Hello? Lost & found? Could you please tell me where the month of June went? I seem to have missed it...

Okay, that's not entirely true. A week and a half ago, I was camping with my family in the Ochoco Mountains in Oregon. Gorgeous weather, with highs in the mid-70s and lows in the upper 20s. True to my plan, I wrote quite a few haiku, though I have yet to seriously go through them and see if I can find any gems to submit somewhere.

I also took great pleasure in finding and identifying wildflowers. Don't ask me why. Maybe it's an offshoot of bird watching. At any rate, here are a few flowers. This one is a grass widow.

Here's a Mertensia longiflora, also known as trumpet lungwort and leafy bluebell, according to Wildflowers of the Pacific Northwest by Mark Turner & Phyllis Gustafson (I highly recommend this book).

Spanish Peak had a little bit of snow on it this year, as it has for the past few years now.

Here's a view while hiking up the Spanish Peak the next day.

A westish view from the top of Spanish Peak. That's Rock Creek Lake. It was hazy in the distance, but we could still see Mt. Hood.

One more photo. This one's of the rainbow trout that Agnaldo found in the creek below camp. It was a good two feet long and all banged up from swimming from who knows where to spawn. In all the years we've been camping up there, we've never seen a fish of this size! It was truly remarkable. Even more remarkable was finding a second one down at the Crossing the next day. Unfortunately, it was dead, but it makes me wonder about their story. Where did they swim from? Did they get a chance to spawn before they died? Are there others? Fascinating!


Time to get some other things done. Haiku things. Tanka things. Post office things. Pondering the next short story I'm going to write for Clarion West's Write-a-thon. There's still time to sponsor me, by the way. :) Here's the link to the website, or you can contact me (those of you who actually know me know how to contact me): http://www.clarionwest.org/events/writeathon/TanyaMcDonald I've managed to write two short stories so far (the first is about 1,600 words, the second is about 3,200 words) and am excited about writing another one this week. Off and away!

Well, Chapter One of "Nullum: Book One" has been mailed off to Willamette Writers, along with a lousy synopsis, for critique at the WW Conference in August. I really need to learn how to write better synopses. But it's done, so now I am recharging my creative juices by reading "City of Bones" by Cassandra Clare and "The Breaking of Northwall" by Paul O. Williams. I'm rereading the former because I've been itching to read the 3rd book in the Mortal Instruments trilogy, but I wanted to read the previous two books first, and I know once I start her books, I'll get sucked into them and not get any writing done. (It has happened before.) And I'm reading the first of the Pelbar series because Paul O. Williams was a talented haiku poet and wrote science fiction as well, and being an amateur haiku poet myself who is trying to write fantasy, I thought I should partake of his fiction.

Last Sunday, Russ and I went kayaking around Deception Pass with our kayaking class. I am happy to report that neither of us tipped over and fell out of our kayaks, though I had a close call while crossing a current and ended up bracing with my hands (should have used my paddle, but it worked). The kelp was quite lovely to watch, but not too closely, because bobbing kelp plus bobbing kayak equals bobbing sense of balance. Still, I had a lot more fun than I thought I would, and was less sore the next day than I'd anticipated being (except for a headache, which retreated after a couple Excedrin). Russ may be able to convince me to go kayaking with him again someday.

Let's see, haiku news. I got a senryu accepted for the January 2010 issue of Prune Juice, so that's exciting (though it seems sooooo far away!). I should hear back from The Heron's Nest about my recent submission in a few weeks. In the meantime, I need to send some more poems out...

I love silent movies and old theatres.

Last night, I took a couple buses over to Seattle to watch a silent movie at the Paramount Theatre. http://www.theparamount.com/ Trader Joe's sponsors Silent Movie Mondays there (this year in June and November) and has for 7 years now, which is nice of them, though I still don't understand why they feel the need to shrink wrap nearly all their produce. But I digress. I arrived about 40 minutes early, but the lobby was already swarming with people. Not only was it free admission night, but Trader Joe's was also giving away free snacks in the lobby. So I stuffed my pockets with mocha chocolate bars and trail mix, then set off wandering around. If you were there, you could have recognized me by the huge grin on my face. There's just something magical about old theatres. I bought a pair of Wurlitzer organ key earrings from the Wurlitzer preservation society (I forget their official name). They're actual keys from an old organ: one says "Trumpet" and the other says "Xylophone." They're dangly, but light, and are my new treasures.

