The Ink-Pot and the Palette

...I'm now all wrung out and limp-rag. The music in this movie is so gorgeously calculated to evoke emotion! And the helmets too! I could live without the half-dozen endings, but while the absolutely endless credits roll, I'm letting the music play and kind of coming back from Middle Earth. A hell of a good movie. It's a mystery to me that I have no LOTR icons.

*Sigh* That felt good! Just to sit on the couch and watch a great favorite movie and be moved by it.

I've been swapping brains with ravurian for the last several days in a remarkable exchange of magic and ideas that's causing a ferment in my mind. For one thing, he gave me the structuring idea for my next novel. It was gonna be a spinoff of Restraint, but now...well, it's coalescing around the Order of the Golden Dawn (a hundred years later than the period of Restraint), and whoa, the research I will have to do! It's going to star Colin Morgan and Bradley James. Or possibly Merlin and Arthur. I'm not sure yet. There will be magic.

In the (totally random) meantime, I would love to have these shoes. Fluevog is about to open a store here, and it's probably just as well that they don't make my size.

Oh, you guys! Look what I got!

ravurian made them for me. I'm still trying to find a way to describe what they mean to me and what they've done for me, and in the meantime, behold the beauty:

    
    
  

Despite having had to work for a couple of hours yesterday, I've had a lovely weekend, with lots of checkmarks in my "Time With People" goal-box on Joe's Goals. It's practically a social whirl for me: I had a mojito with my buddy Darrell from work on Friday night, then dinner last night with the ever-gracious serenity_valley and sr8tontilmornin (conversation compelling, house delightful, food excellent, as always); then coffee with my mother this morning.

I've lost just under 20 lbs--that was a nice Sunday morning treat. It's weird how avid I am to weigh myself each day, after having spent 30 years avoiding knowing that number.

Bike errands today included buying a 2.5 quart Crock-Pot (influenced by the aforementioned excellent food chez sr8tontilmornin), in which a shoulder of pork is currently slow-cooking in a Chinese style char siu sauce--whisky, honey, star anise, fennel, Sichuan pepper, cassia bark, cloves, garlic...The house smells wonderful. I've never had a Crock-Pot before. I think I'll get good use out of it.

Just finished re-recording the first three chapters of lovesrain44's Blue Skies From Rain because Audacity swallowed up some bits and I thought I could improve a lot on others. I've got chapters 1 through 10 done now, and I think I'm pleased with it. Only 19 more to go! :D

And speaking of chapters, I finally broke through the Chapter 42 barrier of Restraint. It's not done yet but it's well underway, and everything after it--the Epilogue and the Afterword--is pretty much complete. I plan to post all three pieces at once, the grand finale of a project that has occupied me for well over two years. It will be both wonderful and sad to be done with it.

And, in conclusion, chart!


(Detail from my tracking spreadsheet. It all means something--mostly "Yay!"--but I like the look of it as a design.)

I must share with you the wonderful gift that vampirefan made for me.

( Hand kittens! )

kis and Mr Kis are off in a red rental car on their adventure across the American West, and I've moved back into my house after a week of delights.

With the exception of conquering a glaciated volcanic peak, which Mr Kis and my sister did last Thursday, it was a mild-mannered week. We got to the coast, managed two visits to Powell's Books, ate at a couple of Portland's nicest restaurants, and saw the R. Crumb exhibit at the Portland Art Museum.

There was a good deal of sitting outdoors over wine, food, beer and conversation, especially since the weather turned gorgeous on Saturday. My sis and I gave a party Saturday night at her house, and had a nice crowd of people and a lot of laughter (and good food!).

From my 14 year old nephew to my 80 year old mom, kis and Mr Kis seemed to enjoy meeting and spending time with everyone, and it was entirely mutual.

Last night at Lucca, when the waiter learned that our friends were from Scotland, he asked how we knew each other. Mr Kis pointed to kis and me and said, "They met on the internet."

What a wonderful world.

