Lilith Saintcrow

Does anyone know of a WordPress plugin that will allow me to mass-edit privacy settings on blog entries? There has GOT to be one, I just can’t tickle search engines into telling me…

Five random things from Tuesday in a drive-by post.

* Yesterday I rediscovered Bailey’s and espresso is a wonderful drink. It certainly made the afternoon easier to bear. My only regret is that I could only have one. I made it a double in recompense.

* I am at the point in revisions where I begin to think, huh, this book doesn’t suck nearly as much as I thought it did. Go figure. The Teen and the Selkie are unimpressed by me telling them this. Apparently I say it every time. Although this does not make the process of writing a book any easier, it is still a good gift.

* The Muffin got me talking about politics last night while I was folding clothes. No wonder my blood pressure gets sky high–the oligarchy using Fox News to whip the xenophobic mass into a frenzy of hatred while said oligarchy systematically loots the country would tend to make any reasonable human being a little miffed.

* I hate raking leaves. I used to be forced to rake them until blisters broke and bled on my hands. (There were stains on the wooden handles of the rakes that I am reminded of every time I smell wet fallen leaves.) I am everlastingly glad that the Teen and the Princess not only love raking leaves but beg to do it, the crazy kids. I think this year I will let them take care of it.

* I think the type in Foreign Affairs is large so people can read it while on the treadmill. At least, this is when I read it, and I have been really glad of the large type. I am also fond of playing “what’s the agenda?”–looking at the unconscious assumptions and the agenda of the author of any paper dealing with foreign policy issues.

My joys, they are few and small. But they are mine.

Back to work.

God bless Romancing The Blog. Vibeke Courtney just wrote today about how short-sighted it is not to link from your site, or to only link to places who reciprocal-link. (She suggests using the target=”_blank” addition to your links.)

I do understand, like Vibeke, that you might not want people to navigate away from a site you’ve bought and paid for, this site that is your window to the world and has your merchandise for sale. This is your bread and butter. But someone savvy enough to find your site is savvy enough to bookmark it, and equally savvy enough to use their “back” button. I myself use the “open link in new tab” option when clicking links on one of the sites I enjoy, like Pharyngula or Digby or even my f-list. And I think my readers come back because I have content and I share neat things I find interesting. (At least, I hope so.) Having links throughout a post means you don’t have to Google whatever the hell I’m talking about.

Like when I say the Democrats have to not only win, but win by a large enough margin to cover up illegal Republican vote-stealing.

On February 5th, the day of the Super Tuesday caucus, a school-bus driver named Paul Maez arrived at his local polling station to cast his ballot. To his surprise, Maez found that his name had vanished from the list of registered voters, thanks to a statewide effort to deter fraudulent voting. For Maez, the shock was especially acute: He is the supervisor of elections in Las Vegas.

Maez was not alone in being denied his right to vote. On Super Tuesday, one in nine Democrats who tried to cast ballots in New Mexico found their names missing from the registration lists. The numbers were even higher in precincts like Las Vegas, where nearly 20 percent of the county’s voters were absent from the rolls. With their status in limbo, the voters were forced to cast “provisional” ballots, which can be reviewed and discarded by election officials without explanation. On Super Tuesday, more than half of all provisional ballots cast were thrown out statewide.

This November, what happened to Maez will happen to hundreds of thousands of voters across the country. In state after state, Republican operatives — the party’s elite commandos of bare-knuckle politics — are wielding new federal legislation to systematically disenfranchise Democrats. If this year’s race is as close as the past two elections, the GOP’s nationwide campaign could be large enough to determine the presidency in November. “I don’t think the Democrats get it,” says John Boyd, a voting-rights attorney in Albuquerque who has taken on the Republican Party for impeding access to the ballot. “All these new rules and games are turning voting into an obstacle course that could flip the vote to the GOP in half a dozen states.” from Rolling Stone

Yeah, I just thought I’d slip that in there. The Republican party is no longer conservative. Instead, it’s the party of power and privilege, looking to retain that oligarchic power and privilege by whatever means. But you knew that.

*sigh* Back on topic, Lili.

The “don’t link to anyone else!” thing is silly in the extreme. People come back to your site because you have content that is clearly arranged, informative, and fun. It can also be instructive, educational, or persuasive. If your site doesn’t link anywhere else, it’s a dead end. And no matter how fun or informative dead ends can occasionally be, they’re still dead. And you’ll be left wondering why nobody comes back.

Anyway. Enough of this, I’ve got revisions to do. Weasel Boy is shaping up, and the cats actually stayed off the treadmill this morning. Which was good, because I’d probably pass my spleen out through my nose if I laughed that hard again. Instead, for the past couple days the cats have been drugged to the nines by catnip spray the UnSullen Teen brought home. The funny thing is, when the cats get really high on catnip, they start looking for love in all the wrong places–stuffed animals, laundry, each other…

Then they get all cross-eyed and can’t hold down whatever they’re trying to, ahem, cuddle. So there’s three yowling cats staggering around, trying desperately to focus and hold down random cat-sized objects.

I have hidden the catnip spray. But I’m sure the cats will do something else to make me pass my spleen laughing. They’re good for that.

Over and out.

This weekend I:

* Completely rearranged my kitchen, mostly because I had to do something about the tea (it was threatening to take over the whole cabinet next to the stove) and because I broke down and got a professional-grade mixer. (I was repeating up to 14 cups of flour! all weekend, like a mantra.)

