Hi Lyn,

I enjoyed your note last week (on summer solstice!) and it started me thinking... "just why the heck am I so busy?" Sure, making a living and all that stuff, that's always a good excuse, although now it seems like it takes twice as much work to get the same amount of income. The reason is that I work in real estate... marketing, sales, development, etc. It was going great there for a while, everyone wanted to buy a home or three, but now the market is in the tank and it's going to be a long steep climb back out. No real surprise, we all know it is cyclical.

So - there is the "working" that takes up lots of time...

And then there is the writing. I've been working on two very different novels for the last 13 months or so. One seems to have gotten out of hand and I spend every waking moment either writing, researching, planning or just plain thinking about it. There is this undercurrent of thought going on where everything in my life seems to be juxtaposed against the creation of this fictional story and the characters!

This isn't as bad as it sounds, but if I don't get a chance to sit in front of the laptop for a while on any given day, I get the shakes, and am generally unpleasant to be around. Truly.

My son actually told me that there is actually a named neurosis for obsessive writing, hypergraphia. I don't think I'm that bad yet... he might disagree.

Which reminds me of at least one other thing that competes for my energy and time... refereeing my 23 year old son and my husband as they continue to vie for control of the world.

(it's really not that bad, but we have to exaggerate a bit in order to laugh at otherwise unfunny things... right?)

Anyway - great as always to hear from you! That picture is my sweet dog, Samwise. Named by my son... but the name couldn't suit him better.

He loves to eat (anything at all including carrots!!) and is as reliable and good natured as his namesake was!

Take it easy!

Iris

PS - I love Fugitive Prince! Have been re-reading Janny's series ... this was one of those books that takes on far more meaning in hindsight!

Lähettänyt: villandry 11:21 am (EST) Jun 29, 2008

Hi Lyn,

back safe and sound. The girls all enjoyed their presents, and were glad to see me return as well.

I finished Bull Dancers on Monday then (as promised to LadyMacbeth) I picked up 'Under the Hog' a Richard III novel - another of the much novelised events in history.

I am now gearing up for a wargames tournament - usually I organise and don't play, this time I get to compete. Ashleigh is also playing so we'll both enjoy ourselves.

I'm glad you enjoyed dinner, and that I could point out Basement Books to you.

Cheers
David

Lähettänyt: Macbeth 9:38 am (EST) Jun 24, 2008

Hello Lyn,
many thanks for your greetings.
"Evil Genius" is a fabulous book. The smirk did not go from my face, because the irony is not to be oversight.
The Novelle "minute's silence" of S.Lenz is filled with love, no SF, you would also like it.
The SAP-Certification is at the 2008-07-04.
"Love to negotiate all things."
Loves greetings, Martin

Lähettänyt: MartinKoerner 4:34 pm (EST) Jun 23, 2008

That is good work getting all the Black Company pretty much, too.

From what I have read of the first book, Erickson is like that a bit, but with a few powerups.

Lähettänyt: bluetyson 9:21 am (EST) Jun 22, 2008

Hi L,

I have read first 150 pages of Gardens of the Moon, keep borrowing it from the library and not getting to it. :) Someone said one of the later ones is 1200, a bit off-putting.

Yeah, Cryptonomicon is a bit on the slow side. Stephen King talks about having bloat disease, I am pretty sure Stephenson has it too, after things like Snow Crash and Interface.

I still have a couple of Robson to get too, still been reading a lot of anthologies - and bunch of magazines this week.

Lähettänyt: bluetyson 9:18 am (EST) Jun 22, 2008