*taps mic*

Is this thing on? Anyone still here?

Well —

I got to preview Holly Lisle’s How to Revise Your Novel, and the first lesson is pretty good! I dug out the original copy of Freedom that I got bound in that offer Lulu.com gave back during NaNo 2005 to use for my revision. That book has given me more fits than any other one I’ve written, so I figured it’s a good test run as to whether this class is any good. 😉

If you want to be in the first class in January 2010, just go to the link above and sign up to be on the announcement list for when enrollment starts.

 

A wild ride

Lots going on here: sons just finished out marching band season (did pretty well!), got two paying non-fiction venues, was asked to contribute to a non-fiction anthology. Way behind on the Think Sideways class. Two novels to crit. And the holidays are coming. So what do I do?

NaNo. (well, unofficially)

Yeah, I know, taking on too much again. But I got this idea for a world that I had to explore, and this is a good time for it.

This is more a seat of the pants thing than anything else, but it’s going well. Off to a slow start from migraines brought on by too much weekend, but today is looking very good indeed.

 

Interesting tool

Ever wonder what a place actually looks like? You can use Google Earth, but that’s not updated all that often.

I found a site called Weather Bonk that collects live webcams of various places. This one is of a California freeway, for example, but they have ones of all sorts of places, from beaches to residential neighborhoods. And the webcams are updated fairly frequently.

 

Just guess where this is going on …

You got it: Texas police rob black and hispanic motorists

TENAHA — You can drive into this dusty fleck of a town near the Texas-Louisiana border if you’re African-American, but you might not be able to drive out of it — at least not with your car, your cash, your jewelry or other valuables.

That’s because the police here have allegedly found a way to strip motorists, many of them black, of their property without ever charging them with a crime. Instead, they offer out-of-towners a grim choice: voluntarily sign over your belongings to the town or face felony charges of money laundering or other serious crimes.

Because, yanno, there’s no racism anymore

 

Who, me?

Going back to the beginning of this rendition of this mess, I have to say: just like I would not go to an auto mechanic if my chickens were sneezing, or to the farm store if my car won’t start, it does not make sense to me that I would, were I looking for resources on writing about people of color, go to a white person. The basic premise is fucked, even before you add the baroque levels of fuckedness that have accreted over the last couple of months. I don’t think that’s a lesson that a white woman should be trying to teach the internet.

— LiveJournal user Serrana, about the current race debate over on LJ

Which is an astute comment.

Makes me wonder if I’ve been a little too enthusiastic in “showing how it’s done”. Because I’m pretty white myself.

So if I’ve said anything offensive I hope someone tells me so I don’t do it again.

 

Texas, AGAIN!

Police in Galveston get the wrong house, kidnap and assault 12 year old girl

Undercover police grab a 12 year old girl outside her home. Who they claim they thought was a hooker. When she and her father fought back, they charged the family with assault.

Now she has nightmares of being beaten and raped by police. I wonder why.

 

Not again …

Two things:

Tobias Buckell is back in the hospital … with a pulmonary embolism, no less. A doctor’s nightmare. Sending lots of good thoughts, prayers and well wishes his way.

Something more mundane — I’m not finishing NaNo. Which sucks, seeing as I’ve lost two years in a row. But I do have a nice little novella here, so I’m happy about it.

 

Talk about dedication …

Tobias Buckell is blogging from the hospital.

Go by and give him some good wishes.

 

Michael Crichton, 1942-2008

Physician and author Michael Crichton died today of cancer at age 66. He wrote many popular novels such as “The Andromeda Strain” and “Jurassic Park”, as well as the TV show “ER”

Rest in peace.

 

Brand new day

Congratulations to Barack Obama.

Now any kid really CAN be the President.