After wandering up to the balcony and elsewhere, I finally settled on sitting in the third row from the front near the aisle, right behind the Mighty Wurlitzer organ. And it is, indeed, mighty. Cream-coloured and gilt, it looks as much like a throne as an organ. They had what looked like close to a full house there, which added to the excitement, and was heartwarming to see that many people interested in watching a silent movie, even if it was free.

Speaking of the movie, it was "Flesh and the Devil" a 1926 film starring Greta Garbo, John Gilbert, and Lars Hanson. It was quite entertaining, with lots of smoldering looks and hearty embraces. I'm already looking forward to the one next Monday, as well as the ones in November.

Now, back to Chapter One of "Nullum." It doesn't have the Grosvenor Theatre in it where Lord Hiorne holds court, but hopefully when I get to that part, I can describe the scenery better since it's based on the Paramount.

I just got home from Write-O-Rama at Hugo House. Wonderful and exhausting all at once. Thanks again to Dave for donating $$ in my name. If you'd like to follow Dave's generous example, you'll have a chance again this fall for the Dec.5 Write-O-Rama!

Favorite classes:
Stab Bound: Self-Publishing with Zines - I brought my collection of "typewriter fog" poems along and then proceeded to type up 18 of them on an old Royal typewriter in the Zine Archive, then cut them out and glue them onto pages. Cambray was then kind enough to make copies and assemble the zines for me since I ran out of time. (Thank you!) I gave a few away to folks and then read the entire thing at the open mic. Some poems got reactions, others didn't, but I wasn't booed off stage, so that's good. Want a copy? Let me know. I can make that happen...

Nonsense Poetry - Many of my longer poems are nonsense poems, so it was great to read some similar poems and to have a chance to compose a few in class. Ed Skoog is a very passionate teacher of poetry, which is always a joy.

I Sing the Body Electric - It's always a bit awkward to take workshops on erotica writing, especially with a group of strangers, especially when they're not all complete strangers. Not surprisingly, I didn't produce anything I felt like sharing, but other folks had some brilliant pieces that they read aloud (esp. the one about the hosiery clerk).

So yes, a fabulous time. And I would be remiss if I didn't mention Dave's marvelous salad, starring French lentils, shallots, yellow bell peppers, walnuts, green beans, and fennel, among other things. I think I ate at least 4 helpings of it and would have taken some home if I'd had room in my bag. Now I am vacillating between wanting to stay up until all hours writing poetry 'til the well runs dry, and turning off my brain to watch some anime before bedtime. Perhaps a snickerdoodle will help me decide. Good night, all.

Returned home from a beautiful but long drive up to the North Cascades yesterday to find that the new issue of The Heron's Nest is on-line. http://www.theheronsnest.com/ I've got a haiku on pg. 11, my first to be published by them, so I'm pleased. It was much more welcome than the headache I got (and which is thankfully in retreat).

Here's a picture from our trip yesterday, a random waterfall coming down off a random mountain. Couldn't have asked for better weather to drive up to the North Cascades.



This one is of Diablo Lake.



And here's one of Ross Lake. If you look closely, you can see a few jagged peaks of Mt. Hozomeen in the distant center. I tried to write a few haiku about it, but I imagine Kerouac had a better view of it from Desolation Peak than I did from the southern viewpoint. Still, he wrote haiku (to varying degrees of success) about it, so here's one of my attempts:

Mt. Hozomeen
distant jagged peaks
guarding Canada



But now, I really must focus on editing and revising the rough draft of "Nullum." More on that in a future post...

WRITE-O-RAMA!

