07/11/00 -- Sweeter Than Honey

And better than a poke in the eye with a dead gerbil 

So we critiqued "Sweeter than Honey, Stronger than Wine" today.  Wow.  I'm just... wow.  The critique went really well.  There are a few people who aren't really keen on cyberpunk, so I'm going to have to do a lot of juggling to fix some of the old tired cliches that're in there, but I have a pretty good idea of how to fix a few of them, and I'm sure the others will fall into place as I work on the ones I do know how to fix.  I've got the itching little ideas of what to do with the novel that this is going to become.  I blame the novel on Beth, Maureen and Greg.  I think the three of them conspired after my meeting with Beth... before today's critique.

My head was really full after the crit.  It was weird.  I felt like my brain was going off in a hundred thousand different directions and that I wasn't quite sure how to reign it in.  I couldn't do much more than say 'thank you' for the critiques and suggestions.

We had lunch partway through the crit session then finished up and Greg gave us a short lecture on character.  I think I'd heard a lot of what he said before, but now I think it is actually starting to set in.  I think I need a handful of three-ring binders to organize my characters and my stories and my writing life.  Maybe.  Maybe I just think I do.  I dunno.

After that, Jennifer and I did laundry and read/critiqued while things chugged and spun and gurgled and dried.  And dried.  Ugh.  I hate laundry.

Then we headed over to Schuller's for Maureen and Greg's reading.  It was cool.  Dinner in the little cafe was nice (if a bit yuppie -- though their chicken portabello sammich is pretty damn tastey).  Maureen and Greg totally rock.  I mean totally.

The readings were way cool.  Maureen read from the story that'll be in the Starlight 3 anthology.  Greg read us the prologue of his new novel/project.  I'm hooked.  He's not done.  It isn't sold.  Aieeee!  I hate it when that happens. :)

We finally meandered back to campus and I dragged critiques over to Van Hoosen to finish up then came back to my room.

T-shirt stuff is almost finished.  We have a sort of design for the front.  David is working on the final design.  I hope we can get this all organized/in order in time to get them back to us before we all spread to the winds and head home.

Did I mention I don't want to think about heading home?  About Clarion being over.  I'm totally fucked up about this right now.  I want Clarion to go on and on and on, but I do want to go home.  I want my bed back.  I miss Jonah.  Boo.  Shilo.  I miss CB Potts.  I miss chocolate sopapillas at Chevy's after lunch with coworkers.

Getting home is going to totally screw me up.  This I know.  Talk about post-event let-down.  Post Clarion Let-Down is going to fuck with my head bigtime.  And I've only got a day to recover (after I get home-home) before I have to somehow force myself back into my real life.  Back into the Real World.  I don't want to think about it right now.  It's too crazy.

I am half thinking about the post-Clarion novel dares, though.  I've got two Clarion-fresh novel ideas.  Though one of them probably requires a hell of a lot more than I'll be able to put into a novel dare.  A whole hell of a lot more.  But the first one... that one might be pretty good.  That one... then the Goblin Market one (that isn't truly Goblin Market anymore, really -- and definitely won't be in the novel).

But more than any of that right now, I'm thinking about sleep.  I'm tired!

 

Okay, so other folks are talking about their productivity here.  I decided I may as well, too. This list (and my productivity) is subject to change without notice. :)
Title	Word Count	Finished	Critiqued?
"Where the Blood Roses Grow" Week one, first story.  Wahoo.  And I was worried that something wouldn't come.	5000	6/13	6/15
"Uprooting the Tree" Will probably change the title at some point.	3400	6/16	6/19
"Mockingbird Girl" I think I'm happiest with this story, so far.	2800	6/19	6/26
"Poor as Paupers, Rich as Royalty" My challenge story from Sean's week.  I hated writing it.  It gave me a toothache.	2000	6/22
That fucking first person narrative (not yet complete) - May never be completed.  Don't I feel like an idiot...	(400)
"Switched to Overload"  (That other fucking first person narrative) Actually, I like this one better than the one above it ...  Even if it did wind up being two first person narratives in one story.  o.O	4900	6/27	7/3
"Sweeter Than Honey, Stronger Than Wine"  (My Tananrive Due challenge story.  Write a story in the style of an author whose work you admire.  Aieee!  It was sort of supposed to be in the style of Tanith Lee.  I'm not sure I hit that.  But it's definitely got a Christina Rossetti influence.)	9200	7/2	7/11
"Hypothetical Beaches" I really hope it turns out to be not quite as stupid as I feel like it is.  Finished it just before Maureen and Greg's 24-hour moratorium on writing.	2800	7/10