Though I love the creative aspects of writing, I also have an interest in the analytical side of language. The difference between what people say and what they want you to hear can be really fascinating. Recently, I've come to appreciate the way rhetoric can unpack the meaning behind that very confusing thing called passive-aggression. If you've ever been guilt-tripped by your mother, you totally know what I mean already.

Politics, of course, is rife with interesting rhetoric (and passive-aggression)- which I consider to be every bit as much an art as writing. Since this journal is about what I'm working on as much it is about my novelized writing, I thought I'd share a few tidbits of rhetorical theory with you all, in the context of the current Obama/Peace Prize debate. If you have no interest whatsoever in the theory or rhetoric, or in world affairs (you hermit, you), feel free to skip the entry entirely.

( Stasis and Your MOM. )

Well. You've kind of come out on the bottom of this argument. But hey, at least you and your mom agree on all the points of argument, right? Isn't stasis a beautiful thing?

We've just used stasis to establish the rules and definitions of an argument- which is what it's often used for. But you can use stasis to analyze someone else's argument or statement without having an argument at all. And here's where we get really fun.

( Obama Should Accept the Peace Prize. )

( Obama Should Decline the Peace Prize. )

( Why I'm Being Passive-Aggressive, or: What's This Entry About? )

Or maybe this entry was just about the fact that I missed family dinner recently. Sorry, Mom. Won't happen again.

GenCon was a blast, as usual. In between games, I had the opportunity to visit Author's Alley to see the featured writers. I picked up a few signed books and a few cards, and got a recommendation for a publishing company for an old epic fantasy saga of mine. My next project will probably be freshening that up for publication while I wait on responses for Insidious Intent.

Busy, busy.

After some suggested edits, I've finally got the manuscript in a post-conference form I like. I'll be sending out the requested stuff today, after I get over some last-minute paranoia.

While I'm waiting on feedback, I'll be up in sunny Indianapolis enjoying GenCon with a few friends. Here's to being an author when I attend in the future. (Cheers.)

And so Seattle gets its perfect weather back just as I get back home to the heat. Moral of the story: Texas is a curse, and not a state. Also, I am very tired. But that's not a moral.

( Meeting with an editor. )

( In Which Airship Pirates Are Discussed. )

( It's hard to find coffee in Seattle. )

( The doctor puts a band-aid on my book. )

( Home is where the air-conditioning is. )

Long story short, I got a lot out of this convention, travel troubles notwithstanding. I learned a lot about the industry that I didn't know before. I met a number of other authors, some of whom I'll be keeping in contact with. A few agents have requested partial submissions, which I'll be sending out in the next few days. Yes, all in all, I feel accomplished.

Still. It's good to be home.

Dear World: I know it's a bit forward of me, but could we forget about all those hours that come before, say, noon? I think we'd all be much better off in the long run. Or at least, I'd be happy.

( Rise and shine. )

( In Which Airplanes Establish Their Inferiority As a Method of Travel. )

( What in God's name is a 'high concept' novel? )

( Dinner and a flight. )

And so, due to the wonderful world of flight and customer service, Saturday will be the last day of this convention for me. Nevertheless, I feel like I've gotten some very good things out of it already- and tomorrow promises to be just as interesting. Look forward to an update on an editor appointment and a Book Doctor session.

A lot to say, and at a very late hour, too. Still, it never hurts to mark things down for posterity (mainly, me) while they're still fresh in my head. You'll all simply have to forgive any muddled sentences due to lateness and alcohol.

( One pen down. Many more to go. )

( In Which the Fire Code is Violated. )

( My book gives people clinical depression, Doc. How do I fix it? )

( Dinner with the random folks at the bar. )

Finally, since I cannot possibly get to sleep before three in the morning, I am sitting here making sure you all know all these tiny little details. Oh, and hoping I'm not supposed to be keeping quiet or anything. I know you all didn't pay three hundred dollars for a conference ticket, but frankly, half of the reward is in the people and the other half is better in person. Given the opportunity, my conclusion is that y'all should get your butts up here and attend a few of these seminars yourselves.

I'll see you all tomorrow night. Look forward to my report on the two agent appointments scheduled before then.

Well, I'm snuggled into my hotel room at the PNWA conference in Seattle. It starts officially tomorrow, bright and early, and may or may not end up going late into the night. I'll do my best to keep the updates coming, one way or another.

