C.E. Murphy's Blog, page 60
November 2, 2015
a good copy edit
– write 2k on REDEEMER : 2100 words
– revise (or proof) 50 pages on one of 3 different projects 130 pages : proofed
– clean a room (thanksgiving is coming) : total failure on this today
So I’m doing page proofs on MAGIC & MANNERS, which is a very, very clean manuscript. I keep thinking I must be missing stuff, but I’m not. There’s just not much to catch. The copy editor, Richard Shealy at SFF Copy Editing, is terrific (and for hire :)). So that’s a great thing. My brain is still going numb fr...
November 1, 2015
dear god, it’s november
This year has just…gone. Poof. Fweh. Zoom. I honestly don’t feel like I’ve ever fully recovered from moving. Possibly because the last dozen or whatever boxes still aren’t dealt with. I just need another bookshelf, at this point, and I don’t have one. #sigh Anyway.
I have so many things to do. My daily Thinks To Do List looks like this, every day all month:
– write 2k on REDEEMER (ie, nanowrimo)
– revise (or proof) 50 pages on one of 3 different projects 50 pages : proofed
– clean a room (tha...
October 26, 2015
TV & Movie Roundup
A week ago I went into Dublin and had a Movie Day. I went to see The Martian, Everest and The Intern, and decided not to go to Macbeth because I wouldn’t have gotten home until the heat death of the universe, or something a lot like it, like, eleven-thirty at night. :)
The Martian was, somewhat astonishingly, as good as everybody’s been saying it is. In so far as I had any objections to the plot, it was that their eventual solution seemed obvious to me from the moment the problem was presente...
October 23, 2015
MCU & Jessica Jones
I’ve watched the Jessica Jones trailer, which is not particularly usual for me, and I’m profoundly torn on it.
On one hand, FINALLY we get a female-led superhero story. Jessica Jones is a good character, long varied comic book history, popular following, etc: all of that is good. Like every character who’s had a showcase of (up until now, his) own, the Jessica Jones trailer has clearly got its own vibe: it’s pretty horror-movie-feeling, which isn’t a direction any of the others have gone. So...
Kitsnaps: Celtic Cross
Celtic Cross, Athy, IrelandCeltic Cross, Athy, Ireland
Another shot from my Athy graveyard pictures. I caught the dawn light just right and the colors really were this remarkable.
I’m doing a really terrible job of remembering to post photos on Fridays. At this rate I’ll be 106 before I get through my backlist, nevermind what I’ve taken recently. Except I haven’t taken anything recently, so that’s, uh, something, I guess… o.O
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October 22, 2015
ethical oversight
For some reason I was reminded, this morning, of a discussion a few years ago post-Snowden, where an acquaintance of mine who had worked in the intelligence field spoke at great length, and passionately, about why Snowden had been wrong to leak the surveillance information that he did. His reasons were (roughly) matters of trust inside intelligence agencies, safety of intelligence officers, necessity of some secrets being kept, and possibly a couple other things I’m now forgetting.
It was wel...
October 20, 2015
Kitsnacks: Apple Pecan Cookies
About 45 minutes ago I said I thought I was going to go invent some apple pecan cookies, and did. It’s possible I should invent baking recipes more often. This is my third or so original recipe and so far I’m three for three…
Kit’s Apple Pecan Cookies
1/2 c soft butter
1/2 c brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/3 c flour
1 c chopped toasted pecans
1 c peeled, diced apple
Cream butter and sugar; add egg & vanilla. Add dry ingredients. Stir in pec...
October 11, 2015
home from Octocon
We are home from a lovely weekend at Octocon, where we saw many friends and had good conversations.
I brought about eight pounds of fudge to the con, and passed it out to the attendees of the Golden Blasters film festival on Friday night. Probably the best two bits of that were saying to people, “If you’re allergic to anything except gluten you can’t eat this, but it’s gluten-free,” and having one woman LIGHT UP when she was told it was gluten-free and safe for her to eat. (Eggs, dairy, corn,...
October 6, 2015
a fruit problem
We discovered we have a crabapple tree in the front garden. Chaos immediately ensued, resulting in this:
I may have a fruit problem.
Today I washed and chopped and boiled and strained all EIGHT POUNDS of those, and by the time I was done I was too tired to make jelly even if all I had to do was pour it all into a pot and boil it with sugar for fifteen minutes. And actually jar it. That was the part that seemed too hard. But the juice is an amazing shade of red and it’ll be interesting to see...
October 5, 2015
Epic Disciplinary Parent Fail
Epic disciplinary parenting fail:
Note from teacher: Young Indiana had to be spoken to in the yard for licking other children.
Me, already trying not to giggle: Indy, did you lick someone in the yard today?
Indy, full of big blue eyes and guilelessness: Remember the game we were playing where we were dogs?
Me: …yes…
Indy: I saw one of my owners, so I had to lick him!
Me: *completely loses it, bursts out laughing*
I’m still giggling. I eventually managed to look solemn enough to say he should...
