Updates

[gwyn]

Sis_r update: She had her last chemo treatment on Monday and is in pretty bad shape, but she is relieved to be done. I don't think she ever really recovered from her surgery, and then to have chemo on the tail of that has wreaked a lot of havoc on her, and she's in excrutiating pain from some problems with her spine, but they are hopeful that it will go away after the treatments end. She cried a lot on the phone the other night, once she figured out who I was! She was so doped up from painkillers and anti-anxiety meds she couldn't tell she wasn't talking to herself. It was kind of funny till she started crying. Not so Evil Anymore Twin has always been incredibly thin, and when I saw her in Sept. she looked like she'd escaped from Dachau, so I can only imagine (horribly) what she must look like now. I'm going to spend NY's eve and the weekend with her, and I confess I'm afraid. She still had hair then and wasn't in half as bad a shape as she is now, so I'm terrified that I will burst into tears when I see her. And god I hate flying, so very much, but I really need to see her and I couldn't get down there at Christmas.

I will have a permanent job that is temporary starting in January, it looks like (I'll be a real employee of the company that bought Slate, but they will expect me to move east after the transition period and no way no how -- the east coast: nice to visit, would rather die than live there), so I will start looking into the genetic test then, when I think I might have slightly better benefits (though I'm not sure -- since I was a contractor, I never expected a job offer, and so I didn't take the benefits info when I went to the big meeting!). So maybe putting it off will be good, maybe not, who knows? These days I just play everything a day at a time.

I will try to get back on the usage post track after the new year. Though I think I'm running out of topics. If there's something that hasn't been addressed (go to my memories section and you can find previous posts), and you really want to see it, let me know. I've avoided the dreaded POV because it's so complex, but if enough people clamor, I will relent and do it.

I've started the vid for Escapade, just capturing so far (talking_sock, your six-hour Nemesis copy was fantastic! I can't thank you enough), and now I am paralyzed by what to do. I think I can't vid anymore. Even in iMovie, I have no concept. No nothing. There's this cool drum beat at the beginning that I can't figure out what to do with. I just... I don't believe I can vid anymore. Arg! And it's not like I have time...

Reccity recs: F&F khaleesian has a new chapter of Rewind, now with physical contact! Yum. maygra has been continuing a sort of related piece to Unfinished Business called Damage, over at her LJ. Lots of angst and pain and suffering, yay!

mlyn has been sucked into the dark side, er, rather, into XXX fic and offers up a Xander/Kolya story for the holidays (not that it's about the hols, mind you). Pretty for the Vin fans. (BTW, her LJ's f-locked, so friend her if you're interested!)

And a big shoutout to tzikeh and astolat for their huge effort yesterday dealing with frantic authors, a failed site because of worm destruction, and just general hell. You guys deserve way more than a pat on the back.

Comments

[destina.livejournal.com]

She still had hair then and wasn't in half as bad a shape as she is now, so I'm terrified that I will burst into tears when I see her.

Oh, Gwyn. *hug* I will have her, and you, in my thoughts this Christmas.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Every thought's a good one, as far as I'm concerned.

[stakebait.livejournal.com]

*hugs* I'm so sorry.

In my experience with mom, chemo makes you look more like crap the more you go along, so she may very well look like something the cat dragged in, but it's all gonna get better from here, albeit more slowly than anyone would like.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Yeah, I remember how sunken my mom was, and how she shrank to this leeetle tiny person, and how her feet and hands went numb for over a year after treatment. They never really got better. It's not the easiest thing, that's for sure.

[elynross.livejournal.com]

Would it be possible for you to wait to recommend Yuletide stories until *after* all the info has gone public? I know they aren't yours, but being associated with you will narrow down the field of who wrote what, and authors have been trying very hard to keep details secret until after the reveal.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Ok, sorry. I didn't think I had any associations. I'm just afraid I won't remember to rec them later since I don't really participate in it and don't know all the deadlines.

[labgirl2076.livejournal.com]

My thoughts are with you, gwyn. From personal experience, I know that the end of treatment is the worst. But it gradually gets better after that. I think that while my treatments weren't a wonderful experience, it could have been much worse. Good luck to her! What kind of problems is she having with her spine? The reason I ask is that since I've been done my back is killing me and I don't know if it's jut me or left overs from treatment. So I'm curious. I hope that you do eventually get the genetic test that when you get other (better?) insurance. Good luck with that.

the east coast: nice to visit, would rather die than live there

What in the world is wrong with the east coast? I feel the same way about the west coast; but then again I have never been. Too funny.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

She has a really sore tailbone that is so inflamed she can't sit, but lying down is killing her too, and she hasn't got enough strength to stand. And I guess her whole spine is extremely sore -- bending, the like. It almost sound slike what you're talking about. I'm so sorry to hear that -- {{hugs}}!

