The husband finally got around to beta-ing the first few chapters of my Nemesis rewrite this weekend.

Sometimes it pays to have an English teacher, who is also a writer himself, as a husband/first reader. I mean, sure, I'm a English major. I write. I read. But he makes his living teaching stories to a bunch of recalcitrant high schoolers. And it isn't his story, so he can look at it from an objective position.

His thoughts had good news/bad news:

Him: "This is a real book. A real story. I can see this being published. It's about a hundred times better than the old version. I would tweak [this here], but this is really good."

Me: YAY!!

Him: "You know you're writing xyz story, right?"

Me: "...um. I am." (Sure, I knew that!)

Him: "Yeah, that means you have to keep [this] and [this] in mind when you're doing the rest of it. Cause a savvy reader, or even a not-so-savvy one, is going to expect this arc to take place. You can do all sorts of deviations and play as much as you want as LONG AS xyz happens."

ME: "Right. I totally knew that." (And I did, subconsciously. It was like "well, duh, of course I am!")

Him, a little cautiously: "You do know you're rewriting the entire book, right?"

Me: "Well, sort of. I mean yes, I'm rewriting/revising the entire thing, but some things will be the same, like [important key events]."

Him: "Yes, but I bet even when you get to [important key events], you'll find you have to change how you present them because of xyz."

Me: *stares at him* "Would you just be quiet and let me live in my delusional little world for awhile longer, wherein I'm not rewriting all 96,000 words from scratch??"

Him: "Okay. But you're going to have to."

Me: Shush!

Breaking radio silence to comment on the new Harry Potter, which I saw last night at an 11:15 show. (Note: I'm getting too old to be watching midnight showings and then getting up for work the next day. Ugh.)

It was unequivocally my favorite of the movies yet. When the credits rolled at close to 2:00 in the morning, I thought "Okay, bring on the next one!"

It's been some time since I've read the book, but I know they left out tons of things from it. That being said, I ADORED the movie, and can't wait to see it again. The kids are all looking so grown up! Tom Felton has finally come through the other side of that awkward looking phase, and he's quite the handsome guy these days. Emma is gorgeous, and the girl who plays Ginny matches my mental image of her perfectly.

( Some spoilers. )

I was scarce last week because my grandmother was in hospice, and then she passed away late Thursday night. My sister's baby shower was Sunday, and Grandma's memorial was Monday. Last week is all kind of a blur, actually.

I'm scarce this week because I'm working on the novella to submit to Samhain, and still revising Nemesis. It never ends! Send me good writing vibes. I need them this week!

Well, I've been scarce 'round these parts lately.

First, the husband returned from Japan, and I've been busy spending time with him. It's been lovely having him home. :)

Also, over the holiday weekend, my maternal grandmother went into the hospital. She's 83 (84 at the end of July), and she's been having small strokes for a couple of years now. The last one made talking much more difficult for her. And then, sometime in the week before the holiday, she apparently had a heart attack. Breathing became so difficult for her, that Grandpa called an ambulance, and the doctors pretty much said her body's shutting down on her, and all we can do now is make her comfortable. I visited her twice while she was in the hospital. My Mom came over and all the kids and grandkids and great-grandkids have been around. Hospice has been called in, and now she's at home, where family is still putting in regular and rotating appearances.

My sister came down from Portland, and has been staying at the house since yesterday morning. I went for two hours this morning, and I wished I could have stayed longer. Grandpa is hyper aware of everything that happens with Grandma, and at the same time, he's trying to find distractions so he doesn't have to think about the fact that his wife of 63 years is dying.

Here's the story of how they met:

When Grandpa was young, he was in the military, at the base up in Alaska, where Grandma and her family lived. Every Tuesday night, the service men would go see a movie with the town girls. Grandma did not go with Grandpa. She went with "some other fella", who Grandpa still refers to in less than complimentary terms, to this day. But she and Grandpa spent enough time together, that when Grandpa left the service at 22 and went back home to Kalamath Falls, Oregon, he left Grandma with his number and where he lived.

A few weeks later, she hopped a train with a one way ticket, and went to Kalamath Falls. When she got into town, she called him up and said "Well, I'm at the train station. You better come get me!" And Grandpa went and picked her up, and drove her to get a marriage license. They were married very shortly thereafter. She was twenty.

