(no subject)

[cleolinda]

Well, I’m officially broke, but the first half of my advance should be coming in this week, so yay! (The second half I’m setting aside for taxes on the whole thing, because... yeah. Suck.) And then I get to go on an orgy of buying used/like-new books. I’m really interested in a book about the Castlehaven sex scandal in the 1600s, by a woman named Herrup (the precise title escapes me at the moment). I came across the story while reading the supplementary criticism for Milton’s Comus for Tuesday’s class, and--well, the way I write, things usually germinate in my head for months while I read or research or daydream or whatever. But I think there definitely might be a story in there that I’d like to tell.

Speaking of which, I bounced an idea off Vladimir the other day to give Rachel Carey (that is, a character in Black Ribbon) her own volume, to tell her story. I can’t tell you what it is because we haven’t gotten to who she really is yet, but it’ll be interesting, and he liked the idea. Again: far, far in my future. It gets planted in the Idea Farm for now. (However, if you have any research or costume information specifically pertaining to 1850-1853, I’d love to see it. I haven’t decided on the specific settings, but it will be at least partly in England and partly on the Continent.)

As for Black Ribbon--y’all are going to kill me. But seriously, I’d been worrying about posting the next chapter at some random time because the site says “October 24” or whatever, and then I realized that I never specified the year for the Bennet-Jones frame story and... what if I just posted the next installments on October 24 and 31, a year late, as if no time had passed at all? It’s almost ingeniously lame, I tell you. But it is a hard (i.e., solid) deadline, and it’s after the book deadline, and before the Milton written work is due.

(A YEAR, y’all. God, I suck so much.)

Still creeping along with the actual book I am being paid to write. Dammit. I swear it’s sheer perversity at this point--I can tell, because the creative urge is starting to rebel and be like, “Oh, wow, wouldn’t it be awesome if we ran off and did this thing we’re not being paid to do?” No, it would not be awesome. Sit down and write more Whiny Anakin or it’s no dessert for you.

Comments

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I'm in much the same boat, and would rather write ANYTHING but the book I've gotten the first check for that I said would be done by Labor Day.

I guess it will be a good thing eventually, because once I'm done with the book that's been paid for I can joyously dive into the things I'd rather write right now rather than having no idea what to write next.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

When your book does come out, let me know, because I want to read it and I'll have totally forgotten by then. Hell, I'll have forgotten that I wrote a book a few months from now. :)

[silverhill.livejournal.com]

*sends creative vibes your way*

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Thanks. :)

(Icon. Heh.)

[cheapblackpens.livejournal.com]

somewhere, a little Whiny Anakin doll is saying "But Cleolindaaaaa!"

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

"Cleoooooo, tell Obi-Waaaaaaaan to let me stay up laterrrrrrr!"

[cheapblackpens.livejournal.com]

"You can plot galactic domination in the morning!"

[illmantrim.livejournal.com]

I know its not remotely on the same level but I felt the same way about several fic assignments recently. I was trying to write them and my creativity was going "ooooo shiny! at all kinds of things.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Oh, it's totally the same thing. I do it every time I have a major paper due--I always want to write fiction when I'm supposed to be dissertating or some shit.

Oooooh!

[ernie-lundie.livejournal.com]

How did you get a publisher? Could you please post the process? If you can that would be great. Much thanks.

Re: Oooooh!

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I talked about it here (http://www.livejournal.com/users/cleolinda/125805.html) when it first happened. I’ll warn you, the way it happened was extremely random and fluke-y, so I’m not sure it’ll be helpful.

[shirade.livejournal.com]

Mmmm...Whiny Anakin on a spit. Delish.

[quizzicalsphinx.livejournal.com]

You're pulling a me. From the corner of your eye you see a shiny new idea just begging to be played with, and even when you turn your back to it and face the computer screen again, you hear the new idea calling to you from over the wall of the work-in-progress. Heed not this siren song! There's a reason my own work has been backlogged for years.

[edda.livejournal.com]

I'm exactly the same way about stuff I write, and I hardly ever write.

[(Anonymous)]

This is kinda outa the blue, yet at the same time all comprehensive. I just wanted to remark that your ability to manage all of the sights you're on, create countless icons, and manage to stay up to date among who knows how much more is amazing. I don't blame you for being a year late. Do you have a flux capacitor?

ah motivation...

[virtuistic.livejournal.com]

forced writing can be such a bitch.

I'm at a block but I keep hammering away and hating everything I come up with. One of these days though, it will be brilliant, oh yes... it will.

So write on, sista! because I enjoy reading your work. =]

could it be

[shoukinkasegi.livejournal.com]

A House in Gross Disorder (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0195139259/ref=pd_sim_books_3/103-3165584-8576622?v=glance&s=books)?

Re: could it be

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

That's the one.

[yarha.livejournal.com]

Yah, anytime you get paid for something it ceases to be fun and becomes work. Though there's probably a Zen solution for this, it's most likely something similar to "Be the words". Or, as one would say in KoL, "The word is you!"

Yarha, "No Thought, Writer, or Words, but Only the Writing"

Wait a sec...

[juniper-75.livejournal.com]

Can you back up just one sec? I was under the impression that you wouldn't be posting any more to Black Ribbon at all because it will (might?) be published. While I will be v. glad to actually own a copy...getting to read more of it sooner would be divine. I think posting the next chapter in October of this year is just plain ingenious (unless you'd really prefer to post sooner; I'm sure I wouldn't object). What a lovely Halloween gift for your fans!

Re: Wait a sec...

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Actually, I always intended to finish posting BR--you may be thinking of the "Fifteen Minutes" parodies. I'm thinking that I may expand Black Ribbon to give the plot a little time to breathe and get more background detail in there--not so much that the story just stops dead, but you know. There's a lot of revising to do, so at this point I'm not afraid of posting the rest of it--the book version would be bigger and better and more, etc. I honestly would have posted it sooner if grad school hadn't gotten in the way and I hadn't come down with a massive block in the middle of it. It's good to know that someone still wants to read the end. :)

[juniper-75.livejournal.com]

Oh! *Claps hands* Yay!
(I probably was projecting your stance on the M15M onto Black Ribbon.)

Darn those classes and that pesky homework. I totally understand. I'm about to start my last year of undergrad and I already can't wait to be done because there is so much I want to do.

[kvschwartz.livejournal.com]

Hello again. It's "I'm going to get Cetacean on your ass!" guy again.

I'm hoping to publish my jokes from kvsdeepthoughts. Any suggestions you might have would be appreciated. In fact, I'd consider a Finder's Fee or whatever's whatever. :D

Thanks a trillion.

Also, good luck with the Milton paper.

As Milton might have put it, "The mind is its own place ... but the real estate values are low because the place is packed, everything is upholstered in gray or white, and anyway there's not much of a view up in that neck."

[kvschwartz.livejournal.com]

I think I inducted you (abducted you?) into my community kvsdeepthoughts. I did it in part to see if it would work, but also because I look forward to your witty comments on my attempts at wit. :)