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Bit cold these mornings, but the light is lasting longer. My orchids – huzzah! – are blooming, and elsewhere bulbs are breaking through the frozen ground. We’re getting an early Spring, if we don’t manage to wash it away with all of the rain/freeze/thaw routine. Can hardly believe where January went – whoosh! up in a plume of smoke. Or, a plume of steam, anyway, since it’s the Year of the Water Dragon. And time keeps flowing like a river…

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Not sure what to call this – process, procedure, a tally – but I wanted to toss out an update on my various projects. Sometimes it helps to get things written down on paper.

SFF novel – some pacing problems, rewriting the second half of it will proceed fairly soonish. Thanks for asking, to the people who did – I am still trying to get it out there! It’s a little harder, because SFF is a genre that intimidates a lot of people – including my agent, and the editor with whom I’ve worked with most frequently. I am a big old Trekkie nerd, but even I know that they didn’t talk more than gobbledygook science on that show – I wanted to write a novel and include some tantalizing snippets of current tech that’s in test or early-adapter versions right now. Of course, the need to include, you know, plot was somewhat problematic, but I’m hoping to have that one solved very soon.

Poetry? – I’ve received some queries from my Poetry Sisters asking, “Helloooo?” And yeah. When was the last time I put in sweat and effort to stick to a form and write a poem? It has been months – over a year, I’d say. It’s time to at least try again, but I don’t want to be the one to suggest the form, recalling the dismal failure of the sestinas I suggested. Oy. Someday I would like to tackle that form again, but in the meantime, I’m at least reading poetry again. And the sun is shining. Somehow, I think the two are somewhat related.

Mystery – Again, plot! Why can’t I just write really cool descriptions of, say, hobbies? I know, I know, this is what Technical Writers do, and I chose to write fiction. Okay. As I mentioned last week, the word count on this one is slooooow going, but so far the story arc is convincing, and everyone (in my writing group, anyway) is enormously confused as to whodunnit. That’s … maybe good, or may be a sign of my total inability to complete a coherent storyline. People are muttering about red herrings… which again could be good or completely horrific. There are a lot of strings to juggle; the important bit is getting them tied in a knot that doesn’t slip or leave anything dangling…!

Screenwriting junk – Still not quite clear on what we’re doing, and there’s a sort of juvenile wail that bubbles up periodically that says, “Why can’t I pay Screenwriter M to do this?” And there are sixteen hundred really good answers, mainly that a.) there is no project yet, this is the prework stuff and b.) M has A LIFE, and things to do and c.) I cannot afford M. M. is paid in gold-dipped rubies, and if this is not true, he should be paid in gold-dipped rubies. It’s just as well, though, in a way, that we’re at this project point, I’m not sure exactly how I feel about lit and film, and the intersection of said, so — it stays bubbling away as a team-writing project on a very distant back burner.

I’m even behind in my reading. “Behind” is kind of misplaced, maybe; it’s not as if I have it assigned still. But I usually like to review a couple of books a month I’m happy passing along, and I’ve had some snarls and snafus finding the Robert J. Sawyer book (WAKE, 2009) I was planning to review this month… February, it’s on writing up Code Name Verity, and trying to reacquaint myself with Net Galley. Each time I come away from the Cybils – and that enormous gobbling down of books – I’m sort of braindead for longer and longer times. Reading 143 books in two months will do that to you, I guess, but I wish it didn’t. Anyway. I’m coming back to myself, slowly, but I feel like I’m behind the curve. Reading is just as important as writing, and you must have both to keep the fiction wheels greased. So, onward the books!

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Random Thoughtful Errata from Teh Interwebs:

“That said, I think that it’s outright dangerous to get so lost in our mission to combat bullying that we stop looking into the mirror. What are the norms that we set for young people when we talk poorly about our friends, family, neighbors, or colleagues at the dinner table? When we engage in road rage while driving? Why is it that we accept – if not encourage – meanness in our political sparring? Or on our TV talk shows? Why do marketers put their money behind reality TV shows that propagate the value of relationship drama as entertainment? Look around at the society we’ve created and it’s filled with harshness. To top it off, look at how much we pressure our youth, particularly middle class youth. Hyper-competition starts early and is non-stop. And look at how increased economic pressure in this country creates new tensions, particularly for working class youth. Then add in the fact that puberty is where all sorts of mental health issues start to appear. Where are the support structures for youth that go beyond the family? We’ve defunded social services left right and center.”

