This is my first time posting here-- I've been looking at everyone's amazing projects for a little while though =)...

Here's the pattern design:
( My cross stitch: Queen of Hearts )

I have a horrible habit of working on more than one page at a time haha... and at about the 8th page in, I'm starting to not like this pattern anymore! =( Oh well, I've put this much effort into it, I need to keep going!

This is a story about a very natural, albeit very incredible, birth.
So incredible that I'm presenting it to you to help me determine whether it could have happened at all.

The title of the article featuring the story really tells it all "Woman gives birth in train toilet - baby slips through the hole - is safe"

I've heard about such stories in the past, but now I'm really questioning the truth about them: how can a baby fall out of the train? what about the umbilical cord??????

( Link )
( Full text here )

http://www.cheriepriest.com/2009/11/20/november-20-2009/

http://www.cheriepriest.com/?p=914

I’ve been dreadfully slack lately, tied up in my own neuroses and plot tangles; but I’m finally back on the fiction pony and I actually have some word count progress to report.

I realize it seems like I’m making an early day of it (and indeed, I might well get a little more work done before the afternoon’s over), but I’m leaving soon to go play back-up writer at a coffeeshop in front of a TV crew. It’s gonna be fun, but that’s all I’m going to say about it for now — because the television piece isn’t about me, and I’m not sure how much I’m supposed to spill.

Anyway, I actually have two word meters to post today.

First: Here are recent stats for the fabulous urban fantasy adventure about a neurotic vampire/thief and her wealthy blind client, now with Bonus! Cuban drag queen and military intrigue:

Project: Bloodshot
New Words Written: 2344 (meh)
Present Total Word Count: 76,513 words
Goal: 95,000 words by December 12





Things Accomplished in Fiction: Crashed a parkour meeting in D.C.; dragged a hipster ghoul into strange places; left the part-time drag queen on blind vampire babysitting duty.
Things Accomplished in Real Life: Day-job work; some housework but not enough; minimal errand-running; kitty-pestering.

Second: I give you stats for the dirigible/pony-express story with zombies, the Goodnight-Loving trail, and a 19-year-old Union veteran who’s stuck with a mechanical foot.

Project: “Reluctance”
New Words Written: 1509
Present Total Word Count: 1509 words
Goal: 5000 words by November 29





Details: This one’s on deck to fulfill an invite to an anthology. I’ve almost let the deadline get away from me, but I love the story and I’m shoehorning it in to my schedule, dammit. One way or another. I set the word goal at 5000 words because that’s the absolute outside limit of how long it can run. I’ll probably go over a little and have to prune myself down, but we’ll see.

I’ve been dreadfully slack lately, tied up in my own neuroses and plot tangles; but I’m finally back on the fiction pony and I actually have some word count progress to report.

I realize it seems like I’m making an early day of it (and indeed, I might well get a little more work done before the afternoon’s over), but I’m leaving soon to go play back-up writer at a coffeeshop in front of a TV crew. It’s gonna be fun, but that’s all I’m going to say about it for now — because the television piece isn’t about me, and I’m not sure how much I’m supposed to spill.

Anyway, I actually have two word meters to post today.

First: Here are recent stats for the fabulous urban fantasy adventure about a neurotic vampire/thief and her wealthy blind client, now with Bonus! Cuban drag queen and military intrigue:

Project: Bloodshot
New Words Written: 2344 (meh)
Present Total Word Count: 76,513 words
Goal: 95,000 words by December 12





Things Accomplished in Fiction: Crashed a parkour meeting in D.C.; dragged a hipster ghoul into strange places; left the part-time drag queen on blind vampire babysitting duty.
Things Accomplished in Real Life: Day-job work; some housework but not enough; minimal errand-running; kitty-pestering.

Second: I give you stats for the dirigible/pony-express story with zombies, the Goodnight-Loving trail, and a 19-year-old Union veteran who’s stuck with a mechanical foot.

Project: “Reluctance”
New Words Written: 1509
Present Total Word Count: 1509 words
Goal: 5000 words by November 29





Details: This one’s on deck to fulfill an invite to an anthology. I’ve almost let the deadline get away from me, but I love the story and I’m shoehorning it in to my schedule, dammit. One way or another. I set the word goal at 5000 words because that’s the absolute outside limit of how long it can run. I’ll probably go over a little and have to prune myself down, but we’ll see.

[Crossposted to/from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so either here or there.]

If you were to find a journal, what would you like it to be filled with?

Hey everyone, I am extremely allergic to... everything... from birth I had a blood diseas that well now makes me so allergic to things sometimes I have just... overlooked my allergies for a long time. Thing is the other day I wanted to try this toner on my face and neck. It was a tomato based toner and well the result has been pretty tragic. I have used toners before and they have never burnt my skin... this one not only gave my face a nice little allergy that is taking DAYS to clean up but also burn't a bit behind my ear... it has been rather painful and I was wondering if there was anything natural that I can put on there to ease the pain or should IO just let it be... funny thing is I didn't feel too much until I scratched my skin off in class by misatke... it's not a big burn and it seems to be healing but it still pretty sore, half of it is hidden by my hair.

