No-Confusion.

Song of the day: “Thank you Stars” by Katie Melua. A bit melodramatic, I guess, but it’s still a sweet song.

I’m a bit confused at the moment. I got a response from the publisher who was interested in having a look/see at Saving Nina, and wasn’t (still am not) sure what to do with it.
Let me quote you some of the stuff she wrote to make you understand why I am confused.

“Thank you…(etc. etc. this is just intro, now comes the confusing part)…This heart-wrenching story is exciting, fast paced, and engaging. While I found the premise interesting—(a little explanation to make sure I understood she did read it through and knew the premise of the story. That is very nice, by the way, because there are times when one doubts. But I’m drifting, here’s the cincher:)—the writing just isn’t strong enough to stand up in today’s market. (And then something about it not being right for her at this time.)” Huh? What the heck is considered “strong writing” if that little sum-up, up there, doesn’t count. If something isn’t good enough, how can it be engaging and exciting? Isn’t that all that matters? Apparently not.

It was all very polite, within six week of sending it and…totally confusing. Personally, that start of: heart-wrenching, exciting, fast paced etc. etc. would make me think that she’s thrilled with it…heck, I did think that. My heart was beating a mile a minute while I read the email…only to have my spirits plummet to the earth with a resounding crash. (Yes. That huge boom you heard yesterday was yours trule, jeez!) But anyway, it was a no on the basis of what they call a shortage “strong writing”.

I know, this was not a personal dig of her towards my writing, and I did not interpret it as such, it just threw me for a loop, if you get my meaning. I really do appreciate the response, since she was under no obligation to do so, and in a way it was even complimentary, even though it doesn’t get me anywhere, but still, I would so much like for someone to explain to me what they mean with these terms. At times it almost is as if the terms are made up just to confuse them poor writers. Gawd, this sounds so whiny. Scratch that, please.

Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind in any other way than that this just means I have not yet found the right publisher for Saving Nina, and perhaps need to make a few more adjustments at some time in the near future. But when I look up what is construed as “Strong writing” I come across academic and journalism sites. Which is even more confusing, since I always thought that thriller/romances are works of fiction, and therefore require a different type of writing than, let’s say, a column or an article.

But I’ve been delving into it for a bit, downloaded some present works of fiction and to my astonishment realized that they have indeed brought descriptions down to a bare minimum. Short, concise, less-is-more sentences that have lost all shapes and forms of literary flair. Such a pity too, seeing as they removed as much semi-colons and colons as they possible can (meaning practically all) and are now basically focusing on stories that are told in commas and periods for as far as punctuation is involved in writing.

So I’ve decided on an experiment. I’m going to try to write a very simple, concise, less-is-more style just to see how that will be received. I will do it under a different name, of course, something with the same initials, but still, different because Samaya Young is definitely me, and how I write.
A pity too, since this was a friggin’ big publisher that would have been the perfect spot for me.

Ah well, no matter. What’s done is done, and by now there is nothing I can do to change matters.
I am, as of today, ten pages into the new story, finding a challenge in keeping my sentences short and as basic as I possibly can. Who ever knew that doing basic would be so darn hard. Hah. It will be an adventure to see if I’ve finally figured out what the problem could possibly be.

Okay, on to different matters. The dogs: Yesterday we finally took the opportunity to bathe them in the anti parasite bath. Not all of them, mind you, just the ones that were bothered by the majority of ticks, and overall they hated us for it. Seriously, even the labs who generally love a swim, detest the stuff so much that they’ll look like we’re taking them to the slaughter when we wash them.

There is still lots of watering going on, of course, even though the weather has been remarkably cool for the past few days. Good thing too, considering it shaves some time off that particular chore. We’re still eating the pumpkin stuff too, which is delish.

Also, the new freezer arrived, meaning that soon we’ll be able to save anything that doesn’t get eaten from the yard. Tomatoes, zucchinis, etc. Maybe even the beets. Hmmm. I should check that out.

What else. Oh yes, we’ve been working on the trailer, which, for some peculiar reason has still got some wires wrong, darn it. Seriously, in a particular sequence the darn things will light up like a Christmas tree. Hah.

Well, I should get some serious writing done now, short and concise, of course.

Time gets away.

Song of the day: “Big Yellow Taxi” by Joni Mitchell. Cute song, I love the way she plays with her voice. Though, admittedly I don’t dislike the Janet Jackson version, nor the Counting Crows with Vanessa Carlton, but what the heck, Joni it is today.

During the course of yesterday I paid dearly for my short jog with Knight II. The big lug really needed to run for a bit, and since he will only do that with me leading the way, well…you get my drift, I’m sure. Stupidly I forgot to don the foot support I really should wear for such ventures (at least for the time being) and seeing as I wasn’t wearing my insoles either by the time I returned to the car there were these cold slivers of ice going through my foot, right before it felt like my heel was on fire. Darn it!

