Tales from the Raven

Hi-ho, Hi-ho, It’s Off to School We Go

Suanne — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 03:57:03 +0000

Four nights at the school in one week, or time spent in the afternoon there until at least 5:00pm. They may be giving us a break next week, but they’re determined to make sure we earn it!

And a pic to go with my gripe.

Maybe this was one of those one-room school houses we always hear about it? More likely it’s someone’s house that was a very forward thinking place and got a jump on the real estate bubble.

Short story and Car for Ransom

Suanne — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 01:53:12 +0000

Last night I started a new short story I’ve been wanting to get to. It’s about a boy’s choice of a role model, and is called ‘A Fool and His Money’. Until Thanksgiving’s over, I’m going to let myself write the shorts that have been piling up in my brain while I worked on my novel. Funny thing–when I had to keep myself to shorts, I only wanted to write a novel. While working on my novel, I kept getting these really exciting short story ideas.

Useful sort of adaptability, that.

And today while I twiddled my thumbs at the auto-garage I had time to think up another short story. One where people’s cars are programmed to occasionally flash a light on the dashboard, or are required to have some certification done. But when the owner takes the car in, the garage holds the car ransom for hundreds of dollars and the individual is stuck, unable to get their car back until the ransom is paid.

I know that’s an extreme stretch of the imagination, but I’m sure we can manage it if we put our creative caps on.

The Not So Happening Goings-on

Suanne — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 19:10:11 +0000

I hadn’t realized how much finishing the first draft of Shadow Dance took out of me. Or getting the old house to closing. Or…yeah. So maybe there’s been a bit more going on.

But the truth is I’ve slept a lot the last couple days. And since that doesn’t make for very interesting blogging (unless I record my snores and let you all decipher the secret language?) I’ve decided to throw up this post to report that yes, I am still above ground and among the living.

Plus a link. Our daughter is considering decor schemes for her bedroom and we came across these incredible murals by Morgan. I swear, some of them look like you could walk right through, even in a photograph. Truly inspiring.

Because I Wasn’t Putting Up A Report at 4:00am

Suanne — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 23:10:15 +0000

I’ve finished the first draft of Shadow Dance! All week it’s felt like I had to pry each and every word from the clenched jaws of my muse. I was generally making my word count goals, but I was paying for it. Then last night something clicked into place and I couldn’t write fast enough.

The hour got later–it was well after midnight–but I was still writing. My hubby went to bed just before 2:00, and I finished up a climactic scene and told myself that would do. I should go to bed.

But why would I go to bed when I wasn’t tired (I’d fallen asleep for awhile earlier in the evening) and the words were waiting to be written? I let myself get back up and finished the book just before 4:00am.

But the minute I’d settle the last words to my satisfaction I was completely exhausted–so, much as a middle-of-the-night posting would have been fun, the report’s going up now.

I’m thrilled to have gotten it all out, and can’t wait to start revising. This draft is really rough, so I’ve got plenty to keep me occupied for the next week at least. Sometime after that I’ll need to bring in my readers and begining the process of finetuning based on feedback. But for now, it’s party time!

(You’ll notice that while the red bar is almost to the end, it doesn’t quite touch. I came in aprox. 1,000 words less than I planned–but I’m cool with that. The first draft is still hereby considered complete.)

Mi Casa es Tu Casa

Suanne — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 20:27:30 +0000

Or, at any rate, it’s not mine anymore. We just signed off the papers to close on the old place–we are now the proud owners of just one house.

Hooray!

The Secret Life of Spam

Suanne — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 06:09:00 +0000

You may not have noticed, but I’ve had quite a crop of spam comments this last day or so. I didn’t think to keep track, but instead of my usual maybe one a week, at a guess I’d estimate that I’ve had 6-10 just today. In addition, they where all the kind were just a nonsense string of gobbedly-gook is left.

Now, I’m sure wiser computer heads could tell us why these would be left, and maybe even venture a reason why my blog is suddenly so special, but I know what I believe.

It’s the Great Spam Conspiracy.

You know how in spy movies, or shows like Alias, the undercover agent leaves their message or incriminating film in a common brown bag and drops it in a garbage can while they waltz on by? Then an agent, or handler, recovers the information with equal aplomb, and the message is securely passed despite all kinds of high-tech preventive measures and protections built up to keep the information from being passed along.

Well, what we think of as spam is really this process taking place on the internet. An agent drops an incripted message as a comment on some random Joe or Jane’s blog, and that message is quickly read and understood by the agent’s people. Then perhaps an equally garbled message will be returned using the same method.

This can go on for days, and the blog host is never the wiser. If the messages being passed are extra-sensitive or the code is not known to be secure, than of course the powers that be choose a site which is regularly maintained so the ’spam’ comments will be quickly deleted.

That means that my blog being chosen is a good sign. It means I’m now listed as a site where spam will be dealt with quickly, and I can look forward to more of these highly-confidential goobledy-gook ’spam’ comments to pass over my site and into the eyes and ears of receiving agents.

Lucky me.

Apparently, You Might Be a Double Dork

Suanne — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 16:52:32 +0000

Not sure why that’s up twice. Excepting the vehemence of my irritation, of course. And I can’t see how to delete an entire post…but I’ll get it figured out. Wish I could say the same of my dealings with Dork.

Later:

Okay, got that fixed, and learned something about my site, too. Yay me.

You Might Be a Dork If…

Suanne — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 16:47:07 +0000

You respond to a Craigslist ad, email the person on and off negotiating for the better part of a week, settle on acceptable terms, and then confess–

That you live over an hour drive away from the lister, in another city, and would they mind bringing the item to you or meeting somewhere halfway?

The Story of the Soup

Suanne — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 21:20:20 +0000

A few days ago I decided to make taco soup for dinner. I have a great recipe that comes from my husband’s family and is really easy. Only four or five ingredients. Best of all, I’d started bread in the breadmaker and it would be hot and ready to serve by the time the soup was done.

So I flipped open my recipe box to pull out the recipe–only to find it was missing. No problem. It’s really easy, right? I could just make it from memory.

Except I couldn’t remember just what the ratio of beans to broth was, and it turned out we’d used the last of the salsa without my replacing it. But that was okay, I make southwestern and texmex a lot, so I just threw in some spices. I was also one can of Great White Northern beans short, but I substituted black beans instead, which the family always eats happily, so that was alright.

Somewhere in there I took a phone call, and maybe that’s why I forgot to add the chicken. Or taste-test the soup before deciding it needed to be zippier.

When the bread was ready, so was the soup. Or at least close enough as never mind. I served it up and called the family.

But for some reason they weren’t impressed with my now-disintegrated beans and sear-your-tongue-off soup. The kids filled up on fresh bread while pushing the soup around in their bowls and throwing me side-ways looks.

My husband and I tried to show fortitude and suffer on, but no one volunteered for seconds.

However, not being one to nonchalantly throw out a full pot of perfectly good soup–okay, make that almost edible soup–I came up with a plan to break it down and recycle it. I used a colander to strain off the beans and save the broth in seperate containers. The beans we used for quesadillas, which the kids love, and the broth went into the frying pan when I made up fajitas. Both tasted great in their new-and-improved mediums, and no one was the wiser that they had once again been served a creative concoction a la Mom.

EDF Anthology

Suanne — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 05:42:44 +0000

I’m delighted to report that Every Day Fiction has decided to include Storm’s Rising in their year’s end anthology. My understanding is the antho will be hard copy, and will hopefully be available before Christmas.

Since Storm’s Rising is easily my favorite of my flash pieces, I have to give the editors an extra big thanks for giving it this second round of reads and exposure. Thanks guys!