Leah R. Cutter's Blog, page 34

On the way to the new normal

Felt like I was finally back today, finding the right balance between day job and writing. I finished, “The Piano Time Rag” last night — it topped out at 8600 words. Tonight I started adding in all the things that were missing from the first draft. It’s at about 8900 words now. I figure it’ll be around 9000 by the time I’m finished. I’m still not certain what genre it is: something between horror, fantasy, and mystery.

I didn’t keep the balance all day — panicked for a while about the day job (SO MUCH TO DO!!! AND ALL OF IT NEEDS TO BE DONE NOW NOW NOW NOW) And then panicked about the writing (Ditto, only with so much to write. And not as many exclamation marks.)

I did go dancing tonight (Lindy hop & swing social dance.) For part of one dance, I really got it. I felt like I was flying. I was light on my feet and dancing along, doing the right steps with my partner — it was magical. I love that feeling, I knew that it was possible dancing, and now I know better how to get there again.

I’ll finish “The Piano Time Rag” tomorrow or Friday. I’m going to send it to a first reader or two to start with, then figure out what market to send it to. (Seriously–not a clue what the genre is.) This weekend I’ll start “Postcards from Hell,” which is the last of the Hell ‘verse short stories, with Andy, the PI who’s a ghost. If things go well, I’ll finish that next week. Then I’m traveling for a bit, no writing, not really, for a week or so. Then I’ll get back on that horse.

Because this balance is key. And I can do it. It’s just — a new balance. New day job and short story writing. A new normal.

Crossposted from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so here or there.

Bleed through

As some of you may or may not know, I’ve switched positions at Salesforce. Instead of doing technical writing, my new job title is, “Technology Knowledge Management Specialist.” Instead of generating content, I need to find other people and encourage, threaten, bribe and cajole them into generating content. I need to organize and find places for that content, as well as do training so people know where to put their content and the style and best practices for it.

It’s a whole lot of very different things.

There’s a lot of bleed through, currently. What I mean, is that with the old position, I’d finish with the day job and I’d never think about it in my “off” hours.

Right now, I have a lot of odd thoughts about the new position at odd times. There are a lot of issues and problems that I need to solve. It’s a huge undertaking, what I’m trying to do.

For example, I thought of a potential solution to this one piece yesterday morning before breakfast, and so sent myself an email to the work address, about half a page long, laying things out.

My back brain, where I do most of my problem solving for writing, is fully engaged with these day job issues. Which accounts for the bleed through: instead of odd story ideas popping up, I’m getting work ideas. It also accounts for why I’m not writing as much as I usually do. I’m not going to right now, and I need to be okay with that.

I’ve written about 1000 words tonight. I’ve got to finish this story. I think I’m at the final scene. I don’t know where it’s going, though I kind of do. Hopefully I’ll be able to finish the novel tomorrow.

In the meanwhile, I’m not trying to be disciplined about the bleed through. Maybe in a few months, once I get my feet under me, I’ll be able to train myself away from thinking about work during non-work hours, and be able to truly focus on writing. Until then, this is why I knew writing short stories would be so much better for me from now until the end of the year, smaller stories that I can pick up and put down, because my brain is already occupied.

Crossposted from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so here or there.

That’s entertainment

Yes, another “So You Think You Can Dance” post.

I watched a video of another animator on YouTube. How this guy moved astonished me. Just–wow.

And yet, after a few minutes, after my marvel of the technique had worn off, I switched it off. That’s when I realized just how important it is to be an entertainer, why the judges of SYTYCD are so adement about that. Because Cyrus is an entertainer. It isn’t merely dance and technique. There’s more there.

This week, the dancers reprised famous Mia Michels dances from past seasons, many Emmy nominated or winning choreography.