Anything that will help ease it a bit?

TIA!

A friend just asked me, "What are your reasons for not vaccinating? Aren't you concerned about getting other children sick by not vaccinating your own?"

She's honestly curious, and I don't want to screw this up.
I'm a new mom and new to natural living, and I'd love to get others' thoughts and "one-liners" so that I don't ramble on forever with her without being efficient and effective.

Any words of wisdom or links to articles that might help me?

Thanks in advance!

Again, I am horribly behind. Again, apologies, though what good are apologies when one seems so disinclined to change one's ways and, history has proven, one only gets worse.

At one point, so far away that I can't really remember when, I read People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks. It wasn't really my sort of book, having been thrust upon me by my mother, but it was a very good book in all other respects (and to be fair, one can't really blame Ms. Brooks for not wishing to write about space aliens or time travel). This is the story of a woman called in to authenticate (or repair? It's been a while) a one-of-a-kind book, and it dips back into the past to other people who came into contact with this book, saving it, each time, from destruction. It's extremely well crafted and, as I said, it is unfair of me to complain that it's just straight fiction with no sci.

Next was Orbit Unlimited by Poul Anderson which I remember liking very much, especially the end but which I cannot, at this moment, remember otherwise. Pardon me while I dig. Well... even with some research, I only barely remember it, besides that it was generally good and that I liked the ending. It's about a bunch of scientific sorts fleeing an authoritarian Earth government for a recently discovered alien planet. It's sort of a riff, I think, on the colonization of America, but with some interesting elements which come from said colonization being done by people who pride themselves on being rational.

Then there was the new Terry Pratchett book, Unseen Academicals. I can't tell you how glad I am that Mr. Pratchett is still writing. I must be honest, however, and say that, with his newer books, I do not fall to the ground laughing as often as I used to, but that they are nevertheless a delight. They are comfortable, like a letter from your cantankerous aunt about family members you remember fondly but haven't seen in years.

Then it was a book by Heinlein called Citizen of the Galaxy which did not irritate me as Heinlein books are wont to do. Mr. Heinlein, I find, tends to write in an irritatingly avuncular manner, his main characters being older gents who tend to pat their female compatriots on their bottoms while telling them to run along. I do not claim rabid feminism, merely the normal sort, but in many Heinlein books, his tone toward women consistently irritates me, not because it is misogynistic (it isn't) but because it seems so... sweetly dismissive. I am not putting it well, and I apologize. That said, this particular book had hardly any female involvement at all and, as the main character was a mere youth, he hadn't had time to get used to the notion of us ladies as sweet lovable and potentially companionable sex objects, so I had a great time reading it. It's the story of a kid who starts out as a slave and manages, with luck and good friends, to fight his way into a better lifestyle. The ending was a bit wanting, which made me wonder if there's a sequel floating about somewhere. Heinlein, despite my one minor irritation, is a fantastic storyteller.

Next it was a return to an old favorite that I don't believe I'd read since my mother read it to me when I was seven. All Things Bright and Beautiful is the second James Herriot book chronicling his life as a vet in Yorkshire just before WWII. It isn't high literature, but it's fun to read. I am biased on this one, since it gets plenty of points merely because my mother read it to me when I was little and I thought it was hilariously funny then. It does, and I mention this for all you parents out there, make for wonderful bedtime reading, since most of the chapters stand alone well enough as individual anecdotes. For me, rereading it was like the comfort of coming home again after a long absence.

Then it was Shield of Time by Poul Anderson, a story of an organization of time police scattered throughout history to make sure that the course of history doesn't get derailed. On its own merits, it was a fine enough book, but I've been reading Kage Baker recently and, although I am almost sure that Ms. Baker wrote her books later, I'd read hers first and hers were BETTER. Mr. Anderson ended up paling in comparison.

Tired of science fiction for a while and craving a silly action book, I switched over to John Grisham's A Time to Kill. Mr. Grisham tends to annoy me with his habit of letting his main characters survive, even though they've just, for example, pissed off the entire Mafia. His books are huge and elaborate in their conspiracies but his main characters inevitably end up in Costa Rica on a beach. I tell you this so that you will know how much it means when I say I really liked this one. It's an extremely well-crafted novel that, I think, blows The Pelican Brief and The Firm out of the water, I think mostly because this one is just about a trial. There's no giant conspiracy; it's just a small town lawyer defending a black man who murdered the two white men who brutally raped his ten year old daughter. I liked this so much better than any of the other stuff I'd read by Mr. Grisham. It had me laughing out loud at some parts and cringing at others. You should totally read it.

