I've made a lot of fun of NaNo Month, but I did write 1000 words today. Which is a lot in one day for me. And I think this will be interlocking short stories instead of the more usual sort of novel...that one plot can't carry a whole piece,imo. And it's truly a big sloppy mess. But it's my mess.

Mine is a small sloppy mess, and I haven't upped wordcount in 3 days. I suck and the world sucks and life sucks.

You don't suck. But I'm with you otherwise.

Betsy, real life has a habit of intruding, everything from job to migraines to kids to brainlock. The not-writing may suck, but you don't.

I'm glad Betsy doesn't suck, because maybe that means I don't suck either. I haven't written anything in a few days either. I could whine, could give some actually decent reasons, but mostly, I just haven't done it. Strangely, I found the newsletter encouraging. I didn't write anything because of it, though. I'm going to go work on it now.

{{hugs}} to everyone who's finding it hard. I know the feeling-- but, I am (so far) doing okay. A fairly steady 2000 words a day. It's hard, but for once I am actually doing the writing I commited myself to. And that feels good.

OK, a giggle, sort of, appropriate for this thread, you bet:

[link]

I suck and the world sucks and life sucks.

And me too! Ah, the sweet odor of commiseration.

OK, wow.

Not sure where to put this, but I figure this is a good spot.

A while back, googling, I found a rec from a professor at the psych department of University of Illinois at Urbana. She had chosen Plainsong and said some really wonderful things about it, long after it was out of print, So I hunted up an email address for her, emailed her, and thanked her.

The following is an excerpt from her (longer) reply:

The recommendation that I wrote for you was to commemorate my promotion from associate to full professor at the University of Illinois. On that occasion we are asked to pick a special book that we want to honor and that will be placed on the bookshelves with a plaque inside it honoring our promotion and saying that we chose the book. I knew that few people were aware of your wonderful book and chose it for lots of reasons, but mainly because I loved it and wanted it to get some recognition.

I would love to have a copy of the first in your new series. I do wish Plainsong had been marketed better--I have read it many times and ordered all the used copies I could get from Amazon.com to send to friends. I only have two left and probably will keep them!

Thanks again for getting in touch, and I'm glad to hear that you keep on writing...!

Needless to say, she gets a dedicated copy of "Weaver".

But just, wow. This one blew me away.

Oh gosh, that's really wonderful, Deb. And she was probably blown away by your writing to her, too.