eimarra: (Default)
The air travel probably went better than expected. Several good Samaritans chipped in to help the woman with two kids and too many carry-ons. (I did check a large suitcase, but I wanted to be sure I had everything I needed to amuse the kids.) Special thanks due to the man in the Penn State T-shirt who helped carry stuff from A terminal to C in Dulles, claiming that he was on a two-hour layover and had plenty of time.

The girl didn't nap at all on the plane, but she was quite well behaved. She colored, she read, she looked around. She didn't keep her EarPlanes in, but her ears didn't appear to trouble her unduly, for which I am grateful.

Yesterday was a quiet day, hanging out at my in-laws', watching the kids play in the wading pool, and reading A Kiss Before the Apocalypse by Thomas E. Sniegoski. Small birthday party in the evening for the boy. He got an RC car, a digital camera, and books. He was especially thrilled to see The Red Pyramid, by Rick Riordan. We had been reading the library copy for bedtime stories, but returned it unfinished before we left. Very happy to know he doesn't have to wait two weeks to find out what happens next.

This morning, I started reading [livejournal.com profile] saetter's Echoes of Truth. The boy wanted to play on my iPod Touch, but I showed him that I was reading-- and how much reading material I have on here. Showed him that I have an RTF of one of my WIPs -- Rob & Jeanie -- that I put on here last summer.

Started reading it. Read it all the way through. Wanted to start in writing some of the missing scenes, but I remember starting work on it last year after vacation. (There appears to be a trend here.) I still might write on it, but not today. I remember now why finishing this was on my list of goals for the year.

Instead, I went to grab the notebook I started a short story, "Wish Hunter," in last week. Oops. I brought the other short story I started, as well as my Sekrit Projekt. So I did a bit on the SP this morning, and I'll probably do more this afternoon.

Maybe tomorrow or Tuesday, my MIL and I will go hit the local quilt shops. Mostly just looking, though I need some lightweight fusible interfacing for the appliqué I want to do. Tried without, and there's just too much fraying.

A couple more short story rejections, too, including more feedback on the index story that I'll have to ponder after I get back home.

All in all, I can feel myself relaxing. Life is good.
eimarra: (Default)
The February Ask Oxford newsletter contained a pointer to a discussion of John Mullan's new book, How Novels Work. The Website has an excerpt on openings, which, of course, made me think about my own openings for novels.

I looked at them all and came to no conclusions. I don't know that any of them are "resonant" or examples of my "narrative spirit and confidence." I do know that for most of them, reading the opening sentence pops me back into the world of the book, living with the characters in their problems. All I can do is hope that readers will be drawn in to feel the same way, maybe even rereading the books.

Opening lines are as written below:


Changeling (2003 NaNo; complete rewrite someday; contemporary YA fantasy)

Summer looked down at the note in her hand. It was the only tangible evidence she had of her father.

***

Christmas Tree Farm Murders (2004 NaNo; in edit queue; cozy mystery)

Isobel counted out twenty-five dollars into Drew Scott's hand.

***

Four Lakes (2005 NaNo; in progress; contemporary fantasy)

Four Lakes City, a city of glass and clean lines, where form follows function, sits on a thin isthmus between two bottomless lakes -- at least, no one has ever found the bottom and come back to tell of it, and the Navy gave up on sonar after the kraken took out their third ship, so now the residents just call the lakes bottomless to scare away the tourists.

***

Shadowed Sight (in progress; traditional fantasy)

Aliya Grimeye hadn't deliberately hidden her origins from her employer.

***

Bodyguard of Lies (2006 NaNo; currently editing; SF)

Sabra slammed her locked fists into the small of Lipinski's back. He reeled across the ring, tripping over his own feet.

***

Sekhmet's Secrets (Ivory & Bone) (in progress; urban fantasy)

The crowd at the museum was just as I'd pictured it, except for one small detail--the woman in the tweed skirt dogging the docent's heels.

***

Witchy Woman (2007 NaNo; in edit queue; urban fantasy)

Revenge is a sticky business, but it's also lucrative.

***

Phoenix (in progress; middle-grade SF)

The boy who would be known as Phoenix Anderson fell for a very long time.

============
Note that both Four Lakes and Phoenix are working titles only.

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