I think it is fair to say that Deb and insecurity are unmixy things.

I like Deb.

Um, like that? Or am I talking out my ass?

Tolkien invented a couple of languages just to deal with this issue.

Robert E. Howard used obsolete names from antiquity to name his places. Hyperborea etc.

I've got files and files full of scraps of paper with scene fragments, people's names, snarky dialogue bits, etc. It's almost as good as a journal, 'cause I'll find scraps of college handout, memos from various jobs, and the juxtaposition of the scraps and what I was thinking at the time give me a timecapsule of my mind.

Hey, I got an A in one class partly on the strength of my always being busily scribbling away as the professor talked. He thought I was fascinated by him and taking great notes. Nope, but I got lots of chapters done in his class. Some of my legitimate college notebooks I've had to keep because I've got so many story notes shoved in the margns.

I like Deb.

Fabulous hostess too.

Welcome! Welcome to Antediluvea! Come to the casino, and play with the dinosaur bones!

Hoo boy. I think ghost stories are probably easier.

David, dear, if you would come over more often while there's still Tuesday nights, I could feed you and you could make that assertion on the basis of more than, what? Two visits?

I've got files and files full of scraps of paper with scene fragments, people's names, snarky dialogue bits, etc.

Me too!

He thought I was fascinated by him and taking great notes. Nope, but I got lots of chapters done in his class.

BWAH! My secretary, when I worked for a law firm after coming back stateside in the early eighties, was the daughter of a very good and pretty prominent poet (Diane DiPrima). She'd cover for me as I locked my office door, turned my monitor away from prying eyes, and wrote (in rapid succession) "Eyes in the Fire", "Hibernia" (the one Bantam retitled "Fire Queen", the dumbasses) and the first chunk of "Plainsong."

Moral of story: getting paid to write is good, even if they don't know that's what they're actually paying you for....

I cheated on my one big project -- I had stumbled across a teeny Turkish-English dictionary for travelers, so I transliterated a bunch of English NJ placenames, more or less, taking into account that I don't know how Turkish actually pronounces some letters and vowels, and left off all the circumflexes and accent marks. And some placenames that would work in any language, like Red Bank or High Point, I left as is.

For most short stories, though, all you need is a bare handful of names/places at most, or you can leave them unnamed as necessary.

David, dear, if you would come over more often while there's still Tuesday nights, I could feed you and you could make that assertion on the basis of more than, what? Two visits?

It really is a lovely salon, filled with tasty bits and good, smart, kind people.

My secretary, when I worked for a law firm after coming back stateside in the early eighties, was the daughter of a very good and pretty prominent poet (Diane DiPrima).

Didn't she host a local TV show? About rap music and community hoo haw? Really pretty? Mixed race?