More Writing!

Well, just a short while ago this evening I completed the newest batch of edits to Princesses In SPACE!!! (not the actual title), which pretty much means that the book is in the final form in which editors will give it its Yay or Nay. (Except for, maybe, the first sentence. I think I’m going to tweak that a bit. I want it to be just perfect, and my gut tells me it ain’t there yet.)

What’s left? Formatting the manuscript for submission (which I’ve already done; that’s easy), and writing a synopsis, for those publishers who take their submissions in the “Three chapters and a synopsis” format. Then we’re on track to get the thing out there. It’s time for this thing to fly. As a great pilot once said, “I am a leaf on the wind…watch how I soar!”

I honestly can’t convey how much I have invested in this story. I’m all in on this one, folks. This is my “Go big or go home” project. After this? A week or so of not thinking about writing fiction…and then it’s time to finish the NaNoWriMo book I started, and after that, time for the sequel, Princesses Still In SPACE!!! (not the actual title).

For right now, though, it’s rum o’clock.

Writing: lubricating the brain

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Something for Thursday

I’m on something of a Russian classical music kick of late, so here’s a fascinating piece by one of the most idiosyncratic composers ever, Alexander Scriabin. Scriabin was something of a light unto himself. He doesn’t fit into any of the usual convenient labels for music. Scriabin is too Romantic to be modern, but too free in his formal approach and his choice of thematic fare to be really Romantic. He exists in his own soundworld, and what a soundworld it is. I tend to think of him as being most spiritually attuned to the French Impressionist composers (Ravel, Debussy), than the Russian tradition (Tchaikovsky, and later, Stravinksy). But even those categories don’t hold him very well.

The best word for Scriabin is probably ‘mystic’.

Here is Scriabin’s symphonic tone poem “Le Poeme de l’extace”, or “The Poem of Ecstasy”. This work is as astonishing to me now as it was when I first listened to it in college. I really try to avoid making visual and literary associations with concert music, but sometimes I can’t avoid it. This is one such work. It sounds to me like the union of a god with a goddess…and a universe springing to being afterward….

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Light blogging ahead….

OK, folks, I’m in the final home-stretch of editing Princesses In SPACE!!! (not the actual title). I have less than a hundred pages to go, and I have an outline to write, so I can get my submission packet ready to go for January 15, my self-imposed deadline. This means that I’ll be posting less frequently here until all that is done. No hiatus, but there will be less new stuff here for a few days. Thanks!

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Something for Thursday

Regular readers of long duration will know that an annual New Year’s tradition at Casa Jaquandor — not yet indulged this year, but likely Saturday night, when The Wife is home from work — is the viewing of the New Year’s From Vienna concert, which features the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and various other artistic groups, most often ballet artists, in a wonderful concert of music by the Strauss family. It’s invariably a magical evening, and one of my greatest dreams is to attend it in person one day. (One of my great dreams of youth, now ruled impossible by choices I’ve made since, was to actually conduct the concert. But that was always unlikely….)

The concert always ends with three encores: a galop or polka chosen by the conductor, and kept secret until the concert itself, followed by a waltz, and then closing with the Radetzky March, which is the Austrian equivalent of The Stars and Stripes Forever. That waltz? Not just any waltz, but the most famous waltz ever written: On the Beautiful Blue Danube.

Most years, the concert footage of Blue Danube is combined with ballet footage, but a couple of years ago, they did something different, using the waltz to trace the flow of the river itself, from its headwaters in Germany all the way to where it empties into the Black Sea. How utterly captivating! Here is On the Beautiful Blue Danube (conducted by Georges Pretre).


And hey, why stop there? From the same concert, here is that final encore number, the Radetzky March. Note the snare drum opening, before our conductor even reaches the podium, and note the audience participation, with our conductor indicating when they should clap softly and when they should clap loudly.


Let 2013 commence proper!

(For those interested, through January 16 you can watch this year’s concert broadcast here.)

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A quiz-thing, huzzah!

I don’t do as many quiz-things as I used to. So here’s a quiz-thing, stolen from Cal.

1: What eye color do you find sexiest?

Blue, I guess. Never really thought of it before.

2: White, milk, or dark chocolate mocha?

