deannaknippling.com

• @doycet Please don't – I have other plans. in reply to doycet #
• @davisac1 There you go. in reply to davisac1 #
• Write! Write you're being chased by polar bears and the only thing to stop them is a book club! Literally! #
• @ChuckWendig WooOOoooOOOOo! Grats! in reply to ChuckWendig #
• @tafkae Went WENT WENT!!! in reply to tafkae #
• @doycet Thbbbbt. I ran into the mention of Land's End in AB today – we need to edit that! in reply to doycet #
• Write! Write like the villain is your ex and is GOING DOWN. #
• Write! Write like you're a computer and the only way to make it is to bootstrap it, baby. #
• Write! Write like you're trapping nightmares in the sun. #
• Done: Chapter 28/32. "Not that Bart wouldn't cheat at chess, but he'd never give a straight answer." #DeNoReWriMo #
• I am FREAKIN' exhausted with writing today. #
• @serafinowicz It's a herd of cows, so what's a group of Tweeters? #PSQA in reply to serafinowicz #
• Muppets do Queen!!! RT @DaphneUn For your holiday happiness: http://fwd4.me/5h7 #
• Hey @ianthealy RT @serafinowicz "Ian thinks, therefore Ian." – Ian Descartes #
• You should send me funny stuff today, because today is just a LMAO day. #
• I declare Chapter 28 un-done, because I was still mad at it. But I Have an Idea, so let's see how tonight goes. #
• @Three_Star_Dave Grats! in reply to Three_Star_Dave #
• An R-rated Acorn Squash recipe: RT @ChuckWendig @doycet Let the Stuffing of '09 begin. http://is.gd/52Y3B #
• It turns out that my grim problem chapter was actually destined to be comic relief. #
• Okay, NOW I'm done: 28/32. "Knock it off, okay? My mom made me go to judo since I was eight. Also? The safety is still on." #
• Sad night. My cousin Kori's infant son Thomas passed away earlier today after heart problems. Please send your thoughts toward his family. #
• I get more out of my daydreams than most people get out of their successes. #
• @doycet True, true. But, since writing actually helps me reduce nightmares, worry, and stress (other than related to story), it works. in reply to doycet #
• @DaphneUn I always liked, "Look!" "What?" "Corn!" but that worked better in Minnesota. in reply to DaphneUn #
• Write! Write like the ones you've lost are, by grace, reading over your shoulder. #
• I was almost thwarted by a thee-chapter arc, but I thwarted it back! #
• Also, Garth Nix's Lord Sunday is finally coming out in Feb-Mar 2010. Sheesh. Finally. Did I mention that already? Finally? #
• Done: Chapter 29/32. "If there's one thing I've learned today, it's a fine line to walk between alien possession and alcohol poisoning." #
• Gorged on mashed potatoes for lunch. #
• Done: Chapter 30/32. "The white cat was sitting next to Anam and licking its butt with the contented noise of a well-tuned engine." #
• And now, for the climactic fight scene. I hate @#$%^&* fight scenes. Why am I doing this to myself? #
• Let me clarify – I hate WRITING fight scenes. I love reading them. #duh #
• I am craving the sweet potato fries at Nosh. I think that goes on the cooking list. #
• Thank you to my family, both at home and elsewhere. You've made me a little crazy, and I like it that way. #
• @pop40 I mourn your pies. in reply to pop40 #
• @doycet @daphneun Next thing you know, she's going to mock bluegrass, and it's going to take cupcakes to make me forgive her in reply to doycet #
• Watched Hudson Hawk yesterday for the first time in years. The last great 80s-style farce, a farce of farces. #
• Farce farce farce…ever have a moment when a word stops meaning anything, because you said it too much? Farce farce farce… #
• And now! On to the climactic fight scene! Which I have totally replotted! Sorry if I'm late for Thanksgiving! #
• My head's going to explode, this is working out soooo well. #
• Gah. I spoke too soon. #
• YAY! Plot fixed. Turns out the plot was fine, I just needed more beats. #
• Done: Chapter 31/32. "All right," Bill said. "This is a stickup." #DeNoReWriMo #
• Time to throw the bread pudding together…. #
• From the Woot page: "You wanna go to the stores TODAY? Hope you’ve got a decent Armor Class." #
• @BarelyKnit Why not? That's what all the best books are about. in reply to BarelyKnit #
• Is this it? Is this it?!? I have to read the last chapter aloud, and then…I'm done? #
• Hm…the resolution is slightly cheesy due to the last two lines. But I think it can stand. #
• Done: 32/32. "She was going to find someone to buy her a beer, if nothing else." #DeNoReWriMo is…over! #
• Except for writing the query. Fun, fun. #
• Write! Write like you're going to be depressed when it's all over! #
• Write! Write like people are begging for a sequel! #
• Write! Write like it doesn't matter how many exclamation points you used, anyway! #
• Write! Write like a mad scientist, cackling at every lightning strike! #
• Write! Write like a dog chases balls and sniffs crotches, with no dignity whatsoever! #
• <—-Eww. #
• Sorry, that just totally derailed me. #
• YMMV: Your marbles may vary. #
• Christmas shopping: Done. Operation Santa Books are ordered. #
• Welllllll, except for the whole writing-a-brilliant-chocolate-story thing. That may take some extra time. #
• Help! Please let me know what you think about my query letter at my blog. http://blog.deannaknippling.com/ #
• @elizawhat #DeNoReWriMo is "De's Novel ReWrite Month." I started out with 92K/32 Chapters. Now down to 84K, and the words make me happy. in reply to elizawhat #
• @DaphneUn Mwah! Thank you for sending help my way in reply to DaphneUn #
• @doycet If your Docs can't survive a rescue mission, it's REALLY time for new Docs. in reply to doycet #
• No rest for the wicked. Still too hyped from finishing my book to sleep. Too early to do stuff. Bored bored bored. #
• Write! Write like there are no showers until after you cross the finish line! #
• Write! Write like the executioner just asked if you had any last words…and you have A LOT! #
• From Julia Allen: "Write! Write like dawn is approaching and you're about to burst into flames!" #
• @elizawhat How am I? I am well. It just has this cybertronic uber-correctness about it. I like it. in reply to elizawhat #
• Ian (@ianthealy) is begging for blog comments. W/ a Laura Resnick guest post? He deserves them. http://networkedblogs.com/p19259623 #
• Not only do I feel like my book is my offspring, my mother says she feels like a grandparent. Yay #
• @elizawhat Yuck. I'd rather bawl my eyes out, ask for help, and get it over with. in reply to elizawhat #
• Shouldn't that be a dog in the sun? Melanin-collie. @DaphneUn Sad dog = melan-collie. #
• @DaphneUn Too bad you won't drive past Volga. in reply to DaphneUn #
• @elizawhat I don't understand crying-but-fantastic. But it did make me crack a smile, thinking about trying to pull it off. 2 sec, max. in reply to elizawhat #
• Write! Write like the last mile of the marathon, one #$%^&* foot at a time. #
• Write! Write like your novel is penance for all your future transgressions. #
• I just generated my #TweetCloud out of 3 months of my tweets. Top three words: chapter, write, time – http://w33.us/zzl #
• I just generated my #TweetCloud out of a year of my tweets. Top three words: chapter, write, time – http://w33.us/102r #
• Article about time travel. As often as gravity comes up, you'd think that time and gravity were two ways of saying the same thing. #
• @elizawhat Waaaaaaiiit, are is your family from the Midwest? in reply to elizawhat #
• @elizawhat Your family sounded like someone's I know for a minute. in reply to elizawhat #
• Ugh. Another nap attack. I felt like I got run over. #
• @pop40 Thanks, guy. It was good to see you again. #
• @elizawhat Well, on the other hand, they are grieving, and thus not at their best or wisest, only their saddest. in reply to elizawhat #
• Watching Teen Titans with Ray. I said, "Sometimes I feel like I'm Raven and she's Starfire." Lee almost snorted milk. #