The very phrase conjures up an event of epic proportions, full of furious scribbling, bottomless baskets of muffins, and clanging bells. Twice a year, Richard Hugo House puts on this spectacular extravaganza of writing, and even if you're not going to be in the Seattle vicinity on Saturday June 6th, you can still participate by clicking on this link http://www.hugohouse.org/laureates#tanya and donating to Hugo House on behalf of yours truly. By doing so, you'll be supporting a place that supports writers of every sort from every walk of life.

My favorite memory of Hugo House (to date) is chatting with Charles de Lint out on the loading dock after taking a class from him last October. It had been a long day, and although the class was excellent, I was tired and had sunk into "I'm a lousy writer" mode. I was sitting out on the concrete dock, waiting for Russ to come pick me up, and Charles came and sat down next to me while he waited for Leslie to finish up with a few things inside. Just sat down as casual as could be and we chatted about books and writing. It was truly magical. (If you are unfamiliar with Mr. de Lint, here's a link to his website: http://www.sfsite.com/charlesdelint/ )

Through classes I've taken at Hugo House with Charles de Lint, Michael Dylan Welch, Monica Drake, Ellen Klages, Gregory Frost, and most recently, Paul Park, not only have I learned about the craft of writing, but I've learned that these magnificent writers are actually people. (Gasp!) They're not just awe-inspiring names on the front covers of books, but actual people who learned how to write and are willing to share their knowledge with aspiring writers. This is the sort of magic that happens at Hugo House, connecting writers with other writers, and it's worth supporting this connection, worth supporting the dreams of other writers.

One last shameless plea: donate to Hugo House. Who knows, that next book or poem or article you're reading when you're stuck overnight in the Phoenix International Airport could be written by someone who found their writing boost at Hugo House!

I mentioned in my last post that I'd talk about haikuishness later. So here's my haiku news:
http://wistaria.blogspot.com/2009/05/pinewood-haiku-contest-winners.html



I took 2nd place in the 2009 Pinewood Haiku Contest with my junco haiku. It's the first haiku contest I've ever placed in, so I'm quite pleased. The haiku itself came about last winter when I was sitting here at my desk, probably working on my novel and watching the juncos eat seed outside my window. Simple as that.

The following link will take you to the Roadrunner Haiku website, where 3 of my "seven moons" poems are published after 5 of Michael Dylan Welch's "seven suns" poems. (Five of his "neon buddha" poems are also published in this issue of Roadrunner.) http://www.roadrunnerjournal.net/pages92/haiku92_revealed.htm If you don't know the story behind the surreal "seven suns" and "seven moons" poems, it's this: Michael wrote the "seven suns" poems all in a go, and emailed them to me to see what I thought. They struck such a chord inside me that I had to respond to them, not by just circling my favorites, but by trying my own hand at something similar. So I sat down and wrote "seven moons" all in one go. They just came to me, just as they came to him, quickly and with very little conscious thinking. They were a lot of fun, and we followed them up with two rengay and a kasen renku, though none of the linked forms seemed to carry quite the energy of the originals. Ultimately, it would be wonderful to publish all of the "seven suns" and "seven moons" poems.

Simply Haiku also has two of my senryu in their summer 2009 issue: http://simplyhaiku.com/SHv7n2/senryu/senryu.html I'm tickled to find my humble senryu right next to poems by Cor van den Heuvel and Christopher Herold.

And to top it off, the summer issue of Modern Haiku arrived in the mail today, right when I was wanting a fresh dose of haiku! Here's a link to the site, which includes Deborah Kolodji's great haiku, among others: http://www.modernhaiku.org/issue40-2/haiku40-2.html

OK, that's all the haiku news for now. I'd better get some submitted so I might have further haiku news in the future!

Well, the subject line just about says it all. This afternoon, I finished the rough draft of "Nullum Desiderium: Book One." There is sparkling apple cider chilling in the fridge, along with more than a few bottles of beer (it is a long weekend, after all, and the weather is gorgeous!).

I just finished printing out the last two chapters. The word count is 53,195, which probably means more than the page count of 154 pgs. since I type in 1.5 spaced Cochin font. But it is slowly starting to sink in that I'm done. Of course, it'd probably be more satisfying if I hadn't just received a letter from my cousin suggesting something I could possibly do to help out the sagging Janine parts. As brilliant an idea as it is, I'm trying not to think about it and just enjoy the sense of completion.

