BLARGH! I hate domain name propagation.

Okay, so as you may have noticed in the previous post, I've decided to activate my parked domain name, and set up a word press blog there, and importing everything from here to there.

Everything seemed hunky dory, until, of course, I realized that a wordpress.com installation lacks a very key feature: plugins. As in, all those pretty, customizable wordpress widgets? No go. It also lacks some other key features I kinda need.

So I decided I'll activate a true hosting account with my other hosting service (used for other websites) that will cost more than $1 a month, but will allow me ultimate power.

Only problem with that? DNS propagation. For the uninitiated, this means I have to wait anywhere from 1-3 days for the entire world's nameservers to catch up with the change.

So heatherdudley.com is currently offline. However, you can access the plain wordpress blog at heatherdudley.wordpress.com until propagation completes. Hopefully, it won't take too long. It's just annoying me because the wordpress installation I set up on fatcow points to the domain name, so they have to catch up with the fact that I'm already pointing to their own nameservers. Sigh.

So, to pass the time, and hopefully leave you smiling, and waiting once again for my infrequent posts to show up on my pretty new domain, I leave you with a kitten attacking a puppy.

You're welcome.

Moving Day!

After much thought, I've decided to activate my long-dormant domain, http://www.heatherdudley.com. I love blogger, but it's not as feature-rich as I could like, and it's time for me to move on up to a grown- CMS. One day I will, but until then, Wordpress will do.

I plan on moving my subscriber list as well, but until then, you can visit manually. I hope to see you there, and know that hopefully this will not be an interruption. It's not like there's that many of you around! Either way, thanks for reading, and I'll see you over there!

Progress and ruminations

I've been working steadily on Hacker Dragon. I'm up to 21,667 words as of this very moment. I feel like that's a truly respectable total, since this time last week, I only had about 13,000 or so. I'm finding it's hard to get back into Drakan's head; I'm not sure what the magic mix was when I first wrote her. She's there, I can *feel* her, but I haven't quite reconnected with her.

I'm pleased with the work. She's mellowed, some. I think it's me that's mellowed, truthfully. I think I was in a very turbulent time in my life then. It's no less turbulent now, but I'm coping better. I'm not in the grips of post-partum depression, though its lingering effects still hang in my mind like the unwanted cobwebs in my bedroom. I know they're there, I know I need to get the broom, but I can't quite bring myself to do it.

Such is the nature of depression, I suppose.

But I'm enjoying what I'm writing. It's not Great Literature or anything, and I'm not sure I will pursue traditional publication with this piece; it's leaning towards romance, although it may pull away into a respectable sci-fi piece by the time I'm done. If it does stay romantic, I may try Ellora's Cave, or maybe just plain self-publishing via ebook.

I have NOT given up traditional publishing for my other works; I just don't know if the world is ready for this one. :) I won't know until I'm finished, of course. I've got roughly a month before the CreateSpace deadline, and I think I'd like to print this one with it.

I don't know. This is a very experimental book, for me. It's outside of my comfort zone, it's different, and I don't think it has mainstream appeal, but I think it may very well find a very loyal audience in a certain niche.

Who knows, though, after I get the original version out, it may end up very different after it goes through editing.

I love writing. I love the mystery of it, the discovery. I'm a very visceral writer, I take a dream and I give it reality, and I enjoy learning where it leads. I've never been much of a planner.

And that, my friends, is my scattered brain dump for the day.

Picking up an old WIP

Mom cancelled on us, so I've got the whole day to myself. I've made two positive steps towards being actually productive.

1) Last night, I read over the piece I'm planning to continue. It doesn't suck, and although I think I need to back up and take the story in a different direction than it did from the last plot twist, I think I've got a good base, and some damn good characters to work with.
2) Just now, I opened Scrivener. I will follow this action by stopping to tweet about the action I just took, then make a blog post about it.
Hey, it's forward motion, right?

I think after that, I will move all of the text from the word doc I've got this saved on into Scrivener.

I've been trying to think of a new title, though. This piece is about a genetically enhanced computer geek who takes over a corporate network (think Shadowrun, but without most of the magical stuff.) just before another hostile organization takes over. This is literal hostility, including guns. She lets them take over, makes an arrangement with the leader of that organization, and is now playing cat-and-mouse with him. Romance ensues.

Quick bit of worldbuilding: Post apocalyptic thing, now humanity has a dual animal nature. Some are naturally more strong than others. Corporations rule the world (nah, I wasn't influenced by anything cyberpunk. I PROMISE.) Most people are regular animals of various sorts, some are myths. MC is a dragon, leader of organization is tiger (smilodon fatalis, to be exact.) It comes off less cheesy than it sounds, I promise.

Anyway, It's a sci-fantasy thing, heavier on the sci than the fantasy.