I love that story. :D

Apparently, Grandpa isn't eating. That is, he isn't eating unless someone brings food over, and then he feels he has to. I'm going to make something for dinner tonight, and bring it to the house for him and everyone else who might be there. Me, my sister, probably some Aunts and Uncles and a couple of cousins. It's really strange. As sad as the situation is, there's also this...happiness around the house. Like you can feel the love when you're there, and Grandpa's putting together some old toy for the great-grandkids to play with, and everyone's catching up on each other's lives around the kitchen table, while people go in and quietly spend some time with Grandma. My grandfather hugged me, and it almost made me cry, how hard he held on. There's this real bittersweet feeling in the air, and it's a completely different experience from the shock of my Dad's death. It's sort of like we're celebrating her life and mourning her death all at the same time.

I have no idea what I'm going to make. Spaghetti would no doubt be easiest for that large of a group, but I kind of want something with a little more nutritional value to it, as well. My Grandpa has really enjoyed talking with Mark in the past, so Mark is going to come and spend some time there before class tonight, and then I'll stay on for the rest of the evening when he goes home. I'm really looking forward to it, and at the same time, it makes me sad.

Well, my dupioni silk skirt is finished. It took me 5-6 hours, from cutting the pattern to finishing the hem. 90% sewn on my serger. No idea how long it would take with just a sewing machine. I used this pattern, McCalls 5056:



I'm actually wearing it today, with a cute ruffled black top. Sure, I made it to be my pirate skirt, but it's a versatile style and look. Dress it up to go out, dress it down (as I did today) for office wear, or wear it with boots and a bodice for pirate fest! :D Forgive the crappy cell phone pics:





The skirt actually looks better when you're moving, as the black and red move and flow with you, and change how much of either color shows. Overall, I love it. The silk is super lightweight, but the look and drape of the fabric makes it seem heavier to the eye. I guess you could line it if you really wanted to, but why? To me, that would take away from the way the skirt lays, and how light it is on. This stuff would bustle great for a period dress, and it convinces me more than ever to use it for my next Ren gown.

A pretty simple pattern, I'd recommend it. Although sewing the godets (the triangles of red) was kind of a pain, I think I have the hang of it after doing eight of them. This skirt has about four and a half yards of fabric in it, but it's slim at the waist, and flares out as the godets are added. A drawstring waist makes for a simple closure. (I added a waistband, because I hate the "fold over" method of doing a drawstring.)

I think this would be really, really pretty in a soft, flowy fabric, with maybe some flowered panels for the godets, and a solid color for the rest.

As a last note, this skirt cost me approximately $65 in materials to make, including the pattern and thread. I can only imagine that in a store, it would be around $200 at regular price. 100% silk still commands a high price. See? Sometimes sewing can still be cheaper!

...in the "avoid temptation" sense.

I love silk. In sewing, there is nothing quite so beautiful as a length of silk fabric in some vibrant color. That's 'juicy plum', very like the color they used for the famous "plum dress" Elizabeth Swann wore for most of the first Pirates. (One of the actual dresses used.)

Silk dupioni has characteristic "slubs", those little imperfections you see in the fabric - well, those imperfections IMO give it a great texture. The way this stuff shines, the texture just adds a great dimension to it.

The Silk Baron has the best prices for wholesale silk dupioni, in 54" width (Joann's carries the less useful 45", for a lot more $$ per yard). He has over 200 colors (Joann's carries black, white, and ivory or gold, with another color popping up every great once in awhile.)

I ordered two yards of the black cherry to make my pirate skirt with (paired with plain black, so the skirt will be two colors.) It is so beautiful, I'm sort of afraid to cut it.

When I make my next Ren gown, it's going to be from dupioni, though that won't be for awhile, sadly. Partly because I'm going to Pirate Fest again this year, and in an example of someone's poor planning, Portland's Pirate Festival is on the exact same weekend as Oregon's Ren Faire. Usually, they avoid that sort of conflict, since the same people tend to go to these things.

If I sell my old Ren gown, I'll get the silk sooner, but if not, it'll take me awhile to get that many yards, even at his fantastic prices.

