.The title may make it sound like I've been taking too much cold medicine, but I haven't. Promise. In fact, I've hardly slept soundly enough since Saturday to have dream cycles at all. Why do colds wait to strike me in March? I was clean, all through the bad winter months, but now that spring is just about to burst free and the weather is too gorgeous to stay inside, I get laid up on the couch with a head cold. Go figure. Whenever the cold medicine begins to work its benumbing magic, I know it's pretty useless to try to focus on the bigger writing projects. Does anyone else suffer short-term memory loss when taking cold medicine? Well, maybe it's more short-term memory fuzziness.
Point is, I dragged out a short story that's been lurking on the desk for a few months and decided it was time to give her a thorough going-over. A critiquer and an editor agreed that there was too much backstory dumped in the opening pages, so I'm trying to speed things up a bit, weave the important details in later and more gradually. So here's the progress report for yesterday and today:
TODAY'S PROGRESS
Project: "Dreamflier"
Pages Revised: 22
Pages Cut: 1 (goodbye, my darlings! *sob*)
Bad things that happened: A team of dreamfliers get lost in the realm of dreams
Good things that happened: Ambryn, our heroine, is allowed to help rescue themI'm still happy with most of this story, obviously, and was able to speed through much of the text without altering too much. The tale was inspired by a contest prompt at LegendFire last summer. Unfortunately, I was reading Amy Tan at the time, which means I wanted to write a gorgeous, flowing narrative that bloomed as gradually as a lotus, and opened this piece in that style. But it's wrong for the rest of the story, which is quick-paced, frantic, and bizarre. Had I been reading Gaiman or Martin, perhaps, I might've made a different stylistic choice. But I still have high hopes for this piece. I just have to weave the narrative differently.
If I could choose an artist to illustrate this story, it would be Josephine Wall. Her paintings capture the color, movement, and bizarre imagery I see in the dream realm of this story. A picture is worth a thousand words.
QUEEN OF THE NIGHT
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It doesn't hurt as badly as I thought it would.
Anyone who knows me, knows how I shout slander and all manner of vile things against the privacy-sucking, time-wasting institution that is Facebook. But my friends and family and all manner of writer-marketer people out there assure me that Facebook is my friend. These days, writers must be marketers, too, and one of the easiest ways to spread the word of one's aspirations to sell books is through the Facebook network, so last week, some friends convinced me to set up a fan page on Facebook. I don't have any books yet to sell, only a handful of stories available, but it seems that I need to start building the "fan base" now. I have a small following on my blog, but FB is supposed to help change that, or so they say. So interesting parties may find my fan page here: Court Ellyn
Clicking "Like"--even if you're not a fan--will help me out. So will any tips from FB users who know how to market themselves via that avenue. I'll be happy to return the favor if you provide me a link to your fan page or equivalent. Bribing fans? You bet. I'd throw in a batch of cookies, too, but I don't think they would taste very good when posted here.
On another note, one I prefer far more, is our Art of the Week:
HOBSYLLWIN, THE WHITE GUARDIAN
by Ciruelo Cabral
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Ah, this is what I had been hoping for, actual photos of the little girl we sponsor. We received them this last week. They were taken around Christmas and show little Lady in her traditional Ecuadorian costume, standing beside her lovely young mother. They are very proud to show us what they bought for Lady with the family gift we sent for Christmas and for Lady's birthday. Propped up against the blank wall behind them is the gorgeous headboard of a single-sized bed. Lady had been sharing a bed with her brother, but now she has her own.
How much we take for granted.
Edit: Okay, I couldn't stand it. I had to post one of the photos. It's just too wonderful.
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Obviously, falcons in some facet play a big part in my novels (see novel title in posts below). While the time-honored sport of hunting with falcons is mentioned in my story, the characters get into too much trouble to actually devote any scene-time to this noble way of catching one's dinner. Still, it pays to do one's research. Better to be armed with too much information than not enough. So, the next time you take your falcon out a-hunting, you'll want to take along the following:
(this gorgeous sketch is from "Knights"by Julek Heller and Deirdre Headon, copyright 1982)
Not depicted:
1. "Mews," little buildings where your falcons live
2. Perch, or "sedille" where your falcon will rest when it's not flying or sitting on your arm
Interesting Tid-Bits:
-Only female birds were used in hunting, and only females were called "falcons" while males (smaller and rarely hunted with) were called "tiercels."
-Different sized breed of raptors were used to catch different sized quarry.
-If your falcon fails to catch its prey, you may feed it unsalted cheese or scrambled eggs instead of raw meat as a reward for a good attempt. (I'm guessing you'll want to make a good campfire in the meadow and tote along your scullery staff to cook your bird up some eggs in such a case)
- If your falcon escapes, then is found but not returned (good hunting falcons are hard to come by, after all), or if your bird is stolen outright (some people just don't have the patience to train their own), you may exact a severe penalty on the perpetrator: the falcon is allowed to eat six ounces of flesh from the thief's breast. (You can't make up this stuff, folks!)
So, my question is: What research did you feel was required for your story, but never actually came into play?
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Something is driving me bonkers lately, though I'm trying really hard to go with the flow and not let the ... issue ... get under my skin. So I'll vent about it here instead of sending notes to the people I would love to yell at.
I was taught that if you make a commitment to do something, you carry through. 
Come hell or high water, you get the job done. You communicate with the people you have committed to and let them know if there are unavoidable problems that are delaying progress. You don't leave them to freak out, wondering if you've fallen off the planet or high-tailed it for the far country because you just don't want to participate in the task any longer.
Can anyone say "irresponsible"? Don't people understand how little things like this reflect on one's character? How in the future people will be less likely to trust them with other activities and responsibilities? I do not understand this neglect. IF YOU VOLUNTEER FOR A PARTICULAR JOB (I can't stress that enough), doesn't it make sense to uphold your end? In the least, tell me why you can't finish the task on time, or not at all, so I can find someone to take up the slack! It's not difficult. It's just a small mouthful of pride one must swallow to do this. Take it with sugar. It will go down easier. I'll even provide the sugar!
Now, I've vented. On with prettier things, like springtime and stories and fluffy kitties begging to come into the house to be in my company. Well, the kitties just want food, but they lie well and they're cute, so I'll let them get away with it. Back to the novels!
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.Ah, it's the last day of February! Spring is just around the corner. In fact, it feels like it's already here, at least where I live. We've had thunderstorms, warm south winds, and twice I've had the chance to sunbathe. Yep, in February. Which means March will likely be cloudy and cold. Time seems to get confused on occasion. Or maybe the issue is humanity trying to create order by naming a set of days and then expecting those days to behave a certain way. And then we're scandalized when things happen differently than we say they should. That's Philosophy In Your Corner by Court Ellyn.In honor of the cusp of spring, here are two timely masterpieces for your enjoyment:
An Orchard In SpringClaude Monet, 1886
Springtime at GivernyClaude Monet, 1880
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TODAY'S PROGRESS
Project: Falcons Rising
Pages Rewritten: 6 1/2
Pages Cut: 3 (oh, so many darlings, gone forever!)New Scenes: 0
Bad things that happened: the trial of an evil elf
Good things that happened: Aerdria does look lovely in that silver dress
Not much more to add really, accept that with this day's progress, I finished another huge section of revisions and will be spending the next few weeks (hopefully not more than three), typing in all those hand-written revisions. That leaves three or four sections of the same size still to go. Which means I will likely be posting on stuff other than progress reports. *taps chin thoughtfully* What shall I post? I'm sure something will come up ...
Onward!.
QUEEN OF THE NIGHT