I went and found the original that Cyrus and Eliana did. And while I agree that you can tell that Cyrus isn’t the dancer that the original dancer, Twitch, is — Twitch, at least in the two routines I’ve seen him do, doesn’t have Cyrus’ strength of personality, nor is he as much of an entertainer as Cyrus. Cyrus has so much presence on that stage. He doesn’t have the smooth flow of a dancer, but he has such strength and power. I’m really glad that he made it into the top twenty.

One of the things the judges commented on were the obvious additions of Cyrus to the piece, the robotic twitching, for example. But there were other things as well: he purposefully moved like a black man, with the one hand holding up his trousers and that hitching walk, his jumps were much higher, his strides, much longer, and because Eliana is his usual partner, it was also obvious that they were more comfortable with each other, much more of a couple.

Plus, looking back at the original routine, to me it seems that Eliana is a much better dancer than the original. She had her own jumps and spark. Both Eliana and Cyrus were more precise than the original pair, and I think if the judges went back and compared the two routines, they’d see that, and if this was a scoring competition, they’d score Cyrus and Eliana higher than they had.

But to get back to the entertainment value: Cyrus is fun to watch. Nigel had said that in the past, and now I understand it better. I’m still trying to figure out what it is that gives him that stage presence, but he has it. (It’s the same thing Jeremy Renner has: While he isn’t traditional leading man material, he still has an interesting face and he’s charismatic. In some AU, instead of becoming an actor he’s a very success evangelical preacher.)

To take it back to writing, entertaining is also my job. Maybe sometimes to educate and provide thinking material, but honestly, I’m here to tell you a story and to entertain you while I do it.

A few last comments: Last episode’s routine was basically choreographed for Cyrus and Eliana, as a ballet dancer and a robot. While it was good, honestly, I didn’t like it as well as the other things they’ve done, because it was already in their wheel house. I much prefer it when the dancers have to stretch and try new things.

Also, Nigel’s critique of last ep’s routine bothered me. He said Eliana was better at the hip hops stuff, because she popped so hard. Cyrus was more mechanical. I honestly wonder if that was choreographer’s direction, for him to remain more robotic.

Anyway, in my life, I’m enjoying my time off from writing, though it isn’t really time off, that is, lazing and not working. I have far too much to do and too much running around. But that’s okay. About 1 1/2 weeks of craziness, then things should settle down again, and I’ll get back into a writing routine.

I’m trying to make my workspace more ergonomical. I just bought a separate wireless keyboard and mouse, so instead of typing on my laptop in my lap, I have it placed higher on a table so I can sit up straight. I love the new keyboard, and I like being able to sit up, instead of always bending and hunching. I am still figuring out logistics with the mouse. I got a wireless Apple trackpad, because I prefer that so much to a mouse.

And speaking of running…time to go buy flags, and chocolate, and coffee beans for my trip as bribes and treats.

Crossposted from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so here or there.

Really finished

Finally finished the “make it not broke” draft of “The Raven and the Dancing Tiger.” I sent it off to my first readers tonight. It turned out to be 63,925 words. I’m pleased with how it went. Hopefully, my first readers will be pleased with it as well.

One of the things that happened with this novel is that at one point, when I wrote two sentences (I swear, that was all it was) suddenly a SECOND novel sprang forth from my lovely brain, spinning off from this particular side character (“The Guardian Hounds.”) I am NOT planning on writing this novel any time in the near future. For those counting, that makes novel #4 waiting in the wings, wanting to be written. (Maybe 5 or 6, actually.)

I swear, gotta beat those ideas off with a stick sometimes.

For the next week or so, I plan on reading. I have so many books on my to be read pile. Then I’ll dive back into writing. I have the one short story (“The Piano Time Rag”) that I need to finish, plus the last story in the Hell ‘verse (“Postcards From Hell”.) After that, it’ll be whatever takes my fancy.

I will be doing something very similar to what I did last year, that is, writing a short story a week. However, I’m making a few changes:

–When I finish a story, I will first send it out to markets. If it doesn’t publish after a few, I’ll self-pub.

