Oops.

I completely forgot to mention here that I've posted the entire first chapter of Eye of the Beholder. Prior to this point, I'd only posted the first few pages, which were also used as an excerpt in the back of the new version of The Silver Spoon.

Here's the link:
http://www.staceyklemstein.com/EOBExcerpt.html

I'm thinking it's about eight or more "new" pages. Chapter Two will be posted in December and Chapter Three in January! : )

Other random stuff...

--I'm suffering from major gadget lust, again. I've only just recovered from desperately needing an iPhone, which I still want, and now Amazon has launched the Kindle. I'm not completely convinced it's the best ebook reader or anything, but I LOVE that you can instantly download new books from anywhere. No service plan or monthly fees. Plus, you get to skip the step of downloading to your computer and then your ebook reader. I just WANT it. But I do not have the $399 (!!!) required. Oh, well, the gadget lust will fade (eventually) and maybe the price will drop (a la the iPhone). For that price, I'm not certain it's worth it when I'm not sure I can give up the physical presence of a book. I am one of those (my dad is another I know of) who loves the smell and texture of books, the paper, the ink, the cover. All of it. Guess we'll see...

--Is it just a little bit disturbing that at least one person (possibly more) found my website by searching for the phrase "Nancy Drew bound and gagged" on Google? I have a similar phrase in my mystery bio, where I'm sort of poking fun at the series because Nancy never did seem to learn that going anywhere alone was the surest way to end up in trouble. But in this context, it's just a little...weird. : )

--Took two days off over Thanksgiving and the day after to visit with my family in Peoria. We celebrated my grandmother's eightieth birthday, which is actually tomorrow. Had amazing food, played games and just relaxed. I felt a little guilty about not writing those two days, even though what I was mostly doing was floundering, flopping around on the page like a fish out of water. But I thought about the point at which I was having trouble in the story a lot, working it through from every possible angle. For me, a huge portion of writing takes place in my head, working and reworking, long before I sit at the keyboard. And lo and behold, when I got back yesterday and sat down, the pieces all fell together. I'm sure I'll be back to floundering again soon, but it's nice to feel like I made that little bit of progress. : )

--I'm thinking about adding a page to my site, creating a list of all the stuff I'm reading (and therefore recommending). It would be good to keep track, so I can remember all the authors I want follow. Of course, I could do this just in a word doc for myself for that purpose. But I'm wondering if anyone else would be interested in it? I always like to find out what other people are reading, and except on MySpace (where there's a place to put what you're reading), I always forget to mention it here. Just let me know... : )

Blahbbedy, blah.

I'm suffering writer frustration. Arrggh. I hate this. I want to write. I want to write so much, and yet when I sit down to do so all that comes out is complete and utter crap. I know that it's probably not as bad as it seems. Proof of this is finding old writing and realizing that it's not the gag-fest that I thought it was when I first wrote it. Plus, this is part of the whole "write a sh*tty first draft," a theory I fervently ascribe to. But I can't seem to make myself keep going today for some reason.





Some of this is because I KNOW what happens, but I don't know whose perspective it should be from. I typically don't encounter this problem because I usually write first person, single narrator. But in this case, I'm not and....arrgggh. I guess the worst thing that could happen is that I have to go back and rewrite it from the other perspective. Or maybe I could rough out the scene from both perspectives and see which one feels more right. *pitiful sigh*





Anyway, aside from my whining, here are some things that may or may not entertain you.





First, I've been following along pretty closely with the Writers' Guild strike in California and New York. I didn't quite understand what all the fuss was about, at first. Residuals, which is what you often hear about, are like royalties. They don't get residuals for anything that's downloaded off the internet because the networks, get this, are saying that the internet use is purely promotional. Ha, right. How many of you download shows? I do. And I have to sit through the annoying commercials, too, so somebody somewhere is getting paid on these. Now, they may not be making very much money, but x percent of not very much is still x percent. That's what they're out there fighting for.





Yet I've read many comments in various places bitching about how rich television writers shouldn't be asking for more money. I'll grant you that there are some writers who probably are rich and make a very tidy profit. But I'll bet you there are lots of others who are just barely making it, trying to find a way to keep doing what they love and still pay the bills. I know this because this is how it is for novelists. It's freaking hard to make enough money in this industry. It just is, even for the big press authors. But we do it because we love it, and we fight to make enough to keep doing it. Anyway, check out John August's blog for a first-hand description of the strike and an insightful explanation of the reasons behind it. : )





If I were L.A., I'd be out there handing out doughnuts!





Okay, on to second very important topic. My friend Judy is an awesome photographer. She took a bunch of headshots for me so I'd have something to include in the back cover of my next book, if I wanted to. Here are a couple. I shall call them Photo A and Photo B. What think you, dear reader? You will note that there is no big smile because when I smile like that my eyes squinch up and disappear. So I have to go the more coy and mysterious route...it may, however, look more like I'm squinting at something in the distance, so we'll see!

Photo A

Photo B:

So tired...

What the heck...I'm supposed to be less tired given the sleeping in later that has occurred thanks to bizarre ritual of turning back the clocks. (The Future Anthropologist in my head pops up just long enough to point out that this quaint custom is still upheld in the future but more for tradition's sake as the introduction of electricity to homes made it possible for people to do just about anything they want while the sun is down!)

Let's see...what else?

Working on Zara III and it is slooooow going. I'm wondering if I need to resort to writing a sh*tty first draft. I was trying to be all proactive and plan stuff out as I did when I wrote the second (and only readable) draft of book two, but I'm kind of wondering if I need to get the crappy stuff out of the way first. That's how I did it for books one and two. Not sure why I think changing my process now is going to work! Read Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott for more on the sh*tty first draft phenomenon.

Oh, dude....if only...check these out! Veronica Mars Season 4! Part One and Part Two. Okay, network executives suck. This could have been such a cool show. The writing of Seasons 1-3 was so good. Way better than say, Heroes Season Two. And because I love you, here are bloopers from Season Three of VM. And more bloopery goodness!