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A few months ago, I woke up and needed to write something down.  Fortunately, I had pen and paper handy.  I hadn't actually looked at it since I wrote it, but something pulled it to my attention today.  As poetry goes, it's not great, but it's something that pretty accurately describes my mindset right now. Hey, how's it going? What's up? How are you? People checking in all the time each day. Hey, how's it going? What's up? How are you? Quick connections, touching base on the way. Hey, how's it going? What's up? How are you? The words are sincere, at least they sound that way. But if you listen, if you look in their eyes, You know there are things they don't want you to say. How's it going? Pretty badly the panic's creeping in. There are too many people, too much sound and light. It's all pushing in, there's no room to breathe, No way out, no escape, no place to run and hide. What's up? My pain level - today...

Sadly, it's not good news.  Feina's liver isn't doing its job, and there isn't a ton we can do.  The vet gave her some sub-q fluids and a shot of vitamins, antibiotics and steroids to help her appetite come back, but it's basically, as Eric puts it, rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.  It's been exceptionally draining over here, as Eric and I have each broken down a few times, but we know she's not hurting.  She just probably won't make it much longer. This is one of the first pictures of both Eric and Feina I received, back when Eric and I were long-distance, and it remains one of my favorites.

I realize it's been a week since Worldcon ended, but it took me some time to organize my thoughts.  It was the first Worldcon I'd ever been to, and going so soon after GenCon was a little bit of a culture shock in some ways. This year's Worldcon was held at Sasquan in Spokane, Washington.  My husband and I spent a large portion of Wednesday driving the 5+ hours to Spokane, and realized that the sky was getting more and more smoky as we went.  By the time we got to the hotel, the smell of smoke permeated everything.  Turns out, the winds from the  wild fires  had turned in just the right direction to blanket Spokane with smoke.  The entire city smelled like a barbecue. The convention center was kind of spread out, which was nice - it never really felt like there were a ton of people crammed into one place, even in areas like the Dealers' Hall, and that's always been one of my biggest issues with conventions.  It helped that the convention atten...

We're just going to ignore the fact that we're halfway through the third quarter, and play catch-up. Complete draft of book 2 of Paranormal Investigations, Inc. Due: April 30 Q1 Status:  This one got put on the back burner, as this series is the one that feels too much like Maureen Johnson's Shades of London series. New due date:  Uncertain Q2 Status:  I started working on this again, but it's been slow going. New due date:  Going to call this March 31, 2016 Complete draft of Church of Book Due: August 31 Q1 Status:  I think I'll meet this goal, even though it isn't the same Church of Book it was when I first drafted these goals.  I've basically started from scratch, and it's my current Camp Nanowrimo project. Q2 Status:  ...Not so much.  I'm still working on it, though! New due date:  June 30, 2016 Win at least one of either Camp Nanowrimo or Nanowrimo Due: November 31 Q1 Status:  In progress for the April Camp Nano...

I've decided to take the story I started for Camp Nano this summer and expand on it, because the idea's something that's interesting me more than things I've already got in the pipeline.  Of course, this means starting yet another project, and as you can see on the right-hand side of the blog, I have a few things started. This is a story that I started writing out long-hand, which has been helping with regards to discovery-writing, but I'm not really comfortable with just letting things take wing on their own.  Apparently, I'm not able to just completely discovery-write.  I decided to do some outlining in Scrivener today, which has been helpful in getting my ideas in place.  I think I'm still going to draft long-hand, but I'm going to make sure my outline is handy - sort of like this: Admittedly, this is how I tried to start last year's Nano, which didn't work.  I'm hoping that not having the time pressure on will help, but we'll s...

Well, Camp Nano didn't quite go as planned, but I'm still noodling with the ideas I came up with for it.  I think I'm going to keep going with it, writing it long-hand for the first draft - it's working well for getting the discovery writing juices flowing. I survived  GenCon , though this year's strain of Con Crud seems particularly strong.  Our booth was bigger than ever, and we were a highly sought-after destination.  It is awfully nice to be wanted. Anyway, I'm hoping to get back into a "normal" routine again.  Of course, the week after next is  WorldCon , being held at Sasquan in Spokane this year.  At least I'm not working this convention, so I'll have the opportunity to go to panels and possibly, just maybe, relax.