I've been working on a story for y'all for the last little while, Victor. Hope to finish the last scene today, in fact. Synchronicity, hmm? ETA: Yay...I did it. Anyone want to beta my little foray into magical realism? More real than magic, I swear. Can't ask Victor...that's a little Halliburton, isn't it?

Cheerios: Still writing the walking and not-walking wounded apparently... can't escape the Maim Story I guess.

(sticking head in) Sorry, bebe. I've been armpit-deep in meatspace stuff.

I wish to report that I got my cheque for The Fourth Ring, my 44 Clowns of the Apocalypse short story (which was kinda a longass short story, really). Fifteen bucks.

I love getting paid for writing. And I'm in some damned good company on this one, all of us getting the same princely upfront fifteen bucks.

Will squee when the sucker's out.

I just deleted because my finger slipped and I posted multiple times. No problem. Well. it'll wait anyway...story doesn't have to be anywhere until Jan.

erika, send when done, ma'am. I have been sucky at the beta reading recently - there's a lot of real-world stuff going on, and it's going on nonstop - but I will sit down with the short.

Johnny Cash, by any chance....? (hopeful)

Not yet...will get to that one next week, I hope. Have not been in quite right frame of mind for it, but one good thing about being not...monogamous, project-wise, is that there is something for every occasion. Your excitement is flattering and hopefully inspiring too. Maybe I'll wander around and call myself the female Ellroy. Ha...now imagining an ouevre filled with male prostitutes getting bitch-slapped, is it misandry if I find that a funny thought?

Ha...now imagining an ouevre filled with male prostitutes getting bitch-slapped, is it misandry if I find that a funny thought?

If it's misandry, we're both going to hell, because it made me snort.

cool new tag...there's this terrific essay in The Wire companion book by GP, called "The Writer's Ambition" and ironically it has ended up to be the part of the book I look at most often. He writes about how people give him so much credit and acclaim for writing about poor folks, and how he doesn't really want to take it all because his predominant thought about his work is my tag.In re the Ellroy image, Deb, what do you want to bet that I would be painted as bigger hater than JE, just because hatred of women can be kind of noir "tradition" of a sort, even though women have always succeeded in it(Leigh Brackett, anyone?)

Drabble: Lost in translation

Writing about love is what I do. What I’m supposed to do, anyway. In a romance, that’s the name of the game. And that’s where I always fear I’ve failed, that I can’t truly explain what it means to open your heart to another person.

Because love is a unique experience – there is no single language to express it. There are gazes, nicknames, a gentle touch from behind while you wash the dishes. Breathing each other in, carrying the memory of a smile or a word.

Surrender. Companionship. Passion. Joy. Completion. Can the truly visceral be translated to the page?