A caveat - your computer monitor is never a reliable color matching device. ALWAYS order a swatch before committing to many yards of fabric. A friend and I split the cost of a complete dupioni swatch collection from him, so we will always be able to match whatever we're making before we order. I can hardly wait to get it, purely for the drooling and wishful thinking!

He also carries silk taffeta, and silk velvet, among lots of other silk products. But right now I'm just rolling-around-in-love with the dupioni. :D

I'm making myself new pirate garb, and to that end I spent part of my weekend tea dying dyeing some fabric.

See, I got this wonderful bamboo fabric on clearance awhile back. Yep, bamboo. All of the "green" people want to get behind it because it's supposedly much "greener" than cotton, as an easily accessible, all natural renewable resource.

Except it's not. As with nearly all fabric, the actual process of making fabric from bamboo requires the use of some pretty harsh chemicals. So, not as "green" as you think.

However, certainly no worse than cotton! Bamboo poplin (at least this stuff) looks like a high quality cotton, but feels much softer, and I got a bit over 3 yards of it for $2/yard (it started life as $13/yard fabric). Not bad!

Bamboo also has some really interesting qualities that I like quite a bit:

~ It is naturally very absorbent, and so wicks water away from the skin about five times better than cotton, which will be really handy on those hot festival days!

~ Natural, lightweight, and breathable!

~ machine washable, just like cotton.

~ seems to be more durable than cotton, but not quite as strong as silk, so an in-between fabric choice.

~ has anti-bacterial properties, so it will naturally not pick up body odors as easily as other fabrics.

~ is super soft - it has a naturally round fiber, so no roughness to catch at your skin.

~ naturally insulating, so your cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter.

Sounds like pretty much the PERFECT shirt or chemise fabric to me! And I have just enough to make myself one. Except it's white, and me and white don't get along so well. I was pretty disappointed at having to either resign myself to white, or not use the fabric for my new pirate shirt.

And then I hit upon a brilliant plan. Tea! I would dye the poplin with tea, and this have a just-darker-than-white pirate shirt! Appropriately antiqued! Awesome. :) I've never dyed fabric with tea before, but it was really easy. Having a utility sink next to the washer and dryer was very helpful!

Here are the before and after pics:

Before, very white against my white washing machine.



And after, slightly no longer white against the white washing machine - perfect!



And as an added bonus, tea dyeing is a long standing practice that makes this more period than, say, a commercial dye. :)

I was going to write up my thoughts on Transformers 2 this morning, but then I read jimhines' review, and instead I'll just link you there, as he's already said most of what I would say.

Some of my own thoughts:( Very vague spoilers. )

And that's pretty much all I have to add to what Jim already said in his review. I saw two previews that absolutely rocked:

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince looks freaking amazing, you guys! A-MAZ-ING.

We also had a Last Airbender teaser. I'm still not pleased at the casting!Fail, but...it gave me chills. The CGI looks freaking AWESOME. I admit, I am cautiously hopeful.

Also, there was the GI Joe trailer. I still think this is going to suck so badly. I will still probably see it. I know, I know. I'll pay cheap ticket prices. I might wait to rent it.

I cleaned out my closet this weekend, and I'm going to be clearing out some of my costuming stuff at below cost of materials prices. I only have so much room, and I've got waaaaay too much fabric stashed away not to be making myself some new things.

So. These are "used" in the sense that I've worn them at least twice for Ren Faires, or parades. They're also things I made early on in my sewing career, so while I was attempting things like corsetry at the time, I didn't have my serger yet, and I didn't know all the little things I do now. I'll write a little blurb about each outfit, so you know what the flaws as I see them are. :)

First is the very first Ren dress I made myself. It's made from embroidered and solid taffeta, with an overlay of embroidered chiffon. With an included modesty panel for the front lacing, it should fit from a sz 10-14. I'm a 10-12, and I was a 12 at the time of the pictures. It has an underskirt, and overskirt with attached fully boned bodice (with flat and spring steel bones). I made this like you would a real corset, so it really does pull in and support.

