Okay, so I was doing pretty good at this blog thing for a little while there. I was posting regularly at least! My only excuse for failing lately with the regular posting is that I was costuming like a crazed thing. Yup. And for all that, I actually only completely two costumes: Elizabeth Bennet, Zombie Slayer and a steampunk outfit. We won’t discuss the projects still laying about in various stages of completion…at least not here. The fire has burned through, I’m in a relatively sane, quiet phase of my costuming (which means no deadlines for finishing anything until Halloween). If you want pictures, etc, they are on my other blog.
This not to say that I’m sane, however. What fun would that be? It’s just that my mad-doctor focus has shifted back to my doll-making and writing. Where it properly should be, perhaps, giving that those are the things which actually bring in some funding for the costuming. It’s a vicious circle. Sigh.
The dollmaking will be spoken of later, when there are pictures. The writing, well, okay, let’s talk about that. I’m about 13,000 words into my new novel. It’s set in a mad, poisonous Elizabethan court in a city much like Venice (except that the water in the canals is not exactly…normal). There are two girls, one a Queen trying to keep her throne, and the other a girl just trying to hold onto her mother’s life. There’s a serpent/dragon, and Six Very Dangerous Men and at least Six Very Dangerous Women. To help myself keep on track, I’m posting it chapter by chapter on Goodreads.com, right here. You can check it out, if you wish – I adore comments, suggestions, and all feedback. I’m trying to put at least one new chapter up a week, as I write it. Slightly scary proposition, since I could easily write myself into a corner I can’t get out of, but it worked out okay last time…and it was fun. And it kept me focussed, since there’s nothing like a message in my inbox, begging for a new chapter, to inspire me to write another ten pages instead of just sitting down to watch t.v.
And in the wider world of Cool Things, my deeply beloved author Scott Lynch is back from his mysterious disappearance, and is regularly blogging on his livejournal account once more. He says he’s deep in revisions of the next Locke Lamora book, so I can finally breathe once more. And better still, he’s posted author notes to the first chapter of Red Seas Under Red Skies, AND a first chapter of his upcoming novel, The Republic of Thieves. Right here. I’m so conflicted. So far I haven’t read it, because I’m one of those people who don’t read advance chapters. Ever. I’d rather wait and sit down with the entire book – it just feels so much more special. But part of me just wants to make an exception. Because it’s Scott Lynch.
BUT. And here’s where it gets so cool I just might be about to pee myself, Scott Lynch is also writing a different, non-Lamora novel, and he’s posting it chapter by chapter on his website. For free. Because he loves us, (and maybe he’s just a little sorry he vanished for so long?). Go here. Go now. I have yet to read it, because I’m savoring the anticipation just a little bit.
What else? The glory of that has temporarily blocked all blood to my memory…
Oh yes. Bloglovin’. Ever had that feeling that you read too many blogs? And while you keep checking your favorites over and over hoping they’ve blogged something new, other blogs just keep slipping through the tracks and you don’t remember to check them for 6 months? Been there, done that, will never do it again: I’ve discovered Bloglovin’. Thanks to a reader of my site who apparently has my very own blog saved to that site (the incoming address showed up, and I got curious), I’ve discovered how awesome this site is. You simply save all the addresses of the blogs you like to this site, and it checks them for you. As soon as one of those blogs updates, Bloglovin’ shows a link to it on your personal Bloglovin’ page. You only have to visit one page for all your blogging needs! And if there’s a particular blog entry you like and want to save, simply click the little red heart next to it, and Bloglovin’ saves that entry for you on a separate page. So you will be able to find it easily and visit it whenever you wish.
Before I found this site, I was using MyYahoo to keep track of my favorite blogs, but it lists the last five posts for every blog you follow, no matter how long it’s been since the blog updated. Bloglovin’ shows only the new posts, so you don’t have to remember if you’ve read a particular entry or not. My most genuine thanks to the reader of this blog who inadvertantly led me to Bloglovin’!!!
And finally, here is what’s stuck inside my brain this week:
Too much eye make-up, dude, but the song’s friggin’ addictive!
Out of Eden 