Icon by Peg Kerr Ihinger
It is open mike week! I just got back from a long vacation with my sister and friends, so I am catching up and getting back into routines. What are all of you up to? Or what do you want to complain about? Or hear about?
First Open Mike of 2025!
I’m on substack! Did I mention that before?
Well, if so, I’ll mention it again.
https://writingandreflections.substack.com/
Meanwhile I am lining up ducks to launch another fairytale novel, and also to submit to an anthology, but you can still buy my books
https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B01CHBF6Q2
I would like to complain about time, specifically the way it keeps vaporizing when I take my eyes off of it. 😉
Hope you had a fun trip to somewhere nifty!
Very annoying of it. Worse, it seems to accelerate
I need to revise my agent letter and do another round of submissions, but haven’t had the emotional energy. We were just about to apply for federal funding when…. (you can fill in the rest).
I have found some events in my WIP. Not a plot, but events. A senior and well-connected civilian scientist has realized the swarm can probably cure the neurodegenerative disease that is ruining him. This plan has half a million things wrong with it, but he is extremely motivated to make it work; my characters are kind of caught in the middle. No idea where this is going.
Better going somewhere than nowhere!
That’s better than what I do Mary. I wish I stopped at that. I usually do.
Me:How’s it going?
Them : Oh it goes.
Me: Ok WHERE is it going then? If it’s going somewhere then where is it going?
Sadly this does not typically get the person to think on their feet of a creative answer the way I always envision it should. I continue to get bland responses that match the persons mood, but I shall continue to keep at it so long as it amuses me to do so.
Sympathies on the agent-hunting; I need to get back to that myself. I’m going to a con this weekend which has a class on query letters; hoping to come out of that with something usable.
I’m still dealing with a sagging middle that started sagging before I started writing it. I need to both find the missing pieces and determine their shapes.
A plot skeleton may help. Most have some pointers about important things that happen in the middle.
Yeah, but it’s a case of “First, catch your plot skeleton.”
Those missing pieces I’m trying to find are missing plot-skeleton bones.
My nineteenth novel is posted. I’m 30k words into my twentieth.
And I don’t care right now. Our latest foster cat had to be put down yesterday; we knew he was old and ill when we took him in, but he turned out to be worse off than we knew. And he was the sweetest little guy. Utterly lovable.
I’m sure most of you know how it is. I look over to his bed, and he’s not in it. I reach to pet him, and he isn’t there. Absence is agony.
At least the kitten I mentioned a couple open mic’s ago safely grew up and got adopted. And I’ll get through this. I have before.
Sorry about the cat, happy about the kitten. Hang in there.
I will, I will. And thank you for the kind wishes.
Belated, but sympathies. At least you were able to give him a loving home for the time he had left. I know that doesn’t help enough, but I hope it helps some.
What am I up to? I just finished reading a good book last night, and I need to go do laundry. I have been pleasantly delayed it by finding the author, the author leading me to you to read about your writing process. Thank you for that by the way. Then catching up with the friend who gave me the book to read. Laundry can wait until I am done typing this to say Thank you again.
What do I want to complain about? Nothing. I want to live in the alternate universe I imagine in my head that must theoretically exist in which we as a human species got it all right the first time. A world in which we don’t start wars because everyone actually acknowledges the fact that we were born with empathy and feelings for a reason and should put them to good use by placing ourselves in others shoes more often to avoid conflicts ever arising. That being said the only thing I have to complain about at the present time is how moronic management is at work and how useless I am at being recognized as a valuable asset worthy of management because I have been a business owner and been with the charity for 5 years and should have some form of seniority over the 20 something aged new-hire that’s only been with us a year.
Last but not least what do I want to hear about? I would love to hear about whether or not you actually manage to do 6 impossible things before breakfast 🙂 Love the reference well done!
Six impossible things before breakfast? It depends on what you think is impossible. Some days, making the bed qualifies…
(Keeping the cats happy ALWAYS qualifies.)
Too true, making the bed does seem impossible some days. Good luck with the cats!
I got several thousand words into a new passion project over the last couple days, and then life smacked me in the face and all progress stalled, so that’s been fun. Hopefully when I recover from the current circumstance I’ll be able to get back into it fairly easily.