C.E. Murphy's Blog, page 59

worst. cooking. ever.

I have, in a really stunning run, made two bad batches of fudge in a row and followed it up with pie crust worse than what I made at Thanksgiving, which was, up until then, easily the worst I’d ever made. But that’s okay, because the pie I then made was too sweet, too!

Srsly. *dies in a pit*

I’ve now gotten all the necessary ingredients to make experimental allergy-safe fudge for my friend’s dairy-and-eggs-allergic son, and since I was in the market anyway I also got enough to make dairy-free...

Nano No More

I made it through about 35K in November, then totally failed in the last ten days to get the last 15K in. Still, it means that after today’s writing session I’m at 70K on REDEEMER, which means I have somewhere between 30-50K to go.

I hate having that broad a target to shoot for. I usually have a much better sense of my wordcount, going in. I suppose I’ll see when I get to the end, though.

What else. Not much else. I have ambitions of 80K by the weekend but I think I’ll have to accept 75 as a...

Ten Years In Ireland

I was just thinking that I’ve been a freelancer ten years today, and then it slowly dawned on me that no, I’ve been a freelancer *eleven* years today; I apparently missed last year’s anniversary totally.

*Today*, we’re ten years in Ireland. I am, in fact, ten years and 24 days in Ireland today, but Ted, who came a month after me, arrived on the 1st. Or possibly the 5th, but anyway, we count from his arrival at the start of December.

Ten years. Wow.

People still ask if we think we’ll ever mov...

Picoreview: Jessica Jones

Picoreview: Jessica Jones: YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY

I had a concerned rant about Jessica Jones after the first trailer was released, and I am very very glad to say that my concerns were unfounded. The story was not, as it seemed from that trailer, “the girl is a victim but now she’s Fighting Back.” It was considerably more “the girl’s abuser returns and she fucks his shit up,” only vastly more awesome. It also wasn’t a *horror* vibe so much as a noir one (some of the CAMERA WORK, OMG!...

new tabtop

Ted, who has been feeling strongly that I need to replace the Computer That Goes Clunk before it Clunks The Final Time, stopped and bought me a new tabtop last night because it was on sale for something like 30% off thanks to Black Friday sales. I hate that they’re doing Black Friday sales over here because it’s stupid, there’s no Thanksgiving holiday weekend, which is the only reason Black Friday exists in the States…but I can’t say I’m sorry to have a new tabtop.

I am, however, exasperated...

American Thanksgiving

We have successfully had American Thanksgiving here, with more than 30 people descending to eat vast amounts of food. This is at least our 6th Big Thanksgiving, and this year we got everything on the table at the same time and with an absolute minimum of difficulties. We’ve become a well-oiled machine! Dad commented on how impressed he was that Ted and I were both in the kitchen without killing each other, but the size of the kitchen in this house helped that a lot (not that we’ve ever killed...

stayin’ alive

*lurches out of the darkness, stares around wildly*

I’ve just finished up page proofs on MAGIC & MANNERS, which will be widely available…uh, pretty much as soon as there’s cover art. :)

Working on REDEEMER, having just reached the (hopefully) halfway point and having (definitely) gotten all the long-term recurring characters on the page. Except the one who isn’t introduced in this book but nevermind that.

Hosting American Thanksgiving at our place this Saturday (because for some inexplicable...

Kitsnaps: Song Thrush at Sunrise

Song Thrush at Sunrise

Song Thrush at Sunrise

Look! Look! I’m remembering to post a Friday Photo! Very late, but we’ll take what we can get. :)

It turns out I really enjoy taking pictures of birds, although I’m not very good at it and get decent shots through luck more than skill. This one, f’rex, is pretty but a microcosmically small percentage of the original photograph, which I don’t believe I had the telephoto lens on hand for. Still, I like it. :)

The post Kitsnaps: Song Thrush at Sunris...

unexpected WIKTORY

In an unexpected WIKTORY, I got 3900 words written today and am now only a day behind on Nano. Indeed, had I not run out of battery I think I’d have caught up on it, but, well. No battery.

Fortunately, Chapters Books had gotten in GREEN EARTH, the revised, one-book edition of Kim Stanley Robinson’s Science in the Capital trilogy, so I had something to read on the train going home and things. For I’d gone into Dublin to have a celebratory drink with a friend who just turned in her dissertation...

a wash

Yesterday (Wednesday) was a wash in terms of getting much of anything done. Oh well, it happens. Well, I did work on revisions for something, but there wasn’t much in the way of new wordcount.

Today (Wednesday) I’ve finished the next Old Races short story, which will be posted in a couple of days. I’m…going to try working on galleys, but I don’t know if I’ve got the necessary level of consciousness. Galleys are mind-numbing, even when they’re easy, as these ones have been. Besides, I only nee...