–I don’t have to finish a story during the weeks I’m traveling for work. I made myself do that last time. While I got a really good story that week, “Were-Teen,” it was also a lot of pressure and wasn’t fun. I don’t need to do that to myself again.

–I don’t have to finish a story if I get sick. Again, I did that last year and it wasn’t any fun. It was a good story though, “The Doom of Alokai Temple.” I also wrote 6000+ words in one day.

The reason I’m taking the pressure off myself, as it were, is because I’m also transitioning to my new position next Monday, and I figure the new job is going to be enough pressure, at least at the start.

Crossposted from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so here or there.

Going to the birds

I’d meant to post this for a while now, just now getting around to it.

In addition to running a successful vacation rental, I also feel as though I’m now running a fairly successful joint for the birds to come and hang out. This morning I had 6 robins (4 adults, 2 juveniles) and I don’t know how many chickadees and sparrows (they fly around a lot!) possibly as many as 8-10. Yesterday I had this many birds, plus a couple of Northern Flicker woodpeckers.

I have a few different birdbaths, two bird feeders (suet and feed,) a squirrel feeder, and trees that are currently full of berries. This fall I’ll probably plant another couple of bushes that have berries.

I just put up a hummingbird feeder last week. I’ve seen hummingbirds in the backyard, but they haven’t found the feeder yet. I’ve kept the nectar fresh, and am hoping they’ll find it eventually.

My only issue is that the cats in the neighborhood also like my backyard. I’m going to go to the bird store this weekend and get one of those wild animal scents, see if I can discourage the cats from coming around and stalking the birds.

So now — onto the pictures!

Northern Flicker woodpecker at the front feeder

Sparrow at the front feeder. They tend to travel in flocks.

Chickadee at the front feeder. Also travel in flocks, often with the sparrows.

Black capped chickadee at the front feeder. They travel in twos & threes, maybe with the other birds, but often on their own. I also get black-capped juncos at both feeders.

Two Northern Flickers eating at the suet feeder in the backyard.

Poor squirrels trying to get at the food and can’t. I do have a squirrel feeder as well, so he won’t get too envious. I get both male and female squirrels at the feeder, as well as rats and mice.

The robins love to come and sun themselves in my yard.

This is the birdbath in the backyard. I think the birds really appreciate that it’s close to so much greenery that they can hide in before they land on the rim. The smaller birds just drink from it. The robins bathe, and splash out all the water.

Yet another robin sunning itself in my backyard. This morning I think I had four of them sunning themselves at the same time. Sometimes they take turns, all using the same spot.

The robins love the berries in my laurel trees. Swallow them whole, then regurgitate the pits.

Crossposted from my website.

If you'd like to comment, you can do so here or there.

And another day

Another day without writing I’m afraid.

Woke up this morning around 6:30 AM with a really, really bad migraine, like my head was caught in a spiked vise, pain shooting out from behind my eyes and the base of my skull. I stumbled down the hall to the bathroom and realized that the migraine had reached what I call level 2. This is when the migraine starts affecting my inner ear: I lose my sense of balance and I get horrible vertigo. It’s hard to walk a straight line and I bang into walls–like I’m falling down drunk without the fun getting-there part. (Level 3 is when I get tunnel vision. I’ve never experienced a level 4, and hope not to.)

Two migraine pills, 2 more hours of sleep and a cold compress had dialed the pain down from 11 to between a 7-8, where it remained until about 9:30 tonight, where it’s now dropped to about half that, 3-4.

I can push through when I merely have this level of pain. The higher levels are really bad. I don’t want to say that I had thoughts of suicide, because I didn’t, primarily because I knew the pain would eventually get better. If I had to live with that level of pain all the time I’d get pretty desperate.

Let me put it this way–I’ve never given a character a bad migraine because it’s so bad.

Fortunately, I don’t get migraines this bad all the time. The pain might start out as bad as it was this morning, but the pills work and the pain lowers much more quickly than it did today.