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• From the Woot page: "You wanna go to the stores TODAY? Hope you’ve got a decent Armor Class." #
• @BarelyKnit Why not? That's what all the best books are about. in reply to BarelyKnit #
• Is this it? Is this it?!? I have to read the last chapter aloud, and then…I'm done? #
• Hm…the resolution is slightly cheesy due to the last two lines. But I think it can stand. #
• Done: 32/32. "She was going to find someone to buy her a beer, if nothing else." #DeNoReWriMo is…over! #
• Except for writing the query. Fun, fun. #
• Write! Write like you're going to be depressed when it's all over! #
• Write! Write like people are begging for a sequel! #
• Write! Write like it doesn't matter how many exclamation points you used, anyway! #
• Write! Write like a mad scientist, cackling at every lightning strike! #
• Write! Write like a dog chases balls and sniffs crotches, with no dignity whatsoever! #
• <—-Eww. #
• Sorry, that just totally derailed me. #
• YMMV: Your marbles may vary. #
• Christmas shopping: Done. Operation Santa Books are ordered. #
• Welllllll, except for the whole writing-a-brilliant-chocolate-story thing. That may take some extra time. #
• Help! Please let me know what you think about my query letter at my blog. http://blog.deannaknippling.com/ #

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All, here’s the latest draft of my Alien Blue query letter.  Please take a look and let me know what you think.

Dear _________,

When barkeep Bill Trout’s best friend, Jack Stout, tries to hide an interstellar fugitive in small-town Haley, New Mexico, Bill refuses to help—it’s too dangerous. Jack claims the alien, Anam, is harmless. Forty-five minutes later, two people are dead and duct-taped into trash cans, the county courthouse has to be fumigated, Bill’s had to dump his own beer down the drain, and Jack still won’t admit he’s wrong.

Bill fights an uphill battle against intelligence, compassion, and loyalty to kick Anam out of town before his pursuers kill them all. Then Bill discovers he’s getting rid of the only life form able to save them from an alien invasion. Bill decides to help Anam using a mysterious blue beer he calls “Alien Blue”—but Bill’s plans never work out as intended.

Alien Blue is an 85,000-word tragicomic science fiction novel about the conflict between doing the right thing and protecting the ones you love, written in the shadows of Spider Robinson (but with fewer puns) and Kurt Vonnegut (but with a happier ending).

I’m a technical writer for the DoD; none of the events portrayed in this novel have the slightest association with fact. I belong to the Pikes Peak Writer’s Group and write murder-mystery party games in my spare time (www.freeformgames.com). I blog at www.blog.deannaknippling.com.

Thanks for your time,
DeAnna Knippling

• I am craving the sweet potato fries at Nosh. I think that goes on the cooking list. #
• Thank you to my family, both at home and elsewhere. You've made me a little crazy, and I like it that way. #
• @pop40 I mourn your pies. in reply to pop40 #
• @doycet @daphneun Next thing you know, she's going to mock bluegrass, and it's going to take cupcakes to make me forgive her in reply to doycet #
• Watched Hudson Hawk yesterday for the first time in years. The last great 80s-style farce, a farce of farces. #
• Farce farce farce…ever have a moment when a word stops meaning anything, because you said it too much? Farce farce farce… #
• And now! On to the climactic fight scene! Which I have totally replotted! Sorry if I'm late for Thanksgiving! #
• My head's going to explode, this is working out soooo well. #
• Gah. I spoke too soon. #
• YAY! Plot fixed. Turns out the plot was fine, I just needed more beats. #
• Done: Chapter 31/32. "All right," Bill said. "This is a stickup." #DeNoReWriMo #
• Time to throw the bread pudding together…. #

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• I get more out of my daydreams than most people get out of their successes. #
• @doycet True, true. But, since writing actually helps me reduce nightmares, worry, and stress (other than related to story), it works. in reply to doycet #
• @DaphneUn I always liked, "Look!" "What?" "Corn!" but that worked better in Minnesota. in reply to DaphneUn #
• Write! Write like the ones you've lost are, by grace, reading over your shoulder. #
• I was almost thwarted by a thee-chapter arc, but I thwarted it back! #
• Also, Garth Nix's Lord Sunday is finally coming out in Feb-Mar 2010. Sheesh. Finally. Did I mention that already? Finally? #
• Done: Chapter 29/32. "If there's one thing I've learned today, it's a fine line to walk between alien possession and alcohol poisoning." #
• Gorged on mashed potatoes for lunch. #
• Done: Chapter 30/32. "The white cat was sitting next to Anam and licking its butt with the contented noise of a well-tuned engine." #
• And now, for the climactic fight scene. I hate @#$%^&* fight scenes. Why am I doing this to myself? #
• Let me clarify – I hate WRITING fight scenes. I love reading them. #duh #

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I woke up this morning thinking, of all things, about politics vs. economic systems.

Buh….this is what happens when you stop drinking coffee.  But I’m going to write it down so 1) I can get it out of my head and 2) I can look it up later for fiction purposes.

In capitalism, money is the major political (power) unit.  But wait!  Capitalism is an economic system!  Except money is used to influence politics, to undercut or influence the votes of both the people and our elected representatives.  Money is power; power is politics.

So here’s what I’m thinking.  Money behaves like gravity.  Money attracts money; money absorbs money; money has satellites.  Money does NOT behave like gravity.  The amount of money in a system is not a constant – you can’t make more mass, but you can make more money.  Money and value (unlike gravity and mass) are not constant.

