Attract Mode

Updates from January, 2012 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

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  Chrysoula 2:42 pm on January 24, 2012 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment  

  Hey, it occurred to me there may still be people here that don’t follow me elsewhere! Hi! I have a book coming out in February! The paperback version has a Kickstarter dedicated to it.

  http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/candlemarkandgleam/print-release-of-matchbox-girls

  It’s apparently a pretty good book. Check out the blurb and trailer on the Kickstarter, if nothing else!

  There will also be a digital-only version available from my publisher and various retailers after Feb 21st; the one from my publisher will be DRM free; the one from Amazon/B&N will probably be more convenient to install on an ebook reader.

  Following: the latest update from my writing blog on the publication process.

  Hey guys! It’s MONDAY! That means you get an update on how the Matchbox Girls launch is going!

  First, (Moderately) Famous Authors are reading it and seem to be liking it. There will be blurbs! This is really nifty, in a subdued I’m-cool way and totally dazzling in a stars-in-my-eyes way.

  Second, my lovely Publisher and I have put our heads together and come up with another stretch goal for the Kickstarter. It involves handwritten postcards from characters! With three weeks to go for the Kickstarter I have high hopes we’ll reach it, and I’ll have an opportunity to get a really cramped hand. Although if we reach it TOO soon, I’ll probably have to come up with yet ANOTHER stretch goal reward and that… that could get challenging. Although this current stretch goal was also a challenge and now it’s my favorite idea. So, you know.

  Third: Other people are saying nice things, too. This is probably not that interesting but it makes me very happy and I appreciate it.

  Fourth: I’m still slogging away on Gravity’s Angels and the prequel story (which I really ought to name but probably won’t until it’s done). I’m also slogging away on things like ‘bargaining for a bassinet’ and ‘wondering where the baby clothes are’ and ‘when will I sleep again’ so it’s definitely a slog. However, progress is being made.

  Fifth: There have been rumors of bookmarks. Oh yes.

   

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  Chrysoula 11:21 am on July 17, 2011 Permalink  

  Went to bed at 1. Woke up every hour from 4 AM onward, for various reasons. I have too much to accomplish today to be as exhausted as I am. Could blow off writing on another scheduled vacation day but the little boy won’t let me sleep anymore.

   
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  Chrysoula 9:58 pm on July 10, 2011 Permalink  

  Tonight is an absolutely beautiful evening. Perfect temperature, perfect sky, and my tomato and zucchini plants might actually provide enough fruit to be worth the money I spent on them. Although I suspect all my tomatoes will ripen in late August. I hope September is mild.

   
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  Chrysoula 1:25 am on June 9, 2011 Permalink  

  It was really catastrophic. I was pacing and reading and went too far and tripped over a power cord, bringing down a soda, a netbook and a keyboard in a horrible mess. Then because I didn’t have enough to stress about, I threw the Kindle onto the floor in my hurry to check on the netbook and keyboard and mop up soda. I didn’t actually expect the netbook screen to break beacause I’ve dropped my Dell and iPod tons.

   
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  Chrysoula 9:16 pm on June 1, 2011 Permalink  

  In May: it rained extremely hard, a lot, around 3 days of sunshine. In May, Robin went to the ER in an ambulance for a bumped head, and I planted my garden and mourned the sun. In May, I got a book deal. In May, I suddenly believed in my deadlines and gave myself new ones, and started working harder as a result. In May, I also played/ran two PBEMs, which I never post about here. But I did all the same!

   
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  Chrysoula 1:16 pm on May 31, 2011 Permalink  

  My brain… I have now been working on this story intently enough that I’m approaching hyperfocus. This is reasonably good for project stickiness but kind of… bad for the rest of my life. Robin is covered in red marker right now and I’m not quite sure why. And he’s eating cheerios for lunch– I do remember giving him those!

   
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  Chrysoula 10:02 am on May 27, 2011 Permalink  

  ‎1.) When I researched ambulance interiors this morning, I did not expect to be riding in an ambulance this evening. Irony?
  2.) I’m very grateful our local EMT service is provided as part of the fire department service.
  3.) Despite hitting his head so hard his nose bled, Robin was released from ER after observation with a diagonsis of ‘Aw, he’s okay’.

   
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  Chrysoula 1:10 pm on May 17, 2011 Permalink
  Tags: Robin ( 12 )   

  Just had the coolest math conversation with Robin. TMBG taught him the joy of a basic addition game with us: What’s tuba plus tuba? What’s fourba plus fourba? Today he took it further. He asked me what 8+8 was. Then 8+9. Then 9+9. Then he asked me what made 19. I said 10+9. He asked me what made 100? I said 80+20. He said, “Also, 90+10.” Then he said, “Does 90+1 make 100?” Wrong, but an interesting insight into how he’s thinking about numbers.

   
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  Chrysoula 3:09 pm on March 11, 2011 Permalink  

  Robin’s meeting + another conversation = thinking about neurological traits and storytelling. Skippable comment spam ahoy!

  Considering: cluttering (a trait I have) comes from a tendency to consider all ideas for relevance. Good at cross-referencing. Not so good at creating spontaneous narratives, because so much on-the-fly brainpower is spent evaluating for relevance rather than weighing and linking in a story.

  Good on-the-fly narrative construction comes from an intuitive ability to discard the irrelevant. It’s useful in lots of ways. On the other hand, lots can get lumped into that instinctive discard including some stuff that maybe shouldn’t be, considered from a more long-term perspective. Both models are useful to society, maybe even required for society as we know it.

  I retain stories best when I don’t consume them in one go, when there are forced breaks between installments where I can think it over and internalize and order what I’ve consumed. I like to write because I can apply additional weighting to what I’m thinking, and order it better.

  I’ve /learned/ what needs to be done in order to make good stories, and not poorly, I think. As long as I’m not discussing my own life, where I cannot yet separate the bits others will find most important from what I find most important. So I don’t post blog entries very much, because I have very little personal story to tell, just a boring list of events.

   
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  Chrysoula 2:38 am on December 19, 2010 Permalink  

  Sometimes I am a little melancholy, as I carry my kid– it’s a limited time offer, after all. And today as we packed away some favorite old toys, I was more broken up than Robin was. Still, it is my hope that these little anecdotes I write down now will bring joyful memories rather than pangs for what was lost, when I read them again, farther down the road. I hope my psyche is capable of that. I remember enjoying baby tales… but maybe I shouldn’t trip down memory lane when it’s late enough that everything makes me melancholy. Maybe reminiscing should be a morning activity.