Of course, after I let it sit for a few days (a week??), I need to dive into the revision. I'm submitting the first 20 pages to the Willamette Writers Conference to receive an advanced manuscript critique with Mary Rosenblum and that's due June 19. Then I need to revise the rest of it and start getting a pitch ready for the conference in August. No rest for the wicked.

OK, the weather is too nice and I've been spending waaaaay to much time with my laptop lately. Heading outside. Haiku news later.

What an absolutely gorgeous day here! 70 degrees with hazy blue sky. Still working to finish the rough draft of "Nullum: Book One." Three cheers for writing outside on the shaded patio, surrounded by potted trees and herbs!

On a different writing front, the Summer 2009 issue of Simply Haiku is on-line now: http://simplyhaiku.com/SHv7n2/senryu/senryu.html I've got two senryu in it and more to come in future issues. Still waiting for Roadrunner to publish their May issue, and I don't know if Wisteria's April issue is late, or if I just didn't receive it. Now I need to get some more haiku (and tanka) submissions circulating.

Time for tea and writing.

Work on the rough draft of "Nullum Desiderium: Book One" continues. I have decided that Delkana, the star of the short story, "The Tithe", does not actually need to be in this book. Poor Del. I just couldn't figure out how to introduce a soon-to-be major character in the last chapters of the book, so I'll just have to find some other way to introduce her in Book Two.

That said, I am on page 147 (1.5 spaced & Cochin font) and nearing 50,000 words for Book One. The tithe scene is underway and gaining momentum. With luck, I will get enough written this evening to justify taking a break tomorrow to go to Top Pot and reread previous chapters. If not...well, no doughnuts for me.

In other news, yesterday was Russ's birthday and we saw our first ever pair of Wilson's warblers in the backyard right before we were going to head out for Indian food. Such cheery yellow birds on an otherwise grey day. The sun is making a half-hearted attempt to shine at the moment. It's supposed to be nice this weekend (upper 60s), which means I'll have to break out the t-shirts again (I've moved back to long-sleeved shirts and a scarf this week).

Has anyone seen the April issue of Wisteria yet? Just curious. I have not. I am also eagerly awaiting the May issue of Roadrunner and Simply Haiku: http://www.roadrunnerjournal.net/ and http://simplyhaiku.com/SHv7n1/index-issue.html since I should have poems in each issue. Ah well...patience...

OK, time to stretch the legs and then resume writing!

Can you believe it's less than a month until Write-O-Rama at Hugo House in Seattle?

Truly! Once again, I am one of the laureates helping to raise money for Hugo House and its fabulous writing programs. You can check out the link here: http://www.hugohouse.org/giving/writeorama If you have a few dollars to spare and either are a writer, an aspiring writer, or simply like to support those who write, please donate to Write-O-Rama. Even $5 or $10 helps! If you're in the area on June 6th, please consider attending. It's an absolute blast being around so many other folks who are passionate about writing. And the clamor of clanging at the end of each workshop session is not to be missed (except perhaps by those of a delicate disposition).

All right, back to "Nullum: Book One." I'm trying to finish up Chapter 11 this afternoon. To the tithe!

Golly, has it really been 3 weeks since I last posted? Have you been wondering if I've been abducted by aliens or run off to a remote corner of Scotland with Russ and the cat? Well, nothing so glamorous has been going on. I've just been writing.

And writing.

And writing.

April was my month to complete a rough draft of "Nullum Desiderium: Book One." It's May now, and although I didn't finish yet, the end is in sight. So I'm extending the deadline a week, and we'll see how close I come. After that, it's time for a brief break to get enough distance from it so I can dive back in with editing, particularly the first 3 chapters. I'm turning in the beginning for a manuscript critique by Mary Rosenblum at the Willamette Writers Conference in August. http://www.willamettewriters.com/wwc/3/ I'm also pitching it (for real this time) to several different agents there, so I need to get an amazing pitch ready by then, too. No pressure...eek.

But I have been having a great time writing. Truly. This is why I'm a writer, because this is what I love to do. All day long. If the weather is warm enough to sit outside and write (which it has been a handful of times), then all the better.