But money doesn’t behave like water (it doesn’t trickle down).  It attracts satellites.

Okay, first case – look at the U.S. as if it were a closed, purely capitalistic system.  If the government, that is, we do not do anything to affect how money moves in the U.S., companies will do everything they can to succeed and get more money.  Having more money, they have more ability to gather more money.  There are other forces, like unions, hostile takeovers, etc., that could break companies up, but those forces will tend to gather more money as well.  Eventually, all the money will belong to a single entity or a handful of entities who have agreed to act as a single entity in the interest of self-preservation:  a black hole.  My guess is that, in a closed, purely capitalistic system, a few people will have most of the power (and thus, the money), and the rest of the people will be living in a cashless or minimally-cashed world, owing their souls to the company store.

Second case – the U.S. as an open, purely capitalistic system.  I think one of two things will happen.  First, pure capitalism will outcompete other political systems, in which case we’ll end up with the same situation, only it’ll take longer.  Second, another political system or a combination of political systems will outcompete pure capitalism, and capitalism will die out.

Third case – the U.S. as a closed, purely socialistic system.  Socialism is a political system (and an economic one) in which labor is the major political (power) unit.  I acknowledge we have yet to see a case of pure socialism on this planet.  But let’s hypothesize.  Money itself becomes devalued and meaningless.  Some people’s labor becomes more valuable than others, and some kind of accounting system comes into existence – money.  Back to the first case.  Or everyone’s labor stays at a constant value.  Suddenly, if you can’t work, you don’t eat.  Or everyone’s labor stays at a constant value and non-workers are somehow taken care of.  Then nobody has what they need to live, because if every worker’s labor is the same value (x) and if the total labor pool has to support non-workers (at expense of y per worker), then the workers have to live on x-y, or less than x.  But wait!  No system is frictionless; workers must also supply z, the cost of maintaining the system, which, per worker, is z.  So the average worker produces x, from which y and z must be removed.  The average non-worker produces nothing, from which z must be removed anyway.  The average system worker produces x, to which y is removed but z is added.  The system will tend to take over, with people either stopping producing labor entirely or joining the government and adding to beaurocracy but not actually producing anything.  Either way is a kind of heat death, in which everybody ends up with the same amount of practically nothing.

Fourth case – the U.S. as an open, purely socialistic system.  Either pure socialism outcompetes other systems or it doesn’t, if yes, then see the third case; if not, it dies out.

Now, what I think is actually happening is that the U.S. is not purely capitalistic (duh) but that it is certainly not purely socialistic, either.  (Note that nobody has proposed changing labor to the political unit.  Taking money from the rich and giving it to the poor is NOT socialism; you’d have to restate the problem in terms of labor, not dollars.)  Some political (that is, economic) entities have become so big that they are or have been collapsing markets (Microsoft, GM, the financial market, which has become so intertwined that it’s not functioning as a healthy, competing market, but a collection of allies that have agreed not to take each other over, that is, it’s better to screw the investors than each other, and ditto health insurance companies) into monopolies or olipolies (is that the word?).  They are turning the market into a black hole.

Now, working for a large company is pretty choice.  Not only do you make more money, but you get better benefits.  AS LONG AS your company is making money, preferably more money than it made last year, it takes care of you.  You trade your labor for the good life.  My opinion is that the best companies try to approach a reasonable level of socialism for their workers, who trade x, and who use capital to pay for y and z rather than drawing y and z out of x, as much as possible.  Working for the U.S. Government is like that, too, only the government uses taxes for y and z.  Now, the best companies also try to reduce the amount of z to increase profitability, but they tend to keep x at a high amount, because good workers are better than poor ones.  Not all x is equal.  The U.S. Government claims to be trying to reduce z, but, because nobody really competes with the government, lowering y and z isn’t vital.  Y and z, in fact, end up going right back to the U.S. population, so either the government reduces y and z, and money stays with the U.S. people, or the government doesn’t reduce y and z, and money stays with the U.S. people.

So – big companies (and the U.S. Government) get bigger, attracting both more money and better labor, becoming behemoths that kill markets and transforming a capitalistic society into a socialistic one.

Is that bad?  Is it so bad to be taken care of by a company or the government?  Personally, no.  However, on a system level, it sucks.

Either the companies compete or are outcompeted by other companies on the U.S. or world markets.  See the second case.  Without limitation, the U.S. Government will approach something almost socialistic.  See case three.  So it’s a race between a black hole and heat death, if we have a world without limitations.

What we want, for the U.S. as well as the rest of the world, is a churning market (that is, neither defined by monopolies nor worldwide poverty), framed either or both in terms of money (capitalism) and labor (socialism).  In order to maintain a churning market, two things have to happen:  the government must limit large entities, and the people (voters) must limit government.  A paradox.

To further complicate things, a country that limits it corporations and government may not be able to effectively compete against other countries, who don’t.  See China, who has fewer regulations than we do, and who is kicking our butts economically right now.

Personally, I’m of the opinion that what we “should” do is use regulation to break up monopolies and olipolies (again, that word).  Right now, we don’t have the regulatory tools to break up things like the health care, financial, or U.S. automobile industries; they aren’t monopolies, and they still compete, so what can we even do to them to make them stop screwing up the entire country?  How do we do it in such a way that we make the U.S. more competitive, worldwide?

(Also, I think health care insurance is a special case.  Insurance is supposed to be a bet against the risk of something happening; however, everyone has health problems, so health insurance is a bet against having more health problems than you pay in premiums.  Which isn’t much of a bet, as the only way for the health insurance companies to guarantee that is cheat – take bets and then kick people off the books when it looks like they might lose, refuse life-saving treatment because they lose money, etc.  I’d just as soon see the government run it.  I hate cheaters, and I suspect there’s no way to have a non-cheating, capitalistic health insurance system.)

Okay, that’s enough for today.

