Apr
2

Cleansing of the Palate

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It’s been one of those odd mornings. I woke up at 5:30 and couldn’t go back to sleep, but I didn’t really want to get up either, so I was basically just laying there for while surfing the net on my phone. It’s sort of a lousy way to spend the time, but it wasn’t helped along much because I was getting a bit angry at some things and that tends to work up the hamsters in my brain and then there’s really no shutting it down. (I’m a slow boil, incidentally – it takes me a while to process. But I don’t want to blog about it because I don’t think it will accomplish anything other than to stir up things probably best left alone. ) At any rate,  I finished up revisions on the new manuscript a couple of weeks ago and sent them back to my agent,… Read more
Feb
24

Weaving Threads

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I’m not entirely sure what possessed me into thinking I might be able to teach a 7 year old the beginnings of cross-stitching. But we’re trying it anyway. I made some major headway with my revisions this weekend – so to reward myself I pulled out my current cross-stitch project. Which is enormous, on linen, and has a shit-ton of weird stitches, ribbon, mixed colors and blending filaments. (Think we’re only missing beads at this point, sheesh.) Lucy watched and wanted to help, but with a project as complicated as this, I really need to focus on where I’m putting the needle – I don’t want to screw it up and be forced to undo and redo the work. (And honestly, I think I’m gonna need a magnifying glass soon – linen holes are very hard to see for me, so the potential for miscounting is very high.) But Lucy… Read more
Feb
10

Routine

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It’s been a rough couple of weeks over at the Pang house. Between snow days and sick kids, the daily schedule has been upset a little more than I’d like it to be. And then tack on last week, which was nearly a complete waste as I succumbed to a bout of the flu/strep/anemia thing as well that hit me a lot harder than I anticipated. I can write/work through a cold, but you know it’s bad when I don’t want to eat/play video games/read/do anything other than lie there and oh god, someone come put me out of my misery now. (I did, however, stumble upon an anime on Crunchyroll entitled “Our Home’s Fox Deity” – if you thought that sounded like something up my alley, you’d be entirely correct. It’s a bit silly in places and there’s some typical fanservice, but I enjoy realizing that fox spirits are… Read more
Jan
20

Square Peg, Round Hole

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I was chatting with one of my friends the other night about writing – me, looking over revisions from my agent and trying to organize my thoughts on them. (And incidentally, I usually take a few days of NOT doing anything with revision type notes or suggestions. Better for me to let them sink and decide how I want to proceed.) So I was mulling. My friend, however, was disheartened at a rejection she’d just received. And we talked about that a bit. It was an interesting sort of rejection – the editor in question indicated that her short story read more like the first chapter in a novel – that there was more potential than what the current length was able to provide. It was upsetting to her because she was trying to follow the advice of writing short stories as practice. It’s common advice – hone your writing… Read more
Jan
7

Winter Storms and Character Cameos

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“…as people prepare for the chilly temperatures and pounding snow of Winter Storm Ion…” I flipped off the TV with a sigh, sinking deeper beneath the blanket. “Must be nice to have a storm named after you.” I yawned, curling into a tighter ball on the sofa. Outside, the wind rattled the windowpanes, a sliver of icy air creeping over the exposed skin at the nape of my neck. The incubus in question let out a disgruntled snort. “I would hardly refer to anything I do as ‘chilly’.” He paused, mouth quirking up at me. “They got the pounding part right, anyway.” Phin cocked an eye at us from where he sprawled in front of the TV. “I’ve got a storm for you. Right here in my pants.” “You’re not wearing pants,” I pointed out. “That’s pretty much the point,” he agreed, stretching out obscenely on his back. ~~ random Abby… Read more