• Mood: productive
• Music: VNV Nation, "Arena"

a warm and oblong darkness

Yeah, okay. I'm mostly awake. A full eight hours last night, but much of it spent in dreamspace I'd rather not have visited, though, having gotten there, I would have preferred not to leave. But I did. And now I'm sitting at the keyboard again. At least I can report that the writing went well yesterday, considering it came perilously close to not going at all. I allowed myself to become overwhelmed by all the things that have to be rewritten and this ending that has yet to even fully reveal itself to me, even though I'm barreling towards it now. I reworked what I'd written on Tuesday. Then Spooky sat on the office floor and listened to me rattle on for an hour or so. Then I read what I'd written on Tuesday aloud to her, did more rewrites on it, and marked spots for additional rewrites. Then, about 3 p.m., I finally got around to the business of writing something new. I did 1,148 words on Chapter Nine, "The Bailiff." And now I know for sure that there will be a Chapter Ten — "The Yellow House" — after all. This means that I'll almost certainly go over the 150K-word limit Roc has asked me to respect. I suppose I'll deal with those consequences when the time comes. I have to finish the book the right way. If Roc makes me cut, then the Subterranean Press edition will preserve the complete text.

No telephones yesterday, and only a minimum of e-mail. We went for a walk at dusk. No bats, but lots of cats and two truly enormous orb weavers. I read several more chapters of Daniel Pinchbeck's Breaking Open the Head. I added mine and Spooky's names to the database of names that will be recorded on a CD to be placed on board the New Horizons craft, NASA's Pluto-Kuiper Belt Mission, and just managed to beat the deadline, which I believe was this morning. Our names will journey to Pluto and beyond. I played an hour or so of Final Fantasy X-2, then read the prologue and afterword to Low Red Moon. I believe it was a little after 2 a.m. when I finally got to sleep.

Neil's about to begin the Anansi Boys tour. I've probably spoken with him for the last time until it's done. But we have MiirrorMask opening on the 30th at the Landmark Midtown Art Cinema here in Atlanta, so that's something to smile about. And here's a list of threatres by state. And speaking of Neil, and speaking of Poppy, too, alt.fan.thingie is auctioning ten Neil items on eBay and all proceeds got to Poppy and Chris. Thank you, thingies.

Now, behold (drum roll, blare of trumpets, gnashing of teeth) Monster Doodle Sculpture #2 (which today goes away to live with Cam in Tennessee). Note that this one is a tripodial amorphous blob, whereas the first was merely bipodial. Width (left to right pseudopod): 80 mm. Length (eye bulge to tip of posterior pseudopod): 65 mm.




anterior view

posterodorsal view

anterodorsal view



Surely that's enough for one entry, except to remind you that there's less than one day remaining on the Wrong Things auction, the proceeds of which go to benefit Poppy and Chris. Please bid, if you are able.