Going on a mental-break/birthday/visit/HP-celebration vacation

[bironic]

From Thursday through next Wednesday I'll be down in Asheville, North Carolina, visiting synn, who's now living there instead of 20 minutes from my house. It's her birthday Saturday, so the trip is partly a gift for her and partly a celebration of Deathly Hallows coming out and partly a gift for me too (five days off work! preceded by a three-day week and followed up by a two-day week!), since my birthday is the day after I get back.

In addition to seeing synn and reading the last new HP book and exploring a new town, my biggest hope for the trip is that I'll be able to calm down from the stress of the past few weeks (months, years, but let's not get too ambitious) and write, whether that turns out to be stories or long-overdue letters. (To give you some idea of life lately, my current to-do list includes: pack, see a friend who'll be moving away while I'm gone, make two doctor's appointments, move all the furniture out of my room, install and test a wireless card, re-read Half-Blood Prince, write up Order of the Phoenix review, write to grad programs, possibly enroll in classes, continue to look for jobs, have my third-anniversary review at work without hinting that I want to get the hell out, research medical copy providers, write the two stories that are due in August, and prepare for two lovely visitors next month.) Gah, stress stress stress. And when I'm stressed, I can't think or write, and when I can't write, I don't post (I'm embarrassed to say how long it's taken just to write this crappy entry) or even comment, really, and when I don't post or comment, I don't get emails, and then my inbox gets lonely. And by my inbox I mean me. But who wants to hear about that? Nobody, that's who. Another reason I haven't posted. Yet here we are.

Um. Still reading? Have a treat. This is an MRI of my abdomen.





Well, I think it's cool.

So. How are all of you?

Comments

[bironic.livejournal.com]

*g* I spent a happy hour flicking through the MRI slices on CD, like the fly-throughs of the Visible Human project.

Yay House/Foreman. I hope you're able to finish it up so it's not too late for the 'fest -- although there's no rushing genius. :)

[zulu.livejournal.com]

Well, it probably will be too late for the fest, but you know, it's a bit...challenging, I guess; I wrote most of it in one big surge of inspiration, but I wrote it all as just dialogue in tiny scenelets. Now I'm trying to turn that into a whole coherent fic, but there's not the impetus to write to find out how it happens, 'cause I already know. And the writing muse hasn't been with me recently--I'm having to push a bit.

Ah well. If I get frustrated I can always post the unfinished story as a "look what my brain disgorged!" kind of a thing. I don't want to do that; the thought of it is what's keeping me writing!

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Mm, I know what you mean. Sometimes just plotting a story out in my head is enough to take the interest out of writing it. I guess your story didn't want to be a collection of dialogue-only scenelets?

[zulu.livejournal.com]

Well...but I want so much more than that!

I think what makes a good dialogue-only fic work is when it's easy to visualize the action, and not describing it makes it funnier/more touching because the reader fills in the blanks. But to me, a dialogue-only fic isn't meaty enough. There're subtleties that get missed. Plus then the porn (if there's porn) gets short shrift.

I hope your inbox is less lonely with me talking at you!

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Oh and yes, my inbox was nice and cozy last night with your emails and Cookie Monster icon. Alas for I had to go to bed in the middle of it. :)

*cheerleads for your House/Foreman progress*

[zulu.livejournal.com]

Hee! I aim to please. So does Cookie.

Did you know that Wednesday is my one-year anniversary of posting Housefic? I think I'd better have this House/Foreman thing ready by then for celebratory purposes!