This post will likely be on the whiny side. This is because I currently have a lovely virus with flu-like symptoms. Not; however; The Flu which I had in 2000 and thought I was going to die. Get your flu shots, folks. I had a fever of 104 and was hallucinating. And I actually had my flu shot that year. Obviously, the scientists hadn't accurately predicted which would be the virulent strain. And I suffered!!!!!
Both of my children were home sick from school this week, too, so it should come as no surprise to me that I'm not feeling well now. My son stayed at home last Monday and then my daughter's school called me Thursday to come and pick her up. It's not fun when the school calls you. There's a certain reproachful tone in the school nurse's voice. Sort of a "You-Sent-Your-Poor-Ill-Child-to-School-Today?!" Ugh. It's hard to tell if your child is well at 6:30 A.M.. Of course they're dragging then.
Anyway, the point of this post is that plans go awry. I had full expectations that last week and this past weekend were going to be extremely productive. In fact, I'd done some extra plotting at the end of the previous week so that I'd know exactly which direction my writing was going in. I titled three scenes that I'd planned out, written myself some "stage directions" in italics to remind myself of my course during the scene and where it would fit into the manuscript. So I was really, really prepared.
Then came the Attack of the Killer Viruses.
I managed to get some more plotting done, but that was about it. I'm going to play catch-up now.
What else have I managed to do this past week and weekend? It's limited, but I:
Read The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher--a true-life crime story from the late-1800s. Unfortunately, I found it convoluted and bloated with information. It would be a great resource if you were investigating late 19th century crime in England (and there were some great quotes by Dickens, who followed the case closely), but it wasn't a straight-forward retelling of a true crime, like I expected.
Read several interesting blog entries:
Andrew Wheeler's blog on sell-ins at bookstores and why book chains skip books.
Brian Farrey's blog for Flux covers his first rejections for his new position as Acquisitions Editor. And how authors shouldn't let rejections get them down.
Mysterious Matters blog wondered if mysteries have become too politically correct. (I'm not going to touch that discussion with a 10 foot pole. But it was interesting to read....be sure to read the comments section.)
And I discovered a new blog for book lovers: Bookshelves of Doom . Any blog that features Twitters of Mansfield Park (and who states that "Mary Lennox should give Fanny Price some 'How to Grow a Spine' lessons") is super- cool.
And I made a very interesting discovery, y'all, courtesy of Bookshelves of Doom. I'm still playing around with it, but here-t'is: http://bookglutton.com/
On Book Glutton, you can sign up for a free account, then start reading public domain books (these have been out for a while, shall we say?) or you can join a group and read a book online withe them as they read it. The top five favorite groups are reading Journey to the Center of the Earth, The Time Machine, Heart of Darkness, Dead Souls, and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. This is an interesting concept to me. I like the idea of a book club, but I don't have the time to visit with actual people. :) Maybe a cyber book group would work for me.
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