But whatever, lots of things there to keep me busy, and I grabbed hold of them with both hands. Not much use in maudlin about things you can’t change, and that “discomfort” will be there whether I pay attention to it or not, and whether take it easy or not.

Still working on the trailer, which has almost got its paint job done completely. It is starting to look pretty nifty, if I do say so myself. Silver/metallic with wood and screwing around with the friggin’ wiring, which appears to be completely messed up. It’ll take some figuring out, but we’ll get there.

Gardening going on, naturally, and the experimental pumpkin meal…Oh my gawd, it was friggin delicious, I tell ya. Big slices of it, half a centimeter thick (approx. 3 creditcards together) in a frying pan with melted butter (the real kind, hah) sizzling hot. Sprinkle some chopped onions over it, a bit of salt, turn them until you’ve got a nice crust going on both sides, but before the “meat” turns mushy, lay some cheese on it until it melt and serve on French bread. Gawd, I ate more than my fare share I’ll tell ya.

But back to the gardening (I got a mite distracted by the memory of my last two lunches) we’re racking in about 30 pounds of tomatoes a day, but the first plants are starting to wane, so the production should be going down soon enough. The eggplants are growing nicely, we’ve got about four veggies hanging around the place. They’re growing slowly but steadily. Had our first taste of yellow tomatoes and I love them, thank you very much. I am not a big tomato fan, but they are a bit less sour in my estimation. There’s always the watering.

I’ve been spending quite a bit of time working with tenant, seeing as her caregiver had to go to her new job twice. It eats into my day for sure, but it is worth it. Besides, we had a nice swimming session, along with nice chats and singing old nursery rhymes from back in the day, which the both of us still know so well…makes grandpa laugh, since we often come up with songs that he hasn’t heard in half a decade or so. Hah.

Strange, but I’ve found that tenant manages to walk and move best when she is distracted by other things than the actual action she is trying to achieve. As soon as she focuses too hard, and tries to do it well, that’s when the trouble starts.

Edits: they’re not going to bad these past couple of days, thankfully. Managed a chapter or two, in fact…and seeing I’m running way behind, I really should leave it at this so we can get to work on the manuscript. I’ll be back, I’m sure.

This and that.

Song of the day: “The Pessimist” by Sophie Ellis-Bextor. I’ve had it before, and I will undoubtedly will again. Considering I know the lyrics well, I don’t mind all that much. It’s a cool song after all.

Busy couple of days again. If I had five minutes…wait, I actually killed some odd thirty minutes on Amazon yesterday, by reading up on the ongoing discussions. Except for my usual post or two in the KTT, I kept out of the discussions. Seriously, however tempting it is to jump right into the occasional fray, I have learned to stay out the most interesting topics, if for no other reason than knowing full well, I can’t do justice to any ongoing discussion, what with time-not-being-on-my-side and all. *sigh* But no matter, I had fun reading anyway.

I finished Sue Crafton’s “C” is for Corpse, yesterday. Research, you know, I do manage to find time for that, hah. But seriously. I enjoyed the story a lot, even though I am not a huge fan of 1st person narrative. It was funny, funky and fast-paced, nothing wrong with that. I’m now reading “J” is for Judgment, by the way…oh, don’t you just love them donation books. Yay.

Though yesterday was a beautifully sunny day, real summer like, today the sky is once again overcast. Sooooo weird, but rather wonderful in light of outside work, which is definitely my favorite…in case you hadn’t noticed. If we reach the mid-eighties right now, I’d be amazed. Heck, if it keeps up like this, I’ll be needing sleeves soon.

But anyway, what’s keeping me busy? Edits, of course, the paper kind, and it is driving me bonkers, I swear. I don’t get how those typos could still be there after the two thorough edits that we already have behind us, but there you have it. Insanity! Still, we’re shlogging our way through the pages, reaching chapter four, I think, which isn’t too bad, if not totally frustrating.

Other than that, we’ve been putting a lot of work in the new wagon for behind the car. Seeing as it was relatively cheap there is a lot of work to be done about it. Rust needs to be removed, the metal treated, a new bottom plate that we had to saw and paint, and so on. It takes time, but in my head I can already see the end result, which will be nice, I’m sure.

Also, yesterday we had to do some serious harvesting, meaning that we ended up with two massive pumpkins, a crate full of beets and two big baskets full of tomatoes. Boy, did the dogs enjoy the large basket that we had to empty of tomatoes that were rapidly getting to be too ripe. Oh, and I plucked our first yellow cherry tomatoes yesterday. I LIKE them. They’re a little less sour and with a pinch of salt I devoured at least a handful of them yesterday, hah.
Other than that we’re still enjoying our chard, tomato, cucumber, beet, onion, pepper and zucchini sandwiches with cheese and sauce.