( Pics )
It features detachable sleeves, and with the modesty panel, does not require an undershirt. I'm wearing a crinoline with it, like the kind often worn with wedding gowns, which is NOT included. But you can find one for a good deal on ebay, and it isn't required to wear the gown, although proper underthings really add a lot to any costume.

flaws: I didn't know what a placket was for on skirts yet, and I didn't use one when I may the underskirt. As a result, the back slit isn't quite as neat as I would like, but no one sees that anyway with the overdress on. I ran out of the bias tape I was using to finish the sleeve and shoulder edges at the last minute, and had to switch to a slightly shinier black ribbon for one of the sleeves in order to finish the dress, but no one has ever commented - if you don't tell anyone it's there, they won't notice. Seriously, the overall affect of this dress on, is gasps over how beautiful it is.

Although I didn't yet own a serger, all the edges are ziggzagged with my sewing machine, which finishes them and keeps them from unraveling. The boning is flat and spring steel, not plastic ridgeline from the fabric store. There are over 8 yards of taffeta in this dress, and another yard of the chiffon. That's about $65 of fabric, with an additional $25 or so in trim. When you include the boning, grommets, thread, and other notions, the materials for this dress cost easily over $100 - I'm offering it for $80, with free shipping.

At any Ren Faire, this would a noblewoman's gown, and if you've gone to Faire and priced garb, you know how expensive buying an outfit like this would be (probably in the $300 range - materials plus the seamstress's skill and time.) $80 MIGHT get you a basic peasant's costume - chemise, skirts, bodice - but even that would be a lucky find. So if you know anyone who wants a new Ren dress in the sz 10-14 range, point them this way!

Next is my regency day dress. I made this more recently, so all of the edges are serged. Approximately seven yards of cotton/cotton sateen. It laces up the back with grommets, and should fit a size 10-14 or so.

( Pics )
This one was only worn once. It features a gathered bodice, and a fun and flirty ruffle on the hem. Materials into it, around $60 - I'm offering it for $35 shipped. For Jane Austen fans, there are lots and lots of regency events out there, hosted by groups like the Jane Austen Society and local Regency societies. Picnics, teas, and many other things. This would be the perfect daydress for joining in. :-)

Thank god for beta readers who are smarter than me! Or at least catch things I should have thought about. :)

*back to writing*

iTunes is making me very grumpy!

We ordered the new Steve Jablonsky score for Transformers Revenge of the Fallen from Amazon. Of course, as collectors we must own the actual physical CD.

Of course, as a collector and GINORMOUS fan of Transformers, movie scores, and Steve Jablonsky, Mark could not wait to get home from Japan and load the score onto his iTunes to put on his iPod. No, he ordered it again from iTunes, and downloaded it. Since our disc hasn't yet arrived, I thought this morning "well, I'll just download his purchase to MY itunes, and put it on my iPod today.

*kicks iTunes*

Sounds simple in theory. Not so much in practice. Since Mark can never remember my password, he created his own iTunes account. I logged in, and there is the score in question in his purchase history, but for the life of me, I could not get iTunes to d/l it without repurchasing the stupid thing. I am so NOT doing that! I wasted about twenty minutes this morning, trying to figure how to get it to work. I was late to work, and STILL do not have the new score to listen to.

*grumps*

So. Apparently I am almost three years ahead of the curve on this one.

(For the timeline and quotes of Warning!Fail, go here.)

Obviously, I am not going to pretend I am neutral on this subject. I will say, I wrote that essay three years ago, and from today's perspective, let me say I am not going to throw stones at anyone else's kink in this entry. I don't understand rape fic. I admittedly wish no one wrote it. But I'm not saying don't write it. I'm saying why in the heck would you fight PROPERLY LABELING IT.

I am totally dumbfounded that people actually believe warning labels on fic for sexual assault and rape are akin to trying to put warning labels for the color orange, or for people with food allergies.

Fandom, you are at least 80% women. I am appalled at the apparent ignorance about the realities of what rape is. Of what sexual assault does to someone. How about a little common courtesy and human sympathy for someone else's suffering? You, those of you who have your rape fantasies and are perfectly okay with it, and clearly there are a percentage of you who have no understanding for why it triggers assault victim survivors, you have no idea how fortunate you are. No, really.