• @serafinowicz It's a herd of cows, so what's a group of Tweeters? #PSQA in reply to serafinowicz #
• Muppets do Queen!!! RT @DaphneUn For your holiday happiness: http://fwd4.me/5h7 #
• Hey @ianthealy RT @serafinowicz "Ian thinks, therefore Ian." – Ian Descartes #
• You should send me funny stuff today, because today is just a LMAO day. #
• I declare Chapter 28 un-done, because I was still mad at it. But I Have an Idea, so let's see how tonight goes. #
• @Three_Star_Dave Grats! in reply to Three_Star_Dave #
• An R-rated Acorn Squash recipe: RT @ChuckWendig @doycet Let the Stuffing of '09 begin. http://is.gd/52Y3B #
• It turns out that my grim problem chapter was actually destined to be comic relief. #
• Okay, NOW I'm done: 28/32. "Knock it off, okay? My mom made me go to judo since I was eight. Also? The safety is still on." #
• Sad night. My cousin Kori's infant son Thomas passed away earlier today after heart problems. Please send your thoughts toward his family. #

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• @doycet Please don't – I have other plans. in reply to doycet #
• @davisac1 There you go. in reply to davisac1 #
• Write! Write you're being chased by polar bears and the only thing to stop them is a book club! Literally! #
• @ChuckWendig WooOOoooOOOOo! Grats! in reply to ChuckWendig #
• @tafkae Went WENT WENT!!! in reply to tafkae #
• @doycet Thbbbbt. I ran into the mention of Land's End in AB today – we need to edit that! in reply to doycet #
• Write! Write like the villain is your ex and is GOING DOWN. #
• Write! Write like you're a computer and the only way to make it is to bootstrap it, baby. #
• Write! Write like you're trapping nightmares in the sun. #
• Done: Chapter 28/32. "Not that Bart wouldn't cheat at chess, but he'd never give a straight answer." #DeNoReWriMo #
• I am FREAKIN' exhausted with writing today. #

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• Write! Write like too much espresso! #
• Write! Write like you lose a pound for every 5,000 words! #
• @BarelyKnit Aw…. in reply to BarelyKnit #
• Done: 25/32. Hard to find a line that doesn't reveal plot, but: "I'm not a hero or a baseball pitcher." #DeNoReWriMo #
• Write! Write like a fairy is born with every chapter! #
• Done: 26/32 (two pages). "The stars were gorgeous, the Milky Way a filmy negligée across the mysteries of the universe." #DenoReWriMo #
• @BarelyKnit Thank you #
• Hey, what else can you call an epilogue? I have a frame story ending that I call an epilogue, but is 5 chaps long and contains the climax. #
• @ianthealy Thanks, o Power of Not Helping. in reply to ianthealy #
• You know, maybe the best NaNoWriMo advice comes in just two parts: 1) write. 2) exercise. But now my arms don't want to work. #
• @dcawley Hm…I *could* just do Chapter 28, Chapter 29, etc. I don't need to break things down for the reader, just myself. Considering. in reply to dcawley #
• I don't have the energy to do this 20-something page chapter all at one go. Chunks! #
• Chunk 1 of 27/32 done. "It turns out the opposite of lost is still lost." #
• Write! Write like Neil Gaiman promised to write a blurb for your book! #
• Chocolate review: NewTree Pink Peppercorn. Mmm. http://blog.deannaknippling.com/?p=1907 #
• Okay, break's over. #
• Done with part 2 of 27/32. "You shouldn't mock a man unless he can hit you, but I couldn't help myself." #
• Showers are good. So is lunch. Back to it! #
• Write! Write like every 10,000 words = 10% off at Borders! #
• Part 3 done of 27/32. "We've been hiding an alien in town. And not just somebody from across the border." #DeNoReWriMo #
• Write! Write like your lover is awaiting the last sentence with a bottle of champagne! #
• Part 4 done of 27/32. "Going to tell us we don't have a license to sell dead aliens?" #DeNoReWriMo #
• Yay! Done with Chapter 27! #
• And my three-page summary is down to four pages! From eight! #
• Write! Write like someone will tell you, "This book saved my life!" #
• @ianthealy Well. I think so. Even if it does start off slowly. in reply to ianthealy #
• @davisac1 Well, you know, they might be pursued by literate polar bears, and the reader threw your book at them, inspiring a critique group. in reply to davisac1 #

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73% Cocoa.

There’s a warning statement on the back of the package:  “NewTree chocolates should be enjoyed as part of a varied, balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle.”

Yes, this chocolate is so dangerous, you must eat it in moderation.  Lee picked this up from Walmart, which appears to be the only place you can get pink peppercorn – not even from the website.  Sad.

At first, I was a little disappointed.  The pepper wasn’t as sharp as I wanted.  However, with peppercorn-flavored chocolate, a little goes a long way, and I usually end up leaving most of the bar for later.  Not so here.  I finished half of the bar one night and half the next – the (relative) mildness was addictive.  Also, I suspect pink peppercorns are not inherently as sharp as black ones.

The chocolate was a good, dark Belgian chocolate, very rich and almost chalky-textured, just enough cocoa butter to hold everything together.  It left behind an excess of crumbles, which I am using my finger to pull out of the wrapper as I type.  Very good.

• Quote @Three_Star_Dave "Ah, those halcyon days when it was D&D (not Teh Gayz) that were a threat to our children." #
• Write! Write like it's your day job! #
• @doycet Hey, I want to name one of my chapters "Hidden Things." Mind? #
• Write! Write like you're getting paid! #
• On Desc: For tight POV, check the desc of a thing doesn't happen before the chars run into that thing. #desc #
• @Knippling I hope you're feeling better. in reply to Knippling #
• Done: 23/32. "I'm the details guy, as sad as that is. I mean, I can't remember to change my shirt from day to day." #
• Write! Write like you have adoring fans! #
• I blog about description: http://blog.deannaknippling.com/?p=1899 #
• @serafinowicz Alas, sometimes the chickens DO break down and eat their own eggs. in reply to serafinowicz #
• Write! Write like your agents wants the first draft by tomorrow! #
• @Knippling Ohhhhh. I haven't seen it, but what little I do know makes that makes sense. in reply to Knippling #
• Write! Write like you're going to buy your own book! #
• Write! Write like you want to be surprised by what comes next! #
• Done: 24/32. "Can't a man take a piss in peace?" #DeNoReWriMo #
• I'm getting toward the end of the book, where everything gets all intense. I DON'T WANT TO STOP EDITING. Freakin' miracle, I know. #

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Due to (or exacerbated by) my background in drama (I had a really, really good playwriting teacher), I am pretty solid on dialogue.  I can’t explain how to get good at dialogue–I’ve never really had to think about it.  But description?  Pfft.

On the one hand, this is good news.  My previous fear and loathing, when it came to writing, was plot.  So the fact that I’m not dwelling on plot means that I’m better at it.  Not good, but better.  Right?

On the other hand, I have to figure out how to get better at writing description.  And I hate writing descriptions.

You know those books where you have pages of riveting description where nobody speaks–not “the forest was dark, even at midday” type thing, but description of action.  Fight scenes.  Love scenes.  Murders.

Yeah, I even suck at those.  Instead, I write dialogue with stage directions.

I asked around, but nobody yet has given me the magic key to writing good descriptions.*  I suspect the people who are good at it don’t have to think about it and assume the reader knows things that I, in fact, have no freaking clue about.  So I’ve been rereading Steven Brust’s The Phoenix Guards, because I’ve always liked the description in that, and because I picked up an extra copy recently, so it was on my book-stack.