The east coast -- well, weather, for one. Hate hate hate heat and humidity, and hate super cold in winter. Out here we have the temperate climate -- mildly hot in summer, mildly cold in winter, occasional bouts of extreme either way. Crowdedness, for another. Even in the city here things are less densely packed, and I grew up in rural areas of the west, and once you've had that sense of wide open spaces, it's hard to give up. Really hard. I love visiting, but I always feel itchy when I'm in DC or NY -- it makes me claustrophic even when we're tooling around the countryside. I hate the faster pace too -- in the Pacific NW, we move very slowly. ;-) That big difference between live to work and work to live, as well. All my east coast friends are such go-getters, and out here we're all, well, let's relax and hang out on the back porch. I would do poorly out there.

[labgirl2076.livejournal.com]

Hmm...I hate the heat and humidity. I also am not fond of snow for 6 months. Sitting on the back porch relaxing? Tell me you sit around drinking wine and I think I'll have to move. It sounds heavenly.

[varina8.livejournal.com]

You'll be in my thoughts. BTW I believe new owners also own Everett Herald, if that link helps any.

[mlyn.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to have news of sis_r, even if it's not good. Hugs and good-health vibes to you and her.

Heh, the way I read your rec, it sounded like my primary obsession is xXx now and I've completely forgotten F&F. Not so...just still haven't had any time to work on the Part 4 of Doom. (And you forgot about my Bourne Supremacy freak show!) Thanks for the rec, though.

[(Anonymous)]

Hello Gwyn_r
Well I will certainly keep good thoughts going out to you and your sister. I hope you a VERY happy holiday and a good visit with your sis!!!

AND I apologize for trying to give your Testing Gravity story to Maygra. My oops.

Catty

[klia.livejournal.com]

My thoughts are with you and your sis. ::hugs::

[avidrosette.livejournal.com]

So sorry to hear about your sister. I remember when my mother went through that--so terribly painful for all concerned. Here's wishing that it only gets better from this point on.

On another subject of your post, more usage posts would be incredibly helpful. Here are some ideas for subjects that I'd love to see. I apologize if you've already covered some of them; I only discovered your archive of posts the other day when you posted the link, and haven't yet read through all of them (though I certainly intend to).

I'd be very grateful to read your advice on the following grammar/general writing questions:

Grammar:
--when to use the subjunctive in English (I can rattle off the conditions for its usage in Spanish, but don't recall learning detailed rules in English)
--placement of quotation marks (obvious in most cases, but with some exceptions that I wouldn't mind seeing reviewed)
--punctuation of dialogue (again, general rule is obvious, but there are lots of variations)
--how to handle the strange construction "would have liked to see" vs. "would have liked to have seen" (any rules there, or is one correct and the other simply incorrect?)
--rules on when to use variant past tense forms of verbs like "dived/dove" and "awakened/awoke" (perhaps you've handled this already? Must check.)

Writing:
--scene transitions, how to avoid both abruptness and tiresome exposition
--POV, particularly tips on narrating other characters' actions/reactions when writing from the third person limited POV of one character
--balancing dialogue and texture
--balancing dialogue and narration of the POV character's internal thoughts
--chapter structure--whether to end on falling action or rising action, how much time ought to elapse in each chapter
--thoughts on scene length, the impact of short vs. long scenes
--handling of flashbacks/character memories (tips on how to integrate, how to transition in and out)

Finally, I wonder if you have any advice on checking the correctness of historical English. I'm writing a William piece set in Victorian London, and feel very strongly about getting the period language correct. So far, I'm relying on my ear--and a lifetime of reading 19th-century novels--but sometimes I can't quite hear if a certain antiquated construction is correct. Do you have any advice on where/how I might double-check it? (I know a number of writers do write period pieces, so perhaps this would be an interesting usage post as well.)

Thank you so much for considering these ideas! (And, yes, I realize you can't possibly address them all, but if one or two catch your interest, that would be lovely.)

Best wishes, again, for your sister.

[avidrosette.livejournal.com]

Whoops. Going through the actual texts (rather than titles) of your archived usage posts, I see you've covered a bunch of topics I mentioned. Please consider those deleted from the above! Sorry about that.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Sorry it took so long to reply! I'm such a dork, I spaced on this.

Those are some great ideas -- I've been avoiding POV because it's not technically usage, but it comes up so much when I discuss usage that it's hard to avoid.'

The historical language thing is a toughie. I spent a very very long time doing research on westerns, trying to get a sense of the way common people spoke, rather than writers. I ended up lucking into some documents written by a guy about his Nebraska town that were wonderful, and my great-grandfather wrote his autobiography, which was helpful. Some eras are incredibly well documented like this -- Victorian England is especially so, the American west as well. But for a time period I'm working on for my novel, 1928, it's horrible. I'm having the worst time, becuase all anyone writes about are flappers and college kids and jazz bands and whatnot. It's as if the world doesn't exist outside the roaring '20s picture, and common life is impossible to really get a grip on. I'm actually going to talk to a woman in my dad's retirement center who is 99, just to get some decent info!

But I know what you mean about relying on your ear and just trying to get a sense of it. Writer's Digest puts out a series of books on time periods that I really liked; I don't know if they do VE but they have them for a number of eras and places, so it might be worth looking into. They give you all these tiny place and period details, odd things you won't find in many places. And don't forget to check out the historical resources for fanfic writers -- if you go to my main LJ page, and look at the links on the right, there's one to this amazing site that I think is very helpful.