And then, finally (and again, I apologize for my tardiness, which requires you to read about eight books all at once), I read Against the Stream by Noah Levine. This book was thrust upon the boyfriend by, I think, one of the yoga instructors where he works. I think she was trying to convince him that Buddhism was cool. He, of course, has ignored the book for three months and I, feeling obligated, picked it up. Firstly I'd like to say that Mr. Levine presents a concise, simply worded (and this is a good thing, I hate people that overcomplicate things so as to sound intelligent) summary of Buddhism. He was not, however, writing it for me, and I got annoyed by him calling Siddhartha "Sid" and his repeated insistence that Buddhists are rebels and revolutionaries. He is, you see, coming from a punk background, and is trying, with this book, to appeal to the punk youth. "You're a rebel and anti-establishment? Well guess what? So's my pal Sid!" is what he seems to be saying. Thing is, I'm NOT a rebel, not really, nor anti-establishment, so the bits Mr. Levine sticks in to appeal to his intended audience just appeared to me to be condescending, like when you're fifteen and your parents ask if something is "cool" and you can just hear the air quotes. I'd be interested to know what actual punks who might have read this book thought about it.

And I'm done now. Sorry, again.

83/100ish. I'm fallen behind.

Yesterday, I managed to do 1,107 words on "Teratophobia," though the story seems to be going somewhere I'd not expected, and so I'm thinking it may have to be retitled.

And I have some other news, which isn't exactly huge news, but is fairly cool. However, I do not think I am yet at liberty to relay it. Maybe in the next day or two, once my agent says I can.

Mostly, I'm sort of working overtime to stave off a crushing sense of dread, as I contemplate what December and January are going to be like:

December:
* Begin Blood Oranges (working title)
* Write short story for Robert Silverberg tribute anthology (Subterranean Press)
* Write and produce Sirenia Digest #49

January:
* Continue Blood Oranges (working title)
* Write short story for chapbook to accompany the numbered edition of The Ammonite Violin & Others
* Write and produce Sirenia Digest #50

It's daunting, even for someone as productive as I usually am. The good news is, after January, the schedule will lighten up, and I'll "only" have the new novel and Sirenia Digest to worry about.

Better too much work than no work at all.

---

My thanks to everyone who voted in last night's poll. Henceforth, I shall only refer to that Palin woman as "Caribou Barbie," whenever I have cause to speak of her in this journal.

---

Wednesday night, we watched the final two episodes of Bryan Fuller's Wonderfalls. While it has it's moments and, all in all, I enjoyed the series, Wonderfalls is definitely a distant third to Fuller's truly outstanding (and also canceled) achievements, Dead Like Me (his very best) and Pushing Daisies (his second best).

Last night, we played WoW. Shaharrazad and Suraa in the Plaguelands. Both became exalted with the Argent Dawn, though, secretly Shah despises that order, and sees the AD as a nest of rotten turncoats. Perhaps she plans to work to subvert them from the inside.

And now, seven more photos from Wednesday's trip to Green Hill. I call this one "Sanderlings Installment, with Gull Tracks":

( 18 November 2009, Part 2 )

My first design is up at Chinatowner/ChicStar - I hope you'll help me out with a yes vote!

(I don't think you have to register on the site to vote, but could somebody let me me know for sure?)

41. Tattoo This Madness In - Daniel Allen Cox
Interesting look at teenage rebellion.

42. Inda - Sherwood Smith
Definitely page-turner. I love the detailed world she's created. I really need the next one in this series!

43. Can You Ever Forgive Me?: Memoirs of a Literary Forger - Lee Israel
Quite short, not as interesting as I expected it to be.

44. Fearless Fourteen - Janet Evanovich
As always, a fun, quick read.

45. Midnight Alley - Rachel Caine
Third in the Morganville Vampires series. Why have I not got book 4 already lined up?

46. Undone - Rachel Caine
First in a new series. If you liked the Weather Warden series (which I loved), you'll find this equally good.

47. A Friend of the Family - Lisa Jewell
An odd houseguest helps a family work through their issues. This one was just, well, meh.

48. The Lightening Thief - Rick Riordan
Bringing mythology into the modern world, another one that I need to get the next book for!

49. Throne of Jade - Naomi Novik
Book 2 of the Temeraire series, Captain Laurence and Temeraire travel to China. Yet another series for which I don't have the next book! *sigh*

50. The Tender Bar - J.R. Moehringer
Fabulous memoir, great storytelling.

51. Gone to New York: Adventures in the City - Ian Frazier
Slices of life in the Big Apple.

52. Deadly Decisions Kathy Reichs
Another Temperance Brennan novel, with all the expected twists and turns.

OMG, I'm actually caught up! How on earth did that happen? I'm usually scrambling at the end of the year to get this all done. Oh, wait, considering I read some these over a month ago, I guess I'm staying true to form. :)

I'm so pleased to have found this site!

