I'm getting ready to leave on the three night family trip that occurs after every Christmas. At present I am putting together Cate's Bag of Family Free Fun. I love my family, I do, and there are a lot of great activities up at the resort where we're going. But I'm gonna need my Cate time all the same.

( But what if I forget something? )

( Yay for introducing kids to other cultures )

I'll try to post from the vacation, as no doubt lots of interesting events and/or drama will occur, but it does depend on time/energy.

Cate

As of tonight, I am lucky enough to be enjoying a week off. I'm hoping to start making more progress on the opening revisions of my NaNoWriMo novel.

In the meantime, another teaser for you. Ghita makes a couple new, some would say dangerous, acquaintances.

( Read more... )

Cate

Tuesday again? Already?

I do like that this makes me at least open the file each week, and I do promise that I'm thinking about the story a lot, even if I don't always the energy to work on it during the frenetic experience that is the holiday season in retail.

( Read more... )

Cate

We have officially entered the part of the year where I want to crawl into bed and sleep until spring.

I don't quite think it's seasonal affective disorder, and I would never label it depression, but I do have a problem with lack of motivation at this time of year.

To explain: I currently live at 51˚N in latitude. I leave for work at 7:30am and the sun hasn't come up. I get home work at 5:30pm and the sun has already set. Add to this that the high for the last fortnight has been has been -18˚ celsius (usually more like -25˚) and I'm feeling decidedly unwilling to leave my bed in the morning and more than a little eager for it at night.

I suppose this is better than cabin fever, which I could understand people experiencing under similar circumstances, but it means I'm getting very little done.

Well no. I've managed to develop a belated and unhealthy obsession with the Stargate franchise. I blame shelterdowns for getting me onto Stargate: Universe, and iTunes for making the rest so damn accessible. I've watched the (godawful) original movie and the entire first season of SG-1 this weekend (yes, within 48 hours, and from my bed). Luckily for my pocketbook, I let shelterdowns know of my obsession before I bought more seasons and she has kindly offered the loan of her DVDs.

The other upside to a new television obsession is that I can crochet at the same time, so I finally got some Christmas gifts finished (though getting them in the mail on time might be a challenge) and made excellent progress on the wedding-afghan-that-just-won't-die.

But this, in turn, means that I've not progressed as I should on certain beta reads, or on revisions of Upon the Seventh Sea Sick Day, despite having promised to deliver it to more than one person by the end of the year.

Which makes my guilt-ridden self want to crawl into bed and sleep until spring.

Cate

PS: shelterdowns I need Season Two. STAT!

As promised, I have set up a community for doing The Artist's Way in the new year. I gave up on witty names and decided to just be direct. Therefore, I would like to invite you to artistsway_lj.

Unless the membership objects, we will start on Sunday, the 3rd of January. More details are in the community's welcome post.

Please feel free to invite friends along with you, but do have them let me know who sent them, as membership is currently by referral.

Cate

Just under the wire again this week.

I confess I've not been writing much in the last few days. The weather's been the kind of brutal cold that I find exhausting, so I've been dragging more than a bit. But we're supposed to be up to -12 celsius over the next couple days (we're been hovering in the -18 to -27 range), so I hope to get moving again soon.

In the meantime, a little something I found while skimming the NaNo novel.

( Read more... )

Cate

Slightly belated congratulations to Heidi Cullinan (aka amazoniowan) on the publication of her first novel, Hero which was officially released today.

From the Dreamspinner Press website:

Hal Porter is no man’s hero; he’s just another Los Angeles construction worker. So when he sees a building appear on what the day before was an empty plot of weeds—a site where people have been found dead—Hal knows a guy like him should steer clear of whatever is going on. But a vision at the building's window draws him inside, and there Hal finds Morgan, a magical shapeshifter held captive by a rival clan... and Hal’s the only one who can save him.

It doesn’t take Hal long to realize he’s in over his head, not only because the clan has powers beyond his imagination but also because he’s fallen in love with Morgan. There’s no escape for them now without a hero to break the curse, and Hal knows it can’t be him. But as Hal and Morgan work together, they discover gifts far more powerful than magic and that heroes aren’t always in shapes they expect.

I have my shiny eBook copy and am thrilled. I'll also need a paperback copy for bragging-and-autograph purposes, but I'll be getting that after my next paycheck.

So one more time: YAY HEIDI!!!

Cate

Since NaNoWriMo went so exceedingly well this year, I started wondering about having another go at Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way. I've tried it several times and made great progress with each attempt, but have not yet kept steady until the end.

I was wondering if anyone is game to get up a community and do The Artist's Way together. I'm thinking posts where we can report completing Morning Pages, the Artist's Dates, etc., as well as (optional) posts of each week's activities and what we're getting out of them.

I volunteer to do the organizing and, where necessary, the gentle poking. I'm currently thinking of good community names and will give another invitation in a week or so.

I'm thinking of a start in the new year, which should give those who don't already have a copy of Cameron a chance to get one.

Anyone game to join?

Cate

Quick post to let non-Twitters know that I have finally found names for my mermaid.

Her underwater name is Ghita. When she is on land, the humans decide they need something to call her and she selects Jette from their offerings.

Cate

In most of the stories I write, I have a certain moment, usually near the end, toward which I'm writing,

This was the one for my NaNoWriMo project.

( Read more... )

In other NaNoWriMo news, I'm finding that the decompression is an odd sensation. Part of me is tempted to ship the rough draft off to some beta readers, but the rest of me screams continually about everything that I already need to change. Not to mention a belated inner prude that worries about certain *ahem* types of scenes, despite the fact that they've sent me more more graphic ones...

I think I need to take another day. After that we'll see.

Cate