marmots, monsters and obnoxious cellphone users

Novel update: Over the past few weeks, I have had several exchanges with the editor I mentioned a while back, in which she has been giving me detailed feedback and asking a ton of questions. These questions focus on fleshing out backstory and character motivations, as well as pushing me to defend details of the plot ("So why did the antagonist to do X instead of Y?" "But if Z is true, then doesn't this contradict what happened earlier in the story?" etc.).

These questions and comments have forced me to think about aspects of my novel in much more depth than I would have otherwise, and several times I have decided to make a change. What usually goes through my head: "AUGH! She's RIGHT! This part SO doesn't work! I SUCK!" then "Hey but wait, I have a solution" to "OH WOW this change is BRILLIANT, I can't BELIEVE I was going to do it the other way, this is SOOOOO MUCH BETTER!!!"

The process has also been hugely educational for me in terms of how I'm going to approach novel projects in the future.

Anyway, I've received the go-ahead to start revisions! Wish me luck.



Above: marmot photo taken by my friend Bruce Macintosh while he was hiking on the eastern side of the Sierra mountains. I admitted I had never seen a marmot in real life, so Bruce kindly offered to send me a photograph. Below: I cropped out a close-up of the marmot. So cute! Bruce wisely points out: "Marmots are much cuter and more trustworthy than squirrels."



Books I've recently read:



I especially enjoyed The Book Without Words: A Fable Of Medieval Magic, an Avi book. I'm usually not a huge fan of talking animals in novels, but I got a kick out of the acerbic raven character in this story and his interaction with the main character, Sibylle.

Links 'O The Day

Thanks to my friend Ray for these links!



Put a cork in it: Are you irritated by obnoxious cell phone users in public places? The Society for Handheld Hushing offers these cards for handing out.

Daily Monster: "A growing collection of curious creatures and the stories behind them." VERY cool.

Shizuoka Broadcasting: An amusing commercial for Shizuoka Broadcasting.



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