imaginarycircus

I just saw the neurologist to go over my sleep study results. I don't have apnea. I have obstructive sleep hypopnea, which means I don't get enough oxygen while I'm sleeping--but I keep breathing a little bit. So I get to wear the fun mask that will keep me breathing. My O₂ levels dropped below 90%. No wonder I feel like hell when I wake up. I also had no REM sleep when they tested me and no deep sleep. And I had 101 hypopneas, one a minute and then they put the mask on me.

I'll need to see an ear, nose, and throat dude to see if there is something anatomically funky with my nose or throat. The good news is that I should feel much better once I can actually get restful sleep.

I hope I finish the editing work today or tomorrow. I really want to get this MS off to readers. I'm improving as an editor though. I used to be unsure about changes and not always know why I'm making them. I'm starting to feel clarity about taking out bits that are redundant or over explain, extraneous detail that doesn't really do anything except distract, etc. It's nice to know that I'm learning even though I'm low on sleep and oxygen all the time.

How are you all doing with your stuff? Anyone need a pep talk?

irinaauthor? Wild romp through Romanian myth? Y?

Also Twilight is 11/21 so you won't miss it.

I will finish the editing tomorrow. 23 pages left. That's cake. If I don't it will be because I was abducted by aliens or am in an Emergency Room somewhere being treated for puncture wounds.

So if all goes well many of you will find a large file in your email in the next 24 hours.

In the Unhelpful Tips for Writers vein:

Prose:

I used to write long winded lyrical prose. It felt writerly. It took me a while to realize that in large doses lush, lyrical prose is like being strangled with hot wet velvet drapes. (see note about metaphors below) Sure, a few people probably get off on it--but most people? No. They'll hate it or be bored to death or worn out by it. And it occurred to me that I don't want to write stories for only a few people. I want to write stories that lots of people can read. Keeping my prose simple is key. It doesn't mean I can't have complex ideas or an occasional sentence full of curlicues and semicolons. And writing simple clean prose? Is harder than it looks.

Metaphors:

Each of you has to decide these rules for yourself, of course. More and more I like the idea of only using metaphorical language to describe something rare or strange--something the reader may never have experienced or can't because you made it up. Most people know what a sunset looks like--but not the sunset from Mars. Metaphors that are poetic for their own sake are kind of insulting from a certain perspective and wasting space that could be used for many more compelling details.

Language:

The farther the reality of your fiction is from the reality we agree to know and love the simpler the language should be that you use to describe it. Trying to understand what another world looks like and how it operates while hacking one's way through the prose? Not fun. Not compelling. Not for me.

YMMV.