Writing and the Holidays
Dec. 27th, 2006 02:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lydamorehouseI mostly didn’t. Write, that is. Last night, however, I finally sat down with my short story “The Van Buylen Effect” (aka “the couch story”—a story about time travel, the 1916 Irish Uprising, and furniture) and did the revisions that Eric Heideman at TOTU requested. They were somewhat major, as it was one of those stories I wrote before I really understood… well, how to write. The character lacked real motivations, and now she has them. The ending is still a little weak, IMHO, but with any luck Eric will have some suggestions for that. The story won’t be appearing until late 2007 sometime, if then, so we’ve got a lot of time to fuss over it.
The holidays were good. Yule/Winter Solstice being our main celebration. Mason, I think, really enjoyed Yule this year. We always open one “meaningful” present (ie, I got Shawn some heirloom plants, called golden glows, which we’re planning on planting in Ella’s memorial garden next year. She gave me a Spell-a-Day book and an awesome leather bound journal.) This year we opened in the morning, but before that we read the story about the rebirth of the Sun by Starhawk in _Circle Round_. I like the story because it really emphasizes the need to say “thank you” for all the good things that have happened during the year past. Something the commercialized Christmas could use a little more of.
Plus, it snowed on Yule. That was awesome. Mason, Shawn and I went out and tossed snowballs at each other and I made a fire in our chiminea (or however you spell those silly things.) It was cool to have an outdoor fire on the day of the longest night. We kept the “fire burning” by lighting the Yule log –yes, we really have such a thing – and then lighting a candle for Mason to keep going in his room to “keep vigil.”
It was a good holiday.
Now I need to write.
Oh, though I see there’s an interesting argument going on about writing between Elizabeth Bear, Jay Lake, and Kelly McCullough. You can catch Kelly’s response here. I’ll be joining the fray shortly, no doubt.
The holidays were good. Yule/Winter Solstice being our main celebration. Mason, I think, really enjoyed Yule this year. We always open one “meaningful” present (ie, I got Shawn some heirloom plants, called golden glows, which we’re planning on planting in Ella’s memorial garden next year. She gave me a Spell-a-Day book and an awesome leather bound journal.) This year we opened in the morning, but before that we read the story about the rebirth of the Sun by Starhawk in _Circle Round_. I like the story because it really emphasizes the need to say “thank you” for all the good things that have happened during the year past. Something the commercialized Christmas could use a little more of.
Plus, it snowed on Yule. That was awesome. Mason, Shawn and I went out and tossed snowballs at each other and I made a fire in our chiminea (or however you spell those silly things.) It was cool to have an outdoor fire on the day of the longest night. We kept the “fire burning” by lighting the Yule log –yes, we really have such a thing – and then lighting a candle for Mason to keep going in his room to “keep vigil.”
It was a good holiday.
Now I need to write.
Oh, though I see there’s an interesting argument going on about writing between Elizabeth Bear, Jay Lake, and Kelly McCullough. You can catch Kelly’s response here. I’ll be joining the fray shortly, no doubt.
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Call to Arms
Date: 2006-12-27 08:28 pm (UTC)Good, because apparently the way to fire up the blog is to kick someone relatively well known and watch the various insects crawl out and away from the ensuing fray.
See you on Wyrdsmiths!