I’ll go into more detail later, but here are my initial thoughts on description in general, based off things I read in SB.

• POV and description are in bed together.  A third-person omniscient book can do things with description that a first-person can’t, and vice versa (3rd:  see anything, anywhere, that the characters know nothing about; 1st:  everything described is distorted by the character’s perspective).
• But the shift between first and third person POV does not need to be absolute.  How that works, I don’t know yet – but I see SB doing it, for example, when he first describes Kaavren, he uses paragraphs of plain, absolutely third-person description–K’s wearing this and this clothing, by which we deduce he was XYZ, etc.  But then SB ends his descriptions with little character hooks that come out of the way K sees himself:  “…which was proved by the color of his garments, where they could be discerned beneath the dust he wore as his outer, and, no doubt, inner layer of clothing.”  “The purse, upon close inspection, looked rather anemic.”  “…and since the Tiassa’s countenance was one of friendliness, neither one was inclined to take offense…”  Telling us that K feels dirty, is acutely aware of being broke, and takes pride in his charm.
• Description doesn’t have to be a decription of what the characters see and do, moment by moment, in order to be effective (except maybe in action sequences?).  It can be other things:  “‘Well, and does that matter?’ said one of the ladies who had been steadily losing to Tazendra.”  Is that a description of the look on the woman’s face?  The tone of her voice?  No.  And it’s more effective than a straight description would have been.
• Pace comes from descriptions, or maybe pace is set by description.  The leisurely tempo in SB’s PG is set by Paarfi’s convoluted sentences and necessity of breaking off to describe the history of carriages, etc.  “Tazendra slowly turned her head, which had been directed to Pel, until she was facing the lady who had spoken.”  Even the length of the sentence affects the pace:  T turns her head for the length of time it takes to read that sentence.
• Transitions are description.  Not just “here’s the time that passed from one chapter/scene to the next.”  The transition into and out of backstory is just as important.  “And now at last we return to a discussion of the lodging which our friends found for themselves.”  “As to their duties at the Palace, we must pause here to explain something of the structure of the Imperial military hierarchy at that time.”  “…this observation was shown to be particular astute, as we will take it upon ourselves to demonstrate.”
• Description isn’t just that which is seen.  It includes indirect description–how other characters react to an action, not shown.  “He paused, seeing that Aerich was uninterested in the details.”
• Description within dialogue.  “‘I would like a sword,’ he said.  ‘It is to be three and three quarter pounds…’”
• Description as a placemark of where the characters are, physically, in a setting.  “The counter-attack…went well until the Guardsmen had succeeded in pushing their enemies to the far wall of the room, where upon two things happened:  first, the press of the bodies and the force of the charge itself served to squeeze soldiers around the sides…”
• Description sets the milieu; for example, description can have a political effect.  “Shortly thereafter the Teckla coachman emerged from the kitchen wiping his face on the sleeve of his dirty black tunic…”  (showing the prejudice of the nobleman narrator).
• Description can be a statement of what something is not, or what is normal (if the thing is not normal, or as expected):  “…Pel had occasion three times to point out to Aerich that they were passing a weapon-smith, but each time the latter merely shook his head.”

…More thoughts as I get them.

*Goddamned magic keys, anyway.

• @Three_Star_Dave Good luck! in reply to Three_Star_Dave #
• Done: Chapter 22/32. "The race between the brewing process and true sentience will end with victory for the Terran life form once again." #
• Ten chapters left! #

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• @DaphneUn You're right, you're right. It's "luhvahs." in reply to DaphneUn #
• Done: Chapter 20/32. "Do you know how hard it is to keep these lines straight, even when they aren't infected?" #DeNoReWriMo #
• I wish I could give one of my characters a hug: she's carrying a big burden, combined from a lot of people I knew/know. #
• Done: Chapter 21/32. "Another visitor. Maybe I should put my clothes on." #DeNoReWriMo #
• Two chapters edited. I think I get a bubble bath for that. #
• All I've tweeted about this month is writing. I walk away from the computer and think about what I forgot to tweet…nah. #burnout #
• Frex, speeding ticket. I'm on a new road, in the dark, no idea what the limit is. Suddenly, everyone brakes. Crap. Why am I in front? #
• Writing advice from Carrie Vaughn: Just so. http://c92no.th8.us #

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• Spent an hour and a half changing the span of the book from 4 years to 1.5. Feel better now. #
• Drinking beer and eating chili. #
• Happy Left 4 Dead II day! …If you can download, that is. #
• What? I have to turn off the new Norah Jones so I can read aloud my chapter? What is this, common sense? Must be some kind of conspiracy. #
• Done: Chapter 19/32. "I took another shower, smelled my pits, and declared myself even less stinky than usual." #
• Done: Chapter 19/32. "I took another shower, smelled my pits, and declared myself even less stinky than usual." #DeNoReWriMo #
• I'm looking forward to tomorrow's chapter. I may do 2, they're short. "Bamboozled" and "A Whole New Woman." #
• After that is "Lovers." Which title was inspired one day when @DaphneUn said it over…and…over…and…over… #

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• Done: Chapter 18/32. "I'd never actually lied to him; he'd never actually arrested me." #DeNoReWriMo #
• Ugh. Long, ornery day. #

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• @ChuckWendig @doycet Three times for humor – gave rule of three to daughter to explain that sometimes a lot of a good thing is too much. in reply to ChuckWendig #
• Snowed last night. Not too bad. Still planning to go to chocolate festival. #
• @mightymur What church DO you go to? in reply to mightymur #
• I'm getting better at this editing stuff. At least, faster. First pass on a 13-page chapter done in just over an hour. Read-aloud time. #
• Done: Chapter 17/32. "Remind me what I'm wearing black for? Oh, yeah. All my clothes are black." #DeNoReWriMo #
• I ate so much chocolate at the chocolate festival that I came home slightly dizzy. I want to try out a chocolate drink, but don't dare. #
• My personal best of show @ chocolate festival: http://www.chocolateofgods.com/main.html #
• BTS Chocolate was a close second. http://www.btschocolate.com/ The puns…the kilt…the yummy… #
• A lot of the booths at the chocolate festival were small businesses, working out of their homes. Awesome. #

