I am not feeling up for it today. This is ennui; this is the Novelist’s Event Horizon at its peak. The book is done except that niggling rewrite of the prologue, and doing it seems completely overwhelming. Even my walk this morning was uninspiring (although it did involve cygnets, and if I can find the right camera attachment I’ll post a picture at the end of this entry), and my friends list is full of less-than-brilliant medical news (except my lj-writers friends list, on which one of the communities there was a less-than-enthusiastic review of URBAN SHAMAN, which is okay except for the part where I’m already suffering from ennui and OH GOD THEY HATE ME doesn’t help … and, see, I can’t even wallow well, because I’ve made myself snicker with that…), and the frakking rental agency people didn’t turn up yesterday (nor did they call, the #$^&wits), so where I might otherwise drag myself out of the house to hand-write this prologue and have a nice cup of hot chocolate, I’m stuck here waiting on these bozos for another day. And the dishes need doing. Man, I’m just Ms. Whinybutt.

Meh, the wee little camera didn’t take a good enough picture of the ugly ducklings to bother. Have a picture of the River Lee instead:

All right, it’s 5am on the east coast. Surely I can get this prologue rewritten and the spellcheck done by 5pm their time. *slogs off*

currently: depressed

I haven’t yet posted about Match It For Pratchett because I’m easily distracted by bright shiny objects, but I have been meaning to. On the off chance anyone reading this hasn’t heard of it, Terry Prachett, who was recently diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s, has donated half a million British pounds (approximately $1m USD) to Alzheimer’s research. His fans, within a matter of days, had started the Match It for Pratchett fundraising effort, which has the aim of raising an additional half million pounds, to bring it up to a nice round million.

In the past week, some £34,000 has been donated. The Alzheimer’s Research Trust in Britain is stunned and overwhelmed; according to their figures, $25US pays for an hour of their high-end research, so this kind of money really does make a significant difference to them.

My agent, Jennifer Jackson ( / arcaedia) has just posted the following:

Also–the person reading this blog that makes the highest donation by midnight on Saturday, the 22nd (and sends me some verification thereof), I will read and review your synopsis plus 50 (or so) pages of a work-in-progress (limited to novel-length fiction in the adult/YA genre categories I actually represent). You can go directly to the tipjar on the Match It site and make a donation. You can send verification to jjackson [at] maassagency.com

I *unquestionably* have the most awesome agent in the universe.

I am also hoping to get, at the very least, a Match It tip jar set up at the front desk for P-Con, and hope to get tickets handed out to everybody who donates. At the end of the weekend we’ll draw from a hat and I’ll give a signed copy of the complete Walker Papers series (so far) to the winner, or possibly books 1 and 2 of the Negotiator and will send 3 along when it comes out, if the winner prefers that.

I love my tribe, I really do, and I’m terribly proud of them for this effort.

And on a not exactly related, but not exactly not, topic, I’d like to raise a glass to Arthur C. Clarke, who was one of the pioneers of the world we live in.

currently: enthralled

Today’s not really a day off (tomorrow might be, as it’s Ted’s birthday), but at some point pretty soon here (very soon) I’m going to have to turn my focus to doing something other than writing. I mean, I’m really only writing 1-2 hours a day, so there’s obviously time to do other things, but I have not had a comprehensive list of things that need doing, and without that everything just goes *fwoosh* and time slips away. Annoying, that.

Got to start getting up earlier. I mean, I will pretty much naturally when the light changes enough, but the days seem so much more productive if I’m up a little earlier. Plus if I get up early enough to do my words before Ted goes to the gym maybe I can go to the gym with him and avoid the 2pm rush I keep running into. That’d be good too.

Yeah, ok, I’m nattering and avoiding work. Going to work now.

- thumbnail issue 4, p1
- email Ardian with notes
- birthday shop
- don’t forget to get stuff for german chocolate cake
- get a much better surge protector
- borrow Ted’s brain for plotting
- read the s&3
- get a beatsheet for chance #6 written

singing: You Had Me From Hello, Bon Jovi

currently: awake