last week's writing roundup

Words:
Guardian's Road: about 23k words
Salal: about 5k words

Submissions out: 4 (one poetry, three stories)

Rejections/acceptances: none (too early yet)

I am having the beginning-of-book grumpies on Salal. I will love it when I get farther into it, as soon as I get to the place where I can write those magic words: "The first body was found in the wood nearest the house on Michaelmas morning." Because at that point, the plot really starts cooking.

Maybe I'll skip there and either go back and fill in as necessary or just fill the reader in on details as I go along. Hm.

feeding the hands

I do things sometimes quite deliberately to feed my tactile and kinesthetic sense, to deliberately give my hands a lot of input and an outlet for restlessness.

One of the very best "feed the hands" activities is making little sculptures. I've done it in play-dough for years, but a few years ago discovered Model Magic, which is like play-dough on crack. I have no idea what it is, but it feels like damp foam rubber and it's not only got a wacky texture but it's actually quite easy to do some interesting things with. Plus, you can't use a little and save the rest for later, you have to use the whole package once you open it up, so I have an excuse to go wild with it.

I got out my last pack of black Model Magic the other day, and made dragons. And a lady.

I generally don't keep my critters, because it's really more about the process of feeding the senses than making something I want to keep, but I think I'll keep her. She's nifty in a kind of weirdly featureless and crude way. Oh, yes, and that's a toothpick she's holding. I had some toothpicks around to provide support during drying, and I decided she wanted to hold one of them.