throw another bear in the canoe

chancewrites pointed out to me yesterday that "This Tragic Glass" picked up a Nebula recommendation. It's my very first one. I'm kind of geeked about the whole thing.

Which reminds me, gotta vote for the Hugos this weekend.

In other news, I got nothing productive done yesterday, between the movie and the trip to the optometrist (half a step worse in both eyes; I'm still hovering between "bat" and "star-nosed mole.") but I did get six pages over the course of WisCon and three on Wednesday, so progress is being made. This is one of those books that's being insistent about being written in the headlights, so to speak. I know where it's going, but I can't really see my way there, and I'm slightly concerned about the level of physical conflict.There's conflict, mind you. It's just internal and intellectual and political rather than the fighty-bitey sort.

Tortoise, tortoise. And more today, before the mass excursion to Harry Potter, which I do not really expect to enjoy, but I'm open to being surprised.

Once I get home from work, it's words words words words words.

Wheee!

I finished the god-damned pony express story I've been working on since Winter. In draft, at least. And it's a novelette, damn it to hell (because nothing's more marketable than an 8K deal with the devil story, yes sirree). But it's also the first piece of short fiction I've finished in six months, and in fact the first piece of new writing I've finished in six months.

It's really a relief to remember how to finish things. I was starting to worry that I had broken something.

Patti Griffin has a great heartbreak voice. Sort of, what if Joan Baez could carry a tune. *g*

And I got actual words on actual Worldwired today. In fact, I broke 40K, MS Word, which means about 44K manuscript. Not halfway done, but getting there-- 172 pages, and a couple of things that seemed like pacing problems waiting to happen sorted themselves out nicely. The characters seemed about to solve half the plot about halfway into the book, which would have never done, bu then I remembered that that was actually only half of half the plot, and there's still a whole nother side of the problem to nail down.

And I have actual action happening. It's like a miracle. And I know what needs to happen by page 200, which is only 37 pages or so away.

See? This is what happens when you quit panicking and trust yourself, the readers, and the book.

I think I've been choking because I've been worrying up a storm that I'm not as good as I think I am. And really, I'm not all that bad at this writing t'ing.

Great, now the plateaus are emotional rather than technical. Although I do seem to be hashing out something to do with the balance of external vs. internal plotlines, too.

Worldwired:

Words Today: 1313
Words Total: 40171
Pages: 163 of 175
Reason for stopping: must bathe before movie
Tea: thé melange russe. Also, a Beck's beer or two and a tuna melt.
Mammalian assistance: Cat puke on linoleum, other cat begging for tunafish, one drive-by by Oliver, the panda Siamese (like a Siamese splashed liberally with white paint in a tuxedo pattern). A Roland for an Oliver, oh! Otherwise, largely ignored, since the boy is home and he's more fun when I'm writing.