C.E. Murphy's Blog, page 57

weekend writing retreat

I had a little stress-induced breakdown this week (mentioned earlier under the cunning title “rage bot murder machine” or something like that) and consequently Ted sent me away for a weekend writing retreat this weekend.

My primary goal going in was to get the REDEEMER manuscipt to 90,000 words (about 4/5ths done), and my secondary goal was to write 15,000 words if I could (these two goals were separated by a wordcount of about 1500 words).

I wrote about 16,000 words, which comes out (roughl...

Kitsnaps: Canal Reflection

I’m going to have to do something about the fact that my Computer That Goes Clunk can no longer run any image manipulation programs (the failed update that caused it to start Going Clunk had something to do with the graphics card, and even *booting* photoshop elements is now impossible), because I’m running low on the handful of Photo Friday images I’d prepped. Fortunately (?) I’ve been doing such a bad job remembering to post them they’ve lasted a while… :}

Reflection on the Grand Canal in A...

don’t tell me truth hurts

…little girl
’cause it hurts like hell

I wouldn’t have thought I’d have two posts to make about David Bowie, but then, I wouldn’t have really thought I’d have *one* post to make about him, so what do I know?

I’ve spent most of the last two evenings, when I’m not writing, going through my FB friends’ list and listening to all the Bowie songs they’ve linked to. Or rather, that was my plan. What actually happened was that on Monday evening a friend posted, “So I’ve been working on this list all...

rage machine murder bot

Yesterday I woke up a rage machine murder bot. Ted suggested I stay home from the thing I was supposed to do and work instead, as the combination of the thing I was supposed to do and having done *no work* lately were the basic components of my rage, and although I should have done the thing I had a giant hot chocolate with a lot of whipped cream and wrote instead, and by noon I had mostly (mostly) thrown off the desire to murder absolutely everything.

I had to delete a chunk of REDEEMER and...

It’s only forever…

…not long at all…

I wouldn’t think that David Bowie’s death would hit me so hard. It’s just so damned unexpected. Elizabeth Bear said once that David Bowie would still be cool at the heat death of the universe. I think I vaguely expected him to still be *there*, at the heat death of the universe.

I mean, I don’t know, right? The 80s. Jareth. Let’s Dance. Under Pressure. The truth is that my Bowie oeuvre is almost strictly 80s. I only heard his Christmas carol with Bing Crosby when I moved ove...

Kitsnaps: Red Cow

I’m irrationally fond of this cow picture. It’s not, technically, even a good photo–the focus is a little soft–but I just love this cow. It is a good red cow. It has a good cow face.

I love you, cow.

The post Kitsnaps: Red Cow appeared first on The Essential Kit.

to done

screw a things to do list. i should be keeping a things i’ve done list.

today i’ve made bread, brownies, chicken pot pie & cookies, walked five miles, done 30 pushups and a load of laundry, put together a ballet barre, danced with my kid, cleaned the kitchen, worked on sorting out the office, and some other stuff i can’t remember because now i’m trying to write it down.

i don’t know why i’m so hard on myself. i’m a freaking amazon. all should look upon my works and freaking *despair*.

also, i...

continued adventures of cleaning the office

I have a 16 square Ikea shelving unit in my office. Over the past few days I’ve managed to empty five of the squares. Enough of it went into the rubbish to make a difference, but I’m afraid quite a number of things went into boxes in the squares into which more things could fit. Still, it’s something. I’m now down to four empty squares, because I located and separately congregated all of the art and photography equipment, which ought to render them both more useable.

I’ve long since been rut...

Slice of Life: Amazed

An actual conversation that took place in our house yesterday, recorded in web comic form mostly for my friend Mikaela. Indy said, “Who’s that?” and I said, “Daddy,” and he said, “Why does he look so AMAZED?” so I figure I got the gist of it right. :)

The post Slice of Life: Amazed appeared first on The Essential Kit.

Recent Reads: Spindrift

I read Allen Steele’s Coyote trilogy…*checks the reading page* good lord, in 2006. And really liked them, so I’ve been looking forward to reading SPINDRIFT for, uh. Years. I have no idea how long it’s been on my TBR shelf. Quite a while.

So I was disappointed when I bounced hard off the opening chapter/prologue/thing, and was wondering if I should go re-read the COYOTE books to see if they were, y’know, any good, and also to see what they refreshed about what this book was possibly supposed t...