My alter-ego, haiku poet, has been suffering from neglect a bit, though she did get to indulge in the fabulous Field's End writing conference on Bainbridge Island last month. http://www.fieldsend.org/ Thank you to Michael and to Lana for letting me tag along and for filling my head with poetry!

Speaking of poetry, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the incredible tanka symposium that is happening this Saturday at the Mercer Island Library from noon to 5pm. The link will do it more justice than I will, but if you have ever wondered about tanka and are in the area, please do attend. There will be cookies! http://sites.google.com/site/haikunorthwest/Home/2009-events-2/tanka-symposium

OK, enough for now. Time for some rhubarb crunch and vanilla ice cream.

And now for the "Nullum Desiderium" progress update!

To recap, after receiving comments from a few people that my short stories all seemed to be part of a larger whole, I decided to try merging them into the novel, "Nullum Desiderium" that I wrote 2 Novembers ago for NaNoWriMo. My current goal is to have a rough, rough draft done by the end of April.

It's proving to be an interesting process. On Friday while taking a walk through the forest, it occurred to me that I may be working on two books. Book One would be the product of the merged short stories, with the climax being the tithe. Book Two would follow the arc of the original NaNoWriMo version of "Nullum." Both books would fall under the title of "Nullum Desiderium," (which, yes, I know, isn't a saleable title, but it's all I've got for now). The reason I'm considering this is because I'm not sure how to make the pivotal tithe ceremony anything less than a climax, but it's nowhere near the end of the story and I've already got a climax for the NaNo part of the novel.

I've never tried to do with before, so I feel like I'm sailing in uncharted waters. The present word count is just over 80,000 words, with about 50,000 of those belonging to the NaNo novel (Book Two). Once I get all the short stories merged and transition scenes written, I figure Book One will be approximately 40,000-45,000 words. Neither of those lengths is long enough to stand as its own book, hence the desire to have them between the same covers.

So what do you think? Might that work, to have Book One and Book Two of "Nullum," or do such stunts only work with sprawling epics?

In the meantime, I'll just keep writing. It's been a lot of fun losing myself in the story, though I have been sorely neglecting my haiku lately. And my reading. And bulb planting. And countless other things. That's one of the reasons for giving myself a month to do this, so I can get back to other things in May. So without further ado, back to the story!

Happy Easter! As usual for the holiday, it's raining, stirring up memories of childhood Easter egg hunts in the damp grass. P'raps next year we'll get some eggs dyed. (It's difficult to motivate myself to hard boil eggs when I'm not particularly fond of them.)

Yesterday, Russ and I attended our first Norwescon. It was a long day, but we both had a good time. The costumes were great. Lots more steampunk costumes than I'd imagined there would be. My favorite was probably the trio of Victorian-dressed folks, one of whom had a butterfly net and a jar at her waist with what I assumed was a fairy in it. One of her companions had an old-fashioned camera on a post tripod, which brought the Cottingley Fairies to mind. Someone else was dressed as an infected nurse from the Doctor Who episode "The Empty Child," right down to the cut on her hand, and she would ask, "Are you my mummy?" It was quite clever.

We only ended up attending half the panels we intended to, but that was fine. With so much to see and do, it was good to occasionally sit down, take a break, and enjoy the passing eye candy. The best panel I attended was the one on Clarion West. Nothing like listening to former graduates and teachers laud their amazing experiences there to get me all excited about it again. Sigh. And I'd been doing so well at not thinking too much about it lately, too. Still hopeful...

After that, we went and listened to Cat Rambo read her short story "Ms. Liberty Gets A Haircut." It was an excellent way to end the day, both listening to a smooth reading of an entertaining, though-provoking story, and also visiting with Cat for a few minutes. (If not for her, it's doubtful I would ever have been inspired to apply to Clarion West. Thanks, Cat!)

Now I'm all jazzed to write a short story...

