"Love haunts to the end."
Aug. 9th, 2010 01:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
greygirlbeastI awoke this morning to discover that almost all the soreness from yesterday's fall has, against expectations, vanished. It's especially surprising given I actually sat up and worked yesterday, after a hot bath and Advil. I spent most of the evening lying down with my foot up, but still. I'd expected many days of soreness, so...I'm very pleased this is not the case.
Several people yesterday said I should go to the doctor. One or two even stressed the need for an MRI. And all I can say is that I am a freelance author who doesn't make a great deal of money and who has no health insurance whatsoever. Given that (quickly checking online) I see the average cost of an MRI on an ankle is $1,500, it's entirely out of the question. Especially since the total cost of that doctor visit, and followup visits, would likely run around $2,500. Not a chance. If I am quite sure my life is at stake if I don't seek a doctor's assistance, only then will I do so. And even then I can't afford to do so. I'm already paying hundreds of dollars a month for medical care I can't afford, because I was finally left with no option. And I've looked into health insurance plans for the self employed, and everything I've seen isn't much better than nothing. Hell, given the absurd costs of medical care in the US, even good insurance isn't much better than nothing. In my life, the only preventative medicine is a good diet and exercise (and I don't get much of the latter).
But enough about my damned ankle.
Yesterday I worked on the table of contents for the "Best of" project. I'd ended up with a total word count of 237,712 words, were I to include everything I want to include. Obviously, this won't do, as my word limit is 200k. I did, however, email Bill Schafer to ask if I could go over, and if so, by how much. His reply, I can go to 205k, but if I go over that...well a visit from a teddy bear with a plastic machete was involved. So, I have to go back to work and shave off 32,712 words worth of fiction from my "wish list." Which might only be three stories. I just have to work it out. A good part of yesterday was spent deciding which of the Dancy stories to include. I read "Waycross" and "Les Fleurs Empoisonnées" and "Highway 97" and "Alabaster." I decided that the "Best of" volume will include three of these, "Alabaster" being the one that won't appear. "Bainbridge" and "The Well of Stars and Shadow" were never in the running.
Today, I have to, among other things, decide whether "The Road of Pins" or "Spindleshanks (New Orleans, 1956)" gets a place in the life boat. They're too thematically similar for both to make the cut. This is a strange sort of undertaking.
All the comments the past couple of days on first-person narrative and the interauthor have been welcome, and many have set me to thinking in new directions, or helped to clarify old and well-worn dilemmas. Yesterday,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
dragau wrote. I just realized that no one has used the word "biography" or its variations these last two days. Is its absence significant, something we overlooked, or is the word not relevant? And it's a very good point, as that's what we're really trying to get at here (or at least I am), with all this talk about the interauthor. Whenever a fiction writer is writing in first person they are, by default, writing a fictional autobiography.
---
Please have a look at the current eBay auctions and at the goodies in Spooky's Dreaming Squid Dollworks & Sundries Etsy shop. The latter now includes a hand-painted Ouija board!
Also, I've finished my first painting in many years. I was, in part, inspired by the paintings of Constance Hopkins in The Red Tree. And I think I've decided I'll be putting it up on eBay tomorrow or this evening. Also also, Spooky's made a new beanie platypus that we'll be auctioning with a copy of the lettered edition of Tales from the Woeful Platypus. We did this a couple of times back in 2007. I think we only offered four Beanie platypi, so....these are rare.
Okay. Here are painting and platypus photos. The mothmen say it's time to work:
Acrylic on gessoboard; 5"x7".
Detail.
Da Puss o' da Beanie 'Pus.
Several people yesterday said I should go to the doctor. One or two even stressed the need for an MRI. And all I can say is that I am a freelance author who doesn't make a great deal of money and who has no health insurance whatsoever. Given that (quickly checking online) I see the average cost of an MRI on an ankle is $1,500, it's entirely out of the question. Especially since the total cost of that doctor visit, and followup visits, would likely run around $2,500. Not a chance. If I am quite sure my life is at stake if I don't seek a doctor's assistance, only then will I do so. And even then I can't afford to do so. I'm already paying hundreds of dollars a month for medical care I can't afford, because I was finally left with no option. And I've looked into health insurance plans for the self employed, and everything I've seen isn't much better than nothing. Hell, given the absurd costs of medical care in the US, even good insurance isn't much better than nothing. In my life, the only preventative medicine is a good diet and exercise (and I don't get much of the latter).
But enough about my damned ankle.
Yesterday I worked on the table of contents for the "Best of" project. I'd ended up with a total word count of 237,712 words, were I to include everything I want to include. Obviously, this won't do, as my word limit is 200k. I did, however, email Bill Schafer to ask if I could go over, and if so, by how much. His reply, I can go to 205k, but if I go over that...well a visit from a teddy bear with a plastic machete was involved. So, I have to go back to work and shave off 32,712 words worth of fiction from my "wish list." Which might only be three stories. I just have to work it out. A good part of yesterday was spent deciding which of the Dancy stories to include. I read "Waycross" and "Les Fleurs Empoisonnées" and "Highway 97" and "Alabaster." I decided that the "Best of" volume will include three of these, "Alabaster" being the one that won't appear. "Bainbridge" and "The Well of Stars and Shadow" were never in the running.