I was trying to remember the last time I had a level 2 migraine–I think it was 12+ years ago, when I was living in Tucson.

Quite possibly the last time I had this bad of a migraine was the last time I got a mild case of heat stroke.

That’s why I’m blogging about this tonight. Not for any kind of sympathy or pity, but so I will remember and work really hard to never get overheated like that again.

Crossposted from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so here or there.

FINISHED! TRATDT

Finished the first draft of The Raven and the Dancing Tiger!!!

I actually stayed up really late last night to finish it. Couldn’t sleep, it was so hot.

Today, I’ve felt like crap all day. I wonder if I have a slight case of heat stroke. I can’t seem to get or stay cool, though it’s not overly warm today. It’s been hard to think, like my brain’s wrapped in wool batting.

There are things I need to fix in the novel. A couple of missing scenes, some character shading. It shouldn’t take me long. Once I have a brain again. It should go out to first readers sometime this week. And I’ll hop back over and finish some short stories.

Woo and hoo!

Crossposted from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so here or there.

New Story! The Oracle of Seattle

NEW FICTION! Never before published!

Jacob practices polismancy: he divines the future from the entrails of his beloved city, Seattle. What happens when the city still willingly bleeds for him, but the voice of God grows silent?

Contains the bonus story, “The Doom of Alokai Temple.”

This was the story I wrote for the “Dark Faith” anthology. As far as I can tell, I made it to the last round of cuts. I’ve sent it to a bunch of other markets, got a lot of favorable rejections, but no one bought it. So I’m publishing it myself, as an “Ace double” — you remember those paperback books that had two short novels in them? As this story is quite short (about 3400 words) I paired it with a second story, also about someone who foresees the future. Together, they’re about 8000 words, so I can charge $2.99 for the pair of them. (I don’t feel right charging $2.99 for a 3k word story.)

This story is available in the usual places, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords.

In addition, I also published this by itself at Kobo.

Unfortunately, it took eight days for the book to make it through the Kobo publishing process. Not because of anything I’d done, but because some books get “stuck.” I know two other writers whose books were stuck this way, their books listed as being published for over a week. I realize it’s a glitch, in the email from Kobo’s customer support they admitted that this is happening to a “small percentage of authors.” Since I know two others, it makes me wonder how small that percentage actually is.

I will try Kobo by itself again for the next couple of projects. I’m hoping they go more smoothly. If they don’t, I may wait a few months before trying it again, let them get their act together.

In other news, I finished the next-to-the-last chapter for the novel, “The Raven and the Dancing Tiger.”

*does happy dance*

Tomorrow I plan to finish it off. Then, I’ll have a couple of days of “fixing what’s broken.” There aren’t that many broken things, just some character shading that needs to go in. Other than that, I’m really pleased with this novel.

Crossposted from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so here or there.

JATW available as a paperback!

I received the final print for The Jaguar and the Wolf and it’s *gorgeous*. I just clicked the button to approve it. So the book is now available as a trade paperback.

And here’s the cover again. SO PRETTY.

In other news, I’ve managed another 2000 words today. I only have to write 6000 words this weekend, two chapters. I can do that. So there’s a really good chance that I’ll finish The Raven and the Dancing Tiger on Sunday. WOO HOO!

57366 / 63000

Hope everyone is having a grand time!

Crossposted from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so here or there.

And then there’s that

The plan was to eat an early dinner, then write 3000 words tonight. The start would be difficult, but I was pretty sure I could get through it.

Plan, meet reality.

In reality, it’s crunch week at the day job right now. Actually, kind of crunch month, from now through August 15th I have some pretty tight deadlines. August 20th I start the new position.

So I ended up working about 10 pretty stressful hours today. I worked only about 9 yesterday, and managed to write about 1000 words. Tonight, I’m just exhausted and ugh.

Tomorrow night I will write. And write and write and write. No matter how much I might want to finish the novel this week, I think it’s okay if I don’t.

Crossposted from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so here or there.