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• @Three_Star_Dave Literarily speaking. Excellent. in reply to Three_Star_Dave #
• @ChuckWendig @doycet I want one of you to write a couple of blog entries on DESCRIPTION, when how and why. I suck at it. in reply to ChuckWendig #
• I finished Act I of the book yesterday, in which the main character, in his 40s, decides to grow up. A coming of age story. #
• I'm almost HALFWAY THROUGH the book! #
• Huh. I guess that means Act I is really long. #
• The lesson for the week on editing: Know how the main character changes in each chapter before sitting down at the keyboard. #
• Another lesson: See it from the main character's point of view – not "what happens now" but "what does MC do about what's happening now." #
• @ChuckWendig I can do theme. Definitely Woo. in reply to ChuckWendig #
• Yet another lesson: if you have that figured out and you're still not excited about your chapter, brainstorm again. #
• Done: Chapter 15/32. "I didn't say it was a good idea. I said it was a favor." #DeNoReWriMo #
• @doycet @ChuckWendig How about settings? in reply to doycet #
• @doycet @ChuckWendig I under-desc. So is that also remember at least 3 things? And when/how to set that up? in reply to doycet #
• Done: Chapter 16/32. "Damn. The greatest scientific invention mankind will ever know. And they'll never know about it." #DeNoReWriMo #
• @DaphneUn Rewrite, rewrite, rewrite. Tomorrow: The chocolate festival @ Broadmoor.http://bit.ly/3thsEb in reply to DaphneUn #

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Sometimes I write blog posts already knowing, more or less, what I’m going to say.  This is not one of those times.

Steven Brust is discussing the ethical use of humor over on his site.  To sum up,  in one case, someone used humor against a friend of his; the friend was hurt; the offending person didn’t understand why.  In another case, his daughter, a comedian, participated in a show with the theme of mental handicaps, and her friends were offended.

He said:

The dilemma, as I see it, is something like this:
1. No one has the right, through humor or any other way, to needlessly hurt someone else.
2. No one has the right to decide for another how and when to use humor to relieve suffering.

It stopped me.  Of course there’s a way through, I thought.  So I posted, “It hurts worse when they laugh at you; it hurts less if they laugh with you. The screwups come when people mistake laughing together at someone else for laughing with someone.”

But I continue to think about it.  I’d rather blather on here than post multiple comments on someone else’s site.

I had somebody make an unforgiveable joke at my daughter’s expense the other day.  I’m not going to say the joke – you’ll be offended.  I wasn’t.  I laughed.  Because I knew the guy; to know him is to know that he limps through his day with one foot in his mouth.  Most common quote:  “What?  What did I say?”  And in fact, he told the joke so ineptly that I didn’t get it at first, which made me laugh harder when I did get it.  Guy’s making an ass of himself, and he can’t even spell.

But that’s okay.  I know he didn’t mean any harm by it.  It…just…came…out.

I’ve been far more offended by less offensive jokes from other people, the kind of jokes that are an attack, with a sly wink that says, “I’m testing you…if you don’t laugh, we both know that you’re a frigid, prude @#$%.”  Those are the ones I hate.  Buddy, you don’t know me well enough to tell me off-color jokes.

For example – the joke about the Muslim woman who, after being “liberated,” still follows her man by four feet–because of bombs.  I am SO sick of that joke.  I’ve received it, via e-mail, about once every two months for the last three and a half years.  But I find that the joke is offensive or not depending on who’s telling it–it’s told via e-mail, mind you, so not really dependent on tone of voice or facial expressions.*

Some people can send me offensive crap, and I laugh my ass off.

Some people can send me something just slightly off the mark, and I hate them for it, because of that sly look in their eyes.

Are you sharing something with me or not?  Or are you trying to take something away?  If you want to see me squirm, screw you.  If you want to see me fall over on the floor, unable to talk I’m laughing so hard, bring it.

–Unless it’s just not funny.  Meh.

*But seriously, please stop sending me that joke. I am SO OVER IT.

• @doycet I think it's a poem,too. I was cruising through poetry sites, waiting for the hiccups to stop, and there it was. in reply to doycet #
• Grats! They were great RT @cmpriest My first royalty check from Tor arrived today. The Eden series finally earned out! Wooooo! #
• @doycet Now I want to know whether my alien is believable. in reply to doycet #
• The girl is off to karate with the spouse. If only the cat hadn't crapped in my office. #NaNoStinkMo #
• Sounds WONDERFUL. Why do I live in the only place in Colorado that doesn't get slammed? @ianthealy Thunder and lightning and SNOW. *sigh* #
• After tweeting my love of storms, I realize my favorite chapters are the blizzards (literally speaking?). #
• Hey, IS it "literally speaking" if you're making a metaphor, but it's about your fiction? #
• Done: Chapter 14/32. "The aliens come from hell, Bill. No sex, no drinking, no dancing, no airplanes." #DeNoReWriMo #
• Me, on humor: http://blog.deannaknippling.com/?p=1888 #

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• @doycet Bwahahahahaha! in reply to doycet #
• Doing more rewrites on Chapter 12. I think the problem wasn't the main character's confusion, but that he never changed. #
• Moved on to Chapter 13. Still not happy with Chapter 12, but less confused. #
• I like Doc Hawver. #
• …who is a character in Chapter 13. Sorry, Twitter is NOT for the voices in your head. Most of the time. #
• The Awful Hiccuping Toward God #poemsneverwritten #
• @BarelyKnit Twitterfail! in reply to BarelyKnit #
• Ode to a Grecian Hiccup #poemsneverwritten #
• I Sing the Body Hiccup! #poemsneverwritten #
• Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Hiccup #poemsneverwritten #
• The Raven: "Quoth the Raven, HICCUP!!!" #poemsneverwritten #
• Oh Hiccup! My Hiccup! #poemsneverwritten #
• I know why the caged bird hiccups #poemsneverwritten #
• Because I could not stop for hiccups, they kindly stopped for me… #poemsneverwritten #
• Done: Chapter 13/32. “You don't have to be in-insulting,” Doc Hawver huffed. “You're not that in-intelligent.” #
• Extra points if you get this one – The Most Beautiful Hiccup in Town #poemsneverwritten #
• Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Hiccupped… #poemsneverwritten #
• The Love Song of J. Alfred Hiccup #poemsneverwritten #
• Gunga Hiccup #poemsneverwritten #
• My candle burns at both hiccups… #poemsneverwritten Ahhh….I think I'm done. #

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• Back from looking at a karate place – we're in. They work REALLY well with kids. #
• Now, back to the chapter. I totally rewrote this one recently, so it's looking peachy already. #
• Done: Chapter 12/32. "I was concerned, you understand, because I was liable to suffer the most jail time." #DeNoReWriMo #
• Do I like the chapter? I don't know. Have I nailed it? I don't know. The main character is confused, so maybe I'm being appropriate. #
• @Three_Star_Dave YT has not, personally, started karate. I'll think about it AFTER November. in reply to Three_Star_Dave #
• @ianthealy I'm interested to see whether I can EDIT more words than you DRAFT this month. in reply to ianthealy #
• @ianthealy I'm at 33.5K. in reply to ianthealy #

