The No News is No News Purgatory Thread, Vol. 7

Drink your Ovaltine.

TheCaleb said:

Uh oh that's how it always starts. Then there are the t-shirts, and wrists bands, then the decoder rings, and before you know it you're in a cult picking up the bones of small animals along railroad tracks and eating fudge.

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Not the time to mention I have an unhealthy liking for fudge, then?

Fudge is good.

Yeah so not going to go into what I said that made one of the girls at my favorite local fudge shop blush. And it wasn't directed at her... I also on my birthday last year came into work before everyone else, and I had the day off, and fudge bombed everyone's desks in my department.

Parametric said:

Hey, I'm a Scorpio.

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WHAT! i could have sworn you were virgoan!

hmm. i need to line my puglet virgos in a row.

suki
haupe
kellion

i KNOW i'm missing someone?

sorry! tell me if you are the long lost
virgoan puglets i've misplaced in my holey head! =)

as for writing faster, etc,
blondie, so true. you best believe i'm
enjoying and taking my time with this
submission. especially since i know 2013
schedule is basically filled.

what's the rush?

it's nice, to be honest.

and any feelings of being "slow"
compared to my peers are negligible
when stacked against my general laziness.
haha!

(and no, i don't think i'm LAZY but
i enjoy my slower pub schedule, that's for sure.)

as blondie said, we make our choices
with our writing careers. and they aren't
always easy ones.

speaking of which, big hugs lisa!
it won't be the same without you close!
do you have any idea where you might go
to? bay area to be near your sister perhaps?
hopefully not somewhere really far. boo.

but you know we'll support you every step.

xiaotien said:

WHAT! i could have sworn you were virgoan!

hmm. i need to line my puglet virgos in a row.

suki
haupe
kellion

i KNOW i'm missing someone?

sorry! tell me if you are the long lost
virgoan puglets i've misplaced in my holey head! =)

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Me, though I don't believe in it

thanks!

amarie, horoscopes are like tarot
readings for me. i believe in them when
it suits me. haha!

i had a tarot reading pre agent saying
i'd be successful in publishing my novels.
i chose to believe in it!

i had another tarot reading last fall saying
i'd sell this current novel.
i choose to believe in it!

haha!!

i really do love the sassy shorter do, lily pie!

Evening Purgies!

It looks like I missed a few hugs during my sprint through this morning:

(((Dragonstar and Para))) and (((Clovia, Cricket, and Ink))) again. Plus:

(((Sunna))) for the R and WOOT! for your escapades with doggy and the weed whacker.

(((Lisa)))

(((Caleb)))

lwalker - vamp dust for the rev! Sounds like the editor loves what you've done so far.

Bluestone said:

I honestly feel this is both the most challenging and also the most optimistic time for publishing. It reminds me of screwcaps on wine bottles. For hundreds of years it was cork and only cork on bottles. When screwcap was first introduced for better wines there was such horror and absolute resistence. Now, a few short years later, it is very acceptable for even expensive wines and suddenly the stigma is gone.

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Here, here! * opens bottle of Australian muscato sealed with (gasp!) a bottle cap * (not even a screw cap)

dystophil said:

Also, the car thing is mainly me not knowing jack about cars

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The jack's in the trunk.

callalily61 said:

I can has Brillo Pad hair:

Now that it's short, it really looks like you can turn me upside down and scrub pots with me.

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Lily - it looks to me like you are upside down for some reason.


On the home front - I told the San Diego Purgies I'm doing much better on sub now, because I've laid out Plans B, C, and D in case Book 1 doesn't sell. Here's me practicing for Plan B. (You know you're really running late when dad gets enlisted to straighten kiddo's hair.)



In other news, Kiddo's getting "the talk" tonight. Sex Ed starts tomorrow and Lynne doesn't want kiddo walking in cold. The age of innocence is over. * Sigh *

xiaotien said:

i really do love the sassy shorter do, lily pie!

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Me too. I think it's darling.

Hi (((Rick))). darling pic of you and Rickette.

I heard there was fudge....


Rick - was explaining to hubby who you were in that photo up there ('cause it's so damn CUTE!) and he demands to know why he has not read this military thriller of yours. He is very excited by the idea.

rick how old is she?
i know i'll be fully in charge of The Talk
when the time comes. eep!

good luck!!!

Blondchen said:

This is the most important thing she said.

I think we get so excited, so anxious, so time driven as writers wanting to get our idea out there NOW, we sometimes forget that writing takes time. Edits take time. Not just to do them, but to sit on them and let the flavors marry together for a bit before we read it again JUST TO MAKE SURE.


It made me sad because I think both authors had something really special on their hands, but they just couldn't - or wouldn't - wait.

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Two add ons: 1) Well said. 2) Gone are the days of agents/editors working through hundreds of pages of "meh" to pull up the really good stuff.