Current working title REALLY sucks: Hacker Dragon. Not the kind of thing I'd be proud to show off in public. So I have to figure out something different. I'd like this to be my CreateSpace submission, so I need a non-shitty title.

Now to figure one OUT. Any suggestions?

But I think I'll start working on my scrivener file first, so that I'm making more progress towards actually writing, rather than procrastinating with minutiae.

Brace yourself...

I just turned off comment moderation. Blogger finally added some kind of spam detection; I generally like Google's spam algorithms, so I'm going to give it a try.

So hopefully, my beloved stable of commenters (all ten of you) can comment free of impediment. :)

Revising and Procrastination

So I still haven't started writing yet. I think I've learned to take procrastination to all new heights, these days. I'll pick strawberries with the kids, play farmville, warhammer, go to the grocery store, but write? Heck no.

But a recent blog by Chris Baty has me wondering. What sort of revision efforts could NaNoWriMo help me with? He's asking for input on the kinds of revision tools you'd like to see.

Right now, we have the barest minimum. A couple of forums, the Critiques forum, and the Novel Draft Aftercare forum. Critiques is great, but only if you have something ready to critique. Aftercare is nice, but I'm not done yet.

I had a dream the other night. Apparently, my subconscious doesn't set its sights very high. I dreamed that I went to the mailbox, and my novel was in there. It was a paperback proof, had been retitled "Off the Shoulder" (I have no idea why) and was printed by the "Del Rey Discount Books" division. There was a contract in there... with a $1,500 advance written in. I remember the cover art being pretty cool, though.

I mean... really? My brain couldn't come up with NYT bestseller list, or a million dollar advance, or even a fully priced paperback? Oh dear.

I'm going to take it as encouragement, though. While I don't think Del Rey has a discount books division, I like the attainability of that dream. Million dollar advances are very rare-- but what I'm aiming for isn't a certain advance, or even the NYT list. It's purely, and simply, publication. My book, available in a bookstore near you, where I can go and front my books, and smile like an idiot while I point to it to the other customers and say "MINE!" while they back away slowly. I've thought (hard) about publishing some ebooks, but I still want the real thing.

So what are your writing plans? Are you writing for you? Are you revising something to be published? Going the self-publishing or ebook routes? Trying to convince the aliens in the back of your head that they can't destroy the planet because of your literary prowess?

Clever spammers

While checking the spam filter on the Script Frenzy forums, I came across the strangest thing.
It was a polite, nicely formatted response to the spam filter feedback form:

Kindly post my comment I'm not posting spam.

Thank you very much and more power..God bless..

Respectively Yours,

Gaile Seive

This isn't unusual; I often get confused, amused, or even angry feedback from users whose posts have been erroneous flagged as spam. This one struck me as odd though, because of the content of the post. It was responding to a question about asbestos and heat... this person posted the following on the thread:

"Asbestos is said to be carcinogenic and it contains variety ofchemicals that enhance cancer cells.They may also come in differentforms and as they have said this may be the result of potential toxinsthrough inhalation,ingestion and even through food intake andcigarette smoking.That's why this is very dangerous for mostmen.Prostate cancer may be one of the outcome cause of this asbestoschemicals.There's a new review that suggests screening and catchingprostate cancer early will not stop fatalities from the disease. Theresearch culled data from 2 decades of records, and it found thatindividuals who got regular screenings for cancer of the prostate werediagnosed with and perished from the disease at the same rate as thosewho did not get regular cancer of the prostate screenings. This mighthelp you decide what method is best for you when you sign up for apersonal unsecured loan for professional medical costs."

Notice that last line? Yeah. It WAS spam. For a loan! How strange that the spammer took the time to politely tell me they weren't spamming!

Clever, clever spammers. You are no match for my spam stomping powers! And for those who are curious, yes, I banned this very polite spammer. With prejudice.

Spanish Engrish

On the recommendation of a friend, I went and picked up some real Mexican hot chocolate... more specifically, handmade salvadoran chocolate tablets.

The short of it: milk, chocolate, and a cinnamon stick... boil and serve.

That's not the fun part. The best part were the directions. This is a direct transcription:

1) Dissolve one tablet of Salvadoran chocolate in two cups of milk or water.
2) Cook moderate fire. Constantly revolve.
3) Boil for one minute and retire of fire.
4) Serve hot

How awesome is that. You couldn't make this up if you tried.

Spanish Engrish

On the recommendation of a friend, I went and picked up some real Mexican hot chocolate... more specifically, handmade salvadoran chocolate tablets.

The short of it: milk, chocolate, and a cinnamon stick... boil and serve.

That's not the fun part. The best part were the directions. This is a direct transcription:

1) Dissolve one tablet of Salvadoran chocolate in two cups of milk or water.
2) Cook moderate fire. Constantly revolve.
3) Boil for one minute and retire of fire.
4) Serve hot

How awesome is that. You couldn't make this up if you tried.