What else…gawd, still them ticks, they’re driving me insane, I swear, whenever I look at one of the dogs, I’ll see a gleaming bulbous peeping from the fur and end up picking out ticks for half an hour. It is an endless task, and I am seriously pondering a bath for them really soon, rather than risk one of them having anemia soon, we almost lost Ayaana to that a couple of years ago, the poor cocker had so many that they’d practically drained her. I know, TMI this early in the morning, but I do find it fascinating when stuff of real life resembles a bad horror flick.

Tenant went for another swim the other day, and because her caregiver went to her other (part time) job, little sister and I did the honors. We had fun with her, and she was properly tired by the time we got her back to her bungalow and got her settled until her caregiver returned.

This weekend we did manage to put in two sections of the path, meaning that two more weekends in the near future, should get the darn thing done. Already getting the wheelchair down is getting to be a lot easier.

Well, I should see about lunch, we’re going to experiment and try something new with pumpkin. I’ll let you know how it went, considering I don’t like pumpkin at all. Hah. We should get something done, however, I mean really, how hard can it be?

Stuff going on.

Song of the day: “Painters” by Jewel, followed by Regina Spector’s “Sampson” when I woke up this morning.

It’s been a busy couple of days. Not titillating at all, but the daily grin and all that, which so obviously seems to fascinate me, eh? Well, if you’re reading this, you probably have some inner part of you that likes to think and do normal stuff, so what the heck, I’ll stay consistent and share the “boring” details with ya.

So, the washing machine was broken, meaning that big brother and I had to tilt the thing up, so we could see what the heck was wrong with it. The stupid machine is barely half a year old (if that much) and already the motor is whirring and yet nothing was turning, aargh. Turns out the rubber band that drives the ton in the back had “somehow” slipped off (turns out it lays on a bare metal wheel without edged or anything, aaaargh!!!) and was now dangling down there, rather uselessly. But anyway, considering I had already taken the opportunity to clean the darn machine in case we had to go to town and bring it to the store for warranty, it was spanking clean by the time it worked again, yay. It’s like I’ve got a new one again. *sigh* Works like a charm too, so all’s well that ends well.

It was absolutely freaky weather yesterday, by the way. Seriously it was 84 degrees, at most. Until mid-afternoon there were clouds covering the entire sky, creating a rather wonderful day for outside work.

For the past couple of days we’ve diligently planting Eucalypti up beside the drive sweep. With we, I mean our friend Dani and I, while big brother and grandpa worked on expanding our storage facility, of what used to be the horse stable. But anyway, since yesterday we planted a total of eighteen little trees, which we’d deliberately nursed in small pots, so we wouldn’t have to dig huge holes into the rocky ground that’s up that. The beauty of Eucalypts in these part that they will grow just about anywhere (and they’re beautiful) and that you only need to water them every two days until winter, then only once a week for two years and viola, they do everything themselves. Did I say already that they’re beautiful?

Yeah, well, that done, it was of course time for an edit…well, not an edit, really, but rather fixing what’s wrong whenever we find it on the prints, and checking some grammatical stuff which has been driving me bonkers for days now. Big brother and I really got into an argument about it, too, seeing as he considered something wrong, and I didn’t, so now we are trying to walk the straight ‘n narrow that’ll satisfy both our tastes.
The discourse made the past few days a tad tense, I’ll admit, but like everything else, we will get over this too…somehow.

After computer work I hollowed out a crate of tomatoes, the fillings went to the dogs, of course, but the fleshy bits I used for another two gallon pan of tomato soup which will be part of today’s lunch, yay. What with fresh herbs, cream cheese and cream in it, I think it will hit the spot nicely. Ah, there’s lunch right now.

Okay, better wrap this up.
After that, and tenant thankfully stating that it was really too cool for a swim, we got to pouring concrete at the bottom of the main path, meaning that we are really starting to make some progress there. Seriously. One more weekend, maybe two, and the entire path will be doable with the wheelchair. Yay. Let's hope we get at least halfway this afternoon...which reminds me, we bought a trailer yesterday. It's an old thing, really, a box on one axle, in fact, but since the design is so simple we will at least be able to do a lot of work on it ourselves. I wonder how much load we'll get into it.

The insoles are working rather well. I do have moments during the day now that my feet don’t hurt all that much. At least, not in the way that it feels like I’m walking on broken glass, just slightly over discomfort, actually. If the podiatrist is right, the insoles should even go as far as solve the problem if I wear them frequently. Well, okay. If you twist my arm. Hah. Besides I’m starting to get used to the big lump underneath my feet, and though it is still exhausting to walk on them, it is worth it.

Lots of ticks at the moment, meaning that the dogs are getting a lot of extra attention, with what they think is extra attention, hah, while we pluck them of the filthy little parasites. It keeps amazing me that most of the black dogs are bothered by the critters, because, for the life of me, I cannot imagine why ticks would prefer that color…and then not even all. I really should get them another anti-parasite bath…even though this session will definitely be in a bathtub, rather than the pool.

Right, I’ve got to take tenant for a swim later on, and, as usual, the book awaits. Gotta go.