Oh, one more add on: Must mean my WIP will do it. It's been in the works in one form or another for ten years!

Tasmin21 said:

I heard there was fudge....

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Of course! See the cult of Caleb is awesome, and best yet. No kool-aid

Hey, there was no Kool-Aid at Jonestown either.

Kiddo turned 11 this month. Lynne and I did the talk together with #1 daughter, but on #1 daughter's advice now that she's almost 20, #2 gets the talk by mom only. It must be an interesting discussion - I walked by the bedroom a bit ago and heard Lynne say - "I don't know who told you that, but that's not right!"

Blondchen said:

I think we get so excited, so anxious, so time driven as writers wanting to get our idea out there NOW, we sometimes forget that writing takes time. Edits take time. Not just to do them, but to sit on them and let the flavors marry together for a bit before we read it again JUST TO MAKE SURE.

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I don't really have a problem taking my time during the writing phase. I just went over the one-year point on the WIP and it's only 3/4 done, plus it'll need 3-4 months of revs once it is. It's when I start querying or go on sub that I get impatient - like the monkey rapping the dispenser button repeatedly for go-juice. I just want an answer, dammit!

Parametric said:

Hey, I'm a Scorpio.

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Mr Blue is a Scorpio, as is my mum and MIL. I'm surrounded by these bitey little creatures, but you gotta love 'em.

And that's interesting about Bristol. Because I knew it was a slave trade port I always accepted the other explanation.

callalily61 said:

Guys, guys, guys. Do you not recall the YEARS of my agent hunt: the angst, the screaming, the R after R, the weeping, the group hugs, the group idea of the Revenge Query?

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Lil, you forgot the wailing and gnashing of teeth.

callalily61 said:

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It's very cute! And also looks like you're gazing heavenward.

OL, I know you talked about it, but I didn't think selling The Shack by the Sea was imminent. I'll really miss you!

Rick, that photo of the two of you is adorable. What a dad.

Rick said:

I just want an answer, dammit!

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*raises my glass of iced water in a toast...*

haha!

rick, good to know. 11 is definitely a good age.

also, does that mean munchkin (son) will
be dying when i give him the talk? poor bub.
i plan to use him as an example for birth control too.

*grins*

Rick, that is the cutest picture ever!

That is all.

FWIW, I think Blond is a publishing mastermind. She should definitely start a publishing advice/encouragement thread here in R&D since so many people seem to have been down recently. I'll be there soon, but I need to have something queryable first.

Also, I just sent a short story to the magazine of a new small press I like... Eeep! *runs away*

Also also, I started Diverg3nt last night. I came in skeptical, and the first two pages were... horrible. And then it got totally awesome. Like, really great. I'm only about 15% done, but I'm loving it. It feels kind of like a mix of Harry Pott3r and The Hung3r G@mes. THG because of the setting, the style, the similiar MCs, etc. and HP because of the selection ceremony, being raised in factions, and living in a place guarded from the outside. And probably more later on... But anyway, I'm usually skeptical of these trend books, but Diverg3nt has really wowed me so far.

Also also also, (caps lock for emphasis) I FINALLY FINISHED MY SECOND DRAFT!!!! I've been working on it for all of 2012, and it has driven me insane. I'm going to have to change a lot and fix a bunch of plot holes, make my MC more interesting, firm up the writing, etc. and also I'm rewriting the beginning for about the 5th time. We'll see how it goes.

xiaotien said:

rick, good to know. 11 is definitely a good age.

also, does that mean munchkin (son) will
be dying when i give him the talk? poor bub.
i plan to use him as an example for birth control too.

*grins*

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Although both girls were 11 (actually #1 was just shy of 11), what drove the timing of "the talk" was the Sex Ed schedule - we wanted to have the talk first and not let either kiddo walk cold into Sex Ed. We put it off as long as we could (our kids are late bloomers - #1 kiddo didn't get her period until 9th, maybe 10th grade) and if it weren't for 5th grade Sex Ed, I wonder what age we would have gotten around to it.

We never had to give the talk to Brett, but I suppose I would have done it. I never got the talk as a kid - I figured it out playing kick-the-can, hiding out with the older kids late one night. But my thought was that the dad does the talk with the sons, mom with the girls. No?

ETA: MR - WOOHOO! for finishing 2nd draft! And good luck with #3!

Rick said:

We never had to give the talk to Brett, but I supposed I would have done it. I never got the talk as a kid - I figured it out playing kick-the-can, hiding out with the older kids late one night. But my thought was that the dad does the talk with the sons, mom with the girls. No?

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I never got the talk either, but I think when my parents had to sign a permission slip because I had been reading college level books, most importantly to the small town library college level anatomy books, and had moved onto adult fiction in the 5th grade the point was kinda moot. Crazily enough the librarians at the public library in my town never caught on that the anatomy books were always read in conjunction with medieval punishments and torture.