Tweak and Polish and other stories

As of Tuesday, I missed my self-imposed let's-do-this query deadline. As of today, the query is still in stages of minor tweaking, and the novel itself is only halfway through a final polishing read (not counting Anne Mini's drilled-in before you submit read, where the otherwise-finished manuscript is read IN ITS ENTIRETY, IN HARD COPY, and OUT LOUD. I will be doing that, oh yes. With all three hundred and seventeen pages.)

Better to submit when the polish is complete than risk rejection by an over-stressed agency assistant who has seen one too many characters looking at each other. So says everyone. And I agree. I have to do this sometime, perfectionism be danged, but I'm getting through all the steps first.

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Also as of Tuesday, Lou and I celebrated the third anniversary of our engagement—an event which made for, among other things, what is still one of my favorite blog-posts I've ever written (excepting the green of the text, which is an unfortunate remainder of my rookie-blogger stupidities.) What can I say? I was just so happy.

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The cuteness of a cat, present even when misbehaving, appears to be a powerful natural defense. Cats might not survive as a species if they weren't so adorable.

But I do love Maia. Even though I scolded her for jumping onto the stove this morning, she's cuddled down on my lap right now. Which I appreciate, because the living room is so cold today, even with the furnace going.

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Writers' link of the week: Kirsten Hubbard's excellent piece on setting.

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Music of the week: How did I miss this? It was uploaded days ago, and I follow the MoM boys around like an over-driven detective in legal fiction, waiting for them to post music videos. Speaking of which, I need to find myself some more good literature-themed music. I love wizard rock, but Harry Potter isn't the only tale out there, and thus far, I've not managed to get into Led Zeppelin or Iron Maiden.



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Funny of the week: The Onion's stats on Why Haven't We Finished Our Novel. I notice they don't include "too busy blogging" and "keeps chickening out of difficult plot decisions and justifying that cowardice by killing time reading other writers' blogs."

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I've actually cleaned house today before working on my blog post. As it turns out, there is a first time for everything.

Happy weekend!