Uncreated Conscience

Today in New York it is a beautiful and spring-like 65 degrees. And once the weather turns warm, my mind instantly turns to one question: When does skydiving season begin again? I know it’s bound to turn cold again soon and last year when Bear and I started to learn to jump, it was too [...]

I got actually a little revision done on Elijah’s Chariot yesterday, but I think I need to muddle out some other themes/issues before progressing with it.

Things I Have Learned About My Novel Over the Course of Revision

1. This is not a story about saving the day; this is a story about three children struggling to stay friends through impending civil war.
2. This is not a story about good vs. evil; this is a story about finding your moral centre in the midst of compelling, but wrong extremes.
3. This is also a book about parents (or the lack thereof): good ones, bad ones, false ones, true ones.
4. Miracles are not only linked to a state of Grace, but to strong emotions as well; love above all. (I know, I know, how Harry Potter/J.K. Rowling of me.)

The first was a bit of a revelation for me. [...]

Oh god, I could finish this chapter, but I swear I can’t keep my eyes open.

The novel now stands at:

70,508 / 90,000 words. 78% done!

Projected word count has been changed once more. It looks like it will no longer be 100k, thank goodness. I am so close to the end I can practically taste it and it’s killing me. It’s rather like running the last mile of a marathon, when your lungs are afire and every last fibre of your body is screaming to stop and take a rest, but you know you can’t, you are so close and almost done. (…)

So it was bound to happen. Someone as accident-prone as I was bound to sustain some sort of injury in skydiving. The verdict? A minuscule hairline stress fracture in my pelvic area that will put me out of commission for 4 to 6 weeks. The good news? It’s so damn tiny that it will heal [...]

One weekend at the dropzone has passed and already I owe an obscene amount of beer. I committed the cardinal error of saying the verboten words “first jump,” I landed 12 fucking inches outside the beer line, and because it was my first jump out of the Skyvan, I owe more beer for that. The [...]

My grandmother is so badass. Because I went down to Pennsylvania at the last minute this past weekend, I couldn’t dump my skydiving equipment behind so I had to lug it all with me on the train (my poor helmet is getting increasingly banged up and I’ve hardly even used it!). She took one look [...]

If there is one thing my mother excels at, it’s having the worst timing ever. For instance, Sunday night she calls me at Bear’s house to ask for a favour. “Sure, Mum,” I say, “What is it?” “Can you come down to Pennsylvania? It’s a bit of an emergency; I’m in the hospital.” After a [...]

My personal trainer totally beat my ass into submission last night. I am not quite sore…yet but dear god, I can tell this weekend might suck a little. After I tottered into the door, Wicked Cool Riley remarked, “You look wrecked.” And I was. But man, did I sleep like a baby last night. I [...]

more cat pictures Oh I Can Haz Cheezburger, you have never been more awesome. So I made an interesting discovery last night: my altimeter is glow-in-the-dark! I’m so easily amused. Like a small child. Ooh shiny! Coming into work from New Jersey this morning probably was not one of the wiser decisions I have ever [...]

Oh dear god, I am poor, poor, poor. In addition to my high and low solos today, I bought a helmet, an altimeter, and goggles, which was much more expensive than it ought to be. But the altimeter was rather necessary as I was entirely on my own today. Saturday was spent being naked and [...]