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• Critique group cancelled….Yay! A night off. A chapter behind….Booooo…. #
• I…can…do…this. Ungh. #
• Gah. My book always makes me cry. #
• @BarelyKnit Your brain will do ANYTHING to try to trick you into stopping. Every year. Imagine you're doing a fundraiser marathon. in reply to BarelyKnit #
• Done: Chapter 11/32. "Earth is what happens to dust when something shits in it." #DeNoReWriMo #

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• @BarelyKnit Why, DeAnna Novel ReWrite Month. Didn't you know? 32 chapters, 30 days. in reply to BarelyKnit #
• Bra update: The kind with the squishy stuff in the middle is the best. Memory foam….like whipped cream that's seen better days. #
• @Three_Star_Dave It's supposed to remember where all my squish squashes in reply to Three_Star_Dave #
• @BarelyKnit Hey, the bartender in my novel is called Sam Adams. People say, "I'll have a namesake." in reply to BarelyKnit #
• It rained 40 days, and it rained 40 nights. & he cried & he cried & he cried. On the 41st day, he passed away, just dehydrated and died! #
• Done: Chapter 10/32. "But there was probably close to two hundred years of sheer orneriness between them…" #DeNoReWriMo #

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• I got a Razer gaming mouse off Woot this time, dammit. No timing me out *today.* #
• Pomplamoose *is* good. RT @doycet I want to write the way Pomplamoose makes music. Nature Boy – http://bit.ly/pO40n – Damn. #
• @doycet WANT that accordion. http://bit.ly/38uKK4 "Favorite Things" #
• Dammit. Today's another long day – 20 pages for this chapter. The one after that's only eight pages, and the one after that, only five. #
• Okay, I'm going to do groceries first. Have to nail down the main character's major change in this chapter; he doesn't play much part. #
• Back from groceries. Picked up gold-foil wrapping paper for the chocolate bars @ Christmas. #
• Discovered the drier, after a long period of tolerating bras, has CORKSCREWED two underwires. #brashopping #
• I think I'll go get measured. Increased yoga has changed my shape. #
• I think my cookbook club has stopped automatically sending me my selection of the month: I kept retuning them. #
• @Three_Star_Dave Yeah, that drier really socked it to me. in reply to Three_Star_Dave #
• Ten more @#$%^& pages to go. WHY cannot I not take my own advice? Read through first, THEN read out loud. #
• @doycet Yeah, if only I hadn't slacked off. in reply to doycet #
• @doycet Oh, well. That's the way the wind blouse. in reply to doycet #
• @cmpriest You're about to burst into song, aren't you? http://bit.ly/3b42vp in reply to cmpriest #
• Five more pages. Dinah is a terrible raconteuse–she goes straight for the point–so I'm cutting her big speech, which was 11 pages. #
• Ahhhh. Done: Chapter 9/32. "…between smug and guilty, I'd have to lean towards smug." #DeNoReWriMo #
• @BarelyKnit Small children in third-world nations are going hungry…because you're not writing. #NaNoWriMo in reply to BarelyKnit #

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Dunno about you, but when I’m afraid of something, I put it off.

Some days, it’s easier to edit than others.  Today, I’m finding all kinds of reasons to avoid starting on the editing, so I’m going to give myself one last delay and try to find out why I’m scared of editing today in particular.

Am I afraid of failing?   That I won’t be able to finish such a huge, complex chapter today, so I might as well not start?

Am I afraid that I’m going to miss out on all the other things I want to do, if I spend hours and hours editing?  It’s not like the things I want to do are all that important.  Except for the nap.  That’s important.

Part of me feels like I’m not really sure what I’m supposed to be doing in this chapter – that is, changing from what to what.  Maybe I’m afraid I’m missing something important, that if I plow ahead without finding it, I’ll be unhappy with this chapter forever.

Part of me feels like I already know this chapter so well that I can’t possibly improve it, it’s perfect…and is afraid of finding out otherwise.

I don’t want to read this chapter again, not really – why not?  I couldn’t wait to read the previous chapter, even though it was longer and even more complex than this one.  Is there nothing to love about this chapter?

The chapter is about the main character making plans, failing, trying something different, and finally realizing the situation wasn’t what it seemed in the first place – he’s a fool.  The angriest character and the worst character show up and wallow in their awful actions.  The main character behaves like scum (not that he didn’t in the previous chapters, but he isn’t charming about it, here).  In fact, this chapter is the lowest the main character ever gets in the book, ethically – and it brings him nothing.  Worse things happen in the rest of the book, but from here on out, he makes progressively better, rather than worse, choices.

I think that’s it.  I’m dreading following the main character down into the pit.  He doesn’t realize that he’s in a pit, either:  it’s all justified.  And I’ve dug myself some entirely self-justified pits in my time; I don’t relish reliving the experience, even in part.

Okay.  It won’t be pleasant, but I think I can move on now.

I’m editing a 92K-word story (32 chapters) in 30 days as an alternative to NaNoWriMo.  I don’t get to write another book until this one has been sent out. Dammit.  And I have three more NaNo books that I need to rewrite.  I’ve been a bad author lately, all first drafts and no rejection slips.

Lesson #1: just as the crunch of the actual NaNoWriMo forces you to learn about putting pen to paper, the crunch of of DeNoReWriMo* is forcing me to learn to stop worrying and love the delete key.

But that was the wittiest thing I’ve ever said! Delete.
But I really liked that tongue-twisting-but-totally-accurate-yet-adverby description! Delete.
But I don’t want to show! I want to TELL! Delete.

Oh, yeah. Love that delete key.

Some other lessons…

Read out loud. I’m learning there is no substitute for reading the story out loud. None.

I thought the story sounded okay in my head.  And then I talked to Doyce about podcasting last week, and I decided to actually read the story out loud, instead of just imagining I was reading the story out loud but not actually reading out loud, because that might be embarrassing, to have people who already know I’m a bit off hear me acting a bit off.  Thanks to my family for not commenting on how odd it is to have someone typing away in the back bedroom for hours on end, talking in funny voices, then saying, “Shit,” and typing some more, because WOW, actually reading the story out loud.  Yeah.

Adding the characters’ voices was hard.  I felt like even more of an idiot.  And then I realized I didn’t have a voice for some of the characters.  Ouch.

Fix the plot holes first. I’m also learning that it’s better to read through the story and fix plot holes before I start reading out loud.  The part of my brain that has logic (i.e., that can manage all the plot lines and determine whether so-and-so should be in the scene anymore) does not like the part of my brain that listens to the sounds of the words.  It gets disgusted and walks off.