* Had time to myself. Glorious uninterrupted time to think WHOLE THOUGHTS without being interrupted, time to eat without bugging someone else to at least taste their peas. Time to finish a task from beginning to end. Since the kids were visiting their Oji-san in Seattle, I had an empty house. It was divine.

* Got a new hat and jeans/sweatpants for the Little Prince. He’s getting so big! And shopping for the Princess is becoming more problematic, because her tastes change so quickly and are so definite. But, solid colors and classic shapes go over very well.

* Found the cutest coffee cups at Target–they’re shaped like little three-legged cauldrons. I swear, I wait all year for this time, because I can decorate the whole house the way I want it for the other 364 days that aren’t Samhain.

* Practiced with the EmWave. I’m not sure how I feel about it yet.

* Went grocery shopping at Trader Joe’s on a Sunday afternoon. It’s like painting yourself with steak sauce and running around naked inside a hungry-lion cage.

* Finally have enough wire racks to cool all the baked goods I’m planning.

* Slept, and slept, and slept.

All in all, a wonderful weekend. The Selkie and I both finished Ivanhoe (her review here, mine forthcoming). And today is the day I knock off a lot of revisions on Weasel Boy. I feel rested and renewed, and since today has already been a deadly obstacle course of one kind or another (note to self, do not turn the treadmill on without looking behind you, because cats are STUPID) I am really glad I’m firing, so to speak, on all cylinders.

Over and out.

Another bulleted list, since I can’t seem to get any gumption together this morning. Oh, there’s plenty of gumption swilling around the house, I just can’t seem to do more than wade knee-deep through it, moaning helplessly.

* I think I spoke too soon when I said finishing the latest Jill book wasn’t that hard on me. The Valentine books were rough, but Jill comes from a bloodier, more raw place. And I am not so sure I can continue doing them if the toll is going to be this high. But then, I say that every time before I go on with business, find out I’m okay, and then run blindly in where angels fear to tread again. I can’t stop doing Jill books. The next one, I think, belongs to Gilberto and Melendez, and there’s the Argoth storyline to bring forward…see what I mean?

* It seemed dark when I woke up this morning. Then I realized, no, it’s not dark. It’s just that the blinds were down all the way. And it was a half-hour earlier than I usually start rolling around in bed and wishing I could get back to sleep. And it was gray and raining. Autumn has settled in with a vengeance, and I love it when it’s like this–misty and cool and smelling of harvest. This is before the leaves start falling and it starts smelling of natural decay. Once the leaves fall my hands start to hurt, remembering old blisters and beatings. Ugh.

* The workout was hard this morning. I’m hoping that’s a good sign. Next week the intensity ups again–instead of fiddling with running times on the treadmill I’m cutting out the Wednesday rest. That means I’ll be climbing on the treadmill to walk on Wednesdays. No running, yet. And I might shovelglove on Wednesdays too.

* Have I mentioned how much I love shovelgloving? My favorite picture of She-Hulk was her swinging a sledgehammer around. I feel like She-Hulk when I finish shovelgloving. I love how she’s a smart-as-hell lawyer AND can arm-wrestle anyone, anytime, anywhere. She’s fast becoming one of my heroes. (I SO WANT a SH icon. With some text like “HULK SMASH SMART!” on it.)

* I’m thinking of a field trip to get more bloodstone. Either that or a trip to the beach. It’s been too long since I’ve seen the Pacific, and I’m beginning to get antsy. I need to touch the ocean every once in a while. And not every ocean will do–I have a longstanding love affair with the Pacific. Partly because it is anything but, well, pacific. I understand a lot of people love the North Atlantic. But for me, it’s the Pacific. I love that goddamn ocean.

* Ellen Foster is a book made of awesome. I read it again in one gulp not too long ago, when I was having a bad night. But I love this book. There’s a few passages in it that give me the chills, and I’m struck by something new each time. This time it was “eyes that will knock all the ugly right out of you and leave you with too much air to breathe.” I want eyes like that.

* Today I am going to wear a soft, soft sweater and start poking at Weasel Boy again. It will be desultory poking, but that’s better than nothing. And I have all weekend to whip myself into it.

* Plot is not subordinate to character. Character is not subordinate to plot. They are different engines with different fuels and different rules, but both must be working in tandem to drive the story. Plot without character is dull and lifeless. Character without plot is useless wind. The risk of bullshitting your readers rises exponentially when you try to denigrate one at the expense of the other. And that is death. Besides, half the fun of being a writer is juggling all the chainsaws–plot, character, setting, narrative drive–and building something awesome.

* I made cherry-pecan loaf yesterday. Which was awesome and is very tasty. I made challah too, which is going to be French toast later on today. Challah makes awesome, awesome French toast, especially if you use a dab of vanilla in the egg and then put it under the broiler on low. Mmmmmmh. Some days I wish I ran a food blog. But then I think of adding one more project and I just about keel over ded.

* I need to get out at night and take pictures again. I’m really missing that.

So, there you have it. Ten totally random things. Now I’m flitting off to poke at the Weasel Boy revisions. There needs to be more worldbuilding frontloaded and the villains need to be, well, scarier. I find them very scary but I’m aware most people won’t. And really in 70K there’s not a lot of room for scary when you’re also doing ten other things. I must ruthlessly kill every word in that MS that isn’t pulling at least four times its weight.

Over and out…