No idea. Not off to a promising start here….

3: If you could get a Sharpie tattoo on your back, what would it be?

Label where my internal organs are.

4: Did you grow up in a small or big town? Did you like it?

Small town. I liked it well enough, but even then it was slowly dying away, and while the area is physically beautiful, there’s really nothing there now. At the time I didn’t really understand “the rules” of interacting in a small town, so I got bullied a lot. To this day I’m unsure as to how much I liked it, but I did enjoy the people a good deal, despite not having a hell of a lot in common with any of them.

5: Your favorite adult as a child? (and not your parents, if they were your favorite)

Huh. Probably any teachers who took active interest in whatever talents I had. Regrettably, these were more infrequent than they should have been.

6: What kind of smoothie sounds really good right now?

Blueberry. I love me some blueberries. Or pomegranate. Or orange-vanilla. Or…anything but banana, peach, or mango. I don’t like those flavors in things, even though I love the respective fruits. What can I say, I’m strange.

7: Most embarrassing moment from your elementary school years?

Well, when you’re the kid who tends to get bullied a bit and you make the mistake of writing on the cover of your notebook that you like some girl and one of the bullies finds the notebook…yeah, that’s kinda mortifying.

8: Most embarrassing moment from your middle school years?

Writing a brief love-note to the girl I was crushing on turned out to be a less than good idea. She let me down gently, though. Good on her!

9: Most embarrassing moment from your high school years?

Don’t worry, it didn’t involve girls. I think. I actually mostly managed to get through high school with a minimum of embarrassing stuff happening.

10: Pirates or ninjas? Why?

Pirates. There are lots of cool, notorious pirates, and they drink lots of rum and get lots of wenches. Ninjas? They wear masks and anonymously dish out death as part of a collective.

11: Have you ever climbed a tree more than twenty feet off the ground?

Yes! Tree climbing is fun. I’d be great in the Amazon rain forest.

12: Did you like swinging as a child? Do you still get excited when you see a swing set?

Oh yeah, I loved swinging. In fact, it’s still fun, if the swing is big enough.

One time I’m swinging away, nice and high, and some toddler wanders right into my path. I managed to jump off while holding on, dragging my feet and knees and generally hurting all manner of body parts — and the little shit’s mother comes over to get him and gives me a dirty look for almost hurting her precious little angel. Stupid woman.

13: If you could have any pet in the world, illegal or not, what would you get?

A Persian kitten. No, two Persian kittens. Because Persian kittens are so adorable that it makes me cry.

14: What’s your most favorite part of your body?

Is Jadzia Dax would say of Leonard McCoy, “He had the hands of a surgeon….”

15: What’s your most favorite part of your personality?

My increasingly-strong ability to not give a crap.

16: Madonna or Lady Gaga? Neither? Both? Who cares?

Madonna, although I do think Gaga is cut from the same cloth. I still think Madonna can bring it — her Super Bowl halftime show was one of the greatest things I’ve seen in years, for sheer gonzo lunatic spectacle.

17: Have you ever watched the Superbowl all the way through?

Every year since SB XXIII (SF 20, Cincinnati 16), except for: SB XXIV (at college, busy that night, everybody knew SF would clobber Denver), SB XXXV (Baltimore beats crap out of Giants, dull game, missed second half driving home from party), SB XXXVIII (again, driving home from party), SB XLV (again, driving home from party). Most times when we’ve gone to Super Bowl parties, they’ve been really far away, and it takes a big chunk of the second half getting home.

18: Have you ever watched any major sporting event drunk?

No.

19: What’s the most delicious food you’ve ever eaten in your life?

I’ll say something different each time you ask this, so for right now, I’ll say…my mother’s turkey dinner.

20: Margarine or butter? Which did you grow up with?

Now, butter. I don’t recall what we used when I was a kid. I think that margarine is pretty awful stuff, though.

21: Whole, skim, 1%, or 2% milk? (Did you know they make 1 1/2% milk?)

Skim, although I’ll use others for recipes, depending on what’s called for. I prefer whole or half-and-half for creamy soups.

22: Which continents have you been on?

North America. Travel has not been in the cards for me much to now, aside from the States and Toronto.