I’ll catch additional plot holes when I read aloud, but they’re usually of the was-the-shirt-buttoned-in-the-last-scene-or-not variety.

The compressed editing schedule makes it easier to spot plot holes, by the way – you don’t forget what you wrote in chapter 2, because that was six days ago, not six months.

I doubt I’d want to do speed-editing like this if I hadn’t already beat the plot to death with a stick.  I’m at the point of fixing minor plot holes, not adding chapters, deleting characters, and reassessing just what the point of the book was supposed to be, anyway.

Editing takes time. It’s taking me longer to edit these chapters – just on this go-through – than it did to write them in the first place.  I’m used to ten pages = 1.5 hours, with focus.  Now it’s ten pages = all damn night.  AND I log off Twitter.

Brag it up. Rewriting needs just as much support as doing your first draft.  Thanks to everyone who’s commented, in person or over the net.   Some days, having somebody ask me how my book is going is what made me walk back to the keyboard.

More later.  Unless I haven’t finished my chapter for the day…

*DeAnna Novel ReWrite Month.

• Remind me not to drink all the martini in the shaker anymore, no matter how good the olives are. Ugn. #
• But it was soooooo good. Blue cheese-stuffed olives + Bombay sapphire = yummeh. #
• Rhonda puts together the best girls' nights: http://www.mackenzieschophouse.com/ (But I liked the carpaccio at the Warehouse better.) #
• All right, kidoos. Time to go to work. Next chapter is loooooong. #
• Break! I get to take a shower! Honestly? Editing takes me longer than drafting, and I don't have any major rewrites this time. #
• Another break. This time, I loaded the dishwasher. …It likes rum. #
• We went to Cool Science fair this afternoon. http://www.coolscience.org/CoolScience/Teachers/UCCS2009.htm Coooooooooooool. #
• Shrimp, cured chorizo, tomatoes, oregano, garlic, red wine, and salt over cream-and-parmesan polenta. #
• Listening to "Tower of Song." Back at it, editing. I will DEFEAT this monster chapter. Or give it keeses. #
• Do da dum dum, da do dum dum…I hear Neil Gaiman coughing about a hundred floors above me, in the tower of song. #
• If I get to write an AB sequel, Arcade Fire IS the soundtrack. http://bit.ly/UlbZ2 #
• Wait. I think I said that before. #
• Damn it. I meant to do three chapters and get the Brag Sheet out today. However, over 30 pages of edits are nothing to sneer at. #
• Done: Chapter 8/32. "If fame and glory meant shit to me, do you think I'd be teaching Anthro 101 this fall?" #DeNoReWriMo #
• Blog post: DeNoReWriMo. Lessons at the 1/4 mark: http://blog.deannaknippling.com/?p=1874 #

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• Witness decrease my ability to slack off. RT @doycet I love how you're tweeting your editing updates. #
• I KNEW I was missing something. RT @BarelyKnit Wine? Check. Super Girl jammies? Check. Ready to write. #NaNoWriMo #
• Like a Taco Bell burrito at 2 am when you're drunk RT @mightymur those who say food doesnt equal love are full of beans. bad tasting beans. #
• Done: Chapter 7/26. "I wondered who'd sent in the cleaning fairies." #

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• I feel that way about my legs all the time. RT @mtfierce Shave hastily, repent just about immediately. #
• And armpit hair! @ianthealy sure, but you're so tall you've got more leg to maintain than the average girl #
• @bonniebythepeak You know what they say about having legs that go up to your armpits…"That's a lot of shavin'." in reply to bonniebythepeak #
• Done: Chapter 6/32. "First thing you do in an introduction is shake hands with the gentleman. *Then* you start talking bad about him." #

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• My brain wasn't working…it's amazing what goldfish crackers with extra orange can fix. #
• Hey @doycet – I'm reading the book out loud before I pass each chapter. Seems to help cut a LOT of crap. #
• Taking a break before reading the chapter out loud. Had to write five pages to replace a lame summary section. #
• Done: Chapter 5/32. "Fumigating, my ass." Tomorrow is a short chapter. Huzzah! #DeNoReWriMo #

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• RT @Dabeak The Delete key is the mindkiller, i will let it pass through me and only I will remain. The delete key is the mind killer… #
• @bonniebythepeak Thanks! Gimme some quote, baby in reply to bonniebythepeak #
• dknippling

  Done: Chapter 4/32. "Sam squatted by the corpse. 'Who's that?' he asked. 'Old friend of Jack's,' I said." #DeNoReWriMo #

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PRONUNCIATION:
(AK-nist-uhs)

MEANING:
noun: The part of the body where one cannot reach to scratch.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Greek aknestis (spine), from Ancient Greek knestis (spine, cheese-grater).

USAGE:
“In what has to be the longest post-election season in living memory, the last five months have felt like an acnestis upon our collective soul; like that little patch of skin on our backs that we just can’t reach to scratch ourselves. It’s irritating. It’s annoying. It’s left us reaching and spinning around in circles.” –A Wish List to Soothe Our Collective Itch; New Straits Times (Malaysia); Aug 5, 2008.

Via A.Word.A.Day.

• Thus begins DeNoReWriMo. #
• Done: Chapter 1/32. #DeNoReWriMo #
• @Dabeak Yep, DeNoReWriMo is my own personal rewrite grind. What are you working on? in reply to Dabeak #
• @Dabeak Well, turn of your twitter and write then! Answers, dammit. in reply to Dabeak #
• Done: Chapter 2/32. #DeNoReWriMo. "When a lady tells you to smell her air freshener…" "What?" "You go smell her air freshener." #
• Done: Chapter 3/32. "It'd be like trying to hide a Jew in Hitler's basement." #DeNoReWriMo #

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• Had a blast last night at the Cottonwood Day of the Dead open house. I want to make a bone half-mask… #
• And the Halloween work party wasn't bad, either. Hats off to Pumpkin & Pi. #
• Today: Mouseguard at FalCon. http://warhorn.net/FalCon/ Goodness…I am being social this weekend. And geeky. #
• November begins DeReWriMo, De Rewrite Month. 17 chapters to check for rewrites, 32 chapters to polish and check for @#$%#% and !!!!!!! #
• Oh yeah…I got 2nd place for my "Evil Tooth Fairy" costume last night. Heather had this awesome Medusa getup, tho. Pumpkin Pi = #1. #
• You need some NaNo advice? I got your NaNo advice right here: http://blog.deannaknippling.com/?p=1847 #
• Trick or treated…Ray got cold before I was ready to come home. Awww…but then she answered the door for us, so that was okay. #
• @doycet Loving Robert McKee's Story already. "Story is about respect, not disdain, for the audience." <3 #

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