Currently, I've brought two possible books with me- both paranormal mysteries to some extent. Though they differ in style and POV quite a bit, I like to tell people there's only one real difference: one has ghosts, and one has fairies. Short and sweet is best, after all.

And now, I'm off to bed. Wish me luck.

Well. There is certainly something to be said for being done with that mess. I have passed the class with flying colors. No more post-modernism for me for a few more decades, ladies and gentlemen. With that out of the way:

( The writing continues. )

This particular book is only about five thousand words in, but I've set the beginning of a writing binge for this coming Monday- after I finish killing myself by volunteering at A-kon. I'm sure a number of you will be there as well.

I used to be a much more empathetic and understanding person before being forced to read six badly-written books about how strange and unfortunate it is to be an immigrant in the US.

Now, I'm sick of hearing about it and ready to read another murder mystery.

Good job, post-modernism class. Good job.

The old world just doesn't understand. I need more tequila.

Spring break has resulted in inordinate amounts of late-night television while I write. Lots of television, sadly, equals lots of commercials. And just about every other commercial has the same underlying theme. "Those stupid millionaires. That stupid bailout. Don't worry! We're on your side- we'll bail you out!"

( Stop making the fat cats richer! )

Is it wrong that I'm more irritated with the lazy commercial-writing than with the bailout itself? Probably so.

Tonight, I had the incredible pleasure of speaking with one of my friends who is actually a self-treated paranoid schizophrenic. The extent to which he's succeeded at integrating into normal life is amazing- so much so that I considered him among the more normal people I knew. I would never have pegged him for a paranoid schizophrenic. Apparently, our university has found him to be a fascinating case study in that he accomplished this self-treatment without any professional help whatsoever. Color me absolutely friggin' amazed.

I now have two pages on behaviors and thought-patterns that my main character might start exhibiting as time goes on. I've kept her at "schizophrenia light" for the first novel, but as things get more stressful, I think I'll start adding a few other aspects.

( Writing schizophrenia is very easy and very difficult. )

What is everyone else's opinion on the matter? I'd honestly like to know.

I'm likely going to be spending the next week of Spring Break working in a mad fervor on my second novel. There's a coffee shop two or three blocks from me, and I've got two friends who are similarly determined to write. As long as the caffeine keeps flowing, I think I'm in business.

As I just restarted the entire novel due to new research, it's currently at 2,000 words. I'm going to set my word goal at 20,000 by Friday (I'm running my own IFGS game on Saturday and Sunday all day, so it might be a bit difficult to write those days). I'd set the goal higher, regardless, but I really want to leave time to be a helpful critic too.

My lust for crime shows has just gone through the roof- mostly because of my associated lust for research and thoroughness. I had enough foresight to ask the detective I spoke to about which shows are more or less accurate. For anyone who's interested, this was the run-down:

( Crime TV )

In other news, I found an incredible resource for anyone who enjoys accuracy in their murder mystery writing. I haven't heard anything good or bad about it so far, but since it's real people and events, I figure it's pretty spot-on.

( The First 48 )

As far as I'm concerned, this thing is a jewel. Sadly, A&E only has one episode online at a time. I might have to go running around online to find a DVD set. The episodes that cover Tuscon, AZ would be just plain amazing.

This new obsession with crime shows is going to eat up my time like nothing else. There's too much to watch, and I've only begun to skim the surface! *tears*

Edit: P.S. Does anyone know where I can get a pith helmet before Friday, so I can wear it to my game? I mean. I'm not even kidding.

Because I feel like I've probably talked the #queryfail thing to death by now, I thought it might be time to post something kind of cheerful. I do apologize to anyone who found me long-winded on the subject- I'm fully aware that I can go on and on and on about things that strike me in a certain way. I take absolutely no offense from those who rolled their eyes and skipped the entire entry.

On the nicer side of queries, I found this site, which has already been an incredible help to me in revising my own queries. I'd greatly advise anyone who's interested in authoring to read through the archives at leisure. The advice is phenomenal. I've submitted one of my own queries to be critiqued, but it may or may not actually end up on the blog.

Also, I am officially confirmed and paid up for the PNWA convention in July/August. I am very much looking forward to it. I wish I were able to go to the Pikes Peak convention in April (it's on my birthday, no less), but it would be a little too close to my sister's wedding for comfort. Ah well. Next year.