Go read impertinence's excellent essay on what it means to be a victim and have triggers here. But if you do, for God's sake, don't bother commenting if you don't know what the hell you're talking about. She bared her scars in an attempt to educate those who might be ignorant, and did it with grace and poise, and a truckload of bravery. And some disturbingly insensitive people have said some things that stomp all over that for the sake of winning an argument she wasn't even trying to have.

I say "survivors" up above for a reason. Did you read my statistics in that entry? Here, let me repost them, so you don't have to wade through the parts that will no doubt piss some people off:

75% of women who are raped need medical attention after, although many of them don't seek it, and something like 80% of the women who are assaulted or raped by a stranger (meaning not an acquaintance, friend, relative, etc) end in death. (To put this in perspective, 77% of women who are raped are victimized by someone they know, so the 80% statistic above refers to the other 22% of total victims.) But that means that if you are in a confrontation with a stranger, he is 80% likely to kill you either during or after the act. Those are not good odds, ladies.

I tell the women in my class that if they are assaulted by a stranger, they must assume that person is going to kill them. They cannot go along with the rape hoping it is "all" that is going to happen. Remember that 75% of all victims will need medical attention after the act, regardless of stranger rape or acquaintance. That doesn't even touch on the possibility of HIV, or other STDs they may contract from the experience. This is a deadly assault, period, and I teach women to fight for their lives, and use deadly force if they have to. Even if they survive the attack, they will have severe psychological scars that will forever change them, and effect all their loved ones.

Let me reiterate: I taught a women's self defense class for several years. I have suffered from assault myself. I once sat in a room with seven friends, and realized that every single one of us had been assaulted at one time or another. The statistics say 3 our of every 4 women. I find the statistics conservative. And yet, for the sake of what, some twisted sense of artistic integrity, you don't want to put a warning label on your fiction? Do you even know what empathy is?

Professional fiction authors and publishers put warnings on erotica fiction, which comes in just as many flavors as fandom has for fanfic. Not only does this serve to warn potential customers what sort of material they might be buying, but it helps guide those looking to buy a particular brand of book, or erotica. Warnings can be a marketing tool as well as an actual, you know, warning.

How about showing some class, fandom? I've never been ashamed of being part of this wonderful online community of writers and artists. But reading some of the things people have said in this argument brings me perilously close.

Gakked via tinnny:

I am 12K into the rewrite, and just did my first copy/paste from the original draft. Okay, so it was like three sentences, and only one ended up staying pretty much the same, but still. Progress!

Soon, soon there will be more copying/pasting from the old draft to the new. I hope. And then you will see the word count revision meter go up by leaps and bounds.

Oh, and I snippeted the mirror image of this scene back when I was writing Draft 1. Seems only fair I snippet this one as well:

( ~Snippet~ )

Am on episode eight of True Blood.  I remember being indifferent to Sookie in the books, but ( spoilers )

Via paulskemp, UK SF writer Alistair Reynolds lands ten year, ten book deal worth seven figures.

Wow. This is....freaking unprecedented.

Does this add weight to my feeling that SF and space opera are going to be the Next Big Thing around the corner? The writer me who is currently revising a space opera hopes so. The reader me who would like more good space opera on the shelves hopes so. But really, even if it's not, this is a huge deal for genre work in general.

Mr. Kemp has a great post postulating what it might (or might not) mean for writers in the future in much broader strokes than my little circle of hope. Well worth a read.

I'll just be over here, revising, hoping this means I'll be hitting the agents/editors with my space opera at the right time. :)

To be clear, I am reposting a post by one_hoopy_frood, with permission as she wants word spread as much as possible.

i realize now i do not fear death... i fear my daughter will not be free when i die

- From the Twitter of an Iranian medical student

"If it bothers you so much, then why don't you stop watching?" seems to be the question of the last few days from my friends and family who know how invested I have become in the cause of the Iranian people (as I have explained in great detail here) The answer is simple: one day of caring is not enough. We must be the voice for the people of Iran who would otherwise be silenced. They are without reliable news sources, they are without mobile phone calls, text messaging, facebook, twitter, youtube, AIM, Yahoo, Google, and pretty much every other useful outlet for information you can think of. Yet they persist on the streets and on the internet in any way they can. The least we can do, whether we are across continents, oceans, or time zones, is spread their words safely.