Teeny tiny notebooks

While shopping for party supplies today for my 3 year old's birthday part tomorrow, I discovered something that quite literally made me squee in the store.

Yes, the lady the down the aisle from me looked at me funny.

But that's not the point. Look at this.

Yes. That is my thumb. It's about an inch long. And YES, it is a lined notepad. A real one, with about 25 or so pages.

Wait, it gets better.

Thumb-sized composition notebook.

What's not to love? I had a fit over these. I'm going to carry them around in my purse. And I 'm telling my ML about it, because these would make epic goody bag stuff.

Playing around with ideas

I've been toying around with the basics of my new plot; some changes will have to be made, naturally. One of the things that's been stumping me is the shapeshifter clan; their original location was a wild, unclaimed country inhabited by the usual big beasts, dragons, and generally inhospitable things.

While post-civil war America has lots of land, it doesn't have anything that quite goes by this description.

I've decided that my clan will need to become Native American; it makes more sense than an overseas transplant. I'd like it to be an eastern tribe, but it will have to be an original one... I don't want to butcher an existing clan or disrespect them. They'll thank me in the end, I think. Everyone does midwestern or western Natives, I think using one of the eastern tribe would be a nice change.

This will be an AU, so I am trying to think of ways America will be different with magic. My male main character, Gabriel, is the son of a powerful, very ancient vampire. Now, I can't imagine such a creature living happily in the wilds, so he'll probably be a European vampire. Perhaps Gabriel fled overseas to get away from his father's shadow?

I'm going to have to imagine a slightly wilder government; I'm thinking the Hunter's Guild will be some kind of quasi-governmental enforcement... sort of like marshals, but with special orders. Perhaps a special marshal offshoot?

So much to think about... so little time. Fade in is tomorrow night. I think I might spend today and tomorrow doing research, and see where it goes.

New twist on an old story

I have a story I've been telling for a very long time. In its first incarnation, it was actually a Vampire Hunter D fanfic, although I didn't know what fanfic was at the time. Complete with a pretty blatant mary sue self insert in the classic sense. :)

Over the years, it's evolved into its own tale, a high fantasy about a shapeshifter and a Hunter from the Hunter's Guild. Set in my own, original world, Bethra. I've got maps and such. Problem is, the story itself has stalled... I know what happens in the major confrontation... but after? No clue.

Last night, I was lying in bed, half asleep and delirious last night, when a bolt from the blue struck me.

I'm going to pull the characters, the plot, and all out of Bethra (the world) and plop it into Earth. Post-civil war earth, to be exact. Alternate universe Earth, one where there are things of a paranormal nature (shapeshifters, vampires, elves, etc) as a standard part of society; the Hunter's Guild will be set up to fight rogues of whatever kind, sort of a quasi-governmental bounty hunter's society.

I don't know how it will turn out. But I'm suddenly very, very excited about this story. I'd been planning on participating in Script Frenzy as a rebel anyway (scripts aren't my art form, but I have to be on the forums anyway in my mod capacity) and I think I just figured out what I'm going to do!

Day 31: Finis.

I did it. I don't know HOW I did it, but I did.

After a catastrophic weekend that sucked my motivation and drive completely out of me, I gave up. I quit, planning on not finishing.

Monday, however - something started happening. The story started to bug me, the characters started to pull on my coatsleeve, asking me what the heck I was doing. Then people on twitter started poking me, wanting to know why.

And I got emails. And forum posts and... wow. I didn't know so many people cared!

So I started writing.

Now, it was 5:00 PM my time, and I still had 10k to write. Then I got a challenge from the NaNoLanta ML, MattKinsi. If I won, he'd donate $10. Then more people started doing it.

Next thing I knew, I stood to raise something like $60 for OLL if I won.

I can't fail, with that kind of motivation.

So I wrote, and a wrote, and I WROTE. Dear lord, so much writing.

And something miraculous happen. After a solid day of writing, I managed to pull of 15k and win. With four minutes to spare.

How 'bout them apples.

So I dedicate this win to all of you who promised to donate if I won (and did!) If you check out the "Brought to you" page, do a search for "licking." That's the one MattKinsi did for me. ;) And no, I won't stop licking him. It helped me win.

Funny thing is? I'm only halfway through my story. So I'm nowhere near done. At least now I can get a free proof copy of it printed when I'm done. :)

Final Day

I'm not done yet.

But I'm going to win. If it KILLS me.

The final run! 35k in 7 days

So I'm sure you've noticed. I'm behind. WAY behind. I've hit a wall of depression (unrelated to NaNo) and lack of motivation, but today is the day that I'm going to break through it and write anyway.

So who's with me? Who is going to race to the finish?

Will you beat me there? ARe you behind? So behind you don't think you can recover?

