Novel inspiration

So what I wanted the most, and dreaded, too, finally happened - inspiration, thanks to Molly (managing editor of both Lightspeed & Fantasy Magazine). I wrote about 40k on Harvester the novel last year, adding a little here and there, but ran out of steam, and the interest in working on it. Two days ago, Molly read Harvester the short and suggested a past/present kind of thing, and suddenly, everything clicked. I don't know how it's going to work, and honestly, it's terrifying, because all the fear of failure and possibility with a novel is a million times that of a short. If a short doesn't work, meh, you've lost a month, or more. If a novel doesn't work, that's years - and this will be my fourth. So...yes.

But this one is different, in that I've got the whole story in my head already, a clear path, and ideally, I will have learned something from the last three. I'm almost done with the first "past" chapter, which has a color similar to "Child of Fortune, Child of Labor." It needs more, of course, but that will come. Now I just have to figure out how to work on both this and the Seedlings story, which already has about 4k words.

In the meantime, work is driving me a little crazy, which doesn't bode well for the next few months. I've also decided to take on some half-marathon training (again) - there's one in Chicago in August, for multiple myeloma (Mom's cancer), on the date of her death. Can't really be any more significant. However, I'm trying to keep in mind that the day after is more important - our second wedding anniversary - so maybe that's not the way to spend the weekend. Plus, depending on the new few weeks, and the almost-positive move in our future (!!!!! more news soon!!!!), it may not even work out. But the training will be good for me, both for something to focus on, and to get rid of work stress and all the Christmas martinis I consumed.

I went to the nature preserve a few days ago, and had a lovely walk (before the cold unusual to OK struck - it's 20 degrees right now, a la Chicago winter). There were these blotches of color amidst the trees - so pretty.





Things I've read lately: Black Static #19, which wasn't nearly as good as 18, in my opinion. I've still got issues on Interzone and BS on the ipad, which I must catch up on. I'm halfway through Holly Black's The Poison Eaters, which I'm enjoying, although not as much as I hoped. I suspect its because my own little YA stories meet my YA wants more so. But I did really like "In Vodka Veritas." There should be more stories like that.