lkh_lashouts | Fourth of July with LKH

Everyone in the US knows that their Fourth of July isn't quite complete without LKH's oh-so-speshul and important input. It's pretty long, so be careful.

Original Link: http://blog.laurellkhamilton.org/2008/07/fourth-of-july-is-for-work.html
LKH: bold
Moi: normal

Happy 4th of July, everyone! The birthday of our country is something to celebrate. Traditional is fireworks and cooking meat outdoors, or going to large crowded areas to ride rides, and eat fair food, and watch fireworks as night falls.

Being traditional is so lame though. Jon Boy and Laurell are way above such traditions though.

Everyone have a good time, but Jon and I are not going anywhere near that many people today. If crowds are your cup of tea, then enjoy, but it’s not for us.

Now how I guess that? Oh yes. Eating hotdogs and attending fairs isn't darkity-dark enough for Laurell.

In fact, we’re not even burning meat until tomorrow, when we’re having a few friends over.

Well, I don't know about any of you, but I'm not planning on burning meat on any day. Maybe I'll cook some, but you never know.

Because, my goal for the three day weekend is to finish SWALLOWING DARKNESS.

God save us all... Or "diety," depending on what your religion is.

My work session will not end tonight until the wee hours, unless I finish sooner. If today doesn’t get it done, then tomorrow all day until our friends arrive will be more work on the book. If it’s not done tomorrow then Sunday will be a marathon session.

LKH: I suffer in the dedication, for my work. I'm working, through the holiday, weekend. Slaving, I tell, you! Slaving! Oh, woe, is me...

The book was due the last day of June, so I’ve missed my deadline.

Really? I still thought it was May myself. But seriously. How hard is it to write up about 400-500 of bad faerie porn in six months. It's not like she has to do serious thinking or editing. All she seems to have done for the past few months is complain that Merry's not letting her kill anyone.

I don’t normally do that.

Really? It's not like you continuous post blogs and whine about the status of every single book.

I can’t go back in time and fix it, so I’ll do what I can, which is work my ass off, and get the book done this weekend.

Which is actually promising... for a betting pool that is. Bets on finishing tonight, tomorrow, Sunday, or coming back on Monday and whining that she tried her hardest, but it's Merry's fault for not finishing. Odds run from highest to lowest respectively.

We slept in this morning. Between being sick this week, and still having the soft tissue damage to my leg, it’s been a physically trying week.

Wait... wasn't she saying that she was going to devote every waking hour to finish the book? You don't pull an all-nighter just to fall asleep and miss class the following morning. It defeats the purpose.

I think extra sleep was just what the doctor ordered.

Once again, based on what she just said she's not going to get much sleep this weekend.

Usually I can’t sleep in much, and if I do I feel sloggy, but today we slept in until almost eleven and it was great.

Wow. That's fascinating. Really. Oh, and prepare yourself for her next sentence. It's a doozy.

A nice, slow morning, breakfast for lunch, which always feels sort of decadent, then I almost got caught by the marathon their running of LAW AND ORDER, but luckily I had to call and confirm for tomorrow with my friend Mark about when he and his family are coming over, and to concentrate on the conversation I had to turn the television off.

... Sense. She does not speak it. So, after reading this sentence about three times, I have finally come up with a "sense" version. We had a nice, slow breakfast for lunch, which always feels sort of decadent. Later, I almost got caught by a TV marathon they're running of LAW AND ORDER, but luckily my friend, Mark, called. He and his family is coming over tomorrow, and I had to turn the TV off to concentrate on the conversation.

Simply not turning it back on worked wonders for that magical draw that the T. V. can have on me sometimes.

"T. V." She really does still live in the 80's, doesn't she?

It’s especially alluring when I don’t want to write and know I have no choice, but to work. So, a slow start to the day, but I’ve already read over what I had on the book, and there’s nothing wrong with it, except my head had gone ugly that day.

LKH: It's NOT my fault. It's Merry's fault. It's the TV's fault. It's my head's fault for being ugly, so don't blame me!

And then she actually finally explains what she means by her head being "ugly."

When you’re really being negative in your head, and the editor on your shoulder, as Barry B. Longyear, called it, is too loud, then just step away.

... *facepalm*

So having an inner editor is "ugly" because it makes you want to write better. I get it now. Alright everyone! LKH has spoken and has told us that inner editors are bad. From now on everyone must stop editing. And this goes double if we want to edit anyone else's work. How dare we cut them down, destroy their dreams, and tell them that their work is anything less than perfect. How cruel we have all been without knowing it. I for one have changed.

Jon and I met Charles at the theater and saw WANTED. We laughed out loud, and found it just way too much fun. But be warned, we were the only three people laughing at much of what seemed utterly humorous to us. So, bear in mind that your humor mileage may vary.

Yes, we get it. You are so darkity-dark and speshul that you find violence amusing when no one else (at least from your POV) does.

Also, the violence, though some is pure movie physics, is more realistic than you may be used to seeing. Realistic enough that I spent a good portion of the movie pressed back in my seat, going, "Oh, ah," and ,"Oh, that’s gotta hurt."

Wait. I thought you were laughing. Shouldn't your lines should have been more like, "Ha ha! Straight through the stomach," and "What a loser! Anita could have survived that without a scratch!" Keep in mind that I haven't seen Wanted, so I don't know whether there is a stomach injury or not.

It wasn’t an edge of your seat movie. It was a press back away from the screen, gripping hard, and flinching movie. Some of the stunts made me do that thing where you move in your seat with the action, as if your moving with it.

I thought she was laughing at most of it. She was laughing at most of it, wasn't she?

Though, it is not kid safe, let me just be clear on that. Trinity is not seeing this movie anytime soon.

O RLY? I love how she likes to classify a lot of the things she watches as "not kid safe." Based on how old Trinity already is, I really wonder about LKH's judgment. (Well, I've been wondering about it for awhile.) I think Trinity could watch at least half of what LKH has termed unacceptable and not be mentally scarred in anyway. That and that tiny little detail that Trinity's mom writes porn for a living.

We did take her to see KUNG FU PANDA last weekend and it was a blast.

... You know, I... *closes mouth* I can't think of anything polite to say.

Very fun for her, for us, and for our friends Pili and Kari that went with us.

LKH has female friends? When did this happen?

More stuff about how Kung Fu Panda was very good... They mention they want to get it on DVD when it comes out...

Okay, I think the read over of SWALLOWING DARKNESS has percolated enough in my mind.

Percolated - to cause (a liquid) to pass through a porous body

Could this be the new "spill?"

I’m going to go back and get a few sentences, maybe even paragraphs, then I’ll break for a late lunch, then back to work.

For writing a few paragraphs of plotless bad sex is hard work deserves a nice break.

What’s Jon doing today?

The question should be, "What does Jon do?" Period.

He’s playing computer games, reading books, and basically enjoying the fact that no one is here but us, and that this is one holiday that everyone seems to take off, so there’s no work to do.

Somehow... I don't think Jon's schedule differs very much during the actual workweek. Might just be me though...

A quiet day to putter, and be cheerfully anti-social is sometimes a very refreshing way to spend a day.

Except for the fact that no anti-social person I know posts details about their sex life and how batshit insane they are on their public work blog.

I’d be joining him for the cheerful anti-social thing, but the book doesn’t write itself.

That and you can't be cheerfully antisocial together. "Antisocial" just doesn't work that way... unless someone can prove me wrong.

Where are those book writing fairies when you need them? Oh, wait I’ve got all of my imaginary fairyland waiting for me to sit back down and finish up.

Haha. I think that was LKH trying to be witty right there. Too bad she failed.