Just a quick bit of news. After waiting on pins & needles all last week to hear from Clarion West, I received a letter in the mail today. Turns out, they sent me an email on March 21st, which I never received due to a transcription error on their part. Oops. Anyway, Nelie Graham was kind enough to send me a letter when she didn't hear back from me, so I called her immediately after reading through it and replied that yes, I would happily accept their offer to be an alternate.

Yes, that's right, I'm now an alternate! One of two, from my understanding. I had been thoroughly expecting a rejection, especially since I hadn't heard from them earlier. I'd worried myself into a tension headache on Thursday night, then decided I just didn't make the cut on Friday, and consequently spent the weekend no longer worrying about it. In fact, I was going to email them tonight if I didn't hear from them by the time I got home from Seattle this afternoon.

Anyway, so even though this doesn't neatly resolve my wondering about what I'll be doing this summer, it does make me feel pretty damn good that they thought my story, "The Tithe," was decent enough to rank me as an alternate. (Russ reminded me that if I'd turned it in earlier, I might have actually gotten a spot in the workshop, but I sushed him...I don't need to be reminded of that sizable miscalculation on my part). Now, even though my odds of getting into the workshop are still very slim, at least I know I came close, and that makes me incredibly happy.

I know I'm a few days late, but welcome to Spring! Seems like it's been a particularly long winter this year, and even though there was no dramatic change of seasons on Friday, it still feels like we've turned an optimistic corner of sorts. This feeling was only boosted by the sighting of the first swallow of spring yesterday whilst walking around Mercer Slough. As usual, I heard it first and craned my neck, forgetting what the sound belonged to until I saw that small shape sailing through the sky. Don't know why swallows fill me with such joy, but I let out an exclamation and did a little dance on the spot. It disappeared shortly thereafter, hopefully not because of my exhuberance, and I probably won't see another one for weeks, but still, it made my day.

Other excitement yesterday included an email from Katherine Samuelowicz saying that she's publishing 3 of my haiku in the next issue of Paper Wasp. Here's the website, though it hasn't been updated in a while: http://members.optusnet.com.au/paperwasp/index.html . I'm quite pleased and look forward to receiving my contributor's copy. Never been published in an Australian journal before.

Work continues on "Nullum." I'm on Chapter 4 now and bridging the time between "Do You Believe in Fairies?" and "Equinox." It's a good distraction from wondering and worrying about Clarion West. I should hear back from them within the next week and a half, though my hope is fading with each day that it will be positive news. Still, chin up. Stranger things have happened . . . (trying to remember what they are).

To end on an upbeat note, I received yet another hand-me-down of technology from Russ. First was his pocket PC, which makes a wonderful alarm clock, second was his mobile phone, which is a bit clunky, but easy to text on, and now I am in possession of his Sony Reader (his new one arrives tomorrow). While I will never foresake paper books for electronic ones, it is fiendishly handy whilst reading at the breakfast table not having to hold down pages or worry about getting jam on them. Besides, I'm quite enjoying the irony of reading "Pride and Prejudice" on an e-book.

OK, back to "Nullum."

Happy Friday the 13th!

Yesterday, along with doing laundry, I also got a few haiku/senryu submissions emailed off. I thought I'd better get that done while I was still in a haikuish mood from last weekend, so I sent some to The Heron's Nest and received a kind reply from Alice Frampton (their deadline is in a few days). I also submitted 10 senryu to Al Pizzarelli at Simply Haiku after Russ fixed my email so that I could do so (it's very handy to be married to a computer geek!). Feeling accomplished, I then watched a few episodes of "Angel" with Russ and Belle. When I checked my email right before shutting my computer down for the night, I was surprised to receive an email from Al Pizzarelli, not only confirming that he'd received the submission, but that he had accepted 9 out of the 10 poems (he didn't take my lichen poem because he considered it a haiku). I gave an exclamation that I won't repeat here and promptly reread the email about 3 times, not believing that I'd read it correctly. I've never sent anything to Simply Haiku before, so I don't know if this is a common experience for submitters, but wow! Needless to say, it took me a while to fall asleep after that.