My death is irrelevant.Wht is important is that u do not forget my words.We want freedom.i will die 4that

- From the Twitter of a protester in Tehran

Right now, brave men and women in Iran, both young and old, are sacrificing their lives for their voices to be heard. They must fear not only the police, but also the Basij -a force of men loyal to the government who plant themselves among crowds in plain clothes in order to discretely attack protesters and incite chaos.The protesters are peaceful. They mass together in crowds that are reported to grow in size every day. At night they have very few, if any, safe places to stay. Houses with satelite dishes were attacked by the Basij tonight, and during the 50 minutes of Twitter's maintenance, another university was attacked.

140 characters is a novel when you're being shot at.

- From another Iranian Twitter

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP?

1. The most obvious thing to do is stay informed. Keep an eye on reliable sources on Twitter, refresh blogs and news sites that are covering the stories.


2. If you are on twitter, retweet information from reliable twitters, but REMOVE THE USERNAME if they are in Iran. People have died because of the lack of responsibility by fellow tweeters and the media in this front. They can be tracked down by the government of Iran.


3. Spread the information elsewhere. Repost this article or write your own on Facebook, Myspace, Tumblr, or anywhere else you can think of. If you write your own, make sure you are concise and accurate. Link to your sources for people to learn more.


4. Discretely change your location on Twitter to Tehran or Iran, and your time zone to GMT +3:30. Don't post to brag about how you did it, otherwise it was useless.


5. DO NOT auto-refresh and take down websites, even if you are asked. It slows down the internet for the rest of the people in Iran.


6. If you make a proxy DO NOT post it publicly, otherwise it is useless. Send it in a direct message to a trusted source.


7. DO NOT spam the hash tag #IranElection with useless things to "confuse the government". This does not help at all.

USEFUL SITES TO FURTHER HELP

Cyber War Guide for Iran Elections

Green Revolution - How to Help

Anonymous - Why We Protest - Iran

STAY INFORMED!

Follow on Twitter: @ProtesterHelp and @StopAhmadi

(REMINDER: DO NOT REPOST PERSONAL TWITTERS OF THOSE INSIDE THE COUNTRY, EVEN IF THEY ARE RELIABLE!)

Chronology of events

Live-blogging by Andrew Sullivan

General information from a poser on Fark.com

Live-blogging on HuffingtonPost

دنیارابگوییدچطورآنهاانتخاباتمان دزدیده اند
Tell the world how they have stolen our election

- original article by one_hoopy_frood on LJ

And mostly for the benefit of kistha and my husband, who both have a fascination for great whites.

Great white sharks hunt like serial killers.

Who finds this surprising? I don't, particularly. In fact, I think it might be more appropriate to rephrase as "serial killers hunt like great white sharks".

Watching the video of Neda's death is one of the most horrific things I can recall ever seeing. I cried, hand over my mouth. This woman was killed on video, and died while her father held onto her desperately.

I wish I had words, but I don't. It's too much.

Other than how fortunate, and how grateful I am to live in a country where democracy is a way of life, even when we're unhappy with the results.

Some co-workers went to our local sushi place for lunch (which has excellent sushi), and it actually sounded good, so I gave them money, and they brought me back sushi.

It tasted fantastic. And I feel better after eating some than I have all day. I wonder how long that will last...

I got to video chat with the husband last night, for the first time since he left for Japan a week ago, thanks to my Vegas trip.

Video chat is truly, truly one of the Awesome Techno Things of our time. The joy of seeing him smiling back at me in real time is so much more wondrous and real than a text e-mail, or IM. We talked for about an hour. I got to tell him all about the Vegas trip, he told me how things were going over there, and he even got to see Zoey, who is, as usual, mad at me because her person (the husband) is gone. Mark got to see her turn her back on me while I was trying to get her to come over so he could see her. I ended up tipping the laptop that way so he could see, and even I admit it was pretty hilarious.

Stupid dog.

Okay. I've opened a the Nemesis revision. Writing has to be able to distract me from how awful I feel, right?