling with the details ... and now I've got what almost looks like a proper outline/plan of action/arc and resolution.

In other words: holy shit, I think I fixed it. I'll find out in earnest next week, as this weekend will be eaten up with continued renovations and/or visits from out-of-town family members. So come Monday, I'll start posting word metrics again, and see if this thing can really come together like I want.

Jesus, at this point it pretty much has to.

Anyway, have a good weekend, everyone. I'll catch you on the flip-side, and let you know how it goes.


* Besides the ongoing remodeling, there's also been a lot of Writer Business to tie me up for the last few days - contracts and emails and conference negotiations and managing SNAFUs and mailing ARCs and paying bills and tackling taxes and so forth and so on. It happens.

From Bluegrass to Volunteer again

We had a wonderful time in Kentucky, of course! We wined and dined with my dad and stepmom, kicked around the homestead, and played with enormous dogs.

This is Duke with my stepmom. Yes, he is exactly that huge and awesome.

And here's a Bonus! shot of Greyson sniffing up to Daisy. It's not often that he gets to sniff a butt this much taller than his own. For bonus dog-fun, Daisy is about Greyson's age, and they did merrily frolic together, all over the place. Like big galumphing maniacs. (I'll post video proof at the bottom of this entry.)

We also visited a couple of nifty distilleries, because I mean, why not - when you're basically right there smack dab in the middle of the Bourbon Belt?

(I don't know if that's really a thing or not, but anyway, there's a lot of bourbon. And we tasted it. All of it. ALL OF IT. All of it they'd give us, anyway. We may have hypothetically brought a whole bunch home, too. In case of emergency. There is definitely such a thing as a bourbon emergency.)

First we visited The Willett distillery, where I took a bunch of pictures. It was a hell of a day for a distillery tour - which is to say, I can't think of a BETTER time to visit a compound stocked with tens of thousands of gallons of flammable liquid stashed inside metal warehouses...than when a huge thunderstorm is brewing.



ADVENTURE. We had one - in a beautiful spot that the impending storm made all the more striking. (WOCKA WOCKA.) I bought a couple of tee shirts, in case there was anyone, anywhere, who wasn't already aware that I enjoy booze. (In my defense, they are super-cute.)

Next, we went to visit the Maker's Mark distillery. I took a good number of pictures, and don't ask why (it doesn't bear a dry retelling) but THOSE pictures are hosted over on Flickr.

It's a beautiful compound - an enormous place with a real commitment to architectural theme; the old goth in me adored all the red and black, and my inner lush appreciated the cute bottle-shaped detailing.

Oh! And since people kept asking me about the difference between bourbon and whisk(e)y, and I didn't have a concise answer...please allow me to direct your attention to this handy graphic, courtesy of the fine Maker's Mark folks.

So with that, I'll wrap up this post - which has taken a frankly ridiculous amount of time to compose, given its unimpressive length - and that has NOTHING I tell you NOTHING to do with our household's fresh influx of bourbon. Go ahead and believe that. You might as well.

But in closing, and as promised, here's a short video of our stubby mountain dog mix frolicking with a Great Dane. In the middle of the dining room, because that makes PERFECT sense when you have a huge fenced back yard in which to roll around like a maniac.



Have a good weekend, everyone - and thanks for reading!