Whew! A quick fly-by post to say that kis, Mr Kis, and I are having a fantastic time. We did downtown Portland (Powell's Books, the Church of Elvis, the Armory, some street food, and a quick look-in at the World's Tallest Basement, aka my place of employment) on Wednesday.

Mr Kis and my sister climbed Mt St Helens yesterday (all the way to the top!) while kis and I met with despina_moon and had an afternoon of fannish discussion, food, and beer while wandering around Mississippi Avenue.

Today, my mom and I introduced kis and Mr Kis to the Pacific Ocean at Cannon Beach. The weather's been less than stellar, but neither cold nor rainy (and, happily for all of us, not hot)--pleasant enough for walking around and sight-seeing.

So far the raccoons, which generally plague me but which Mr Kis is eager to see in person, have not obliged us with an appearance. Otherwise, things have been lovely and we're having a great time.

kispexi2 is my ideal beta. I'm just polishing up a fourth draft of Chapter 36 of Restraint based on a second set of brilliant, patient notes from her, and I am moved to sing her praises while I take a little break. kispexi2 is the editorial friend I've been looking for all my writing life.

She reads with tremendous clarity and never fails to point out the places where the grafts and leftovers from previous versions still show. She questions my logic (especially my emotional logic) and always tells me where I've failed to state what I was thinking--one of my worst failings as a writer.

Sometimes she suggests a rephrasing that absolutely lights a fire under the scene by amping up the emotion. She's an auditory reader like me, and has a sharp eye/ear for unintentional repetitions and flaccid rhythms. She's a natural-born Brit-picker, too, which has been very helpful during the writing of Restraint.

But it's not all concrit: she always leaves little "Yay!" and "Hot!" and "Squee!" comments to let me know what's working especially well.

And best of all, she likes to talk about writing, and we spend hours and many emails just discussing the craft.

So, thank you kispexi2!

Okay, back to Chapter 36. It's almost done.

Lots of good things on this Friday off work.

1. My sis has a cool interview on Carfree American today
2. Got to see roseambr
3. Had lunch at New Cascadia Bakery, a gluten-free bakery and café that let roseambr and me eat pizza and a brownie and a little strawberry galette, all delicious, with no unfortunate side effects--AND I brought home a half-loaf of a seedy bread that is actually breadlike \o/
4. We bought one-dollar annuals at the nursery
5. I picked out my new front door (a little home improvement project that's coming up)
6. I rode to the lovely and gracious home of serenity_valley and str8ontilmornin for a delightful home made dinner of potato soup and a gorgeous salad, and conversation about transportation, fandom, and the strange phenomenon of Twilight (complete with four-volume synopsis highlighting the story's many...inexplicable plot elements) plus orange-essence cheesecake by str8ontilmornin (so, so delicious)
7. On the ride home, after dark, just as I was feeling a little exposed out in the busy streets, I caught up with the Bowie vs Prince bike ride (loud stereos, colored lights, lots of hooting) and rode almost all the way home with them
8. Chapter 33 of Restraint is almost done.

This idea of not writing for a few days is genius! Thank you to everyone who suggested it.

In honor of Eleanor's--or maybe Odette's--first ride to work, I wore a skirt and high heels this morning, and felt like a million bucks cruising along in the chilly sunshine.

( A high-heel kind of day. )

So my mind is clearing, and Chapter 31 is brewing in the background. I can feel it! And meanwhile this not-writing is doing me a world of good.

Ha ha ha ha! I have inducted a new member into the cult.

Today I met my good pal roseambr at Waterfront Bicycles* in downtown Portland, where she rented a bike so she could experience this thing I've been raving about for six months.


Rent-a-bikes

( A perfect day for brainwashing )

*If you ever want to rent a bike in Portland, go to Waterfront Bicycles. They are extremely helpful, their prices are good, their service is outstanding, and they have lots of good bikes to rent. I watched them treat every single customer--young, old, fast, slow, newbie and old hand--exactly the same, with friendly respect. They are my new bike shop for sure.