You can. I've done 50k in 10 days. Sure, couldn't use a keyboard for a month. But I DID it. And I'm going to do this.

Even if I have to start a war to do it.

Let the games begin.

Day 10: Music and a Video (and not dead yet)

I haven't fallen off the planet yet, I promise. I've been behind, as I'm sure you've noticed by my word count, but I'm working on it. Tonight, I've been listening to music. Articology, mostly. Then someone from the ML chat room (Thanks, Aquadeo) linked me to this beautiful video. I wanted to share it with you, because I found it soothing and inspiring at the same time.

I've skipped ahead a bit in my novel, since the part I was in was dragging, and it's moving smoothly again. In spite of myself, I think there's a romance blooming between Senator Eric Nathan Mason (yes, that's his full name, and I don't know why I know that, only that I do. I usually don't bother with middle names). I didn't want there to be a romance - while the merfolk society is bisexual, I didn't want that to be even of peripheral importance. I sense a possible love triangle here. ITt seems that the relationships will be more important than I meant them to be.

I'm pleased, though, it means the characters are coming alive, moreso than they have been previously. The week two slump may yet be defeated before the week is over. :)

Day 7: Even more behind, but a NEW COMPUTER

Well, I didn't catch up today like I'd planned. But I have a good excuse; I know own a new computer. NOt only a new computer, but a whole new operating system!

That's right, I've purchased a new iMac. And it is wonderful on a scale I can't quite describe. It's taking a lot of getting used to, though, so it's delayed my writing. I've installed scrivener, although I plan to run a virtual machine so I can continue with liquid story binder, scrivener's giving a free trial, so I'll see which I like better.

I've done so much running around today between setting up the new computer, church, and doing laundry that I've run out of hours in the day. But now I'm feeling motivated, so I want to write, write, write!

Only problem is, I'm not sure where to go. I've got my girls in a hotel room, where Elisande will get a little more acclimated with the human world, but after that? Just how DO you go from the Atlantic to the Capitol Building?

I'm inclined to have her fortuitously discover a congressman in the park. But that would be a bit too easy. I dunno. I need to do something.

Day 6: Soooo behind

So I'm behind. Part of it is a boring bit in the story, but mostly... life has interfered like whoah. Between the site issues and struggling to get caught up on moderation duties on the site, my part time job, being sick, the kids, and just plain being distracted.

But no excuses.

I'm still ahead of Chris, at least:

My goal for this weekend, though, is to be caught up on my word count. I'll be joining Chris, and many others, in this race. I'll need 11,669 words to be caught up. That's a one-day deficit of 4,933.

I can do that!

I think I can do it if I manage my time better. I'm bad about checking the forums AFTER I'm caught up on immediate tasks, and getting distracted by things that Must Be Done (translation, they can wait.) I'm going to set aside some designated writing times. I've gotten my favorite playlist re-created (I lost it when I switched from my Colby MP3 player to my iPod) and I think I'm ready to go. I can do this... Want to join me? Let's go for a 5k Sunday!

Day 3: Making progress

It's slow, and slowed by the fact that I'm having to work on the site more hours than normal because of load times, but it's moving along. I've spent the morning working on site-related things, and running @NaNoWordSprints.

Unfortunately, though, I'm feeling terribly unmotivated to write. I'm going to catch up tomorrow, I think. I got a few hundred words, but I'm not feeling this scene. I might skip ahead to the Dramatic Stuff.

Day 2: The society evolves

Okay, so before now, I've had this very vague idea of the merfolk society. I knew that males weren't fully humanoid, and were more like sea lions than fish or humans. I also knew they were "inferior" to the females. I swear this wasn't some repressed thing. It's just how the dream was. ;)

Well, apparently without a lack of opposite-sex intellectual equals, mermaids have essentially become bisexual. They mate with the males for procreation, but often form romantic relationships with their "sisters." Family bonds are not strong; mothers are called "matria" but most young, male or female, are raised in a communal creche.

The society lives in magically-shielded cities under the ocean. In the past, this has been fine, but as humanity's technology improves, it's getting harder to keep them away. The breaking point is coming; eventually they won't be able to hide anymore. There are cities worldwide, but it looks like the one off the American eastern coast is going to be the first to break the silence. When a pod of males is captured and taken aboard a commercial research vessel, the MC is sent to free them.

She does - spectacularly. So the silence is broken.

She and another mer will be sent to the mainland to try and broker peace, or else. The queen is pissed off, and not really interested in peace, only retribution, so time is limited.

And that's all I've got. I do know that negotiations will be unsuccessful, and war will result. After that... who knows? Maybe the merfolk will take over the US. ;) Maybe there'll be a rebel alliance.

Oh, and I have a Senator from somewhere named Mason. And the MC's best friend/sometimes lover is Aria, the land-spy.