And in case the graphic isn’t loading: I’ve started a NaNoWriMo novel. Not set in any previous universe. Just flirting with some ideas. Trying to find something that’ll drive me.

Facebook and Twitter make it easy to be off-handed and clever (or what passes for such around here), but I admit to missing my longer blog posts, where I tried to be off-handed and clever in more than 140 characters.

I’m also pondering a new domain name.  I know.  I already have, like, twelve.  Why another one?  Because a lot of who I was three years ago has changed, and is still changing, and the old domains just don’t fit anymore.  Domain names!  Like tattoos, without the regret.

Anyway.  I am pondering The Wind Through the Keyhole and whether I want to read it, and the answer is, probably, yes.  Understand that The Drawing of the Three and specifically the characters in that book are some of my favorites in literature, and I was absolutely disappointed by the way The Dark Tower ended.  Not the end-end (I thought that was right), but the ultimate final showdown with the Crimson King, the seeming uselessness of Song of Susannah, and the weird spider-kid whose only purpose seemed to be to “meaningfully” kill off  a couple characters.

But King has always had issues, it seems, with ending stories, and The Dark Tower as a series started to show structural weakness around Wolves of the Calla, so the ultimate decline and decay of the story doesn’t surprise  me.  (Given the themes of the series, it almost seems inexorable.)  If there had been no Crimson King showdown at the end, I think I would have actually thought that final book perfect, and just ignored Song of Susannah.  Ah well.

But yes, I will probably read Keyhole.  Because as I said: Roland’s ka-tet are some of my favorite characters ever, and I am a sucker.

Writing-wise: not going to talk about it.  Just safe to say whatever I’m working on right now is brewing in my brain.

Wedding planning took a lot out of me. I basically didn’t write for months, or wrote sporadically, and what I wrote didn’t sing to me. I played with concepts I’ve been wanting to write about: princesses posing as princes, shapechangers posing as gods, all manner of creatures that have been poking about the haunted wilds of my mind.

There was a point where I could feel panic rising. I’ve lost it, I thought. I’m never going to find a compelling story again. I’m going to be stuck trying to make cross-dressing royalty work, and it’s never going to happen. This was a real concern, and I can remember sitting there, staring at a chapter, begging it to work for me — but it didn’t.

[CUE DRAMATIC MUSIC]

Until last week.

I am still convinced that letting people in on a story too early is the surest way to kill it before it has had time to hatch, which is why I won’t be telling you much about my latest gambit. I will say this: it involves vampires, which has got to be the stupidest move my muse lizard brain has ever made. Vampires are so played out. We all know that. But this is what’s inspiring me right now, and I’m not under any deadlines, my livelihood does not depend on it, so — vampires it is.

Vampires. Why’d it have to be vampires?

I also moved.  To Southern California.  Which as some of you know is where I lived before St. Louis.  So yeah.

Aaaaand speaking of moving, I have a new job, which had a writing contest, so I wrote a vignette for work.  Depending on what happens to it I’ll either post it here or keep it a secret.  Forever!  Ha ha!

I have ideas kicking around, and I need to write one of them.  The hard part is picking one.  But the sooner the better, or Athena’s going to pop out of my skull and won’t that be messy.

Mike snagged a couple s-f titles I had on hand, because he is that flavor of geek. I am keeping mostly things I consider truly excellent and re-readable, or of a strong sentimental value (the ones signed by friends and colleagues who have since passed on are of particular worth to me). I am letting go of a lot, though — in some cases books I have had since high school.

All this made me want to write, so I did. I may do it again tomorrow. Who knows! Life is funny that way, especially right now.

Of course, I’m an idiot if I think building a plan is a guarantee of finishing anything. It’s just another trap to fall into if you aren’t careful. Mainly, I want to do it to teach myself a tool, and because it’s more fun than the example the book I’m learning from is using.

Also, I’ve been mulling this over for the last few weeks. Good article. Salient points. Need time to digest.

The Guy attempts something other than a smirk for his Writer. It is a brave, but utterly doomed, venture.

Oh, and I submitted my bio for the forthcoming anthology.  This will be the first mention of The Guy in a bio.  He is thrilled in his own smirking way.