Right now I'm working on this design.

I'm stitching on beige 16 ct. Aida cloth. It's 51 inches across, and I'm too afraid to measure the length, because then I know it will take forever to complete. :) The pattern itself is 15 pages or so. I've just started the third page, which is mainly the beanstalk:

( the third page )

I started it earlier this year and really would be much farther ahead if I were more focused, but I just have too many interests. Ideally I would stitch at night, but my husband likes the lights off when we watch tv, and you can't really stitch without good lighting.

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/11/blood-blood-in-unimaginable-quantities.html

I'm happy to say that I've not won any more awards in the last 24 hours, or done anything particularly noteworthy. I've walked the dog. Written things. Listened to things on headphones. Eaten a bit. (I've lost weight in the last year. I'm about twenty pounds lighter than I was this time last year, without having done much more than eating smaller portions and a lot more sensibly. This makes me happy.) I spiced three different chilis (the Hot, the Mild and the Vegetarian) for the weekend visitors. (Lorraine, my assistant, traditionally makes the chili, and I come in at the end and spice them. Thus it has always been.) During any down moments I've read comics, for a project I don't know if I can talk about yet. Some astonishingly good ones, some not so good.

Turns out quet_wyatt72 is a Dad again (I had no idea C was pregnant). Given how Z turned out, I am assuming their second baby to be a child of extraordinary beauty. Congratulations!

And turns out fuzzy1313 is an uncle. Congratulations!

Two more Scorpios in the world. This is A Good Thing.

Romance fiction isn't really my thing. Not that I am against fictional characters finding love, just that that particular genre isn't one I bother with. However, a lot of people do love to read it, and a lot of people make a living (or something approximating one) from writing it.

If you read romance or write it, I've got news for you. dr_pretentious posted about Harlequin books pulling a fast one on writers and readers alike. It's so egregious that 3 American writers' association (romance, mystery and sci-fi) have put out strongly worded objections to it. The doc points to this post by annathepiper, which links to a series of really cogent explanations of what is going on.

Harlequin books have set up a vanity press, which they're pimping as a possible way for authors to get noticed by them and possibly published by their actual publishing house. They're hyping it in their rejection letters, and in letters to their authors which give really misleading info about it - OK, I'd say they're on one side of the line between misleading and outright lying, but make up your own mind about that. And this means that aspiring writers are getting right royally turned over (see the links for how this works).

So if you write romance, steer clear of these people. If you read it, you might want to consider whether or not you can justify giving them your money.

I wove with the kids at school again today. They didn't seem as fast as last week. One of the other moms and I may have come up with a way to help the warp on the Beka looms stay tighter. I think it helped the kids a bit. I have a couple of weeks off before we weave again so hopefully I'll get my act together and rewarp the looms in advance. I'd actually like to try warping my loom for Niels and seeing if he can do it. He was really interested in it.

I have had a kid-intensive week, with a field trip and Arts Focus and tomorrow I'm working in the preschool to pay someone back for covering for me so it was good to get out tonight to BobaKnit. Those BobaKnitters know how to make me laugh. Hannah especially. <3 you, Hannah!

Both front pieces of my sweater are now done! I am ready to start the top of the back. I think I'm pretty on track to finish this thing by the end of the month! Although, that front middle piece is pretty big so maybe I shouldn't get ahead of myself. Since it's all still on one circular needle it's kind of hard to photograph, but hopefully you can get the idea from this picture.

I'm pleased with it so far. I look forward to the back being done so I can sort of try it on. Right now that's impossible unless I put parts on waste yarn or another needle and that seems like too much work.

Originally posted on abigailvr.vox.com

I'm new here =) My baby is 11 days old and I desperately want to use our Ergo and infant insert. However, I cannot get it to feel or look right for the life of me. I've even watched the DVD a few times. I feel like total momfail. Does anyone have advice on this? I feel like I just need to get a wrap but that's going to be a lot of work for me with a newborn and I'd like this expensive thing I already have to just... work =P

I'm in no danger of writing a romance novel, and you may not be, either, but everyone who cares about books has a stake stopping the nasty stunt Harlequin hopes to get away with. annathepiper offers this very helpful overview and collection of links.

Never say never. I proclaimed the last rose of autumn and suddenly my garden exploded with new flowers late into the season surviving two nor'easters. They did not, however, all survive the rabbits who indulged in a rose petal feast early this morning. Silly rabbit. Tricks are for the kids. I can't complain. The garden is beautiful even as it fades and ah...comes back and then fades again.

    

( roses and rabbits )

x-posted to http://wildmuse.net/rabbits-and-roses/