That piece of thought-y awesome is quoted from Danah Boyd’s blog, apophenia, wherein she talks about the things that matter to her. In this piece, it’s the anti-bullying movement, and all of those “it gets better” campaigns.

Confession: I really have no idea if it does. Get better, I mean. Life is difficult, and I have been guilty of becoming sardonic, especially when certain groups of people get together and make one of those videos for work: “From our office to you: it gets better!” – and it seems so… meh. I think, “O rlly? ‘It gets better’? Define “it,” please, that’s what Dr. Saxton always asked us to do in our advanced contemporary course. And how, exactly, are you making it better, or does “it” just “get” that way on its own??? I am being horrible and snide, here. There is genuine emotion behind a lot of this campaign, but there is also an undeniable jump-on-the-bandwagon vibe about the response that makes me cringe. Life is messy and chaotic and loud and fierce and hot, but one thing it is not nor ever will it be is simple, and in some ways, it seems like throwing out a catchphrase …oversimplifies. I am leery of choreographed caring, group hugs, and all of that. And that’s not fair. I know. I know. And that’s not even what Boyd is saying, but I got to thinking…. To get back to her point – It’s usually assumed that various “movements” within the online world are something special. Memes are tiny movements, the Occupy thing started as another small movement, the SOPA/PIPA shutdown yet another. Ever read For The Win, by Cory Doctorow? Movements. The interwebs are full of them. Yet, not all of them are that great. We have to learn the difference between social media, and actually being, you know, social. Socializing. Reaching out past a screen… What does it profit a (hu)man to gain access to the world, and lose their own souls?

Scientific American is one of my favorite magazines, mainly because it’s like Popular Mechanics was in the fifties: making science kind of pop-culture accessible to the masses. It’s maybe not the most deeply theoretical magazine, but it has nice pictures, yes? I like National Geographic for the same reason. Anyway. I find that I, without much thought, collect articles and quotes on being an introvert. Yes, I am indeed trying to solidify my position, and maybe a part of me is rationalizing and wanting chapter-and-verse stuff that says, “See? See!? I am too normal!”

But, we all know that sadly (*oh, waily waily*), I am not. Alas, that is my burden to bear.

A fellow introvert has asked me to point out that I am JOKING, and not truly falling into the trap of Introvert = Bad, as our culture is so extrovert-centric, and many people even believe that GOD wants us to be always smiling and sharing, and that when we don’t, we are wrong. *BUZZER SOUNDS* Wrong answer! States of being, like emotions, are neither right nor wrong. Enjoying spending time alone is neither bad nor good, it simply is. Silence and internal time is the way some creative people process and recharge. That is all. No judgment, not even in jest.

May I share that this fellow introvert has now a room with a single chair in it, just for me? A room with a view, Virginia, is overrated without the chair…

Anyway, I was happy to read new research on how introverts throughout history were the ones who Thought the Big Thoughts. In the animal world, I was amused that introverts don’t get eaten. (Conversely, they usually starve to death in a barren place because Going Further Afield to seek food seems like, I dunno, other animals might look at them, or something.) Our general beating-ourselves-up-for-not-being-social nature comes from a little throbbing in our brains, of all things. I really want to read the book – but I wouldn’t want the author’s book tour schedule. Twenty-one interviews IN ONE DAY?! Holy moley, that is not even remotely good for an introvert, or anyone. Yikes.

I am a big fan of aquariums. I am NOT a big fan of slugs as much. But. These gastropods combine the best of several cool things. A must see, indeed.

And that’s me on a Monday, back to my slightly brain-dead usual state.