Edit: Does anyone else ever feel the need to laugh maniacally when they finish something particularly difficult? It's not just me... right?

Today, I belatedly happened on an online event that very much upset me. #queryfail was a twitter event where literary agents posted, in public, the worst lines from various queries that they had received. The official reasoning behind this event was that aspiring writers could look at these query lines and learn exactly what not to do in a query. In reality, the tone of this event was far from didactic, and some few people, including me, were left with a very bad taste in their mouth.

( I have enclosed my life's work... )

Edit: In short, it looks like it depends on your viewpoint. If you believe, as I do, that there is an unspoken professional courtesy involved in emailed queries, then you will probably find this event nasty. If you believe that everything on the internet is fair game, emailed or not, then you're probably really puzzling at me right now. The anonymity doesn't make it any better for me, but it could soothe your complaints.

I'm trying to see it from everyone else's point of view, but something about it still rubs me wrong in a very quintessential way.

Today, I finally had the chance to speak with a native-born Russian about the things I needed to know for my second book. He was incredibly helpful- for the most part, he anticipated any questions I might have had and answered them accordingly; those he couldn't answer himself, he called his family to figure out. My most onerous tasks were to keep the pen writing and the coffee coming. Frankly, it was one of the best ways I know of to spend an afternoon.

As of now, I couldn't say how many people and professionals I've interviewed for this second novel. It requires a lot more knowledge than the first one did, but so far, everyone I've talked to has been remarkably helpful and understanding. I don't know how long it's going to take me to get published, but I'll certainly be putting together an extensive acknowledgments page when I do!

There are some really amazing human beings out there. I love being able to say that.

As many of you know, we ran a LARP (a Live Action Role Playing game) this past Friday. We decided to make one of the characters obsessed with bad Harlequin novels. Halfway through the LARP, I had an epiphany: LARPs are very much like a Harlequin novel themselves.

( Cardboard cut-outs abound. )

So... hm. I suppose if I look at it correctly, I've been writing Harlequins all along. I'm not sure how to feel about that.

Remember how I said life can be stranger than fiction? (Oh, all right, I wasn't the first to say it, but still).

( Today, God's wrath fell upon me. And yea, I was bonked on the head. )

All in all, a novel experience. I should probably be smacked over the head again just for finding it immensely informative as a writer. So this is what the ER experience will be like in my books...?

If one of my characters gets randomly hit in the head by a tree branch, you'll all have permission to groan.


Edit: I would like to add something, for your future elucidation. Please, if something like this ever happens to someone while you're around, keep in mind the effect that your panic will have on them. I found myself feeling physically sick as soon as people started telling me how bad it was. Everything would have been infinitely more tolerable if everyone had dealt with my injury (not theirs!) more calmly.

I try to avoid uselessly inflammatory subjects, but I was forced to confront a very interesting question tonight in a post-modernist literature class: what distinguishes serious fiction from popular fiction? Is it the clichés? Is there even anything wrong with clichés? Is one area of the craft somehow superior to the other?

( Rocks fall, everyone dies, we're forced to sell the farm and shoot Lassie. )

Long story short, I have come to the rather cynical point of view that post-modernist fiction has become perfectly oblivious to its own shortcomings- currently, the high-minded literary community reminds me of nothing so much as the Academy Awards, with its almost incestuous back-patting and its polite golf-claps. Which is ironic in so many ways that it's frankly hilarious.

Excuse me while I go back to my openly cliché popcorn novel, No Gratuitous Rape Required.

After much consideration of the things I've learned at this past convention, I've decided to stop submitting to agents. By and large, the panel authors suggested that an agent wasn't actually necessary for a first sale, and that it becomes much easier to acquire an agent after one has been offered a contract. I'm still a bit dicey on that idea, since a lot of the larger publishers simply will not accept unsolicited manuscripts or queries, but I'm willing to shift my focus anyway. For that reason, I've sent out only one last agent-submission, after which I'm going to be focusing on publishers and conferences.

The next conference I'm looking at is the Pacific Northwest Writer's Association Conference. I'd also like to find a good one in the New York area. Any suggestions?

Reporting from the con, in real-time prose, for your entertainment:

( We Are the Geeks )

So, to be brief, this convention was amazing. I'll be going to GenCon this year, as I do every year, but I don't think it'll be quite the same after the experience that this smaller, more intimate convention has given me. Wow.