Today, I have to, among other things, decide whether "The Road of Pins" or "Spindleshanks (New Orleans, 1956)" gets a place in the life boat. They're too thematically similar for both to make the cut. This is a strange sort of undertaking.
All the comments the past couple of days on first-person narrative and the interauthor have been welcome, and many have set me to thinking in new directions, or helped to clarify old and well-worn dilemmas. Yesterday,
dragau wrote. I just realized that no one has used the word "biography" or its variations these last two days. Is its absence significant, something we overlooked, or is the word not relevant? And it's a very good point, as that's what we're really trying to get at here (or at least I am), with all this talk about the interauthor. Whenever a fiction writer is writing in first person they are, by default, writing a fictional autobiography.---
Please have a look at the current eBay auctions and at the goodies in Spooky's Dreaming Squid Dollworks & Sundries Etsy shop. The latter now includes a hand-painted Ouija board!
Also, I've finished my first painting in many years. I was, in part, inspired by the paintings of Constance Hopkins in The Red Tree. And I think I've decided I'll be putting it up on eBay tomorrow or this evening. Also also, Spooky's made a new beanie platypus that we'll be auctioning with a copy of the lettered edition of Tales from the Woeful Platypus. We did this a couple of times back in 2007. I think we only offered four Beanie platypi, so....these are rare.
Okay. Here are painting and platypus photos. The mothmen say it's time to work:
Acrylic on gessoboard; 5"x7".
Detail.
Da Puss o' da Beanie 'Pus.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-08-09 05:27 pm (UTC)That is very, very cool.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-09 05:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-09 08:53 pm (UTC)Thank you both.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-09 06:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-09 08:53 pm (UTC)The yellow, in particular, was very important to me.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-09 06:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-09 06:35 pm (UTC)Hmmmmm...
no subject
Date: 2010-08-09 07:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-09 06:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-09 06:39 pm (UTC)I have always wondered how you decide what goes in a 'best of' volume. Is it decided by sales, critical acclaim or something more subjective?
no subject
Date: 2010-08-09 08:51 pm (UTC)I talk about my criteria in this entry (http://greygirlbeast.livejournal.com/667972.html), from August 2nd.
If your ankle isn't sore or swollen, you can rotate it right and left as far as is normal for you
Only very minor swelling, mild soreness (less than yesterday), and rotation not affected (though a bit painful when I rotate to the left).
your reflexes are working (have Spooky cup your heel in one hand and run the rounded end of one of her paintbrushes up the middle of your foot if your toes curl the reflexes are working)it is probably fine.
Never heard of this test before. We shall try it.
I'm more concerned about your head and if you were knocked unconsious when you fell
The problem (see yesterday's entry) is that I fell because I was unconscious. I landed in a sort of lotus position, and didn't hit my head.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-09 09:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-09 09:40 pm (UTC)Er...turns out...neither of us seem to have this reflex action.
???
no subject
Date: 2010-08-09 10:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-09 06:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-09 08:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-09 08:52 pm (UTC)I think I'm going to run a poll, starting this evening, to see how readers feel about a few of the stories I'm having "either/or" problems with. It will include "Spindleshanks" and "The Road of Pins."
no subject
Date: 2010-08-09 08:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-09 10:12 pm (UTC)Whenever a fiction writer is writing in first person they are, by default, writing a fictional autobiography.
Is a non-fiction writer writing in 3rd person, then, by default, writing a fictional biography? I mean, yeah, your rule is pretty resistant to argument, but where does it get us? To me, this line of thinking bleaches the term '(auto)biography' of the specific characteristics/history of that genre... do we end up meaning much more than "writing that involves people"? So I guess my response to dragau's post would be, yeah, maybe it's irrelevant, or at least a dead end.
Glad you're recovering quickly, painting, and compiling! And I love the shocked goatish eyes of the platypus.
re: health insurance
Date: 2010-08-10 12:00 am (UTC)As a small business owner and purchaser of health insurance, I hear ya.
We dropped our health plan winter of '09 as it was the last 'thing' to be
trimmed while the economy did its thing.
It's not like we had a choice.
I ended up taking a job fall of '09 and for one reason only:
The freaking beautiful health insurance one gets as a state employee.
...so I spend 40 hours a week listening to state employees cry.
Hate to say it but I have no, absolutely no hope or confidence
that I will be able to come back to our business as there will never
be affordable health care for individuals/small business.
Why the fuck is that though?
no subject
Date: 2010-08-10 03:17 am (UTC)The platypus is very cute.
The painting...
For me, an eye surrounded by a feather mask, an eye that's cool, dark, remote, withdrawn, watchful, waiting. The yellow is so bright and hot. The feathers will draw you in from it.
I very much like the texture and unevenness of color.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-10 07:20 am (UTC)