Here's a link to their website: http://simplyhaiku.com/SHv7n1/index-issue.html I'll send another link in May when my senryu start appearing. It'll be the first time my poems have appeared in an on-line journal, though I do have a poem on the Bottle Rockets highlights page: http://www.bottlerocketspress.com/themagsubscriptions/highlights.html

Time to head to Top Pot for a celebratory doughnut. Enjoy the sunshine!

Last weekend, the first quarterly Haiku Society of America (HSA) meeting of 2009 was held in Chapman Hall on U of O campus in Eugene, OR. It's the second such meeting I've attended (the first being last summer at Hugo House in Seattle), and I had an absolute blast! It was an honor to not only meet some esteemed haiku poets and editors of haiku journals, but also to hang out with them. I was one of the youngest folks there, but it was such fun to listen to everyone, even when they were talking about subjects that were way over my head.

Here's a picture of Ce Rosenow, who did an amazing job of organizing the event.


Here are Charlie Trumbull and Michael Dylan Welch discussing something, possibly James W. Hackett.


And here are Carolyn Hall and Fay Aoyagi posing on the couch. George Swede is in the background.


I found the panel of journal editors to be educational, learning what three different editors looked for in submissions and I enjoyed Charlie Trumbull's talk on James W. Hackett, though there was a lot of information to absorb. The two workshops I attended, the first taught by Fay Aoyagi and the second by Michael Dylan Welch, were informative and inspiring to the point that they made the drive from Eugene back to Salem annoying...ideas kept popping into my head and I couldn't write them down until I stopped at a gas station. This is why I love mass transit...I can write haiku as they come to me, and don't have to concentrate on bothersome things like driving.

We ate dinner at the Excelsior Inn on Saturday night and I felt a little like a kid being allowed to sit at the grown-ups' table. The food was fabulous, so I just soaked up all the conversations around me and tried to think of intelligent comments to make or questions to ask. I'm not the best conversationalist in the world, even when I've gotten over the awe of being around poets and editors I've admired for years. Maybe next time I'll do better.

But the whole weekend was an incredible amount of fun and although I'd decided not to attend the big conference in Ottawa this summer, I'm starting to rethink it. We shall see...

Well, I finally got all of the short story "Do You Believe in Fairies?" integrated into the novel. It's not perfect, but it's good enough for a rough draft. "Nullum Desiderium" is currently sitting at over 71,600 words. Next I have to write the transition scene(s) between it and "Equinox." The transitions are admittedly fun to write because I'm not doing any revising/rewriting with them. Oh sure, I'll edit them later, but for now it's refreshing to write something new. After that, I'll fit in "Send Me An Angel," and then things will get interesting because I'll have to rewrite "The Tithe" from Lucian's POV. It was originally told in Delkana's, so I'm curious how it will change when it's through Lucian's eyes. Has anyone done that sort of thing before? Did you keep the dialogue and actions the same, but shift the internal thoughts and observations? Just curious.

After all the short stories get added in, I'll be back to writing in open water, writing forward instead of filling in previous scenes. Still not sure how it's going to end. Part of that might be because I don't want it to end. I'm quite fond of Lucian and Oriana and Nivalis and Lord Tenebrae and even Delkana, though her character is still very much in flux right now. But end it must...at least the novel needs an end. I'm aiming for pre-summer. We'll see how disciplined I am between now and then.

Okay, time for a walk before Russ gets home and we head to Mehfil's for delicious Indian food.

Guess what we woke up to this morning?




Apparently, winter is hanging on tooth and nail. After yesterday's rain, it was surprising to wake up to such different weather, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised. It's been a hell of a winter here. Maybe this means that next week it'll be sunny and in the 60s (hope, hope).

I'm debating between working on "Nullum" or haiku today. I have a week to get some haiku together for my reading at our Haiku NW meeting, but I'm thinking that can be done tomorrow at Top Pot Doughnuts. Oh, and since I haven't included this link for a while, here it is: http://sites.google.com/site/haikunorthwest/poems-by-members/tanya-mcdonald It's to a few of my poems on the Haiku NW website.

Time to write, or at least try to, though with snow on the ground, I'm likely to spend time gazing out the window at it, unseasonable or not. I'll leave you with a shot of the corn lilies that are popping up outside my window.