Things ganging agley

Because this is what happens when I make plans. I try not to, because then I get attached, and when they don’t turn out, I get sad about it. It’s easier just not to plan, and then whenever you get something done, it’s a pleasant surprise. Well, theoretically. I still set out to do things, just without the hard-and-fast deadlines and schedules that motivate most people.

So we went to the regional fighters’ practice that our local group was hosting, and it was lots of fun! My sister has pictures up on her blog, which you may see here.  Please do! I didn’t write about it, due to Other Things, but the pictures tell a lot on their own. (And I really like the one of her by the banner. . . forget what group’s it is, not ours, but I saw it at Hadrian’s, and it’s pretty. Ever since Pendragon’s Heir I’ve liked red and gold more.)

I wrote the bulk of the Snow White story, now renamed The Colour of Life, but I’m stuck on the ending. I’ll take the rest of Camp NaNo for working on Of the North. I was getting a bit tired of it, but a foray into Orthodox Russia was a nice change, and now I’m ready for the more familiar English scenes again. It’s a lot easier, also, because I’m more fluent in O. E. and Latin than Russian and Greek! Seemingly no one ever transliterates Russian, so it’s hard to have dialogue with a good feel. Of course, I have only researched the setting for two weeks. But I got stuck on how it should end, because I don’t know if it’s a kissing story or not, and the people concerned aren’t talking about it. Very helpful, guys.

Oh! And before I forget, I was looking up something rather different and stumbled onto a poem that works really well for the “Prince” character in The Colour of Life: read it, if you’re interested in Communism and things.

Speaking of being stuck on endings — About Wind Age. I know some of you are still waiting for a chapter. A couple of scenes were a bit outside my readership’s comfort zone (which is good to know ahead of publishing time), and there was the problem that cropped up in the next chapter but one to send out, and the question of whether to rearrange the narrative to not be so chronologically straightforward (because as it is now, the first half is awfully slow). The thing keeping me from sending out the next chapters is the snag that comes up in the second and refuses to go away — I like what I was trying to do with it, but I did it awkwardly, so it sort of flops, which isn’t the way to do things. The biggest problem with the story as a whole isn’t the slow start, but the fact that the climax of the story contains more of the same thing my readers said was too much, so I’m starting to chicken out and consider halting the beta-reading until I can do some serious thinking without a deadline and work things out. But that would be disappointing my betas, who have asked me at least twice (in the three weeks since I started slacking off) where the next chapter is and when it’s coming.

So far in each of my big stories there’s at least two times in their writing where I wonder whether this one is even worth it. I hadn’t had even one of those times yet with Wind Age, so maybe it’s just making up for lost time.

In other news, I’ve been doing some research on early paternosters. The thing with my garb is that to the unlearned eye (that is to say, most of America’s population), I probably look a lot either like a nun or a Muslim. I do wear a cross pendent from my belt, but it’s a tiny one and often hides in the gore where no one can see it, so that isn’t doing a lot of good. With the English veil, a necklace isn’t exactly practical. Of course, a visible cross anywhere is probably going to tip speculation toward the “sister” side, but it’s closer, right?

I found a site that says Godgifu mentioned something very like a paternoster in her will, so it’s possible that a string of beads (probably wooden?) with a cross on the end isn’t too much OOP. It might even be possible to make it myself (although I lost my new Swiss Army Knife yesterday, possibly outside, and my old one isn’t very sharp anymore).

And with one thing and another, and a long boring grownupish story behind it, I’m not getting a grant to go to Realm Makers next year, so it looks as if, if I am going, it’s on my own money. Which is a problem, as what I’m earning (right now, nothing; during the school year, about two hours a week) is supposed to go towards not having any debt when I graduate. I don’t have very many saleable skills, either. So who knows, maybe I’ll be handed a nice scholarship for next semester and have money freed up, or something like that; and then again maybe I won’t go. With the way Wind Age stalled, I’m not sure Of the North will be ready to pitch in time — one year from now. Eeep!

This is why I should not make plans.

And on that cheerful note, I’m off to try to do something with the last-mentioned story. I’ve gone through times of hating it and apathy, both, but I always come back to it in the end: I am of the North.