23: Do you get motion sickness? Any horror stories?

Not really, but I’m chicken about inverting roller coasters. I want no part of those.

24: Backpacks or satchels?

Satchels, unless I’m walking through the wilderness. Then a backpack.

25: Would you wear a rainbow jacket? A neon yellow sweater? Checkered pants?

No on all three counts, but I’d be most likely to do the neon yellow sweater.

26: What was your favorite cartoon growing up?

Bugs Bunny and company.

27: If you had to have a cow or a pig, which would you take? Why?

The pig, because of bacon.

28: If you had to look at one city skyline for the rest of your life, which would it be?

Toronto’s. I love that city! (Close seconds: NYC and Chicago.)

29: Longest plane ride you’ve ever been on?

Boston to Phoenix, as part of our journey across the country for my mother-in-law’s funeral. It took 6.5 hours. I’m better equipped for such a flight now; I’d load up my tablet with a movie or two and watch away. I did have my laptop, but I could barely get it opened in those tiny seats.

30: The latest you’ve ever slept?

Noon, once or twice in college following an almost all-nighter. (I never once pulled an actual all-nighter, although one night we went to bed at 5:30 am.)

31: Would you buy a sweater covered in kitten pictures? Would you wear it if someone gave it you for free?

As much as I love kitties…probably not. Unless I wore it under overalls, which would conceal some of it.

32: Do you pick at scabs?

Ewwww! No! (But when I was a kid…yeah.)

33: Favorite kind of bean? Kidney? Black? Pinto?

I love beans of nearly every variety. I honestly couldn’t pick a favorite.

34: How far can you throw a baseball?

Ugh! I suck at throwing. Never practiced as a kid.

35: If you had to move to another country, where would you move?

Toronto, ON, CA.

36: Have you ever eaten Ethiopian food? Vietnamese? Korean? Nepalese? How was it?

No, yes, no, no. I’d love to, though. I wish more ethnic restaurants weren’t all in the farther-from-home ‘burbs of Buffalo.

37: Small, liberal arts school or public university? Why?

I went to a small liberal arts school, but I think I’d have been fine in a larger place, too. I love the collegiate atmosphere, actually.

38: A relationship with love or one with sex?

Love. Without it, the other thing is pointless. Fun, I imagine, but pointless.

39: Do you eat enough vegetables?

No, but I’m getting better at it.

40: Do you like horror movies? How about thrillers?

Horror, no. Too often they’re about shock and gore. Thrillers, absolutely! Some of my favorite movies are thrillers. Silence of the Lambs, for example.

41: Would you scratch a crotch itch in public?

Erm….

42: Do you swear in front of your parents?

I try not to, because it feels kinda odd, to this day.

43: Coolest thing you’ve ever been for Halloween?

Captain Marvel. Zap! Pow! (My mother made that costume, and it was awesome.)

44: If you could change your natural hair color, would you? To what?

I’d let it go. I’ll be a Gandalf-like gray within five to ten years.

45: Do you want to get married? Have kids?

No, because to do that, I’d have to divest myself of the current marriage, and I don’t have a whole lot of desire to do that.

46: Do you use a reusable water bottle? If not, you should.

Yes. Weird question.

47: City or nature person?

I think I’m a city person with a nature person looking to get out. Or maybe the other way around. I could be a nature person as long as I’m within, say, 45 minutes of a city.

48: Have you ever used something other than “makeup” as makeup? (Like paint? Markers?)

Unless whipped cream and coconut custard count, no.

49: Can you walk well in high heels? Even if you’re a guy?

Never tried. Heels do look nice on women, but I don’t think they’re likely worth the hassle and pain. I don’t think they elevate a woman’s appearance so much that I’d miss them if every woman just said “Oh, frak these things” and shuffled them off to the dustbin of history, like powdered wigs.

One thing I see fairly regularly is women wearing heels who clearly don’t wear them very often. There’s no mistaking that particular awkward gait.

50: Post 5 awesome things about yourself. BRAG AWAY!

I write well. I love to learn new things. I can cook. I’m good with cats. And I’m ready to step in and take over writing chores for Star Wars Episode VII on a moment’s notice!

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