Saturday, June 5, 2010

Struggles

Struggle #1:

I have begun the formal dig on my office, working down through the upper layer of detritus. (The upperdetritus periodous.) This is going to take a while. One of my chief challenges is PROCRASTINATION. (I put that in caps to make sure I got the message.) Which means, in so many aspects of my life, things pile up and then I have to unpile them. Which is time-consuming and irritating and frustrating. The one area of my life in which procrastination doesn't seem to happen is my writing. With my writing, I am merely slow. So, by habit or nature, I move as the slug moves, though without quite so much slime.

A break to excavate is good though, as I ponder a major change to one manuscript, and play in my head with something new. Plus, who knows what I'll find buried? Maybe some money!

Struggle #2:

Uncovered in the ongoing excavation was a list of the winners of this years Los Angeles Times Book Award. Pictured were the smiling, handsome faces of some of the winners. "Where's my picture?" I wondered. Then I remembered I hadn't won anything, ever, and in fact haven't published a book for, let's see, three years. In the young adult world, that is an eon. The standard is a new vampire novel every three months. But, as I have tried to explain to publishers and my legion of fan (I'm pretty sure I've only got one) some of us were born poky and never made any vampire friends (as they say, write what you know.) I think to be friends with a vampire you'd pretty much have to be a fast mover, for those times when the fangs come out. So, it follows that I am eliminated as the author of speedy vampire novels.

Struggle #3:

Cable. I used to have Basic Limited cable, which means I got the broadcast stations and the PBS stations and the local county channels, plus lots of Spanish language channels. A year ago I got an advertised deal, which means for a bitty bit more money (okay, a little more than a bitty, but doable) I got lots more channels, though I still wasn't in the big leagues--no HBO for me. Now the deal is over and I must pull the plug or pull more money each month out of my ever shrinking wallet.

This is the thing. In the past I wouldn't have thought twice. Ditch the channels, I'd have said, without too much thought or trouble. Now, though . . . The thought of not getting a fix of Law & Order, or Criminal Minds, or NCIS, or any of the other crazy programs I've grown to love, well . . . Kathleen ain't happy. I'd miss the stories. The characters. Okay, yes, I know they aren't real, but . . . but . . . stories and characters are why I'm here on planet Earth. I've tried to think of a few other reasons, but other than dark chocolate, I always come up empty.

So, what to do. (Taps fingers on counter.) What to do . . .

Struggle #4

I have to make dinner tonight. I hate making dinner. Why do I have to make dinner? Where is the justice?

3 comments:

  1. I've read all your books, and liked them. That must put me in fan territory too. At least now you can pluralise.

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  2. Oh, no, your beloved shows!! That's hard but maybe you'll discover some new ones? We dropped the movie channels and HBO package a few months ago and now I find myself borrowing and buying lots of DVDs and watching Doctor Who repeats.

    I don't have any vampire friends either and agree this is best when you're poky (which I am also!). But sometimes I wonder if I should lie about that - if not vampires then werewolves, fairies, angels or zombies - you know, allude to these types of things on the jacket flap copy and see if that scores me any points.

    I hope you find some interesting things during your office dig ;-)

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  3. Kymberly, I'm delighted you liked my books. And I'm *especially* delighted that I can now pluralize! There's nothing like being in the big leagues. Or in the moderately sized leagues. Or even, you know, the bitsy leagues.

    C.K., I suspect there are many DVD purchases in my future. Sigh . . . And making up werewolf and fairie friends is probably a good idea. We've got to get our creds *somewhere.* And it's for a good cause . . . making money. I'm thinking I might find a zombie buried under my detritus.

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